The unscrupulous detective in Conan

Chapter 1322 Red Leaves: I think these are good sisters too.

"Inspector Megure, the person has been brought!"

"You must be Ms. Murai, right?"

Inspector Megure was still pondering the cat paw issue, and he seemed quite puzzled.

Among a bunch of lucky cats with their right paws raised, how come there's one lucky cat with only its left paw left?

At that moment, a young woman was brought in by two plainclothes police officers.

The girl was wearing a red sleeveless top and a red mini skirt, her long legs swaying and revealing a patch of snow-white skin, with long, brown curly hair behind her.

It seems that she is the murderer identified by Ishigami.

The description is good; it is indeed quite fashionable, so it's understandable that men would take a second look.

After all, strictly speaking, she is indeed a beauty.

Those long, white legs, who wouldn't be mesmerized?

Just as Murai was brought over, one of the two policemen responsible for escorting him took out a piece of paper from his bag and showed it to Inspector Megure:

"Inspector Megure, we found a debt contract in her bag. Judging from the name and company on the contract, this is indeed the place."

Upon hearing this, Inspector Megure temporarily put aside his thoughts about the lucky cat's left paw.

He snapped out of his thoughts, turned to look at Murai Chika, and asked, "Ms. Murai, how do you explain this?"

"..."

Murai kept his head down and remained silent, seemingly having nothing to say about it.

Megure frowned slightly; he had no liking for such uncooperative criminals.

However, he was already used to this and said in a deep voice, "I still advise you to confess and be treated leniently. If you cooperate, you might be able to get a reduced sentence in court."

At the same time, he took out a notebook: "We found a plan to meet with you in the notebook of the deceased Mr. Kanemaru. The time was around the time we estimated his death. You're not going to tell us that you didn't come then, are you?"

“Your fingerprints are definitely on the fragments of that lucky cat. As long as we compare the fingerprints, we will have enough evidence to confirm that you are the murderer.”

"And then there are eyewitnesses."

“We found eyewitnesses who saw you enter this company and then run out in a panic.”

"Do you have anything else to say?"

Upon hearing this, Murai turned pale, seemingly having accepted the fact that he had committed murder.

Finally, he could only helplessly say, "I... have nothing more to say."

Seeing that his opponent had broken through his defenses, Inspector Megure nodded in satisfaction: "Then tell me why you killed Kanemaru-san. Judging from the IOU, you seem to owe Kanemaru-san a lot of money, right?"

"What was all this money used for?"

Upon hearing this, Murai Chika lowered her head, like a child who had done something wrong, and began the classic apology routine: "All this money went to bags, clothes, and cosmetics..."

"Buying cosmetics?"

Inspector Megure was puzzled by this, finding the young man's consumption habits hard to understand.

"That's how college is. If you don't dress well, no one will respect you. By the time I realized it, I already owed him a lot of money. I even dropped out of school to work and pay off the debt, but no matter how much I work, I can't pay it all off..."

"Today I gave him the 100,000 yuan I had painstakingly saved this month, but he complained that it wasn't enough, saying it wouldn't even cover the interest. He also said he was going to call my hometown and tell my parents about this..."

"In my haste, I just grabbed the lucky cat figurine..."

Upon hearing this, Inspector Megure pondered for a moment: "So, you were worried that your parents would tell you about your affairs, so you picked up the lucky cat figurine and smashed it on Kanemaru's head, right?"

On the spot, Murai Chika began the usual procedure, kneeling down on the ground, weeping and admitting her mistake.

Fujino listened silently. He was already used to stories like this, where female college students, driven by vanity, took out loans and ended up on a path of no return.

It can only be said that this is what Japan, which once prospered during its economic boom, is like, and this is also what most students are like.

Students are still in the stage of not having formed their own complete worldview. They do not participate in labor or the actual operation of society. Some of them are even completely detached from the masses. As a result, the student group they form is naturally disconnected from society and forms its own unique small group.

In this small group, there is no traditional sense of status or identity. Neither money nor social standing can demonstrate any superiority among students. However, they themselves come from the general public and originally had their own social class. Are they really willing to become the bottom of the group in this new one?
impossible.

Therefore, in order to regain their class superiority and their original social status, they will use their existing capital advantage to carry expensive items that ordinary students cannot afford, in order to show off, flaunt, and demonstrate their uniqueness.

The unique clash between social classes began at this time. The student council, which also bore the marks of the old class, engaged in an arms race with another student group to divide the large group, and among them were a lot of lackeys who followed the other side.

As groups differentiate, fewer and fewer people in the original group remain indifferent, eventually splitting into countless groups. These smaller groups, dominated by the groups and their leaders, then engage in an arms race to determine who is the leader.

At this point, a trend emerged.

Comparison, conformity, taking sides, and following trends—if you don't do these things, you'll be marginalized and become invisible. Ordinary students find it difficult to protect themselves in this competitive environment.

Humans have a social instinct, and it's very difficult to tolerate this kind of marginalization.

Therefore, in order to integrate into the group, they will do things that are inconsistent with their original social class and disregard practical factors.

With a combination of factors, the Hokage jumped out at this time to sell the Will of Fire and make empty promises. Under the deception of the Will of Fire, some children in the ninja academy were easily fooled.

They may have thought that becoming a genin would allow them to quickly repay the kindness of the Will of Fire, but in reality, they would all end up as cannon fodder on the ninja battlefield.

Upon closer examination, is this kind of Will of Fire, which overdraws on the future, really reasonable?

Everyone went their separate ways back to their original positions. The Hokage's son was still the Hokage, and the Hyuga clan's scapegoat's son was still a scapegoat, or perhaps he would become a scapegoat who died halfway through his life.

How many more times will we meet in this lifetime?
For example, there's Tendo Haruka, whom Fujino met before.

Even though she came from a remote small town and shouldn't have been overly extravagant, she still ended up owing a large sum of money due to her own inferiority complex and the pressure from those around her.

Those so-called friends did not act as friends should after they learned about her situation.

Instead, he decisively chose to drain her dry.

Fortunately, after working in Snow King Ice City for so long, she was able to pay off her debts little by little.

However, there aren't many lucky people like Haruka Tendo who can meet a conscientious capitalist like Fujino.

Most people are devastated and never recover, spending their lives in a daze paying the price for their youthful ignorance.

As Fujino recalled his time as a pyramid scheme lecturer, he recounted the experiences of some young women and men who had been tricked into joining the organization, as well as the rumors of being lured to northern Myanmar for high-paying jobs.

Then, he suddenly spoke: "Wait a minute." "Hmm...?"

Everyone turned their heads in confusion to look in Fujino's direction.

Under everyone's gaze, Fujino spoke calmly: "I have a few more questions I'd like to ask Ms. Murai."

Inspector Megure was quite puzzled by Fujino's actions.

The murderer has already turned himself in, bro, are you still going to get involved?
Could it be that she appears to be the murderer, but in reality, the real culprit is someone else, and she's just taking the blame?
Megure Juzo had some doubts, but considering his younger brother's glorious achievements, he didn't think too much about it and nodded in agreement.

Fujino slowly walked forward, squatted down, looked at Murai whose face was streaked with tears, and asked:
"Ms. Murai, your modus operandi is the same as you described, isn't it?"

As he spoke, Fujino handed her a handkerchief. She knelt down, admitting her mistake and bursting into tears. She took the handkerchief and gently wiped her eyes, saying, "That's right."

"So, did you smash him to death in the office, then use a vacuum cleaner to suck up the pieces of the lucky cat, and then vacuum up those pieces again to stage the scene of his accidental death by the lucky cat?"

"Huh?" Murai was taken aback, looking somewhat regretful. "Is that even possible?"

"Don't overthink it. Since I was able to ask, I must have deduced it."

"That's it..."

Murai looked somewhat disappointed and explained helplessly, "After I smashed it up, I took the contract and ran away. How could I have had time to do these things?"

"Is that so?"

Fujino nodded thoughtfully upon hearing this.

At this moment, Ai Haibara, who was holding a cat, spoke up with a stern face:

"It seems someone was wrong."

"Wow, that's amazing! This is exactly what Fujino-nii-san said..."

"It's all Conan's fault! If Fujino-nii had used this line of reasoning, he probably would have solved the case long ago!"

"Well, although Conan, you're very smart, you're still not as good as the professional Fujino-nii-san."

The kids, one after another, pointed their fingers directly at Conan.

Conan: "..."

No, you guys...

Why is the attack coming back at me?!
"Hey, Haibara..." Conan was speechless for a moment before speaking.

Then you see Ai Haibara holding a cat, a sweet girlish smile on her face, softly calling out, "Brother, you must already know what happened, right?"

Then, like a little girl, she broke away from her own topic and tiptoed to join in the fun.

He wasn't given a chance to speak at all.

Conan looked at that fair and lovely face, which remained silent only towards him, and felt a chill run down his spine.

It is now clear that this is an attack targeting them.

Well, the husband brings up the topic, and the wife immediately launches an attack.

What a perfect cat and dog couple!
Conan cursed inwardly, realizing there was nothing more to say about this cat and dog couple.

I just silently wished for everything to be destroyed! You two can keep showing off!

Conan felt a slight pang of jealousy, but he quickly regained his composure, knowing full well that even if this couple put on a show, nothing would come of it.

At least, that's the case until the antidote is fully developed.

Given Shiho Miyano's current state of poisoning, if these two dare to make any progress, Fujino will probably be in prison for at least three years, sharing a cell with some big bowl of noodles, and his sewing machine will be pounding away until it's smoking.

But as he was thinking, Conan suddenly felt a sense of loneliness.

He inadvertently connected this to his own situation: If the two of them are like this, then how am I not like this too?

Deep down, he really hoped these two would get along well. After all, they were in the same boat, and their projections would be quite similar to his own.

What if an antidote cannot be developed?

Compared to the two of them, he felt that his situation was actually worse.

At least they can still show off their affection unilaterally, and maybe they can even openly date a few years later.

It's just an age difference, but is that a problem in Japan?

What about yourself?
How could Xiaolan possibly fall for a little kid...?

Are you going to put on a show of "I'm cheating on myself"?

Conan found the thought terrifying and decided that it would be better to develop an antidote as soon as possible... Compared to making others feel disgusted and uncomfortable, and harming others without benefiting himself, he cared more about himself and Ran.

Moreover, it's uncertain whether Fujino will even be alive by then.

This womanizing guy is now having an ambiguous relationship with that young lady from Kyoto, and with actresses, shop assistants, widows, and even Sonoko...

Well, Sonoko might be an exception.

Garden: ? ? ? Who will feed me peanuts?

Anyway, in the end, Haibara will definitely have to fight that Kyoto lady. When they finally do, Fujino won't be any better off without getting a cleaver.

It's impossible for everyone to live happily ever after, right?
Conan believed that he could not imagine such an absurd, fantastical, and fairytale-like ending... If Fujino were to actually enjoy it, he would rather hide the antidote formula, stuff it into his stomach, and jump off the Tsuburyu River on the spot.

What does it mean to be afraid that your brother is suffering, but also afraid that your brother is driving a Land Rover?
That's what Conan was thinking, but he didn't let Momiji hear him.

If Momiji, who is far away in Kyoto, were to hear this, it would be quite a big deal.

She'll definitely type a string of question marks like "???", and then follow up with:

You mean, this young, beautiful girl who wants to fight me and can even cook is a genius scientist?
They might even be able to develop drugs that allow people to reverse aging or even achieve immortality?
Is it so magical?

What kind of all-around Doraemon-like talent is this?

Such talent must be included in the Empress's rebellion plan!
Well, whether she can develop a drug that makes people stay young forever and even live forever is irrelevant. What I really care about is that she can cook.

If she can cook, I think she's a good friend!
(End of this chapter)