Conan: I'm really not the mastermind behind the scenes

Conan Edogawa turned back into a child and stood beside the cooking table, looking at the scene in front of him in surprise and confusion.

The familiar Mr. Qingliu was standing by the wall, holding the injured man with one hand and smashing him against the wall. After hearing his own voice, he let go of his hand.

Then he asked, "Why did you suddenly attack me just now?"

Aoyagi Binkou's tone was not as gentle as usual, and it was unusually sharp and dissatisfied.

However, Edogawa Conan can understand his feelings...

……

Time goes back a few minutes.

Kudo Shinichi became smaller again in that small room that was only furnished with a mirror and a chair.

Because there were many policemen and hotel staff outside, he did not scream this time and tried his best to suppress it… When he stood up from the ground with the help of a chair, his body was covered with cold sweat from the pain.

He didn't bother to wipe the sweat off his face. He quickly took off his loose clothes, took out the clothes in the bag, and put them on one by one.

As soon as he finished putting it on, he immediately sent an email to Dr. Agasa.

Judging from the current noise, there is no chaos outside the venue for the time being, and the doctor has not sent an email asking for help. It seems that Huibara has not shrunk yet... But she can't be complacent, she'd better leave the hotel as soon as possible.

Edogawa Conan quickly sent the email and looked at the door.

Since he came in, no one else, especially the police, has come in. He didn't know what room Mr. Qingliu put him in. He came in such a hurry that he didn't see the surrounding environment clearly.

He didn't know how the case outside was progressing. Although Mr. Aoyagi asked him to stay here, he was really curious about the other Kudo Shinichi and what the case was about...

Edogawa Conan thought so, and with some trepidation about disobeying a kind-hearted adult, he walked to the door, stood on tiptoe, and tried to turn the doorknob.

It didn't turn.

Edogawa Conan: "......?"

He tried a few more times unwillingly, but the handle still didn't move.

Edogawa Conan: “…………”

...Could it be that Mr. Aoyagi guessed that he would run away after turning back into a child, so he locked him up?

No, that's not right, he shouldn't make malicious assumptions.

It is more likely that he wanted to prevent outsiders from entering. If someone saw him getting smaller, it would definitely cause a commotion. Mr. Qingliu simply broke the door lock to avoid this from happening.

Anyway, the police had searched before and found no other bodies. They found that this door could not be opened, so the staff would not rush to force their way in...

Conan Edogawa quickly found a reasonable reason for Aoyagi Akimitsu's behavior.

Since he couldn't get out, he could only sit back in the chair and wait for someone.

Fortunately, not long after, Edogawa Conan heard a commotion outside, probably a group of people walking by. He waited patiently for a while, and the door finally opened.

Aoyagi Akimichi stood at the door and easily turned the doorknob that seemed to be broken. He lowered his head slightly and looked at Edogawa Conan who jumped off the chair and ran towards him.

"Are you feeling okay? Are you feeling unwell?" he asked.

"I'm fine." Edogawa Conan asked anxiously, "Mr. Aoyagi, how is the case going?"

Qing Liu Bingguang hesitated for a few seconds, and spoke in a somewhat subtle tone:
"It has ended."

……

Conan Edogawa washed off the makeup on his face and went to find Kogoro Mouri first to explain to him why he had been away for so long - he had run to the garden downstairs to play.

He was almost hit for this, but fortunately Aoyagi Akimitsu pulled him away in time.

"Follow Qingliu honestly and stop running around."

Maori Kogoro first explained to Edogawa Conan in a bad mood, then turned to Aoyagi Akimitsu: "I am going to the Kanagawa Prefectural Police Headquarters to take a statement. Can you please send this guy back first?"

"Of course." Aoyagi Binguang nodded.

At this moment, there were only a few hotel employees left in the banquet hall besides them, and most of the guests had already left. Since the crime scene needed to be sealed, the employees didn't need to clean up anything, and they would leave soon.

After Kogoro Mouri followed the police away, Conan Edogawa couldn't wait to pull Aoyagi Akimitsu's sleeve: "Uncle, what's going on?" On the way out from the backstage, Aoyagi Akimitsu briefly explained the ins and outs of the Shoujia sisters case, but many details were not made clear.

Qing Liu Bingguang led him out of the banquet hall, straightened his words, and said helplessly: "Before the game started, Miss Meimei came to see Miss Hua Lian. Mr. Mao Li was with them at the time. Miss Hua Lian found an excuse to send him away, and then the two began to quarrel..."

Edogawa Conan understood.

No wonder she had to take a statement. If it was just an ordinary relationship between a client and a detective, it wouldn't be so troublesome. But Uncle Maori happened to be by her side shortly before the incident, so he was considered a witness.

"And the police have not been able to contact Mrs. Shou," Aoyagi Akimitsu added.

Conan Edogawa was puzzled and asked, "Didn't she accompany Miss Hua Lian to the hospital? Even if her daughter was in emergency treatment, she wouldn't completely ignore her phone, right?"

Looking at her anxious look as she left with the emergency personnel, even if she didn't care about her missing eldest daughter, she would at least care about who caused her second daughter to fall, right?

"I don't know about that. Officer Yokomizo is planning to contact the hospital to look for someone. This involves the work of the Japanese police, so I'm not in a position to ask too much."

As they were talking, the two walked to the elevator and Aoyagi Binguang pressed the down button.

The two elevators happened to go down at the same time, so they had to wait a while.

Edogawa Conan frowned slightly. He thought it was really strange that he couldn't contact Mrs. Shou, but soon another question occupied his mind.

"What about the congressman's case? How did the police make their verdict? Who is the murderer?"

He asked several questions in one breath. When he came out, another criminal, Sho Amano, had been taken away early in the morning, and the police were doing the final work, and no one mentioned the other case.

"This case..."

Aoyagi Binguang glanced at him, and his tone returned to the subtle tone he had just had in the room: "The police believe it was an accident, and they haven't found the murderer."

Edogawa Conan was stunned.

"how come--"

How could this happen?! He had handed over a very important piece of evidence! Didn't the police notice it?!
"I don't know the specific process of judging this incident. I was backstage at the time, but..."

Aoyagi Binkou paused and his voice became calm.

"Among the guests at the scene, there are Japanese public security personnel."

At this moment, an elevator reached the bottom first, sent a group of people away, and then went up again.

He continued, "One of them was involved in the previous embassy bombing, I won't make a mistake... You are Japanese, you should know better than me what it means to have public security police hidden near your own officials."

Edogawa Conan fell silent.

Kudo Shinichi is known as the savior of the Japanese police. He has solved many cases and naturally has a good relationship with the detectives of the First Investigation Section.

He had heard Inspector Megure complain more than once between cases, saying that the criminal he had finally caught was taken away by the police, and the case was transferred along with it, and they had no right to inquire about what happened next.

If the public security is involved, then the Kanagawa Prefectural Police and the very reliable Nagano Police will not be able to say much, no matter how many doubts they have about the details of the case.

This is especially true for Mr. Aoyagi. He has a diplomatic identity and can intervene in cases involving Americans, but if it is a Japanese official, he will get into trouble if he intervenes casually...

Edogawa Conan sighed silently and had to put the case aside for the time being.

With the two cases solved—at least on the surface—his detective brain cleared up, and he finally remembered a question that had concerned him the most.

"By the way, what's the matter with the other Kudo Shinichi?"

He originally thought that this Kudo Shinichi would make some big move, such as claiming that he was the one who committed a certain crime in order to see the reaction of his acquaintances, or using this identity to get close to Uncle Mori and the others to obtain other information.

In the end, nothing happened. When he came out, it was as if this person had never been there at all.

Aoyagi Akimichi was about to answer when his eyes suddenly fell on the elevator's floor display screen.

He saw the elevator in front of him reach the 20th floor, but did not stop. The numbers on it continued to jump until they reached 23.

Edogawa Conan also looked at him with confusion.

Why is it 23 again? Is there some kind of event being arranged in the banquet hall above?
He didn't pay much attention to it, as another elevator was about to come up.

But at this moment, his cell phone suddenly rang. (End of this chapter)