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

"…Is the murderer in this case really that lawyer?"

In the afternoon, at a sushi restaurant near the Beika-cho commercial street, it was not yet lunchtime, so there were only a few tables of customers sitting in the restaurant.

Aoyagi Akimichi came to Mikado again today. As soon as he arrived, he picked up Edogawa Conan who had just finished school. He first took him to the bookstore in the commercial street to buy books, and then went to eat.

After finishing their meal, they talked about recent cases.

"Yes."

When talking about the case that ended yesterday afternoon, Conan Edogawa was still a little depressed.

"Lawyer Sakaguchi remotely ordered John to attack the person in front of him over the phone."

"The attack instructions he set were very complicated. There were three stages in total. The first was the ringing tone of his home phone. The second was the clock in the living room chiming on time. The third was him saying 'John, how are you? How are you, John' over the phone."

"All three are necessary, so when the police asked him to repeat what they had said on the phone on the day of the incident, John did not respond at all."

"It is said that he trained John for a long time, and the neighbors saw him taking John out every weekend... Speaking of which, it was not me who first solved the case this time, but Officer Matsuda. He became suspicious when he heard the deceased's girlfriend say that she called around 10 o'clock, and then he stayed in the Metropolitan Police Department to conduct repeated tests and finally confirmed it."

After describing the murderer and his methods in one breath, Edogawa Conan sighed softly.

This time they did not sit at the table for four, but at a table for two in the corner. Aoyagi Binguang sat on the sofa seat in the middle, with his newly bought books and shopping bags on the side.

Unlike Edogawa Conan, who was in mixed emotions when he saw an acquaintance enter, he remained calm and fell into thought after listening to the long narration.

"When Officer Matsuda and Officer Sato came here yesterday, the father of the deceased, Prosecutor Maehara, came with them. He came all the way from Kansai to Tokyo, and he almost got into a fight with Attorney Sakaguchi..."

Edogawa Conan continued.

Aoyagi Akimitsu interrupted at this point: "Wait a minute, the person who committed suicide because of bullying was born in a prosecutor's family?"

He sounded very surprised, and Edogawa Conan immediately explained: "Yes, Prosecutor Maehara is a famous person in the Japanese judicial community, and has always been known for his fairness and strictness."

"But, just because a father is like that doesn't mean his son will become like that..."

Talking about the chaos at the end of yesterday, Edogawa Conan couldn't help but sigh again.

At the time, Prosecutor Maehara grabbed Attorney Sakaguchi's collar tightly and roared without grace. He even suspected that if a troublemaker handed him a knife, this prosecutor, who was extremely strict with criminals in the past, would ignore all laws and stab him directly on the spot.

And when people around him were trying to stop the fight, he heard the reason why Masato Sakaguchi was bullied.

Prosecutor Maehara is very strict at work, but he is a loving father who loves his son at home. No matter how busy he is at work, he will always take time to spend time with his wife and children. He often shares his work with his family during meals.

Seven years ago, Attorney Sakaguchi accepted a juvenile crime case and served as the defense attorney for one of the suspects. His opponent in court, the prosecutor at the time, was Maehara.

"At that time, two teenagers committed a crime together and killed someone. Prosecutor Maehara believed that their methods were cruel and must be severely punished. However, one of them had a special family background, so when he took over the case, he received a 'reminder' to deal with them leniently."

"Prosecutor Maehara was very dissatisfied with this and was under great pressure. He complained to his family more than once."

Edogawa Conan lowered his eyes and whispered clearly.

"But he never revealed the identity of the juvenile offender, and only complained about the lawyer Sakaguchi who took over the case... The deceased, Maehara Tsuyoshi, had a very good relationship with his father. When he heard his father's dissatisfaction, and Sakaguchi's son happened to be his classmate, he began to bully him."

In Conan Edogawa's opinion, this case is actually ridiculous.

Prosecutor Maehara is a fair and selfless prosecutor to the outside world, but at home he dotes on his son to the point of breaking the rules by casually revealing work details to his son, causing his son to bully the son of his defense lawyer, who then committed suicide.

Attorney Sakaguchi had the ideal of saving misguided teenagers, but while saving others, he ignored his own child. It was not until his son committed suicide that he realized he had been bullied. The cause of the bullying was still because of his work.

Different fathers and sons, same ending - the father eventually lost his son.

"…So now, seven years later, he chooses to kill the other person to avenge his son?"

Aoyagi Binkou's voice sounded light and there was no emotion in it.

Edogawa Conan, who was half immersed in his own thoughts, did not investigate further. He just lowered his head and stared at the steaming oolong tea in front of him.

"That's true, but I can't understand this idea." He said softly, "Although Holmes also said, 'When the law cannot uphold justice, private revenge is justified.' ... But I can't accept it."

And there was one thing he couldn't figure out.

After hearing about the origin of lawyer Sakaguchi's hatred, he went back and searched for murder cases in the same year, but found no case that met the three conditions of "minors, two people committing the crime together, and the means were cruel."

He wasn't sure whether he didn't find it or the case wasn't reported at the time.

if the latter one……

When Edogawa Conan fell silent, he did not notice that Aoyagi Akimitsu, who was sitting opposite him, seemed to be thinking about something and had not spoken for a long time.

……

After the meal, Aoyagi Akimitsu sent Edogawa Conan to the downstairs of the Mori Detective Agency, just like the day before yesterday, when the case happened. He drove here today without a hawk. He parked the car on the side of the road, and when Edogawa Conan unbuckled his seat belt, he opened the storage compartment and took out the folding umbrella he had borrowed the day before and handed it to him.

"Mr. Qingliu, are you free this Saturday?"

Edogawa Conan took the umbrella. At this time, his mood had completely calmed down and he was in the mood to talk about the itinerary in a few days.

"Is there something wrong?" asked Aoyagi Binguang.

"It's like this. Sonoko said that this Saturday her family's newly purchased Beihua Art Museum will hold an exhibition, which will display some classical and modern paintings. She gave Xiaolan a few extra tickets and wanted to ask if you want to go with us."

Conan Edogawa was a little embarrassed. As he spoke, he opened the schoolbag in his arms and took out a ticket. This was the ticket that Mouri Ran had given him last night.

Under normal circumstances, Aoyagi Akimitsu, who had just made a beehive out of the roof of the Suzuki family's new hotel last Saturday, should have avoided her family's activities, but Suzuki Sonoko and her cousin, either out of common sense or out of their minds, actually took the initiative to invite her.

"As long as you have time, I can accompany you." Qingliu Binguang smiled.

Edogawa Conan handed over the ticket: "Then it's a deal."

He should be fine that day anyway.

Aoyagi Binguang took the ticket and took out the new book he had just bought today from the storage compartment. He had torn off the plastic wrapping on the outside while waiting for the food to be served at the sushi restaurant. He casually opened a page and put the ticket in it.

Conan Edogawa was about to get off the bus. When he was about to leave, he saw the pages of the mystery novel turning and asked casually, "By the way, I wanted to ask you when we were in the bookstore just now, why did you buy this?"

"I bought it because it was a new book." Qing Liu Binguang put the book back and noticed his expression. "What's wrong with this book?"

"I've read its introduction online before. The general plot is very similar to another book published last month, so it caused some controversy." Conan Edogawa said directly.

Aoyagi Binguang said nonchalantly: "The authors are different, the characters are different, even if the plots are similar, they are completely different stories."

"That's true."

Conan Edogawa thought about it and quickly accepted this statement. He turned around and got out of the car and said goodbye to Aoyagi Akimitsu.

"See you on Saturday, Mr. Aoyagi!"

Aoyagi Binguang nodded to him slightly and drove away.

Edogawa Conan walked to the stairs, and when he was about to step on the stairs, he turned around and looked again as if he sensed something.

I saw the black Chevrolet Suburban turn right at the intersection and drive towards the station.

……

At the same time, the Metropolitan Police Department.

After submitting his physical examination report, Keimitsu Morofushi left Manager Eto's office.

On the way to the elevator, he passed by an archive room and noticed from the corner of his eye that the door of the archive room had opened a crack at some point.

He suddenly paused, frowned, looked at the door for a few seconds, raised his hand and pushed it gently.

"Squeak-"

The door opened inward, and a man inside who was flipping through some documents looked up at him in surprise.

"Eto?" Zhu Fujingguang saw the young junior standing in front of a shelf. Instead of relaxing, his brows furrowed even tighter. "What are you doing here?"

Jiang Teng Daizo stuffed a file bag with an old cover back and explained dryly: "Nothing, Senior Morifushi, I just came here to take a look out of curiosity."

Seeing Zhu Fujingguang's grim expression, he quickly added: "My father knows and agrees."

"..."

Zhu Fu Jingguang was somewhat dissatisfied with his superior's obvious violation of professional ethics, but when he thought that he was his own boss, who had just been replaced after the previous administrator failed to perform his duties three years ago, he silently endured it.

Before he could continue speaking, the junior in front of him took the initiative to walk out.

"Um, Senior Zhufu..."

Eto Daizo showed a hesitant expression.

"Don't be shy, just say what you want to say." Zhu Fu Jingguang sighed.

"You have a good relationship with Officer Matsuda of the Investigation Division, right? Then do you know how the case of the pet dog attacking people and the lawyer Sakaguchi is going now?"

He asked this question as if he had made a great decision. (End of this chapter)