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

Conan Edogawa didn't notice the exchange of glances between the two.

Seeing that Matsuda Jinpei did not answer immediately, and Inspector Megure was waiting for an answer, he took the initiative to speak up: "It seems that the explosion occurred on a suitcase. We happened to see the person who was going to pick up the suitcase at the time."

Inspector Megure's attention immediately returned to him: "Really?!"

Conan Edogawa repeated his previous description of Rei Furuya: "...when the box was accidentally knocked over, he tackled us in time, so neither of us was injured by the bomb."

Upon hearing his account, Inspector Megure's expression shifted dramatically, from frowning to relaxing and then frowning again: "According to you, this man is indeed very suspicious."

Although he had saved the person, in his many years as a police officer, he had seen plenty of criminals who precisely stabbed their targets rather than harm innocent people. Therefore, Inspector Megure immediately listed this person as the prime suspect.

He kept glancing at Matsuda Jinpei out of the corner of his eye, and now he understood where the blood on his subordinate's shirt came from. Seeing that the man didn't speak, he turned behind him:
"Invite the president here. Since this man is carrying a briefcase from the Full Heaven Company, the president should know whether he is an employee here."

The president, who was originally at the nearby resettlement point, looked extremely grim when the police called him over.

Megure Jujutsu relayed the description of the appearance, and after listening, he shook his head: "Many of our employees here do look tired, but none of them have reddish-brown eyes."

The obese, bald-headed company president hesitated halfway through his sentence. Seeing so many police officers staring at him, he gritted his teeth and said, "Well, actually, about two weeks ago, our company and a foreign business partner received threatening letters..."

Matsuda Jinpei raised an eyebrow in surprise, then remembered the email that Aoyagi Akimitsu had sent to Furuya Rei not long ago, and turned to look to the side.

Not only him, but Conan Edogawa also guessed it. He tugged at Aoyagi Akimitsu's sleeve: "Mr. Aoyagi, he's talking about Mr. Bisignano, isn't he?"

“Yes,” Aoyagi Akimitsu replied. “He told me this as soon as he saw me, but he said he had asked the president, who said it was just a prank and told him not to take it to heart.”

His tone was neither hot nor cold, but Inspector Megure was furious after hearing it.

However, the anger wasn't directed at him. This usually amiable Metropolitan Police Department inspector, who was always working overtime, glared at the president and shouted, "Why didn't you call the police when you received this kind of letter?!"

The president tried to defend himself: "Because this isn't the first time we've received such a letter! As you know, we're a game company, and our audience is mostly young people. We often receive various criticisms and even insults because of issues like the storyline, the promotional staff, and the difficulty level. Sometimes those people send us letters, but most of the time the insults subside after a while."

"Furthermore, we are about to reach a cooperation agreement with the Sindora Corporation, and we have invited one of their key personnel to today's press conference." He smiled wryly, "At such an important moment, how could I possibly call the police and cancel the press conference?"

Matsuda Jinpei had seen plenty of stubborn guys like this, and he chuckled, "He was hoping it was just a prank, but he didn't expect it to actually cause such a scene, and it ended up backfiring."

The president hesitated and stopped speaking.

Conan Edogawa is eager to solve the case and regain everyone's attention:

“Inspector Megure, before you came, the receptionist told me that she had no recollection of the man depositing anything here. Now the company president also says that the man isn’t even an employee of their company—is it possible that he is actually a ‘victim,’ and that someone else gave him the number tag and the box?”

As soon as he spoke, everyone looked at him.

Megure also temporarily set aside the matter of educating the public and pressed on, "Conan, what evidence do you have?"

"Have."

Conan Edogawa said, "Let's go see the president."

The case was actually quite simple. Before the police arrived, he had already identified the suspect by questioning the receptionist.

"The number tag on that bomb-shaped briefcase was 98. Just now in the exhibition hall, an employee accidentally took the tag out of his pocket when he was taking something out of his pocket. I picked it up and gave it to him. The number on it was also 98."

He said with certainty:

"—That uncle with glasses and the surname Takeshita might know something."

……

With Conan Edogawa pointing the finger, the sudden bombing case was resolved in the shortest possible time.

The man with glasses, who had planted the bomb, suddenly knelt down on the ground.
"The person I originally wanted to kill was Nakajima. He abandoned Yoshimi, which led to her suicide. I wanted to avenge her... But, but why did that number tag end up in the hands of a strange man?" He was actually very confused.

He had a perfectly good plan: to use the boxing machine he designed to lure this show-off man over to box, and then, when the man handed him his jacket, he would switch the number plates and hand over the box of bombs he had brought.

But why did the bomb explode halfway through, almost hitting other people?!

Nakajima's face turned pale the moment he mentioned the target.

"It was changed again halfway through, wasn't it?"

Matsuda Jinpei saw the problem: "You switched the number plate with him at the boxing machine, but you didn't expect that a few minutes later he would go to the toilet and give the switched number plate to a third person."

He recalled the scene when he came out of the toilet.

Another employee happened to come in with this man named Nakajima, and even joked that Nakajima had been inexplicably knocked down on the street.

According to Matsuda Jinpei's observation, this person was actually in good physical condition. The so-called being knocked down was intentional, so as to take the opportunity to hand over the number plate.

He was about to say something more when he suddenly stopped, reaching for his phone in his pocket, which had vibrated slightly.

Megure Juzo didn't notice his subordinate's actions. He finally understood the details of the case. He looked at the prisoner kneeling on the ground, then at the real target who had narrowly escaped, and asked one last question:
"Mr. Nakajima, why did you hand the number plate to that person? What is your relationship with him?"

His tone became much more polite, after all, the real person who planted the bomb had been found, and the man who was initially suspected was not only innocent but had also saved one of his subordinates.

"me……"

Nakajima's face turned even paler than the prisoners on the ground who had been working in vain.

Conan Edogawa stared at him, curiously awaiting his next answer.

"Police department."

Matsuda Jinpei spoke.

Conan Edogawa abruptly looked up at him, but the curly-haired, black-clad detective completely ignored his gaze and put his phone back in his pocket.
“Let’s take these two back for questioning,” he suggested. “It’s late now, and the ordinary tourists in the next room should be going home by now. They have nothing to do with this case, so there’s no need to keep them detained.”

Inspector Megure nodded, estimating the number of people at the exhibition and the time elapsed since the incident.

"Go and tell them they can leave. Everyone has worked hard this time."

“Wait a minute—”

Conan Edogawa stared wide-eyed, completely dumbfounded, and reached out to stop him. He was just one step away from hearing this; how could he be willing to leave like this?

Matsuda Jinpei looked down at him, his eyes, no longer hidden by sunglasses, revealing an undisguised scrutiny: "Conan-kun, you've done us a huge favor, do you have any more questions?"

Many people call him Conan, but Matsuda Jinpei is the first to do so in a way that makes one's heart pound. Sensing a hidden meaning in his voice, Edogawa Conan shrank back: "No, Officer Matsuda, I want to go home too."

Matsuda Jinpei looked at Aoyagi Akimitsu with a smile.

The FBI agent hadn't said anything until now, seemingly out of respect for the Japanese police's investigation and not wanting to interfere. But Matsuda Jinpei saw it clearly; after the president arrived, he kept looking at his phone.

Matsuda Jinpei could even deduce the last sentence a person uttered by the order in which they pressed the keys.

Of course she's still alive.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

This case was just a setup; I guess I'm really bad at writing original cases... (End of Chapter)