Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 409 The Brain
“Explicit testimony? I don’t think so.” Shiraishi said, looking at the fMRI images on the screen.

"Huh? What are you talking about? The victim just now wasn't..." Yane was about to question Shiraishi.

Shiraishi spoke up first, saying, "Something's not right, is it? Director Kurosawa, either someone's up to something, or... I think you could use this to write a groundbreaking paper that will shake the academic world."

Kurosawa's expression was indeed a bit strange at this moment, but he still said, "How could such a thing be... It's absolutely impossible. This isn't a problem with the paper; someone has fabricated it!"

"What are you talking about? Didn't the witness just say the murderer's name? What do you mean by fabrication?" Yane was still puzzled, and even a little angry at these riddle-mongers because of his confusion.

Shiraishi didn't keep him in suspense any longer, and pointed it out to him on the screen.

"This is the 'parahippocampal gyrus,' which is considered to be the part of the brain that connects to long-term memories. If Dr. Goto really remembered the murderer who attacked him, there should have been obvious activity signals here."

“However, as you can see, this is how I looked when I asked the question just now… I had absolutely no reaction. This is generally considered to be a sign that language and memory are not connected,” Shiraishi Yuuyu said.

"Wait, isn't there a reaction here?" Ozaki said, pointing to another area that was reacting.

“That’s right, there’s a reaction here, but this is ‘Maeno,’ a place where short-term memories are stored. In other words, from a neuroscience perspective, Dr. Goto’s memory has not been restored. What she said was just something she was ‘just’ prompted to say,” Shiraishi said matter-of-factly.

Ozaki and Anai were both taken aback by what they heard...

Ya Nee immediately reacted and retorted, "Wait a minute, this kind of thing can't be considered evidence at all, right? As far as I know, humans haven't fully mastered neuroscience, and this kind of image is not evidence that can be recognized by the court!"

Ozaki seemed to be deep in thought at this moment, but still nodded slowly—legally recognized evidence does indeed lag behind scientific development.

Just like how DNA couldn't initially be used as direct evidence in court...

This necessary lag is understandable, as science needs time to be validated.

Shiraishi nodded and said, "That's right, this cannot be used as evidence."

Ozaki was somewhat surprised to hear this, seemingly not expecting Shiraishi to agree so readily, while Aya was even a little smug.

However, Shiraishi added, "So... Chief Kurosawa, if this is considered long-term memory in the form of a court trial, then the fact that 'Maeno can store long-term memories' could definitely be written into a thesis, right?"

Upon hearing this, Kurosawa's eyes lit up, and he stared intently at the prosecutor and judge before him...

Seeing his eyes and the top of his head flashing at the same time, Yane immediately felt guilty.

Kurosawa clearly hoped the court would rule in that way—although deep down he felt someone was lying, but… if the court ruled that way, he could simply accept it as “that’s how it is,” and then just add a note after the cited examples; after all, many papers from the Eastern Island country are like that…

Yanai, Ozaki:......

“Um… I didn’t say that… Whether it will be adopted depends on the court’s opinion…” Yane stammered.

Prosecutors are not detectives, especially prosecutors in island nations. When faced with evidence, most of them adhere to the core principle of "don't say anything that is not conducive to prosecution"—they will deliberately ignore unfavorable evidence and even advise defense witnesses to be "cautious."

Faced with this non-compliant evidence, Yane naturally instinctively wanted to deny it.

But upon hearing Shiraishi's words, he realized what was happening!
What if this court hearing is written into a paper and later comes to the attention of other doctors and experts?
Wouldn't things get even worse by then?
then……

Yane promptly backed down.

Seeing that he was quite old, yet he was pushing the blame onto a young girl, Shiraishi couldn't help but curl his lip—although he said it was "the court's opinion," there was only one court official present, Ozaki.

Upon hearing this, Kurosawa immediately looked at Ozaki expectantly again.

Ozaki:……

“fMRI images cannot be used as valid evidence at present, but... if they are submitted in court, we will take this situation into consideration,” Ozaki said conservatively.

Yane opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but couldn't utter a word—after all, he didn't want to take responsibility for this kind of thing…

If it were Mitsurugi Reiji, he would definitely tell Kurosawa with certainty at this moment—write if you want!
He holds the belief that "the defendant is definitely the criminal, and the criminal can only be the defendant," and this belief will not waver even if it means taking responsibility for it.

In contrast, Yane lacks this conviction and, when he hesitates, inevitably wavers between two options.

Of course, this belief is not necessarily a good thing. For Yujian, "a little unfavorable evidence" is an obstacle in court. Unless it can be completely proven and he can be completely convinced that "the defendant is indeed innocent", all unfavorable evidence is just "a lie that needs to be exposed" in his eyes.

There are even more extreme examples, like the Demon Hunter when he was still a top-tier figure, who would say things like, "If a lie can't be exposed, then cover your mouth tighter," or even, "You're definitely lying, so I'll lie too"...

Seeing that Ozaki was using conservative language, Aya didn't dare to speak either. Shiraishi then muttered, "However... Maeno did react earlier, which means it's impossible that Dr. Goto said these things without her knowledge, but rather that someone taught her to say them not long ago..."

Ozaki's expression shifted, while Yanai's expression flickered even more upon hearing this.

"Dr. Kurosawa, just now, and before the court came to collect evidence last time, who had contact with Dr. Goto?" Shiraishi asked Kurosawa directly at this moment.

“I am her attending physician, but her condition is stable now. I only check on her regularly. Otherwise... besides the nurses, I spend most of my time with Dr. Wakui. It is Dr. Wakui who is helping her recover her memory. The fact that she regained some of her language function before was also thanks to Dr. Wakui,” Kurosawa said directly.

Upon hearing this, everyone else's gaze turned to Wakui...

Normally, this behavior would undoubtedly symbolize his deep affection and unwavering devotion, but now...

"Dr. Wakui, may I ask how you usually assist Dr. Goto with his recovery?" Ozaki asked proactively.

"Ahem, Judge Ozaki," Yane whispered a reminder, seemingly not wanting the judge to ask too many questions about these "unrelated people."

However, Ozaki ignored him...

Can we pretend this never happened if we don't ask him?

Then you should also see if Shiraishi Kuro agrees! Besides, he came with Eri Kisaki. Even if you don't ask now, Eri Kisaki will bring it up in court anyway.

"I was just giving Xiaohui normal rehabilitation training. I didn't know what you were talking about," Kazui said decisively.

"By the way, before the murder, Dr. Goto had an argument with Dr. Shirai because he suspected that Dr. Eto had accepted bribes from pharmaceutical companies, and even suspected that Dr. Eto was silenced because of this, right?"
"If Dr. Shirai is truly innocent in this regard, then the person who intended to kill Dr. Goto must be the one whose situation would be very precarious after Goto reveals this matter?"

Shiraishi then calmly said.

That's right, Goto Megumi may have misunderstood Dr. Shirai, but this misunderstanding is actually detrimental to the real bribe-taker, and that's probably why she was attacked!
“I see… Prosecutor Anai?” ​​Ozaki nodded and looked at Anai.

“Well… if the hospital reports it to the police, the prosecutor’s office should investigate,” Yane said, looking at Kurosawa.

These types of duty-related crimes are generally handled by the "Second Investigation Division" of the police. In addition, the prosecution often intervenes in these cases in advance and takes the lead in the investigation.

Now it was Kurosawa's turn to have a dark expression—call the hospital? Call them my ass!
Is this something that can be investigated?
It's one thing if they find out it's just a junior doctor, but what if they find out something they shouldn't have?

“I think the hospital can handle this kind of problem on its own.” Kurosawa looked at Wakui with a stern face.

“If you need assistance from the Second Investigation Division, I can put in a word,” Shiraishi offered kindly.

This type of job-related crime certainly falls under the category of intellectual crimes, and can be considered a common type of crime committed by "Search 2".

“No, absolutely not,” Kurosawa said decisively.

Although Shiraishi was introduced by Director Hiruma, Kurosawa knew very well that the "cooperation" Director Hiruma mentioned definitely did not include this kind of thing.

Putting aside other things, where did Director Hiruma get all that money from, to become the director, to stuff red envelopes into the board of directors and the association every year?

At the same time, Kurosawa had already secretly decided that he would talk to the director about this matter later—if the East Imperial Hospital was determined to find this person, it would not need the prosecutor's office or the police to get involved.

After all, for a company, admitting some things is always better than completely falling out with Dongdi Hospital...

Wajii, who was standing to the side, was clearly sweating.

Kurosawa was also surprised that young doctors these days were so bold—have you reached the level of being qualified to receive payment?
Wakui remained silent, firmly asserting that "you have no evidence."

But just then, Eri Kisaki returned to the MRI room. Previously, Shiraishi hadn't let her in, and Aya had assumed that Shiraishi, as a police officer, was wary of these lawyers, but…

“Prosecutor Ayane and Judge Ozaki are here too? Perfect timing… I was just about to go to court to submit evidence. I just noticed something strange about the hospital's CCTV footage from the time of the incident.” Eri Kisaki said, as if she had just seen the two of them.

"The hospital's surveillance footage?" Upon hearing this, Yane looked at Kurosawa with displeasure.

However, Kurosawa remained expressionless—the surveillance footage was none of his business. He could easily guess that Director Hiruma must have given instructions, which was why the person who came with Shiraishi was allowed to check the surveillance footage.

However, Yane could only feel unhappy!

The prosecutor's office has ways to get the surveillance footage from Dongdi Hospital released to whoever they don't want to see, but...

He really couldn't stop whoever wanted to show it to.

Although there are regulations governing surveillance, as long as Dongdi Hospital gives its approval, they can come up with countless excuses.

"Is there a problem with the surveillance footage?" Ozaki noticed that Attorney Kisaki seemed to have discovered a new clue.

The evidence submitted by the police should have stated that "no one was found to have entered the stairwell on the surveillance footage." They even investigated for several hours, starting from the time of Dr. Eto's death. All those who entered the stairwell either left before Goto was attacked or could not possibly have been on the floor where Goto was located.

Of course, that's not surprising, since the culprit entered through a blind spot in the surveillance footage, something Shiraishi noticed at the time...

“That’s right. I think the police probably only looked around and didn’t see any suspicious people enter, right? But I’ve discovered something… Dr. Wakui, you were also in the stairwell when Dr. Goto was attacked, right?” Eri asked Wakui at this moment.

“That’s right, I rushed over immediately, but I still didn’t make it in time…” Wakui said matter-of-factly.

However, Eri interrupted, "Oh? That's strange... The surveillance cameras did capture you coming out of the stairwell, but... why wasn't there any footage of you going in before?"

Wakui:! ! !

Wakui panicked at this moment.

If "fMRI images" are merely subjective evidence that will not be accepted, then this loophole in surveillance can be considered strong evidence!
"That blind spot in the surveillance cameras must be hard to spot, right? Dr. Wakui, why did you go to all that trouble to bypass the cameras and enter the stairwell?" Eri asked, staring intently into Wakui's eyes.

That's right, you can't tell much just by looking at whether "anyone entered," but...

But someone who "shouldn't have come out" did!

With this evidence, Hisai's attempts to deny it are futile, and most importantly...

Director Kurosawa, or rather, the "hospital administration," has now set his sights on him, which has completely thwarted Wakui's plans, leaving him without even the strength to argue.

Whether it's the police, the prosecutors, or the court, they all at least rely on evidence. But with hospitals...

Even if Wakui manages to escape punishment today with his silver tongue, he'll probably be sent to a branch hospital in the countryside tomorrow, with no future in sight!
"Mr. Wakui, Dr. Goto is your fiancée, isn't she? Even... even if you don't want her to say anything detrimental to you, I think Dr. Goto would be sad to know, but she would probably choose to protect you, right?" Eri Kisaki stared intently at Wakui and questioned him.

“No, Attorney Kiyoshi, watch your…” Yaya was about to remind her not to just assume the other person was the murderer, but Ozaki said at this moment, “Indeed, I’d like to know too.”

Wakui then broke down in his defenses and said, "Damn it! Do you think I've paid a heavy price to get to where I am today? How could I possibly give up like this, and besides..."

"And actually, you're also secretly pursuing Director Hiruma's daughter, right? So asking Dr. Goto to help you cover it up is really too dangerous," Shiraishi revealed at this point.

(End of this chapter)