Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 413 The Uses of Vegetable Juice
"I am so sorry! I was really flustered. I heard that you are usually well-off and there is no one at home, so..." Imai Yasuhiko bowed to Shimamoto.

Everyone then realized that Shimamoto was not lying—he had given Imai a good beating, not for debt collection or any other reason, but because he was "catching a thief."

Shimamoto glared at him, but with so many police officers present, especially Shiraishi, he didn't want to say anything more. So he waved his hand and said, "Alright, alright, let's not talk about this anymore!"

"Uncle Shimamoto, so you followed Imai-nii to the hotel before? Wait... that's not right... Imai-nii wasn't here at that time." Conan innocently launched his "offensive" at this moment.

"Conan!" Ran grabbed Conan and gave Shimamoto an awkward smile—after all, the other party was a member of a violent organization, and Ran didn't want Conan to have any contact with him.

However, upon hearing Conan's words, all the police officers present looked towards Shimamoto...

“Indeed…” Megure stared at Shimamoto, clearly following Conan’s lead and also noticing the illogicality in his words.

Shimamoto, however, remained calm and said, "No, I didn't follow him. I beat him up... cough cough, after I taught him a lesson, I didn't look for him again, but... this guy is an accomplice!" As Shimamoto spoke, he pointed to Kishikawa beside him.

"Ok?"

"Eh?"

Upon hearing this, not only did Inspector Megure and the others look over with suspicion, but even Imai himself was surprised—"Do I have such an accomplice?"

"Still trying to deny it? When I was chasing you, this guy bumped into me and blocked my way. At first, I thought it was a coincidence, but later I found out that you two thieves were actually accomplices! He was keeping watch for you and deliberately creating an opportunity to escape, right?" Shimamoto said in a tone that said, "I know it all, you can't fool me."

Shimamoto was indeed stopped at the time and didn't catch up with Imai on the spot. He only managed to corner him later and give him a good beating...

However, Imai then said, "Eh? I... don't have any accomplices."

"You brat, you still haven't admitted it..." Shimamoto instinctively started rolling his tongue, but upon seeing Shiraishi, he immediately shrank back.

Megure then asked Kishikawa, "Mr. Kishikawa, why were you there at the time?"

After a moment of silence, Kishikawa said, "Because... I can't rest easy about it."

"Hmm? So, you know that Mr. Imai owes money?" Megure immediately realized the subtext.

Kishikawa simply nodded without saying a word.

Immediately, Megure looked at Imai and said, "Mr. Imai, so you told your family about this, right?"

"Well... I did mention it, but even after begging him, he still refused to lend me the money," Imai said helplessly.

The "he" here clearly refers to his father.

"As far as we know, Mr. Imai withdrew eight million yen before his death..." Megure speculated that the money was probably intended to pay off his son's debts.

However, Imai grinned and shook his head, saying, "No, I know... I wanted to 'take' it myself, but Kishikawa found out."

That's right, Imai only told his father about the debt, but when he went upstairs to steal money, he was caught by Kishikawa!
It was after that that Kishikawa began to worry about Imai and started following him.

"Go upstairs to 'get' the money? When?" Inspector Megure immediately asked upon hearing this.

This is the first time someone has admitted to seeing the money!
“I...I didn’t take it...I did come two days ago in the afternoon, but Kishikawa was there too, so I put the money back,” Imai immediately emphasized.

"Then Kishikawa stumbled upon your whereabouts? When you were taking the money? So both of you knew where Imai kept the money, right?" Mori immediately made a judgment—this was different from what Kishikawa had said before.

"That's right, the old man's money is in the drawer, not some hidden place... Wait! The money isn't gone, is it?" Imai panicked upon hearing this.

"No cash has been found so far." Inspector Megure shook his head.

"What? Then you have to help me find it!" Imai pleaded urgently.

"It seems the person who took the money is most likely the murderer." Megure said, glancing at Kishikawa briefly before looking away.

Although he didn't want to be so prejudiced, Kishikawa was just too suspicious!
Imai then looked at Kishikawa suspiciously, and Kishikawa immediately glared at him, but quickly composed himself...

Shiraishi then interjected, "Imai, how did you end up owing so much money?"

"Eh? Um... you know about virtual currency and blockchain, right?" Imai said mysteriously.

Shiraishi:……

"What did you buy?" Shiraishi pressed.

"It's not the one on the market! It's one that hasn't been officially released yet, it's still in the preparation stage..." Imai looked very confident.

Shiraishi:……

"So...did you call the police?" Shiraishi rolled his eyes.

"Huh? Call the police?" Imai was taken aback.

Megure then interjected, "Were those the guys who processed your loan? Souji is currently investigating this typical internet scam!"

Although Inspector Megure doesn't understand the internet, he knows that Souji is investigating...

"Huh? Fraud? Scam?" Imai was also surprised.

Everyone:...

"Alright, you can report this to your colleagues at Souji later." Inspector Megure shook his head helplessly.

This young Imai is truly ambitious but incompetent. It is said that the conflict between father and son became increasingly serious because he felt that Imai's management style was too arduous, requiring him to get up early every day to start preparing, and that he could not do much or make much money afterward.

"Brother Imai, do you know what that vegetable juice is for?" Conan asked, tugging at Imai's trouser leg.

"Conan, didn't I just give you money to buy a drink?" Ran quickly stopped him and apologized to Imai, "Sorry, sorry, don't worry about him..."

Well, a little kid going around asking people "What is this drink for?", it's probably because he wants to drink it, right?

"No, I'm not..." Conan wanted to explain further.

Imai shook his head and said, "Vegetable juice? I don't know... A new drink on the menu? People on a diet wouldn't come here for curry or stew..."

Clearly, Imai didn't know what it was for.

Just then, Tomi came over and whispered a report to Inspector Megure. Both of them kept glancing at Kishikawa, who remained expressionless. "Um… Mr. Kishikawa, can you explain why there are your fingerprints on Imai's cane?" Inspector Megure asked directly.

"And... the mud marks on your shoes, you must have stepped on them by the Sai River, right?" Mori noticed the marks on his shoes at this point.

If it's just fingerprints, you could say it's "something you picked up on normally," since he's the only employee and it's not surprising that he would occasionally touch the boss's cane.

However, if it can be proven that he did go to the river and that he discarded his cane, then that would be almost irrefutable evidence!
Seeing that Kishikawa remained silent, Inspector Megure continued, "Furthermore, bloodstains with the same blood type as the victim have been detected on the cane. More detailed comparison results will be available later. Mr. Kishikawa, is there anything else you would like to say?"

“I…” Kishikawa remained silent.

Seeing this, Inspector Megure signaled to Takagi and Sato that they could begin to arrest the person...

"Oh my..." Conan then uttered a very clever sound.

"Kid, what are you doing again..." Mori was going to drag him back.

However, Conan had already pulled a student ID badge from Kishikawa's bag: "Kishikawa-nii, are you studying at this cooking class?"

“That’s right, I’ll go and replenish myself this morning.” Kishikawa didn’t refuse the question.

Kishikawa then shook his head and said, "But unfortunately, a few days ago..."

"Ran-neechan! This cooking class is the one you went to before, right?" Conan immediately asked Ran.

"Hmm? Hmm, it really is... But I went to visit after school, and it was my first time there. My teacher was killed, so I never got to see Mr. Kishikawa." Ran nodded.

Shiraishi:……

Then Xiaolan suddenly remembered something and said, "Ah! That's right, this vegetable juice!"

Ran looked at Conan in surprise as she spoke, and couldn't help but say, "Could it be that you were just... Conan?"

Conan's heart skipped a beat—Oh no! The hint was too obvious; he'd become suspicious...

"Is it because you saw this vegetable juice in the cooking class that you've been wanting to drink it ever since?" Ran looked at Conan in shock.

Conan: ...

Hmm, Xiaolan realized something, but not quite!

"You brat! Just how much do you want vegetable juice?!" Mori scolded.

So you've been thinking about this vegetable juice ever since the last murder scene, and now you're thinking about this one too?
"Wait, Ran, you mean... this vegetable juice, you also saw it in that cooking class, and... Mr. Kishikawa, you went to that class too?" Sato realized the crux of the matter at this moment.

“Really… So you’re using the same brand…” Kishikawa looked away, avoiding eye contact with Sato.

"By the way, that cooking class mainly serves Western food, while this restaurant is more traditional, right?" Xiaolan said, glancing at the menu on the wall.

As we all know, curry is very Japanese and a traditional dish of the eastern island nation (just kidding).

Apart from curry, the dishes are indeed mostly Japanese-style.

"Hmm, I want to open a Western restaurant in the future," Kishikawa said sullenly.

"Sato, um... even if it's the same vegetable juice, what does that prove?" Megure asked, puzzled.

Upon hearing this, Sato's expression froze for a moment, then he said awkwardly, "Well... actually, I just thought of it."

Megure: ...

Sato, of course, had no idea what it was for, since he rarely cooked for himself!

"Alright... Brother Takagi, you..." After a moment of silence, Inspector Megure wanted Takagi to arrest the person.

However, he noticed that Takagi was deep in thought, and then he clapped his hands and said, "Ah! I know... So, Mr. Kishikawa, you were actually lying. You knew the effects of vegetable juice! No, I should say... you told Mr. Imai about the effects of vegetable juice, right?"

Kishikawa was taken aback, clearly realizing that his thoughts had been exposed.

"Brother Takagi, what are you talking about? What are the effects of vegetable juice?" Inspector Megure was taken aback by his words.

"I saw on a cooking show that adding vegetable juice when stewing meat can make the meat tender faster and make the texture more delicate. I've tried it, and adding vegetable juice can reduce the stewing time by a third," Takagi said excitedly—this is probably the joy of learning and practicing regularly.

"Eh... I didn't know that happened." Sato and Megure both had the same expression.

"Ahem, so... so what?" Megure continued to ask.

Takagi was taken aback for a moment, then said, "Um... if that's the case, then Mr. Kishikawa must have also helped to improve this curry with vegetable juice, right? Hmm... then why lie..."

Takagi hasn't figured it out yet, but he can already prove that Kishikawa is lying, though the reason is unknown.

Seeing this, Conan had no choice but to say, "I see, so vegetable juice can be used like this... Ran-neechan, next time we eat curry, how about we add vegetable juice after cooking it?"

"You have quite an appetite..." Mori looked at Conan speechlessly—you don't seem to have any problem with your appetite anywhere, do you?

"Ah! No! No, no... Why hasn't the vegetable juice been opened yet? Normally, when stewing meat like this, the vegetable juice should be added at the beginning!" Takagi realized this at this moment.

I checked before, and all the necessary ingredients for the curry have been added. It's already at the stewing stage, but the vegetable broth on the table hasn't been opened!

Indeed, Conan figured it out after discovering that Kishikawa had attended cooking classes. After all, he had learned to cook in Hawaii—although in practice, he was the type who would cut his hand while chopping vegetables, he did know the basics.

“But the curry here… um? Wait… that means…” Sato looked at the pot and gradually understood.

“So… the curry here wasn’t actually prepared by Imai, the shop owner. It’s very likely that the murderer staged the scene after killing him. And… in that case, it means the murderer was someone who ‘didn’t know the effects of vegetable juice.’” Megure said, then looked at Kishikawa.

Since Kishikawa definitely knew about the vegetable juice, and it's even very likely that he suggested the boss add the vegetable juice, it's definitely not a staged scene.

However, in this case, the cane and all the suspicious things that followed must have been Kishikawa's doing on purpose!
"Ah! I see, Kishikawa. You actually staged the scene to take the blame for Mr. Imai's son, right? In other words..." Mori confidently pointed at Imai Yasuhiko beside him: "The real culprit is you, Mr. Imai!"

"Eh? Of course it wasn't me!" Imai quickly waved his hand.

"Mr. Kishikawa, what exactly is going on?" Megure immediately pressed for an answer—regardless of whether Mori's reasoning was correct or not, judging from Kishikawa's behavior, he was indeed protecting someone.

(End of this chapter)