Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 424 Solving the Case in a Second

“I was just about to ask that… Sonoko-san! What do you mean by saying my father was attacked? Where is he?” Yuzo asked hurriedly.

“This…” Sonoko stared blankly at the three of them.

Ayako and the others looked at the three people in front of them in surprise...

Although their hairstyles and overall demeanor are different, if they wear masks and only their eyes and thick eyebrows are visible, they look exactly the same!
Shiraishi then spoke up: "Mr. Tomizawa was attacked last night and suffered a serious head injury... He has now been transferred back to Tokyo, and you should receive notification soon."

"What? Wait, is the old man's injury serious?" Second Brother Da Er asked hurriedly.

"He's very heavy. Although he's out of danger, it's still uncertain whether he'll wake up," Shiraishi said honestly.

"How could this happen... Hmm? Wait a minute, are you saying that it was Third Brother who attacked Father?" The eldest brother, Taiichi, frowned and looked at Yuzo.

"Huh? How is that possible... I didn't see my father at all after I returned to the villa last night..." Yuzo immediately retorted.

“Indeed, all we saw were people wearing masks. Although we thought it was Yuzo at the time, but…” Ayako looked uncertainly at Taichi and Tatsuji.

But now it seems that what we saw back then might not have been any of them!
"What do you mean? Are you saying that we attacked Father?" Taiyi said angrily.

"Anyway, what we see is just one of you..." Sonoko muttered resentfully.

Seeing this, Yokomizo stopped Taiichi: "Alright, now we need to understand the situation first. Can you tell me where you were last night?" He then looked at Yuzo and said: "Mr. Yuzo, you should be nearby, right?"

Yuzo nodded and said, "That's right, I was in my family's villa... Dad went to the Suzuki family's villa to borrow a TV to watch the game because the satellite signal was broken. But I went back to the villa first and stayed in the studio the whole time. I fell asleep in the middle of it."

Upon hearing this, Conan immediately asked, "Ran-neechan! We saw the culprit at 11:30, right?"

“That’s right, it only took about five minutes in total,” Xiaolan nodded.

"It seems the time of the incident was very precise... Mr. Yuzo, were you sleeping the whole time?" Yokomizo asked further.

"Huh? 11:30... I remember around that time, a friend called me, and I woke up and chatted for a while... Let me check the call log... This is, from 11:25 to 11:32." Yuzo said, showing his phone to Yokomizo.

“Friend? Okay, we’ll go and verify with him later.” Yokomizo nodded.

Xiong San seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

“Last night? I was in Okinawa last night and only returned to Tokyo this morning. I drove here afterwards, so the airport should have my check-in record,” Da Er said immediately.

Taiichi then added, "I was in Osaka last night..."

Conan listened attentively from the side—it's a choice between three options! That's my specialty! This time, I'll try my best to beat Chief Inspector Shiraishi!

Just as Conan was preparing to listen to the three testimonies and then try to find the loopholes in them...

“You weren’t in Osaka last night,” Shiraishi interrupted abruptly.

"Huh? You...I..." Taiyi was also stunned by the drink and didn't react for a moment.

"What? Superintendent Shiraishi, you mean..." Yokomizo immediately looked at Shiraishi.

“You were here last night, attacking Mr. Tomizawa Tetsuji. How could you possibly be in Osaka?” Shiraishi said matter-of-factly.

"What nonsense are you talking about? I'm in Osaka... I have proof! I... I also watched last night's baseball game, so..." Taichi was about to explain his alibi logic.

However, Shiraishi interrupted him directly, saying, "Impossible. Although I don't know what kind of fake document you're trying to get, you were definitely here last night."

"I..." Taiyi was extremely anxious.

Da Er, standing nearby, frowned and said, "Hey, are you a police officer too? My brother said he has evidence, why are you..."

"Because I saw it, it was you who attacked Tomizawa Tetsuji," Shiraishi said confidently.

"What? Inspector Shiraishi, you saw his face?" Yokomizo exclaimed in surprise.

Ayako and the others looked at Shiraishi with puzzlement—didn't we see it together? Could it be... that the murderer tried to ambush Mr. Tomizawa while Shiraishi was taking him to the hospital?

How bold do you have to be?
However, Shiraishi shook his head and said, "No, I saw it with everyone else, and they were definitely wearing masks."

"Then tell me what I am..." Taiyi said angrily.

“Because I recognized you, I’m pretty sure it’s you,” Shiraishi said confidently.

Seeing that everyone still didn't seem to understand, Shiraishi said more clearly: "In the end... you all look different. The most obvious difference is that you can't actually unlock each other's facial recognition on your phones, right?"

That's right, there are no other tricks...

Shiraishi simply saw it!

After carefully examining the three of them, Yokomizo said awkwardly, "Um... Inspector Shiraishi..."

"Don't worry, this is my official testimony. I saw Mr. Tomizawa Taiichi with my own eyes. If he or his lawyer has any doubts, they can try in court with photos or in person, even if they wear masks or do it online. I guarantee I will never make a mistake," Shiraishi said confidently.

Taiyi:……

"How could you... how could you do this... do you even have any reasoning? What are you doing..." Taiyi suddenly seemed to have completely lost his composure.

At first glance, Shiraishi's words seem like "irresponsible and reckless testimony," but Shiraishi also said that even in court, if the opposing side questions this point, Shiraishi can cooperate by conducting simulation experiments...

He can do it as many times as he wants; Shiraishi is confident he'll never admit a mistake!

This isn't a question of whether it's scientific or not...

Shiraishi, a superintendent of the Metropolitan Police Department, naturally carries immense weight in his testimony.

"Only third-rate mystery novelists are obsessed with mystery." Shiraishi deliberately provoked him—Tomizawa Taichi was a mystery novelist, and this was also the main point of contention between him and his father.

"I...you...wait!" Taiichi was clearly anxious at this point, and suddenly remembered something and said, "You thought it was Yuzo back then, right?" "No, although I didn't know it was you, I recognized it wasn't Yuzo at a glance," Shiraishi said matter-of-factly.

"You're lying! You clearly told them to be careful of Yuzo! So you... hiccup." Taiichi said, then paused.

Conan, who had been looking conflicted, immediately realized something and looked over when he heard Taiichi say that.

Shiraishi shook his head and said, "No, I knew at the time that the murderer was impersonating Tomizawa Yuzo, so I said that on purpose to prevent him from returning when I took the injured to the hospital and harming Ayako and the others, or from trying to silence Mr. Yuzo... But I didn't mention that, did I? At the time, only Ayako, Sonoko, Ran... and the murderer who hadn't gone far could have heard it... Oh, right, and this little brat too."

Taiichi realized something was wrong as soon as he said it, and sure enough, Shiraishi seized on the loophole and questioned him forcefully.

“I…” Taiyi’s face turned pale at this moment.

"Or, to verify your clumsy false testimony, you could try saying it out loud and then let Inspector Yokomizo and the others challenge you?" Shiraishi asked sarcastically.

Taiyi:……

Taiichi fell silent at this point. He had indeed played tricks with his alibi, but...

“No one would want to look at a puzzle where the answer is obvious from the start, or that the evidence is fake,” Taiyi said after a moment of silence.

"B-Big brother, did you really attack Father? Why did you hit him so hard..." Xiong San looked at his older brother in shock.

"It must be because your father is against you writing novels, right? Actually, it's the same for me... I was so scared just now. I didn't just get back this morning. I actually went to Haomei's place last night... The old man has always been against my marriage to Haomei, so I have to do it secretly." Da Er said with a sigh of relief.

Yokomizo kept glaring at him from the side—that's right, Tatsuji's alibi was also forged, but the reason wasn't that he had done anything illegal; it just so happened that when the police asked him for his alibi, he brought up this fabricated story.

"Hehe, it's more than just opposition... I've been having a really tough time lately, getting my manuscripts rejected one after another..." Taiyi said, clenching his fist.

"Huh? Then why not kill the editor?" Shiraishi was still a little puzzled—if the manuscript couldn't be approved, logically... cough cough, shouldn't a murderer's logic be to kill the editor?
"If it were just a matter of my ability, that would be fine, but I recently overheard my editor let it slip... It turns out that it was that old man who bribed editors at several publishing houses, forcing them to reject my manuscript!" Taiyi said angrily.

"Alright, Mr. Tomizawa Taichi, let's talk about the rest back home!" Seeing this, Yokomizo gestured to the detective next to him to handcuff him.

Just then, Shiraishi's phone rang.

Shiraishi glanced at the caller ID and saw that it was Uncle Shiro—he hadn't called Ayako, but had called him directly… This surprised Shiraishi slightly.

“Uncle Shiro… Uncle Tomizawa has woken up? That’s great… Hmm? Do you want to say a few words to me? Sure…”

Bai Shi's expression turned strange upon hearing this.

Tomizawa Tetsuji was lucky; he woke up so quickly, and the aftereffects didn't seem to be as severe as Goto's...

Although both cases involved severe blows to the head, the brain is like that—a slight difference can lead to a huge error.

The difference between being unlucky and lucky is enormous.

"Shiraishi... were you there...? The police... are still investigating... right?" Tomizawa spoke with some difficulty, clearly indicating that it hadn't been without its effects.

“Uncle Tomizawa, don’t worry, we’ve solved the case,” Shiraishi said matter-of-factly.

"What case has been solved... The robber... has he been caught...? That damned robber... stole my... watch... worth tens of millions... " Tomizawa said excitedly.

Of course, he wasn't really heartbroken about losing those tens of millions; a watch worth tens of millions was just a casual item for him, but...

“I’m sorry, Uncle Tomizawa, I understand how you feel, but… attempted murder is a serious crime, and even you cannot treat it as a family matter,” Shiraishi said solemnly.

Shiraishi realized that Tomizawa mainly wanted to portray the incident as the work of an "outsider"—if it was a robber, it would be difficult to catch the person after they escaped.

and……

Shiraishi believed that Tomizawa would definitely recognize his son!
Shiraishi even suspects that, as a father, he should have been able to identify which one it was, yet he still wanted to protect the murderer.

"Wait a minute... Chairman Suzuki told me..." Tomizawa was a little out of breath at this point.

However, Shiraishi still said, "No one will do. Even if Uncle Shiro comes to me, I will give the same answer... Moreover, Mr. Tomizawa, I think you should also reflect on yourself. The reason why things have come to this point is because your controlling emotions towards your family members have expanded without limit, right?"
"Insisting that your will is the best for everyone is wishful thinking. What Mr. Taiyi needs now is legal punishment, not your protection."

Shiraishi refused Tomizawa's plea...

Seeing that Baishi was standing in front, Henggou waved his hand and ordered his men to take away Taiyi, who was in tears.

……

Taiyi must have felt really bad—he had planned the fake documents and tricks for a long time, but he didn't even have a chance to say them out loud.

Shiraishi immediately asserted, "What I saw was you..."

As a self-righteous criminal, especially a "mystery novelist," this kind of arrest must have been incredibly difficult.

It can only be said that he was hit by Kid and Vermouth's spells—Shiraishi has some training...

After his first encounter with Kid and becoming a magical boy, Shiraishi consciously trained his ability to recognize subtle facial features, especially after meeting Vermouth, which he further intensified his training.

Kidd is alright, at least he's not dangerous, but Vermouth, if you're not careful, you could suffer a great loss at any time!

With Shiraishi's "observational skills" and "eyesight," after specifically training these abilities, it would be no problem for him to "identify multiples by just looking at their eyes."

Of course, even if an ordinary person had this ability, they wouldn't be able to use it to identify Kid or Vermouth—because their disguises already have the added benefit of "supernatural power."

Even facial recognition cameras can be interfered with by this force. Only more advanced recognition methods, such as pupil identification, can break through their "magic" effect.

However, Shiraishi is different. Shiraishi himself also possesses "supernatural powers" as a magical boy, so he is much less affected by "magic" effects.

"Hey, wasn't your approach to solving this case a bit too hasty and risky? What if you hadn't managed to get any information out of him, or what if he wasn't the culprit?" Conan whispered to Shiraishi, questioning him.

(End of this chapter)