Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 449 A fall into a pit, a gain in your wit!
October 5th, Thursday.

Yukio Ikukura went through the process again, meeting with his client, Junji Shikishima, to convey his reassurance and how to protect his rights.

"What's going on... Why can't I get out? Didn't that old man bail me out? And you... are you even capable?" Shikishima Junji lashed out in a fit of temper.

"Don't worry, it's been 24 hours since the summons. If you hold out for another 24 hours, they will release him no matter what..." Ikukura reassured the visibly agitated Shikishima Junji.

After the meeting, Ikuma seemed a little impatient as he left the meeting room—what an annoying client… thankfully, he was still very quick to offer a price!
"What? What do you mean there might be a problem with the case?"

Just then, as Ikuma was passing by the stairwell, he suddenly heard voices inside and instinctively retreated behind the wall to eavesdrop.

"I heard it from Narcissist. Apparently, the injuries on the corpse, besides blunt force trauma, also looked like they were from being punched... Didn't that suspect from the senator's family keep saying online that he would never hit people with his hands, otherwise his hands would get dirty?"

"Then this can't be considered evidence, right?"

"Yes, but there are indeed other directions in the investigation now. It seems that the deceased did have a conflict with other guests that day, and... the deceased's finger bones also have injuries that look like defensive counterattacks. If he was really surrounded by several people attacking him with sticks, he probably wouldn't have been able to fight back at all..."

"But... what's wrong with that kid?"

"I suspect he did hit someone at the scene, but that person didn't die. Later, another murder occurred at the scene, and it's being re-examined now."

Hey! What are you two doing smoking here again?!

As Yuanwei's voice rang out, Ikukura quickly pretended to be passing by.

……

"Member of Parliament, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs just said that, at the behest of Member of Parliament Katayama, detectives from the Beika Police Station went to check the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' files on labor immigrants... It seems that Shiraishi Kuro visited Member of Parliament Katayama last night."

"Member of Parliament, detectives from the Miho Police Station have found an illegal immigrant and taken him to the crime scene, apparently to identify something."

"Member of Parliament, at Fukuman Beef Rice Bowl restaurant, a customer has been arrested, apparently... after having an argument with the victim."

……

The search by the Mika Police Department suddenly became strange.

Not only did they stop interrogating Junji Shikishima, but the focus of the search also seemed to have changed.

At first, Jundai Shikishima was a little uneasy, thinking that the Beika Bureau was preparing something, but the more he looked at the Beika Bureau's actions, the stranger they seemed!
"Chief Inspector Yan Tu, is the situation at the Beika Police Station... still suspecting that my son is involved in the murder that night?" Shikishima asked Yan Tu at this moment.

Indeed, Yan Tu Haici was visiting the Shikishima family. The two were drinking tea and talking about the matter of "the young master of Shikishima being misunderstood by the Beika Bureau".

Yan Tu's expression was strange at first, but after hearing the rest, he suddenly smiled: "Congressman Shikishima, I think... your son must have indeed intimidated those illegal immigrants before, right?"

"What do you mean by this?" Shikijima frowned, feeling that Yan Tu was being incredibly tactless.

No matter what you think in your heart, you shouldn't say it out loud!

"Don't worry, I'm just speculating... I think that night, your son might have gone to warn those illegal immigrants again. Of course, your son wouldn't kill anyone; it's just that the location of the 'warning' happened in the same place as the murder!" Yan Tu suddenly said.

“What? But…” Shikishima frowned at this moment.

"The purpose of going to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to check the foreigner's registration was to determine who the foreigner who had been warned was, and to identify him at the scene. After that, the actual murderer was arrested..."

“Because many of those people have visa problems, I think those who are only ‘warned’ probably won’t report it to the police. That’s why Director Mihua personally went to pull strings and investigate the real victims,” Yan Tu said matter-of-factly.

Shikishima was still frowning, feeling that this reasoning was somewhat perfunctory.

Yan Tu then added, "Of course, whether this is true or not remains to be verified, and... it's quite easy to verify!"

As luck would have it, Yan Tu's phone rang at that very moment.

"Hey, this is Yan Tu... Hahaha, yeah, long time no see... What? Really... I'm so sorry to have troubled you, I'll treat you to a meal later!"

After Yan Tu hung up the phone, a cold glint flashed in his eyes.

“A classmate of mine who works at headquarters heard that the forensic department at headquarters recently received a forensic sample from the Mihua Police Station… It was a biometric consistency comparison, and the result proved that the DNA belonged to two different people,” Yan Tu said excitedly.

Shikishima still looked somewhat bewildered.

Yan Tu explained, "So... it's very likely that biometric information from two people was collected at the scene!"

Upon hearing this, Shikishima seemed to understand, but still remained silent.

At that moment, Shikishima's phone rang...

“Hello, this is Shikishima… Attorney Ikukura, my son has caused you trouble… What? A new suspect may have been discovered? Is that so… Okay… I understand, I… I’ll think about it.”

After receiving the call from Ikukura, Shikishima immediately stood up and paced back and forth in the living room several times.

At this moment, Yan Tu also made a phone call, seemingly instructing his men to probe the autopsy results at UDI...

As Yan Tu hung up the phone, Shikishima sat back down and said, "It seems it was indeed just a misunderstanding... Well, it seems that my son did misunderstand when he was 'warning' those people."

"I think it was those people who attacked your son first," Yan Tu said with a shrug.

“Since it’s just a misunderstanding… well, I’ll go and pay a visit to Chief Shiraishi,” Shikishima said after a moment of silence.

Yan Tu frowned upon hearing this: "Does this mean that Representative Shikishima is not going to investigate the Mika Police Department's entrapment operation, the assault on your son, and the cover-up of the police officer who committed the assault?"

Upon hearing this, Shikishima shook his head and said, "I think it's just a misunderstanding."

Shikishima prefers a "transaction"—he won't pursue the Mika Police Station's mistake in the murder case, and the Mika Police Station won't concern itself with any assault case!

Firstly, Shiraishi was renowned for his power, so even if there were flaws, he wouldn't dare to press his advantage; secondly, if it weren't for this murder case, Shiraishi and he wouldn't have had any conflict of interest, or even...

Given Shiraishi's popularity in Beika Town, Shikishima didn't want to have a conflict with this "popular celebrity police officer representative"!
“If Representative Shikishima thinks that he can make a deal with Shiraishi Kuro to get him to ignore the previous cases, then I think we should forget about it,” Yan Tu said directly. Shikishima frowned upon hearing this: “What does Yan Tu’s head mean…”

"Bai Shihei is a man who is never swayed by either soft or hard tactics, and... I think that after realizing he had made a mistake, he didn't release your son immediately because he wanted to cut the Gordian knot and pin the blame for the previous attack on your son to avoid being held accountable for arresting the wrong person!" Yan Tu commented bluntly.

Shikishima then settled down again...

“Moreover… there are quite a few people who hate Shiraishi. Does Representative Shikishima really want to make peace with him at this time?” Yan Tu shook his head and then said, “Of course, I’m not giving you legal advice in my capacity as the head of the department, but just explaining this to you as a friend.”

Just then, Yan Tu's phone vibrated again. After glancing at the text message, Yan Tu smiled and said, "Indeed, many of the injuries on the corpse were from punches. Moreover, judging from the defensive wounds on the hands and arms, it should have been killed in a back-and-forth fight, not a one-sided one."

Seeing that all the circumstances had clearly indicated that the Beika Police Station had mistaken the murderer in the murder case, Shikishima stood up at this moment!

"Before that, my son had some fights with those people..." Shikishima said in a deep voice.

Yan Tu retorted directly, "What mutual fighting? This time, such a big mistake has been made. None of the immigrants have explained themselves clearly. I think the previous police reports were mostly lies!"

Upon hearing this, Shikishima slowly nodded.

Upon seeing this, Yan Tu finally laughed.

In fact, Yan Tu was slightly disappointed just now—if Shikishima's son really killed someone, then as long as he could get the person out, it wouldn't just be a matter of personal favor. With such a big handle, Shikishima would have no choice but to obey him from now on!

However, it now seems that the situation is not like that...

However, Yan Tu thought again, "This is good too." Not only can it be a blow to Shiraishi Hei, but also...

Shikishima should at least remember this great favor she owed him!

Although not as impactful as a murder case, the attacks that lasted for two years make it difficult to simply shirk responsibility.

Not to mention, that Shikishima Junji looks like an idiot, and Yan Tu has already decided to make good use of him in the future to indirectly control Shikishima Junji!
……

"Huh? You admit you hit someone?" Kuroki asked, staring at Shikishima in front of him.

Just now, Junji Shikishima met with his lawyer again, and then suddenly changed his story during the interrogation!
"No, that doesn't count as hitting someone, does it? I was just warning them to get out of my country. It's those people who can't read the room and don't know how to read the air that caused the conflict with me... Yes, that's it, including Sunday night." Shikishima said confidently.

"So that night, you were at the crime scene and beat up a foreigner, right?" Kuroki ignored his fallacies.

“Yes, but not the one that died,” Shikishima said confidently.

"Oh?" Kuroki said, taking two photos from his pocket and placing them on the table. "The one you called is..."

wow-

Shikishima swept the photo to the ground and said dismissively, "How would I know? Do you think someone from a pest control company would remember what pests look like?"

Kanzaki, who was standing to the side, was very angry and wanted to say something, but was stopped by Kuroki. Kuroki then calmly looked at him and asked, "But... Mr. Shikishima, at the place where you confessed to assaulting someone, someone has died, and died from being beaten... Don't you have any explanation for this?"

“It’s none of my business,” Shikishima shrugged.

"How do you know that two people were attacked there that night?" Kuroki pressed.

“It’s none of my business,” Shikishima continued dismissively.

"If that's the case..." Kuroki was about to say something when there was a knock on the interrogation room door.

Kuroki then greeted Kanzaki and went outside, seemingly to talk to a colleague. During this time, Kanzaki glared angrily at Shikishima but kept his mouth shut—interrogation cannot be conducted when one is alone.

Even when Shikishima provoked him, Kanzaki completely ignored him.

A moment later, Kuroki returned, his face full of relief.

“Your lawyer just submitted the baton you used to attack my colleague as evidence… Hmm, it’s already under forensic examination. It seems the interrogation can be put on hold for now. We can discuss many things after the forensic results are in,” Kuroki said matter-of-factly.

"Hehe, that incompetent police officer deserved it! And after the test, we found out that I didn't kill anyone at all... Hahaha... Waaaaah!" Shikishima shouted in the interrogation room.

However, even Kanzaki ignored him this time.

"Do you recognize this?" Kuroki asked, taking out a photo of the murder weapon that had just been delivered.

“That’s right, this is my pest control tool… We all use sticks, after all, using your hands will get you dirty, it’s cleaner and more hygienic to use a stick, hahaha…” Shikishima laughed wildly.

He was initially a little scared because someone had died, but now Shikishima is very confident that he has only beaten a few people and the police can't do anything to him.

"Did you use this to attack my colleagues last night, and on Sunday night, to attack foreigners passing through the underground tunnel?" Kuroki asked methodically.

"Yes, that's right, don't make me say it so many times!" Shikishima became impatient first.

However, Kuroki still took his time and patiently used photos of the murder weapon to ask Shikishima for details of the attack.

"So you were the one who delivered the final blow? Lying and taking the blame for someone else won't work here, because they'll check the fingerprints later," Kuroki asked calmly.

"Of course it's me! I'm the team leader!" Shikijima said proudly.

“Hmm… He was both the mastermind and the mastermind behind the execution.” Kuroki said, handing over the detailed record to Shikishima for signature.

At this moment, Shikishima adopted the demeanor of an idol being asked for an autograph by fans, casually taking the pen and signing his name under surveillance.

After signing the testimony, Kuroki breathed a sigh of relief as he put away his statement and said, "Actually, I don't know why you're so sure. You even said that there was an attack first and then a murder that day... I only know that if the forensic results match the victim's biological evidence and the fatal wound matches the murder weapon, then it's irrefutable evidence."

Kuroki's calm demeanor infuriated Shikishima, who, despite her tension, retorted, "What nonsense are you spouting? The person I hit isn't dead! A test will prove it! You're faking it, you're trying to fake it!"

"Sorry, we don't understand what you're saying. As of now, we haven't found any injured people at the crime scene." Kuroki shrugged and left the interrogation room with Kanzaki.

(End of this chapter)