Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 456 "Public" and "Pine"

Mydriatic eye drops...helicopter accident...it seems this time it's for real!
Shiraishi knew in his heart that if Conan, who could pilot helicopters, hadn't happened to be there, Tsuji Hiroki would definitely be dead. Whoever went up with him would have to go down with him.

Compared to organophosphate poisoning and indiscriminate crossbow shooting, the scale of this "killing" operation was significantly larger, almost a zero-sum game with no chance of survival...

After all, the probability of "coincidentally having a primary school student who can fly a helicopter accompany you" is not something that needs to be considered.

and……

“There’s something wrong with this Tsuji Hiroki!” Gen said to Director Shiraishi privately at that moment.

"Why do you say that?" Shiraishi's tone wasn't one of questioning, but rather more like an assessment.

"Compared to Mr. Tsuji, Detective Mori is clearly more concerned about Mrs. Towako. We were at the Towako nightclub all night, but Detective Mori didn't even think of him. Moreover... in terms of the relevance of their names and codes, Towako is obviously more 'ten'. If the real target of the culprit is Detective Mori, there's no reason for him to choose Tsuji Hiroki. I'm afraid... Mr. Tsuji is the real target!" Gen said confidently.

That's right. Although Mori himself believed that Tsuji Hiroki was attacked because of him, Gen, who had been with Mori since yesterday afternoon, didn't think so. "If you really had such deep feelings for Tsuji Hiroki, you wouldn't have only thought of him this morning!"

If something were to happen to Attorney Kisaki and Inspector Megure, who were attacked before, it would indeed cause Mori great distress. Even Professor Agasa would be somewhat worse off, let alone Tsuji Hiroki, who is just a "passerby".

To make his enemies suffer, he killed a golf buddy he only saw once every month or two?
What kind of thought process is this...?

Moreover, Gen had previously attempted to profile the prisoner—the reason for using playing cards, besides framing Murakami Takeshi, was also because the prisoner himself was somewhat of a perfectionist, or rather, had obsessive-compulsive disorder. However, even from this perspective, Towako was more suitable.

After listening to Yuan's analysis, Shiraishi nodded.

These white stones certainly knew this too, they were just observing the source's reaction.

"So we should focus on investigating Tsuji Hiroki's social connections; the culprit might be among them!" Gen had already made up his mind.

Shiraishi then added, "Well... there are also people after the number 'ten'! The culprit made such a big fuss because he probably didn't just want to kill one person. The reason he focused his attention on Detective Mouri is probably because the person he wanted to kill happened to have a name that matched the number and also knew Detective Mouri."

Other matters can be tested on the police officers at the station, but...

We cannot gamble with lives that could potentially be saved!

“Yes!” Yuan replied immediately.

Having already anticipated this step, we must now be even more careful to prevent anyone from actually being killed.

After Yuan left the hospital stairwell, Shiraishi said to the people below the stairs, "Come out."

I saw...

Conan emerged from the blind spot under the stairs.

Upon seeing this, Shiraishi couldn't help but grin—what kind of "innate concealed sacred body" is this? You didn't actually study invisibility psychology in Hawaii, did you...?

"You also found the culprit's behavior strange?" Conan, despite having bandages wrapped around his head, still brought up the case as soon as he spoke.

"That Tsuji Hiroki... he certainly didn't stage it himself, right?" Shiraishi asked rhetorically.

Because the possibility was slim, Shiraishi hadn't mentioned it before, but...

Shiraishi was not on the helicopter at the time and could not assess the situation.

Conan's face twitched upon hearing this, and he said, "Definitely not!"

If this was an act, then he was far too ruthless.

In an effort to find any clues about the perpetrator, the police have thoroughly searched his car—and if all goes as expected, his eye drops were switched in the car while he was checking the windows of his house.

Although no other fingerprints were found, a "10 of Spades" was found—perhaps because it had already attracted the attention of the police, the perpetrator no longer played abstract games, but directly used playing cards as his symbol of the crime.

When Shiraishi and Conan returned to Tsuji Hiroki's hospital room, Mori was talking animatedly...

"As for 'nine,' I can't think of one right now, but 'eight'... I already have a clue about 'eight'!" Mori said confidently, "Sawaki Kohei, the top of his 'Kou' character is an 'eight'!"

"Lord? I see..." Megure seemed to be truly convinced.

"Who is this Mr. Sawaki Kohei?" Shiratori asked hurriedly.

"The bartender at the restaurant I frequent is a wine expert!" Maori explained.

Shiraishi, Conan...

Shiraishi and Conan, who had just returned to the ward, were also speechless.

If the criminal is indeed "Murakami Takeshi" and the target is "Sawaki Kohei", what kind of logic is that?

【Kogoro Mouri, I'll make you regret this too! I'll kill the bartender at the restaurant you went to! Hehehe, wail and suffer!】—Isn't such a threat a bit too weak?
“If you really want to put it that way… Detective Mouri, when you were a detective, your superior was Superintendent Matsumoto, right?” Shiraishi interjected at this point.

“That’s right… Speaking of which, Superintendent Matsumoto recently became the head of the First Investigation Division,” Mori remarked.

Because of his promotion to head of the "First Investigation Division", Matsumoto's police rank was naturally raised to "Superintendent".

"Wait! Section Chief Matsumoto... Matsu..." Megure then realized what was happening.

“Well, if the ‘fairness’ in ‘fairness’ counts as eight, then there’s no reason why the ‘matsu’ in ‘matsumoto’ shouldn’t count, right? We could even talk about ‘moto’…it’s easier to become a target, isn’t it?” Shiraishi asked matter-of-factly.

"Brother Mori, are you and that Sawaki Kohei very close?" Inspector Megure asked quickly.

If Sawaki Kohei and Mori are very close, then it is still possible that Sawaki Kohei will be attacked; otherwise, the one in danger is more likely to be Superintendent Matsumoto.

Shiraishi specifically asked, "If Sawaki and Matsumoto fell into the water at the same time, who would you save first?"

gross profit:……

"Well... I just saw him a few days ago, haha... haha," Mori said somewhat awkwardly.

Mori's subtext was that they weren't actually that close; they had only just met. Matsumoto, though his former boss, hadn't seen him in a very long time, so naturally, he hadn't thought of him.

"That's not entirely true. Detective Mori is also more concerned about Mrs. Towako, but the criteria for judging the culprit may not completely align with Detective Mori's thinking," Shiratori said thoughtfully.

Tsuji Hiroki:……

Does this matter really have to be discussed in my hospital room?

“No, Section Chief Matsumoto is one of our police officers, and when Murakami was arrested, he was my and Mori’s direct superior!” Inspector Megure was now more inclined to believe that Murakami would hate Matsumoto more. “However, if Inspector Matsumoto is a superintendent, he should be able to take care of himself.” Shiraishi covered his face slightly.

Conan, standing to the side, looked at him speechlessly—you yourself no longer believe that the murderer is Murakami Jo, yet you're still here watching the show and making things worse, aren't you?

“That’s true… Section Chief Matsumoto is off today, let’s go visit him at home,” Inspector Megure said, still feeling uneasy.

Shiraishi did not correct him.

After all, having Mori and the First Investigation Division "perform" now would make the criminals lower their guard and think that their smokescreen was effective.

The Mikasa Police Department will then take this opportunity to intensify the verification of his identity!
……

Meanwhile, Sawaki Kohei looked at his phone with some irritation.

"Why hasn't Mori called yet? Should I hint again that my 'public' character has an 'eight' in it? And that Tsuji Hiroki guy... he's really lucky!"

That's right, the culprit is actually Sawaki Kohei.

(We won't deliberately hide the original work from the TV series.)
From the very beginning, his target was not Kogoro Mouri, or the people around him.

The only problem was that the people he wanted to kill all happened to know Mori, and their names all contained numbers...

Just as Shiraishi had guessed, he investigated Murakami Takeshi's past and subsequently devised this serial murder plan!
but……

"The police have all been fooled, but... Tsuji Hiroki is really lucky... Should we let him go? Hehehe... How could that be... They all have to die!" Sawaki muttered to himself.

Hiroki Tsuji hadn't really offended him much; he had simply "made a joke about his sommelier badge at a party."

Even so, Zemu already wanted to kill him!

If it were just him, Ze Mu wouldn't have gone to such extremes, but...

Just like the criminal profile of Gen, Sawaki Kouhei is very paranoid and has self-destructive and vengeful tendencies. When he decides to kill someone, he has already planned to take even those who have only slightly offended him with him—after all, killing one is killing, and killing ten is also killing!

Especially now, although none of his real targets have died, in order to hide himself and exonerate himself, he has actually already stabbed Murakami Takeshi.

He doesn't even care about accidentally hurting people who have never wronged him, like Eri Kisaki or Professor Agasa!

only……

Sawaki had thought that even though they were already counting down to "ten," Mori still hadn't contacted him...

"Aren't you a famous detective? We just met a few days ago, didn't we? Gong... Ba..." Ze Mu muttered to himself at home all day.

As time ticked by and there was still no word from Mori, Zeki finally couldn't wait any longer and risked calling Mori—after all, if Mori didn't come to him, he wouldn't be able to move forward with his plan.

If Mori doesn't approach him, he simply can't get involved in the case in a legitimate way.

"Detective Mouri, I have news about the wine you asked me to inquire about. Tonight... Hmm? You have something to do tonight? Oh... Which old superior? Um... Officer Matsumoto... Haha... Ha... Okay."

After hanging up the phone, Ze Mu tore up the newspaper in a fit of impotent rage at home...

The newspaper featured a photo of "Xu Shengyi"—Xu Shengyi was a wealthy tycoon, an investor and employer of Ze Mu, who recently wanted to open a luxury winery and entrust it to Ze Mu to manage, but...

Zemu felt that he didn't understand wine at all, and even used inferior products to pass off as high-quality ones. He didn't respect himself just because he had a few stinking coins... so he decided to kill him too!
Asahi Katsuyoshi's name also contains the character "nine," but he and Mori only met once. Sawaki was also present at the time, and Sawaki estimated that Mori might not remember him.

Sawaki had already prepared to hint at Asahi Katsuyoshi when Mori came to him, so that he could create an opportunity to wipe out those bastards.

who knows……

Mori didn't even come!

After his risky probing, he discovered that Mori was at some "former boss's house." At this point, Sawaki, even more risky and strangely, asked another question, only to learn that Mori's former boss's surname was "Matsumoto."

Clearly, Mori didn't not realize that "gong" had an "eight" in it, but rather that "song" also had an "eight" in it!
"Kill you! Kill you! I should have killed this Matsumoto bastard first! Oh well... if Mori doesn't come... then I'll kill the others tonight!" Sawaki said angrily.

However, Zemu was already prepared to kill the other targets first.

Because today presents a golden opportunity!

Those bastards are gathering at Xu Shengyi's newly opened winery, which is actually a building on the sea...

Zemu even prepared bombs, he can't just give up, can he?

Then Murakami Jo died in vain, didn't he?
"Forget it... forcibly inviting Mori now would seem strange. Although I missed out on Kogoro Mori, as long as I kill the others and... drag myself into it and soak in the water, they'll think it was Murakami Jo who did it!"

Zemu had already planned that at the subsequent banquet at sea, there would be six people: nine, seven, six, four, three, two... waiting for him to suffer along with them. Maoli and those stupid police officers would naturally realize that "gong" is actually "eight"!
"As for Mori and that high school detective... hehehe, there will be opportunities later!" Sawaki sneered.

Why did he still want to "finish him off" even though Mori and Shinichi hadn't provoked him?
As the source is described, he has obsessive-compulsive disorder and is a perfectionist—how could there only be five and one missing?

They were lucky to escape death, but the attack will still happen!

……

Meanwhile, Shiraishi and the others were at the Matsumoto house, preparing for dinner.

Although he came to issue a warning, Matsumoto invited them to dinner—his daughter, Sayuri Matsumoto, cooked the meal.

"I'm really sorry to trouble you, Sayuri... You need to rest, right?" Megure said apologetically.

"It's okay, I've fully recovered!" Little Lily said with a smile.

Well, on February 14, 2017, Sayuri Matsumoto was poisoned at her engagement party. Now it's May 21, 2016, which means... three months have passed.

Just then, Shiraishi's phone rang.

Upon glancing at it, Shiraishi noticed that it was the phone number for the Criminal Investigation Division of the Beika Police Station.

"Excuse me... Hello, this is Shiraishi... What? You know who the murderer is? And you even roughly know where the murderer will strike next?"

Shiraishi was also surprised to receive the call, and everyone looked over when they heard his words.

Section Chief Matsumoto here...

It doesn't look like anyone attacked us.
(End of this chapter)