Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 488 Ghost Apartment
what--

At that moment, screams rang out from the Poirot Apartments in Beika-cho 7-chome...

After letting out a scream, Yotsuya Iwao took a long time to catch his breath.

Just now, he came out of the public restroom on the first floor and happened to see Shiraishi following Otonashi in...

At that moment, Yotsuya even wondered if it was the old man Otonashi's time to die, or his own? Why did he seem to see his "ghost" behind him?
After calming down, Yotsuya realized that it wasn't anything strange, but rather...

Director Mikasa!

"So...so it's Chief Mikasa...sorry." Yotsuya patted his large chest.

Yotsuya has the typical physique of a typical otaku: his body and face are chubby, while his limbs are only average.

"By the way, you've come here... perhaps to investigate the ghost story?" Yotsuya asked with a burning gaze.

"No, I just heard that this place is haunted, and I happened to see some high school girls exploring here. I was worried that this would make the students in the area feel uneasy, so I came to check it out," Shiraishi said sternly.

Well, what Shiraishi mainly wanted to emphasize was that these four came on their own initiative, not that he led four high school girls on an adventure!
"And who is this...?" Shiraishi then inquired about Yotsuya's identity.

"Ah, hello, I am Yotsuya Iwao, who lives in room number two. I have also seen ghosts with my own eyes... Please call me if you need anything. Actually, I am currently preparing a new film. It would be even better if you could give me some guidance, hehehe..." Yotsuya's laughter was somewhat indecent.

"A video?" Shiraishi looked at Yotsuya with a puzzled expression.

"Hmm, I'm planning to film a short drama here with my classmates. We have the subject matter and location ready-made, hehehe..." Yotsuya seemed very interested in these things.

Just then, another man, seemingly having heard the commotion, came out and said to Yotsuya, "You haven't given up yet? I told you there's hardly any traffic here anymore."

Compared to Yotsuya, this one was older, thinner, and had a slight overbite.

“He is Kikuji Bancho, and he lives in room number four… Since the haunting started, everyone has moved out one by one, and now only the three of us are the original residents,” Otonashi explained.

"I never expected... that the famous Director Beika would actually come to see such a trivial matter... I'm on the night shift today, so I'll be going now." Banmachi said as he left the apartment.

Shiraishi then turned to look at his back with a slight hint of unease, before asking Otonashi, "What does this Kikuji Banmachi do for a living?"

Shiraishi sensed...

This guy seems to be very afraid of me!
Moreover, Shiraishi was able to tell that this kind of "fear" was different from the kind of "fear" that ordinary people feel when they first see a "big guy".

What kind of good person would get nervous just from seeing "Director Mikasa"?
Of course, if that's all, Shiraishi can't be sure that the person acting like a ghost in the apartment is him, nor can he be sure that he's connected to the murder case four years ago—after all, even a petty thief would be afraid of Shiraishi.

"It seems like he works at a model shop, mostly selling things for young people. I don't really know much about it... Do you want to take a look?" Otonashi asked rhetorically.

"Take a look?" Bai Shi was taken aback when he heard this—the other person had already left, how could he still "take a look"?
"He has some things in room number three, which is unoccupied. I have the key." Otonashi is the apartment manager, but this dilapidated apartment doesn't offer many services, so there's not much to manage.

Bancho asked him to borrow room number three, since it was empty anyway and no one else was renting it out, but it could only be used to store things.

Seeing this, Shiraishi didn't stand on ceremony and said directly, "Okay, I like models the most."

When he said this, Sonoko and Mayoi looked at him in disbelief—they had never heard of him having this hobby before!

Mayoi knew very well that Shiraishi's family didn't have any models or anything like that, and Sonoko knew even better that if her brother-in-law had such an easy hobby, her older sister wouldn't have a headache when choosing a gift...

However, Shiraishi seemed genuinely interested and asked Otonashi to open the door to room number three for him.

Sure enough, there were several boxes and display shelves inside, with some models on them.

"Ah, is this a Transformer?" Maya asked, pointing to an Evangelion model.

"It should be Gundam, right?" Sonoko guessed.

Shiraishi remained silent, but carefully examined the display shelf, and... his nostrils twitched, and he seemed to be deep in thought.

what--

At that moment, Ayano Ujiminato exclaimed again, and everyone rushed over. They saw that Ayano was facing...

It was a hideous, life-sized zombie doll!

When Xiaolan saw it, her face turned purple, but she finally recognized that it was just a "doll".

"Ah, sorry, I forgot to mention... Besides models, he also makes some horror dolls... Tsk tsk, young people these days, their taste is really strange." Otonashi seemed to be lamenting how these things were sold.

Shiraishi's expression was strange...

A sinister-looking old man, a horror movie enthusiast, a horror doll enthusiast...

You three are really suited to living in a haunted apartment!
At the same time, a young man's voice came from upstairs: "What are you doing? It's so noisy..."

Hearing the noise, everyone came out of room number three and saw a square-faced man with glasses walking down, complaining.

"Hmm? What are you doing upstairs?" Otonashi asked, frowning.

There are only four people living in the apartment now. Three of them are young people, all living on the first floor. Only room number three on the first floor is empty. On the second floor, only room number five is occupied by Otonashi. The other rooms are empty.

"I need to use the restroom," the square-faced man with glasses said matter-of-factly.

Shiraishi, who had been lagging behind, also came over at this moment...

"Ah!" The square-faced man with glasses was startled at first, but then recognized Shiraishi: "You must be Shiraishi-senpai? It's a great honor to meet you here. Professor Domoto has been talking about you with us..."

The square-faced man with glasses demonstrated what it means to be arrogant at first and then obsequious.

At the same time, Shiraishi also roughly knew the other party's identity—they were probably students from Tokyo University.

Professor Domoto is a professor of forensic medicine at the University of Tokyo. He was Shiraishi's mentor during his master's studies. Moreover... Shiraishi only found out later that he was also Yu Amagi's father-in-law. However, neither Yu Amagi nor Professor Domoto mentioned it to him, so Shiraishi pretended not to know.

"You are..." Shiraishi asked curiously.

"My name is Mudan Luyan, I'm a master's student in forensic medicine... I'm sorry, I'm really troubled by my thesis." Mudan then began to reflect on her own actions. Ayano quickly said, "I'm sorry, we were making a big fuss over nothing..."

"Eh? You guys are... Ah... Sorry to bother you, Shiraishi-senpai." Botan suddenly showed a look of realization and envy.

Shiraishi:……

"No, I'm the one bothering you! You live here too, do you know what the ghost stories are all about? Now even high school girls are coming to explore it, it's really having a terrible impact!" Shiraishi immediately emphasized—I'm not some weird uncle dragging high school girls to explore a haunted house!
"Uh... well... as for my opinion... well, after all, I'm a forensic scientist..." Peony chuckled awkwardly.

Although there was no answer, it was actually an answer—would we forensic experts believe this?

"It's starting to look more and more like a horror movie..." Sonoko muttered under her breath.

“Peony only came here recently because the rent was cheaper, and he’s the only new resident who hasn’t seen any ghosts,” Otonashi explained.

Upon hearing this, Shiraishi felt a bit more favorably toward his junior, Botan—with so many haunted houses in Beika Town offering discounts, he still went to great lengths to choose the most dilapidated apartment, one that was still haunted… It was clear he was truly working hard to support himself!
However, Peony could not provide any more clues at this time, and Otonashi invited Shiraishi and the other four to his room upstairs.

This staircase is strangely steep, and it creaks and groans when you step on it; I wonder if it's sturdy at all.

Shiraishi could also see that the old man Otonashi was truly stubborn...

There are only four tenants in the eight rooms, and he's the only old man among them. He insists on living on the second floor, which is quite stubborn!
Otonashi's room was simple, with nothing of value. Even without mentioning that it was "haunted," thieves probably wouldn't want to come to this kind of apartment, but it was very tidy.

"The kotatsu is only this big, so please make do with it," Otonashi said as she went to make tea.

The apartment consisted of only a small kitchen, a bathroom, and a slightly larger room that served as both a living room and a bedroom. However, there was neither a sofa nor a bed. When the kotatsu (heated table) was placed in the middle, it became the living room; when the bedding was laid out on the floor, it became the bedroom.

"Let me help you..." Ran and Ayano quickly followed.

Otonashi clearly rarely entertained so many people; he managed to cobble together five cups from a jumbled mess.

Shiraishi was sitting on one side of the kotatsu, while Ran and Mayoi, and Sonoko and Ayano sat in pairs on either side of her—Ran felt that Sonoko was deliberately playing a prank on her, so she sat next to Mayoi.

Regardless of whether her spiritual medium is real or not, at least it offers some psychological comfort...

"Mr. Otonashi, you said you were the first person to see this place being haunted, right?" Shiraishi then got down to business.

“That’s right, about... more than half a year ago, I looked out of the corridor window and saw will-o’-the-wisps in the abandoned building across the street!” Otonashi described it in a straightforward manner—although he believed it was a will-o’-the-wisp, he was very calm.

"Will-o'-the-wisps? Could it be... homeless people living in there or something?" Ayano asked curiously.

"If that were all, it wouldn't be considered a ghost, but things started to get strange after that... After I saw the will-o'-the-wisp, strange things began to happen in the apartment one after another!"

"For example, blood gushing out of the toilet when flushing; or a glowing ghost appearing on the window; as for the TV suddenly going out of control and playing strange things on its own... these are nothing compared to what's happening now."

At this point, Otonashi began to talk about what sounded like a "ghost story".

Ran was clearly frightened at this point, and even Sonoko, the "instigator of this adventure," had a noticeably stiff expression.

Ayano, being the bravest of the girls, seemed hesitant at this moment, as for Mayoi…

That's not a matter of being bold; they've actually "practiced."

“But I didn’t sense any spirit! And… for a toilet to overflow with blood, it must be a vengeful ghost… How could it possibly have a chance to move away, and you didn’t even get hurt after the haunting…” Mayoi calmly analyzed.

"Uh... little girl, you're really brave." Otonashi looked at Mayoi speechlessly.

Given her attire, Otonashi naturally assumed she was suffering from chuunibyou (middle school syndrome), and now it seemed...

It's a very bold case of chuunibyou (middle school syndrome)!
However, with Mayoi and Chihiro present, Shiraishi immediately ruled out the possibility that "there really is a ghost"...

"As expected..." Shiraishi muttered to himself.

Indeed, "supernatural" factors should not be considered!
If one doesn't believe in "supernatural" factors at all, then this isn't a problem. But if Shiraishi had just come into contact with "Red Magic" and knew a little about it, he might actually start to suspect that something was amiss...

When you only partially understand something, you are most likely to have doubts.

The best approach at this point is actually to avoid considering "supernatural" factors, but since we already know such things exist, we'll inevitably find ourselves thinking about them...

A better solution would be to be able to identify and rule out "supernatural" factors!
For example, right now, both a "spiritual medium" and a real "spirit" have confirmed with Shiraishi that there's nothing strange here, and the "dirtiest" place is the toilet...

Moreover, Shiraishi already had a clear idea in mind at this point.

Although it was only a brief encounter, Shiraishi already had a suspect. After hearing Otonashi's words, Shiraishi had a vague idea in his mind. All that was left was to wait for the "culprit" to reveal himself!
"Let's rest for a bit! No ghosts will dare to come out before it gets dark," Otonashi said.

The four girls felt a little awkward because Shiraishi was there—if Shiraishi weren't there, it would be easy for the four of them to chat for hours, but now many topics were inappropriate…

"Chief Shiraishi! Could you tell me about some of the cases you usually encounter? Just tell me what you can say," Ayano asked with great interest.

"Huh? A case... Okay."

Shiraishi picked out what he could say... after omitting parts involving privacy and the darker aspects of society, and then spoke out.

Given the legendary nature of the cases Shiraishi encountered, even the censored version would be incredibly convoluted and bizarre...

Time flows through the stories of Shiraishi.

Before they knew it, it was dark, even... quite late. Shiraishi had even ordered pizza halfway through.

"After that, Dr. Wakui... um?"

Just then, Shiraishi suddenly twitched his nostrils.

"Huh? Brother-in-law, what's wrong?" Sonoko asked, puzzled. She saw Shiraishi dart out, leaping over the kotatsu table and reaching the window...

Kara -

As Shiraishi swiftly opened the window, Kikuji Banmachi, who was pouring some kind of liquid into it, froze, not even stopping his pouring motion...

(End of this chapter)