Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 490 A Faint Fragrance of Tea
“I protest! You don’t have a search warrant, and cell phones aren’t necessary items to search! My client is an executive at a large corporation, and his cell phone contains a lot of classified information, you…” Attorney Ikukura shouted loudly in the police station.

He was furious because the Mihana Police Station had just confiscated Executive Director Myako's cell phone...

At that moment, Haiya also took Watanuki's phone and threw it to him.

"Alright, stop yelling. We asked Mr. Mikan to hand over his phone to cooperate with the investigation with his consent. You can go and ask him again," Haiya said matter-of-factly.

Yes, there was indeed a process of "agreeing," but of course, Ashiya also used trickery and deliberately scared him.

After all, Mien-kwan was just arrested in front of everyone at the company and taken back to the Mika Police Station, so he's completely devastated...

However, Myankan immediately realized what was happening and brought it up as soon as he met Attorney Ikukura.

Ash Valley didn't seem inclined to keep his phone any longer...

There wasn't much on that old man's phone!
I don't know if he was just not used to smartphones or didn't use them much, or if he had already formatted them.

Ash Valley's target was the data on the phone, and he didn't expect Ash Valley to leave any incriminating evidence on the phone himself.

The reason I got his phone was to check his various social media accounts!
As for what happened next...

Yudou was on his computer, trying out different platforms and "strange forums" one by one, hoping to find out if there were any traces.

Ikuma took back his phone and glared angrily at Haiya.

However, since he got it back so quickly, he didn't dwell on the phone issue any further.

……

Meanwhile, in the interrogation room, faced with the driver and secretary's betrayal and the resulting collapse of his alibi, Mian Guan finally confessed...

"Reconcile? You want to reconcile now?" Mu Gao asked disdainfully.

However, Mian Guan then said even more aggressively, "Aren't these kinds of cases usually settled amicably? Let me make it clear first, I didn't do anything to her on purpose. I'm just not familiar with the tram and didn't expect it to be so crowded."

"So your fingers are like this? Will this make them less cramped?" Kobe said, gesturing with his hand.

Maki Taka: ...

Kobe eventually got to the bottom of it—how exactly did Asakura determine that "it was the same person"?

“Ahem, Kobe…” Maki Takashi whispered a reminder to her.

Mian Guan, feeling somewhat embarrassed, muttered, "What fingers... what are you talking about... these young people nowadays..."

"Huh? You don't admit it? According to the victim's description, that's how it is, right?" Kobe said in an innocent tone while almost shoving his lewd hand in front of Watanuki.

This caused Mian Guan to instinctively back away...

Seemingly embarrassed and angry, Mian Guan said impatiently, "I already said I didn't mean to... If you don't want to be touched in such a crowded place, don't wear such a short skirt!"

“A skirt? Mr. Watanuki, Ms. Asakura was wearing pants the day she reported the incident.” Maki Takashi immediately seized on his slip-up.

“Only that day… Tch!” Mian Guan remembered what Attorney Ikura had told him and fell silent.

"Only that day? Mr. Watanuki, you just said that you had no idea whether you had met Ms. Asakura in the days before, right?" Kobe immediately seized on this point and questioned.

“I want to reconcile,” Mian Guan interrupted.

"What you just said is..."

“I will appoint a lawyer to negotiate a settlement with that woman, and I will not say a word until then!” Mian Guan said decisively.

After that, no matter what Kobe and Maki said, Watanuki remained silent.

Faced with this exercise of the right to remain silent, Kobe and Maki had no choice but to suspend the interrogation.

As he left the interrogation room, Mu Gao said indignantly, "That guy... he clearly let it slip!"

Ash Valley, who was watching this scene from outside, said, "Alright, these kinds of cases always end up being settled anyway."

Maki was still somewhat unsatisfied, but Kobe then asked, "So... Inspector Haiya, why did you take Mr. Watanuki's phone earlier? Was there anything else you wanted to investigate?"

Haiya paused upon hearing this—most of the time, Kobe seemed rather "slow-witted," yet there were times when she would suddenly become very perceptive.

"You don't need to worry about that," Gray Valley said, waving his hand dismissively.

Actually, Haiya wasn't entirely sure either; he just gave his phone to Yuuto to verify some social media account information...

In Ashvale's view, this should no longer be necessary.

Even if we find some "special hobbies" on his phone, it doesn't count as direct evidence. We already have much stronger evidence, but he's still being stubborn with his testimony.

Ashiya didn't really know why the director specifically asked Yuto to investigate.

……

Shiraishi's success was really just a fluke, but...

They really did bump into each other!

Just before Shiraishi was about to leave work, Yuto arrived at Shiraishi's office with his laptop.

When Shiraishi saw that he still had his computer with him, he immediately knew that there was progress...

"Any discoveries?" Shiraishi asked proactively.

"Yeah... that guy, he really is a perverted old man, sigh... the adults are so filthy." Yuto sighed to himself.

"Alright, let me see just how twisted he is," Shiraishi interrupted his musings.

"Let's not talk about these weird websites... The main thing is this, I found his account on this private forum registered overseas..." Yuto said, showing it to Shiraishi.

Seeing this, Bai Shi asked in bewilderment, "How did you know this was his account?"

Although I had shown Yuto his phone before, he wasn't used to smartphones and there weren't many signs of use on it.

"Although I'm not 100% sure, I hacked into his database and found an account that matched the old man's other social media accounts, with the same password. I logged in directly." Yuto said these dangerous words with a serious expression.

Shiraishi:……

"Ahem, I don't know how you found out either," Shiraishi emphasized.

Yuto didn't say much, but showed it to Shiraishi. It seemed to be a chat log from the forum... In the private messages, the old pervert, Myankan, using the nickname "Gentleman of the Imperial Capital," made an appointment with a mysterious person with the ID "Snow in Deep Winter" to "find excitement" on the train.

"Deep Winter Snow" even made a promise about the color of the miniskirt she would wear then...

The date, of course, matches the date of the incident!

"This is the one, right? He got 'hunted'." Yuto said with a hint of schadenfreude—he obviously knew that the old pervert Watanuki had already been caught.

"Can you confirm the information about this 'snow in the depths of winter'?" Shiraishi asked, without much hope.

Yudou shook his head as expected, saying, "Completely impossible. After all, it's just an irregular forum overseas... They didn't collect much login information, so how would I know?"

Upon hearing this, Shiraishi nodded knowingly, and Shiraishi guessed...

Knowing won't help!

If what Shiraishi guessed is true, this "deep winter poet" is probably not Asakura himself!
Shiraishi speculated that this incident was likely orchestrated by President Oshima, rather than solely by Asakura.

In that case, it wouldn't be Asakura himself who's seducing Mitsuru online.

In this way, even if Mikan were to recklessly reveal the forum private messages, Asakura could still deny that it was him at all, especially...

On the day he reported the incident, Asakura was wearing trousers!
In the first few times, Asakura did dress as instructed online and did not call the police. Just as agreed online, there was no reaction and no communication between the two... which led Mikan to have no suspicions.

On the day of the operation, Mian Guan recognized her face and, although puzzled as to why she was dressed differently from what was agreed upon, he still took action.

Actually, when Shiraishi first saw the report, he had some doubts because...

Tram line problem!

Although they always travel to the Imperial Capital Trade Center, this time, they took a different route than usual, and only this route... would pass through Beika Town!
Therefore, from the very beginning, Shiraishi had a vague feeling that the other party wanted to use the Beika Department as a pawn.

But Shiraishi didn't have any evidence...

Even if she confronted Asakura directly, she could easily say something like, "Beihua has a good reputation, and I thought that the pervert who had been harassing me for so long would stop," which would sound perfectly reasonable.

Even now, seeing these private messages online only slightly confirms Shiraishi's suspicions, but he cannot use them as evidence that Asakura is framing him.

Not to mention those behind the scenes are also involved...

Even if you know the general process, there's no real evidence unless the other party admits it themselves.

Even if Mian Guan were to risk all his reputation and take the matter to court, publicly sharing his private messages as evidence, at most he could only prove that he did not have much malicious intent and that he only harassed the innocent Ms. Asakura because of a "misunderstanding," which would warrant a lighter sentence—in the end, he would still need to obtain Asakura's forgiveness!

There is virtually no hope of filing a countersuit.

Besides, it's impossible for Mian Guan to have escalated to this point, and Bai Shi also knows that he's already in the process of reconciliation...

In this way, Mian Guan's prestige in the capital's trade will basically collapse, and this "special manager" position will definitely not be able to continue. As for how much money to lose, the other party probably doesn't care.

but……

After letting Yuto go home, Shiraishi sat in his office, his face darkening, and muttered to himself, "Oshima Takashi... I'll remember you!"

Although there is no evidence, this case should end here, but Shiraishi has taken note of this guy's actions.

This also served as a reminder to Shiraishi—both he and the Mikado Department now have a great reputation, which brings many benefits, but... it's not just a matter of attracting attention when you're successful; there's even a possibility that someone might take advantage of this!
……

"Ms. Asakura, you were wearing a miniskirt on the train the last few times, weren't you?" Kobe asked Asakura before making peace.

"Huh?" Asakura was taken aback by his words, then lowered his head and said sullenly, "Could it be... my fault?"

“Kobe Detective…” Maki Takashi said, and tried to pull Kobe away again—if this got a complaint, the media would have something to talk about.

Maki was also puzzled. Kobe was usually just an ordinary person who lacked emotional intelligence and didn't know how to behave, so why was he making such a big mistake this time?

"Of course it's not your fault." Kobe wasn't pulled away at this point, but then ignored everyone's expressions and said, "However... after interviewing your colleagues, I found out that you don't usually wear miniskirts, it's only during those few days."

Asakura fell silent for a moment before finally speaking, "Is this part of the reconciliation negotiations?"

"No, it's just a personal question," Kobe said, and didn't ask any further questions.

However, before Watanuki and Attorney Ikukura arrived, Kobe said with feigned emotion, "Ms. Asakura must have a very loving fiancé to be able to support you in pursuing this matter to the end."

Asakura remained silent upon hearing this...

At this point, Mu Gao also realized that something was wrong—and based on previous visits, the fiancé might not even exist.

However, this kind of lie is irrelevant to the case and cannot be proven or disproven in the case at all.

In addition, some discoveries have been made regarding Asakura's illicit affair.

Because of this incident, Asakura's parents in his hometown were visited by people who came to "greet" them, causing them to lose face in the local area.

Although they didn't know who the other party was, it was clearly a powerful family; otherwise, a group of burly men in sunglasses wouldn't have gone to "catch them in the act."

However, Ikuma wasn't lying; this did happen, and it caused quite a stir.

Now that Kobe has mentioned it, Maki Takashi probably thinks that Kobe, who usually seems very easygoing, may have noticed something extraordinary this time!
"Thank you," Asakura replied stiffly after a long silence.

"When is your wedding? Can I attend?" Kobe asked innocently.

"There's no date yet." Asakura's tone became strange.

At the same time, Maki Takashi understood Kobe's intentions and, without needing to rehearse, said, "It must be almost time... After all, I've supported you to this extent, so I must be ready to start a family with you!"

"That's wonderful. My grandfather also said that when choosing a man, you must choose someone who is responsible," Kobe said wistfully.

“That’s right, that’s right, the kind of guy who only puts women in front is the worst!” Mu Gao immediately chimed in, as if chatting with her best friend.

……

When Attorney Ikukura and Mian Guan arrived at the meeting room, the two grown men only noticed a faint aroma of tea in the air.

“Ms. Asakura, on behalf of my client, I would like to discuss a settlement with you. Although my client has no subjective intentions, considering that you have indeed been…”

Ikura was interrupted halfway through his sentence by Asakura, who said, "How could there be no subjective intent? Could it be that 'Gentleman of the Imperial Capital' is also someone else impersonating him?"

"Of course not... Huh? What did you say?" Ikuma thought the other person was going to continue the accusation, but after hearing the second half of the sentence, he suddenly realized... something was wrong!

(End of this chapter)