Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 500 The Secret of "Reincarnation"
"Call records from 97 to the millennium? They haven't been entered there yet... What? They come looking for it themselves? No, no, no... Huh? What? Two high school students coming... Of course not! High school detectives are even less likely to do it!"

When Iwata received Shiraishi's call and heard his request, he immediately and firmly refused.

"Don't worry, it's not that Shinichi Kudo... One of them is the son of Director Hakuba, no one will cause you any trouble," Shiraishi said matter-of-factly.

"White Horse... that's not good either, is it? How about I have my men work overtime tonight to look for it?" Iwata's tone softened slightly.

“They can’t explain what they’re looking for either, so let them go on their own. The other one is the son of Hattori, the head of the Osaka headquarters… If something goes wrong, let these Osaka guys take the blame!” Shiraishi said matter-of-factly.

Iwata:……

"Chief Hattori... alright!" Iwata agreed through gritted teeth.

Of course, it's not because of Osaka people taking the blame.

It was the personal connection between the current Superintendent General of Police and the future Commissioner General of the National Police Agency that resonated with Iwata.

Soon after, Iwata also received a call from Hakuba Saguru. As promised to Shiraishi, Iwata gave them visitor passes and allowed them to stay in the document section to check the police report.

Although the document department is digitizing the records, the importance of "police reports" is already low, especially since they are from twenty years ago!
I wonder how many more 2016s it will take before all the data is entered...

Faced with a massive number of records, Hakuba and Hattori were overwhelmed, and even with Suzuki and Maki, it felt like a drop in the ocean.

"We're not going to look for everything, are we?" Hattori asked, a headache creeping in. "And what exactly are we looking for? What makes you think there would be any police reports related to the Yoshioka family?"

“I don’t know, I’m just looking around… If the Yoshioka couple were facing other difficulties that forced them to move to Osaka and even change their surname, then they might have reported it to the police. Of course, they might not have faced any difficulties at all, and they might simply be trying to avoid the Sakata family’s case,” Hakuba said matter-of-factly.

In the Eastern island nation, changing one's surname from the husband's to the wife's after marriage is very troublesome, and may even require divorce and remarriage.

If they went to such great lengths just to change their appearance, Bai Ma had reason to suspect that they were hiding something.

If it's a problem that can be discussed openly, it's possible that the police have been called...

"That's it?" Hattori was shocked after hearing Hakuba's reasoning.

Suzuki and Maki, however, thought it was perfectly normal.

This is probably because, although Hakuba Saguru is also a "high school detective," his thinking is more "vigilant," and he does not reject this approach of casting a wide net.

Hattori thought the idea was a bit foolish, but since there were no other clues, he decided to give it a try.

"Section Chief Iwata, you can go home now. You don't need to stay with us," Hakuba advised Iwata.

“That won’t do… How can I feel at ease letting you guys rummage around here?” Iwata shook his head.

After all, Iwata had only allowed them to come looking for him out of a sense of obligation, so why would he just leave?

Of course, Iwata couldn't bring himself to save face and actually help the two little brats search. He just used the excuse of "I don't trust you to do anything reckless" to stay in the office and work overtime.

……

On the other hand, Shiraishi had already left work to go on a date with Ayako.

With the murder cases of the Saijo and Takigawa families solved, Ayako finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Although it was just one of the "ghost stories" in Shiraishi Shinju, it has finally been solved.

When Ayako heard the old lady next door talking about the rumors of the "resurrection of the dead" in the Takigawa family, she was really frightened.

"Unexpected... what a pity... but it's still a rather heartwarming ending," Ayako remarked with a touch of melancholy.

Unfortunately, the little girl from the future died thirteen years ago.

Warmth comes from the "fake mother and daughter" pair, Omoto and Tagikawa...

Although the blood relationship is fake, Omoto, who lacked maternal love since childhood, and Aiko Takigawa, who lost her daughter at an early age, are truly healing each other at this moment.

"Yes, Dr. Daimon said that Mrs. Tagikawa has agreed to the surgery and is currently preparing her body. The surgery will be performed next week," Shiraishi said, referring to the situation at the hospital.

"I hope the surgery will be successful," Ayako wished.

“It definitely will… So, the most important thing is to believe in science!” Shiraishi steered the conversation back to “resurrection of the dead.”

As it turned out, this was indeed just another false alarm.

Ayako could only agree a few times—knowing that Kuro was being stubborn and trying to prove that the house he bought was "good value for money" and that there was no problem with it!

Shiraishi naturally didn't say much to Ayako about the matter of "reincarnation".

After all, there's still no clue, and Ayako will start overthinking if she hears about it.

……

The next morning, Shiraishi went to work after a tiring morning run.

Hattori and Hakuba comfortably stayed up all night in the writing class and finally found the record they wanted!

Iwata didn't go home all night either. He kept a straight face for the first half of the night, saying he was keeping an eye on them to make sure they didn't do anything reckless, but he also helped look for them for the second half of the night...

"Is this it? Now... we can confront Yoshioka's parents!" Hattori said, beaming.

Hakuba smiled slightly from the side, but halfway through striking a pose, Hattori punched him on the shoulder: "Your methods sometimes work quite well!"

The white horse stared at him speechlessly—"Aren't you getting to know people a little too fast? And your sense of boundaries is blurring too quickly?"

"Section Chief Iwata, thank you for your hard work." Hakuba said to Iwata at this moment.

"Not at all... If we can solve the case, it's like we logistics staff have fulfilled our duties!" Iwata was already listless, but he still sang in a high-spirited manner.

"As expected of Director Beika's best partner," Hakuba remarked at the opportune moment.

Iwata:……

"No, I'm not that familiar with him... we were just classmates, we weren't even in the same department... hehehe..." Iwata said, indicating that he didn't want to get involved with Shiraishi.

...After leaving the Metropolitan Police Department, Hakuba and Hattori headed straight for Beika General Hospital.

at the same time……

"By the way... you came to Tokyo to participate in the kendo competition, right? I remember today is the final..." Hakuba asked Hattori in a strange tone.

"Yes, let's try to finish the case before 11 o'clock!" Hattori said matter-of-factly.

"Then we'd better hurry, after all... we still can't confirm who the murderer is." White Horse rolled his eyes.

As for Suzuki, who was driving, and Maki, who was in the passenger seat, they didn't understand what the two were saying at all...

In fact, neither of them fully understood what the police report they found that morning meant.

but……

As detectives from the Beika Police Station, it would be too embarrassing to ask two high school students "what's going on" at this point. So they pretended to "understand". When Hattori and Hakuba showed a knowing smile, Suzuki and Maki also forced a "smile of agreement".

Upon arriving at the hospital, Hattori and Hakuba went directly to Yoshioka's ward, where, as expected, Yoshioka Kenichi and Yoshioka Morina were also there.

Upon seeing these two "detective brats" arrive again, Kenichi Yoshioka came out in a huff...

Hattori and Hakuba had a general idea of ​​what was going on, so they cooperated with him and, without alerting Yoshioka Tsubasa, went to the emergency stairwell.

"What are you two doing here again? If you keep bothering Tsubasa because of some inexplicable 'reincarnation,' I'll..." Yoshioka wanted to say "I'll call the police," but knowing Hattori's family background, he didn't finish his sentence and instead said, "I'll call the police in Tokyo!"

For a moment, Yoshioka praised himself for his wisdom and even gave the two detectives a defiant look—in his opinion, the two detectives were also being ridiculous.

“Alright, alright, Uncle Yoshioka, we know that Yoshioka-kun isn’t some kind of ‘reincarnation,’ but… he’s not actually ‘Tsubasa,’ is he?” Hattori asked matter-of-factly.

Upon hearing this, Kenichi Yoshioka paused for a moment, then snapped angrily, "What nonsense are you spouting now?"

“We’ve looked at the shopping receipts you submitted as evidence seventeen years ago and found that… you also bought large-sized diapers?” Bai Ma then began to explain.

"It's okay if I'm nervous and buy the wrong thing because it's my first time being a father!" Of course, Yoshioka wouldn't tell the truth like that.

“No, I’m afraid this isn’t your first time being a father. Before Tsubasa, you must have had another son… ‘Sun,’ right?” Hattori pressed on.

"What are you talking about... Why would I hide something like this..." Yoshioka still denied it, but sweat was already beading on his forehead.

“We found Ms. Yoshioka Morina’s police report at the Metropolitan Police Department… that is, your wife’s police report from twenty years ago. She suffered severe domestic violence at the time and even stayed in a protective center for it, right?” Hakuba revealed the biggest discovery of the night.

Before Yoshioka Kenichi could answer, Hattori added, "And later we found the name 'Sato Kenichi' in the volunteer roster of the domestic violence protection center from twenty years ago. That must be you, Uncle Yoshioka, right?"

"I think that's when you and Auntie met, and you got together afterward. Auntie also successfully got a divorce..."

"However, there is a very serious problem in this matter, which is the divorce. It has been going on for a long time. Before the divorce was officially legal, the aunt had a child."

"In the Eastern Island Country, children born within 300 days of a divorce are considered the ex-husband's children and are automatically registered in the household registration system."

“I think it was because you didn’t want to get involved with that man anymore, so… you didn’t register the child’s birth until two years later, when your second child was born.”

Upon hearing Hattori's words, Yoshioka fell silent.

Bai Ma added from the side: "Considering this assumption, the game card found at the scene actually reflects that there are fingerprints on the card, which were recorded at the time."

"It's just that the fingerprints are too small, only the fingerprints of a two-year-old child. Therefore, this piece of evidence has never been taken seriously. Instead, it has been suspected that it was just dropped by chance."

"However... with current technology, if Yoshioka-kun is willing to cooperate with fingerprint collection, it is still possible to determine whether these are fingerprints from his childhood."

Hearing Hakuba say that, Yoshioka finally sighed and admitted, "That's right... Hmm, so it seems that card... really is the Sun's?"

Yoshioka had never actually seen that card, but he admitted to everything else.

Just as the two of them had predicted...

"That man was a member of a violent organization. It took a lot of effort and pulling many strings to finally get him to agree to a divorce, but..."

“If he finds out about Taiyo’s situation, who knows what might happen, but he’ll at least be extorted for money, right? So Senna and I discussed it and decided not to register Taiyo’s household registration yet.”

"As for Xiaoyi... he was always weak and sickly after birth, and died at home when he was four months old. When they found him in the morning, he didn't even have a chance to go to the hospital."

"In the end, I persuaded Morina not to report Xiaoyi's death, but to let Taiyo take Xiaoyi's place in the family registration. After all, we were unfamiliar with Osaka at the time, and without proper family registration procedures, it would be a problem for the child to even go to school."

Yoshioka had no choice but to admit it.

The reason why the whole family moved to Osaka and even stopped contacting their former relatives and friends was not only to avoid her ex-husband, but also to prevent people from finding out about Taiyo's affair.

"So, uncle, what exactly did you see back then? Can you tell us now?" Hattori asked anxiously.

"That day, Morina was about to give birth, and I rushed to the mall to buy things, but Taiyo got lost. I looked for him in the parking lot... When I found Taiyo, he was right next to that corpse!"
"But all I saw was the body. At that time, Taiyo couldn't even speak clearly. You should know now that his memory of the case is only so-so. In fact, we had nothing to do with the case at all!" Yoshioka argued.

Yoshioka was in a hurry to leave, and even lied that he hadn't seen the body. This was partly because his wife was about to give birth, and partly because Taiyo was an unregistered resident and he didn't want to cause any trouble.

In Yoshioka's view, his departure would not have any impact on solving the case, since he really didn't know anything.

"Didn't you confirm whether the victim really died?" Bai Ma asked at this point.

Yoshioka shook his head and said, "When I saw the whole knife was stuck in his chest, no matter how you look at it... there's no way he could still be alive, right?"

"A sword?" Hakuba and Hattori suddenly asked in unison.

"Huh? Isn't it a knife? The handle looks like a knife..." Yoshioka was taken aback when he saw this, thinking that he had seen wrong.

"No... Uncle, you... saw the knife back then?" Hattori quickly asked.

“That’s right, it’s a knife with a red handle.” Yoshioka nodded. After all, he had witnessed the murder and the body, and the memory was still vivid.

Suzuki and Maki, who were standing nearby, also noticed something amiss—they had also reviewed the case files, and the strangest thing about this case was that "the murderer quickly left the cordoned-off scene with the murder weapon"...

No murder weapon was found at the scene!

(End of this chapter)