Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 509 Blind Date

“Brother, we have already verified with the other five victims. They did indeed sign up for a matchmaking event online... The special thing about this matchmaking event is that the person going to the event doesn't go in person. Instead, the person's elders first bring the person's information to meet them and confirm everything before the person actually meets them.”

The bald detective from the third section and fourth department reported to Shiraishi.

"Replace blind dates? Hmm...that makes sense." Shiraishi nodded.

The Mikasa Bureau has just confirmed with Shinichi that the elderly lady Shinichi has also registered for this matchmaking event online!
Including the original mother...

All seven victims had attended this matchmaking event, and upon reviewing the events, it became clear that their so-called "very detailed information" was actually just information about their children that they presented at the event.

"Very good, it seems that the channels through which those fraudsters obtained information have been found!" Shiraishi nodded affirmatively at this moment.

"However..." The bald man seemed a little hesitant at this point.

"What's wrong?" Shiraishi asked.

"However, the organizer of this matchmaking event shouldn't have any connection with the Silver Dragon Society, and doesn't seem like someone who'd be short of money." The bald man's tone was a mix of doubt and strangeness.

"Whether it's related or not, we'll find out by checking." Bai Shi didn't jump to conclusions.

Some people may seem to have plenty of money, but in reality, their success may just be superficial.

If the goal is to make money, even people with no connection to the Silver Dragon Society might cooperate with them!

“But… the organizer is a non-profit organization under Kobe Industries,” the bald man said awkwardly.

Shiraishi:……

Kobe Industries, owned by the Miwako Kobe family!

The detectives in the team were obviously aware of this matter as well.

After all the investigation, it turned out to be one of their own people at the Mikado Agency?
Of course, it's not impossible for leaders of such large corporations' non-profit organizations to be corrupt and abuse their power for personal gain!

Kobe Industries is not short of money, but that doesn't mean that its employees at all levels are not short of money.

It's highly unlikely that Kobe Industries would intentionally use this to generate revenue; otherwise, it would be too small a deal.

"Kobe Industrial? Is this matchmaking event only held in Tokyo?" Shiraishi asked, frowning.

“No, we hold these events wherever Kobe Industries has clubhouse assets, but the most are in Osaka, of course,” the bald man said matter-of-factly.

Because it is a non-profit organization under Kobe Industries, it can use Kobe Industries' various clubhouses as venues for its activities free of charge.

After nodding, Shiraishi took out his phone and made a call...

"Hello, it's me, Shiraishi, Inspector Otaki. I need to ask you about something. Is there a scam group like this in Osaka recently... well, maybe it doesn't end up as robbery... please help."

That's right, Shiraishi called Otaki.

If the problem lies with Kobe Industries, then similar scams are likely to become even more rampant in Osaka!
After all, the main business location is Osaka...

Of course, considering that Silver Dragon might be a bit clueless, Shiraishi specifically emphasized that there might not be a "robbery" segment in Osaka.

Therefore, Otaki also needs to confirm this.

If it were a series of home invasion robberies, Otaki would definitely know about such an outlaw. But if it were just a fraud case, Otaki isn't part of the Second Investigation Division, so he wouldn't know that much.

Not long after, Otaki called Shiraishi back and asked his colleagues in the Second Investigation Division—there was no such situation as Shiraishi described!
Although falsely claiming "something happened to the child" is a common scam tactic, there hasn't been an explosive increase in such cases in Osaka recently, and there haven't been any "matchmaking events" happening.

"It seems to have nothing to do with the organizers of the matchmaking event... well, at least nothing to do with the leadership." Shiraishi nodded at this point.

If someone with access to all participants' information was involved in the case, then something must have happened in every region.

However, it now appears that this is not the case.

In other words, either the information wasn't leaked by anyone from the organizers, or the person who leaked it had limited access and could only access information about some people in Dongdu!

In either case, since it didn't involve the leadership, Shiraishi directly contacted Miwako Kobe and asked her to contact the organizers of the matchmaking event.

Sure enough, after the young lady made the contact, the organizer immediately sent someone to coordinate with the Mihua Bureau.

On the one hand, they were worried that the matchmaking event they organized might be exploited by criminals; on the other hand, this was something that the "young lady" herself had personally come to oversee!
With the organizer's assistance, the search became much simpler.

same……

Now Takei had no complaints about the Beika Police Station being in charge of the case investigation.

Even if there's only one case, happening in Beika Town, but...

The team simply doesn't have the ability to get the relevant parties to cooperate; the ones cooperating are the Mihoyo Agency!
Finally, Shiraishi found a meeting room in the Beika Police Station and hung up a sign that read "Temporary Search Headquarters".

At the temporary headquarters, Miwako Kobe reported to Shiraishi: "Chief, this is the list provided by the organizers... The matching format for the matchmaking is that the elderly people who have registered first meet at the matchmaking event, and after confirming that they can continue the relationship, their children will meet with them."

"When the elderly meet, they can see each other's children's information as a reference. This list includes other participants who saw the victim's information at the time."

Other female police officers, and even male detectives, might have felt nervous under the watchful eyes of these people, but Kobe was completely unfazed, reporting with composure—probably not taking them seriously at all.

Shiraishi then took it and looked at it, and found that two names had already been marked on it.

"Hmm? Two of them had access to the files of all seven victims?" Shiraishi noticed this immediately.

“That’s right. Akutsu Takako’s mother and Tsuda Tamotsu’s father obtained information on all seven victims’ families during the information exchange.” Kobe nodded.

"Both of them took this much?" Takei asked, frowning.

Upon hearing this, Kobe turned around and looked at the fierce-looking Takei, saying, "Yes, Inspector Takei, these days, everyone at matchmaking events does this, they 'cast a wide net.' It's not that strange, because there are many people who take a lot of information. These two, in particular, always take more than half of the information of the opposite-sex matchmakers."

As if to say...

Inspector Takei, your thinking is outdated.

Takei stared at Kobe for a moment, but Kobe continued to smile sweetly, seemingly unfazed by the intimidating appearance of the seemingly fierce inspector. The other detectives in the other teams, seeing this, wore expressions that suggested they wanted to laugh but dared not. "Very good, this information is very useful… um, afterwards… you should go back to working on the previous murder case." After a brief hesitation, Shiraishi did not formally transfer Kobe to this case.

Since investigating Kensuke Uno would inevitably involve communication with the Kobayakawa and Hoshimiya families, the connections of the Kobe heiress would be even more useful there.

As for the serial fraud and robbery case, since the matchmaking event organizers are willing to cooperate, then the young lady has nothing to do with it.

Shiraishi had the documents photocopied and showed them to the detectives in his team.

"It seems this matchmaking event was the source of the information leak!"

Based on the information the victims filled out about their children, and their testimonies after the police were notified, it appears that the information the fraudsters possessed was basically what they had written at the matchmaking event.

That's why beautification is so prevalent...

"The registration fee is quite high... Kobe Industries is really something, why are they holding these matchmaking events all over the country? Do they even care about this little bit of income?" the bald man muttered.

This is a relatively high-end matchmaking event, and you need to pay a considerable membership fee to participate.

Shiraishi knew why, but he didn't say it.

Takei wasn't so polite. Since the young lady had already left, he said without hesitation, "She probably thinks that helping people get married is a good deed... Kobe Kiku of Kobe Industries wasn't exactly a nice guy when he was young."

That's right. When he was young, Yoshihisa Kobe was too ruthless and dirty in his methods. That's why he made his fortune in Osaka. If he had started his business in Beika Town, he probably would have had hundreds of enemies who wanted to kill him and were willing to pay any price for it!

He wanted what he lacked, and as he got older, Kiku Kobe became very concerned about "accumulating good karma".

The reason he strongly supports his granddaughter becoming a criminal investigator is actually this—he hopes that the money he earns can be used by his granddaughter to "support the cause of justice."

“Once we have the information channels, things will be simple,” Takei said with a stern face.

The team is getting ready to go fishing!
but……

"It's not as simple as it sounds, is it?" Bai Shi curled his lip upon hearing this, and then said to everyone present, "When you go on blind dates, there are offline meetings. Even if the organizers are willing to cooperate with the investigation and let us slip people in... can any of you pretend to be an old father who is going on blind dates for his children, or a good son who has been signed up for a blind date by his father?"

Shiraishi wasn't targeting any one person, but rather everyone present at that moment.

Even if the organizers allow these people in, they probably won't get any information, let alone interest anyone suspected of being a criminal organization's information collector!

At this moment, the bald man with a face full of scars raised his hand and said, "Brother... actually I'm twenty-three this year."

Shiraishi:……

Under everyone's gaze, he still lowered his hand—twenty-three was true, but he looked older than Shiraishi!
"Then let's have the kind-looking Chief Mika do it," Takei said, pursing his lips.

“My fame is too high, but... it’s always right to send someone from our Mikado Department.” Shiraishi waved his hand and said.

Next, Shiraishi specifically summoned Section Chief Munakata and Deputy Director-General Heikawa...

Age is also a requirement for becoming a father!
The two were at the perfect age – Himekawa was about to retire, and Munakata looked like he was about to retire as well.

Bi Chuan is not young now and doesn't usually get involved in frontline affairs, but judging from the fact that he used to have "informants," he was a ruthless person who often dealt with violent organizations in the past, and he didn't rise up entirely through desk work.

"That's how it is. I'll leave the matchmaking event to you two." Shiraishi explained the rest of the work to the two of them.

Zongfang and Bichuan didn't refuse, but Bichuan specifically asked, "What about the son..."

"You can choose any detective you like!" Shiraishi waved his hand dismissively.

The information can be fake, but the photos must be real, and you may need to meet the person in person later.

In the end, Himekawa chose Yamada, and Munakata chose... narcissism.

After the two temporary father-son pairs were formed, time was tight and the task was heavy, so Shiraishi asked the general affairs department for help to polish the "resumes".

That afternoon, two veterans from the Mihua Police Station participated in the matchmaking event.

The location was a mansion of Kobe Industrial in Tokyo, decorated in a very stylish manner. Small round tables were set up in the lobby, and the families of both the man and woman could sit down by themselves. Later, during the free matching period, everyone would use a line of basic information written in a booklet to select people to exchange detailed information with.

In addition to the two fathers, Gen and Amagi also infiltrated as servants to support the two "old fathers".

Munakata immediately set his sights on Akutsu Takako's mother, determining her serial number through her profile.

At the beginning of the free matchmaking, although "Munekata's" profile attracted some older women to talk to Munekata, Akutsu didn't look at it at all.

Lady Akutsu looked like a noblewoman, and her demeanor was very dignified...

“Running a jewelry store? He doesn’t seem short of money…” Yuan said quietly at this moment.

While serving him tea and water, Tian Shu whispered to him, "I heard that he already owes 60 million in debt. Calling him a business owner is an understatement... He has never made a profit."

"However, if it's only 60 million, unless she's the big boss of the Silver Dragon Society, selling information alone would probably be a drop in the bucket," Yuan said softly.

Munakata couldn't sit still any longer. After dealing with the eager mothers-in-law and other women, he took the initiative to approach Mrs. Akutsu.

Akutsu behaved politely, but finally emphasized, "Actually... I still hope that my future son-in-law will have some financial means. A civil servant is fine, but... this..."

Zongfang said without blinking, "That's right! I think so too. Being a civil servant is just a stepping stone to building connections. Actually, I plan to fund him to start his own company next year. He's familiar with some of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's policies."

"Eh? Are you going to fund him?" Akutsu suddenly became enthusiastic.

“That’s right, he’s reached the age where he should get married.” Zong Fang said, as if he were quite wealthy.

……

On the other hand, at this time, Himekawa started playing the emotional card with Tsuda Tamotsu's father!

"Actually, I am also a single father. I can understand how difficult it is to raise a child on your own, especially since Mr. Tsuda has a daughter. He must have had to put in even more effort since she was little."

"If possible, I hope the two children can meet. I very much hope that Mr. Tsuda can become in-laws." At this moment, Hakukawa put on a bitter face, seeking common ground with Tsuda.

(End of this chapter)