Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 520 Release
How to get angry is an art, and Baishi only understood this principle in recent years.

Bai Shi is now radiating energy scientifically and intelligently...

"Inspector Shiraishi, don't talk nonsense... My daughter is not married at all..." Moroboshi's face turned pale and uncertain.

However, Shiraishi clearly wasn't going to let him off the hook...

"Who do you think I am? Are you trying to brush me off by saying that Inspector Nakamichi of Chiba Prefecture is lying?" Shiraishi continued to question.

Moroboshi: ...

After a moment of silence, Moroboshi said, "It was a blind date arranged by my wife. Well, it's good that you discovered this guy's bad character."

Faced with Shiraishi's forceful questioning, Moroboshi Toshio chose to temporarily back down, speaking in a tone of gratitude to Shiraishi.

In fact, Shiraishi knew that Nakamichi and Shi's affairs had nothing to do with Moroboshi. He had no idea where the pistol came from; he just happened to find an unregistered pistol.

Even Moroboshi knew that Shiraishi knew what was going on, but was just using the situation as an excuse to make a fuss!

"Heh, is Deputy Director Moroboshi trying to say that this has nothing to do with you?" Shiraishi said coldly.

“Naturally, it has nothing to do with it! Hmm… But since the pistol has been found, it seems the chamber has indeed been replaced… Hmm, you can take Detective Kuroki away.” Moroboshi knew that Shiraishi was just being unreasonable and trying to bargain.

Now that Shiraishi has caught Nakamichi Kazushi and knows that he went on a blind date with Moroboshi's daughter, it's impossible for him to let this matter pass without giving anything in return or agreeing to anything!

“Deputy Director Moroboshi… Kenzo Kanzaki’s case is still…” Fujiwara seemed to disagree.

Fujiwara clearly didn't believe that Kuroki's father's sudden killing of two old colleagues was unrelated to Kuroki's arrest, but...

"Does Chief Fujiwara want to investigate this case separately?" Shiraishi said, glaring at him.

"Alright, since it has nothing to do with Detective Kuroki, let's release him as soon as possible!" Moroboshi waved his hand and said.

Shiraishi then slightly calmed his anger and said, "The Beika Police Station will also investigate the cases of Superintendent Uemura and former Detective Ando, ​​so Chief Fujiwara doesn't need to worry."

"You..." Fujiwara really wanted to say—I don't need your investigation, I just need you to honestly avoid suspicion!

However, Shiraishi clearly had no intention of avoiding suspicion.

Moreover, the Criminal Investigation Department has now taken over this case, and the head of the First Investigation Division, Kiyonaga Matsumoto, is personally in charge. Even if Fujiwara wanted to, he couldn't do anything about it!
Having gotten what he wanted from Moroboshi, Shiraishi left—his face still flushed with anger, as if his rage hadn't subsided.

As expected, Fujiwara had already made arrangements with someone, and Shiraishi soon met Kuroki at the temporary detention center in the Metropolitan Police Department.

Kuroki was treated quite well; he was in a "single room," which, apart from having a toilet in the room and little privacy, looked quite tidy.

"Director? How is Kanzaki Kenzo now?" Kuroki was feeling listless, but when he saw Shiraishi come to "visit" him, he regained his spirits.

In his view, it was impossible for him to be released so quickly, especially after the "Kenzo Kanzaki" incident.

"How would I know? You'll have to look it up yourself," Shiraishi said irritably.

"Huh?" Kuroki was taken aback by what he heard.

Meanwhile, the guards who had received orders were also sweating profusely as they searched for the keys.

"Did you find it?" Shiraishi asked sternly.

"Right away, right away..."

The more you urge him, the more anxious he becomes.

At that moment, Bai Shi stepped forward and gripped the not-so-thick iron bars at the doorway of the room with both hands.

After all, this was just a detention center, not a real prison, and the iron bars weren't that sturdy; they were less than a finger's width thick...

With Shiraishi's forceful chest-spreading, it was forcibly pried open!

At first, I just grabbed one with each hand, then two, still easily... When the three came together, they all deformed slightly.

The gaps were large enough for Shiraishi's head to squeeze through.

Shiraishi then let go and gave Kuroki a wink.

Seeing this, Kuroki crawled out of the "hole" the chief had made, amidst the guard's tearful expression. He even gave the guard an awkward smile and nodded as a greeting.

Then he quickly followed Director Shiraishi out...

"Chief, what exactly happened with Kanzaki Kenzo?" Kuroki addressed his own father by his full name.

After all, Kuroki harbored deep resentment over Kanzaki Kenzo's abandonment of his wife and children.

“I don’t know… You drive.” Shiraishi said as he led him to the underground parking garage.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Shiraishi asked Kuroki, who was driving, "Have you discovered anything else? About the Ihara case?"

“Not yet…” Kuroki said silently.

"You'd better not tell me that it was just a coincidence that you spotted Ice Rhythm God at the Silver Dragon Society," Bai Shi said in a deep voice.

Kuroki: ...

Now Kuroki couldn't pretend to be stupid anymore, so he had to say, "I really don't know anything more about the case... uh, but there is one thing I do know!" Kuroki sensed the chief's ill will and spoke the second half of the sentence quickly.

"What's going on?" Shiraishi wasn't letting any clue slip by.

If it were just "old news," Kuroki could investigate it himself at his own pace, and Shiraishi wouldn't pay much attention to it, since it wasn't a case from the Beika Police Department at all.

However, now that one of the police academy instructors and one of the former detectives have died, and the murderer is closely connected to two detectives from the Beika Police Station, Shiraishi can no longer ignore the situation.

Kuroki remained hesitant in his speech until he finally spoke, at which point Shiraishi understood why he was so reluctant.

"Actually... I've figured out why Ihara and that guy from the Arakawa Group stormed the headquarters of Hikawa Industrial back then," Kuroki said helplessly.

It turns out that the Hikawa Group discovered Ihara was a traitor, so they arrested his unregistered wife, Matsubara Hikaru...

As for what the violent organization will do after capturing a woman who is a traitor, there's no need to explain further.

As a result, in a fit of rage, Ihara and Arakawa, who had also been involved with a woman, stormed the headquarters. The difference was that Arakawa was not a traitor before; he simply already had a woman of his own, and was even about to give birth, so he wanted to refuse Chairman Hikawa's offer of a son-in-law.

but……

It's one thing to refuse one's own daughter or her son-in-law, but as the leader of a violent organization, one cannot tolerate having one's authority challenged by one's subordinates!
Because Arakawa had broken a taboo, Hikawa was also looking for someone to kill the woman who was about to give birth...

As a result, Arakawa and Ihara joined forces and managed to take over the headquarters of [Hikari Kosan].

"The reason why Ihara's informant identity was leaked seems to be due to a leak within the police force. Hibiki probably knew who the leaker was. Unfortunately... I think that's why that person felt so guilty towards Ihara," Kuroki explained.

Indeed, it was no coincidence that Kuroki had been keeping an eye on Hikawa Hibiki. Kuroki had been investigating for a long time, and whenever he wasn't working overtime, he would go to the shops that members of the violent organization frequented. That's how he found out that Hikawa Hibiki, the younger brother of the former leader of the Hikawa Group, was likely the contact person for the "police mole"!
Unfortunately, Hibiki has now been silenced... As a result, this line of events has been severed, and Kuroki only thinks he understands "why that person reacted so strongly to Ihara's death."

Shiraishi could now understand why Kuroki hadn't said anything before—in Kuroki's view, this only seemed to indicate that Kanzaki Ryuichi's biological mother had experienced something terrible, and didn't seem to prove anything else...

However, after listening, Shiraishi frowned and said, "Matsuhara Hikaru? This Matsubara Hikaru... he shouldn't have died back then, right?"

Shiraishi had previously reviewed the case file. Although the case was not clearly documented due to internal strife within a violent organization, Shiraishi was certain that there were no women on the list of victims…

"Back then, Matsubara Hikaru was rescued by Ihara, but I heard from that person that... he decided to raise Ryuichi because Matsubara Hikaru disappeared after leaving a suicide note, so... um." Kuroki said, showing his phone to Shiraishi.

Kuroki also put thought into it, even taking a picture of "Matsuhara Hikaru's suicide note," which did mention things like, "Although Ihara often gave me dandelion flowers, hoping I would have courage, I no longer have the courage to face life."

Although neither he was found alive nor his body was recovered, given the circumstances and the fact that he left a suicide note, it is highly likely that Matsubara Hikaru committed suicide in despair after learning of Ihara's death.
"Actually... there's one more thing." Kuroki suddenly stopped the car.

"Hmm?" Shiraishi looked at him in confusion.

"That day... at the family restaurant, the day Ihara Tatsuya was shot and killed was June 28, 1996," Kuroki suddenly said.

Upon hearing this, Shiraishi's expression shifted, and he said, "Today? So... today is the anniversary of Tatsuya Ihara's death?"

“That’s right.” Kuroki nodded.

"Do you know where Ihara's grave is?" Shiraishi asked immediately.

Seeing that Kuroki nodded, Shiraishi told him to drive straight over.

If the person was indeed killed by Ken Kanzaki...

No, it should be said that regardless of whether Kanzaki Ken was the one who killed him, he would very likely go to pay respects to Ihara Tatsuya today.

Kuroki drove to a temple called "Fukumoto-ji". After Shiraishi entered the temple, he went directly to the cemetery behind it.

Here, Shiraishi didn't see Kanzaki Kenzo, but he did see Suzuki Atsushi making a phone call with a very anxious expression!

"Suzuki, what's wrong?" Shiraishi asked as he approached.

Suzuki, whose attention was focused on his phone, was startled when he suddenly heard Shiraishi's voice.

"Ah! Chief... Chief..." Suzuki became even more nervous when he realized it was the chief.

"What are you doing here?" Shiraishi asked, puzzled.

“I…right! Chief, Kanzaki is missing!” Suzuki said hurriedly.

"Kenzo Kanzaki? Have you seen Kenzo Kanzaki?" Shiraishi immediately pressed.

"No, it's Kanzaki Ryuichi... I... I was following Ryuichi, but he noticed me and accepted that I was being followed, so we were chatting together just now. I was going to buy two cans of coffee, but when I came back, I found that Ryuichi was gone!" Suzuki said hurriedly.

Shiraishi:……

"Was there anyone else in the cemetery just now?" Kuroki asked after quickly looking around.

Kuroki didn't suspect Kanzaki of deliberately trying to escape surveillance; instead, he was worried that Kanzaki had been kidnapped!
"No, I didn't see it," Suzuki shook his head.

"What did Kanzaki say he came here for?" Shiraishi asked, frowning.

“He said he found the name card of the head priest of Fukumoto Temple in his father’s notebook… By the way, we found the tombstone of Tatsuya Ihara here, the hostage-taker who was shot dead twenty years ago,” Suzuki said immediately.

At the time, it was unknown to outsiders that Ihara had kidnapped his own son.

Shiraishi and Kuroki followed his gaze and saw that the tombstone inscribed with "Tatsuya Ihara" was indeed there, and... there was a pale yellow flower offered in front of the tomb.

"Chrysanthemums? Did Kanzaki bring them?" Kuroki asked hurriedly—did Kanzaki already know?

“No, I didn’t see him take any flowers…” Suzuki shook his head.

“Could it be…” Kuroki became a little nervous—could it be that Kanzaki Kenzo really came?

Bai Shi frowned and looked at the flower a few more times.

at this time……

"Chief? Kuroki?" Kanzaki returned to the spot and was quite surprised to see the chief and Kuroki.

"What did you do?"

As Kuroki spoke, Shiraishi also asked, "Who did you see?"

Kanzaki replied with some confusion, "When Suzuki went to buy coffee just now, I saw a woman in a white dress standing in front of Ihara's tombstone. I was a little concerned, so I went up to question her, but after seeing me, she immediately turned around and left, so I chased after her... I'm sorry."

I said "sorry" to Suzuki; I didn't have time to call him back then.

"Did you catch up?" Shiraishi asked.

“I caught up with her. She must be a member of the Ihara family, and she also knows my father. When I told her that Kanzaki Kenzo was my father, she said that my father’s son should be in his early thirties… However, she was very resistant to the police officers and refused to answer me, so she left.” Kanzaki said helplessly.

In Kanzaki's view, the mysterious woman clearly knew Kanzaki Kenzo and also knew Kuroki Kenji, but she hadn't had much contact with Kanzaki Kenzo over the years, so she didn't know Kanzaki Ryuichi...

Kanzaki understood her resistance to the police officers, after all, Ihara was shot and killed by the police.

Without any reason, Kanzaki didn't ask any further questions.

"Woman? How old?" Kuroki quickly asked.

“In my forties, I guess,” Kanzaki replied.

Kuroki seemed to have guessed something and cautiously refrained from asking Kanzaki any further questions.

Seeing this, Kanzaki looked at Kuroki with some suspicion, feeling that he seemed to be hiding something from him.

"Kanzaki, go and make a portrait," Shiraishi said directly.

He had received various forensic training and could naturally draw portraits. He had seen the other party himself, so it was particularly easy and accurate for him to draw the portrait.

Kanzaki agreed and went back to the car Suzuki had brought.

Just as Kuroki was about to tell Shiraishi about his suspicions, Shiraishi confidently stated, "It's Matsubara Hikaru!"

"Huh?" Kuroki was taken aback, not understanding why the chief was so certain.

“That’s not a chrysanthemum, it’s a dandelion,” Baishi said, looking at the lone little yellow flower in front of the grave.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Dongdong: It's the last three days of the month, please vote for me! Please vote for me!
(End of this chapter)