Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 548 The Plan Behind the Celebration

Prior to the celebration, the case had not made any significant progress.

On the day of the celebration, Shiraishi did not continue the investigation—after all, for the small town of Kikuno, today's costume parade was practically a city-wide frenzy…

I went to visit them today, but I couldn't find anyone!

As promised, Shiraishi and Ayako came to watch the parade together...

Of course, Ai Haibara was with them too.

Although Ai wasn't interested in this kind of activity, Ayako obviously wouldn't leave her alone at the hotel.

The parade is organized by "floats," with each participating team setting up a float and having people performing various costume shows on it...

The level of completion was indeed much higher than Shiraishi had imagined.

From a float shaped like an entire pyramid, complete with members dressed as Cleopatra, to a float resembling a castle, featuring members dressed as princesses and princes…

The scene didn't resemble an event in a small town at all.

At this moment, Xia Mei also temporarily put aside her sister's matter, grabbed "introverted Ai" and ran wildly through the crowd.

Ai had a stern face at this moment, but she couldn't really refuse. After all, if she went back to be a third wheel, Shiraishi would glare at her too.

Just as Kikuno's team made their appearance, Natsumi pulled Ai along and ran back to Ayako and Shiraishi.

"Wow! Captain Maya is amazing this year too!" Natsumi exclaimed.

"Captain Maya" is the lady at the next table I met at the bar before, Miyazawa Maya. She is the captain of Kikuno's team, and she is the one who takes the lead in organizing these things every year.

Kikuno's float is shaped like a pirate ship.

Meanwhile, the Kikuno team, including Maya herself and Shusaku Tojima whom they had met that day, dressed up as pirates and took out candy from the treasure chest and scattered it to everyone...

"How was it? Officer Shiraishi, our Kikuno festival was pretty amazing, wasn't it!" Natsumi was in a rare good mood today.

“That’s right, it’s even more amazing than I imagined,” Shiraishi affirmed.

At this moment, Shiraishi looked around and said, "By the way, aren't Mr. Namiki and his wife coming?"

“There are still customers in the store, they should be here soon,” Xia Mei said matter-of-factly.

Usually by this time, the store is already empty, and the Namiki family will also be at the celebration.

But for some reason, one of the guests acted as if he knew nothing about this and was still eating...

At this point, Shiraishi hadn't realized anything was wrong.

only……

Just as Kikuno's pirate ship passed by, Shiraishi was able to see the people on the other side of the road when he suddenly spotted Mr. Masumura in the crowd—but Hasunuma was not with him.

Masumura also noticed Shiraishi at this moment; after all, with such a large stature, he already stood out from the crowd.

Seemingly noticing that Shiraishi was watching him, Masumura lowered his head and left the crowd...

Watching Masumura's retreating figure, Shiraishi frowned deeply, sensing that something was amiss.

"What's wrong?" Ayako noticed Shiraishi's unusual behavior.

"It's nothing..." Shiraishi shook his head—there was indeed something vaguely wrong, but Shiraishi didn't go after him directly.

Shiraishi and Ayako finished watching the costume parade, while Natsumi had somehow dragged Ai away...

“Ai should be at the end of the parade... Let’s go check it out,” Shiraishi said.

The celebration is not over yet; there will be a talent competition later at the Civic Square in Kikuno.

It is said that Saori was discovered by Niikura after performing at a festival, and she had already planned to debut before her death... Of course, judging from what was discovered yesterday, she may not want to debut anymore.

At the elementary school at the end of the line, Shiraishi found Natsumi and Ai. Natsumi was talking to Maya, probably congratulating her on her performance.

"By the way, where are Yutaro and Machiko?" Miyazawa Maya asked about her parents at this time.

"There are still customers in the store... Oh, I'll answer the phone, it's Mom calling." Xia Mei answered the phone at this moment.

Shiraishi walked over and overheard the conversation. At the same time, as if suddenly realizing something, he looked towards a van parked on the side of the road...

But just then, the van accelerated and drove away from Shiraishi, as if avoiding his gaze...

Shiraishi frowned upon seeing this and looked along the path the van had just taken to load the goods, only to see... several empty treasure chests?
It looks like part of the float, but unlike the treasure chests filled with candy to bribe the audience, this treasure chest is covered in gold. It's said to be empty because it's hollow inside. Only when the side is opened can you see that it's hollow inside.

"Hmm? Ms. Miyazawa, I didn't see your 'fully loaded' chests just now," Shiraishi said, looking at the treasure chests scattered by the roadside.

"Oh, I originally wanted to put it on the ship, but then I found that the pirate ship's center of gravity was too high, so I stuffed some heavy objects inside and put them at the bottom to weigh down the cabin, hahaha..." Maya seemed to realize something at this moment, but just laughed it off.

Just then, Xia Mei suddenly exclaimed, "What? Okay, I'll go back right away, don't worry..."

After hanging up the phone, Xia Mei looked anxious. When she saw Shiraishi, she breathed a slight sigh of relief and said, "Officer Shiraishi, I'm sorry, I have to go back first..." As she spoke, she returned Ai to Shiraishi.

Natsumi seemed to have already tacitly agreed to help Shiraishi take care of her younger sister, and even apologized a little.

Upon seeing this, Bai Shi quickly asked, "What happened?"

"Mom said a customer suddenly had a stomachache, and she and Dad took her to the hospital. She asked me to go back and check on the shop," Xia Mei said, sounding a little worried.

"A guest? The one who didn't watch the parade?" Shiraishi had a vague feeling that something was wrong.

then……

"Which hospital did they go to?" Shiraishi asked.

“It’s Kikuno Hospital,” Natsumi said—this is the only large hospital in Kikuno.

Upon hearing this, Shiraishi looked at Ayako beside him.

"Leave Ai to me, go quickly!" Ayako said after pulling Ai aside.

Although Ayako didn't know what Shiraishi had discovered, she could tell that Shiraishi seemed eager to go...

Shiraishi nodded, then instead of going back to get his car, he ran straight to Kikuno Hospital—less than five kilometers away, which he reached in ten minutes.

On the way, Shiraishi also made a phone call to Yokomizo—Yokomizo and Mitsurugi had just watched the parade, since they couldn't investigate anything today, but... they were both very tactful and didn't disturb Shiraishi and Ayako.

Upon arriving at the triage desk, Shiraishi immediately inquired whether they had received any emergency cases of food poisoning... "Food poisoning? Yes... the Namiki couple brought it in, at..."

Upon seeing Shiraishi's physique, the receptionist immediately gave him the information.

When Shiraishi arrived outside the emergency room, he saw Namiki Yutaro, who was both anxious and annoyed.

"Mr. Namiki," Shiraishi called out to him—he could tell that something was wrong with his mood.

It's normal to be anxious, but this annoyance... seems a bit like displaced anger.

“Officer Shiraishi,” Namiki said, his gaze somewhat unfocused—which made Shiraishi feel even more uneasy.

Just then, the door to the examination room opened, and a woman was helped out by Machiko Namiki.

Machiko's expression turned somewhat strange, and the woman immediately said, "Ah, maybe I ate too much ice cream earlier... I'm sorry."

"It's nothing, it's good that you're alright," Machiko said politely, though a little embarrassed.

That's right, after the emergency room... this person probably got tired of complaining about stomach pain and gradually calmed down. The doctor's examination also showed no problems.

At times like this, Machiko would suspect that she was trying to extort money!
However, the female customer did not intend to extort money. She immediately said that she was fine and even offered to return the consultation fee to the owner.

This left Machiko completely baffled...

But then Shiraishi said, "Officer! Madam, you are now involved in serious criminal activity. Was it organized or premeditated?"

Shiraishi, breaking with protocol, flashed his police ID from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department...

However, this sudden flash startled the female customer—but of course, she didn't have time to care, as Shiraishi wasn't a Shizuoka Prefectural Police officer.

Putting everything else aside, the sheer size of it terrified her.

"I...I didn't do anything! I just..."

As the female customer hesitated, Shiraishi interrupted her directly, saying, "I suspect you have connections to a criminal organization. Who ordered you to do this?"

"No! Really, no... I just received a paid task online... and there was no extortion involved, really! I paid for my own medical treatment!" the female customer quickly said.

"Someone online instructed you?" Bai Shi frowned upon hearing this.

Yutaro seemed to realize something at that moment, and his expression changed.

Seeing this, Shiraishi asked, "Mr. Namiki, what were your plans for today?"

"I...I'm planning to go see the parade!" Namiki's eyes darted away, but he was clearly not going to tell the truth.

Just as Shiraishi was about to ask something else, his phone suddenly rang.

Shiraishi didn't have time to ask him anything; instead, he answered the phone: "Hello! Is there a problem?"

On the other end of the phone, Yokomizo's voice came through.

After hearing Yokomizo's words, Shiraishi finally breathed a sigh of relief...

Then, Shiraishi looked at the Namiki couple with a stern face and said, "Niikura was arrested at the Masumura family's house, but thankfully there were no casualties... Would you like to come and take a look?"

The Namiki couple exchanged a glance, both looking puzzled, but neither of them said anything and simply followed.

Zengcun's house is not far from the elementary school where the finish line is located...

Yutaro Namiki also drove there to take a patient to the emergency room, and at that moment, Shiraishi unceremoniously got into the back seat.

The entire journey was silent. Shiraishi didn't ask any more questions, and the Namiki couple also remained silent, showing no intention of explaining.

When Shiraishi arrived at Masumura's house, he found Niikura there, detained by Yokomizo. Masumura was also there, along with a Kikuno Police Station police car and an ambulance. Hasunuma was nowhere to be seen.

"Inspector Shiraishi." Yokomizo greeted Shiraishi as soon as he arrived—not out of excessive politeness, but because there were other patrol officers from the Kikuno Police Station nearby, who also saluted him.

"What's going on?" Shiraishi looked at Niikura—the music teacher who had been sitting at the table next to Shiraishi earlier.

“When I arrived… Mr. Niikura had drugged Hasunuma with ether,” Yokomizo explained—he hadn’t had time to give a clearer account on the phone.

Upon hearing the word "dizzy," the Namiki couple also looked at Niikura in surprise...

“Mr. Niikura, you… um? You’re not thinking of using Hasunuma’s tactics, are you?” Shiraishi suddenly noticed that Niikura, though handcuffed, was not saying a word.

Upon hearing Shiraishi mention "Hanzuma's tactics," Niikura seemed displeased at being compared to him and wanted to say something, but held back—as expected, he wanted to "remain silent."

Seeing this, Shiraishi shook his head and said, "This trick isn't that effective... Remain silent? That guy Hasunuma is probably familiar with police questioning because his father is a detective. In reality, not many people can truly remain silent."

Shiraishi had previously seen liars spouting nonsense in the interrogation room, and also arrogant, boastful dogs...

But there were no suspects who remained completely silent!
Because this is not an easy task to begin with, even if someone is determined not to answer, an experienced detective will subtly probe through casual conversation to find an opening, and once they give some key testimony, it will be difficult for them to stop talking afterward.

After all, "no confession" and "continuation of confession after exposure of criminal evidence" are two different things...

"Officer, three canisters of liquid nitrogen were also found in the vehicle." At this moment, a patrol officer came over and reported to Yokogawa.

Upon hearing this, Shiraishi probably already knew what was going on, and deliberately said, "Ah... are you planning to freeze Renuma to death? How cruel..."

"No! We didn't mean to kill anyone!" Namiki quickly said.

"Us?" Yokomizo looked over suspiciously immediately.

but……

Remembering what Namiki and the others had gone through, his expression softened slightly.

Seeing that he had been exposed and that Niikura was suspected of murder, Namiki had no choice but to explain, "I... I just wanted to get that guy to confess! I didn't freeze him to death with liquid nitrogen. I just locked him in a cupboard, then filled it with nitrogen, and when he was about to suffocate... I interrogated him about Saori and... Saori, and recorded it. That way you can convict him!"

What Namiki Yutaro said was the truth, but he was clearly hiding something.

Upon hearing this, Yokomizo said helplessly, "What are you thinking... Even if he admits to something like this, it can't be used as evidence!"

However, Yu Jian, who was standing to the side, immediately denied it: "No, impossible. If you're going to interrogate him about whether he committed a crime... regardless of whether the evidence is valid, you should at least ask him while he's sober, right? What's the point of asking him if he's drugged?"

“I…” Namiki paused upon hearing this—he didn’t know anything about ether or anything like that. He had just heard that Hasunuma had been drugged, and he was also very puzzled.

To be precise, what Xincang is doing now is enough to baffle him!
According to their plan, Niikura was indeed an accomplice, but the one who would take the final step was, of course, Namiki himself. That way, if there was any real guilt, he would bear the responsibility. After all, Saori was his daughter, so how could anyone else be the "principal offender"?

He had already contacted everyone to cancel the plans because something had come up at the store, but who knew... Niikura actually came in his place?
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: Today is September 27th. Emperor Guangwu of Han, Liu Xiu, recaptured Chang'an. Thumbs up for Liu Xiu! Requesting monthly votes! Requesting monthly votes! Requesting monthly votes! ~
(End of this chapter)