Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 586 Speculation on Blasphemy

Upon hearing this, everyone looked surprised, and Hiruda could not suppress his emotions: "That's right, Asheng and I were indeed dating back then, but his death was not what the outside world was saying!"

Back then, she wasn't a director yet, just an unknown production assistant, doing odd jobs at the TV station...

Therefore, neither Kano nor Daimon had any recollection of ever meeting Hiruda.

Through director Hiruda's narration, everyone roughly learned the truth about the death of the stand-in Himuro Kazusei more than ten years ago.

More than a decade ago, while filming "Sweet Detective Diary," Daimon developed feelings for the female lead, Gana, and began pursuing her.

Although Da Men was already a somewhat famous action actor at that time, he was still far behind Ghana, who was still popular at the time.

In the eyes of the arrogant Gana, Daimon was nothing more than a vase who relied on his Stand for everything. Compared to Daimon, she had a better impression of Himuro Kazuki, the Stand with a gentle personality and exceptional skills. Unfortunately, that guy already had a girlfriend.

However, Ghana, who is known for her promiscuity, did not reject Daimon's pursuit and also shamelessly seduced Himuro, which greatly angered Daimon.

The night before filming the scene with the clone, Gana's attempt to seduce Himuro with alcohol failed again. However, Himuro's "escape" was seen by the gate, which made him even more jealous.

The next day, when staff discovered the security lock was malfunctioning and suggested replacing it, the gate became impatient and threw a tantrum.

……

"Hey, by the time the spare parts arrive, we'll be done for the day. If you're so afraid of dying, why are you even here as a stand-in? You might as well just find a rich woman to be your gigolo!" Da Men said impatiently.

"You can do as you please, but you'll get to bed on time tonight." Ghana said with a stern face, glancing at the ice room.

“How can you say such things? Safety facilities are meant to be…” Hiruda, who was also present at the time, was a little angry and wanted to defend her boyfriend, but Himuro persuaded her to stop.

"Never mind, Mr. Daimon and Ms. Gana just want to finish their work quickly."

"But……"

"It's okay, the safety lock is just a little loose, and with my skills, I won't need to use it, so there won't be any problems." After reassuring his girlfriend, Himuro waved to the director, indicating, "I'm all set on this end."

In this scene, Himuro, acting as a "clone," had to hang on the door with his feet, and the two of them had to work together to complete a leap before landing gracefully.

Because he suddenly had to support the weight of two people, the already worn latch suddenly broke during the movement. In the nick of time, Himuro instinctively slammed the door below onto the safety mat, causing him to fall from a height while bearing the weight of two people, and tragically died.

At first, Daimon didn't expect that his momentary willfulness would actually cause Himuro to lose his life, and that Himuro had protected him at the first moment of the incident. He felt very guilty and kept apologizing and begging Himuro's family for forgiveness.

However, what truly made Hiruda lose his temper was that, in order to protect the image of Daimon and Kano, the agency deliberately fabricated facts and colluded with Daimon to blame the props department for not checking carefully. Moreover, Daimon even began to claim that he saw Himuro "reeking of alcohol" the night before...

The explanation given for Himuro's death as excessive drinking was dismissed as unprofessional.

The "frightened" gate and Ghana became victims, even portraying themselves as dedicated professionals who "adjusted their mindset and focused on filming despite being frightened"!

Hiruda wanted to clarify the truth at the time, but his voice was suppressed by various means by the agencies of Daimon and Kana.

"I worked incredibly hard to clear Asheng's name, and that's how I achieved what I have today... Daimon and Gana have probably long forgotten what they did to kill Asheng back then..." Director Hiruda was so emotional that his hands were trembling uncontrollably.

"So, you meticulously planned this case to avenge your lover, murdering Mr. Daimon and Ms. Kano?" Akechi interrupted, his expression one of knowing everything.

Shiraishi glanced at him—Is the FBI really that unprofessional? Or is it that no one cares about the FBI's coercion tactics on the American side?
“No, I just wanted to clarify the truth of what happened back then, so I added a part related to A-sheng’s death to the script of this reality show… That’s why Daimon argued with me after he found out, and… after I brought up A-sheng, he was ashamed and didn’t continue arguing with me, he just said he would report it to the agency,” Hiruda retorted.

"Oh? Isn't it because he couldn't let go of the past that he arranged Mr. Daimon's body like that?" Akechi asked rhetorically again.

Indeed, when Hiruda mentioned that accident earlier, the few people who already knew how Daimon died all had strange expressions—it sounded as if they were going to use Daimon's corpse to recreate the pose of the two of them from back then...

“I never intended to kill anyone! And… I was with everyone when Mr. Daimon and Ms. Kano were murdered!” Hiruda said firmly.

Mingzhi chuckled lightly at this moment: "Is this where you think you're so clever? Do you think I haven't noticed?"

Hiruda: ? ? ?

"What does Officer Akechi mean by this?" Hiruda asked, frowning.

"Actually... what you saw back then was probably a recording, right? I guess after you argued with Mr. Daimon, you pretended to agree to revise the script and asked Daimon and Gana to help you record the video you saw earlier, ostensibly for use in the later reality show."

"However, that afternoon you poisoned the gatekeeper, and then in the middle of the night you went to the villa where only Ghana was and killed him with a hammer. After that, as long as you come back, call yourself using a recording, and then pretend you didn't notice and wake everyone up to watch the video together, your alibi will be established!"
"Even to disrupt the search and avoid giving everyone an alibi, you deliberately disposed of the body at the bottom of the narrowest, easiest-to-pass ravine, so that the police would quickly find that 'shortcut' after discovering the body..."

"Of course, no matter what shortcut you found, you were on the phone at the time of the incident, and you don't seem to be athletic or very tall, so you can't be considered the murderer!"

At this point, Mingzhi confidently stated his reasoning.

but……

Only Kogoro Mouri and Misao Yamamura were present, giving him looks that said, "I see," and "As expected of you." Not only did Conan look at him with disdain, but even Ran and the others, who weren't good at deduction, looked puzzled...

The three FBI agents were not only disgusted but also somewhat ashamed. However, Rena Mizunashi, who came from the CIA, showed a gloating expression, which was caught by Jodie and became subjective evidence that "this guy must be a crow."

"So that's how it is..." The mountain village looked astonished.

However, Akechi noticed Shiraishi's skepticism and asked, "What does Inspector Shiraishi think?" Shiraishi paused for a moment, then carefully and tactfully replied, "It's not entirely unreasonable, but it's utter nonsense..."

Upon hearing this, Mingzhi's expression stiffened, and he immediately said, "What if I said... that the video has already been found!"

Shiraishi confidently shook his head and said, "What we saw could not possibly be a recording. If you found a recording in the device, it must have been recorded at the time and only became a 'recording' afterward."

Akashi chimed in, "That's right, how could it be a recording? I operated the device myself; it's playing in real time!"

"And we also found..." Akechi wanted to show other evidence.

However, Shiraishi interrupted him directly, saying, "Who do you think I am! When I arrived at the scene, less than three minutes had passed since Ghana was killed. I am absolutely not mistaken about that."

Indeed, if we compare "twenty minutes after death" and "three minutes after death," the difference between the two is not that significant!

The blood hadn't clotted, the body temperature hadn't changed significantly, and there were no signs of rigor mortis or other signs of death...

Unless the person is still convulsing, it is difficult to tell whether they just passed away or died twenty minutes ago.

However, it was only "difficult," and even with just one glance, Shiraishi was confident in his judgment.

Upon hearing Shiraishi's testimony, Akechi was immediately confused—if it were just that his reasoning was wrong, he still had the conviction to reconsider, but... Shiraishi said that the video recording never happened, and that Kano was indeed killed just before he arrived, so things were back to square one...

Anyone who knows someone from Ghana on the scene will not have the opportunity to commit a crime!
unless……

It's wise to look at some of the people on the scene who seem to have good athletic ability.

However, Shiraishi interrupted at this moment, saying, "Director Hiruda, regarding the incident in the script that alludes to an accident that happened more than ten years ago... does anyone else know anything about it?"

Upon hearing this, Hiruda shook his head and said, "I wrote the script myself, and only Daimon asked for the script in advance to read it..."

It didn't sound like there was any useful information, but after hearing it, Shiraishi nodded and said, "So... now, besides Director Hiruda, the only other person here who knows about this is... Ms. Ayatsuji, right?"

Shiraishi suddenly looked towards the corner, at the door's agent!

“Eh? I… I do know.” Ayatsuji had no way to refute this.

As Hiruda just said, Daimon contacted the talent agency and put pressure on Hiruda, and Ayatsuji, as Daimon's manager, must have firsthand information!
"Although I think the case should be judged more by evidence, I'm open to trying to solve it purely through reasoning and logic..."

"First of all, the way the body was killed at the gate could not be a coincidence. The murderer must have been alluding to the death of the body double back then. Either it was Director Hiruda who was venting his anger, or it was someone else who was trying to interfere with the investigation."

"In other words, the real culprit must be someone who knows about this 'revisiting of old matters'. There are only two people who fit the criteria. Logically speaking, the alibi of Director Ruda is more absolute than that of Ms. Ayatsuji, while your alibi requires logical judgment and is relatively weaker."

At this moment, Shiraishi said something utterly absurd in a matter-of-fact tone.

The logic of "must have known" is acceptable to everyone, but... Ayatsuji's alibi doesn't seem to have any flaws, does it?

"This... Ms. Ayatsuji, can you jump over there and then jump back?" Yamamura couldn't help but look at Ayatsuji with skepticism.

Ayatsuji wasn't wearing high heels at the time, so she looked to be only about 1.5 meters tall, and didn't seem like someone who was good at sports...

Akechi followed Shiraishi's train of thought for a moment, then said, "Could it be... a rope or something... but..."

“There were no ropes or planks at the scene! If she had returned after committing the murder, she wouldn’t have had time to deal with it, let alone bring back any large items.” Yamamura looked at the two men with a puzzled expression, feeling that his IQ had greatly increased and that he could now “take on” two senior police officers from the Metropolitan Police Department.

Shiraishi then calmly said, "Speaking of bridge planks, they can't be said to be nonexistent..."

"Huh?" Yamamura was taken aback upon hearing this—could it be that there are some clues we haven't found?
“Mr. Daimon is 1.9 meters tall. If he raises his hand like that, he can definitely rest it on that spot… and if it’s when the rigor mortis is at its worst, he can definitely support Ms. Ayatsuji’s weight.” Shiraishi Thirty-Seven’s mouth uttered the coldest words.

Everyone:...

Everyone's first reaction was disbelief.

However, seeing that Shiraishi didn't seem to be joking, they all felt a chill run down their spines.

"Wait... Even if it's really that hard, in that position, if someone weighing 80 or 90 pounds were to crawl over it, their waist would be..." Mingzhi wanted to retort, but he shut up as soon as he opened his mouth.

"It seems Inspector Akechi has an idea... There is actually an optimal place to attach the rope, which is the middle of the 'bridge plank'. This would not only reinforce the 'bridge plank', but also allow the body to be pulled back later."

"And it doesn't matter if the waist is broken, because the murderer dismembered the body afterwards."

"Even if the body is in two halves, under such circumstances, even if some unnatural fracture marks are found during the autopsy, it will only be assumed to be caused by dismemberment, and no one will think that someone used rigor mortis to climb over from above."

"As for the fact that it was deliberately fixed in the position of hands gripping feet, I think it was because the murderer learned about what happened back then and deliberately used this to point to Director Hiruda, while also concealing the real thing that was to be hidden when the body was sawed off!"
"Because when the body was discovered, it was past the worst period of rigor mortis, and it was in two halves, so no one would think of 'bridging' the possibility."

Shiraishi spoke eloquently, and everyone felt a chill run down their spines, shocked by the "Mihana Chief's" ideas—regardless of whether the murderer was really that vicious, the "Mihana Chief" actually thought of such a vicious direction directly.

Of course, Shiraishi felt that this level of "blasphemy" was just basic stuff for the Beika people...

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 November 8th. On this day in 1923, Hitler launched his uprising. Please vote for me! Please vote for me! Please vote for me!
(End of this chapter)