Conan: Above all force, there is truth!

A few days ago, when Ran was on the phone with her mother Eri Kisaki, Kogoro Mouri pretended to be casually listening to their conversation.

I vaguely heard things like, "For Longye," "Make curry," "It's not because I'm shy," and "Let's go fishing together."

Recalling the curry he had been eating every day for the past few weeks, Kogoro Mouri seemed to understand something, and his face immediately darkened.

In his mind, he had already regarded "Takeda Tatsuno" as a bastard who had deceived his daughter.

Therefore, when he learned that the guy had actually been invited by his wife to go fishing with his wife and daughter, he almost ground his back teeth to powder.

Seeing Longye in person now, he naturally wouldn't have a pleasant expression.

Longye was unaware of the cause and effect, but being stared at like that for a long time still made him feel very uncomfortable.

He immediately stood up, handed a pre-packaged bag of cookies to Kogoro Mouri, and said with a smile, "Uncle Mouri, it's been a long time. These are cookies I baked last night. They're not very sweet, so they'll be a good snack while you're drinking."

Seeing Ryūno's smiling face, Mōri Kōgōrō took the biscuit he was offered.

A moment later, Kogoro Mouri replied with a twitching smile, "Thank you... Please be careful while you play today."

After he finished speaking, he walked to his desk, sat down, picked up the newspaper on the desk, and began to read it.

It's a pity that his trembling hands, clutching the newspaper, betrayed his complex emotions at that moment.

Seeing this, Longye's lips twitched, and he thought carefully, "I didn't provoke him, did I? Could it be that Uncle Mori is going through menopause?"

Ryūno sat on the sofa, and Kogoro Mouri sat at his desk, neither of them saying a word.

This eerie atmosphere lasted for several minutes.

Finally, Xiaolan, having finished dressing up, came out of the bedroom and smiled brightly at Longye, saying, "Sorry to keep you waiting, let's go!"

After saying that, she took Longye's hand and walked towards the door.

As she approached the door, she seemed to remember something and turned to Kogoro Mouri, saying, "Oh, right, Dad. We might eat out tonight. If I'm late, you'll have to eat by yourself. There's some curry left in the fridge from yesterday; just heat it up."

Upon hearing this, Kogoro Mouri clenched his fist even tighter while holding the newspaper.

What seemed like an ordinary piece of advice sounded particularly heartbreaking at that moment.

His heart broke as he watched his daughter walk away hand in hand with the brat.

What floats in the air is no longer the smoke he left behind when he smoked, but fragments of his heart.

One piece, another, and yet another…

……

Ryuno and Ran rode in Eri's car to the fishing spot.

After getting off the tram

Longye and Xiaolan took a few deep breaths, savoring the faint fragrance of flowers, grass, and trees in the air.

Behind her, Eri Kisaki focused her gaze on Ryūno and her daughter.

Looking at her daughter, who was clearly dressed up carefully, a smile appeared in her eyes. She suddenly asked, "Longye, what do you think of Xiaolan today?"

Faced with Eri's sudden question, Ryuno paused for a moment, glanced at Ran beside him, and praised, "It's very pretty! This dress suits Ran's temperament very well, and she looks very cute in it."

After hearing Ryūno's answer, Rin's face turned noticeably red.

Eri had been observing her daughter's changes, and when she saw Ran suddenly become very shy, she said seriously, "Ryuno, you must protect Ran well from now on!"

"Mom! What did you just say?!" Before Longye could react, Xiaolan interrupted her mother, her face flushed.

……

after an hour

“Ah ...

A woman's scream suddenly came from a distance.

The piercing scream instantly attracted the attention of Longye and his friends who were fishing.

They looked toward the direction from which the screams came and found a man lying on the ground with a woman and two men beside him.

The scream just now must have come from that woman.

Eri Kisaki looked closely, comparing the man's physique to his, and exclaimed in surprise, "President Otomo!?"

"President Otomo?"

Ryūno and Kōran spoke up together.

Eri nodded and said seriously, "Yes, it's the club president who invited us fishing today."

"I'm going to check on the situation. You all wait here and don't wander off. I'll be right back."

Longye originally wanted to go along, but when he thought of Xiaolan with him, he gave up the idea.

After all, Xiaolan has always been timid, so if possible, it's best to minimize her exposure to such situations.

Given the crime rate in this world, she will certainly encounter many frightening scenes in the future.

But aside from that little pervert Shinichi Kudo, which child would get excited about a bloody scene, or even want to do some deduction?

Sure enough, after hearing her mother's words, Xiaolan's face, which was originally flushed with shyness, turned pale, and her two little hands clenched into fists.

Seeing this, Ryuno patted Ran's head and said to Eri, "Okay. Auntie, don't worry. I'll take good care of Ran."

Upon hearing this, Eri Kisaki smiled and nodded, then turned and left.

Feeling the warmth emanating from her head, Xiaolan looked up at Longye, and her unease and fear instantly vanished.

The thought that Longye would always be by her side made her feel inexplicably at ease.

……

"Vice President Kikuya, the president and you had a dispute over shares not long ago, right? Among everyone here, you are undoubtedly the prime suspect, aren't you?"

"Hmph! This doesn't sound like something someone known as 'Fake Account Imai' would say~ Didn't the president ask you to resign last month because of this? Have you forgotten about it so quickly?"

"you!!!"

"Hmph! Am I wrong? We're both equally guilty, aren't we? You also had a motive for murder, didn't you? Didn't you kill the president in a fit of rage?"

Seeing the scene, Eri Kisaki, who had rushed over, shook her head helplessly: "Alright, you two, since you've already called the police, let's talk about this after they arrive. Let's calm down first!"

After hearing Eri's words, the two stopped arguing.

However, a hint of tension flashed in their eyes.

After the argument subsided, the female secretary also stood up from the ground, seemingly having recovered from the shock.

However, her tone still betrayed obvious weakness: "Attorney Fei, I'm sorry to have made you laugh."

"It's nothing, but can you tell me what exactly happened just now?" Eri asked, frowning.

Chapter 31 An Unexpected First Battle (Part 2)

Upon hearing Eri's question, the female secretary, holding her head, recalled, "The president just asked me to get a few cans of chilled beer from the car. When I returned, I saw the president lying on the ground covered in blood, and it seemed he was already..."

She paused for a moment, then continued, "The president's body showed signs of being searched, and his wallet seemed to be missing as well."

Eri Kisaki glanced at the beer cans scattered on the ground not far away, which were covered with water droplets of varying sizes.

She reached out and touched them, and found that the beer cans were indeed very cold.

After touching her, Eri Kisaki sat up and asked curiously, "It's not summer now, yet you still prepare ice-cold beer."

The female secretary waved her hand casually: "That's our president's personal hobby. Even in winter, he insists on drinking ice-cold beer. Every time he goes out, he brings a cooler specifically for storing ice-cold beer."

After hearing the secretary's explanation, Eri Kisaki stopped paying attention to the issue.

She crouched down and carefully examined the president's body, discovering a clear stab wound to his heart.

Given the location and the wound, the perpetrator must have stabbed the club president head-on.

However, if that's the case, there are still some points that don't make sense.

Eri turned to look at where Ryuno and Ran were. Although there was a significant difference in elevation, the distance was not too far.

Everything was so conspicuous; there was no way they wouldn't notice this side.

Moreover, the perpetrator would definitely have attacked head-on, so the president couldn't possibly have refrained from resisting.

Why didn't they notice? And besides the secretary's scream, they didn't hear a single sound...

Wait, didn't you hear anything?

Eri Kisaki had some guesses in her mind. She looked thoughtfully at Kikuya and Imai, and asked the female secretary, "Were they both here when you found the body?"

"Hmm...it seems like none of them are here."

"Do you know where they went?"

"Vice President Kikuya seems to have gone to the woods over there to collect branches. As for Finance Manager Imai, I don't know."

"Okay, I understand. The police will be here soon. You can go and rest over there for a while."

After speaking to her female secretary, Eri Kisaki went to Vice President Kikuya's side and asked, "Vice President, do you know where Accountant Imai went just now?"

"Oh, that wretched fellow. I ran into him while I was cutting branches in the woods; he was setting up a tent and a grill over there."

"Oh right, so we all have alibis, right? Tch, I thought it was definitely that guy who did it! Now it seems like the one who killed the president was probably a robber from around here, since the president's wallet is also missing."

"..."

After listening to Vice President Kikuya's words, Eri Kisaki walked up to Finance Manager Imai.

Surprisingly, the testimonies of Finance Manager Imai and Vice President Kikuya were almost identical.

They all believed that the company president was killed by a local robber.

Hearing this, Eri Kisaki smiled slightly; she understood everything.

All we need to do is wait for the police to arrive and then find that "evidence" in the surrounding area.

According to her reasoning, the president might have been murdered by Kikuya and Imai together.

They had a clear division of labor: Vice President Kikuya was in charge of the actual work, while Finance Manager Imai was responsible for managing the president's finances.

The previous argument was probably just for show for her and that female secretary.

The goal is likely to make their alibis appear more credible.

After all, alibis provided by two people who are hostile to each other or even have a grudge against each other are more likely to be believed.