Detective Conan: The Superpowered Beings of the Detective Conan World

"Wait, Inspector, I just came here to watch a movie. I don't even know that person. Why would you want to kill him? Besides, how could a weak woman like me possibly kill him!"

Vermouth, disguised as Keiko Yamada, perfectly portrayed a nervous and fearful expression, flawlessly capturing the fright of an ordinary girl suddenly confronted with a murder case, making it impossible to discern her true identity.

"That's right, Inspector. It must take a lot of strength to hang that guy up there. Yuri and that petite woman definitely couldn't do it. As for me, I was in the screening room, so I didn't have an alibi... As for Mr. Amuro... him?... Huh?"

Furuhashi Minoru immediately spoke with some anxiety, but then stopped involuntarily halfway through his sentence, because Amuro Tooru seemed to have no alibi, and was a strong man with enough strength to kill.

"Mr. Amuro Tooru, you said you were fixing the chandelier. Did anyone else see you?"

Inspector Megure turned to look at Tooru Amuro and asked in a formal tone.

"No, Ms. Yuri asked me to fix the chandelier and then left temporarily. There were very few people in the movie theater today, and no one came to the restroom. I was the only one there from beginning to end."

Amuro Tooru shrugged helplessly. It seemed that he was the only one without an alibi, and his mind started racing.

If the police cannot solve the case in time, they will most likely ask him to go to the police station for investigation. Even if he is innocent, as a member of the organization, once he enters the Metropolitan Police Department, even if he gets out, it will not be a good thing in the eyes of the organization. The best way is to solve the case on the spot and get away.

"Well, on the surface, it seems the two girls don't have enough strength to hang someone up. As for Mr. Furuhashi and Mr. Amuro, you two, Mr. Furuhashi, you said you were in the projection room the whole time, can anyone prove that?"

Inspector Megure spoke while staring at Minoru Furuhashi.

"Inspector, when that guy was found, his body was still moving, so he had obviously just died. I was in the screening room at the time, and Yuri was outside. She can testify for me."

Furuhashi Minoru pointed to the two projection ports above and the observation port in the middle and said.

"That's right. Except for the time I went to buy tea, Mr. Furuhashi was there the whole time. But when that guy died, Mr. Furuhashi was in the screening room."

Yuri Yuriko nodded, but then realized that Amuro Tooru didn't seem to have an alibi, so she spoke again:

"Mr. Amuro has only been here for a few days and doesn't know that guy at all. I think that guy committed suicide; he didn't let us have an easy time even in his dying moments."

"Hmm? You two were quite familiar with the deceased? It sounds like you didn't get along very well."

Inspector Megure's expression changed slightly, and he spoke in a serious tone.

"Well, there's nothing wrong with talking about it. That guy often comes to our movie theater to deliberately cause trouble and get into conflicts with other customers. Over time, we've lost more and more customers."

Yuri Yuri and Minoru Furuhashi exchanged a glance and spoke angrily.

As long-time employees of the movie theater, both Minoru Furuhashi and Yuri Yuri have a deep affection for the theater.

In recent years, with the rapid development of the Internet, the impact of online movies has led to the decline of the traditional market. Cinemas already have fewer customers, and then a guy named Zhang Tianzhengci often comes to the cinema to cause trouble.

They would either smoke and shout loudly, or deliberately invite some thugs to fight, making it impossible for other customers to defend themselves, and gradually almost no customers came.

"Not only that, Inspector, as far as I know, that guy owes a lot of money from gambling and is entirely capable of committing suicide."

Furuhashi continued speaking, seemingly hoping the case would be classified as a suicide.

In that instant, Vermouth and Amuro Tooru simultaneously glanced at Furuhashi Minoru, each having the same thought in their minds: the murderer was probably the projectionist in front of them who was trying to define the incident as suicide.

"It seems Mr. Furuhashi is the murderer, but what methods did he use to establish his alibi?"

Amuro Tooru pinched his chin, lost in thought for a moment.

Although theoretically, returning to the Metropolitan Police Department and waiting for the forensic examination of the deceased's body could clear him of suspicion, he did not want to go to the Metropolitan Police Department.

"Bourbon has also figured out that this person is the murderer, but he still hasn't figured out the method. So, Bourbon, what will you do next? Go to the Metropolitan Police Department?"

Vermouth watched this scene with great interest, a hint of anticipation in her eyes.

"No, it wasn't suicide, it was murder."

Hikaru Hoshino stepped forward, looking solemnly at Minoru Furuhashi, and stood in front of Inspector Megure, shaking his head slightly as he spoke.

"Huh? Who are you? What makes you think it wasn't suicide?"

When Furuhashi Minoru saw Hoshino Hikaru, a young man who had suddenly appeared and was clearly not a police officer, he couldn't help but ask a question.

"I am Hikaru Hoshino, a detective. Mr. Furuhashi, you don't seem to know much about forensic medicine. Suicide by hanging relies on the vertical pressure generated by one's own weight, while strangulation relies on the horizontal pressure applied from the outside. A forensic doctor can easily determine whether the deceased was murdered by looking at the position, condition, and depth of the hook."

As Hoshino Hikaru spoke, he kept his eyes fixed on Furuhashi Minoru, speaking calmly.

In fact, there are many flaws in Furuhashi Minoru's case. It is not a simple matter to disguise the strangulation of a person as a suicide by hanging. Unless the police do not investigate carefully from the beginning and directly define it as suicide, it is impossible to disguise it.

With homicide confirmed, there are only three suspects: Tooru Amuro, Vermouth, and projectionist Minoru Furuhashi. It's quite obvious that the murderer has been identified.

Although there are three suspects on the surface, Vermouth and Amuro Tooru have no reason to do such a thing. Based on their identities, they would not kill unrelated people.

Given their capabilities, they would have committed the murder flawlessly, making it impossible for them to be one of the three suspects at the scene. Therefore, the murderer must be Minoru Furuhashi.

With this conclusion, Hoshino Hikaru then asked Conan to investigate the clues in the screening room, and they quickly figured out how Furuhashi Minoru had created an alibi for himself.

"Detective? What do you mean? Are you saying I'm the murderer?"

Looking into Hoshino Hikaru's eyes, Furuhashi Minoru couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat, pointing towards the projection screen and saying:

"I was in the projection room when that guy died, so it's impossible for me to have killed him."

"No, your alibi has one prerequisite: that the deceased, Zhang Tianzheng, died at the exact moment his body was shaken. However, the deceased had actually been dead for a long time, and the forensic doctor's time of death is only a range, not accurate to the minute and second."

Hikaru Hoshino interrupted Minoru Furuhashi calmly, his gaze sweeping over Tooru Amuro and Vermouth, observing their expressions.

Upon hearing this, both Amuro Tooru and Vermouth showed a momentary look of sudden realization, which they quickly concealed.

"What do you mean? When we found that guy's body, he was still moving. Tell me, if he was already dead and I was hanging him there, how did I make him move?"

Furuhashi Minoru's expression turned slightly unpleasant, but he still forced himself to ask.

"On the surface, the only reason a dead body hanging upside down would sway is due to inertia from its recent death. This is the key to your fabricated alibi, Officer Takagi, please!"

Hoshino Hikaru looked at Officer Takagi on the ladder to the side and raised his hand to indicate that they could begin.

"yes!"

Officer Takagi nodded and, as Conan had asked him to do, grabbed the rope and suspended himself in mid-air.

"Officer Takagi's weight is not much different from the deceased's, so he will pretend to be the deceased's body now."

As Hoshino Hikaru spoke, he took out his phone and spoke into the other end of the line:

"Conan, move out! Turn on the air conditioner, adjust the position and fan speed!"

The next moment, a strong gust of wind blew directly over Takagi through the movie theater's powerful air conditioning, causing his body to sway back and forth like the swaying of a dead body.

"That's your method. After you killed the victim, you hung him in front of the projection vent, set up the air conditioning, and then went back into the projection room. This made the body shake, making people mistakenly believe that he had just died."

Hikaru Hoshino spoke calmly.

"But if that guy was already hanged, the shadowy figure should have appeared long ago! How could it suddenly appear on the movie screen?"

Yuri Yuriko spoke somewhat reluctantly, pointing to the projection screen above her head.

"Regarding this, you have two projectors here. You can just hang the deceased's body in front of one projector and use the other to play the movie, right?"

Inspector Megure stroked his chin, slapped his forehead, and interjected.

"No, that's impossible. One projector plays the video, while the other rewinds the tape. The machine keeps a record of the process."

Yuri Yuriko continued speaking, trying to find a flaw in her story, clearly unwilling to believe that her friend was the murderer.

"No, a mirror will suffice, and a projector will be enough."

Conan's voice came from the window above the projection room, and a beam of light from the movie projection slowly appeared from the observation window.

"This, this is... being broadcast from the observation port? How is this possible?"

Yuri Yuriko stared at the scene in disbelief.

The cinema projection room has three windows: two are projection ports for projecting movies, and the middle one is an observation port for the projectionist to observe the outside world. Nowadays, movies are actually being projected from the middle observation port.

"Use two mirrors, adjust their angles on the projector and the viewing port respectively, and reflect the light so that you can project a movie through the viewing port. Then, as long as you adjust the air conditioning, you can quickly remove the mirrors when the deceased's body shakes to create an alibi. That's what Hoshino-nii said!"

Conan, Mitsuhiko, and Genta stood together in the projection room operating the projector. Conan spoke with some excitement, looking like a child excited to be directed by a detective, showing no trace of Shinichi Kudo.

At this moment, Conan and Ai Haibara, along with the three children, were positioned with one in the screening room and the other in the electric switch room controlling the air conditioning. Meanwhile, Amuro Tooru and Vermouth were both in front of the police. Hoshino Hikaru's line of sight ensured that Conan and Ai would not be noticed by the two, making their arrangement perfectly reasonable.

"That's right, I killed that guy!"

Furuhashi Minoru lowered his head, sighed softly, and did not argue any further.

"Mr. Furuhashi, you..."

Yuri Yuriko watched this scene in disbelief.

"I've worked at this movie theater for twenty years; it's like my home. I can't allow that guy to scare away customers one by one and try to use his company to buy the theater to pay off his gambling debts!"

Furuhashi Minoru spoke with a firm tone, but then his expression turned somewhat dejected:

"I'm sorry, Yuri. Please apologize to me and the boss. I committed murder here in the movie theater, which ultimately defiles this place."

"And Mr. Amuro, I'm sorry to have made you a suspect. I originally thought the police would close the case as a suicide, but it seems I underestimated them."

"Ms. Yamada, I'm sorry to have dragged you into this and spoiled your movie viewing experience."

"Detective Hoshino, please apologize to me and the children. If possible, please help the children finish watching the movie."

Furuhashi Minoru appeared remarkably calm, unlike most murderers who would become hysterical or break down in tears and repentance; instead, he exuded an air of relief.