Conan: The Romantic Daily Life of a Ghost Detective

Just as I was thinking, Sato Miwako suddenly spoke up: "I'll figure out how to use the Metropolitan Police Department's facilities to practice shooting. It shouldn't be a big problem."

Wen Shui smiled and said, "Then I'll trouble you."

"When did you become so polite?" Miwako Sato muttered under her breath, adding, "But if you want to legally own a gun, it probably won't be that easy."

Wen Shui nodded: "I know, I just want to familiarize myself with how to use firearms first, in case I need them in the future."

This country has very strict gun control, making it extremely difficult for ordinary people to handle a gun. Even yakuza organizations try to avoid using firearms, as that would attract the most intense investigation from the Metropolitan Police Department.

However, Wen Shui never intended to carry a gun with her. At least not for the time being.

His entry states that shooting accuracy increases in times of crisis. If Wen Shui, who has considerable swordsmanship skills, were to encounter such a situation, the scene would definitely be huge. At that point, it would be best to simply seize someone else's gun.

"Also, don't buy such expensive things next time," Miwako Sato said softly.

Wen Shui: "Didn't I just say you don't need to be polite with me?"

At that moment, the car stopped at an intersection, waiting for the traffic light. The taillights of the police car ahead gradually disappeared from view.

Sato Miwako turned to look at Wen Shui with a very serious expression: "This is not something to be taken lightly. Even if my salary is low, I can afford this kind of spending. You are still young and have no income, so please don't spend this kind of money anymore."

Wen Shui looked at her with some surprise.

Because his money came from the Black Organization's living expenses, and Wen Shui was always very generous to those around him, he didn't pay much attention to such things.

I didn't expect Miwako Sato to be so thoughtful.

This changed Wen Shui's impression of her quite a bit. He had always thought that Sato Miwako was a somewhat reckless policewoman who liked to tease people.

"I understand. Next time I need your help, I'll take you to eat the cheapest ramen," Wen Shui said with a smile.

Miwako pouted and said in a spoiled tone, "That's so mean, at least give me some more meat..."

The two looked at each other and smiled.

The traffic light at the intersection turned green, and Sato Miwako lightly pressed the accelerator, causing the red Mazda's tires to cross the zebra crossing.

.

Ten minutes later, Wenshui and his group arrived at a street in Beika Town.

As soon as Wen Shui got out of the car, she knew what the case was about, because across from Feitian Financial Company, where the crime scene was located, was a mahjong parlor.

Mahjong parlor, finance company president, evening...

These three elements combined immediately brought a case to Wen Shui's mind.

However, if things are really as he guessed, Uncle Mori and Ran would probably be at the crime scene as well.

The detectives who arrived first had already set up a cordon at the entrance of the financial company, and several people who looked like forensic officers were carrying investigative equipment and walking upstairs in an orderly manner.

Wenshui and Sato Miwako followed.

This financial company is not very large, so the rented premises are relatively ordinary, and the layout of the house is somewhat similar to that of the Mouri Detective Agency.

You can go directly up to the second floor from the stairs on the street, and the company's main entrance is on the second floor.

Facing the door was the reception desk of Feitian Financial Company, where several uniformed police officers were searching through drawers for evidence. A little boy in a blue suit blended in among them, unnoticed as if he were wearing an invisibility cloak.

Warm water: "..."

Sato Miwako exclaimed in surprise, "Conan? What are you doing here?"

When the operator received the emergency call, she only told Sato Miwako the important details, and she didn't know the specific situation at the scene.

Conan quickly put down the customer registration form in his hand and secretly hid a crumpled piece of paper in his pocket.

Then she ran up to the two of them and greeted them politely: "Hello, Officer Sato. I was playing mahjong with Uncle Mori across the street. The president who died was also going to play mahjong, but somehow he was poisoned to death in his office."

After saying that, Conan looked at the warm water curiously.

"I see, but you can't disturb the police investigation." Sato Miwako ruffled Conan's hair.

"I understand." Conan nodded obediently.

As soon as she finished speaking, Ran, who had noticed Conan was missing, followed the sound to the front desk and saw Nuku standing with Miwako Sato: "Huh, Nuku? What are you doing here?"

Wen Shui shrugged: "I happened to be with Officer Sato when I received the report, so I came over to check it out."

"But didn't you say you were going to write a novel at home?" Xiaolan asked with a suspicious look on her face.

A faint aura of a battlefield began to permeate the air.

Before Wen Shui could explain, Conan interrupted, "I know, big brother Wen Shui is on a date with Officer Sato, right?"

Conan, who would stop at nothing to protect his childhood friend, grinned mischievously.

Ran and Miwako Sato both froze for a moment.

Wen Shui laughed and said, "Don't talk nonsense, you little brat. If Officer Sato's suitors hear this, they'll tear me to pieces."

This not only relieved Xiaolan, but also slightly flattered Sato Miwako, saying she had many suitors.

Their expressions softened somewhat.

Wen Shui then walked over and took out the crumpled paper that Conan had secretly hidden earlier, smiling as she said, "Besides, there might be evidence left by the murderer inside, so don't just take it and play with it."

Ran's attention was immediately drawn to Conan.

With her hands on her hips and a stern face, she scolded, "Conan, didn't I tell you not to interfere with Dad's investigation?"

"I'm sorry, Ran-neechan..." Conan glared at Wen Shui, but his status as a child prevented him from finding a reason to refute her.

.

After teaching Conan a lesson, the group went to the president's office.

The deceased was a middle-aged man wearing glasses, who was noticeably overweight. He was lying on the floor of the president's office, staring wide-eyed at the ceiling.

There were many 10,000 yuan banknotes scattered around the body.

Besides the police officers collecting fingerprints, Kogoro Mouri and a man in a suit were standing near the window talking.

Looking at the corpse's distinctive manner of death, Wen Shui's memories gradually surfaced.

The deceased, Mitsuhiro Hida, was the president of this financial company. He usually enjoyed playing mahjong and locking himself in his office to count money.

However, he has a habit when counting money: he fans the banknotes and then licks his thumb wet to speed up the counting process.

The murderer, Fujii Takako, an employee of Feitian Financial Company, also took advantage of this. Before leaving get off work, she placed the kettle on the gas stove in the tea room and turned it on to a low flame.

Then potassium cyanide was applied to the gas stove's control knob.

In this way, when President Feida hears the sound of water boiling and goes to the tea room to turn off the fire, his fingers will be covered in poison.

While he locks himself in his office to count the money, he will soon die from poisoning, creating a perfect alibi for the murderer who was not present at the scene.

Of course, the murderer probably didn't expect that President Hida's hobby of playing mahjong would lure Uncle Mori over, leading to the premature discovery of the body.

Therefore, this is the only flaw in this murder plan.

After careful testing, the Metropolitan Police Department has released its preliminary investigation results.

The deceased died around 7:00 to 7:30 p.m., which was when Wen Shui had just left home to look for Sato Miwako.

There was only one key to the president's office, and that key was inside the house at the time of the incident. There were no signs of forced entry on the locked windows.

Police retrieved the front desk's surveillance footage and confirmed that after the company employees left at 7 PM, President Hida locked the company's main gate. The next time someone returned in the video footage was when Kogoro Mouri noticed something was wrong and came to check.

Sato Miwako stared at the corpse, her brow furrowed. "So, this is a locked-room murder?"

"But would someone excitedly agree to play mahjong and then choose to commit suicide?" Conan asked curiously.

Ran's expression turned hostile: "Conan, what did you promise me just now?"

Conan quickly ran behind Uncle Mori and hid.

However, Conan is right; Sato Miwako also finds this matter very strange.

Before he died, President Feida clearly promised Uncle Mori and the others on the phone that he would go to the mahjong parlor across the street to play mahjong. At that time, the deceased's tone was very excited. Logically speaking, a person who wants to commit suicide should not be in that emotional state.

But if it's murder...

What's the story behind this secret room?

While her subordinates continued searching for evidence, Sato Miwako leaned close to Wen Shui and whispered, "Hey, do you have any leads?"

Wen Shui shook her head: "Not yet."

Seeing that Sato Miwako was somewhat disappointed, Wen Shui comforted her, "Don't worry, there are still two witnesses who haven't arrived yet. Perhaps we can find useful clues from them."

No sooner had he finished speaking than footsteps sounded outside the door.

"Officer Sato, the suspect has been brought in," a young officer reported from the doorway.

Immediately afterwards, a professional woman in an orange suit walked in. She had short, reddish-brown hair and her expression clearly showed displeasure.

"What do you mean by 'suspect'? Didn't I just say I was singing karaoke with my friends? What happened that made us have to come back?"

Fujii Takako went all out from the start, and you could tell she had a bad temper.

Another company employee following behind her, Hiroshi Iino, appeared somewhat hesitant under the pressure of the numerous detectives: "Excuse me, what exactly happened to our company?"

Miwako Sato was about to tell them that President Hida had been poisoned.

A young man in a suit walked out from behind Hiroshi Iino.

The young man was very tall and wore a casual suit. His signature coral-shaped bangs made Wen Shui immediately guess his identity.

Shiratori Ninzaburo.

"Shiratori? What brings you here? Aren't you on vacation today?" Sato Miwako asked in confusion.

Shiratori Ninzaburo gently brushed aside the coral-shaped bangs on his forehead: "I was originally planning to go to that ramen shop you mentioned last time for a late-night snack, but when I passed by here I saw a lot of police cars parked downstairs, so I came over to take a look."

Actually, he only came to join in the fun because he knew that Miwako was on duty today.

Shiratori Ninzaburo looked around and quickly fixed his gaze on Nukumizu and Itsuki.

As a fervent admirer of Sato Miwako, Shiratori Ninzaburo was well aware that she had a close collaborator.

Of course, he was different from Takagi. When faced with Sato Miwako's suitors, Shiratori Ninzaburo's philosophy was always to find a way to make them back down.

After exchanging self-introductions with Wenshui, Shiratori Ninzaburo steered the conversation towards the case:

"By the way, how's the case progressing?"

"We still have no clue, but these two... wait? Where did they go?" Miwako looked around and realized that the two suspects had disappeared at some point.