Conan: I'm Really Not Tokyo Ghost Story

Shinichi Kudo, in particular, had his eye twitching.

...This guy, he really knows how to pick his timing, doesn't he?

I was just about to start reasoning when the other party picked out the murderer. What the hell is this game? They didn't even give me a chance to struggle.

"...This, Sano-kun, please explain more clearly, what exactly happened?"

When faced with Inspector Megure's questioning, Sano originally did not intend to answer, because there were some things he couldn't explain, and even if he could explain them, he didn't know if they were correct.

If you get proven wrong, that's even more irritating than "losing".

Sano chose to make his move at the exact moment Shinichi Kudo appeared because he could then simply leave the mess for the other party to handle.

...According to Sano's thinking, since Shinichi Kudo has shown his face, it means that he has already discovered the truth, so cleaning up his mess is definitely not a problem.

In other people's eyes, Sano had discovered the truth but didn't bother to say anything more.

Even if it can't be considered a "win" against Shinichi Kudo, it's at least a "no loss" situation.

You don't lose face, and you also annoy the other party.

Isn't that the best of both worlds?

But plans never keep up with changes.

When things actually progressed to this point, Sano made an unexpected discovery.

...Although he is a detective who can only rely on external cheat codes to "take a risky approach", Sano has also tried to reason on his own.

In this case, Sano put himself in the perpetrator's shoes. If he chose to poison someone, he must have put the poison in a way that would allow the victim to "eat" it.

It's nothing more than food and drink, and the deceased's hands.

However, the forensic results just now showed that neither the deceased's body nor the "ice coffee" cup that he had only drunk under the witness of the three "witnesses" contained any trace of poison.

According to Sano's inquiry, potassium cyanide is actually a solid in its normal state. If it had dissolved in the cola, there would definitely have been residue on the cup wall.

Under such circumstances, it seems as if the deceased could only have ingested the poison directly.

It's no wonder that Inspector Megure believed it was a suicide.

In fact, Sano really believed that the deceased had "eaten" the poison himself.

However, it's not simply a matter of eating it directly.

Thinking about it carefully, the only thing Kohei Urata ate was iced coffee, although it was later said to be iced cola, but there is a connection between them.

That is.

ice.

Strictly speaking, it's ice.

Police did not detect any poison on the cup. The only possibility is that the deceased ingested the poison before it dissolved in the liquid, and then died from the poisoning.

Therefore, the only people who could have poisoned the glass were Ayako and Mai, who had the opportunity to add ice to it during the entire incident.

Another key clue is that there are two iced coffees.

One is a dancer, the other is a dead person.

Because it was uncertain which cup of "ice coffee" the deceased would take, regardless of which of the two people was the murderer, the only option was to "poison" both cups of "ice coffee".

But now, the costume shows no signs of being "poisoned".

That's clearly not right.

Since the poison was placed in ice, Mai shouldn't be alive, whether she ate it directly like the deceased or it dissolved into the liquid in the ice.

Even if this guy finished drinking everything before the ice melted, there shouldn't be no poison detected in the cup.

Therefore, there can only be one final conclusion.

That means the ice cubes were put in by Mai, and she controlled the speed herself so that she could drink the cola before the ice melted and hide the ice cubes.

The evidence in this case is finding those ice cubes.

Sano initially had no clue about this, but considering the circumstances at the scene, Mai wouldn't have had the chance to destroy the evidence, so he figured he could find it if he looked carefully.

...However, that only applies to the original version.

Because Sano has now discovered the location of the ice.

Sano suddenly reached out and pulled open the hood of Mai's rain-soaked hoodie. Seeing Mai's pale face, he chuckled and said, "It's not completely melted yet, and the almond flavor is quite strong."

"What!?"

Upon hearing this, Inspector Megure's expression immediately changed: "Almond flavor?"

The reason why Sano discovered where Mai had hidden the ice was simple, for two reasons.

One is that when ice melts into water, the potassium cyanide dissolves and emits a faint almond scent. This is a fatal flaw for Sano, who is currently under the influence of the Superman effect.

The second point is that ice will melt.

It has been quite some time since the incident, and the ice has melted into water, so it should have been easily discovered, especially if someone accidentally touched it, which might have even "accidentally" killed someone.

In conclusion, carrying ice on your person is both the safest and the most dangerous approach.

But as mentioned before, melting ice will wet the clothes and will still be easily noticed, but there was no wetness on the dance costume.

No, that does happen, and it's mostly intentional. It's when the dance costume leaves the stadium and gets wet from the shoulders up.

That is, a hoodie.

"That's the situation. I think you should understand what's going on without me having to say anything more, Inspector Megure."

Sano loosened the hood of Mai's outfit and wiped it on Inspector Megure: "If there's anything you don't understand, just ask Shinichi Kudo, he'll answer it."

After saying that, Sano left the stadium, leaving behind a large group of silent spectators.

...Good heavens, it's one thing for Sano to steal my spotlight, but he also wants me to be his tool and clean up his mess.

Could you be any more outrageous?

Just as Shinichi Kudo's lips were twitching wildly, Ai Haibara quietly slipped away from the crowd and followed Sano as he left.

After arriving outside the stadium, Sano realized he had forgotten it was raining, so he lit a cigarette and began to watch the rain.

...Today's case is both simple and complex. Although Sano was able to find the truth this time due to his own thinking, he also relied on clues discovered by outsiders.

Therefore, Sano certainly didn't think he had become a decent detective.

...And things that require thinking are indeed very tiring.

If we can solve problems without using our brains, it's probably better to avoid doing so.

"Sano."

Conan… no, it was Ai Haibara’s call that drew Sano’s attention back.

Turning her head, she saw Ai Haibara looking utterly helpless: "He's already told you everything, hasn't he? You should have discovered the truth a long time ago. Why didn't you say it sooner? You know that guy doesn't care about anything else when he's involved in a case. He only thinks about solving the case and doesn't understand his current situation at all."

Chapter 313, Heiji Hattori: Danger!

Sano lit a cigarette and answered irrelevantly, "So, are you here to criticize me, or to complain about him?"

"Both sides."

Haibara sighed, because both of them were troublesome.

"I do want to complain about you guys."

Sano rubbed Ai Haibara's head: "You really dare to think of such an outrageous Stand technique. Ran Mouri has been with that guy for so long. If she notices something is wrong, you'll be exposed too."

"What can we do?"

Ai Haibara tilted her head to avoid Sano's hand and said expressionlessly, "If we don't do this, he will still be exposed. Once he is exposed, I won't be able to hide either. I do hope that the Phantom Thief Kid who knows how to disguise himself can appear again, but that's impossible, so we can only gamble."

Sano fell silent, and Ai Haibara also fell silent.

Two or three minutes later, they heard a faint commotion coming from the stadium behind them. They turned around and saw a black-clad knight lying on the ground, surrounded by a crowd.

"Oh no, the effects of the medicine seem to be wearing off!"

Ai Haibara's expression changed, and she immediately rushed into the gymnasium.

Regarding the temporary antidote given to Conan, Ai Haibara told him that it was still under development and that taking it could be fatal, but in reality, it had already undergone countless experiments by her... although it had not yet been tested on humans.

At least there's some safety in it. I said that just to scare the other person, and I don't want Conan to become too dependent on it.

However, Ai Haibara really wasn't sure about the timeliness.

Logically speaking, they should be able to hold on until they dispel Ran's doubts, but how long they can hold on depends entirely on luck.

...Judging from today's situation, if things were to proceed normally, there would be a 99.99% chance of no problems. But who knew that today, another case would come along, which is why it's been delayed.

Those damned detectives, they're all a jinx!

After Ai Haibara, who was cursing inwardly, blended into the crowd and confirmed that Shinichi Kudo, although unconscious, did not seem to have any intention of transforming into his new form, she breathed a sigh of relief and let Ran Mouri and the others take him to the school's infirmary.

However, there is another problem that needs to be solved.

Ai Haibara turned her gaze to the noisy crowd of onlookers: "Sano, make sure that no one here today leaks out about Shinichi Kudo's reappearance."

"No."

Sano, standing next to him, refused without hesitation.

"……what?"

Ai Haibara never expected such an answer, and stared at Sano with wide eyes: "Why?"

Sano stubbed out his cigarette: "Shouldn't I be the one asking why?"

"What other reason could there be? Logically speaking, if the organization notices the reappearance of Shinichi Kudo, who is already dead, wouldn't that be telling them that something is wrong?"

Looking at Ai Haibara's face full of question marks, Sano shook his head: "No, the 'why' I'm asking isn't why I should do this, but why I should help you."

"for……"

Ai Haibara was stunned: "Because if we are exposed, you, who know our identities, will also be on the organization's list of people to be silenced!"

"I don't care."

Facing Sano's resigned expression, Ai Haibara fired a row of dots.