Conan: I'm Really Not Tokyo Ghost Story

Kyoko Shibata's pupils dilated in shock, but she didn't notice that a tiny, almost imperceptible black spider was leaving her body along a spider web.

"This ring is the irrefutable evidence in this case. It is the deceased's ring, and it is also the real death message left by the deceased before he died."

After giving him a few seconds to pause, Sano continued.

Chapter 509, Episode 512, Conan: Snap of the Finger (PTSD)

This drew everyone's attention back to Sano.

"Inspector Yokomizo, you are right about one thing. The killer really didn't expect that after he killed the victim, he was still holding on to his last breath and left a final message. But this wasn't the photo on the surface; it was the ring on his hand. When the killer returned to the scene, he discovered this and, in a panic, took the ring and put the photo down."

"But if you look closely at the condition of the body, you will find that a circle has been imprinted on the palm of the hand that held the photo. It is difficult to erase in a short time. In addition, there is no blood on the surface of the fingers of his other hand. It is obvious that the bandage was hastily applied after death. The answer is even more obvious. The murderer wanted to use this to cover up the ring imprint that was still on his fingers."

Without saying a word, Sano made the final decision.

...Sano put a little thought into how to put this cup.

Sano doesn't actually know much about the details of the current case.

This includes the method of murder, alibis, and so on.

There is only one thing that Sano can be certain of: Ikenami Shizuka is innocent—because he has already secretly tested her with the hammer of justice.

After all, this woman didn't seem like just some random passerby.

Sano must first ascertain his fundamental stance.

After confirming that Shizuka Ikenami was alright, the remaining suspects were naturally only two: the bald man showed some reaction, but not much, and it didn't even amount to petty theft; the only other suspect was Kyoko Shibata.

The reaction was unusually strong.

With those perfectly timed "clues," Sano quickly accelerated the progress... Of course, all of this was predicated on the fact that Erhei had actually found that crucial piece of evidence on Shibata Kyoko.

This is the core point.

Furthermore, Sano was able to discern the evidence as a ring from the circle in the corpse's palm and the bandage on its fingers, mainly because Shizuka Ikenami also had a similar bandage on her hand.

Two similar anomalies are hard to ignore... That being said, it's hard not to notice them.

Shizuka Ikenami is actually already married.

But what's the point of hiding this?

"But wasn't the deceased playing golf outside at the time of her death?"

Following closely behind, Yokomizo Sango raised his own doubts.

...According to Sano, the only possible culprit seems to be Shibata Kyoko.

Based on the previous situation.

Kyoko Shibata is the only suspect who can be said to be without any suspicion.

This creates a conflict.

This gave Yokomizo a headache—generally speaking, detectives solve cases through a gradual process, guiding everyone step by step.

Method of murder, evidence of murder, motive for murder, etc.

But this guy doesn't follow the procedures at all; he's all about one thing.

One blow kills.

complete in one step.

Considering what he said earlier, it makes one unconsciously suspicious.

Is this guy trying to frame someone on purpose?

However, Sano calmly tossed away his cigarette butt: "I don't think I need to explain this. Although it was an accidental murder, it was ultimately caused by Detective Mori's request. In order to meet the client's needs, I think it's most appropriate for him to handle the rest."

"What? Detective Mori, have you already figured out the truth too?"

Kogoro Mouri was once again in the spotlight... but little did he know any of this.

Panic immediately rose in my heart.

"Ah, this..."

What's the point of this kid bringing me into this mess?

Before Kogoro Mouri could even muster the courage to start making things up, Conan swiftly delivered a tranquilizer dart and then thoughtfully offered him a chair.

“That’s right, what Sano said is exactly what I thought…”

Conan, hiding behind Kogoro Mouri, wiped away cold sweat as he began to explain.

...Unlike Sano, Conan had already figured out the details of the case.

Only one final piece of evidence is needed.

As a result, Sano made this move first, and that was the only move he made.

There was no other way but for Conan to quickly get into character and bring the story to a close.

...but before that.

Conan was stunned for quite a while because of Sano's snap of his fingers.

Snap of fingers.

This is a common action many people take when filling a cup in daily life.

However, this action has a special meaning for Conan.

Because, according to unscientific statistics, a certain bomb fanatic detonated a bomb.

He would often snap his fingers.

The source of this information is Shuichi Akai.

However, neither Shuichi Akai nor Conan have ever seen Rye use bombs in any of the scenes they've witnessed, and they've rarely seen him snap his fingers... even though they have both seen or heard it once or twice.

For example, the Full Heaven incident in Conan's memory.

That snap of the fingers, hidden in the crowd, barely perceptible, yet unreachable.

If Shuichi Akai hadn't brought it up, Conan would have almost forgotten about it.

Of course, it's hard to say what the truth is.

But that doesn't stop Conan from taking it seriously.

After all, as the old saying goes, details determine success or failure.

This is why Conan now subconsciously thinks of Rye whenever he sees or hears a snap of the fingers, a reaction level comparable to hearing "the man in the hat" or "there's a bomb."

It can almost be called "finger snap PTSD symptoms".

Okay, back to the main topic.

After being repeatedly exposed by evidence and having his alibi broken.

Kyoko Shibata could only remain silent for a while before finally admitting her crime with a bitter smile.

As for the motive for the murder.

It was Shibata Shiro playing mahjong with a bald old man—these guys weren't playing mahjong for fun, but gambling, gambling with huge sums of money.

Kyoko Shibata's savings, car, handbags, and jewelry.

Shibata Shiro gambled away all of it, which led him to the idea of ​​murder.

"...Not to mention my golf equipment, he even had his eye on the famous sword that my father gave me when we got married. He said that if I lost again, he would sell it and use the money to continue gambling."

Listening to Kyoko Shibata's confession, Sango Yokomizo let out a long sigh of relief.

"Please come with us to the police station to explain the rest."

"Yes... I'm sorry, I'll go change my clothes first."

Kyoko Shibata entered the room with her head down, but Conan and Shizuka Ikenami immediately sensed something was wrong.

"Oh no, she's trying to commit suicide!"

A group of people quickly burst open the door.

As expected, Kyoko Shibata was holding a long sword in her hand.

"Don't come any closer!"

In this situation, Shizuka Ikenami drew a fan from her waist, stepped forward, and assumed a stance, confronting Shibata as if in a kendo match.

Having lost control, Shibata Kyoko slashed down with her sword.

However, Shizuka Ikenami easily caught the knife with her fan and snapped it to the ground.

Another fan struck Shibata Kyoko's hand.

...He's a master.

Perhaps Kyoko Shibata was a weak woman who had never trained, and even if she wasn't a top expert, she could easily do such a thing. But it's impossible that Shizuka Ikenami only had a little bit of training.

At the very least, he's a mid-level expert, especially in terms of mindset.

It's stable enough.

Chapter 510, Heiji Hattori: I treated you as a friend, but you want to be my dad?!

Sano simply watched as Ikenami Shizuka stood by, offering a morally high accusation to Shibata Kyoko without making any further moves.

Until the distraught Kyoko Shibata was taken away by the police.

As Shizuka Ikenami was preparing to retreat, Conan finally spoke up again: "Wait a minute, Ms. Ikenami, I think you probably have a few questions that you need to explain to us, besides this case."

Conan, using Kogoro Mouri's voice, raised several points of doubt in succession.

For example, Shizuka Ikenami said she had bronchitis, but she still knitted sweaters.

For example, another example.

Shizuka Ikenami said she couldn't cook, but she immediately recognized a very obscure dish on the table that only someone with exceptional culinary skills could recognize.

Especially as Sano pointed out, the band-aid concealed the ring mark.