Conan: I'm Really Not Tokyo Ghost Story

And also... the Metropolitan Police Department?

The last location is right next to the villa that Sano left earlier... well, not in the yard, which was expected.

If Sano remembers correctly, it was in that construction site he passed by.

"Dismemberment?"

After rubbing his fingers together, Sano didn't hesitate. He told Kuro to hide, then went out, grabbed the man waiting anxiously outside, and went back to the villa. Without saying a word, he dragged Inspector Megure to the construction site next door, pointed to the location of the target, and said...

"Dig here."

"……what?"

Covered in mud, Inspector Megure held a shovel and it took him a while to come to his senses.

"What do you mean, Sano-kun? Is he here?"

"Ah."

Sano nodded, glanced at the man again, and didn't want to say anything more. However, considering that if Inspector Megure continued to dig and dig, they might unearth some unpleasant things, he looked at the old man, who had clearly become somewhat flustered since arriving here, and said, "If you confess now, it might not be too late."

All eyes immediately turned to the old man.

The old man knelt down with a thud.

He confessed to the crime and then began his clichéd confession.

It turns out that the missing person did go to the deceased's house that night, and the two did have some arguments, but not to the extent that he would suddenly kill the person. It just so happened that the two were on the stairs at that time.

During the shoving, the missing person fell down.

Manslaughter is still murder. The old man, being so old, certainly didn't want to give up his property and go to jail, so he came up with a little scheme: burying the body.

"...So that's how it is. I was wondering why he was looking at our area with binoculars. He was checking if anyone had discovered the body."

Conan looked thoughtfully at the large flower on the ground. The case today started when he and his Plague Squad were playing baseball here and accidentally hit the ball into the old man's yard. That's when they encountered the man who was trying to sneak in, which led to a series of problems.

Looking at it now, all the details match up.

The only problem might be Sano's speed in solving the case... It's way too fast, isn't it? How did he know where the body was buried just by going to the victim's residence? How did the clues develop?

Conan turned to the old man and asked, "So, did you plant this flower to mark the burial site so you wouldn't forget where you buried the body?"

"what?"

The old man was puzzled: "What flower?"

"It was probably from the deceased's body, and it was accidentally knocked off before it was opened up."

Sano interjected... After all, it's a construction site, except for the weeds all over the ground.

With such a unique flower blooming, it is naturally extraordinary.

...If we didn't rely on cheat codes, this might be the key to solving the case.

"Oh."

Conan felt he had discovered the truth.

Perhaps Sano saw this unusual cosmos flower at the construction site, and then found cosmos seeds in the deceased's home.

That's when the truth was discovered.

That's perfectly reasonable.

...Why doesn't this kid even ask how he knew the body was buried here?

Sano, who had prepared in advance to shut Conan up with the excuse of "trade secrets," felt that Conan's curiosity seemed to be less intense today.

Sano didn't know what kind of flower the large flower on the ground was, but he did notice its unusual presence. However, to conclude that the body was there based solely on this unusual feature would be a bit too far-fetched... Never mind, it's better not to ask, and saves him the trouble of talking.

"Manslaughter, dismemberment, burying the body—I wonder if, at your age, you'll be stuck in jail until you die."

Hearing Sano's remark, everyone present was taken aback once again.

"Wait, wait a minute, Sano-kun, what did you just say? Dismemberment??"

Inspector Megure looked on in disbelief.

Sano took a few steps forward, squatted down, and looked at the ground next to the big flower.

“You should know, Inspector Megure, that the ground that has been dug up and then filled back up is different from the surrounding ground that hasn’t been dug up. Even though this is a construction site and they work on some parts of the ground from time to time, it’s not a big deal… otherwise he wouldn’t have chosen to bury people here.”

"To avoid being noticed by the workers here, he didn't dare to dig the pit too big, so he dug a small one. A lot of time has passed, and with the wind and rain, these abnormalities are hard to see. But with my observation skills, I can still barely see this subtle difference."

Sano, who hadn't intended to do any deduction and only wanted to force the old man to confess everything, couldn't help but start analyzing based on the clues before him.

...Could it be that a detective's bad habits are contagious?

Just as Sano finished his analysis and fell into deep thought, the old man on the other side was being brutally beaten to the ground by the man: "What bullshit accident, what bullshit not wanting to go to jail? For such a trivial matter, you won't even give me my sister's complete body! You bastard, why don't you just die?!"

The man waved his fists, his eyes bloodshot.

The officers, including Inspector Megure, made a token attempt to stop them... Accidental death might be understandable, but to dismember the body in order to conceal it was unacceptable.

That would be really unreasonable.

Getting beaten up a bit more isn't a big deal... the problem is this old man is too old.

Inspector Megure was worried that the young man might lose his temper and hit him without restraint, which would be a real loss if he caused any more accidents.

Not to mention that the old man is still useful.

"...Where are the rest of the body?"

After the situation had finally eased somewhat, Inspector Megure asked the old man a question.

...Since it was a dismemberment, the body could not possibly be hidden in one place.

Inspector Megure has that kind of experience.

Of course, it's also possible that this thing was buried separately in different parts of the construction site.

If that's the case, then Sano's "worry that the workers will notice something is wrong" seems a bit untenable. After all, even if the area is reduced, if the quantity increases, the probability will also increase.

Furthermore, if there were any, Sano would likely point them out separately.

But Sano didn't do that.

Inspector Megure has absolute trust in Sano, in conclusion.

It's best to just ask this old man.

The old man, whose face was bruised and swollen, no longer hid anything and answered truthfully. However, when Conan heard the location he mentioned, he was stunned and looked at Sano: "So the severed hand we dug up last time was... what a coincidence."

"Ok?"

Sano raised an eyebrow, and after a while, he remembered that there was such a thing.

...No wonder, no wonder one of them is in the Metropolitan Police Department.

But beyond that, Sano frowned and asked, "When did that woman disappear, and when did we find that severed hand?"

"He was missing for more than a month, and the severed hand was found less than a month ago, which matches up."

Conan roughly understood Sano's confusion and offered an explanation.

These words left Sano completely dumbfounded.

...It hasn't even been a month since they dug up that severed hand??

impossible.

Even after all this time, Sano's memory isn't that bad.

"How long has it been since you shrunk today?"

Sano asked Conan.

Conan blinked and recalled, "About three or four months, I guess?"

Got it.

Sano immediately fell silent.

Conan narrowed his eyes suspiciously... Is this guy's memory failing him, causing him to forget the dates of these events, or...?

Is the sensory disturbance acting up again?

No, the latter shouldn't be like that; it means he can't remember?

But this situation seems to be getting more and more serious, doesn't it?

"Oh, right."

Conan suddenly seemed to remember something, raised his head, and asked unhappily.

Why didn't you reply to my text messages before?

Chapter 625, Chapter 628: I told you, but you won't listen; I told you, but you won't accept it; I told you, but you won't change; I told you, but you won't accept it.

"Oh, did you text me? I didn't notice."

Sano replied casually, his perfunctory attitude leaving Conan speechless. He then snorted and crossed his arms, saying, "Fine, I already know you're not going to reply."

"Really? Congratulations!"

Sano scratched his ear, looking completely distracted.

This caused Conan's back molars to grind together, making a creaking sound.

"...Rei Furuya, the Japanese Public Security Bureau, right?"

Conan, too lazy to waste any more words, directly presented his answer sheet in an attempt to save face.

However, regarding this...

Sano tilted his head in confusion: "Who is it?"

"Ok??"

Conan stared blankly at Sano, unable to see any flaws, and was immediately dumbfounded.

"No, you really don't know?"

"Know what?"