Symbiosis 15

Let's go back to the day before, when Date Kou and Edogawa Conan just boarded the plane.

"The test results are out. Three complete sets of fingerprints were detected on the evidence. They belong to Officer Ishii, one set matched the one found in the room at the scene, and the last set..." The woman who opened the door for Kenji Hagiwara had a pair of dead fish eyes that couldn't even save her delicate face. It was obvious that she had been working overtime. When she mentioned the last set of fingerprints, the woman paused and her tone suddenly became serious. "Officer Hagiwara," she stared at Kenji Hagiwara's face, not missing any changes, "The database matches."

"Really?" Hagiwara Kenji couldn't help but cheer up, but when he saw the tense face of the woman opposite him, his tone gradually became solemn, "...In which case?"

"The 11.13 Hakodate burglary and murder case," Hagiwara Kenji could feel his wet palms. His childhood friend took the report before him and read it carefully. His sunglasses covered most of his face, and only Matsuda Jinpei's tightly pursed lips could be seen. "It happened at two o'clock in the morning nineteen years ago. A man sneaked into the Kobayashi family living at 3-chome-14, Eyama-cho, Hakodate City, intending to steal, but was discovered by the hostess who got up at night. The latter's cry for help attracted the male owner. At that time, the murderer took out a wooden basket and threatened the two of them. He tied the couple up and locked them in the bedroom, but the male owner's attempt to break the rope to escape was discovered by the murderer. The murderer was completely enraged and stabbed the male owner with a kitchen knife in the Kobayashi family's kitchen, causing him to die from excessive blood loss..."

"The last set of fingerprints matched the fingerprints left by the murderer on the inside of the drawer."

"Hey, Hagi," Matsuda Jinpei read the report at a glance. He had to say that the woman that Hagihara Kenji knew was very careful and even prepared a case brief for them. "Two witnesses in this case testified that they saw the murderer, but because the murderer was wearing a hood and a mask, and because of the weather and the fact that they were too frightened, they could only say that the murderer was a man, about 1.7 meters tall and slightly fat," and one of the two witnesses was the hostess. "Where is the other one's testimony? Why didn't they see it?"

"...Because of the special nature of the other witness, his confession has been controversial," Hagiwara Kenji sighed deeply. He had not expected this situation. If Ishii Yamato was Honda Tsuneichi, he could understand why the other party lived so cautiously. After all, he could teach Ishii Kazuki a good skill, and the amount of money involved in his own case must not be small. But murder... He smiled bitterly. This was completely different. Honda Tsuneichi was cautious. In previous thefts, he tried to avoid face-to-face contact with the victims. He usually committed the thefts in places with a large flow of people, such as stations. He had never left a criminal record until today when his fingerprints were matched. "The Kobayashi family is a family of three living together. The male owner is Kobayashi Tora, and the female owner is Kobayashi Hiyori——"

"—and their only daughter, Chika Kobayashi, who was seven years old at the time and was hiding in the closet in their bedroom."