Chapter 238
Usakabe Saiki threw a bombshell at Edogawa Conan, not bothering to listen to his explanations, and simply left.
Having finally grown tired of playing the matching game, Usui Saiki went over to ask Hagiwara Kenji if they could go back to the hotel.
“Theoretically, it’s not possible, but given the current situation… never mind, you should go back. The others will be going back to spend the night soon too.” Kenji Hagiwara knew Saiki Usui quite well. “Are you bored?”
Bo Yezaki nodded: "The internet speed here is not good."
Matsuda Jinpei, who was still thinking about the case, immediately said upon hearing this, "Perfect timing. You're bored now, so go to sleep and take this opportunity to change your messy schedule."
Bo Yezaki was speechless: "...Are you my mother?"
"Stop nagging!" Matsuda Jinpei complained. "I have to worry about waking you up when I call or email you. It's so annoying. Get it fixed right now!"
Kenji Hagiwara chimed in with a smile, "Indeed, this is a good opportunity, Fukami. The signal on Tsukikage Island isn't very good, the internet speed is slow, and the TV programs are boring. You can't play Connect Four until dawn, can you?"
Although Usui Saiki was sent back to the hotel to sleep, Hagiwara Kenji and Matsuda Jinpei, being on duty as police officers (even though Matsuda Jinpei was in the explosives disposal unit), stayed behind with great professionalism to discuss the case with Mouri Kogoro and the others, and even slept in the activity center wrapped in blankets.
The old policeman from Tsukikage Island finally arrived sometime earlier and joined in the discussion of the case. However, he couldn't provide any useful information, so expecting him to solve the case was even more hopeless. Everyone could only hope that Tokyo would send someone over as soon as possible after the police were notified.
After all, Tsukikage Island is part of Tokyo's jurisdiction, so if someone dies there, the Metropolitan Police Department will definitely be responsible.
The next day, the Metropolitan Police Department personnel finally arrived by boat.
The person leading the team was none other than Inspector Megure, a familiar face to everyone.
Conan Edogawa woke up relatively early, and groggily got up to find that Jinpei Matsuda and Kenji Hagiwara were gone.
He immediately perked up and searched outside, where he found them explaining the situation to Inspector Megure.
Judging from his tone, he seemed to have already explained most of what needed to be explained.
Inspector Megure said, "I understand the general outline of what happened. You two... it feels like just a few days ago I saw Matsuda helping to escort prisoners. I was starting to get the illusion that Matsuda was also one of our First Investigation Division members."
Kenji Hagiwara chuckled: "Traveling is always more fun when there are more people, right? If Date hadn't been on vacation spending time with his girlfriend, he would be here right now."
In this situation, Kenji Hagiwara stopped calling Wataru Date "class monitor" to avoid misunderstandings.
Upon hearing the topic of dating, Inspector Megure considered asking Kenji Hagiwara, the matchmaking guru, on behalf of some of his single subordinates when the next matchmaking event would be, but then decided against it because it wasn't the right occasion and returned to the main point: "Anyway, let's call everyone back for questioning after lunch."
Calling them over now would mean having to provide them with lunch, so it's better to wait until after lunchtime before asking them questions.
Actually, we shouldn't have let them go back last night. They might have had some clues on them. Now that a night has passed, everything that needed to be dealt with should have been taken care of.
But it's impossible to start by searching everyone. You have to ask questions first. Only after you've asked questions and have someone you suspect can you conduct a search with a valid reason. That brings us back to where we started.
With so many people attending this second anniversary memorial service, detaining them all would definitely cause a disturbance. Besides, questioning each one would take until who knows what time it would take. Not everyone is a night owl like Usakabe Saiki, and there's no room for so many people to sleep here. Therefore, after weighing the options, we had no choice but to release them.
Inspector Megure was aware of these issues, so he didn't blame them—they were there on vacation, not to work, so it was good enough that they were willing to help!
If something like this happened during a holiday, Kankawa Shinryu probably wouldn't even bother to stand up and maintain order!
Thinking of Shinryu Suikawa, Inspector Megure asked, "It's one thing for Date to go on a date, but what about Suikawa-kun? You two went out to have fun without Suikawa-kun?"
Conan Edogawa, who was secretly eavesdropping: "...???"
What's going on? Even if Officer Hagiwara and Mr. Kankawa used to be partners, Mr. Kankawa is now an "advisor"!
Inspector Megure just accepted the premise that the "advisor" and the police have an exceptionally good relationship and always hang out together? Does he really have no intention of making any arrests?!
“He’s sleeping at a hotel,” Matsuda Jinpei said. “Do you really expect him to sleep on the floor here, Inspector?”
Inspector Megure and Jinpei Matsuda had met quite often for various reasons, and he was quite used to his way of speaking. After listening, he replied with a twitching smile, "You're right... In some ways, Hanakawa-kun never wrongs himself..."
Conan Edogawa silently analyzed the tone of Inspector Megure's voice when he mentioned Shinryu Samikawa.
Calm down, it might not be what he thinks...
No, I can't calm down.
Inspector Megure! What's wrong with you, Inspector Megure?! That's an "advisor"! What's with that helpless yet indulgent tone of yours?!
Did he misunderstand something?
But Han Chuan Shenliu deliberately rejected the "joking" excuse he offered, which means he really seriously admitted that he was an "advisor," right?
After all, it has already been denied that it was a joke, so it would be really pointless to admit that it was a joke again!
Moreover, when he said, "Anyway, no matter how dissatisfied some people are, they can't do anything to me," the sudden unbridled arrogance made the danger alarms in his mind go off wildly. There was no other explanation for it!
Generally speaking, Conan Edogawa trusts his first impressions. However, since Kenji Hagiwara and Jinpei Matsuda were already registered with him and were considered reliable, Conan was willing to re-examine his reasoning when Hagiwara spoke up for Shinryu Samikawa.
After reviewing and reflecting on the matter, Han Chuan Shenliu's strange words caused him to completely lose his composure and his attitude to change drastically—he really should have trusted himself!
Therefore, even the more reliable Inspector Megure was very kind and amiable to Shinryu Sakkawa, and Conan Edogawa had already developed a resistance to it.
Coupled with Hanchuan Shenliu's "I am an outlaw, come and arrest me if you dare" attitude, he really couldn't think of people in a good light anymore. He even had some subtle thoughts about Inspector Megure, Kenji Hagiwara, and Jinpei Matsuda.
If it weren't for the trust built up from their previous collaboration, and Conan Edogawa's observation that they were indeed responsible police officers, he would have suspected them of being corrupt cops.
Unaware of Conan Edogawa's wild imagination, Inspector Megure was still complaining: "He probably won't wake up until one or two o'clock. You guys should go eat first and come back to help. I'll also talk to your boss about Matsuda."
“No need, I’m just idling around anyway.” Matsuda Jinpei, who wasn’t even a member of the First Investigation Division, was already used to being involved in incidents. “Hagi, go wake up Mr. Mori.”
After saying that, Matsuda Jinpei seemed to remember something and asked Inspector Megure, "Inspector, this Mr. Mori... seems a bit different from what I've heard."
Last night, when they were discussing the case together, Kogoro Mouri came up with a lot of outrageous reasoning, which left him and Kenji Hagiwara dumbfounded. Although the other party later explained that it was to ease the awkward atmosphere, he still felt that something was wrong.
Conan Edogawa, who was eavesdropping, slowly dripped a bead of cold sweat from his forehead: "..."
Inspector Megure was all too familiar with how Kogoro Mouri behaved when he messed up, and he couldn't help but break out in a sweat: "Well, although he might be a bit of a mess at first, he becomes very reliable once he enters a deep sleep... Anyway, everyone, let's get ready. Remember to call Kankawa-kun on time, or I'm afraid he'll sleep until tonight."
"...Inspector, you have his phone number too. And Han Chuan should actually wake up earlier today; he must have gone to bed very early last night."
"He's so grumpy when he wakes up..." Inspector Megure's eyes darted around. "Why don't you guys fight it out? You're friends, aren't you?"
Although Hanchuan Shenliu wouldn't get angry about it, listening to him speak at times like this felt more stressful than usual... Making a phone call takes less than ten minutes, but reflecting on whether I should have disturbed someone's sleep takes two hours—it's exhausting.
These two are the type who not only don't reflect on their own actions, but also dare to criticize Suzumawa Shinryu's work schedule, which Inspector Megure greatly envies.
Even Conan Edogawa couldn't take it anymore.
What kind of harmonious conversation is this...? What's going on with Hanchuan Shenliu?!
While Kenji Hagiwara was calling Kogoro Mouri and Jinpei Matsuda was busy, Conan Edogawa slipped away to find Inspector Megure.
"Conan-kun." Inspector Megure had been seeing Conan Edogawa frequently at the scene recently and knew that he (claimed) was Kogoro Mouri's assistant, helping him ask questions and such, so his attitude was quite good, and he didn't treat him like an ignorant child. "Is there something you need?"
"It's about Mr. Hankawa. Uncle Mori seems to have some issues with him." Conan Edogawa tried to act innocent, but then dragged Kogoro Mori into the conversation—he was telling the truth! Kogoro Mori just couldn't stand Shinryu Hankawa!
"Oh—" Before Conan Edogawa could say anything more, Inspector Megure immediately showed a look of sudden realization, and then said naturally, "Kanakawa-kun is easily misunderstood, but he is actually a good person. It's okay, I'll explain to Mori-kun later."
This attitude doesn't seem fake, but if that's the case, Conan Edogawa can't understand it even more.
"...Inspector Megure, what do people in the Metropolitan Police Department think of Mr. Kanekawa? Why did he resign? Was it because he was always misunderstood?"
Although Inspector Megure was somewhat puzzled by Conan Edogawa's question, he answered it anyway in order to change the image of Shinryu Sakkawa in front of the children.
"It has nothing to do with misunderstandings. Most people still like him. There's nothing that can be done about the few who don't like him. Besides, if you have to say, they're just not as skilled as him, so they can only ask him for help when they need it. As for resigning... well, Mori-kun will find out anyway, so it's okay to tell you. Actually, he didn't really resign. He's still a consultant at the Metropolitan Police Department."
Conan Edogawa: "…………???"
—Is that what they really meant by "Anyway, no matter how dissatisfied some people are, they can't do anything about it"?
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Bonus chapter for landmines, accounts settled, energy bar now 38/100.
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Thin Leaf: Regardless of which "advisor" it is, just tell me if my answer was the truth.
Conan: …………
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