Chapter 33 Happy Cooperation
Chapter 33
"...Wow! Assistant game! I absolutely must play it!"
Even Edogawa Conan took a few seconds to react. He cheered and hugged Kurokawa Kaoru's arm, his eyes widening as he said excitedly, "Kurokawa-san, why don't we start now?"
Following Hattori Heiji, Kurokawa Kaoru also felt the same sense of powerlessness. After telling the others to wait in the living room, Kurokawa Kaoru left. After confirming that Edogawa Conan was following him, he didn't turn around until he entered Hamano Toshiya's room, his gaze fixed on him.
"You should already know the identity of the murderer, right?"
"Tanaka Kikue."
Conan Edogawa sighed: "Of all the people present, she is the most likely to have committed the crime, but I haven't found conclusive evidence yet. Besides that, there is also her method of committing the crime."
Decisive evidence? Kurokawa Kaoru frowned. What was that? In a multiple-choice question like this, where it's either A or B, wouldn't it be enough to just pick the correct answer?
"If there is no evidence, the police have no right to arrest the criminal."
“Tsk.”
The police are such a hassle.
Knowing the culprit, but unable to apprehend him due to a lack of definitive evidence, such a situation, from Kurokawa Kaoru's perspective, was a joke. Mafia leaders were known for their sincerity, and if a leader failed to promptly reward or punish, he would likely be replaced soon.
I originally thought that as long as I could catch Edogawa Conan, I could quickly end this farce, but I never thought there would be so many steps involved. My face immediately fell.
"Japan's crime rate remains high because the police are always dealing with messy issues."
"I understand how you feel, but don't you think there's something wrong with this sentence coming out of your mouth?"
"I'm a law-abiding citizen."
Ignoring the helplessness on Edogawa Conan's face, Kurokawa Kaoru sat down with his brows tightly furrowed.
Criminology says that to identify a criminal, one must investigate motive, evidence, the chain of evidence, and the timeline. As for motive, they already knew it was related to the forum, and the timeline was easier to investigate. Now, the only issues left to be resolved were the evidence and the chain of evidence.
"Hamano Toshiya's body was found some distance from the main entrance of the holiday cottage. There were no footprints of other people in the snow before the body was discovered, and no equipment capable of transporting a body was seen nearby."
After searching the room for a long time without finding any rope or bamboo pole, Edogawa Conan scratched his head, obviously unable to figure out the situation.
"I searched all these rooms while you were eating, but I didn't find anything."
Kurokawa Kaoru was somewhat helpless: "To be able to come up with such an innovative crime method, do you think the criminal would leave the murder weapon and evidence in his room?"
"You mean...it's still on her?"
"That's correct."
The corners of Kurokawa Kaoru's lips curled up: "Unfortunately, neither you nor I are police officers, and we have no right to search you."
Not being able to conduct a body search is indeed a problem. Edogawa Conan sighed, feeling that the problem had returned to square one.
Unable to bear the other person's sad look, Kurokawa Kaoru's expression changed slightly. He grabbed Edogawa Conan's collar and lifted him up.
A high school detective suddenly jumped off the ground:?
"What are you doing?"
"At this time of day, I'd already be feeling sleepy."
Because the guy in front of him not only sacrificed his rest time, but also got involved in a boring murder case. Kurokawa Kaoru would not allow him to reason step by step no matter what.
"As long as we can find conclusive evidence, we can conclude that Tanaka Kikue is the culprit, right?"
"It should be like this... Hey!"
Before Edogawa Conan could finish his words, he saw Kurokawa Kaoru walking towards the balcony. His expression clearly showed that he was not looking for clues. For some reason, a terrifying thought arose in Edogawa Conan's mind. As the distance between him and the balcony gradually shortened, the thought became stronger and stronger.
"What on earth do you want to..."
"Since the criminal has hidden the evidence on her body, we just need to ask her to produce it."
With the other party's exclamation, Kurokawa Kaoru jumped down from the balcony and landed perfectly on the snow in front of the door. Seeing the surprise on Edogawa Conan's face, Kurokawa Kaoru chuckled, first stretched out his hand to make a silencing gesture, and then made a lifting gesture.
“…”
Can't this person just go out through the main door?
Looking at the other person helplessly, Edogawa Conan took a deep breath, turned over and jumped off the balcony, and was caught perfectly by the other person.
"I'm telling you..."
"Shh-"
Kurokawa Kaoru raised his eyebrows, silencing the call with his hand, and continued in a voice that only he and Edogawa Conan could hear: "You've already thought of the rope, but why don't you think of other ways to transport the body outside besides manpower?"
Besides manpower, what other methods can be used to transport corpses? Edogawa Conan was stunned for a moment, and the next second, he suddenly looked up and met Kurokawa Kaoru's gaze directly.
"you mean--"
"Who knows?"
Kurokawa Kaoru laughed: "That depends on whether Tanaka Kikue's criminal methods are the same as we thought."
“…”
At the same time, in the living room of the holiday cottage, everyone sitting at the dining table looked at each other, unable to think of what to do for a moment.
"Seriously...is it really okay to leave them both alone?"
Perhaps to ease the atmosphere, Kuroda Naoko said, "Besides, we can't be sure whether the criminal is really among us. What if the criminal who impersonates the Shadow Mage is hiding in the dark? Wouldn't they be in danger?"
"Ms. Kuroda is right."
Hearing Kuroda Naoko's words, Tanaka Kikue also spoke up, "If it's as Miss Kuroda said, then the Shadow Mage is very likely waiting for us to be alone. If the two of them go out like this... we should all act together. Maybe we can find the criminal faster."
"That's right..."
"I'm sorry to interrupt you, but from my point of view, everyone should just wait in the living room for them to come back."
Seeing people turning to look at him, Miyaji narrowed his eyes and said in a flat voice: "Since Kurokawa has told us to stay in the living room, then before they come back, we'd better..."
"Come...someone come! Kurokawa-san ran into the woods!"
“…”
Before Miyaji could finish his words, he was interrupted by Edogawa Conan's scream. After a few seconds of digesting the other party's words, Miyaji frowned, stood up, and ran towards the direction of the sound.
It took no more than a minute to walk from the living room to the front door. When he opened it, he saw Edogawa Conan standing at the door, looking anxiously towards the woods. Miyaji was silent for a moment, then took the initiative to speak: "You just said that Kurokawa ran into the woods?"
"Um!"
Edogawa Conan's face was pale, with a few drops of sweat on his head: "Just now, Kurokawa and I were looking for clues outside the holiday cottage. I don't know what we saw, but Kurokawa suddenly shouted 'Who is it?' and ran towards the woods."
"Does this mean that someone is really spying on us?"
After hearing what Edogawa Conan said, everyone suddenly became nervous. The death of Hamano Toshiya had already made them nervous, and when someone told them that in addition to the people present, there was another person hiding in the dark, their forced calmness could no longer be maintained.
"Are you kidding me? Why would I be frightened like this?"
As if stimulated, Tanaka Kikue yelled. Ignoring the others' dissuasion, she clenched her fists and ran straight into the depths of the woods. Seeing this, the others also gave chase. Miyaji wanted to follow, but when he saw Edogawa Conan, who had spoken first, stopped in his tracks with a smile on his face, his expression froze.
"Brother Kurokawa said that if you find any problems, please let me pass on this message."
Facing Miyaji's complicated gaze, Edogawa Conan scratched his head shyly. He clearly heard the content of the words: "Because the evidence in their hands has not been disposed of, the criminal is likely to find an excuse to leave the living room, and as the person who persuaded them..."
"Thank you for your hard work, Miyaji."
Only then did he understand why Kurokawa Kaoru chose Edogawa Conan, a child, over himself, given their similar alibis. Miyaji was silent for a moment, unable to suppress his laughter, noticing that he'd even considered what he'd done.
In the woods not far from them, everyone was looking for Kurokawa Kaoru seriously.
"Kurokawa? Kurokawa, are you there?"
"Mr. Kurokawa, the woods are very dangerous. Let's go back quickly."
"Mr. Kurokawa!"
The sky was already dark, and with it being overcast, it was difficult to even see the ground beneath one's feet, let alone Kurokawa Kaoru. While the others were searching for Kurokawa Kaoru, one of them quietly left the group and went to the outer trees to search for him.
She remembered it was here...
Found it! The person's breathing quickened as she reached out to retrieve the remaining evidence. But just as she reached out, someone else was quicker than her and grabbed her wrist.
"Since the criminal didn't transport the body manually, he must have left evidence outside."
Clumsily reciting the lines Edogawa Conan had prepared for him, Kurokawa Kaoru let out a long sigh and looked at the woman in front of him with a smile: "Although other methods can also prove that you are the murderer of Nishiyama Tsutomu and Hamano Toshiya, but if you think about it carefully, catching you while you are collecting evidence is undoubtedly the most labor-saving."
"Am I right?"
"Tanaka...Kikue?"
TBC.
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