Looking at Conan, who seemed to be raising a question but was actually reminding Uncle Mori and the others, Kōyū twitched his lips and retorted:
"Does Conan really need to show up and make his presence felt?"
"She was talking even though her throat hurt..."
"Do you really want to experience what it feels like to lose your voice?"
"Even if the truth is uncovered, if someone loses their voice, then the reasoning cannot be presented in the way that the anesthetized uncle did."
However, this matter is none of his business; he has already reminded him two or three times.
He had reminded Conan before the meal.
He reminded Conan when he coughed earlier.
If Conan doesn't learn his lesson now, and he really loses his voice for a short period of time, then he won't be responsible.
He's not someone who's specifically responsible for taking care of Conan.
Reminding me twice is already more than enough.
Conan could have easily asked him to raise this point of doubt, but perhaps because he's used to it, he didn't.
Instead, they chose to go themselves.
"Cough cough..." Conan coughed again after he finished speaking.
"Serves him right." Kōyū would never go up to Conan again and say something like, "If you don't want to lose your voice, talk less."
"Now that you mention it, it does seem a bit strange." Uncle Mori also found Conan's words somewhat odd.
The light cord in the living room was specially extended so that Akashi Takeo could easily reach it.
Even Conan can easily reach it.
However, the bedroom light is not like that. Not to mention Conan, even Akashi Takeo probably has to stand on tiptoe to pull the light cord.
"So this case really wasn't a simple suicide after all?" Yamamura Misao felt the camera in his hand stirring restlessly, as if it were about to start recording at any moment.
Just as Uncle Mori and Misao Yamamura were beginning to suspect that the case wasn't so simple, Hiroto Akashi suddenly stepped forward to explain:
"Actually, that's because my father used to find this rope annoying when he got up at night, because the end of the light cord would just touch his eyes."
"So only the light cord in his room is a little shorter."
This explanation did not arouse suspicion from Uncle Mori and Misao Yamamura.
The reason given—that the end of the light cord would touch one's eyes—is that they deliberately shortened the cord because they didn't want it to. This reason is reasonable and has no flaws.
"I see." Uncle Mori believed the explanation and said, "So, suicide is still the most likely possibility."
"Hmm..." Yamamura Misao didn't suspect anything, so he silently put the camera into his pocket.
The live deduction show of "Sleeping Kogoro" has been cancelled!
The case is heading in the direction of being classified as a suicide, and no other evidence has been found to overturn or confirm that Akashi Takeo committed suicide.
So Uncle Mori prepared to lead everyone to the living room to wait.
The crime scene was handed over to the police forensic team so they could continue their investigation there.
Having made his decision, Uncle Mori said to Misao Yamamura, who was in charge of the murder case:
"Then let's go down to the living room. If you have any questions, just come down and call us."
“Yes, Mr. Mori.” Yamamura Misao composed himself and nodded in response.
Afterwards, Uncle Mori led Kosuke and his group, as well as Hiroto Akashi, back to the living room on the first floor.
The group sat around the table where they had eaten earlier, but because of the murder, no one was in the mood for jokes.
They all sat there very quietly, speaking in hushed tones.
"I don't think this case is a suicide," Ai said quietly to Kousuke, sitting down next to him.
"Ai, have you found a clue?" Kōyū asked Ai in surprise.
"Didn't find it," Ai said, shaking her head slightly.
"Then..." Kōyū continued, "Intuition?"
“You can interpret it that way too.” Ai didn’t deny it; she had only noticed two details and didn’t have any concrete evidence.
Calling it intuition wouldn't be wrong.
“Actually, I also think this case isn’t that simple.” Mitsuyu believed Ai’s statement because he thought so himself.
Was the sobbing he heard at the stairwell really from crying?
Or is it struggling?
But if there's a problem, then who did this?
Besides those few people who couldn't possibly have committed the crime, only Hiroto Akashi remained in the house.
If we temporarily rule out the possibility that an outsider entered the house to commit the crime, then all suspicion will fall on Hiroto Akashi.
In that case, he has another problem:
What was the killer's motive?
He failed to notice a detail in a statement that Akashi Hiroto had made earlier.
But Ai noticed.
"When you said the wound in his mouth might have been caused by the murderer, that person seemed a little flustered," Ai said calmly.
"Is that so?" Kōyū raised an eyebrow and glanced in Akashi Hiroto's direction. "I didn't notice that."
As for her suspicion that something happened because of her status as an adopted son, she did not tell Guangyou about that.
This is because it has not been fully confirmed yet; it is merely her speculation.
"I saw it by chance," Ai said softly. She wasn't really interested in the case; she just thought the information could help Kyou, so she said it.
“I understand.” Kōyū looked at Akashi Hiroto and nodded. “I’ll keep an eye on this person.”
In fact, there are basically two options in this case:
The first possibility is that Akashi Takeo committed suicide.
The second possibility is that Akashi Takeo was murdered by someone else and then faked his suicide by hanging.
The house is surrounded by forest, and no one lives around it; very few people come and go.
In other words, if this case is murder, then it's similar to the case of Haruka Tendo.
The difference is that there is only one suspect in this case, and that is Hiroto Akashi.
There is currently no evidence to prove the nature of the case.
"I'm so sorry." After serving everyone snacks and sitting down, Hiroto Akashi apologized to the group.
"It's rare for you all to come to Karuizawa for vacation, and to let everyone be involved in such an unlucky event is a long-standing tradition."
“Mr. Akashi, you don’t have to say that,” Sonoko said with a smile. “If it weren’t for you, we might have had to rest in the forest tonight.”
“Yes.” Uncle Mori nodded in agreement. If it weren’t for Hiroto Akashi, they would likely have had to spend the night in the forest and wouldn’t have had dinner.
While thinking about the case, Uncle Mori suddenly felt a craving for a cigarette, but since he was at someone else's house, he asked beforehand.
"By the way, Mr. Akashi, would you mind if I had a cigarette?"
“If you don’t mind, please go ahead.” Akashi Hiroto nodded in response.
"Huh?" Sonoko noticed a book on the living room bookshelf and asked in surprise, "Mr. Akashi, you go fishing sometimes?"
...
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