Chapters 3533 & 3545 [Vodka: My brother asked me to pass on a message] Requesting monthly votes (`)
Conan: "Based on my observation, when you're not home and Uncle Mori is cleaning the bathroom by himself, he's often too lazy to roll up his pants and just cleans like that."
"?" Ran Mouri's fist clenched even harder. "No wonder his trouser legs are always so dirty; he has to change them so soon after washing them..."
Conan, who had inadvertently betrayed Kogoro Mouri, cleared his throat and guiltily steered the conversation back on track: "Anyway, Mr. Hanzaki probably just accidentally stepped on the shampoo bottle while cleaning the bathroom."
"Even if what Sonoko-neechan said is true, and Mr. Hanzaki killed someone and wanted to find an alibi, he wouldn't come to this deserted park. Officer Takagi only came here by chance because he lost his police ID. It would be too much of a gamble to find an alibi."
Ran Mouri was convinced: "That makes sense..."
However, at this moment, Sonoko Suzuki suddenly pulled her and Eka along and headed towards the restaurant.
Ran Mouri was taken aback: "Sonoko? Didn't we already have lunch?"
Sonoko Suzuki shook her head: "Of course we're not going to eat! You actually believe Conan? He's just a little kid, what does he know?"
Conan's eye twitched: "..." You bastard...
Unaware of the watchful gaze emanating from her feet, Sonoko Suzuki clenched her fist confidently: "You should trust me more than him. That Hanzaki is definitely suspicious!"
"Okay." Ran Mouri was persuaded again; after all, both sides' arguments sounded reasonable. After thinking for a moment, looking at the restaurant in front of her, she asked furtively in a low voice, "So, how do you plan to verify it?"
Sonoko Suzuki laughed: "Of course we should just ask! Didn't Jiang Xia say—why guess when you can find out by asking?"
Conan: "..." That's not what Jiang Xia said! He only said he wanted to go to the scene to take a look, and this statement, which completely contradicts the core of being a detective, was clearly something you, the fake detective, came up with yourself!
He was about to refute this point when he suddenly saw something and stopped abruptly.
Jiang Xia glanced at him: "What's wrong?"
Conan stared intently at one of the window seats through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the small restaurant in front of him, and whispered, "Look."
Jiang Xia followed his gaze and saw that the silly-looking Mr. Hanzaki from before now had a serious expression.
The man was facing a grill pan with sizzling, oily meat in front of him and a beer full of fine foam beside him, but he neither ate nor drank. Instead, he looked restless and kept glancing at the clock next to him.
Conan's heart skipped a beat: "...Could Sonoko really be right?"
No wonder Jiang Xia didn't think Suzuki Sonoko was being silly and followed her when she pulled him over—her other behaviors were all normal, but now, she kept checking her watch after ordering a table full of food. No matter how you look at it, this was clearly an attempt to create an alibi!
Sonoko Suzuki also noticed Hanzaki Jiro's strange behavior. She chuckled and said, "This guy is definitely up to something! Let's go and make him confess to the murder."
"Wait a minute." Jiang Xia finally disagreed this time. "If we ask him now, he probably won't tell us. Besides, there are too many people here..."
Sonoko Suzuki understood: "It's inconvenient to knock on people, right? That's a problem. How about I find an excuse to lure him out..."
"Sonoko!" Ran Mouri looked at the classmate who was leading her classmates astray:
“This is illegal, and he is, after all, an artist who seems to have a strong desire to perform. If he exaggerates the incident and exposes it after being beaten, Jiang Xia will be in trouble.”
Conan: "..." That's right... no, no, is that the point? Shouldn't the point be whether or not to use such a simple and brutal method as torture to solve the problem?
He sighed and had no choice but to say, "Anyway, he won't tell us if we ask him, so let's try to solve the problem through reasoning."
"In my opinion, this Mr. Hanzawa did indeed intend to kill his manager, and his purpose in coming to this park was to create an alibi."
Sonoko Suzuki scratched her hair clip: "Have you lost your memory, you little brat? — Didn't you just say that this park is not crowded and that coming here to find an alibi is just a matter of luck?"
Conan shook his head: "When Officer Takagi asked him earlier, he said that neither he nor his manager found the police ID."
"I believed it just now, but now that I think about it, the police ID is probably in Hanzawa's hands."
He knew that Officer Takagi, who had lost his ID, would definitely come back to look for it, so he felt at ease coming to the park to bump into this "alibi" because, after all, a police officer's testimony definitely carries more weight than anyone else's.
"Unfortunately, because of his exaggerated performance, Officer Takagi found him a bit annoying and refused to go with him to look for the police ID."
"So he had no choice but to make a big show of coming to this restaurant—and if I'm not mistaken, he'll keep trying to make his presence known to the waiters so that they'll remember that he's sitting here eating at this time."
Sonoko Suzuki proudly raised her head: "See? I could tell he had a problem right away! You little brat, you dare to contradict me—now you know what adult wisdom is, right?"
"..." Conan unhappily poured cold water on her enthusiasm:
"But Hanzawa's method of killing people is definitely not like what you said, just throwing them into the bathtub—if that were the case, the person would have drowned long ago, and Hanzawa wouldn't be paying attention to the time so frequently now."
"The fact that he keeps checking his watch means that what's making him nervous hasn't happened yet, which means that the manager is likely still alive—Hanzawa has set up some kind of delayed killing device that hasn't been activated yet, and now he's waiting for the device to activate."
Sonoko Suzuki was stunned: Right now, in this vicinity, a murder is taking place?
Her heart pounded, a mixture of nervousness, excitement, and fear she couldn't quite describe: "Then, we have to find them as soon as possible."
Ran Mouri nodded repeatedly.
Conan stroked his chin: "Based on my deduction, the manager should be in his bathroom, so once we find Hanzawa's address, things will be very simple."
Sonoko Suzuki rolled up her sleeves: "I'll go lure him out! Jiang Xia, did you bring your baton?"
Ran Mouri wavered a little, but still insisted, "We can't hit people, there must be another way. How about we ask Officer Takagi... No, he lost his police ID... How about we go to Inspector Megure and ask him to check where Mr. Hanzawa lives?"
Jiang Xia stood to the side, seemingly trying to help find a solution while casually observing the people coming and going in the restaurant.
Just then, his phone vibrated, and he received an email from Vodka.
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