Fujino turned his head, "This surveillance camera should have a recording function, right?"
"That's right, it certainly does."
The waiter nodded, "At this location, it should have recorded Mr. Bitō and his group just now."
"If that's the case, then we can find the culprit quickly!"
Inspector Megure Jūzō felt solving a case had never been this simple. "In that case, hurry and take us to see the video recorded from when the incident happened!"
"Alright..."
Led by the waiter, everyone headed to the arcade's staff break room.
Meanwhile, Conan stood there speechless, looking up at the surveillance camera.
He finally had the upper hand for once, and he lost so completely...
Damn it! Why would a place like this have surveillance cameras?
Conan sighed, but suddenly a metallic clanging sound pulled his thoughts back.
Hearing the sound, he scanned his surroundings, a cold, pale glint appearing in his glasses, and the corner of his mouth subtly curved upwards.
...
Soon, the police found several people who had contact with Bitō in the surveillance footage.
They were Shimizu Takahō, who had played against him, Emori Toshitsugu, a taxi driver who came to play games, and Jodie, who was sitting right next to him at the time.
Soon, all of them were called in front of the surveillance screen in the staff break room.
"Mr. Shimizu, may I ask what you were doing at that time?" Inspector Megure pointed at the image on the surveillance screen. "After all, the footage shows you saying something to Bitō."
"I was just trying to probe what strategy he planned to use," Shimizu explained. "But in the end, it was useless. He totally wiped the floor with me."
Megure turned his head and adjusted the footage. "So, after leaving, what were you doing bending down?"
"When I was leaving, I accidentally dropped my lighter on the ground," Shimizu thought for a moment. "I was just bending down to pick up the lighter."
"Ah, I see..." Megure nodded, as if accepting his explanation. He turned back and continued to check the surveillance. "After the game started, Ran, Sonoko, and Conan left, leaving only Jodie-sensei sitting next to the victim."
"OH~ Zat's right." Jodie's tone was still strange. "But I was concentrating so hard on ze game, I didn't 'ave a chance to notice anyzing else. Fujino-kun was just too difficult to deal wiz, I ended up losing in ze end."
"You were playing a game with Fujino-kun at the time?" Megure frowned, turning to look at Fujino. "Is that right, kid?"
"Yes." Fujino nodded. "Jodie-sensei and I were indeed playing a game, but she finished almost at the same time as me, and we both set new game records."
"I also think this foreign woman is innocent." Shimizu Takahō on the side chimed in, "After all, in a racing game like that, if you're even slightly distracted, or if your hand leaves the steering wheel for a bit, you could crash and fail."
"In that case, you're the only suspect left, Mr. Emori." Inspector Megure pulled up another section of footage and looked suspiciously at an elderly man with a cigarette hanging from his mouth, wearing a red knit cap, a mustache, and a somewhat stout physique, who had come along with them.
"I was just picking up coins!" Emori looked somewhat helpless. "My hands don't listen to me anymore in middle age. I was planning to buy a cup of coffee from the vending machine so I'd have energy for my night shift, but as soon as I reached into my pocket, the coins fell to the ground..."
"Picking up coins?" Megure's expression was a little strange. "You mean your coins just happened to fall on the ground?"
"Yeah," Emori sighed. "While I really disliked him, I wouldn't go as far as killing him. After all, his gaming skills were pretty good... well, just not as good as that young man over there."
"That's not necessarily true," Shimizu said with a cold tone. "Maybe you got angry and killed him. After all, the last time you played a racing game and lost, he loudly mocked you, saying things like if you didn't want to die quickly, don't ride in your taxi..."
"If you put it that way, your motive for murder is even greater than mine," Emori retorted, glancing at him. "After all, no matter what, that guy was your precious sister's boyfriend, and you always wanted him to break up with her."
"Boyfriend?" Megure looked at the two of them, looking a bit confused.
"Yeah, that punk Bitō just recently moved in with his sister. Apparently, that unemployed bum even needed the woman to support him. Of course, this guy who hangs out in arcades all day is in no position to talk," Emori, now a suspect himself, decided to drag everyone down with him. "And that waiter guy is also one of the people who wanted him dead the most, right? After all, six months ago he was quite famous as 'Beika Pastera,' but ever since that guy defeated him once and brutally mocked him, he disappeared. He only just changed his outfit recently and came back to work as a waiter... Could it be he came back specifically to kill him...?"
Before Emori could finish speaking, the door to the staff break room was pushed open.
"Inspector Megure, the autopsy results are in!" A police officer hurried in with the report. "From the victim's blood, we detected the presence of poison. The type of poison is pufferfish toxin, and it was injected into the inner side of his right arm, reaching the artery at the injection site..."
"Pufferfish toxin, commonly known as TTX, only requires 1 milligram to be potentially fatal, which is one-hundredth the amount of potassium cyanide." Jodie's tone suddenly became normal, full of scientific explanation. "This toxin is usually only found in pufferfish. If ingested, there's a chance of rescue, but through injection or dissolving directly into the blood, it will have a paralyzing effect within a short time and poison the person to death."
"Jodie-sensei..." Fujino looked at Jodie, speechless.
Her speech is smooth now, and her natural airhead trait is gone. Good grief, you FBI agents get excited when it's related to your job, don't you?
"A friend told me about it!" Jodie smiled, continuing to explain in her strange tone. "He told me to be careful of pufferfish before I came to Japan."
"No, no, I'm not talking about you knowing about pufferfish toxin," Fujino shook his head. "I'm saying your Japanese suddenly became fluent."
"OH—?!" Jodie was clearly startled. "Was my Japanese just now good?"
"Yes!"
"That's right, your Japanese just now was very standard!" Ran and Sonoko both chimed in and nodded.
"Well, zat's quite surprising!" Jodie scratched her head. "Some people 'ave said zat before, but I didn't expect my unconscious Japanese to be so good."
Conan stood to the side, his eyes narrowed slightly, his glasses flashing with a chilling white light again.
The moment he heard "pufferfish toxin," his mind suddenly exploded! He knew now who the culprit was.
"Heh heh..." Conan let out a small chuckle, looking at Fujino. 'It's finally my turn this time!'
But then he thought for a moment and fell back into contemplation. Even though he knew who the culprit was, he couldn't reveal it in his current identity.
A classic knockout with the tranquilizer? Conan frowned, starting to look for his unlucky target this time.
First, he looked at Sonoko. Sonoko would be a good choice. But with Fujino present in this situation, it would clearly seem a bit unreasonable. With that guy's observational skills, he'd probably figure it out in a glance.
Okay, abandoning that idea.
As for Ran... He couldn't bear to, so he immediately passed.
Jodie would also be a good choice. But it was their first meeting, and he couldn't just shoot her unconscious right away.
Finally... Heh heh, only Fujino is left. Fujino is the best choice. He's a detective, so him doing the reasoning is very reasonable.
As for why he's unconscious... Didn't that guy have a car accident before? Just use the classic amnesia trick... Very reasonable! Absolutely not taking revenge.
Although he had never tranquilized him before, he could try. Heh heh, you're the one, Fujino!
"Ahem..." Megure cleared his throat. "In any case, let's hurry and re-examine the scene for evidence!"
Just as everyone was about to leave, Conan suddenly grinned strangely. He raised his wrist and got into position. He flipped open his scope dial and aimed at the back of Fujino's neck. The whole sequence of movements was done in one go.
'Sorry, Fujino!'
"Biu~"
Fujino also felt something was wrong at this moment. He felt a chill on the back of his neck...
Could it be that kid Conan? No way...
As he thought, Fujino felt a premonition getting stronger. He glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw a tranquilizer dart flying towards him.
"..."
It really was a tranquilizer dart. Fujino sighed and stretched. His suit protected his neck as he stretched his arms up. The tranquilizer dart shot directly into his suit, getting stuck firmly.
Conan: "..."
He shot nothing. What the heck is wrong with this Fujino guy? That's a tranquilizer dart! Why did he raise his shoulder at the crucial moment?
For a moment, Conan was completely bewildered. This tranquilizer dart was his only one. What was he supposed to do if it got stuck?
Conan came back to his senses at this point and realized his cover was about to be blown. He quickly hid his watch behind his back and looked up to see Fujino's reaction.
"..."
Fujino thought for a moment, turned his head, looked around, and frowned. What the heck.jpg
"Conan-kun, did you see anything just now?" Fujino asked Conan as if nothing had happened. "I feel like something just hit my neck?"
"Nothing at all..." A trace of invisible cold sweat trickled down Conan's temple. If the tranquilizer dart had hit, it would have been fine. Since it didn't hit, it was hard to explain...
"Nothing?" Fujino scratched his head. "Maybe it was just my imagination."
"Yeah, yeah, it must be your imagination. I was right here watching, and there was nothing at all." Conan nodded repeatedly, simultaneously letting out a sigh of relief.
"But I've been involved in so many cases recently, it's starting to stress me out a bit..."
"Oops, my shoelace is undone..." Fujino pretended not to pay too much attention. He squatted down, intending to retie his shoelace.
"Good opportunity!" Conan's face lit up when he saw this. That Fujino guy failed and was already suspicious. Hmm, can't tranquilize him...
Conan thought about his next target, slowly moving forward. He planned to take the tranquilizer dart off the back of Fujino's suit. After all, he only had this one. He had to reuse it.
Fujino also felt Conan approaching and glanced out of the corner of his eye. Although he was prepared, the thought of almost being knocked out by this kid just now still made him a little angry. He had to teach this kid a lesson...
Thinking this, the corner of his mouth curved slightly, and he stood up.
'Biu~'
Actually, there was no "biu." The tranquilizer dart stuck in Fujino's suit just "happened" to hit Conan on the chin.
Conan: "..."
Did the tranquilizer dart just hit me? Crap! Conan quickly pulled the dart off his neck and shoved it into his pocket.
But Professor Agasa's tranquilizer darts were extraordinarily effective. In just a moment, he felt his head becoming heavy. It was over, the drug was kicking in! Is this tranquilizer dart really that strong?
Conan staggered back two steps, covering his head and complaining silently. He looked up at Fujino, looking even more resentful. It was Fujino's fault too, why tie his shoelace at a crucial moment! Now it hit him instead... Damn it, I should have known not to let the Professor make the tranquilizer this strong...
"Conan-kun, are you okay?" Fujino turned around at this moment, looking at Conan with an innocent expression, a 'warm' smile even on his face, and even appearing a little worried.
"N-nothing..." Conan held his head, looking at Fujino's benevolent appearance, and suddenly felt a little guilty. "I just feel a little dizzy."
"Could it be a cold?" Fujino smiled and walked over, touching Conan's head. "It would be troublesome if you caught a cold."
"N-no, I'm fine..." Conan propped open his eyelids, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly, feeling somewhat unaccustomed to Fujino acting like this. After all, the times this guy showed concern before were usually when he was mocking him or planning something devious. Could he be doing the same this time...?
But before he could figure it out, his thoughts gradually became sluggish. Then, he just collapsed onto the ground. He fell into a sleep like a baby.
"Fujino-senpai..." Ran suddenly walked back at this point, looking at Conan lying on the ground and asking confusedly, "What's wrong with Conan?"
"He must have fallen asleep," Fujino glanced at Conan and smiled. "Ah, to be young, just collapse and sleep."
"Fallen asleep?" Ran was a little confused, her expression hesitant for a moment.
She thought to herself, isn't Fujino-senpai only one year older than her? How is that not young...?
But her focus wasn't on that, it was on Conan. She felt that this state shouldn't be just falling asleep... What normal person just lies down on a concrete floor and sleeps with their head tilted back...?
(End of Chapter)