"No way..." Takagi-keiji stammered for a moment. "I'm not very good at drawing."
Shiratori-keibu also smiled, politely declining. "Compared to realism, I'm more inclined towards impressionism..."
Fujino: "..."
Honestly, these two were being pretty unreasonable. Asking someone to draw and then mocking their drawing skills...
Fujino was speechless for a moment, then turned and said, "Sato-keiji, could you hand me your notebook?"
"Huh?" Sato-keiji looked surprised and handed it over. "Fujino-san, do you draw sketches?"
"Sketches... I haven't really drawn them much." Fujino took the notebook. "I used to doodle some anime characters though... Hmm, logically, it shouldn't be a big problem..."
Writing and drawing for a bit, Fujino quickly sketched the arsonist's portrait based on Ayumi's description and some general impressions. Although his drawing skills weren't top-tier, they were at least good enough to distinguish features.
Fujino handed the drawing to Ayumi. "The suspect should look something like this, right?"
"Yeah! That's right! Just like how Fujino-oniichan drew him!" Ayumi stretched out her hand excitedly and nodded.
"Let me see..." Conan also came closer, took a look, and gave him a half-moon eye look. "Why does it look like an anime character?"
"Didn't I just say? I used to doodle anime characters when I had nothing else to do..." Fujino looked at Conan exasperatedly. "Otherwise, if you think you can do better, go ahead?"
"I'll pass on that..." Conan was taken aback for a moment, then shook his head repeatedly.
"In that case, searching based on this should be fine." Fujino handed the drawing to Shiratori-keibu. "Shiratori-keibu, this drawing should be usable for the investigation, right?"
"The drawing itself is fine. While the skill isn't exactly top-notch, it can at least help distinguish the features, you can tell at a glance..." Shiratori-keibu took the drawing, then hesitated. "But mobilizing a large number of police solely for this one suspect seems a bit excessive." Plus, this was a joint investigation for the arsonist search. It wouldn't be appropriate if they took on all the work themselves.
"You don't believe Ayumi-chan?"
"Don't underestimate us kids!"
"Ayumi-chan wouldn't be wrong!" The kids instantly looked unhappy, showing indignant expressions about the officer's skepticism.
"Actually, it's not that we don't believe her..." Takagi-keiji smiled, trying to smooth things over. "After all, Ayumi-chan didn't see the suspect actually setting the fire at the time. It would be troublesome if we got it wrong."
"It should be correct." Conan suddenly started thinking and推理 (deducing) at that moment. "The weather is still a bit warm right now. That guy was wearing a trench coat and gloves, and his pant leg smelled of gasoline. Plus, he appeared near the scene of the fire with a strange smile. If he's not the culprit, that would be a bit hard to explain..."
Fujino: "..."
He silently lowered his head and glanced at his own suit. Then he thought about the life-saving windbreaker in his spatial storage.
Hmm, why did he feel like he also looked like a culprit?
...
After Conan's reasoning, Miwako Sato ultimately decided to go see the crime scene. However, before that, she needed to make a detour elsewhere.
...
In front of a crosswalk.
Miwako Sato knelt beside a utility pole on a sidewalk, her hands clasped together in solemn prayer. In front of her, there was a white flower placed in a soda can. Today was the death anniversary of her father, Masayoshi Sato. Eighteen years ago, Masayoshi Sato was unfortunately hit by a truck while pursuing a suspect. Because it was raining, the ambulance was delayed. Masayoshi Sato only took his last breath a while after the Sato family arrived.
Listening to Shiratori-keibu's explanation, Takagi-keiji looked surprised. "Could it be that the police officer who was a victim in that case..."
"That's right, it was Sato-keiji's father, Masayoshi Sato." Fujino nodded thoughtfully. "That case was called the 'Shusiroh' case. After Masayoshi Sato was hit by the truck, he kept shouting that name at the culprit, so the case was named 'Shusiroh'. The police conducted a large-scale search for him, but about three years ago, the statute of limitations for this case passed."
"I remember that case too..." Takagi-keiji recalled. "It was a very elaborate robbery case, with a stolen amount of 550 million yen."
Fujino's ears perked up when he heard that. "Five hundred and fifty million?"
"Yeah, a huge amount." Takagi-keiji said regretfully, "The only clue at the scene was ten seconds of surveillance footage. Nobody knew how Masayoshi Sato found that culprit. This matter couldn't be investigated further and was eventually forgotten..."
"Statute of limitations... What a kind rule." Ai Haibara crossed her arms, looking at Miwako Sato, seeming somewhat moved. "Committing an irreversible crime like murder, then hiding for over a decade and being able to return to society openly as if nothing happened is simply unreasonable. Even if the culprit gets a second chance, for the victim, it's a pain that can never be forgotten..."
Fujino also nodded. "If it were the Chinese legal system, even if a murderer hid at the ends of the earth, as long as they killed someone, they could still be pursued even thirty years later, and ultimately blood would be paid with blood."
Conan looked at Fujino in surprise, thinking. "If it were the Chinese legal system, it seems that's how it is... But according to the law here, if the other party hasn't committed a crime in those fifteen years, and doesn't in the future, even if they are caught, they can't be..."
"That's just the way it is." Miwako Sato slowly stood up. "Although everyone still remembers the name of that case and the criminal from back then, a dead police officer, unless you're related to the police force, wouldn't be remembered by anyone else... It's also unavoidable that the case couldn't be investigated further without evidence."
"Anyway, it's not like we do this job for fame..." After a pause, Miwako Sato looked at Fujino. "But I'm impressed, Fujino-kun, that you can still remember such an old case... I thought detectives wouldn't like to investigate cases where the culprit can't be brought to justice."
"I just have a good memory. I happened to see this case when I was investigating some old cases before..." Fujino's eyes narrowed slightly. "However, cases that have passed the statute of limitations should still be investigated. Even if the criminal can't be brought to justice, someone will provide a perfect conclusion to this case."
"Are you talking about the Beika Batman?" Miwako Sato immediately recalled that white figure and shook her head. "If we could catch the person, that would be fine, but if it's just simply killing the other person... I'd rather not." In her mind, bringing someone to justice meant catching them and letting them face legal punishment, not killing them directly.
Fujino didn't say anything when he heard this. As someone who had transmigrated, subconsciously, he believed that any crime should be met with blood for blood, tooth for tooth. Whether it was drug dealers, murderers, or even those philanthropists who accumulated huge amounts of wealth, they were all individuals who, under normal circumstances, would be sentenced to death.
However, it seemed that in the eyes of these people, murderers were not necessarily unforgivable. Compared to his original world, he felt that this world was far too 'gentle' towards criminals who committed heinous crimes.
"But still..." Genta-kun suddenly asked. "Shouldn't the truck driver have seen what the culprit looked like back then?"
Miwako Sato agreed with Genta-kun's question. However, the culprit was wearing sunglasses and a raincoat at the time. Even the driver wouldn't have been able to make out their face under those conditions. Even if they knew the person was called 'Shusiroh,' that wasn't actually a person's name. The clues left at the scene were too sparse. The only additional clue was the English letters [KAN O].
"I remember when I was little, I used to stare at those letters a lot, trying to find some clue," Miwako Sato smiled helplessly. "At the time, I even thought, whoever could break that code and catch Shusiroh, I would grant them any condition they wanted."
"Any condition?!" Takagi-keiji and Shiratori-keibu, the two eager beavers, couldn't help but swallow. In their minds, they pictured Miwako Sato in a wedding dress, walking down the aisle with them.
"I want a thousand bowls of eel rice!"
"If it were me, I'd want to stay one night in the Tropical Land castle!"
"Then I want a ticket for the International Space Museum!" The three little ones all spoke their minds.
"Of course you can!" Miwako Sato nodded with a smile, then was drawn to the requests from Ai Haibara and Conan.
Ai Haibara thought for a moment and decided she didn't really need anything, so she casually said, "The latest high-end brand-name handbag."
"Then I want tickets for this year's World Cup!" Conan said.
"Uh... okay." Miwako Sato smiled and agreed. However, she felt speechless inside. A high-end handbag, and World Cup tickets. Are the elementary school students this materialistic these days?
*If these kids really find the code, Miwako Sato will probably look like Minami Takayama, with an empty wallet and a pitiful expression.* Fujino watched the wryly smiling Miwako Sato, unable to help but think to himself.
Afterward, another group of people arrived at the crosswalk to pay respects to Masayoshi Sato. That group were Masayoshi Sato's high school classmates, three men and one woman. Each of their names included an animal name, for example,猿 (Saru - monkey), 鹿 (Shika - deer), 鳥 (Tori - bird), 猪 (Inoshishi - boar).
After a brief conversation, they left. Then, news arrived from Megure-keibu, who had just finished dealing with a bank robbery case. They had discovered a man who had suddenly rushed out of the security gate at Shinagawa Station, and his features were very similar to what Ayumi-chan had described.
Takagi-keiji and Shiratori-keibu were sent to the scene for reinforcement. Fujino felt he should also go and see if he could help, so he went to Shinagawa Station with them, while Miwako Sato stayed behind with the children to continue identifying the crime scene.
...
On the way to Shinagawa Station.
[Detective Profession Bounty Mission: The Culprit from Eighteen Years Ago]
Mission Objective: Apprehend the criminal who robbed the bank eighteen years ago and caused the death of a police detective.
Mission Reward: Three Million Yen · Two Hundred Detective Reputation Points.
"As expected, the system mission triggered?" Fujino sat in the back, his gaze on the system mission in front of him, thinking to himself. This system mission had been triggered when he met Sato Masayoshi's four old high school friends earlier. The target he needed to apprehend was none other than one of those four, the old man named Shikano Shuji (鹿野修二).
That's right, Masayoshi Sato's dying message actually pointed to Shikano Shuji. The so-called 'Shusiroh' (愁思郎) was actually 'Go surrender' (去自首 - *Qu Zishou*), but because it was said intermittently, people misheard it. See? Japanese is really inconvenient like that, so many homophones; mishearing one thing can cause a lot of trouble. And [KAN O] was a very simple word game, pointing to Kano (鹿野).
What he needed to do next was lure the snake out of its hole. According to his memory, a bit later, that Shikano would voluntarily show up and knock out Takagi-keiji, who would have discovered the truth. The arsonist would also appear at Shinagawa Station at the same time. In other words, as long as he followed along and laid a quiet ambush, he could bag both of these missions for free.
Also, he actually had some thoughts about the 550 million yen stolen from the bank. He didn't manage to get the one billion yen before, so shouldn't it be too much to grab a bit this time?
...
Shinagawa Station.
Not long after they arrived, the suspect was subdued by Fujino, Takagi-keiji, and Shiratori-keibu working together. However, this suspect wasn't the arsonist, but a thief.
"Officers, I'm really not the arsonist!" The thief was pinned to the ground by a station officer, repeatedly shouting his innocence.
"Inspector, we've caught the suspect who ran away from Shinagawa Station." Shiratori-keibu stood to the side, tidying his messy suit. "But according to him, he's just a burglar..."
Takagi-keiji tugged at his collar, wiped the sweat from his temples, and looked at Fujino, who was sitting nearby, not breaking a sweat, his clothes neat. "Fujino-san, you have really good stamina. Arresting this guy was so easy."
"It's nothing." Fujino said. "I just exercise regularly and learned some grappling techniques at a kendo dojo."
"Exercise?" Takagi-keiji paused. "Could I ask how you usually exercise?"
"Well..." Fujino thought for a moment. "Probably just a hundred push-ups, a hundred sit-ups, a hundred squats, and a 10km run every day. You just need to stick with it daily, that's all."
"Huh?" Takagi-keiji was stunned when he heard this. "Every day?"
"Yeah, you have to do it every day. It won't work if you give up." Fujino nodded. "However, this method isn't suitable for everyone. If you're not in good physical condition, you could injure yourself."
"I see..." Takagi-keiji nodded thoughtfully, considering whether he should exercise the way Fujino described. After all, the scene where a thief he and Shiratori-keibu together couldn't subdue was pinned down by Fujino alone was truly shocking.
Looking up, he glanced at the station's sign and suddenly froze for a moment. Then, excitement washed over him, and he completely forgot about what just happened. Because he had discovered the secret of that code!
Thinking this, he excitedly planned to call Sato-keiji, intending to have her properly reward him.
"Takagi-kun, who are you calling?" Shiratori-keibu noticed Takagi-keiji's unusual behavior at this moment and bent down to ask.
"It's nothing..." Takagi-keiji nodded nervously, quickly pulling out the old 'gotta use the restroom' trick. "I just wanted to go to the restroom." Saying that, he quickly stood up.
"I'll go to the restroom too." Fujino also stood up when he heard that and followed him.
"Fujino-san?" Takagi-keiji looked at Fujino following him, suddenly feeling a bit troubled. "Um, you want to go to the restroom too?"
"Yeah." Fujino nodded, looking at Takagi-keiji suspiciously. "Aren't you going?"
"Ahem." Takagi-keiji coughed lightly, feeling a bit weird. However, if he went to the restroom with Fujino like this, it might cause some problems... He had to tell Sato-keiji quickly! If it was Fujino, he wouldn't steal his chance, right?
Thinking this, Takagi-keiji made his decision. "Actually, it's like this, I already know who killed Sato-san's father..."
"I see..." Fujino's mouth curved into a cunning smile. "So you want to tell Sato-keiji about this yourself to get the reward, right?"
"Ah... well, no, it's not like that..." Takagi-keiji was flustered for a moment.
"Go ahead and make your call." Fujino put his hands in his pockets, not listening to Takagi-keiji's explanation. "Anyway, I'm really going to the restroom. I'll cover for you."
"Oh... oh! Thank you, Fujino-san!" Takagi-keiji nodded repeatedly, expressing his gratitude to Fujino in his heart.
Fujino raised his hand and waved behind him without replying. There was no need for thanks. It wasn't like he was actually going to the restroom anyway.
(End of Chapter)
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