Conan: The Man Behind the Romance

Chapter 281: Approaching the truth, approaching Conan! It all started with Vermouth!
What happened this afternoon and evening was obviously not as simple as what Megure Jusan told Hotaru.

It started the same way, with the police and the winery once again having a head-on conflict.

But after a subsequent investigation into the house destroyed by the explosion and discovering that its tenant was named Miyano Akemi, everything seemed different to Kudo Shinichi.

Could everything be such a coincidence?
If I have to say something, there is no solid evidence at all. Since Shirley defected from the research institute, it is normal for Miyano Akemi, as her sister, to be investigated.

But Kudo Shinichi just felt something was wrong.

It all depends on the timing. Even if you want to investigate, do you need to make such a big fuss, use bombs and send out snipers?

It's definitely better to stay hidden.

The situation was so explosive that it was as if the research institute was 100% sure that someone would be there waiting there.

It can be expected that the people waiting there at the institute, or rather the organization whose main members have been confirmed to have used the names of alcohol as code names, were definitely not the police.

Thinking from this perspective, the answer seems clear.

The police's actions in the afternoon were the same as those in the morning. They were used by others to step on the landmine of the winery.

The planner this morning was Xuesong Qingzi, who was it in the afternoon?

With the phone call in the lounge and the news his classmates told him this afternoon - Hotaru and Kiyoko went shopping together at noon - the answer seemed obvious. Kudo Shinichi came up with the answer almost at the same moment he thought of this:
The relationship between Hotaru and Kiyoko is extraordinary!
Of course, after spending a few days together this week, Kudo Shinichi did not think that they were lovers, but companions at most; and the level of companions was not particularly high, otherwise the incident in the underground casino in Kabukicho would not make sense.

Although there is no concrete evidence for this, the fact that they were once neighbors can explain a lot of things.

Moreover, Kudo Shinichi also obtained other evidence from Megure Jusan, namely:
In the past, people in Ian Apartment had called the police many times, saying that the Shuiyue couple was committing domestic violence. When the police arrived, they could not find any signs of abuse on Yingsheng. The Shuiyue couple also said that he had mental problems and even produced certificates issued by a mental hospital. In the end, nothing was done.

Kudo Shinichi combined this incident with the abnormality of Xuesong Qingzi and came to the conclusion:

I'm afraid the Shuiyue couple have been conducting drug experiments on their own son and their neighbor's daughter for a long time!
It is chilling to think that there are parents in this world who can be so despicable and cruel. However, Kudo Shinichi did not pay attention to this. He just thought:

Mizuki and Kiyoko were both experimental subjects in the past, so is it possible that they have an ordinary relationship?

Absolutely impossible!

After verifying this inference again, Kudo Shinichi connected almost everything in his mind.

Mizuki Hoto, Yuzuki Kiyoko, Miyano Shiho, and Miyano Akemi, they are all people who have been persecuted by the winery. Because of some unknown opportunities, they formed an alliance, rescued each other, and became enemies of the winery.

But they were too weak to confront the powerful winery head-on, so they decided to use the other party's strength to their advantage.

This is why the police were used twice today!

At 5:30 in the afternoon, Kudo Shinichi told Megure Juzo his guess. When Megure Juzo suggested to question Hotaru about this, Kudo Shinichi refused.

"Years of torture and pain have long since changed their character. Judging from the fact that they did not hesitate to use the police, it is certain that even if they are enemies of the winery, it is definitely not for justice, but only for revenge."

After hearing what his brother said, Megure Jusan's eyes showed a trace of sadness: "In other words, they have been swallowed by darkness for too long and have been assimilated?"

He felt that this was all the police's fault.

Why didn't he show more concern when he first pushed open the door of Shuiyue's house and saw the little boy huddled in the corner ten years ago?
"That's probably it."

Outside the ruins of the explosion, Kudo Shinichi sighed softly: "But then again, this is still just speculation, there is no solid evidence. Shuiyue is a playboy, and Qingzi has often cheated on men in the past. Even if they know each other, it is hard to say how deep their relationship is."

Huh?
Thinking of this, a strange idea suddenly popped up in Kudo Shinichi's head:

Shuiyue's health was not very good in the past. After practicing karate with Xiaolan in the past two weeks, he has gradually recovered his health at a speed almost visible to the naked eye.

His behavior is different from Qingzi's pretending to be weak. Are they conducting different experimental projects?

The similarities are...

They both have world-class looks and terrible personalities.

What a strange drug experiment.

Seeing his brother's eyes flickering, Megure Jusan thought he was thinking about something important, so he waited for a long moment before asking, "How are we going to investigate next?"

Kudo Shinichi came back to his senses and looked around. On the vast ruins of the explosion, policemen in twos and threes were constantly clearing out construction waste, looking for any possible clues and the bodies of the special police officers.

On the surrounding streets, police officers from the third search department were also collecting the bodies of their colleagues.

Further away, there are yellow cordons and crowds of excited onlookers.

"Has anyone from the winery been caught?" asked Kudo Shinichi.

"No."

Megure Jusan shook his head in disappointment and sighed, "They are quite powerful. They have a private helicopter and flew away right in front of the SWAT police who were chasing them. We didn't expect this to happen. After calling for emergency support, we only caught up with an empty shell. The people had already slipped away."

Honestly, even if Kudo Shinichi is used to the police's meddling, seeing them escape so many times is a bit...

It makes people feel subtle.

However, the deployment of helicopters by the other side this time was indeed unexpected and understandable.

Thinking of this, the disappointment in Kudo Shinichi's heart quickly disappeared, and he thought of another direction of investigation:
"A classmate from our class, Qing Liu, said that Qingzi went to see her yesterday and said goodbye to her. But Qingzi was clearly still in Tokyo today, and she also met many other classmates and said hello to them. There is a contradiction here, and there may be a problem.

I want to ask Qing Liu what exactly Qing Zi talked to her about yesterday. She didn’t meet anyone else, so maybe she will get something out of it.”

As he said this, he took out his cell phone and looked for his classmate's number, but found that there was none.

That’s right, he seemed to have never spoken to Qingliu in class.

He thought about it, asked Megure Jusan for Hotaru's cell phone, looked through the address book, but couldn't find it, so he had to call Kenta Nakamichi.

Didn't this guy finally admit last night that he had feelings for Qingliu? He should have her phone number.

By the way, didn’t Qingliu call him yesterday? There must be something!
A moment later, Kudo Shinichi rejected Kenta Nakamichi's invitation to play football and successfully got Chiso Aoyagi's phone number.

I called with great expectations, but no one answered.

Helpless, Kudo Shinichi could only look at Megure Jusan.

The police system is really easy to use. After Megure Juzo informed his subordinates who stayed at the Metropolitan Police Department about this matter, he received the address feedback soon. At 5:50 pm, he parked the car in front of an old and dilapidated apartment in 7-chome, Beika-cho.

It was already summer, and it was not too late at this time of year.

But this afternoon, dark clouds occasionally floated across the sky, making the sky much darker. Under such bright light, this small apartment in Tai'an looked particularly deserted.

As soon as Kudo Shin got out of the car, he looked around and walked towards an alley that was originally quite spacious, but it seemed quite narrow because of the debris piled everywhere on the ground.

The air was stuffy, with a faint smell of mold. Kudo Shinichi frowned slightly and quickened his pace.

The development of Qingliu-san's gloomy personality may be related to living in such a place.

dong dong dong-

The external metal staircase was rusty and even a little loose. Kudo Shinichi, Megure Jusan and others walked past one by one and stopped in front of a security door on the third floor. The blue film on the door had not been torn off, but it had become pale and faded, with curled edges.

There was a doorbell nearby, and Kudo Shinichi pressed it.

After waiting for about ten seconds without a response, Kudo Shinichi pressed the button again and shouted, "Is Aoyagi-san home? I'm Kudo Shinichi, please open the door."

Still no response.

Kudo Shinichi put his eyes on the cat's eye and kept looking inside, but all he saw was a blurry darkness, without even a clear shadow.

"Today is the weekend, maybe he went out." Sato Miwako suddenly spoke.

Kudo Shinichi shook his head. "Although this place is old, judging from the length and width, the house should be quite large. Qingliu's family is average, so it's highly likely that she doesn't live here alone. Today is the weekend, so even if she's out, there should be other people here."

Moreover, he felt that with Aoyagi Chiso's personality, she would most likely stay at home during the holidays.

Sato Miwako glanced at him calmly and said, "Not everyone has two days off a week, especially the poor."

"Sorry, let's ask someone else."

At this moment, Kudo Shinichi's mind was full of the case. He was too lazy to argue with anyone. He just responded casually and went back to the stairs, walking upstairs with a thumping sound. Megure Jusan hurriedly followed, ready to endorse his brother's actions to the police at any time.

Chiba and Shin glanced at their backs and stayed where they were waiting.

Sato Miwako also retracted her gaze, "I'm going to the bathroom."

After saying that, he walked downstairs.

Chiba Kazunobu shrugged his shoulders, showing no reaction to this common occurrence. There was a knock on the door upstairs, and soon he heard Kudo Shinichi's question:
"Hello, we are the police. Do you have any contact with the residents downstairs?"

Is it so straightforward? Isn’t the tone a bit too harsh?

Chiba Kazunobu shook his head. What was this bastard thinking about? Others were a thousand times better at investigating cases than him.

Soon, Kudo Shinichi and Megure Jusan obtained the information and returned to the third floor.

Kudo Shinichi looked at the closed door with a twinkling look in his eyes: "Mr. Tanaka said that the Aoyagi couple both work on the construction site, leaving early and returning late every day. Even if they try to restrain themselves, they still make a lot of noise when they step on the bulges on the stairs, which annoys him a lot.

Last night, when he was writing at home, he heard the noise downstairs as usual.

But this morning, I didn't hear it.

The Aoyagi couple is probably at home, but for some reason they don't want to open the door for us." Megure Jusan and Chiba Kazunobu, both detectives, looked at each other and suddenly had the same idea.

Could those two people be dead?

As soon as his thoughts turned, Megure Jusan said, "Brother Kudo, do you want to knock on the door?"

Kudo Shinichi has a lot of experience at murder scenes, so he certainly knows what they are thinking. He nodded and said, "But before that, let's confirm it again. Maybe you just didn't hear it."

As he said this, he pressed the doorbell again and put his ear to the door to confirm whether there was something wrong with the doorbell and why it couldn't make any sound.

Ding-dong-

Ding dong————

The sound is exceptionally clear.

Kudo Shinichi stepped back a little, and two heavyweight players, Megure Jusan and Chiba Kazushin, stepped forward and were about to start knocking on the door, but at this moment, a mosquito-like whisper came from inside the door.

"Who?"

After confirming that it was Chiso Aoyagi's voice, Kudo Shinichi's eyes lit up and he immediately stepped forward.

"It's me, Aoyagi-san, Kudo Shinichi. I have something to ask you."

There was no response from inside the door. After a few seconds, the door was opened a small gap, and the safety chain was still connected.

In that narrow and dark gap, a faded paleness suddenly appeared, just like the edge of the tape on the door. On the pale side were black hair that fell to the shoulders, and one eye was looking outside, dark and full of deep gloom.

"!!!"

Megure Jusan and Chiba Kazunobu's hearts trembled, and they subconsciously took two steps back, their hands touching their waists.

It's you!

Sadako!

Fortunately, they were well-informed and reacted the next second. They patted their hearts and breathed the same sigh of relief. They all had the same thought: No wonder Kudo Shinichi said before that she had an introverted temperament. This was really a bit too scary.

Kudo Shinichi's pupils actually dilated slightly, but he immediately restrained his emotions and said:

"We are here to learn some information. Can we come in and talk?"

He spoke softly, trying to get his classmates to relax their guard.

Aoyagi Chiso still had no expression on her face: "My home is a mess. If it's something that can be explained quickly, just ask here." She glanced at Kudo Shinichi, glanced at the two policemen, and then looked back, "Am I involved in a case?"

"No, it's just a little thing." Kudo Shinichi hesitated for two seconds, "Were you resting just now?"

"I'm reading a book with headphones on. I'm sorry if you guys were shouting outside for a long time."

Aoyagi Chisou's tone was calm, without any hint of apology in her voice.

Kudo Shinichi didn't care about this at all. Based on his occasional observations of her in class, he thought that this was in line with Aoyagi Chiso's personality.

He thought about it and simply got straight to the point: "Tell Zhongdao that Qingzi came to see you yesterday to say goodbye to you. I want to know if she mentioned anything else at that time, anything is fine, and whether you found anything unusual."

"I have no connection with her. What I said yesterday is all. I didn't find anything suspicious. In fact, I was very surprised that she came to see me." Aoyagi Chisou replied.

Kudo Shinichi said: "Kiyoko said that she doesn't have many friends in the class and only spoke a few words to you."

"It was just a greeting. Although I am very grateful that she didn't ignore me, it would be a bit far-fetched to say that it is proof of our friendship." Qing Liu Qian Su was silent for a few breaths: "I think she came to me just to comfort me.

Deliberately showing kindness to me, a person who usually seems the most insignificant, nothing else."

Kudo Shinichi pondered and felt that this statement was reasonable. After all, when Kiyoko was in school, she was with him most of the time, and he had never seen Kiyoko have any contact with Aoyagi.

But, it's just very strange.

Kiyoko said goodbye to Aoyagi yesterday, and appeared with Mizuki today. I always feel like something doesn't make sense.

According to the original plan, Kiyoko would not show up today, but after the accident with Toru Amuro in the abandoned warehouse, she had to take the risk?

Yes, Kudo Shinichi has already linked the torture of Toru Amuro to the abandoned warehouse.

The reason is very simple. He also knew that Hotaroo invited Toru Amuro to the Scarlet Rose Bar last night. He had sent police officers to investigate there before, and after learning that Toru Amuro broke the appointment last night, this inference was obvious.

There is also evidence for this inference, namely the dog corpse found in the abandoned warehouse.

A husky with shiny fur when alive.

After the police visited residents near the Amuro Detective Agency, they learned that Amuro Toru had taken it and another Alaskan to the park for a walk every morning some time ago.

After verifying this, Kudo Shinichi discovered more problems, but there was no concrete evidence, so he put them aside for now.

Back to Chiso Aoyagi, Shinichi Kudo suddenly realized her biggest doubt.

Is she too calm?
But if he thought about it carefully, he didn't know what kind of person Qing Yanagi Chisou was, so it seemed too far-fetched to make such a judgment.

However, Kudo Shinichi was unwilling to accept the fact that he got nothing, so he asked again: "Are you sure there is nothing? Any irrelevant details will do."

Aoyagi Chisou was silent again, which gave Kudo Shinichi a glimmer of hope. He waited quietly, but after a moment he heard:

"From what I've observed, she's probably not sincere towards you. The person she glanced at the most in class was Mizuki-san."

"........."

The thrilling detective drama suddenly turned to the daily life of young love. Kudo Shinichi was quite speechless and nodded: "Thank you, I don't have anything else to ask."

Although it was very strange, it did provide some evidence for his previous speculation.

It turns out that Mizuki and Kiyoko have a close relationship.

However, Kudo Shinichi curled his lips slightly. Was there something wrong with Aoyagi's observation? He was very concerned about Kiyoko during class. The first person Kiyoko paid attention to was him, and the second was Xiaolan, and Mizuki?
I don't care at all.

Even if there is, it will definitely be only a tiny bit.

Kudo Shinichi looked at Megure Jusan and shook his head with a disappointed look on his face.

Megure Jusan patted his shoulder, turned around and went downstairs. He was probably in a low mood. He glanced into the dark alley and muttered softly: "Why hasn't Sato come back yet?"

Behind him, Kudo Shinichi just stretched out one foot towards the bottom of the stairs, but before it landed, it was already suspended in mid-air.

Not knowing what he was thinking of, he suddenly looked back and saw only that dark crack, which slowly closed, and the gloomy sight disappeared in an instant.

Hey Hey hey!
Could such a thing be possible?

It's impossible!!!
His heart was shaken, his feet stepped on empty air, Kudo Shinichi staggered, and fell down the stairs.

Megure Jusan, who was one step ahead of him, quickly supported him, thinking that he had been so obsessed with reasoning about the case after being frustrated that he even forgot to walk, and hurriedly comforted him:

"Brother Kudo, you don't have to force yourself like this, I..."

"Wait a moment!"

Kudo Shinichi interrupted immediately and was about to speak, but lowered his voice and whispered in Megure Jusan's ear: "Do you remember the color of Officer Sato's nails?"

Kudo Shinichi finally fully realized where the sense of disharmony in his heart came from when he saw Aoyagi Chiso.

It’s the color of nails!
Aoyagi Chisou's complexion was the same as when he occasionally saw her in class, a pale complexion as if she was malnourished. Although her bangs were cut shorter to reveal her eyes, her gloomy gaze was equally recognizable.

However, the moment Aoyagi Chiso opened the door, Kudo Shinichi caught a glimpse of her inadvertently.

There is a faint pink luster on her nails!
Perhaps it was because the light here and inside the house was dim, Kudo Shinichi had a very clear impression of that luster, but he just thought it was unimportant. Girls always love beauty, and Aoyagi-san is no exception, so he subconsciously ignored it.

However, when Megure Juzo mentioned Sato Miwako, a picture suddenly popped up in Kudo Shinichi's mind.

That was more than two hours ago. In the police car on the way to Tokyo Police Hospital, Miwako Sato, who was sitting in the back seat, handed him a police revolver.

When he took the gun, he naturally saw Sato Miwako's hand, and he vaguely remembered that the color of Officer Sato's nails was also light pink?
An ominous premonition suddenly arose from the bottom of my heart and spread wildly like a poisonous weed.

Please, please, don't do that!

"What color are Sato's nails?"

Megure Juzo was quite puzzled by his younger brother's question, but after thinking about it carefully, he felt that his younger brother must have his reasons for asking that.

Unfortunately, he still didn't remember it after all. He scratched his head and said, "I usually don't pay attention to these things."

I always feel that it is weird to pay attention to this, and if I am not careful it might be regarded as workplace harassment.

Although Sato must have known that he wasn't that kind of person.

But it doesn't matter if he doesn't know. Kudo Shinichi asked this question only subconsciously wanting to seek confirmation. In fact, he was extremely confident in his observation skills and didn't think he would be wrong.

Besides, wouldn’t it be enough to just do a little verification?

Kudo Shinichi took a deep breath, slowly pulled out the pistol with his right hand, put it behind his back, walked back to the door of Qingliu's house, rang the doorbell, and spoke in a rather apologetic tone:
"Sorry, Qing Liu classmate, I have another question to trouble you."

Will make up

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(End of this chapter)