Conan: The Man Behind the Romance

Chapter 66: Hotaru Mizuki in Kudo Shinichi's Eyes

The blood has been dried on the ground for several days, making it difficult to detect useful biological information.

Moreover, the police haven't even found a target suspected to be the mastermind behind the incident. Even if they detect something, they can't compare it. Megure Jusan's excitement is actually unnecessary.

Kudo Shinichi walked to the oil drum and carefully observed the bloodstains. Suddenly, he smelled a faint stench of decay in the humid sea breeze.

Although the smell disappeared with the wind the next second, Kudo Shinichi was very confident in his sense of smell. He just made a quick judgment in his mind and his eyes changed.

That's the stench of a corpse!

There was nothing around and the target was very clear. Kudo Shinichi looked at the oil barrel beside him, asked Megure Jusan to stay away from it, covered his mouth and nose, and opened the lid of the big pot.

The wind blew, and an indescribable stench instantly whistled up, dyeing the sea breeze a dark green.

"Yue~~!!!"

Even though Megure Jusan dodged far away, he still couldn't avoid this wave of biochemical attacks. He retched. Kudo Shinichi completely held his breath, his vision became a little blurry, and he quickly glanced at the scene inside the oil barrel and closed the lid again.

"Brother Kudo, that is..."

"Yes, but not sure who."

After running a few steps and taking a few breaths of fresh air to clean his lungs, Kudo Shinichi roughly described what he saw:
Perhaps because the cement was not deep enough, half of the face was exposed. It was highly corrupted and the original appearance could not be seen at all. There were two arc-shaped dark white cartilages vaguely on both sides. The flesh and blood had rotted away. In the pool of yellow bubbling liquid in front was half of the handle of a samurai sword.

"Katana?!"

Megure Jusan's eyelids twitched: "Could it be that Mr. Itahara was killed in a counterattack?"

"It's impossible to be sure. Let the Scientific Investigation Department do some testing. Mr. Itahara has a daughter, and we can compare their DNA to confirm the identity of the deceased."

Kudo Shinichi sighed, "We came here hoping to find Mr. Itahara still alive, or if he left any information. Now it seems unlikely."

He actually tends to believe that the person is Itahara.

Megure Jusan was silent for a few breaths:
"Even if we don't get anything here, Xuesong Kiyoko exposed the person she used in Tsuburaya Town in order to lure us here. As long as we can catch him, it will be fine. And if the mastermind has always been acting alone, by comparing the surveillance footage from various places, we may be able to narrow down the scope of suspicion."

Kudo Shinichi nodded: "Do you have a rough goal?"

"There are people who appear repeatedly in Shibuya, Ginza, Tsuburaya-cho, and here, but either the time doesn't match up, or there is no trace of Yukiko in social relationships. There is no motive for the crime, so it is basically impossible to determine."

Megure Jusan paused and said, "Brother Kudo, one of your classmates also appeared here."

"classmate?"

Kudo Shinichi was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized:
"It must be Shuiyue. He shouldn't be the mastermind. At noon on the day Xuesong Zhengren died, I was playing football on the playground. He was in the stands not far away. He seemed to have stomach discomfort and left for about fifteen minutes, but I talked to him when I went to the toilet.

If I think about it carefully, it is possible that he left his cell phone behind to answer my calls through the cubicle, using me to create an alibi for him.

But that meant that he would need to make a round trip from Teitan High School to Beika Central Park in a short period of time. The crime scene was deep in the park and he couldn't use a vehicle to get through.

Although he seems to be learning karate from Xiaolan recently, he still can't do it with his physical strength.

I know that the fact that Mizuki and Yukimura Kiyoko are neighbors is interesting, but judging by their personalities...

People who are familiar with Xuesong Qingzi don't know that she actually hangs out in various nightclubs at night; people who are familiar with Shuiyue don't know that he is actually very famous in Kabukicho, Shinjuku;

Their classmates, including me, think they are the type who are very cool based on their daily behavior. This type of people... well, due to some psychological factors, they will be quite restrained when facing people in their daily life circle. "

Shame.

Rabbits don't eat grass near their nests.

Separate daytime and nighttime life.

During the day, he would wear a suit and tie to explain the new quarter's business plan to shareholders, and at night he would put on a latex suit and run to a club with his own interests to dance erotically. This kind of thing, which at first glance seems like split personality, is too common in Japan's repressive society.

The status of Hotaru and Kiyoko...

That's pretty much what everyone thinks.

Kudo Shinichi continued, "And the methods of the mastermind behind this are quite professional. Shuiyue... To be honest, I haven't had much contact with him, so I'm not sure if he can do this, but I think the possibility is not high.

And killing for a neighbor...

Now that Xuesong Qingzi has moved away, they should no longer be considered neighbors.

If they were just covering up, it was possible, but compared to the men that Xuesong Kiyoko had actually had quite close contact with, the possibility that Suigetsu was behind all this was extremely low.

Ultimately, everything depends on the evidence.”

Kudo Shinichi's series of words directly stopped Megure Jusan in his tracks, and he couldn't help scratching his head.

My younger brother has so many thoughts in his head that he never thought of doubting Mizuki Hotaru.

Neighbor, can this be considered an intimate relationship?
A single-family household with a stay-at-home wife may have some interactions on weekdays;

But in high-end modern apartments like Ian Apartment, the residents' thoughts and ideas tend to be more urbanized and atomized. Except for the time when new residents just move in, they may give them a gift of no more than 1,000 yen, but at other times, don't they just meet each other without knowing each other?
Not to mention that Xuesong Qingzi's parents are both abnormal, Shuiyue Yingsheng...

hiss!
Megure Jusan suddenly remembered that the police had been called several times because of him before?

Mania? Depression?
In short, the child didn't seem to be in a very good mental state before, and his parents were also very cold towards the police. He seemed to be a researcher at some biological research institute, wearing a cold white coat, and it was obvious that he was not the type who was good at interpersonal relationships.

Megure Jusan told these to Kudo Shinichi, who compared them with what Hotaru said at the Shibuya Mamaku izakaya yesterday afternoon, and felt more and more:
It's really not easy for Shuiyue to grow up this big.

This also made Kudo Shinichi more certain of his guess that it was unlikely that there was any connection between Mizuki and Yuzuki Kiyoko.

After all, Shuiyue had attempted suicide before, and it didn't seem like he had a care in the world like Xuesong Qingzi. After his suicide attempt, his personality changed drastically, and he went to Shinjuku Kabukicho and spent a day and a night...

Alas, he is actually in pain too.

Fortunately, his personality changed afterwards. Perhaps it was the feeling of being on the verge of death that made him realize the preciousness of life.

And his parents happened to be on a long business trip.

And then there is Xiaolan who has always cared about him...

(End of this chapter)