People are in Conan, but Ace Attorney

Chapter 844 Accomplice
Koshimizu Nanatsuki blurted out her doubts.

Although, according to Xiang Yuanguang's logic, the theft of 10 billion yen is indeed more likely to succeed, that is only a result of reverse reasoning based on the premise that the crime was successful.

Logically speaking, this is completely impossible.

If we reverse-engineer the result just deduced by Xiang Yuanguang, we would conclude that the mastermind behind the theft of 10 billion yen not only included several high-ranking members of the Tojo Clan, but also the least likely Tojo Clan member involved.

—That's Sera Katsumi, the fourth president of the Tojo Clan!
The only high-ranking member of the Tojo Clan capable of carrying out the operations that Minamoto Kou described was Sera Katsu, the fourth chairman of the Tojo Clan. But why would Sera Katsu collaborate with Kazama Shintaro to steal billions of yen?

This is completely illogical!

Since the consequence of Sera Katsu stealing 10 billion yen was that his position as the fourth chairman of the Tojo Clan would be shattered, did he not know what the consequences of stealing 10 billion yen would be?
If it were merely a matter of greed, then with Kazama Shintaro's cooperation, Sera Katsu could have embezzled a significant portion of the 10 billion yen, which was the Tojo Clan's internal fund, without being discovered by others.

Why would Sera Katsu and Kazama Shintaro resort to such a risky and widely known method to steal billions of yen?
Koshimizu Nanatsuki fixed her probing gaze on Mugen Hikaru.

She wanted to know the answers to all these questions.

—Of course, it's also possible that Kougen Hikaru's deduction was wrong at this point, but Koshimizu Nanatsuki doesn't believe that Kougen Hikaru's deduction could be wrong.

Because Xiang Yuanguang's inferences, made after gathering sufficient information, are always correct; he has never been wrong.

Xiang Yuanguang's reasoning method is reverse reasoning, in other words, he puts the result first and then reverses the process and the tools used in the crime. Therefore, if his judgment is wrong, then all his inferences will be overturned.

He had never made such an exaggerated error of reasoning before.

"It's not impossible."

"I noticed before that Mr. Kazama and Chairman Sera have a very good relationship. In the previous case of the murder of the diplomat, and now in the case of the attempted assassination of the prosecutor, Chairman Sera had Mr. Kazama handle both cases on her behalf."

"In my opinion, Mr. Kazama is practically Sera's right-hand man."

"Within the Tojo Clan, there are obvious conflicts between different high-ranking members. Even Nishikiyama Akira, who is rumored to have been supported by Shimano Tai, is now only superficially on the surface and not on the surface."

"This is because there are conflicts of interest among different high-level officials. They are only within the same big framework, so they have to maintain a superficial relationship and that's why there is no real physical conflict."

"The relationship between Mr. Kazama and Chairman Sera is clearly different from the relationships between other high-ranking members of the Tojo Clan."

Xiang Yuanguang snapped his fingers lightly, then said,
"I suspect it's because you share common interests."

"That's easy to understand, isn't it? If two people can establish a deep cooperative relationship, it's either because they share a huge common interest, or because they bear the same guilt and have no choice but to work together..."

The lawyer, whose eyes were painted blue, narrowed his eyes slightly.

Then, a look of surprise appeared in his eyes.

—Hmm? It's the latter, not the former?
Xiang Yuanguang could see a fleeting, obvious change in Kazama Shintaro's profile the moment he mentioned bearing the same crime. Although it was quickly concealed, Xiang Yuanguang, who had been watching closely, noticed it. This immediately made him frown.

He couldn't understand why Shintaro Kazama would act this way. Logically, both sides should be acting out of the same interest, namely, to obtain tens of billions of yen.

Why is there no reaction to the former, but a clear reaction to the latter?
Was this a deliberate misdirection by Shintaro Kazama? No, Shintaro Kazama couldn't possibly have known he would suddenly raise such a point at this time, nor could he have been prepared beforehand. This reaction is likely genuine...

Could it be that Sera Katsumi and Kazama Shintaro are burdened with some other crime that he is unaware of, a crime that compels them to resort to this method to steal billions of yen?
—This is outrageous. What kind of joint crime could produce this kind of effect?
You two teamed up to speculate in stocks and real estate, and then you were swindled out of 16.8 billion yen by some unscrupulous businessman, so you had to use 10 billion yen from the Tojo Clan to cover the shortfall.
"...Attorney Xiang Yuan, I have to admit, you are really amazing."

Shintaro Kazama turned his head to look at Hikaru Mugen in the back seat.

He had marveled at Xiang Yuanguang's abilities more than once, but now he was even more amazed by them, because he had never imagined that Xiang Yuanguang could achieve such a feat.

He did not reveal any information related to the theft of billions of yen.

However, based solely on his relationship with Sera Katsu and his connections with Kiryu Kazuma, Nishikiyama Akira, and Sawamura Yumi, Xiangyuan Guang made such an unbelievable deduction.

—If Xiang Yuanguang were given all the information, perhaps even that person would be brought down?

However, it would be too dangerous to involve someone who has no connection with the Tojo Clan or even the entire underworld in the affairs between him, Sera Katsu, and that person.

Back then, Shintaro Kazama might have been ruthless enough to manipulate others or kill for his own benefit.

However, as he gets older, he has to admit that he is indeed getting old, and his ability to act, plan, and even his temperament are far inferior to what they were when he was young.

He's starting to hesitate about things he did without a second thought when he was young.

“However, Attorney Xiang Yuan, I must say that this matter has nothing to do with you, nor with the case you are currently handling. There is no need to involve any more people or things, is there?”

"The Dongcheng Society's internal affairs don't involve any other unrelated people, so you have no reason to interfere, right?"

Shintaro Kazama sighed, shook his head, and replied in this way.

However, such an answer was tantamount to telling Koshimizu Nanatsuki that the truth of the matter was indeed as Kojima Minamoto had just deduced: the real culprits behind the theft of 10 billion yen were Kazama Shintaro, Sera Katsu, and Sawamura Yumi.

However, Xiang Yuanguang was not satisfied with just this answer.

He calmly posed a question.

In an instant, heart locks flew out from all directions and wrapped around Shintaro Kazama.

(End of this chapter)