People are in Conan, but Ace Attorney

Chapter 894 A Dragon-like Reversal (98)

Xiang Yuanguang's finger gently touched his forehead.

His gaze fell on Shintaro Kazama, knowing that the other man was now firmly claiming that the thief was Yumi Sawamura, and no one else, in order to avoid being directly accused of being the real thief at this moment.

However, Shintaro Kazama's testimony is actually meaningless to Hikaru Mugen.

The lawyer in blue snapped his fingers and said,
"Your Honor, do you have anything else to say? If not, the defense will proceed with the questioning phase and examine the testimony of witness Shintaro Kazama."

Xiang Yuanguang's voice echoed inside the courtroom.

The audience members who had been discussing the matter fell silent upon seeing Xiang Yuanguang's calm and composed demeanor, convinced that he must have other plans and were waiting to see how things would unfold.

Even the presiding judge, who was about to lower the gavel to maintain order, was stunned.

He hadn't expected that Xiang Yuanguang was such a heavyweight figure in the courtroom during this trial, that even his seemingly ordinary remarks were enough to influence the flow of the proceedings.

However, this conveniently saved him the time of quieting the courtroom.

The blond judge lowered his gavel and announced crisply,
"Now, please let the defense proceed with the questioning phase and begin questioning the witness, Shintaro Kazama."

The questioning phase has begun.

Shintaro Kazama's gaze became even more serious.

He had to be very careful during the next questioning phase. Facing an opponent of Xiang Yuanguang's caliber, the slightest carelessness could become his fatal weakness.

However, this was completely different from Shintaro Kazama's feeling of being on high alert.

Xiang Yuanguang placed his hands gently on either side of the defense table, appearing unusually calm and composed, as if he felt no pressure about the upcoming questioning phase, which would determine the course of the entire case.

A person who is completely free of stress.

His gaze lingered briefly on the now-dimmed phone screen on the defense table, and he had already gained a considerable understanding of the current situation in the courtroom.

Therefore, Xiang Yuanguang asked without hesitation at this moment,

"Mr. Kazama, I need to question your first statement."

"You say the real thief in the Tojo Clan's 10 billion yen theft case is Sawamura Yumi, who is wanted and has a bounty on her head by the Tojo Clan. Then tell me, how exactly did Sawamura Yumi manage to steal this 10 billion yen?"

"Why did she know the combination to the Tojo Clan's internal safe? Why didn't other Tojo Clan members discover her infiltration? How did she manage to take away such a huge sum of money as tens of billions of yen by herself?"

"Whose idea was it that the Tojo Clan considered Yumi Sawamura a thief and put a bounty on her head?"

The lawyer in blue tapped his fingers lightly on the table and asked calmly.

These questions were raised one by one.

Kiryu Kazuma, standing next to Genji Hikaru, suddenly noticed something.

He realized that these were questions he had thought about before, but had subconsciously ignored. Now that Xiang Yuanguang had brought them to the forefront, these questions had to be answered.

However, Kazuma Kiryu couldn't imagine any possibility that Yumi could steal billions of yen on her own.

What does 10 billion yen mean?
The cash, if simply stacked together according to human width, would be twice the height of Yumi Sawamura, not to mention its weight. Knowing Yumi Sawamura's strength, he knew it was absolutely impossible for her to carry it away. Why did the Tojo Clan conclude that Yumi Sawamura stole the billions of yen? Is there any evidence?

Upon hearing these questions, Shintaro Kazama's eyes narrowed slightly.

His expression darkened slightly, because even he couldn't give a reasonable answer to this question in court, since most people in the East City Society wouldn't even consider such things given their education and intelligence.

They would act immediately simply because they knew that Yumi Sawamura had stolen billions of yen and was wanted by the police.

Therefore, all that is needed internally is to state that it is the result of an investigation by Tojo Clan President Sera Katsu.

But can the Tojo Clan really say in court that Sera Katsu's investigation found that Sawamura Yumi stole 10 billion yen, and that's why they issued a warrant for her arrest? This is just a way of completely shifting the blame onto a dead person.

Shintaro Kazama felt a little hesitant.

Within Xiang Yuanguang's line of sight, five black heart locks stood prominently on Kazama Shintaro's body. However, in the face of Xiang Yuanguang's question, the heart locks on Kazama Shintaro's body began to waver slightly.

—An answer to this question is not needed at the moment.

Hikaru knew that Shintaro Kazama was thinking.

So he skipped that question and went on to ask,

“Witness, in your third, fourth and fifth statements, you mentioned that it is not surprising that the Tojo Clan has accumulated tens of billions of yen. In fact, to avoid the possibility that there is no tens of billions of yen in surplus in the books, you also mentioned that the Tojo Clan has business income in various aspects.”

"Then, please let us know the names of those companies so that we can investigate the case?"

Shintaro Kazama remained silent.

The black heart lock on his body shook even more violently.

Akira Nishikiyama, standing next to Shintaro Kazama, couldn't help but scoff.

What's going on inside the Dongcheng Club? Outsiders might not know, but how could he, one of the top executives of the Dongcheng Club, not know? What other kinds of businesses? What other kinds of businesses could the Dongcheng Club possibly have?

That is, places like KTVs, nightclubs, boxing clubs, casinos, and arcades.

Even if you add all these things together, it wouldn't amount to 5 billion yen. No matter how you calculate it, it wouldn't reach a figure as large as 10 billion yen. Shintaro Kazama is just digging a hole for himself by saying that!
If he hadn't wanted to avoid giving Xiang Yuanguang an easy win, he would have kicked him while he was down!

"Isn't it obvious? Both of your points are problematic, witness."

“I have investigative data proving that the total available liquid funds of the East City Association do not reach 5 billion. If the witness wants to say that the data I have is wrong, then please provide evidence that can prove that my data is wrong.”

"Merely saying a few empty words will have no effect in the courtroom!"

Xiang Yuanguang slammed his hands on the courtroom table.

His gaze was fixed on the black heart-shaped lock on Shintaro Kazama's body, instantly putting immense psychological pressure on Shintaro. Without hesitation, he continued...

"Mr. Kazama, let's not hide it any longer. Now is the best time to resolve this by telling the truth!"

(End of this chapter)