Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 410 An Accidental Encounter at Lunch
Hiruma knew that Wakui was pursuing Hiruma's daughter, and he even knew that Wakui had a fiancée, but...

For Hiruma, if there is a talented young man who has both technical skills and other abilities to inherit his "resources," he would be willing to be his son-in-law, even if he has some moral flaws.

However, it's not like he's indispensable...

Therefore, when Shiraishi and Hiruma mentioned this person before, Hiruma directly betrayed him by mentioning that this guy wanted to be his son-in-law.

This made Shiraishi even more suspicious of him...

Actually, before Shiraishi went to visit Director Hiruma, he had already sensed something was wrong when he met Wakui and asked him questions earlier today.

Because Wakui insisted that he didn't know why Goto suspected Shirai...

Logically speaking, Goto couldn't possibly keep this from Wakui. In fact, even if Goto had doubts at first, Shiraishi guessed that it was Wakui who stopped her.

After all, Goto and Shirai had a dispute, which even some outsiders knew about. How could her fiancé be completely unaware?
Based on this, Shiraishi deduced that Goto's suspicion of Shirai might be detrimental to Wakui, which is why he deliberately avoided mentioning it!

……

The truth came to light, and Wakui was put into a police car...

"Inspector Megure, your investigation is far too sloppy! If it weren't for Superintendent Shiraishi, we would have almost wronged an innocent person. Can you take responsibility for that?" Aya unleashed a torrent of abuse at Megure, who had come to escort the prisoner, especially in front of Shiraishi.

While seemingly praising Shiraishi, everyone could see he was being sarcastic—Shiraishi, you used to seem to have a pretty good relationship with the First Investigation Division, right? And now you've slapped them in the face! The First Investigation Division has embarrassed themselves by forcibly committing a third-party act; don't blame anyone else, blame Shiraishi's haters!
“That’s right, we did make mistakes in this case. I will report this truthfully to the section chief and Chief Odagiri.” Although Megure’s face was stern, he still appeared to be humbly accepting the situation.

"I think your First Investigation Division is almost inferior to the Criminal Investigation Division of the Beika Police Station..." Ya Nei continued to provoke with sarcastic remarks.

Ordinary detectives wouldn't dare to do anything to prosecutors—Inspector Megure, a frontline detective, is considered an "ordinary detective."

Shiraishi then interjected, "Not at all, everyone makes mistakes sometimes. The Mika Police Station has also made mistakes before. We hope that Prosecutor Aya will point them out in the future."

Shiraishi stated, "Not to mention Inspector Megure, even if it were my subordinates, I would still do the same thing!"
Yane, feeling rebuffed, pursed his lips and left.

However, as she was leaving, Ayane saw Megure approach Shiraishi alone, speaking to him with a serious expression and even a dark look on his face. Only then did Ayane smile – if they could have a little argument, then her words hadn't been in vain!

Of course, the reason Megure approached Shiraishi with a serious expression wasn't because of the current matter, nor because Shiraishi had found errors in his investigation, but rather...

"Inspector Shiraishi, have you seen Judge Sakurai recently?" Inspector Megure asked Shiraishi privately.

Judging from his address, Megure's attitude was very serious at this moment!
“Judge Sakurai? Oh, you mean former Judge Sakurai… I haven’t seen him since that case, I only gave him a gift.” Shiraishi said matter-of-factly.

Upon hearing this, Inspector Megure looked helpless, but still asked to confirm, "The gifts... you mean a katana and a short sword, right?"

“Yes, a kaishakunin (second) and a seppuku (ritual suicide) knife.” Shiraishi nodded.

Megure: ...

I deliberately didn't make it so explicit, but you still admitted it yourself, didn't you?
Megure then understood Shiraishi's attitude and couldn't help but say helplessly, "Brother Shiraishi, your behavior is putting us in a difficult position..."

“Don’t worry, I’ve passed the bar exam. This is absolutely not illegal. Call those two back, and I can say the same thing,” Bai Shi said, shaking his head.

Immediately, Shiraishi also asked, "So... since these two knives were found, were they at the scene of his suicide?"

Shiraishi had already told Sakurai that if he made a mistake in using that method to solve a case, he would have to take responsibility himself, instead of just offering a perfunctory apology and resigning.

After all, this is not a simple "mistake," but a deliberate attempt to conduct a sham trial, completely deviating from his duties as a judge and outside the rules. Therefore, he should bear the responsibility for the error that occurred!

This is different from the High Hall Division...

Although Kodobu was also resented by some, he did not do anything out of line when he was a judge, and even adhered to his principles.

It was only when it was finally my turn to be a victim's family member that I broke down...

“No, we haven’t found out where Sakurai Ho… the former judge has gone yet. His sister reported him missing a few days ago because she couldn’t contact him. However, since there are signs of packing at home, it seems to be considered ‘missing’ at the moment.” Inspector Megure shook his head and said.

“Running away from home, huh…” Shiraishi scoffed.

Seeing Shiraishi's disdainful expression that seemed to say, "Since you can drive others to their deaths for your beliefs, why don't you dare to die yourself after you realize you've made a mistake?", Megure felt even more troubled.

After Inspector Megure saw the two swords and found Shiraishi's fingerprints on them, he already roughly guessed that Shiraishi used them to humiliate Sakurai...

Even if Shiraishi were to personally take action against Sakurai, Megure wouldn't believe it.

Judging from the situation at the scene, Sakurai, under the pressure from Shiraishi, "broke down" but did not actually commit suicide. Instead, he "ran away from home"—which is not uncommon in Japan.

Although there aren't as many homeless people as in the United States, there are still quite a few, mostly people who can't handle setbacks and want to escape reality.

Therefore, the police generally do not investigate these kinds of "disappearances" and simply wait until the required number of years has passed before declaring the person dead.

Signs of packing luggage in advance are one of the signs that indicate this type of "running away from home".

If Sakurai hadn't been a former judge, this matter would never have even reached the First Investigative Division.

When Megure saw Shiraishi, he asked him a few questions, but seeing that Shiraishi was unresponsive, Megure didn't say much more...

After all, Shiraishi himself said that he had made his own assessment of the situation. Even if Sakurai really committed suicide with the knife that Shiraishi gave him, let alone running away from home, Shiraishi would not be held legally responsible.

While sitting in the car, Yanai kept looking out the window in the direction of Shiraishi and Megure, thinking that the two were arguing about the case of Dr. Goto's attack, and couldn't help but feel secretly pleased.

……

After Megure left, Eri thanked Shiraishi, saying, "Thanks to Inspector Shiraishi, otherwise I probably wouldn't have even seen Nurse Oma."

Indeed, it was thanks to Shiraishi that the truth was seen through so quickly this time, and step by step, using MRI images and surveillance, Wakui was driven to a dead end...

More importantly, the fact that the investigation could proceed so smoothly in a place like Dongdi Hospital, without any pressure and with cooperation from all sides, is largely thanks to Shiraishi's influence.

"It's nothing. Actually, this matter has been bothering me for a while. I'm so grateful that Attorney Fei came to me," Shiraishi said modestly.

However, Shiraishi had indeed been thinking about this before...

Although the case did not occur in Beika Town, Shiraishi was still somewhat of a witness.

At the time, Shiraishi felt something was off about the attack on Dr. Goto. Indeed, Eri Kisaki came to him because of this case, which relieved Shiraishi of a worry.

……

On Saturday, Shiraishi spent the day at the hospital dealing with Eri Kisaki's case.

On Sunday, April 23, Satsuki insisted on inviting Shiraishi to lunch to thank him for taking care of Miwako Kobe. Ayako happened to be free and went along as well.

Because Shiraishi's left arm was still in a sling and he had actually been injured from being shoved into a large van, Ayako came to pick him up, but...

"Hmm? You're wearing a new perfume today?" Shiraishi noticed as soon as he got into the car.

"Well, how was it?" Ayako asked frankly. For some reason, Ayako had dressed up nicely before leaving.

If it weren't for the fact that the place Satsuki had arranged to meet wasn't a fancy hotel, but rather an ordinary landmark near Beika Town, Ayako would have even wanted to dress up for the occasion.

Considering her position, Ayako only dressed up simply.

but……

When Ayako saw Satsuki, her heart skipped a beat—Satsuki was dressed even more simply, even…

You're so old, and you've been divorced, what are you pretending to be innocent for!
Ayako paused for a moment, noticing that Satsuki appeared to be almost completely without makeup, even looking somewhat innocent, and was wearing a casual coat.

"I'm sorry, Ayako... I didn't know you were coming too. I was just planning to go to the curry shop that Shiraishi-senpai used to frequent when we were in school, and I even made a reservation... How about we go to a nicer restaurant instead?" Satsuki apologized to Ayako with her palms together.

With a change of clothes, it feels like even her persona has changed.

Or rather...

I deliberately "changed" back to the feeling of being in school!

"It's okay, ah... it's that curry shop in Kamurocho with the huge chunks of beef, right? I used to go there with Kuro, and I really liked it!" Ayako only ignored Satsuki and continued to call her "Kuro" in front of her.

"That's good." Satsuki breathed a sigh of relief.

That's right, the restaurant we agreed to meet is a little distance away from here, in the Kamurocho area.

Satsuki had only mentioned that she had prepared a "surprise lunch," and Shiraishi hadn't expected it to be the restaurant she and Satsuki had visited when they were in school.

This restaurant is a true "family restaurant"—not the kind of affordable restaurant that creates a family atmosphere, but a "family restaurant" that is actually located in a home.

The main building is a single-family house, with the first floor converted into a restaurant and the second floor being the "family" area.

Since it was located in a residential area and it wasn't convenient to drive in, the three of them walked the last stretch of road together.

During this time, Ayako also discovered...

Was this also part of your plan, Satsuki?
Ayako now felt that she was dressed terribly...

Ayako had assumed that Satsuki would at least go to a decent restaurant, even if it wasn't a high-class one, so she dressed up to avoid being outdone. Although she wasn't wearing a formal dress, she still looked quite glamorous.

result……

Are you trying to pull this on me?
Ayako felt that her outfit looked disjointed, but she didn't have any other clothes to change into at the moment.

Just as Ayako was pondering how to break the deadlock...

"Huh? It's Chief Shiraishi and Ayako-nee!" Ran's voice suddenly came over.

Shiraishi looked over and was surprised to see the Mori family of three, walking in the same direction as him.

Shiraishi:……

"Detective Mouri, Ran, what a coincidence," Ayako greeted them as well.

skillful?
Even more coincidentally, Shiraishi had already seen that Ran was holding a curry shop flyer!
"Oh, by the way, this is Miss Satsuki. You should have met her on the Queen Cerissa White before." Ayako introduced her again, just in case they didn't recognize her.

"Huh?" Mori exclaimed in surprise—it looked familiar just now, but the art style was quite different.

Satsuki: ...

"Woo..."

Xiao Lan noticed her father's rudeness and quietly nudged him with her elbow.

"Ah! Are you also going to the Imai family's curry shop?" Ayako noticed the flyer in Ran's hand at that moment.

"That's right, I just won a half-price coupon yesterday!" Xiaolan said happily.

“That’s great, we can go together.” Ayako immediately extended an invitation to travel together.

If it were just Ayako and Inspector Shiraishi, Ran would probably be a little more reserved, but now...

Ran glanced at Satsuki out of the corner of her eye, instinctively sensing that something was off, and decisively said, "Okay!"

Xiao Lan stated that she only ships the official couple.

……

Ayako breathed a sigh of relief, while Shiraishi secretly decided to eat quickly in time to avoid any trouble!

However, when the group arrived at the store, they found something was wrong—there was a cordon, and many police officers were standing guard outside, with several police cars parked around the store, causing a traffic jam…

Upon seeing this, Satsuki's expression froze for a moment.

Satsuki was secretly pleased to see that Ayako had indeed fallen for his trap, but who knew...

"Hey, something seems to have happened at the shop?" Ayako said worriedly.

Although this was Kamurocho, and theoretically had nothing to do with Shiraishi, he could have simply turned around and left. In fact, if he had turned around and left, the police officers at the scene would probably have been happier. However, Ayako knew that given Shiraishi's personality, he couldn't possibly ignore the situation at this point.

"Let's go take a look," Shiraishi said, and walked straight over.

Of course, the patrol officers at the Kamuro Police Station couldn't possibly be unfamiliar with Shiraishi Kuro...

Even if new officers haven't seen Shiraishi in person, they'll still recognize his physique!

Seeing him approaching, they couldn't help but feel nervous.

"What's going on?" Bai Shi asked them without any politeness after he arrived.

Although no identification was shown, it would be too unbelievable to say that he didn't know Bai Shi...

The two patrol officers quickly saluted and said, "Superintendent Shiraishi! It's like this... Someone just found a male corpse in the store, and there are detectives from the First Investigation Division inside now."

It really was a murder case...

Shiraishi then glanced at the Mori family of three...

Okay, okay, so you're not letting us eat at all, huh?

(End of this chapter)