Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 499 Attacked
Seeing Hattori and Hakuba looking at the case files, Suzuki felt a little guilty. After all, he could explain that he needed to read these files from the head office for solving the case, but showing them to the "ordinary people"...

For a time, Hattori and Hakuba were looking at files on a park bench, while Suzuki stood by, keeping watch.

Seeing this, Mu Gao rolled his eyes and said, "If it weren't for Mihua, you would already be under the watch of the police."

Seeing that the other children around were all secretly looking this way, perhaps hesitating whether to find a policeman.

However, Suzuki also understood that Chief Shiraishi entrusted this to him so that he could show it to them.

It's not about taking the blame...

After all, if Shiraishi directly handed the case files to Hattori and Hakuba, it was possible that Yantu would find fault with them.

But even if Yan Tu knew that Suzuki was doing this, he wouldn't make a fuss—if he could mess with Shiraishi, the price would be to slightly offend Director Hakuba and Head of Department Hattori, which was worth considering... It didn't seem like a very worthwhile deal!
To offend Hakuba and Hattori by targeting just a lowly detective under Shiraishi's command would be utterly insane.

Furthermore, if Shiraishi were "reported" for leaking case information to Director Hakuba's son, Director Hakuba would find it difficult to show favoritism. However, since Suzuki did this, any punishment could be quelled at Shiraishi's hands, and there would be no consequences whatsoever.

……

Just then, Hakuba, who was looking at the testimony transcript, suddenly asked, "Hmm? Is that Yoshioka-san from Tokyo?"

Hattori didn't know what he had seen either, but he frowned and replied, "I haven't heard of that... Oh! By the way, his parents might not really be from Osaka. Although he grew up in Osaka, I remember his parents had a strange accent."

That's your accent!

Hakuba glanced at Hattori, and although he wanted to say that, he held back to avoid a pointless argument.

"Sato Kenichi...is that his father's name?" Hakuba asked at this point.

Hattori:? ? ?
“I already told you his surname is Yoshioka!” Hattori rolled his eyes.

"What about before?" Bai Ma was not satisfied with this reasoning and also asked, "Or did he know any elders with that name?"

Indeed, in the Eastern Island Country, unless it involves international marriage, parents and children will inevitably share the same surname. However... it is also possible that the child takes the wife's surname!

Hakuba now clearly suspects that this "Sato Kenichi" is Yoshioka's father.

"What exactly did you find out?" Hattori asked in a strange tone.

Bai Ma then handed him the page of material he was holding...

The above is the testimony of a man named "Kenichi Sato"—he was just a customer at the mall, claimed that he did not see the body, but just happened to be in the underground parking lot at the time, and also said that his wife was about to give birth and he was in a hurry.

The police also asked these people to show their shopping receipts to prove that they were indeed there to buy things. The photo of Sato Kenichi's receipt is also in the appendix, showing that he did buy diapers, toilet paper, and other production supplies.

More importantly, the police also marked his testimony, confirming that the statement "his wife is about to give birth" was true!

At the time, this seemed to be no problem; he was just "one of the witnesses".

But now it seems...

Yoshioka Tsubasa was also born on the same day, and Sato Kenichi's wife is about to give birth. Could it be... that this person is Yoshioka Tsubasa's father?

Of course, even if that were true, it wouldn't prove anything.

The inference that a son born on the same day would have memories of his father's presence here is completely illogical!

Bai Ma only asked because he happened to see a "father whose child is about to be born" there.

"Let me ask..." Hattori said, and made a phone call to Yoshioka.

beep - beep - beep -

"Asleep?" Hattori muttered, just as the phone finally connected: "Hello, this is Hattori... What did you say? Hello... Hello!" Hattori seemed to hear something and immediately stood up.

Seeing this, Hakuba quickly stepped forward and pried Hattori's hand open to let the phone ring.

At this moment, some ambient sounds could be faintly heard from the other side...

"What's wrong?" Mu Gao asked as soon as he saw this.

"Yoshioka weakly begged me for help when he answered the phone!" Hattori whispered.

"Shh!" White Horse quickly gestured for silence.

drip-drip-drip-

twitter--

"Is that... the sound of a tram and... birdsong?" Hattori was a little unsure about the latter.

"It's birdsong coming from the park! And the sound of the tram coming to the ground... It must be Beika Living Park! It's not far away!" Hakuba's advantage as a "local" came into play.

"Huh? The sound of the tram coming out from underground and the birdsong broadcast in the park... can't exactly be considered Beika Living Park, can it? Beika Park is also..." Suzuki was taken aback when he heard this—aren't there many places that fit these two points?

“There’s hardly anyone there! If it were a crowded place, we wouldn’t need to rush over!” Hakuba and Hattori said, already running off.

That's right. Although we don't know what happened to Yoshioka, if it happened in public, there's no need to ask them for help.

Indeed, it was not far away. The two of them ran there immediately, and at first glance, there really wasn't anyone there.

"Yoshioka, Yoshioka!"

The two of them called his name as they searched for him in secluded places hidden by vegetation.

Soon, the two found Yoshioka in a thicket.

He fell to the ground headfirst, seemingly trying to struggle out of the woods, but had lost consciousness. The two men went over to check on him and found that he was clutching his stomach with one hand, surrounded by blood!

"He's still breathing... Call an ambulance!"

……

For some unknown reason, Yoshioka Tsubasa was stabbed in this secluded park.

Fortunately, no vital organs were hit, and the patient was taken to the hospital in time and is out of danger, but has not yet woken up.

"Damn it! Could it be that murderer..." Hattori said angrily outside the ward.

"The murderer... If he is the murderer, then he must have already known about 'reincarnation' and even believed in it, which is why he came to silence him," Bai Ma analyzed.

"They found out so quickly... do they have an informant, or have they been keeping an eye on the case all along?" Hattori also fell into deep thought.

At that moment, Suzuki hurried over and reported to the two of them, "The murder weapon has been found... in the bushes at the scene, not far from where Yoshioka collapsed."

"In the bushes?" Both Hakuba and Hattori frowned upon hearing this, and exchanged a glance after hearing the other's questioning voice.

"What was that? Are there fingerprints?" Hattori pressed—judging from the wound, it shouldn't be a common knife.

“It’s an electrician’s screwdriver, it has fingerprints… but it’s not in the fingerprint database,” Suzuki said.

In other words, the murderer has no prior criminal record. "Fingerprints?" Hakuba and Hattori exchanged another glance.

"What's wrong?" Suzuki asked, puzzled.

“That’s strange. Judging from the way Yoshioka fell, he was crawling out of the bushes… If the crime scene was inside the bushes, wouldn’t the murderer have just left the murder weapon there? And it’s not a common murder weapon; it even has fingerprints on it,” Hattori said, pointing out the oddities.

"Now that you think about it..." Suzuki realized that made sense.

"In other words, either the fingerprints are fake, or... the murderer committed a crime of passion, so it shouldn't have been to silence the witness," Bai Ma analyzed.

If they came to silence me, they should have been prepared.

Suzuki was initially puzzled, but then breathed a sigh of relief and said, "But since Yoshioka is not in danger, we can just ask him when he wakes up."

……

Unfortunately, three hours later, as evening approached, Yoshioka woke up as the doctor had predicted, but...

"I'm sorry, I can't remember what happened during the attack," Yoshioka said with a helpless expression.

"Huh? Then you must remember why you went to that park and who you met there, right?" Hattori asked helplessly.

"I...I was a little upset, so I went for a walk. I...I don't remember seeing anyone," Yoshioka said somewhat awkwardly.

Hattori looked at him suspiciously—was it really necessary to go to that park for a walk? There were much closer and better walking plazas near the hotel!

Moreover, Hattori, who spent more time with Yoshioka, always felt that Yoshioka was lying.

However, just as Hattori was about to press for more information, a commotion broke out outside the ward...

"Xiaoyi, Xiaoyi! How is Xiaoyi?"

A middle-aged couple rushed into the ward and breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that Yoshioka Tsubasa was awake.

Previously, Yoshioka Tsubasa was only cooperating with the investigation and of course his parents were not notified, but now that they are injured, it is natural that they can no longer keep it a secret.

Upon receiving the news, the Yoshioka couple immediately set off from Osaka and had just arrived in Tokyo.

Seeing that the family was reunited, Hattori and Hakuba didn't want to disturb them too much, so they left the ward first.

Hattori remained skeptical of Yoshioka's previous answer—not only had he forgotten what happened when he was stabbed, but his description of his previous whereabouts also seemed very fake!

Bai Ma didn't say much to him at this point, but went straight to the nurses' station and, relying on his good looks, asked the nurses something.

"This guy..." Hattori grimaced – after all, he had never succeeded in using his good looks to solve cases!

After Hattori walked over, he looked at Hakuba, who was chatting and laughing with the nurse, and said with envy and jealousy, "Hey, don't go around flirting with people just because you have a mixed-race face."

The nurse looked at Hattori and said in surprise, "Huh? Aren't you mixed race too?"

Hattori:……

"I'm just dark-skinned! I'm a pure-blooded Osaka native!"

Faced with Hattori's outburst, Hakuba simply pointed to the signature card on the service counter—that was what Hakuba had just been asking about.

In the visitor section, "Kenichi Yoshioka" was clearly signed!
"Is it Yoshioka's father... Kenichi?" Hattori was taken aback when he saw this, and he obviously also remembered the man who claimed that his wife was about to give birth at the crime scene seventeen years ago!

Kenichi Sato, Kenichi Yoshioka...

Could it be... that he really changed his surname?
Moving from Tokyo to Osaka and changing her surname—was it a coincidence? Or... was she deliberately trying to escape something?
Before Hattori and Shiraishi could come up with anything, they heard arguing coming from the direction of the ward.

"I don't care about your case... What does a case from almost twenty years ago have to do with Tsubasa? We're transferring her back to Osaka immediately!"

"What are you police department doing? Is this how people in Tokyo handle cases?"

Kenichi Yoshioka is throwing a tantrum at Suzuki and Takashi Maki.

And Suzuki couldn't refute the reason he was angry.

but……

Hattori then came over, but he didn't tolerate Hattori's directness and said, "What do you mean by 'people from Tokyo'... Actually, you're from Tokyo too, or at least from the Kanto region, right?"

"You are... Hattori-kun? What nonsense are you talking about?" Kenichi Yoshioka felt a little guilty, but he didn't admit it.

"It was Yoshioka who asked me to help him investigate the 'reincarnation' matter; these people from the Metropolitan Police Department were just helping out," Hattori said righteously.

"Reincarnation? Do you really believe those dreams?" Kenichi Yoshioka said with dissatisfaction.

"It's not a dream!"

Just then, Yoshioka Tsubasa came to the doorway, leaning against the door frame.

"Xiaoyi! You can't get out of bed yet." Mrs. Yoshioka saw this and quickly came over to help her son.

Then Yoshioka Tsubasa looked at her father and said, "That wasn't a dream... right? I remember now... it was your voice, Dad... you were the one shouting 'Sun,' 'Sun' at the scene... you were there too!"

Upon hearing this, the Yoshioka couple both looked nervous, but Yoshioka Kenichi still said, "What sun? I don't know anything about the sun... Okay, you're just too tired after your injury!"

“I didn’t! It was you!” Yoshioka said firmly.

"You... I think you've lost your mind in Tokyo!" Kenichi Yoshioka seemed to have lived in Kansai for too long and had become a regional critic of Kanto.

Seeing the two arguing, Hattori and Hakuba quickly separated them.

"Uncle, Yoshioka-kun needs to rest..."

"Alright, Yoshioka, let's not talk about this anymore..."

……

After persuading Yoshioka Tsubasa to go back and rest, Yoshioka Kenichi had no choice but to admit that he was "Sato Kenichi". Seventeen years ago, he and his wife lived in Tokyo, specifically in Beika Town. Tsubasa was born at Beika General Hospital, which was very close to Beika Department Store. He also admitted that he was at the crime scene back then!
However, for everything else, the response was always "I don't know what you're talking about," denying seeing a corpse, denying shouting "sun" or anything like that, on the contrary...

"Perhaps because when he was a child, we didn't pay attention to avoiding him when we talked about that strange experience, so he unintentionally remembered it and treated it as if it had happened to him," Yoshioka said, offering a seemingly plausible reason.

Seeing that the two high school students clearly didn't believe him, Yoshioka simply shrugged and said, "What else? If you insist on believing in reincarnation or something, there's nothing I can do!"

Hattori was about to ask more questions, but Hakuba stopped him and whispered, "There's no point in asking any more now. Let's look for other clues first."

Hattori had no choice but to temporarily abandon this situation.

At the same time, Shiraishi also received a call for help from Hakuba.

"Police records? And from seventeen to twenty years ago... That's going to be really hard to find." Shiraishi frowned upon hearing Hakuba's request, but then said, "But if you're asking me, you've come to the right person!"

As he spoke, Shiraishi gave Hakuba Iwata's contact information...

(End of this chapter)