Traveling back thirty years to Conan, intercepting Princess Eri

Thanks to the hospital's best efforts, Megumi Ishihara was finally out of danger.

The smell of disinfectant permeated the air in the pristine white hospital room.

When the First Investigative Division accused her of murdering Ichikawa, the capable secretary leaned weakly against the pillows, offering no defense, only slowly nodding.
"That's right, I did it. I killed Ichikawa."

"What was the reason for the murder?"

Inspector Samezaki stood before the hospital bed, his brow furrowed, scrutinizing the seemingly frail woman.

"Reason?" Megumi Ishihara let out a cold laugh.

She raised her bloodshot eyes, her gaze a mixture of anger and pain: "That bastard Ichikawa... He not only toyed with my feelings, but also deceived and tormented me like a toy..."

Megumi Ishihara's voice trembled, and her fingers unconsciously gripped the corner of the blanket.

"If those people at the company hadn't let it slip during a bet, I would still be completely in the dark. So... so for Ichikawa, proposing marriage was just a way to manipulate and deceive women."

The shadows of the trees outside the window swayed in the breeze, casting distorted, ghostly shapes on the wall. Ishihara Megumi stared at these flickering shadows, a sickly blush rising on her cheeks, her voice growing colder.
"That bastard... tricked me with the promise of marriage, making me please him in all sorts of shameful positions..."

"Yesterday, when I learned about this ring on my hand..."

The secretary extended her left hand, the diamond ring on her ring finger gleaming coldly under the light.
"...But at first, I didn't believe it when he mentioned his usual tools for toying with women. Until..."

Megumi Ishihara's breathing suddenly became rapid.

"Until I personally pried open his locked drawer and saw five or six identical rings neatly arranged inside..."

The regular beeping of the monitoring equipment in the ward made the woman's gloomy expression even more frightening.
"Just then, the office phone rang. It was Ichikawa. He said he wasn't feeling well and asked me to pick him up."

"I rushed over immediately and found him on the riverbank. That bastard had somehow been hit by a car and was lying on the bank, panting in pain..."

A strange smile curled at the corner of Megumi Ishihara's lips.

"Upon seeing me, Ichikawa immediately ordered me to call an ambulance. I was going to go... but after taking only two steps, I remembered the mockery from my colleagues and the rings in my drawer..."

"That bastard, he always likes to press my head down..."

A sinister glint appeared on the secretary's face.
"So last night, I also held his head down and made him... release his pent-up desire in the river."

As she said this, her eyes were fixed on the ceiling.
“At first, Ichikawa struggled desperately, splashing water all over me… but soon, he stopped moving.”

"That's when I got scared. I scrambled up the embankment and ran home."

"I specifically took the day off from work today. I wonder how the people at the company will react when they find out about Ichikawa's death..."

"Until the afternoon, a colleague I was close to suddenly called and said the police were looking for me..."

Megumi Ishihara slowly closed her eyes, a tear sliding down her cheek.

"At that moment, I knew I couldn't hide the fact that I had killed someone. So I turned on the gas, intending to end it all."

"I never expected that you would save me in the end..."

Due to health reasons, Megumi Ishihara still needs to rest in the hospital, but the First Investigation Division will not wait for her to recover.

Inspector Samezaki quickly prepared the case report and was ready to submit it to the prosecutor.

Just before the report was to be submitted, Inspector Samezaki received a request from Hideichi Hayashi, who hoped that Murakami Yui's act of deliberately hitting someone could be changed to an accidental traffic accident in the report.

Inspector Samezaki stood by the office window, his fingers lightly tapping on the report document. He didn't hesitate for long:
Firstly, Hayashi Hideichi has assisted the First Investigation Division in solving cases on numerous occasions, and this is the first time he has made a request to the First Investigation Division. Secondly, Inspector Samezaki has witnessed Murakami Yui shielding Hayashi Hideichi from the scissors.

If Megumi Ishihara hadn't been weakened by natural gas poisoning at the time, that scissor scissor might have killed Yui Murakami.

Ichikawa's death was deserved, and Murakami Yui was not the direct culprit behind his death.

With that in mind, Inspector Samezaki picked up his pen and made the corresponding revisions to the report.

He was willing to give the female teacher a chance to reform herself.

……

Not many people know that Yui Murakami deliberately hit someone in order to get revenge.

Within the Metropolitan Police Department, only Inspector Samezaki and Inspector Megure knew about it, along with Hayashi Hideichi and Takeshita Matsufumi.

Regarding the poisoning by Takeshita Matsufumi, Inspector Samezaki did not conceal anything and recorded everything truthfully in the report.

Considering Takeshita Matsufumi's advanced age and the fact that the cyanide he prepared was long expired and ineffective, at most it would only cause diarrhea, so the judge's sentence would certainly not be too severe.

When Takeshita Matsufumi learned that the Metropolitan Police Department had concealed the fact that Murakami Yui had deliberately hit someone, the old man first sneered twice, mocked the "Metropolitan Police Department's so-called justice," and then acquiesced to the decision.

After all, he didn't want Murakami Yui to waste her prime years on avenging her daughter.

Of the four, only Inspector Megure remained unable to let go of the matter. He even confronted Inspector Samezaki about it once.

……

That evening, Inspector Megure, who usually works overtime at this time, came to an izakaya alone, sat down, and started drinking one glass after another.

By the time the izakaya was about to close, Inspector Megure was already flushed from drinking, but he still stubbornly refused to leave.

"Alright, you guys go back first," Lin Xiu waved to the others, "Leave this to me."

After Eri and Yukiko left, Hideaki picked up a beer bottle from the table to pour himself a drink, but Inspector Megure snatched it away.

"You can't drink alcohol if you're under twenty," Inspector Megure said clearly, even though he was drunk.

Lin Xiuyi smiled helplessly and then asked, "Are you still struggling with that matter?"

"Ah."

Inspector Megure did not deny it; he raised his head, his eyes blurry with drunkenness.

"That bastard Ichikawa deserves to die... but it's also true that Murakami Yui deliberately ran someone over with her car."

"Just because of your words, Inspector Samezaki changed 'intentional' to 'unintentional,' turning intentional homicide into a regular traffic accident!"

He slammed his glass down, splashing a lot of wine onto the table.

"The duty of the police is to uphold justice! How can they protect criminals like this! Inspector Samezaki is wrong to do this!"

"Upholding justice?" Lin Xiuyi scoffed. "You should know about the Tokyo University incident more than a decade ago, right? When the police stormed into the campus and beat and arrested students, were they also upholding justice?"

"If Ichikawa hadn't been in such a rush to arrest someone at Tokyo University because of orders from his superiors, that car accident wouldn't have happened, and Takeshita Naoko wouldn't have died...and none of this would have happened either." (End of Chapter)