Detective Conan: The Ultimate Growth Space

"You mean floppy disks? Yes, I do have them. I still have them. There's a very strange floppy disk inside."

"I wonder when would be a convenient time for you? I'd like to go and retrieve it."

"I'm not busy these days, you can come anytime."

"Here's the thing, I have two friends who are going to Tokyo with their kids. If it's convenient for you, I'd like to ask them to bring the kids back for me. Is that alright?"

“Sure, if they have time tonight, they can come over tonight. I have a few guests to attend to later, and I'll be free after that.”

"Thank you so much, Professor Hirota. I'll call my friends right now and have them pick it up from you. It will take them about three hours to get from Tokyo to Shizuoka."

"Alright, let them come over here."

We drove onto the highway.

Zhiyong was still wondering, knowing that it takes almost three hours to drive from Tokyo to Shizuoka Prefecture.

The three of them arrived at Professor Hirota's house in Shizuoka Prefecture, probably after 11 o'clock.

It's quite surprising that they agreed to visit me in the middle of the night in an island nation.

We arrived at Professor Hirota's house.

Professor Hirota's wife opened the door.

"Excuse me, I am Taichi Kimura, this is my wife Masami Kimura, and our child Mika Kimura."

"Hello, my husband has already told you about your situation. Please come in."

Professor Hirota has a relationship with Akemi Miyano, which in turn creates an indirect connection between him and Shiho Miyano.

Now that Ai has escaped, Gin will definitely destroy any place Ai might stay.

That's why, in order to avoid revealing their identities.

Before arriving, Zhi Yong and his two companions had changed their appearances and temporarily covered their fingerprints with glue.

The car was also replaced with a black car.

"Thank you, Mrs. Hirota. Has Professor Hirota's guest left?"

"Yes, several groups of my husband's students came to visit him today."

Mrs. Hirota led him to the study.

"Knock, knock."

"Honey, the guests have arrived."

"Knock, knock."

Mrs. Hirota grabbed the doorknob, but the study door was locked from the inside.

"Strange, I wonder what he's doing. Why did he lock the door?" Mrs. Hirota asked, puzzled.

"Could Professor Hirota be asleep?"

"No, since my husband made a promise to you, he will definitely wait for you to arrive."

Mrs. Hirota shook her head.

"Let me take a look from up there?" Zhiyong said, pointing to the window above the door.

“Yes, that’s fine,” Mrs. Hirota said, somewhat puzzled.

Zhiyong asked this question because the space had given him a warning earlier.

This made Zhiyong realize that someone was dead in the room.

Judging from the age of their souls, this should be Professor Hirota, whom they are looking for.

At that moment, Zhiyong thought to himself, "Damn, did I catch Conan's talent? Of course, if he really does have the Grim Reaper's attributes, then Zhiyong won't need to follow Conan anymore. He can just wander around whenever he has nothing to do."

Although he was lost in thought, Zhiyong did not stop moving.

Zhiyong grabbed the top of the door frame, jumped up, and looked into the room through the window in the door.

Although Zhiyong already knew the outcome, he couldn't let outsiders know it.

Therefore, Zhiyong pretended to be surprised.

"Mrs. Hirota, do you have a spare key to the room door?"

"There's no backup key. What happened?"

"I saw the bookshelf overturned on a person, and there was a lot of blood flowing from that person's head. Something must have happened. If I didn't have a spare key, I would have broken down the door."

"Really? Then hurry up and break down the door."

Zhiyong raised his foot and kicked the door.

Zhiyong is now very strong; he kicked the door open with one kick.

I saw Professor Hirota lying on the ground, the bookshelf overturned on top of him, and books scattered all around him.

There was a large pool of blood on the ground where the head was.

"what!"

Mrs. Hirota then noticed the cries.

After the call was made, the police arrived quickly, and the officer in charge was Officer Heng Gou from Coral Head.

However, Zhiyong has already disguised himself, so he can only pretend not to recognize him.

After a brief inquiry, Zhi Yong was given a brief answer.

"So what happened today was that Mr. Kimura, along with his wife and daughter, visited Professor Hirota's house. Mrs. Hirota led you to the study, but the door was locked. There was no response when you knocked. Mr. Kimura looked into the room through the window in the door and saw that Professor Hirota had a head injury and was bleeding. You broke down the door, only to find that Professor Hirota was already dead. Is that a correct account of what happened?"

After listening to the introduction and summarizing, Officer Yokomizo asked a question.

"Yes, officer, that's roughly how it went," Mrs. Hirota nodded in agreement.

"I see. Then it's possible it was an accidental death," Officer Yokomizo nodded.

"Officer, you're saying this was an accidental death?" Zhiyong asked curiously.

"The specifics still need further investigation, but judging from the situation at the scene, the probability of accidental death is very high."

"Officer Yokomizo, the cause of death was this trophy. It's likely that the trophy hit the deceased on the head when the bookcase fell over, or that the deceased fell and bumped into the trophy, which caused the death."

After collecting evidence at the scene, the forensic team picked up a trophy stained with blood.

Officer Yokomizo accepted the trophy, examined it for a moment, and then spoke.

"Judging from the scene, Professor Hirota was probably trying to get something from the bookshelf, but he accidentally lost his balance, causing the entire bookshelf to fall over. When Professor Hirota fell, he unfortunately hit the back of his head on the trophy that had fallen to the ground, which caused this tragedy."

"Is that so?" Zhiyong asked again.

"The doors and windows inside the room were all locked from the inside, and there were no signs of forced entry. The only key to the room was found under a book lying around inside. This means the accident could only have happened after Professor Hirota locked the door," Officer Yokomizo explained.

“Officer, although it looks like an accident, it is more likely murder, just disguised as an accident,” Zhiyong said.

"Why did Mr. Kimura say that?" Officer Yokomizo asked, puzzled.

"Officer, look at this phone."

Zhiyong didn't answer directly, but pointed to the phone on the ground.

"Telephone?"

Officer Yokomizo walked over and looked at the phone.

……

Chapter 204 The Death of a University Professor

Zhiyong then reminded him, "This phone should have fallen down with the bookshelf, but it's turned upside down on the floor, yet the receiver is still intact. Although there's a book on top of the phone, it further proves that someone deliberately messed up the room."

"That's certainly true. If that's the case, then this is a locked-room murder?" Inspector Yokomizo said in surprise.

"A murder in a secret room?" Mrs. Hirota asked in surprise.

Haibara Mi and Ai watched silently from the side.

Since neither of them could change their voice, they could only try their best not to speak in order to avoid arousing suspicion in the future.

However, Professor Hirota had once taught Ai Haibara.

Therefore, she is currently feeling very down.

However, since she was in front of outsiders, she could only endure it.

"The doors and windows in the room were locked from the inside, and there were no signs of forced entry," Officer Yokomizo explained.

"Who was it? Who killed my husband? Who killed my husband?" Mrs. Hirota shouted angrily.

Mrs. Hirota was already furious about her husband's sudden death, but at first she thought it was an accident.

Therefore, although I felt depressed, I had nowhere to vent my frustration.

Now I know my husband may have been murdered.

This ignited the anger in Mrs. Hirota's heart.

Officer Yokomizo advised, "Mrs. Hirota, please calm down. Think back, were there any suspicious people who came to see Professor Hirota tonight?"

After a moment of calm, Mrs. Hirota said, "Including Mr. and Mrs. Kimura, there are three or four other guests."

“We didn’t know Professor Hirota before, and we have no grudge against him. We’re here today to retrieve a floppy disk containing photos of our friend’s past travels. This has nothing to do with us. Besides, even if we were to kill someone, we wouldn’t bring a child here, would we?” Zhiyong explained.

"Even so, it will still take up some of your time. Please wait here for a moment," Officer Yokomizo nodded.

Zhiyong led Haibara Mi and Ai to the side.

Xiao Ai asked in a low voice, "If the record of the missing floppy disk containing the drug information is the same as the record of the floppy disk containing the photos I sent back to my sister, the organization could easily find that it was on the same day. Now that I have escaped the organization, they might come here to retrieve the information, which is not hard for them to think of."

"Could it be that the organization sent someone to retrieve the floppy disk, but Professor Hirota happened to discover it, and that's why they killed him?" Haibara Mi speculated.

"Probably not," Zhiyong replied.

"Why?" Haibara Mi asked, puzzled.

In fact, if this was indeed the reason that led to Professor Hirota's death...

Haibara Miyako would also feel very guilty.