Detective Conan: The Ultimate Growth Space

“You’ve all been in the organization and know their style of doing things. If that were really the reason, Professor Hirota wouldn’t have died so simply. Besides, they probably wouldn’t have bothered to spend the time setting up a locked room for murder. They would have just set a fire or blown it up; that’s their style.”

Zhiyong already knew the cause of Professor Hirota's death.

It's just not appropriate to say it directly right now.

Now Zhiyong has also seen the guilt in Haibara Mi's heart, so he persuades her in this subtle way.

“That’s true. Professor Hirota is so old. If the organization wanted to kill him, they could easily do so with just a few simple steps,” Ai Haibara added.

“Let’s hear who visited Professor Hirota tonight and solve the case as soon as possible. After all, we came here in disguise, and it will be troublesome if we are discovered,” Zhiyong replied.

“That’s right. Now that they’ve discovered we were disguised, they might pin the murder charge on us,” Ai said.

While Zhiyong and the other two were talking in hushed tones.

Officer Yokomizo also approached Mrs. Hirota.

"Mrs. Hirota, may I ask who your family has had guests tonight?" Officer Yokomizo asked.

"I'm not entirely sure about that either. Around 8 p.m., I went to a town meeting with my neighbor's wife and didn't get back until 11 p.m.," Mrs. Hirota replied.

"Then Mrs. Hirota, don't you know who visited your husband today?" Officer Yokomizo said helplessly.

“It’s not that I didn’t know at all. When I was leaving with my neighbor’s wife, one of my husband’s students came to see him. My husband introduced him as Hosoyashi,” Mrs. Hirota said.

“Alright, Nishioka, go and investigate. Find the student named Hosoya who visited Professor Hirota tonight and bring him here.”

"Yes, Officer Yokomizo."

One of the policemen answered and then left.

"Mrs. Hirota, besides Hosoya, do you know the names of any other visitors?" Officer Yokomizo asked again.

"Before I left, one of my husband's students called to say that Mr. Kimura would pay a visit on my behalf. I don't know anything else, except that my husband had mentioned that two or three students would come to see him," Mrs. Hirota replied.

“Officer, just as Mrs. Hirota said, my friend is Professor Hirota’s student. Since I happened to be passing by, he asked me to retrieve a disk containing travel photos,” Zhiyong replied.

"It seems the only option is to investigate all of Professor Hirota's students," Officer Yokomizo said helplessly.

“Officer, I see the phone is still flashing. Is there a voicemail message? Maybe we can find some clues in the message,” Zhiyong said, pointing to the phone on the ground.

"That's true, let's listen to what the messages are."

Regardless of his abilities, Inspector Yokomizo has one great advantage: he is willing to listen to other people's advice.

Zhiyong's current identity is neither that of a policeman nor a detective.

However, after hearing what Zhiyong said, Detective Yokomizo also realized that he had been wondering if it was murder.

However, they did not notice the phone call.

Officer Yokomizo walked over, placed the phone down, and turned on voicemail.

There were a total of thirteen messages.

The telephone made a mechanical sound.

"Thirteen messages, that's a lot," Officer Yokomizo remarked.

"Hello, this is Shirakura. Professor Hirota, we agreed to meet tonight."

After listening to the first voicemail message.

Officer Yokomizo asked, "Mrs. Hirota, do you know this Shirakura?"

“I’ve met Mr. Shirakura before. He was one of my husband’s students, but he should have graduated by now,” Mrs. Hirota said.

The tape spun idly for a while before a second message came in.

"I am Morioka. What time would be suitable for me to arrive tonight?"

Officer Yokomizo then asked, "Do you know this Mr. Morioka?"

“I know Mr. Morioka. He was my husband’s first student and often came to our house to play.”

……

Chapter 205 The Method of Murder

At that moment, a young man came to the door.

"Hirota Fusuke, do you know how to contact Mr. Shirakura and Mr. Morioka?" Officer Yokomizo asked again.

“They should all be in my husband’s address book,” Mrs. Hirota replied.

The young man at the door said, "Excuse me."

Officer Yokomizo then noticed a young man standing at the door.

The young man continued, "I am Shirakura. May I ask what happened here?"

“Professor Hirota was murdered last night,” Officer Yokomizo replied.

"What?" Shirakura looked surprised.

However, Zhiyong noticed from his nervous demeanor that his surprise seemed a bit too contrived.

Of course, it might be because Zhiyong knew that he was the real murderer who killed Professor Hirota.

Officer Yokomizo ignored it and continued listening to the voicemail.

There were thirteen voicemail messages in total, ten of which were from Shirakura and two from Morioka.

But the final thirteenth phone call surprised Zhiyong greatly.

"Hello! This is an insurance company representative. I'd like to explain our new insurance policy to you. When would you be available? Could you spare a moment to come? I'll call you back later. Goodbye."

Although the voice was slightly altered from the original due to the telephone transmission.

But Zhiyong still recognized the voice; it belonged to Vodka from the Black Organization.

"Vodka," Ai whispered.

"Could it be that Professor Hirota was really killed by them?" Haibara Mi asked doubtfully.

“It wasn’t them. If they had killed Professor Hirota to take the disk, they wouldn’t have left their voices on the phone.”

Because Zhiyong knew the truth, he answered directly and affirmatively.

"Indeed, if they had many ways to easily take the disk, they wouldn't need to go through all this trouble. The message on the phone was probably to confirm whether Professor Hirota was home, and also to lower his guard."

Ai chuckled to herself as she spoke, saying, "They never expected something like this to happen. They didn't retrieve the disk and even left the audio recording."

"So, they might be nearby?" Haibara Mi asked in surprise.

“That’s right, that’s exactly what I was afraid of. That’s why I had us all disguise ourselves, so that even if they see us, they won’t know who we are,” Zhiyong replied with a smile.

After listening to the voicemail, Officer Yokomizo said, "Mr. Shirakura, you left ten voicemails in total. That's too many."

"I had no choice. I kept calling the professor but he didn't answer, so I had to come directly here," Shirakura explained.

“Alright then, Mrs. Hirota, please find Mr. Morioka’s phone number. I need to ask him for some information,” Officer Yokomizo said.

“Okay, I’ll go get it right away,” Mrs. Hirota replied.

"Mrs. Hirota, there's no need for that. I already know the method used in this secret room and who the murderer is."

Zhiyong saw that it was almost time and didn't want to waste any more time.

If Gin and his group really come, then things will get complicated.

Most of the people in the organization are lunatics; even though there are police everywhere, they will still use powerful weapons.

Inspector Yokomizo asked in great surprise, "What? You already know the secret room method and the real culprit?"

Zhiyong's words surprised everyone else as well.

Haibara Mi and Ai were even more surprised by this.

After all, Zhiyong had been with them the whole time.

They didn't see it at all, and Zhiyong investigated the scene.

Zhiyong was not too surprised by everyone's astonishment.

Anyway, Zhiyong is in disguise now, and he will remove the disguise after the matter is over, so no one will know who he is.

Therefore, there is no need to have too many concerns.

Zhiyong looked at Baicang and said, "Mr. Baicang, will you turn yourself in now, or let me expose your crime?"

"What did you say? How could I possibly kill the professor?" Shirakura said, tense yet excited.

"So what is your purpose in coming here?" Officer Yokomizo asked.

"It's because I'm a model now, and this time a magazine is doing a project on a topic that focuses on the unexpected side of models. So, I remembered that during my university anniversary celebration, I dressed up as a woman and took a photo with a professor. The professor liked to save the photos on floppy disks, so I wanted to borrow that photo," Shirakura replied.

"Is that really all there is to it?" Officer Yokomizo asked again.

"Yes, I just wanted to borrow a photo. There was no need to kill me," Shirakura said, feigning innocence.

"Since you're unwilling to say it, then I'll just have to say it for you," Zhiyong said disdainfully.

“If you continue to falsely accuse me like this, I will expose you to the media during my interviews,” Shirakura said angrily.

"You don't need to act anymore. It's so late now. I just don't want to waste time. If I wasn't sure, why would I go looking for trouble? You came here again now, isn't it to retrieve some item? It's covered in your fingerprints."

"What is it?" Officer Yokomizo asked.

"If you have any evidence, then say it. Otherwise, I will definitely sue you." Shirakura was a little hysterical.

After hearing what Zhiyong said, Shirakura lost his composure.

But he still held onto a sliver of hope, believing that Zhiyong might just be lying to him.

However, his behavior only fueled public suspicion.

Now everyone basically feels that Shirakura is the real culprit.

"Mr. Kimura, since you say you have evidence, please explain it, as well as the method used in this secret room," Inspector Yokomizo asked.

"The method for creating a secret room is very simple. All you need is a recording tape from a telephone recording and these chess pieces on the ground to design a perfect secret room," Zhiyong replied.

"Audio tapes and chess pieces?" Officer Yokomizo still didn't understand what Tomoyu meant.

“Mr. Shirakura, I think you committed this crime impulsively this time, so you didn’t prepare beforehand. In order to set up a secret room, the tape was covered with your fingerprints. As long as the police examine the tape, it will be easy to prove it. Why are you wasting everyone’s time here?” Zhiyong shook his head and said.