No one understands the laws of Collider better than me.

"First, there are four suspects: Nao Aini, who collects gloves; Jun Hisami, who loves collecting sunglasses; Kōichi Nakagami, who owns many hats; and Hajime Iwatomo, who has many pairs of golf shoes. These four often gather together. This is a company where employees seem to resent the president, and the deceased, as the president, is very fond of collecting idol merchandise; the calendar hanging on it is also part of his collection. In short, knowing everyone's names makes things much simpler, because we can use reverse deduction, so we can quickly determine that the person the deceased was referring to is Hajime Iwatomo, the vice president!"

Conan picked up the photos taken at the scene and explained that the side of the deceased stained with ink was only to remind the police that the word he wanted to say was on this block; the other side, stained with ink, was actually the message he wanted to convey. After all, it would take a long time to figure out what each word engraved was.

"Oh, the code has been deciphered, that's impressive. But without evidence, we can't prove he's the murderer, and the victim could have been deceived. After all, he was knocked unconscious and tied up, and he might not have seen the culprit's face while lying on the ground."

“That’s right, Kitahara-nii, you’re right. So now Hattori and I are going to look for evidence. You should have noticed that there’s a bloodstain on the shoulder of that coat that looks like it’s been rubbed against something, and it’s become much lighter than the other bloodstains.”

"Oh, and then you're still looking for that bloodstained evidence."

Conan looked at the confident Hattori, sighed, and shook his head. Just as he was wondering whether to remind him, Hattori seemed to have found something, then plopped down on the sofa and said:

"Ah—why are only four building blocks stained with ink? If we were to find the actual building blocks instead of just looking at the photo, we could see the words hidden behind them. We can't determine what the words are on the other side of the building blocks just from the photo."

Hearing Hattori Heiji's somewhat nonsensical words, Kitahara Masaki and Conan were both taken aback. Had this blockhead realized something? His words just now seemed to be a reminder to Kazuha, since they already knew what the deceased meant.

"Hey kid, it looks like Hattori won't need my help to catch up with you this time."

"Ahem, Kitahara-nii, my situation is completely different from his! Fine, I'll go help him too. It's too awkward for him to keep acting like this all by himself."

Conan, holding up the photo, muttered "Ah, alright!" in a business-like voice:

"If I were tied up, it would take a long time to figure out which one is which. It would be terrible if the murderer found out that I was leaving a death message. If it were a shogi board, I would know what it says immediately."

After hearing Conan's help, Hattori thought to himself, "Kudo is a true brother, he'll step up when needed," and continued to give Kazuha hints, completely unconcerned about letting the opponent down in this gamble.

"Idiot! Who can be sure which word he's trying to say in shogi? Maybe those ink-stained words aren't what he meant at all."

Hearing their conversation, Kazuha started scribbling in her notebook, presumably understanding Hattori Heiji's reminder.

By this time, Inspector Megure had brought all four suspects over. The four of them looked completely innocent and bombarded Inspector Megure with questions, saying that the police were just wasting other people's time all day long. Seeing Inspector Megure's pleading eyes, Kitahara Masaki chose to ignore them this time. After all, this was a duel between Hattori and Kazuha, not something he, who had already won the game, should get involved in.

"Ahem, Inspector Megure, I already know who the murderer is."

Inspector Megure looked at Kazuha in front of him, then turned his head in disbelief to look at Kitahara Masaki, who was playing with his phone, and Hattori Heiji, who was whistling on the side. Then, Uncle Mori, who hadn't fallen asleep, also changed to a different doll to squeeze.

"Alright then, Miss He Ye, tell me, who is the murderer?"

"If we look at the other side of the ink stain, the murderer is Vice President Iwatomo!"

Inspector Megure touched his forehead, realizing he shouldn't have had such high expectations.

“Ms. Kazuha, I must remind you that we have already confirmed the alibi of Vice President Iwatomi. He was watching a golf tournament at the time of the incident, and even the cameras at the tournament venue captured him.”

At this moment, Heiji Hattori and Conan started their act again. First, Conan sat on the wheeled chair and slid around like a real little devil. Then, the backrest bumped into the desk, and the pen holder on the desk fell over with a crash.

"Huh? That's strange. Wasn't the ink bottle knocked over because the murderer bumped into the desk during the argument with the victim? Then why is this pen holder still standing upright?"

"Hmm...yes, and the ink just happened to drip right next to the victim."

As Kazuha listened to their conversation, she gradually connected it with the previous clues about the suspect and continued:

"The real culprit wasn't Iwatofu, but the real killer who wanted to pin the crime on Iwatofu. The real killer deliberately spilled the ink so that the victim could receive the message of death through the ink!"

"But how did the murderer manage to pinpoint the victim's death to Vice President Iwatomo?"

"It's very simple. Because the victim was tied up and unable to move, he could only see the shoes and half of his trousers. When he saw Iwatoshi's golf shoes, he would subconsciously think that Iwatoshi was the one who tied him up. However, the shoes were just stolen from Iwatoshi's house by the murderer. After all, the four employees often went to the vice president Iwatoshi's house for gatherings, so it was very easy to steal a pair of shoes."

Then Hattori Heiji took out a page of the calendar he had just found and the coat the murderer had worn. The bloodstains on the shoulders of the coat were obviously lighter, meaning that it had been rubbed somewhere.

"Ah! This is the decisive evidence! Thank you, Heiji. The bloodstains on the shoulder of this coat accidentally touched this page of the calendar! I found it strange that even though it's still June today, the calendar in the victim's office is still showing July. So—the killer's fingerprints must be on this calendar page! And there must be the killer's skin flakes inside the shoes!"

Kazuha blurted out everything she was thinking, leaving Inspector Megure somewhat bewildered. However, he did manage to clearly hear where the crucial evidence was, so he immediately ordered his men to find it.

Hattori Heiji immediately added:

"Actually, you can tell how tall the murderer is just by looking at the marks on the calendar. Since the mark was left when the suspect's shoulder touched the calendar, all you need to do is have the suspect stand in front of the calendar to find out."

Having completed the deduction, Kazuha looked at Hattori Heiji with a complicated expression, not as happy as Hattori Heiji had imagined.

"Hey, Kazuha, you beat me, why aren't you happy?"

"Heiji, you're such a big idiot!"

Chapter 214 Peanut Demon

"Sigh, why did Kazuha have to call me an idiot at the end? I was willing to go to Takarazuka with her, but now I'm going to Koshien instead."

"Hattori, isn't solving unsolved mysteries the romance of detective work? If she sees you sighing like this, she'll probably scold you again. Also, tell me about Koshien Stadium. It's my first time watching such a large-scale baseball game."

Hattori Heiji looked at Kitahara Masaki sitting next to him with a pained expression. He had asked him several times why Kazuha was unhappy, but he had always brushed him off, saying that love only has meaning if you take it yourself; you're always thinking about helping others out, don't you feel ashamed?

Hattori held his head in his hands, completely losing interest in watching and learning about Koshien, looking like a fool who felt like "the girl I like hates me."

"This year, a total of 4146 schools and as many as 16 players participated in the regional tournaments across the country. In the end, 49 winning schools were selected to enter Koshien Stadium for the final. The stadium is called Koshien because the year it was built happened only once every sixty years—the first Jia and the first Zi of the Heavenly Stems appeared at the same time, hence the name Koshien."

Finally, Conan gave the introduction. After hearing the selection process, Kitahara Masaki felt that it was not easy. However, the seat that Hattori had bought in advance was not in a good location. It was in the outfield, so he could not see as clearly as he could in the infield.

Then Kitahara Masaki took out binoculars from his bag, looked at the players on the field and their positions, and said:

"Oh dear, I forgot to learn the rules of baseball beforehand."

"What! You don't even know the rules of baseball and you're here to watch the game with us?!"

"Oh dear, I forgot too. I've been watching dramas the past few days and completely forgot to look up the rules."

Like Kitahara Masaki, Vermouth had absolutely no idea about the rules of baseball. Kitahara Masaki had forgotten because he planned to deal with the con artist first, but it had dragged on until now. Vermouth, on the other hand, had received another mission from the organization: to disguise herself and approach several members of parliament, revealing their daily schedules to Gin.

"Sigh, never mind, let's watch a few rounds first, and then I'll explain it to you slowly."

At that moment, a burly man sat down next to Heiji and handed him the shaved ice.

"That's right, that's right, Inspector Kitahara, I, Goro Otaki, will make you completely understand baseball, and then fall in love with it!"

That's right, there was also a police officer from Osaka Prefecture accompanying me to Koshien this time. This officer, Goro Otaki, has always had a good relationship with Hattori. The two are like friends despite their age difference, just like Inspector Megure and Shinichi Kudo. This officer is a big baseball fan. Before entering the stadium, I heard him say that he used to be on a baseball team and worked very hard to get into Koshien, but unfortunately, he failed in the end.

So he even took time off work to watch this highly anticipated match.

"Haha, I'm really looking forward to it, Mr. Otaki. Also, everyone's on vacation now, so we don't need to talk about work anymore."

"Haha, okay, I was being presumptuous. I'm sure you won't be disappointed with today's match. Both teams' kids are top contenders for the championship."

Just as everyone was talking, a guy carrying a bag and wearing a hat walked past them in the aisle, blocking their view. After he left, an old-fashioned cell phone appeared at Hattori Heiji's feet.

However, because it didn't ring, no one except Kitahara Maki and Vermouth noticed it.

"Aaaaaah—we might be facing another case."

"Masaki, don't be too pessimistic. Maybe that person just lost a phone."

"No, no, no, we've entered the era of smartphones now. Besides, it's clear that his action just now was intentional; he placed the phone near Hattori's feet. It's very likely that he overheard our conversation and realized that there were two policemen in our group."

"Kitahara-nii, I'm starting to explain the rules of baseball now, and you're still whispering to Evelyn-neechan?"

Hattori had just finished watching the two teams enter the field and officially begin the match, and was about to have a good chat about the differences between the players when he saw the two of them whispering to each other, and was thinking of saying a few more things when the phone at his feet suddenly rang. Helpless, Hattori had no choice but to answer the phone.

"Hello, is this the owner of the phone? We're right here under the searchlight, you can come over..."

"Is it fun? I'm asking you, is this place really as good as it looks?"

Hattori was startled by the deep, chuunibyou-esque voice, then squinted at the old-fashioned phone, wondering if it was some guy trying to challenge him again.

"Ahem, sir, who are you?"

"If you like, I can play an even more fun and exciting game with you, a life-or-death game. Well, I guess I'll be the one who dies."

Kitahara Masaki and Vermouth's expressions gradually turned sour. Hearing this, they naturally realized that they had encountered another case, and this time it involved a mentally unstable criminal.

However, the hot-tempered Hattori doesn't care whether you're mentally ill or have Tama-dama syndrome, and directly says:

"Then why don't you just die? Go die!"

"Haha, that's what I'm planning. But I don't want to die alone; it's too lonely to go alone. So here's the rule: at the end of the third, sixth, and ninth innings, a cell phone placed in the stands will ring. The phone will only ring three times. If you don't answer it in time, you'll be struck out, and I'll detonate the bomb I'm holding. Of course, if you find all three phones, you can see me at the end of the game."

"Huh? What are you talking about? I need to watch the game, I don't have time to play this kind of game with you."

"Whether I'm joking or not, you'll find out at the end of the second half of the second round. Then the location information for your phone will be in the text message, and you can rely on the police officer next to you to help you get to the stands you want." "Wait! Who are you?!"

"Heh heh, I am the demon of Koshien!"

After saying that, he hung up the phone. Kitahara Masaki, who had been listening attentively, covered his face, thinking that this criminal had actually caused trouble at the scene of a game he had never watched before.

"Masaki, shall we go first?"

"No, there's nothing unusual about the people and things around us right now, which means that even if that person really did have a bomb, he's not with us right now."

The drone had already taken off the moment the call was answered, but Koshien Stadium, like the National Stadium, is a super-large stadium that can hold tens of thousands of people, so Kitahara Masaki only had it monitor the area around their location. Fortunately, that strange old man had already gone far away and was probably watching this area with binoculars somewhere.

Don't let me catch you, or I'll have to defuse the bomb for you, and I'll have to slap you in the face.

"The demon of Koshien? I'm sitting next to a world-renowned Grim Reaper! It's like showing off your skills in front of Guan Yu, completely ungrateful."

Chapter 215 Please figure out who your revenge target is.

"Kitahara-nii, you must have heard the phone call just now, right?"

"Of course, there are also those dim-witted people who think they can get away unscathed after provoking Death and his companions. No, he said he wanted to commit suicide by detonating a bomb, but he still gave a coded signal pointing to his location, which means he didn't actually want to die, or he just wanted to get attention. By the way, it's the second half of the first round now, right?"

"Yes, he said he would show us the evidence after the second round, and he might detonate a bomb first!"

Upon hearing this, Officer Otaki dared not delay any longer and planned to call headquarters to arrange for the audience to take emergency evacuation.

"Wait, Officer Otaki, if an emergency evacuation alerts that person, he might detonate the bomb prematurely. So, let's find him ourselves first. Hattori, check the text messages. What code did the criminal send?"

"Hmm—there was only one text message, consisting of three numbers: 96, [7], 13. The number 7 was even enclosed in parentheses."

Kitahara Masaki looked around at the audience seats and said in a deep voice:

"Hattori, this time it's up to you to decipher the code. Since the other party claims to be the devil of Koshien, the code must be related to Koshien. The other party is speaking in their natural voice, and the factory serial number hasn't been removed from the phone, which means that guy isn't afraid of being exposed at all—"

"Damn it! Does that bastard really want to drag all these people down with him? Inspector Otaki, Conan, let's go!"

Hattori didn't say much and quickly ran to the main entrance to look at the map of Koshien Stadium. Kazuha and the others, who had been focused on the match, saw Hattori rushing off and asked Kitahara Masaki:

"Kitahara-kun, where did Heiji go?"

"Ahem, an old man lost his phone, so he went to find him. Don't worry, he'll be back soon, so you can watch the game for him for now."

After dealing with the girls who cared about him, Kitahara Maki sat in his seat, holding binoculars and looking for suspicious people.

"Masaki, you really trust those kids."

"Haha, don't underestimate them. The most important thing is that I really know nothing about Koshien and baseball. I'd be completely lost even if I saw the code. I might as well stay in my seat and find that suicidal chuunibyou. By the way, you take care of that side, and I'll take care of this side."

"Yes! Inspector Evelyn understands!"