No one understands the laws of Collider better than me.

Inspector Megure cleared his throat, as if to say, "My superior is right here. Aren't you going to ask me what I mean?"

"Hmm! Chiba, your friend was seen by these kids near the crime scene around 7:00 AM, and the victim's time of death was between 7:00 and 7:30 AM. Also, there was a romantic dispute between the suspect and the victim."

Chiba smiled after hearing the time and said:

"That shouldn't be Kato, because he woke me up at seven in the morning, and then we watched TV together. It was a news variety show called 'Good Morning, Working People' on Hiruma TV."

"Is it possible that he recorded the program first and then woke you up, even though it was already nine o'clock?"

"I don't think it's very likely. Everyone, please come in first, and we can talk about it slowly. Ah... but my house is a bit messy, please don't mind."

When everyone entered Chiba's house, they found clothes and pants scattered everywhere. However, what caught Kitahara Masaki's eye the most was that there were three shelves in Chiba's house for displaying figurines. The shelves were filled with Kamen Rider and Gomera figurines, as well as several Gundam and Super Sentai figurines.

Wow! It's a Kamen Rider figure!

"Isn't this the limited edition Gomera?! It's so cool!"

Just as the group of kids were about to pick them up and play with them, Kitahara Masaki gave each of them a thumbs-up and told them that figurines shouldn't be touched casually and that they had to get the owner's permission before picking them up to admire them.

Just as Kitahara Masaki was about to turn the scene into a preschool education session, Inspector Megure stepped forward again, patted Kitahara Masaki on the shoulder, and said:

"Let's solve the case first, Kitahara-kun."

"Oh, well then—Chiba, tell me, why didn't your friend record the TV program first?"

"Here's the thing, it's this videotape. I always record the 'Good Morning, Working People' program, but I forgot to press the scheduled recording button last night, so it's been in automatic recording mode. And this is the only VCR I have at home. Oh, right, there's a program schedule in the newspaper."

Chiba picked up a newspaper from the sofa. The program schedule on it indeed indicated that the program on Nichiuri TV would air at 7 PM. Chiba had also made many markings in the newspaper, indicating that there were many programs he wanted to watch. There were even many sticky notes on the TV, indicating which channel, time, and program.

"So what did you watch after watching 'Good Morning, Working People'?"

"Hehe, you even looked at this. Kato brought these over."

Chiba inserted the tape he was going to watch later and then clicked play.

"Rider kick!"

It turns out to be the original Kamen Rider.

"One tape is about two hours long, and then I watched three tapes..."

"Ahem, six hours? Are you trying to watch the whole first season in one day?"

"Yes, because it happened to be my day off today, I thought I'd watch the whole thing. Then I spent half an hour taking a shower and finished watching the entire first season. Just then, this baseball game came on TV, and then you guys arrived."

For a police officer who solves cases using the laws of Detective Conan, the more compelling the alibi, the more suspicious he becomes. So this is a proof problem.

Chapter 218 Takagi's Long-Distance Relationship Crisis

In order to thoroughly investigate whether the suspect Kato had hidden bloodstained clothing at Chiba's house, Takagi and Sato began searching, while Kitahara Masaki, the highest-ranking officer, naturally sat to the side. He thought that if the suspect had disposed of the clothes and other items, he probably wouldn't have hidden them at Chiba's house. After all, if Chiba had discovered them, he certainly wouldn't have helped him cover it up. So, this guy must have thrown the evidence in the middle of the road between the crime scene and Chiba's house.

Kitahara Masaki told Inspector Megure about this deduction, asking him to have more people search the river and alleys along this section of the road.

After doing all that, Kitahara Masaki lay down on the sofa and pulled Chiba aside to ask:

"Takagi and Sato—did they have a fight?"

"Hey, no way, Takagi wouldn't dare to argue with Officer Sato."

"What happened between them? The tension between them seems to have gotten thicker."

"Oh, it's like this. There's a case in Tottori Prefecture that requires our First Investigation Division's support. Because it involves apprehending a nationwide gang of thieves, it's bound to take a long time. And then, Officer Miyamoto from the Traffic Division overheard Superintendent Matsumoto and Inspector Megure saying that they should send Takagi to help..."

"Hmm—so they're worried that a long-distance relationship might change their feelings for each other. I see."

Yumi Miyamoto, the police department's matchmaker, really knows everything. However, this time it's likely a false tip. After all, no matter how sharp her hearing is, it can't compare to the power of the Detective Conan's laws to lock in couples.

"Ahem, Inspector Kitahara, why don't you talk to Inspector Megure about it? Takagi is a rookie like me, and getting involved in this kind of case would just be causing trouble."

"Hey, Chiba, not bad, pleading for your brother. But I think you can rest assured, Officer Miyamoto's information is probably false."

False information? Chiba was puzzled, but since it was Kitahara Masaki who said it, it became believable even without any basis.

Just as Kitahara Masaki was watching the two men's expressions turn serious because of the false information, Conan was diligently searching for evidence to conduct a deduction of an underdog's injustice. Ai Haibara, who had been watching all this, tugged at Kitahara Masaki's sleeve and said:

"Kitahara-kun, you haven't completely forgotten my request because you're busy watching the drama, have you?"

"You before... Oh, of course I remember, don't worry."

Damn it, you've completely forgotten!

Looking at poor Ai, Kitahara Masaki felt a pang of sympathy for two seconds, then faced a dilemma: whether to continue watching the drama unfold or continue solving the case. Finally, he took out a coin, which bounced up with a whoosh. The direction it landed in his hand made him silent for a moment. Having lost his bet with himself, Kitahara Masaki could only resume solving the case.

He pulled Conan over and asked:

"Kid, did you find any evidence?"

"Hehe, I wouldn't call it evidence, but we have plenty of clues. Does that mean Kitahara-nii didn't find anything at all?"

"Tell me quickly, or I'll tell Xiaolan that you're always flirting with a policewoman, you know what I mean?"

Conan, who was initially eager to show off, immediately shared the clue:

First, there's that "Good Morning, Working People" program, which not only airs on Nichiuri TV at 7:00 AM, but is also rebroadcast on another TV station at 9:00 AM.

Then there's the Kamen Rider videotape that Chiba watched. Although each volume is indeed two hours long, it includes a lot of content that can be skipped, such as the opening and ending themes, commercial breaks, and recaps. So, to be honest, watching one volume really doesn't take two hours.

Finally, there's the clock in the Chiba family home. The hands of the clocks in the living room and the entryway are not the same, suggesting that they may have been tampered with.

After piecing together these clues, Kitahara Masaki patted Chiba on the shoulder. It seemed that his friend had indeed used this to find an alibi.

Chiba thought he would be woken up at 7:00, but he was actually woken up at 9:00. After watching an hour of "Good Morning, Working Class," he watched three two-hour Kamen Rider videotapes in a row, but in reality, it wouldn't have taken six hours to watch all three. Finally, when he saw that it was time for the baseball game to start, we arrived at his house.

As for the clock, it must have been set to seven o'clock at first, making him think that it was time to get up at seven o'clock. When he went to take a shower, he set the clock back.

After listening to Conan and Kitahara Masaki's reasoning, Chiba confirmed that the clock had indeed been moved, because he always moved it forward by five minutes, but the time on the clock at this moment had not been moved forward by five minutes.

"Hey, found it? Okay, start the identification immediately. We've also identified the suspect on our end."

Inspector Megure then reported the results of his search: he found clothes in the river that had been submerged and were stained with blood.

Upon hearing this news, the prisoner who intended to exploit Chiba knelt down in front of several police officers and explained his motives:

“When I went abroad, even when we talked on the phone, I could feel that her feelings for me were slowly fading, so when she later said she was going to marry someone else, I wasn’t surprised at all. I originally planned to meet her fiancé after I returned to China and then end the relationship completely, but her fiancé actually came out with a stack of letters and postcards, all of which I had sent her when I went abroad, but she hadn’t opened a single one of them!”

Wow! The minotaur ended up being stabbed to death by this cuckolded guy, really...

However, this happened to be a relationship involving long-distance separation, which made Takagi and Sato even more uneasy after hearing about it.

However, Kitahara Masaki pulled up the prisoner who had killed the minotaur and asked:

"Shouldn't you be happy?"

"Hey! What do you mean?"

"You found out what kind of person your ex-girlfriend was beforehand, isn't that a good thing? Now you impulsively killed someone and then used your friend, which is really wrong. Alright, you'll spend the rest of your time in prison reflecting on your actions."

Kitahara Masaki naturally wouldn't let this guy who took advantage of Chiba's kindness get away with it, but considering that he had killed a minotaur, he still gave him a couple of pointers, otherwise it would be too painful for him to be troubled by love for the rest of his life.

The very next day, the two officers, who had initially thought they were destined for a long-distance relationship, discovered that the officer Inspector Takagi that Inspector Megure had mentioned was actually another veteran officer, and had absolutely nothing to do with the rookie Takagi.

Takagi, who was about to muster the courage to propose to Sato, immediately breathed a sigh of relief. All the courage she had mustered because of the 'long-distance relationship crisis' vanished. This incident also made most of the male police officers cry, realizing that they no longer had a chance.

Chapter 219 The Sudden Impact

Ughhhh—why am I wasting my time here, eating with a bunch of police officers...?

"Kitahara-san, you've already laid out everything you're thinking in your heart."

Koshimizu Nanatsuki's voice suddenly reached Kitahara Masaki's ears, bringing him back to his senses from his daze.

The two of them were in the luxurious lobby of a large hotel, watching the waiters prepare high-end ingredients and drinks so that the police officers who had finished playing golf could enjoy them immediately.

Today is Sunday, but senior and former police officers held a dinner party. In the morning, the officers spent the morning getting to know each other on the golf course, and at noon, they naturally enjoyed the food while exchanging information.

However, because of the incident at the Osaka Koshien Stadium, Kitahara Masaki's proposal is being discussed by the higher-ups, who plan to have a councilor with good relations with the police force put forward a motion soon. So no matter how unwilling Kitahara Masaki is, as the person who made the proposal, he must be present.

"Hehe, I'm here too, aren't I? I recently helped the First Investigation Division solve a case involving the use of poisonous spiders to commit murder, and I also found the leader of the fraud gang that the Second Investigation Division had been monitoring. I also located the hideout of the bank robbers that the Third Investigation Division was investigating. How about that? I didn't let our First Criminal Investigation Division down, did I?"

Seeing Nanatsuki Koshimizu's expression that seemed to say, "I'm amazing, come and praise me," Masaki Kitahara found it quite amusing. It seemed that this girl had finally moved on from the pain of losing her best friend.

"Hmm, as expected of my chosen deputy, he is indeed extraordinary."

As the two men were chatting and laughing, a woman with long chestnut hair suddenly struck up a conversation with them:

"Are you two police officers from the Metropolitan Police Department? And also—are you the legendary Officer Kitahara Masaki?"

"Ahem, I'm not some legendary policeman, I'm just an ordinary policeman. But I am Kitahara Masaki, and this is my deputy—Officer Koshimizu."

"Hello, my name is Amamiya Saya. I work as the secretary to Hasumi Kyoichiro at Hasumi Security Company. I'm here to meet with Inspector Kitahara and Hasumi Seiji, the son of the company's president. Mr. Hasumi has always admired Inspector Kitahara's deeds and hopes to study at the First Crime Investigation Division."

"Of course, no problem."

"Thank you very much. I will pass on your message to Mr. Hasumi later. I am sure he will have a very pleasant conversation with Officer Kitahara."

Watching the professional secretary walk away, Kitahara Masaki whispered to Koshimizu Nanatsuki beside him:

"Who is Koshimi Kyoichiro?"

"He's the former head of the Criminal Investigation Bureau of the National Police Agency. You should do more research on the high-ranking officers in the police force, Kitahara-san. And his son is the head of the Third Investigation Division. Three years ago, while interning at a police station, he shot and killed a criminal."

That's enough. Who has time to memorize information about a bunch of retired uncles? And his son, how did he end up shooting someone to death? Oh, I think I did that too. Never mind then.

Time flew by as they scrolled through the news on their phones. After Director Hakuba introduced Hasumi Kyoichiro to Kitahara Masaki, he had his son chat with Kitahara Masaki. Ultimately, the goal was to build a good relationship beforehand to make the job change process smoother.

Kitahara Masaki, who managed to keep up with a fake smile the whole time, was thinking of making a quick getaway, but then he was pulled away by Director Hakuba, who told him to have the young people he had his eye on help others carry golf bags, and then he left ahead of time.

After finishing their meal, when they went down to the underground parking garage, Kitahara Masaki told Koshimizu Nanatsuki to just wait for him upstairs, while Hasumi Seiji wanted to go back to the golf course to retrieve his golf bag, so he planned to go down later.

So Kitahara Masaki was surrounded by an old man named Hasumi Kyoichiro, who was very interested in his love life, probably wanting to introduce Kitahara Masaki to the daughter of some high-ranking official. However, after Kitahara Masaki posted photos of himself with Vermouth recently, the old man fell silent. After all, Japanese high-ranking officials still have a natural fear of American high-ranking officials, like a son meeting his father.

In short, Kitahara Masaki and the old man were playing a game of cat and mouse, while in the same elevator were the female secretary of President Hasumi and a passerby dressed exceptionally neatly.

After President Hasumi saw him off to his car, the old man, with whom he had only reached an agreement on one thing, hypocritically said, "Looking forward to seeing you again next time."

Just as Kitahara Maki was about to start his car, a sense of crisis welled up from the bottom of his heart, and an explosion suddenly occurred in the underground parking lot. The scorching blast wave hit the glass window, but for some reason the impact was much weaker.

The explosion happened in just a few seconds. Kitahara Masaki didn't get out of the car in a daze. Instead, he stayed in the car to observe the situation and took out the contents of the passenger-side storage box—a gas mask that had been taken down by the Ross military and an oxygen cylinder that could last for an hour.

Actually, there were directional explosives in the trunk, but if possible, Kitahara Masaki hoped to keep a low profile and let the rescue team come to rescue him. After all, besides him, there was also Hasumi Kyoichiro trapped here. That old man had many connections with high-ranking officials in the Metropolitan Police Department and the National Police Agency, so Kitahara Masaki knew very well that the rescue team must be on their way.

Once the dust settled and visibility was restored, Kitahara Masaki, wearing goggles, got out of the car and shouted:

"Is everyone alright? I'm a police officer! If you encounter any problems, please shout out loud, and I'll come to your aid immediately!"