No one understands the laws of Collider better than me.

"Huh? Inspector Kitahara... is there something I forgot?"

"The reason we can't formally detain that stalker is because the law is not yet sound. Miss Nishitani's predicament is also because of that disgusting stalker, and the stalker was eventually killed because of a murderer. These things happen without your control, so why are you feeling disappointed? Excessive self-blame can also be considered a form of arrogance. Do your job according to your position. Don't think you can save the world. If you continue like this, you probably won't be able to continue working for long."

"Yes!"

After finishing his role as a psychologist, Kitahara Masaki pinched the bridge of his nose. He felt like he was both a father and a mother, having to take the lead and also provide support. This undercover life was just too tiring.

I wonder how those hidden talents in the Metropolitan Police Department are doing. If they're really out of work, they can bite a lighter.

Back at the Metropolitan Police Department, a lighter was indeed found among the deceased's belongings. Kitahara Masaki thought to himself, "Could it really be such a coincidence?" and took out a system item.

However, when this lighter, which was slightly larger than a regular lighter, gleamed under Holmes' magnifying glass, Kitahara Masaki officially identified the victim as a valuable item used for voyeurism. After carefully examining the lighter, he discovered that it was a prop used for voyeurism.

By simply sliding open the outer wall of the lighter, a small camera is revealed inside, and a hidden button is installed on the other side. It seems that the stalker used this 'lighter' to take a lot of photos, which were compiled into an entire photo album.

"I need to take this lighter for further testing, so I'm taking it with me."

“Oh, no problem, Inspector Kitahara.”

The old man in charge of the evidence didn't care much at all; whether the case was solved or not was none of his business.

After that, Kitahara Maki returned home and developed many photos in the darkroom, since they were all photos of Ms. Nishitani, including even photos of clothes hanging out to dry.

"How many photos did this freak take? It seems like he used up this entire roll of film, ugh—"

Upon seeing this, Kitahara Masaki suddenly lost all desire to solve the case, only feeling that this pervert was indeed suspicious.

However, one of the photos caught his eye.

Chapter 41 The Metropolitan Police Department is full of gossipy middle-aged men.

The main subject of this photo is naturally Ms. Rinka Nishitani, and the key point is the time and place where this photo was taken.

According to Ms. Nishitani's testimony, she also returned home around this time...

Kitahara Maki had a pretty good idea of ​​how she killed that pervert, but it was time to leave work, so she still had to go to the izakaya to answer the gossipy police officers' questions.

"Hey, darling, what's wrong? You look so reluctant?"

An uninvited guest had already broken into Kitahara Masaki's house. After Vermouth delivered the message to Kitahara Masaki, she came to his house and completely ignored the door lock.

"No, it's just that drinking with a bunch of middle-aged men makes me feel like I'll age faster."

"But this is my job now, haha."

Kitahara Masaki looked at this enigmatic woman and pointed at her, saying:

"You should come with me too. I can't be the only one suffering."

When the two of them arrived at their usual restaurant, Kitahara Masaki realized that the police officers were incredibly idle. Not only were there officers from the First Investigation Division, but even the Traffic Division was present, all staring wide-eyed at the two of them. Vermouth, however, seemed very familiar with the scene, clinging to Kitahara Masaki's arm as if she were truly his girlfriend.

Seeing the couple's 'affectionate' appearance, a large group of male police officers sitting in the restaurant breathed a sigh of relief, while the female police officer bit her handkerchief and cried silently.

"As expected of Inspector Kitahara, I heard his girlfriend is from a prominent family in the United States!"

"In short, this is a victory for Sato Miwako's defense!!!"

"The enemy hasn't even attacked yet, what are you talking about?"

"Waaaaah, Officer Kitahara already has a girlfriend! What am I going to do?"

"Give up. People don't even know your name. What are you still hoping for?"

After downing two bottles of beer, they were practically in a frenzy. However, because the rumors were getting more and more outrageous—saying that Vermouth was the heiress of a reclusive American family, or even a princess of Britain—the police didn't come up to question her.

Haha, perhaps they anticipated this development, which is why they used the surname Lauder.

"Kitahara-nii, where did you two meet?"

Kitahara Masaki looked speechlessly at the kid who didn't fit in with his surroundings and asked:

"Why are you all here too?"

"Haha, I'm just really curious."

Sitting next to Kitahara Masaki were Vermouth and the Mori family. It seems that gossip isn't a trait unique to detectives, but rather a universal human trait.

"I met Masaki during a gunfight."

"what!"

"At that time, we happened to stumble upon a drug deal between dealers. Without saying a word, they started shooting at us. It was Masaki who rescued me."

Ah, during the organization's initial selection, I was chosen to eliminate an illegal drug trafficking organization to test my abilities. It was my first time officially firing a gun at people. The examiner at that time was Vermouth. She basically watched me leisurely as I took care of the drug dealers one by one, and then gave me a score based on factors such as the mission completion time, mission difficulty, and mission cost.

But this wasn't actually the scene of our first meeting. Oh well, let her make up the story.

"Wow! Was Kitahara-nii already this good before?"

"Yes, he has always been number one in his class. No one can beat him, whether in academics or sports."

It's not a given. As a transmigrator, how could you possibly not get first place after learning the basic subjects again? Besides, you were in a completely closed training school, and there was practically no entertainment back then. You were basically just running around with other kids. So, it's not surprising that a kid with an adult soul could achieve this level.

However, those days were incredibly boring. The organization adopted a closed management system to train these orphans, and many children couldn't persevere. As a result, there were only a handful of so-called competitors.

Those difficult days were truly unbearable to recall.

"Really? So Miss Evelyn and Kitahara-kun are childhood friends!"

"Hehe, that's not wrong."

They were indeed childhood sweethearts, except that Vermouth was...

Kitahara Masaki picked up a piece of sushi, and just as thoughts of age began to cross his mind, Vermouth turned her gaze towards him, her eyes gleaming with a dangerous light, as if she could see right through Kitahara Masaki's thoughts.

"Ahem, there's more to the story between Evelyn and me than we can finish in a short time. Let's eat first, let's eat first."

Kitahara Masaki also interrupted Vermouth's impulse to continue making up stories. After all, if she were asked about it in the future, Kitahara Masaki's answer would naturally have to be the same as hers, and there could not be a single loophole in the details. Otherwise, the identity of Inspector Kitahara would be torn off by the Public Security Bureau.

"By the way, why doesn't everyone talk more about their girlfriends?"

Upon hearing this, the young police officers around them gritted their teeth. Their goodwill towards Kitahara Masaki vanished instantly. Nothing is more unpleasant than being shown up twice.

Seeing his colleagues' faces darken instantly, Kitahara Masaki laughed heartily, clearly doing it on purpose.

"Masaki, the food here is really delicious."

"Of course, the owners here have been chefs for almost forty years, and even his eldest apprentice, who is his son, has twenty years of experience. They have a good grasp of what flavors customers like to eat."

"Haha! Mr. Kitahara, you flatter me. My son is still far from being good enough!"

The shop owner, who had come in to see what else everyone wanted to eat, couldn't stop laughing when he heard this. Although he said his son was disappointing, he was secretly overjoyed.

However, just as he was making polite remarks, a scream suddenly came from the next private room, and a man rushed out, shouting for an ambulance.

After this farce, all the police officers were involuntarily sobered up. Kitahara Masaki raised his hand and gave orders:

"You guys guard the entrances and exits, don't let anyone out! You guys search the restaurant for any suspicious individuals! You guys control the people in that private room, and keep everyone under control so the murderer has no chance to dispose of the evidence!"

oh! ! !

All the police officers in the room sprang into action, and even the traffic officers who had come over for a free meal went outside to clear the lanes and guide the ambulance to its destination.

Kitahara Masaki, meanwhile, continued to finish the sashimi on his plate, completely unaware of the fleeting surprise in Vermouth's eyes.

"Conan, it's because of you again, you brat."

"Kitahara-kun, this has nothing to do with me. Maybe the person in the next room just has a food allergy?"

If it's just an allergic reaction and no one dies, I'll take your surname.

Chapter 42 The Prisoner: Why are all the neighbors police?

"What happened? Tell me the details."

"The deceased's name was Nagato Shigenori. The guests in the next private room were all employees of the same company. Today's dinner was to celebrate the department's record sales and the promotion of the department manager."

"Ha, I bet the deceased must have been the department manager."

Takagi couldn't hide the admiration in his eyes, nodding frantically before continuing to describe the case:

"The deceased was indeed the company's department manager, and his cause of death was asphyxiation due to cyanide poisoning. Forensic investigators have now detected cyanide on the hot towel the deceased was using and on a plate of eel sushi."

Is that so?

Kitahara Masaki pondered for a moment, and after the forensic personnel finished taking photos, he finally entered the crime scene to see if there were any missed clues. Naturally, he didn't rely on human eyes, but on the system's tools.

After Kitahara Masaki circled the rectangular dining table with a magnifying glass, Vermouth asked curiously:

"You're standing so far away, you can't see anything with a magnifying glass."

Kitahara Masaki suddenly realized that this silver-haired witch wasn't as foolish as his colleagues who were under a curse, so he quickly made up an excuse and replied:

"This isn't for investigating a case; it's a switch to get me into investigative mode. Just like when you first wake up, you're still a bit groggy, so you need to wash your face and brush your teeth to wake yourself up. This magnifying glass works the same way; it helps me switch from enjoying a meal to focusing on investigating a case."

Unlike Officer Takagi, who already had starry eyes, Vermouth simply listened to Kitahara Masaki's nonsense with a seemingly gentle smile.

Where is the deceased located?

"Oh, here it is."

Imagine a meeting seating arrangement: at a rectangular conference table, the person sitting in the head seat on the shorter side is the deceased, the one whom everyone resents. Those sitting on either side of him are highly suspicious. However, according to the laws of detective fiction, Kitahara Masaki naturally wouldn't let anyone off the hook.

"Takagi, since a policewoman is here for lunch, conduct a body search on all the company employees eating in this private room. Also, carefully check the restrooms and other places to see if any evidence is hidden."

The evidence this time was found on the hot towel and the eel sushi; there was no other evidence. There should have been a container for the poison, but it was estimated that there were no fingerprints or skin flakes on it, so it was not visible under a magnifying glass.

Sure enough, the police found the container used to hold cyanide in the bathroom, but there were no clues on it, and a body search also yielded no clues.

The evidence shown by the magnifying glass was discovered by the police a long time ago, so this time they will have to slowly explore the clues.

"Takagi, bring the restaurant staff here."

Soon, Kitahara Masaki asked the waiter who had been brought over:

"When you were serving this eel sushi, did anyone offer to take it in for you?"

"Ah! That's right. That gentleman said he happened to see me serving the dishes, so he came to help me get them."

He had someone bring the employee over, and the moment he saw Kitahara Masaki and Vermouth, he felt as if he were being stared at by two large predators.

"What's wrong, officer?"

Seeing his slightly trembling body, Kitahara Masaki already understood his identity.