No one understands the laws of Collider better than me.

Chapter 103

interesting.

Kitahara Masaki looked at the scene. He had thought that since President Kana had tolerated it, the deceased could not be Gerald. However, the facts made him realize that the murderer must have set up a trap to make Gerald be pierced by the sword, and then pinned the crime on President Kana.

The deceased was lying face down, and the longsword that killed him was a medieval knight's weapon from the room, which was originally just a decoration but had now become the murder weapon.

"Brother! Even if you can't accept Gerald, you can't kill him!"

While Kitahara Masaki was lamenting that the knight's sword in the Detective Conan world always turned from decoration into a murder weapon, President Kana's younger brother was yelling loudly, as if it were a glorious thing for his own brother to be a murderer.

"Can you be quiet?"

Seemingly ignoring Kitahara Masaki's warning, this seemingly possessed individual continued shouting:

"Inspector Kitahara, arrest the murderer immediately! My brother has committed an unforgivable crime! You can't let personal feelings interfere with your duty!"

"Are you trying to teach me how to do things? You don't actually think that just because your brother is a criminal, you can have something going on with Mrs. Gana, do you? Have some self-respect in front of so many people, will you?"

Moreover, after ruling out President Kana, the true culprit's identity became quite clear: it was Mrs. Kana. Therefore, Kitahara Masaki simply couldn't be bothered to listen to this clueless idiot who was just yelling and screaming.

"You...you dare talk to me like that! I'm going to the Metropolitan Police Department to file a complaint against you right now! You're just a policeman who's been made up, so watch your position!"

Kitahara Masaki remained silent for a while, thinking that he would just issue a request on the organization's intranet later to get rid of this piece of trash.

"Of course you can complain about me, that's your prerogative. But I don't think women will like you because of your distrust of your family and your petty personality. Hmm... someone like you is only good enough to be a backup option."

After sharply pointing out his incompetence, especially when she said that no woman would seriously consider someone like him, she delivered a fatal blow, leaving him kneeling on the ground speechless, just like his brother.

Then Kitahara Masaki looked at President Kana, who was stunned by the corpse, and walked over to him, saying:

"What's wrong, President Gana? Did your brother guess right? You killed Gerald?"

"No, no, no!!!! It wasn't me! I had just left the piano room a short while ago when I heard a loud bang, so I ran back to see what happened!"

"Hehe, you're really in a sorry state. Do you know that it's because of your infidelity in relationships that you've ended up like this?"

"What...what does this have to do with me?"

"Foolish! If you truly loved your wife, she wouldn't have made you take the blame. If you had apologized to her properly yesterday, things might have turned out differently today."

"What! My wife... what are you talking about?"

Leaving President Kana completely bewildered and clueless about what had happened, Kitahara Masaki walked straight up to Mrs. Kana and stared at her face.

“Officer Kitahara, it’s very rude to stare at a woman’s face like that.”

“Yes, but I don’t think I need to be polite to a murderer. I remember you said you were going to touch up your makeup at dinner, so that’s when you set up this murder trap, right? Then you had Gerald sing a song, and he naturally walked into your trap.”

"Ahem, if you insist on calling me the murderer, please produce the evidence, Officer Kitahara."

Mrs. Kana, who had been seen through at a glance, took two steps back. She was clearly shaken by Kitahara Masaki's words, and her previous arrogant attitude softened considerably.

"That's why I looked at your face. I said I was going to touch up my makeup, but the foundation on your right cheek is not only not pretty, it's even been wiped off. Go look in the mirror and see what you look like after you've killed someone."

Then, Kitahara Masaki, with the help of Holmes' magnifying glass, found the decisive evidence: a hanging thread smeared with Mrs. Kana's foundation.

The purpose of the hanging wire was naturally to suspend the longsword, which was then passed through the large chandeliers at different heights on the ceiling. The knot that would allow the hanging wire to loosen was right in front of the deceased, tied to a tuning fork that had fallen to the ground. When the deceased lay down to pick up the tuning fork, the longsword would naturally fall and pierce his body.

As Masaki Kitahara walked around with a magnifying glass, Mrs. Kana didn't pay much attention. She thought her method was flawless, but Masaki Kitahara found the evidence within five minutes.

"This...this is impossible!"

"Nothing is impossible. Rather, if you don't want others to find out, you shouldn't do this kind of thing in the first place. You're just causing trouble for others, really. But you and your husband are quite a good match. Neither of you listened to my advice at all. One of you thinks that cheating is no big deal, and the other thinks that he can kill someone under my nose without being found out."

Kitahara Masaki shook his head, not wanting to see this disgusting farce again. He smiled at the three people kneeling on the ground and left. The three from the Kana family stared blankly at the floor, muttering to themselves.

"Brother Kitahara, aren't you being a bit too harsh?"

"If they can't stand being told this a few times, then they deserve to be told this a lot more times. Besides, this case was caused by their decadent relationships, so what's a few words of reprimand from the police?"

"That's true. It's clearly an emotional problem, but they're using this kind of method to solve it. It's really incomprehensible."

"It's a good thing you can't understand. If you really understood, wouldn't you be just like them?"

Because it was a murder case, Inspector Megure arrived quickly. Seeing Kitahara Masaki and Mouri Kogoro present, he began to worry that Kitahara Masaki might have also been tainted by something unclean, and said to him:

"Ahem, Kitahara, how about you go find a more efficacious shrine to pray to after this case is over?"

"Hey, Inspector Megure, my health is perfectly normal. This has nothing to do with me. I only came here after I heard that Mr. Mori had arrived."

"Oh! So you anticipated this situation, which is why you came here!"

Inspector Megure was really helpful, filling in the blanks for Kitahara Masaki and patting him on the shoulder, saying, "You've had a tough time."

Chapter 104 A serial arsonist suddenly appeared

ha?

"Ahem, what are you talking about? I'm just a police officer, not a screenwriter. Does the Metropolitan Police Department not have a suitable screenwriter?"

After what happened at the Kana family's house, the Metropolitan Police Department and the president of the Kana family reached a certain agreement. Although it was impossible to exonerate his wife, they could help him cover it up in front of the media so that the Kana family's entertainment company would not be affected.

Haha, it seems that in the face of huge profits, the affection between husband and wife of these people doesn't seem so important.

But what Kitahara Masaki can't understand now is that the Metropolitan Police Department's higher-ups have actually asked him to write a script.

"Of course, we're not transferring all the work to you. We just hope you can provide a story, and the specific details will be handled by professional screenwriters. Well, actually, we've contacted several TV drama screenwriters through that entertainment company, but the scripts they've provided are all geared towards mystery plots rather than the daily lives of police officers. After all, we want to collaborate with the entertainment company to create a TV drama that can promote the lives of police officers, not just introduce a few more methods of murder."

Seeing Kitahara Masaki remain silent, the police chiefs realized they were being a bit unreasonable. However, Kitahara Masaki, who consistently solved cases perfectly, had become a reliable source of solutions, which was why they thought of him first.

"Don't worry, Inspector Kitahara, you'll definitely be satisfied with the compensation. Your name will definitely be added to the script, and we'll hire a few more clerks to help you with your daily paperwork, so your workload won't increase too much. What do you think?"

The superintendent of police has already gone this far, so if I refuse, it would seem like I'm being too tactless. I have no choice but to plagiarize this one time.

For Kitahara Masaki now, there is no need to plagiarize to make money, but in order to write something beautiful enough to please those demanding gentlemen, he can only rely on the wisdom from his past life.

When Kitahara Maki returned to the First Investigation Division, Inspector Megure approached him and said:

"What's wrong, Brother Kitahara? You look so worried. Has another difficult case come up?"

After my trip to Shizuoka, police from other districts started extending invitations to Kitahara Masaki, saying they welcomed Inspector Kitahara to come and provide guidance, but it turned out they all wanted me to solve some strange cases in their areas.

While reviewing these cases, Kitahara Masaki once again summarized a Detective Conan law—countryside castles and inns are basically hotspots for accidents and cases, especially castles with treasure legends. No matter how fake they are, people will still commit crimes for those elusive treasures.

However, what troubles Kitahara Maki is not these things, but rather that he is about to challenge a completely new field—writing television drama scripts.

"No, that's something much more troublesome than a troublesome case."

Kitahara Masaki cursed inwardly, wondering why he had to do this thankless task again.

He was just about to turn on his computer and start writing an outline when he suddenly wondered if some new achievements matching this plagiarism incident would appear in the system.

[Highbrow Literature]: Winner of the Naoki Sanjugo Prize or the Kawabata Yasunari Literary Prize

[Common People]: Winner of the Ryunosuke Akutagawa Prize or the Yukio Mishima Prize

There are many similar achievements, but they can only be accomplished after winning an award. For someone like Kitahara Masaki, who can only plagiarize, winning an award is practically a pipe dream, so he should just take it slow. Since there's no possibility of completing the achievement, he might as well just slack off for a while.

Anyway, I was just trying to find a connection between the police department and the entertainment company, but I didn't expect these incompetent guys to have to write a script.

"Really? I was thinking of having you look into that case. But if you're busy with high-level matters, then there's no way."

"Hey, tell me first, what kind of case is it? Anyway, this matter isn't urgent right now."

Upon hearing this, Inspector Megure immediately handed the case file to Kitahara Masaki.

"Let me see, is it an arson case? Or a series of arson cases?"

"Yes, there have been four arson attacks in a row. However, since there have been no casualties and the arson sites are all in alleys, the property damage is minimal. But since it is a series of arson attacks, the media will definitely focus on it and publicize it extensively. Recently, many investigators have gone out to look for clues, but all of them have returned empty-handed."

This is neither a major nor a minor incident; it's just right, barely touching the line. The most crucial point is that there's been no eyewitness information about the perpetrator so far. Because the arson occurred in an alley, there were no surveillance cameras, and the arsonist used ordinary gasoline...

"There are too few clues. At this stage, what we can confirm is that he committed the crime premeditatedly. Perhaps these places have some symbolic meaning to him, but they may not. If he is just a madman who wants to set fires, then it will be even more troublesome."

"Brother Kitahara, is it possible that even you can't do anything about it?"

"Hey, hey, how come you're just like the police chiefs? I'm not a god, how can I solve cases like chopping vegetables every time? Stop relying on others. Inspector Megure, the focus of the investigation right now should be on identifying the criminal's features, or rather, hoping to find an eyewitness who can clearly see his face."

The following day, a fifth arson attack occurred. Flames raged, and coincidentally, there was a wooden warehouse near that alley. What would have been a small, localized fire spread to the residential building, allowing the media to capture numerous photos.

The newspaper headline became "A Violent Flame, a Fallen Eagle?", and the entire article described the harm caused by the series of arson attacks and made a direct appeal to someone in the Metropolitan Police Department, almost saying by name, "Why haven't you solved the case yet?"

"Ahem, Brother Kitahara, that's how these media outlets are. They exaggerate even a small matter into a big one... Although a series of arson cases is indeed no small matter."

"No, of course I won't get emotional over this. I just think this arsonist is no different from a stalker, just like a rat hiding in the sewers."

Uh, isn't she already getting angry...?

Inspector Megure looked at Kitahara Masaki, whose face remained calm, and realized that this arsonist was in for a rough time.

"By the way! I heard that a citizen witnessed the arsonist committing the crime yesterday, is that true?"

“Well, that’s true, but…”

"However, the eyewitness is one of those children, the one named Yoshida Ayumi."

Ayumi, I'm so relieved that you didn't appear as a hostage.

Chapter 105: Late-Stage Chuunibyou, Incurable

"So, that's what the person you saw looked like?"

The man in the sketch is wearing a baseball cap and a long trench coat, with traces of engine oil on his body. The streetlights illuminate his slanted eyes and upturned mouth, but his cheeks are obscured by the collar of the trench coat.

"Yes! Kitahara-nii, you can also sketch, that's amazing!"

The skills he learned from watching videos out of boredom in his previous life came in handy again this time. The police officer who was originally in charge of drawing the suspect's portrait was not Kitahara Masaki, but on the very day that Ayumi came to describe the criminal's appearance, the officer in charge of drawing the portrait had a high fever and took sick leave. So Kitahara Masaki decided to take the plunge and ask questions while drawing the portrait.

"It's alright. If a professional had drawn it, they could have drawn it better than me. This time, it's all thanks to Ayumi that our police finally got a picture of the suspect."

"Hey, didn't the police know what the criminal looked like before?"

Mitsuhiko was surprised; this was the fifth case already, how could the investigation have only reached this level?

"There's nothing we can do about it. In the previous cases, there were no eyewitnesses or surveillance footage. We could only rely on asking the surrounding residents if they had seen anyone suspicious. As a result, we did manage to catch a few idle guys, but the arsonist was nowhere to be found. It seems that the arsonist is in a hurry this time. If he continues his previous modus operandi and waits until dawn to start, Ayumi won't be able to see him."

"Hey, Kitahara-kun, could the culprit be trying to express something? Maybe there's some connection between the locations where he set the fires."

Conan's enthusiastic participation earned him a glare from Kitahara Masaki, who remarked that the Metropolitan Police Department had already thought of this... However, given their level of riddle-solving skills, it's normal that they couldn't see the relationship between the locations.

"Ayumi, besides that person's appearance, did you hear anything else? For example, did he say anything?"