No one understands the laws of Collider better than me.

"Secretary Kikuchi, I'll be leaving this to you in a bit."

After Kitahara Masaki appealed to his emotions and reasoned with him, he made Secretary Kikuchi understand that only by cooperating with the Metropolitan Police Department could they survive the pursuit of Representative Nata.

Then Kitahara Masaki called Representative Yoda's office and explained that the Metropolitan Police Department had tracked down his secretary, Kikuchi, who seemed to be involved in a series of crimes. He hoped that Kikuchi could come to the Metropolitan Police Department to help the police dissuade Kikuchi from continuing to commit crimes.

Upon hearing that the police believed that Secretary Kikuchi was responsible for the series of cases, Representative Yoda readily agreed to go to the Metropolitan Police Department. After all, he had assumed that Kikuchi had run away out of fear after discovering his disappearance and was now struggling to find him. It turned out that the police arrived just in time.

Therefore, he plans to guide the police to close the case during his assistance later. Once the case is closed, the Metropolitan Police Department, which values ​​its reputation, will likely not allow the case to be reopened. Moreover, he is very confident that the police at this stage cannot have any concrete evidence to prove that he was also involved.

When Representative Nyota, who was thinking about how to close the case as soon as possible, arrived at the entrance of the Metropolitan Police Department, he saw Kitahara Masaki with a big smile as soon as he got out of the car.

"Congressman, we really need your help this time. We found your secretary Kikuchi's fingerprints at a murder scene, but we couldn't find him when we tried to take him back to the Metropolitan Police Department, so we desperately need your assistance."

"Oh, no need to be so polite. This series of events was caused by my secretary Kikuchi's recklessness. He probably thought that even if he committed such a crime, I would help him. But my attitude towards crime has always been firm and unwavering, and it will not change because of his reasons."

This congressman truly lives up to his reputation as a collaborator with good relationships with many conglomerates; even at the entrance of the Metropolitan Police Department, he maintains a self-assured demeanor.

When Kitahara Masaki accompanied him to a temporarily vacant department, Kitahara Masaki continued to use lies to lower Representative Abe's guard:

"Your secretary Kikuchi is probably worried that his actions might cause you trouble, but to prevent him from doing something irreversible out of desperation, please don't mention that you work at the Metropolitan Police Department."

“No problem. Kikuchi has actually been acting strangely these past few days. I guess his mental state is not quite normal because of his involvement in the crime.”

"Yes, so in order to find him, we hope that you, Congressman, can make a phone call to him, and we will use GPS to locate him. Also, in order to make the conversation record usable as evidence, we will record your conversation. Is that acceptable to you?"

"Ah, of course, no problem. However, Kikuchi is already a criminal suspect, so if he says anything strange, please don't take it seriously."

"Of course, all of this is an effort to catch him as soon as possible."

Just as Representative Mita was inwardly scoffing at the so-called famous police officer, Kitahara Masaki, pressing his earpiece, asked:

"Are you ready?"

"Ready."

Representative Keita thought Kitahara Masaki was asking his colleague if they were ready, but little did he know he was asking Secretary Kikuchi.

"Recording has started. Representative Keita, you can now call Secretary Kikuchi."

"Hello, is this Kikuchi? Come back quickly."

"Congressman Neda...where are you right now?"

"Where am I? I'm in the campaign office, of course..."

After listening to this senator, whose specialty was bickering, for two minutes, Kitahara Masaki took the senator's phone and turned on the speakerphone.

“Ahem, Mr. Kikuchi, this is Kitahara Masaki from the Metropolitan Police Department. I must tell you something: the phone you found in the park didn't contain any videos. The phone was there in the first place, meaning there's no video evidence proving Representative Neneda's involvement. You chose to run away because you were afraid of being killed if Representative Neneda found out, right?”

"...Yes, you're right."

Kikuchi recited the lines he had prepared long ago, but Kitahara Masaki wasn't saying them to Kikuchi; they were meant for Keita.

"Three days ago, you received instructions from Representative Naota to pick up Judge Yanagi and bring him to the shop where Naota was waiting. After that, you also killed Mr. Amano, who was planning to blackmail you, on Naota's orders, is that right?"

"Yes, just as you said, everything I did was under Natsuta's instructions."

Hearing this, Natsuta finally realized that things were not simple, and stood up, shouting loudly:

"No one actually believes this, right? How could such an absurd thing happen! I've dedicated my entire life to building Japan, how could I possibly issue an order for my secretary to kill someone!"

Keita looked at Kitahara Masaki and continued to argue:

"First of all, I never invited Judge Liu Jing to dinner. That night was just me and Mr. Fujiwara having dinner. You can ask Mr. Fujiwara and you'll know! Everyone knows who has more credibility, a murderer or the Secretary-General of the Keiyu Association!"

They've taken the bait!

Kitahara Masaki looked at the already agitated Representative Natsuta in front of him and slowly said:

“I think the most appropriate thing to do is to ask the person involved – Judge Yanagida, after all, he will definitely remember whether you invited him to dinner or not.”

"Heh, Officer Kitahara, stop joking. Judge Liu Jing is dead. How can you ask someone who is already dead?"

"Oh, and how did you know about Judge Liu Jing's death? Neither the newspapers nor the television reported it..."

"Uh—I heard it from someone else! Rumors always spread easily, and I don't know who said it. Anyway, as a police officer, you can't use the words of a dead person as evidence!"

Kitahara Masaki took a cell phone out of his pocket; it was Judge Yanagi's cell phone.

“This is Judge Liu Jing’s cell phone. It contains a text message from your campaign office that clearly states your invitation.”

"This...this isn't real, his phone..."

"Yes, Judge Yanagi's body and anything that could prove his identity were all disposed of, weren't they? You must be thinking that Mr. Amano lied to you, saying he had disposed of the body, hoping to extort hush money from you, but he was killed by Mr. Kikuchi. However, Mr. Kikuchi was coerced by the assassin you hired. In short, after hearing the reports from the assassin and Mr. Kikuchi, you assumed Judge Yanagi was dead. Isn't that right?"

Heida turned his head and shouted:

"Officer Kitahara, don't make baseless accusations! When did I ever say that Judge Yoo Kyung was dead? I don't remember ever saying that!"

Kitahara Masaki pointed to the recording equipment not far away, a terrifying smile appearing on his face that only Nata could see:

“Congressman Mita, have you forgotten? This recording was made with your own consent.”

Chapter 198: Such a wonderful start

“Congressman Nata, your own words have confirmed your involvement in the crime. Please come to the interrogation room now. Don’t hold onto any more illusions. We have already arrested Secretary Kikuchi and those hitmen. In addition, there is Judge Yanagi’s testimony… Do you think you can still deny it?”

Representative Natsuta, enraged, pointed at Kitahara Masaki and yelled:

"For this country's economy to function efficiently, people like us who can relay messages are indispensable! What do you, a policeman, know about economics!"

"Oh, so you think you know a lot about economics? Then please tell me what the economic man hypothesis, the IS-LM curve, and the marginal rate of substitution actually mean. Ah—looking at your blank expression, it seems you don't even understand basic economics. So you're just a dispensable mouthpiece."

"What you're saying will naturally be understood by others. My job is to get those who hold resources and power to sit down and discuss, and then come up with the most beneficial cooperation method for the country!"

In contrast to the increasingly defensive Representative Aida, Kitahara Masaki maintained a calm tone and spoke:

"You can make a platform for money-power transactions sound so righteous. I think you are very similar to that capitalist who calls malicious layoffs as exporting talent to society. You both have a kind of innocent beauty that is very suitable for decorating street lamps. Representative Natsuta, it is because of fools like you who only think about their own interests that Japanese society has become distorted."

Representative Keita, whose fists were clenched so tightly they were cracking, was rendered speechless by Kitahara Masaki's raunchy performance, and it took him a long time to catch his breath.

"Kitahara Masaki - I'll settle this score with you sooner or later."

After hearing this lukewarm threat, Kitahara Masaki's murderous aura intensified. Looking down at the defeated Representative Aida, he replied, enunciating each word clearly:

"I'm ready to serve you anytime."

Watching Representative Keita being led to the interrogation room, Kitahara Masaki walked away without looking back; this was the composure of a victor.

Kitahara Masaki wasn't afraid that he would escape trial, because before arresting Representative Natsuta, he had already sent information about the search to Someya Hotaru, asking her to quickly stir up the matter online. He believed that public opinion was already overwhelmingly in favor of him.

Since Kitahara Masaki intends to use legal means to send this politician to prison this time, it means he will use every legal and illegal method imaginable. Having decided to crush this politician, how could he possibly hold back?

"Inspector Kitahara! Well done! No, excellent! Apprehending a congressman through perfectly legal procedures, the Metropolitan Police Department can finally hold its head high. You know—people used to say that the Metropolitan Police Department solved cases by running around, while the National Police Agency solved cases by using their brains, but this time, the feat we've accomplished is something even the National Police Agency can hardly surpass!"

Odagiri Toshiro had been following the case closely. After Kitahara Masaki arrested Representative Natsuta, he immediately patted Kitahara Masaki on the shoulder with a big smile. In fact, he had worried before that if the higher-ups promoted professional groups like Kitahara Masaki, it would narrow the upward space for non-professional groups. But now he found that his worries were completely unnecessary. Kitahara Masaki had never rejected non-professionals. On the contrary, he and Megure had always had a good relationship.

After Kitahara Masaki publicly revealed his girlfriend's identity, Odagiri Toshiro finally understood—for Kitahara Masaki, amateur and professional teams were the same, since neither of them were as rich as him.

"Haha, I'll call you Inspector Kitahara for now. After the New Year, you'll be the superintendent of the First Criminal Investigation Division!"

"Hiss—" Kitahara Masaki suddenly felt uneasy at the thought that his workload might increase dramatically after the New Year, which dampened his sense of accomplishment in bringing down a hereditary politician.

"Ahem, Superintendent Odagiri, thank you for your support. I, Kitahara Masaki, will never forget any of my friends."

After chatting for a few more minutes about the First Criminal Investigation Division, Kitahara Masaki left the Metropolitan Police Department. Thanks to Chief Odagiri's efforts to promote him, everyone in the Metropolitan Police Department now knew that Kitahara Masaki would be the head of a new department. Moreover, they had caught a big fish this time. Although it wasn't broadcast on television, Kitahara Masaki's name had been heard over and over again throughout the Metropolitan Police Department.

"Please let me go, I'm really tired—"

"However, the boss will probably give you more tasks next."

When Kitahara Masaki returned home, he heard Vermouth say this.

"Aaaaaah!!! Please let me go!"

Kitahara Maki, who was actually thinking of going to have some dessert to relax, suddenly remembered that the female owner of the dessert shop had already gone to take the police entrance exam. She guessed that Amuro Tooru had already gone to work at Poirot Cafe, which was not far from here, and then started his hundreds of episodes of working life at Poirot.

"Even if you want to escape, it's useless. But this is also a good thing, as it allows you to come into contact with more organizations' actions against Japan."

"Yes, it's definitely a good thing... Actually, I was wondering what it would be like to recruit you into the Criminal Investigation Division?"

"Oh, you don't think I'll obediently follow your orders just because you invite me, do you?"

Kitahara Masaki smiled and asked in return:

"Was it really that exciting all at once?"

Although he was just joking, he was actually very worried. Finding a suitable officer for the Crime Investigation Division 1 was extremely difficult, because the Crime Investigation Division 1 was established to solve difficult cases and would be involved in cases from the First to the Fourth Investigation Divisions. This required the officer to be a jack-of-all-trades and someone who was willing to use his brain. Unfortunately, most of the officers in the Metropolitan Police Department were middle-aged men who preferred to use their hands rather than their brains.

"Sigh, if only there were people like Sugishita Ukyo among these middle-aged men."

Kitahara Masaki, who had been thinking about it all night but still couldn't come up with a solution, decided to just start the event and find a few detectives who could solve the case. In the morning, he received a call from Professor Agasa.

"Masaki, it's like this, the last case really caused you trouble. I never expected there to be someone like that among the PhD students. So, since it's the holidays now, I was wondering if you had some time—"

"Oh, is there any activity? If it's something like hiking, then forget it, I want to rest."

"Haha, that's perfect. I just met a fisherman who can take us fishing at the breakwater. I don't think this kind of leisure activity is really suitable for you two as a couple, but I thought I'd let you know anyway."

Kitahara Masaki thought for a moment—fishing definitely doesn't require any exercise, just patience. After learning that Vermouth was also interested, Kitahara Masaki accepted the invitation to go fishing at sea with the professor and the others.

Hopefully, I won't run into any more cases.

Kitahara Masaki clasped his hands together and prayed for the victim he had never met.

Chapter 199 Fishing, Bro, you can catch anything except fish!

"Brother Kitahara, have you ever gone fishing?"

"Um—I've fished online, but I've never tried it in real life."

Fishing was truly a field Kitahara Masaki had never ventured into before. Even when he had to disguise himself to approach certain targets, he only pretended to be a refined beast from high society. Fishing was something he was really experiencing for the first time.

"Has Evelyn ever tried fishing?"

"Well... I'm actually a woman with very little patience. If I want to eat a certain kind of fish, I usually just ask someone to buy it for me."

After listening, Conan nodded, then raised his fishing rod high and said:

"Brother Kitahara, it seems you'll finally get to experience the joy of fishing today. When you've been waiting for hours for a fish to bite, and your patience is almost exhausted, suddenly a big fish takes the bait—the sense of accomplishment from catching it is something that can't be summed up in a few words."

Oh, the joy of overcoming hardship? That sounds a bit like my current undercover life.

"On the contrary, I think that being able to look at the tranquil sea is refreshing, so it doesn't matter whether the fish bite or not."