In Detective Conan: Intercepting Miwako Sato at the Start

"Any other unusual occurrences?" Yuuki Takada asked in a deep voice as he walked out, his tone regaining its usual calm and sharpness.

"The person who reported the incident was a regular customer of the bar. He said that when the body was discovered, an old jazz song was playing on repeat in the bar, and the volume was very loud."

“In addition…” Sato Miwako followed Takada Yuki’s footsteps and added, “According to preliminary understanding, this Shimazaki boss has a not-so-clean background. He seems to have been involved with some yakuza organizations in his early years, but he has cleaned up his act and started running a bar in recent years. As for his interpersonal relationships, the staff said that he seems to have had a dispute with someone recently.”

“Cyanide, crows, looping jazz…” Yuuki Takada repeated the keywords in a low voice, quickening his pace. “Have you notified the forensic department and the medical examiner?”

"We notified them immediately, and they should arrive at the scene around the same time as us."

"Alright. Let's go immediately!" Yuuki Takada commanded, looking at him with a somewhat serious expression.

Police cars sped towards the port area.

The neon lights outside the car window were dazzling, and the Tokyo night was still bustling, but Yuki Takada's heart was shrouded in a cold fog.

On one side is the organization's imminent, sinister order stained with the blood of children; on the other side is this murder case filled with a bizarre ritualistic atmosphere.

The two streams of darkness seemed to surge in different dimensions, yet they were also vaguely intertwined, giving him an unprecedented sense of suffocation.

Especially that crow... Could it really be something Gin used to hint at himself?

Or is it some kind of death declaration? Or... a distorted signal aimed at him, Takada Yuuki?

He shook his head, forcing himself to concentrate.

Now, he is Inspector Takada, a detective in charge of investigating a heinous murder case.

He had to focus all his attention on the case at hand.

When they arrived at the "Blues" bar, the area had already been cordoned off by patrolling police officers who had arrived earlier.

A group of curious and frightened passersby gathered at the entrance of the bar.

The heavy jazz music had been shut off from within, but a sense of oppression permeated the air.

Yuki Takada put on gloves and shoe covers, bent down and crawled into the cordon.

The bar was dimly lit, with lingering scents of alcohol, coffee, and a faint hint of bitter almonds—the typical smell of cyanide.

The flashbulbs of the forensic team went off intermittently, illuminating the scene behind the bar:

A middle-aged man collapsed to the ground, his face an unnatural bright red, his expression contorted, clearly having endured immense suffering before his death.

On the bar counter in front of him, just as Kobayashi had said, a raven with jet-black wings lay quietly, its beak seemingly gleaming with a faint light, its lifeless eyes staring blankly at the ceiling.

The scene was so eerie it sent chills down your spine.

Yuki Takada's gaze was fixed on the crow, its presence so strong that it almost overshadowed the deceased.

He took a deep breath and said to the forensic personnel beside him, "Examine this bird carefully, don't miss a single feather. Also, check the store's sound system, what song is playing on a loop, and who set it up."

"Yes, police department!"

Yuki Takada then turned his gaze to the deceased, Nobuo Shimazaki.

He crouched down and observed carefully.

A small wine glass lay beside the deceased, with a small amount of liquid remaining at the bottom.

"Forensic pathologist..." Yuuki Takada called out softly, "Focus on examining this cup, as well as the residue inside the deceased's mouth."

The forensic doctor in the white coat nodded.

Yuki Takada stood up, his sharp gaze sweeping across the entire bar.

The bar was spotless, with little clutter except for the crow and the wine glass.

The tables and chairs inside the store were neatly arranged, with no obvious signs of a struggle.

Was it committed by someone you knew?

Poisoning the wine?

But why place a crow after someone dies?

These superfluous, theatrical actions revealed the killer's intense psychological needs.

Is it hatred?

Is it a ritual? Or is it meant to convey some kind of message?

His brain raced as he tried to piece the fragments together.

The organization's shadow was temporarily repelled by the puzzle before them, but that chilling sense of unease lingered.

This sudden murder case is like a meticulously designed vortex, dragging him into a deeper and more complex darkness.

Yuuki Takada carefully examined the bar counter.

The liquor cabinet was filled with a dazzling array of bottles, but most of them were covered with a thin layer of dust. Only a few bottles of whiskey and gin looked frequently used and were relatively clean.

He noticed that directly above where Shimazaki Nobuo had fallen, there was an abstract painting depicting a twisted black bird, which created an unsettling echo with the dead crow on the table.

"Police department!"

A young patrol chief ran over to report, "We asked the people in the shop next door."

"They said that about an hour before the estimated time of death, they seemed to have heard a rather heated argument in the bar."

"But since it's a bar, some noise is normal, so I didn't pay much attention. I couldn't hear the specifics."

“An argument…” Takada Yuuki pondered, “Where are the staff? Who’s on duty today?”

"We've made contact, and they're on their way."

Also, the regular customer who filed the report has calmed down a bit; should we ask him now?

"Bring him over." Yuuki Takada nodded, his gaze sweeping across the corner of the bar.

His police intuition told him that the scene was too clean; apart from the deliberately placed crow, it looked as if it had been cleaned up.

The person who reported the incident was a salaryman in his thirties named Tanaka Hiroshi. His face was still pale, and his voice trembled slightly: "I...I often come here for a drink after get off work. Mr. Shimazaki is a nice guy..."

"As soon as I pushed the door open, I heard loud music. Was it... uh... 'Strange Fruit'?"

Yuki Takada's eyes sharpened.

"Strange Fruit" is a famous jazz song set against the backdrop of lynching suffered by Black people in the South. The lyrics use "strange fruit growing on a tree" as a metaphor for the hanged Black people.

The song's association with "dead crows" and the potential for "execution" intensifies the ritualistic and metaphorical nature of the case.

This is definitely not the kind of background music a conventional killer would choose.

"Was the door locked or open when you came in?"

"Yes, it's open. It opens with a push."

"Around the bar, besides the deceased, did you see anything else? For example, did anything seem out of place?"

"I... I was terrified... I saw Mr. Shimazaki lying there, and then... and then that dark bird, it was so scary... I didn't notice anything else..."

Yuki Takada told Sato to continue asking about the details, while he walked toward the audio equipment.

Forensic investigators are collecting evidence.

"Inspector, the player is built-in and set to single-track loop, so it's playing 'Strange Fruit'."

"The time was set to about half an hour before the deceased's death. No clear fingerprints were found on it; it had been wiped clean."

At this time, the preliminary forensic examination results were also available.

"Inspector, cyanide was detected in the residue in the glass and in the deceased's mouth. It's highly toxic and almost instantly fatal."

"In addition..." the forensic doctor paused, his expression somewhat strange, "extremely trace amounts of the same type of cyanide residue were also found on the beak and claws of the dead crow."

Could crows be poisonous too? Yuuki Takada's heart clenched again. Did this mean the crow might have been contaminated with the rim of the glass or the wine when it was placed after death? Or... was the crow itself one of the poisoning agents? But that didn't make sense; cyanide works extremely quickly, and using a live crow for poisoning would be difficult to control.

Chapter 61 Wipe the butt

Yuki Takada walked to the inside of the bar and mimicked Nobuo Shimazaki's action of pouring drinks.

Suddenly, he crouched down and found a tiny, bright blue speck of dust, unlike any other dust, stuck to the edge of the wine cabinet in an inconspicuous corner at the very bottom.

Yuuki Takada carefully removed it with tweezers and placed it in an evidence bag.

"What is this?" Sato Miwako asked, leaning closer.

"I don't know. I've had the personnel on duty in the inspection department carefully analyze this small item." Yuuki Takada stood up, his brow furrowed.

The shadow of the organization resurfaced in my mind.

This style, which is extremely cautious yet leaves behind eerie symbols, does indeed subtly hint at the organization's influence, though he is unwilling to admit it.

Especially the "crow"—it's almost one of the most favored images of that gentleman and Gin.

Could it be that Nobuo Shimazaki's background is more than just that of a yakuza?

Is his exoneration related to the Black Organization?

Was he silenced because a recent argument he had with someone touched upon the organization's secrets?

And that crow was both a declaration of execution and... a reminder or a test for him, Takada Yuuki, the newly promoted codenamed member?

Gin wanted me to do him a small favor, which I suppose is what he meant, and he was implying a connection to the guy in front of him, otherwise he wouldn't have said something like that.

Is this bar owner, Nobuo Shimazaki, just some trivial matter that Gin needs to handle himself?

Just as Yuki Takada was lost in thought, his phone vibrated again.

It was a text message without a displayed number, containing only a brief message:

"The rest is up to you, Hennessy."

Yuki Takada's blood froze almost instantly.

From: Gin.

Gin knew he was here!

This case was indeed the work of the organization!

This crow is his signal!

"Inspector Takada? What's wrong?" Sato Miwako noticed his sudden change in expression.

"...It's nothing." Yuuki Takada forced down the turmoil in his heart, put his phone back in his pocket, and tried to keep his voice steady as he said, "I thought of some possibilities."