File 859-861: The Prince of Kicks! (NO SPOILER)

[Chekhov MacGuffin 1089]

THIS THREAD will be used to discuss the ENGLISH ONLY VERSION. In other words, if you only read early spoilers or the Chinese scanlation and wish to discuss them, this is NOT the right place for you!

RULES OF THE ENGLISH ONLY NO SPOILER DISCUSSION THREAD:

1. DO NOT POST any kind of spoiler involving the case (Pictures, Texts, Information, Full Scans...) of any language. Even posting spoilers in spoiler boxes is not allowed.

2. Please DO NOT reveal, give hints or talk about any information or event that has not yet happened in the English releases in this thread.

Q&A:

1. Why is this whole thing necessary ?

A: Click

2. Can I join the discussion in the other thread as well ?

A: Of course you can. HOWEVER, as mentioned in the rules above, you MUST NOT reveal, give hints or talk about ANYTHING that spoils in this thread if you do.

File 859 is out in English!

[Chekhov MacGuffin 1089]

So far, I think it is possible the drugged/too-drunk-to-resist victim was drowned in an upside-down umbrella that had been filled with rainwater. Even a woman could move the guy to the toilet and prop him up if he was napping close by.

Not yet explained is the weird gurgling sound Conan heard in the parking lot on page 13. Sonoko mentions where Kogoro's rental was parked on page 12. That's probably important (besides the fact Makoto was in it). My guess is the parking lot will have been the scene of the crime.

Brown hair lady

Went to go see how the vic was doing. Vic was not in car according to her, triggering search for him.

Thought he might be drinking. She suggested searching the bars.

Says vic didn't return to his car.

Black Hair lady

Went to the car to put him in. He was in car according to her. Apparently last to see vic.

Dark haired chick knew it was raining the whole time although indoors. Was paying attention to weather?

Says vic's phone is turned off.

Found body.

I wonder which cop we will get?

[Charala97 23]

In file 860 Pg 16- Is the cell phone showing INBOX held by the person who is replying to Sera's mails?

[Chekhov MacGuffin 1089]

In file 860 Pg 16- Is the cell phone showing INBOX held by the person who is replying to Sera's mails?

Yes it is!

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The trick uses pressure manipulation to draw water into the toilet at a high enough level to drown the victim. It is effectively a scaled up version of the chemistry/physics demonstration where a burning candle is covered with a pitcher so that the candle is in an air-tight space sealed by the water at the ground. You can see a video of it in action

, and an explanation for how it works here.

The culprit uses a stun gun on the victim while he is in the toilet, giving him a burn mark on his left shoulder. The culprit repositions the victim so that he is bent over double with his head between his knees. This posture puts a lot of pressure on the front of the stomach, giving him pressure marks on the front of his abdomen. (Or maybe the culprit looped his belt through something so he can't stand up. I'm not sure because I didn't see anything damaged by him trying to stand up.) The culprit then seals the upper vent on the back of the toilet and the area around the doors with waterproof tape so that it is airtight. The ventilation space at the base of the door is not sealed. The kerosine in the four cans are lit and set up on the toilet paper rack. The heat and soot leaves a large burn mark on the ceiling. The culprit then uses a towel to plug the drain outside so that water rises in the subsided area by the toilet. The water rises and leaves diagonal lines corresponding to the high water mark on the walls by the toilet. Once the water is high enough, it is pulled into the toilet per the pressure explanation above, drowning the victim, getting water in his lungs, and soaking his clothes and wetting the lower part of the toilet's walls. The water subsides a little over time, but drains rapidly once the culprit removes the tape seals while everyone searches for the victim at bars nearby, leaving behind a sticky water-repellant residue on the edges of the vent and door. This tape is hidden somewhere convenient, like in a car. The sopping towel clogging the drain is also removed and thrown in the trash so the water can drain away, and Conan hears the gurgling sound of the water draining in the parking lot while looking for the victim and wonders what it is. The culprit then enters the drained toilet, props the victim upright, and throws the four cans of kerosine in the trash, dumping whatever is left in the drain outside. The culprit, the science teacher Masaki Sunami, can now find the victim.

Masaki is the culprit because she went to the car to put him in, the ideal time to stun gun him and set up the trick. She other woman pointed out it had been raining the last times they had come to the bowling place, something the culpit would not want to point out. Masaki also knew it was raining the whole time, meaning she was paying attention to the weather: it had to be raining hard in order to fill up a corner of the parking lot high enough for the trick to work. She also found the body, giving her the best opportunity to remove the kerosine cans and prop up the victim. Finally, as a science teacher, the candle pressure demonstration is her area of expertise.

[Chekhov MacGuffin 1089]

Regarding the middle brother's PS "Have you met the Wizard yet?" and Sera's response "you could say so"...

I think the brother was asking about Shinichi. Sera's response, "you could say so", makes sense in that she didn't actually meet Shinichi, but she met Conan, so she sort of met Shinichi. Sera apparently knows Conan's real identity already, so this holds together. It seems the event where Shinichi earned the nickname of Wizard was at the beach meeting from the past. Ran specifically mentions "sounds of rippling waves, as if some sort of magic were at work." in Volume 80, File 7 (846), pg 4. I want to put out there for stab-in-the-dark potential that bioluminescent phytoplankton that glow when the water is disturbed would qualify as magical.

It implies the middle brother might have also been present at the ocean meeting with Sera, Shinichi, and Ran since he asked about "The Wizard" in the text message. If so, he too could recognize Conan as Shinichi from back then. This would tie in really well with the Shuukichi is the middle brother theory since he is an expert at memorization and could recall Conan's face, which meshes with his immediate treatment of Conan as a skilled detective with no prompting or testing.

PS: My guess is that the main body of the message that Sera received was a response to her question of how the brother knows Conan. Sera is of course surprised that anyone would have met Conan since she knows he is Shinichi and thus "shouldn't exist". She would ask this right away. The answer was something mundane like "I met him during a case" and not, "oh I recognize Conan is Shinichi" or the brother would not have followed up with the PS.