Difference between revisions of "Volume 29"
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==== File 287 - The Unseen Horror ==== | ==== File 287 - The Unseen Horror ==== | ||
| − | |||
| − | + | Gin and Vodka are sitting together in a high end bar where a famous female singer is giving a live performance. Gin seems to like her very much and listens attentively, but he is interrupted by a waiter, who delivers two dry martinis to their table and claims that the singer ordered them for them. Vodka happily accepts the martini, but before he has a chance to drink Gin snuffs his cigarette out in his glass (leaving Vodka shocked) and demands to know what the waiter is up to. When the waiter fails to answer, Gin grows aggressive, and he pins the waiter’s head onto the table and attempts to spear him with an ice pick. He ends up only hitting a latex mask, and the waiter is revealed to be Vermouth in disguise; she is attempting to mock Gin’s infatuation with the singer with the martinis. Gin coldly asks her whether she has found her object, and Vermouth answers evasively (this is expected by Gin, as Vermouth has always been quite secretive); she seems to be more interested in something else, concretely, mixing Gin and Vermouth to get martini that night. Vodka wonders what she is hinting at, and Gin does not look moved at all and comments somewhat dismissively that mixing black with black will yield nothing but black. | |
| − | + | The file now abruptly shifts to the Detective Boys, who, accompanied by Agasa, are on a bus heading to a skiing resort. Conan looks bored, prompting Haibara (who is sitting beside him) to ask whether he would be thrilled if given a rematch with the Black Organization. Conan says that they certainly are not going to be on a bus, but a passenger dressed in black (called Yasuhiko Machida) passes by at this exact moment, and Conan is immediately alarmed. Haibara tells him not to worry, because, according to her, Machida lacks the “smell” common to Organization members. Conan is not convinced, as Haibara did not seem to have sensed Pisco’s presence during their last encounter with the Organization. Haibara explains that she did, and that she decided to keep her mouth shut because she sensed the presence of another member (Vermouth) whose smell was stronger, more oppressive and more chilling. Barely has Haibara finished the sentence when a shiver runs down her spines, and she rushes to cover her head and implores Conan (whom she refers to as “Shinichi” here, extraordinarily) to switch seats with her and hide her. Conan does not understand what is frightening her (but still switches with her), as the only ones boarding at the moment are Jodie Saintemillion and Dr. Araide. Upon seeing Conan, Jodie cordially greets him (whom she calls “cool kid”), while Araide clarifies that they are not on a date and that they just happened to meet at the bus stop. Then they sit down right in front of Conan and Haibara, who remains petrified as if her soul has just been sucked out of the body. | |
| + | |||
| + | After Jodie and Araide board a young man called Shuichi Akai and two men in skiing suits. But it is soon clear that they are not skiers, as, right after boarding the bus, they take out two pistols, shoot at the ceiling, warn that the passengers will either hand in their cell phones or die, and command the bus driver to make a call to the bus company and not stop from this point on. The passengers comply with the bus hijackers’ orders in fear, and one of the hijackers grabs the telephone from the driver once the call is picked up. He demands the bus company to contact the police so that they can release Kunio Yashima, a jewelry robber who was arrested a month ago and is presently serving a sentence. From this, Conan is able to determine immediately that the hijackers are two of the three accomplices of Yashima, and that they want Yashima out of jail so that he can reveal where he hid the robbed jewelry. | ||
| + | |||
| + | One of the hijackers goes to the rear part of the bus to collect cell phones but trips thanks to Jodie’s extended leg. She pretends that this has been an accident and rushes to the hijacker to apologize. Since the apology is in English and goes on and on, the hijacker gets confused and fails to notice that Jodie has done something to his pistol. What he does realize is that engaging with Jodie will probably be a waste of time, for which he simply orders her to return to her seat without punishing her or making any threats. | ||
| + | |||
| + | After the hijackers have returned to the front of the bus, Conan takes out his Earring Cellphone in an attempt to contact Inspector Megure. This is somehow noticed by a hijacker, who pushes Conan to the floor while taking his gadget, and shouts menacingly that if Conan attempts anything else his blood will be spilt. Conan, knowing that it is impossible for the hijackers to observe him from the front, strongly suspects that one of the passengers sitting behind him is an accomplice. There is Akai, there is Machida and there is a woman called Miharu Tomino. | ||
==== File 288 - Danger Signal ==== | ==== File 288 - Danger Signal ==== | ||
| − | |||
| − | |||
| − | + | The Tokyo Metropolitan Police has been notified of the hijacking and Megure is coordinating the police responses. Thanks to the officers that he has dispatched to sneak upon the hijacked bus, Megure learns that the two hijackers are armed and that they have already used their firearms once. He is thus worried. Shiratori is much more optimistic, arguing that since the bus has been circulating only in the city it will be easy for the police to capture them. Megure disagrees and insists that the hijackers must have a secret plan that will allow them to evade the police. | |
| + | |||
| + | Back on the bus, the hijackers are informed that the police have agreed to release Yashima. But they have further demands: they want the police to stop tailing Yashima so that he can escape to a truly safe place and confirm that to them personally; then they will release a few hostages. Notwithstanding, their subsequent actions do not seem to fit this narrative: the hijackers proceed to place two ski bags on the aisle, which Conan suspects contain explosives. Just as he leans out to check, the accomplice frustrates his plan again, and in a matter of seconds Conan feels a pistol pushing his head. At this critical moment, Araide fearlessly puts himself between Conan and the pistol, and defends Conan’s actions by downplaying them as a prank. The hijacker is angered by Araide’s comments, but his partner calms him down, reminding him that if he misfires and hits “that thing” then there will be undesirable consequences. Conan is therefore temporarily safe. | ||
| + | |||
| + | During all this time, Haibara has been trembling in her seat, believing that Vermouth is on the bus with her but has not noticed her yet. And for the third time in this story, whatever one deems impossible just a few seconds before becomes the reality. Jodie gets up, turns around and asks Haibara who she is kindly. Haibara is clearly unable to answer, and all she can do is to hold onto Conan’s hand tightly; so Conan comes to her rescue, and claims that he actually does not know her, and that since she is in extreme fear it would be better not to bother her. This forces Jodie to stop asking questions, but doubt is already forming inside her head. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Conan now seems to start understanding Haibara’s dread, but he also knows that he must deal with the hijackers before addressing the potential Organization member on the bus. Thus he tries to focus on finding the accomplice, but it turns out to be rather hard: Akai’s coughs could be signals, but Agasa is coughing continually as well; Tomino is chewing a bubble gum, but the noise is not loud enough for the hijackers to hear; and Machida’s hearing aid does not seem to be a viable communication method either. | ||
| − | + | Conan’s thoughts are interrupted by a phone call; it is Yashima, telling the hijackers that he is basically free. Now that they have fulfilled their first goal, the hijackers change their plan: now they want the bus to leave the city by going on a highway (and decelerating in the tunnel that they will pass through), and they also summon Araide and Akai to the front of the bus. These commands, along with a balloon that Conan happens to see, inspires him and allows him to figure out the hijackers’ plan and the identity of their accomplice. Conan therefore smiles confidently while passing a note reading “do you have lipstick?” to Jodie. Jodie throws her lipstick to Conan from under the seat, and Conan takes out his Detective Badge. The file ends with Vermouth smirking and thinking to herself “what can a lipstick bring us? show me your magic, cool guy…”. | |
| − | ==== File 289 - Concealed Beneath | + | ==== File 289 - Concealed Beneath the Truth ==== |
| − | |||
| − | + | <spoiler> | |
| + | Megure cannot work out the intentions of the hijackers, and he still naively believes that they will keep their promise and release hostages. Due to this, he orders the police force to surround the bus so that once the bus door is opened for the hostages to leave his people can rush into it and overwhelm the hijackers. Conan, who understands the situation much better, has something else in mind. He knows that the hijackers have forced Akai and Araide to put on their skiing suits in order to exchange identities with them (i.e. two innocent passengers). He also knows that '''Miharu Tomino''' is the accomplice: whenever a passenger acted in a fishy manner, she would burst the chewing gum and use her fingers to get it off her face; this would allow her to point at the suspicious passenger, and her crime partners will see this by looking at the rear-view mirror. The hijackers are going to escape with her while claiming that Tomino is the hostage that they need in order to prevent other passengers and the police from impeding their escape. Once the three robbers are off the bus, they will detonate the bombs inside the ski bags to kill everybody inside (which is why they allow their faces to be seen), pretend that they are the freed hostages and give false testimonies along the lines of “the arguments erupting between the two hijackers and the passengers right before we were released were probably the cause of the blow-up” to the police. With these measures and by ensuring that the identity exchange takes place inside a tunnel (darkness prevents the police from noticing the exchange), the police will be misled to think that Akai and Araide are the actual hijackers, allowing the actual bad guys to vanish into thin air. | ||
| − | + | This plan has a flaw, however: it involves a tunnel, inside which the hijackers cannot see the passengers properly, especially when they are focused on the identity exchange and Tomino has been taken “hostage” and can no longer spy for them. Therefore, it should not be surprising for us readers to see Conan jump into action right after the bus enters the tunnel and Tomino is dragged to the front. He uses the Detective Badge to ask Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, Genta and Agasa to write the word “STOP” on the ski bag near them by using Jodie’s lipstick and lift the bag up the moment that the bus leaves the tunnel. The plan goes forward with success, and once the driver sees the instruction on the ski bag and is urged by Conan to act, he brakes immediately. This causes the bus to skid wildly and come to an abrupt stop, and throws the three robbers off balance and onto the floor (since they are not seated). As they struggle to get up, one hijacker is tranquilized by Conan (even if Conan were not there, Akai is ready to elbow him), Tomino is pinioned by Araide as per Conan’s request, and Jodie neutralizes the other hijacker by kicking him in the stomach. He tries to fight back by using the pistol, but it no longer works. Jodie, collected and seemingly jubilant, tells him that when he tripped, she locked the gun hammer so that it would not fire. She continues to say mockingly that he should have done his homework before embarking on his perilous mission. The hijacker is shocked by her calmness and her expertise in firearms, and asks panickedly who she is. Jodie puts her face closer to his, which fills him with horror, and responds that “a secret makes a woman woman”. | |
| − | + | Meanwhile, Tomino shouts that her wristwatch-like detonation device has already begun the countdown and that the bus is going to explode in less than 30 seconds. Everyone thus rushes towards the exits, confusing the police ambushing outside. But they soon grasp the severity of the situation, and disperse to help the evacuating passengers or to stop the cars on the highway from approaching the bus. There is only one person not affected by all this hurriedness: Haibara has stayed on her seat, now looking much calmer. She thinks that since the Black Organization has almost found her, maybe death will terminate everything once and for all and perhaps save the ones around her from persecution. As she embraces death, she thinks of her sister, and a peaceful smile emerges on her face. | |
| − | + | Outside the bus, Conan and Ayumi have noticed Haibara’s absence. Believing that it is pointless for her to die now, Conan shoots at the bus window to break it, runs back inside, grabs Haibara’s arm and jumps out of the bus with Haibara in his arms through the broken window. The blast ensues, and both are blown away to the side of the highway, but fortunately neither is seriously injured. Conan tells Haibara to never run away from her destiny, entrusts her to Takagi (who happens to be nearby), and volunteers to make the statement (so that Haibara, who believes that Vermouth will show up at statement-making as well, will not have to do so). On the way to hospital, Haibara seems to have abandoned the thought of dying and is grateful that Conan has saved her; she also thinks to herself that now they are square. | |
| − | + | Jodie commends Conan for his bravery (and he compliments her as well for locking the gun hammer without letting the hijacker notice it), and asks why he knows about the detonation device. Conan replies that Tomino’s “wristwatch” was always at 1:00, which is very strange; he also comments that since the police must have been keeping an eye on Yashima, he will be soon apprehended as well. | |
| − | + | At this moment, Sato announces that all the passengers should head to the police station to make statements. Conan heeds her request, but is stopped by Araide, who thinks that Conan should get his wounds treated first. Jodie watches this exchange unfold in silence, and Akai looks at her from some distance, also without uttering a word. | |
| − | + | The last panels of the file features Akai, who, via a walkie-talkie (or a similar device), reports to someone that “because of an unexpected event, the pursuit on the 23th of February has been interrupted; and since the object has not appeared the investigation will resume on another day”. | |
| + | </spoiler> | ||
==== People ==== | ==== People ==== | ||
Revision as of 19:38, 13 September 2022
| ‹ Volume 28 | List of Chapters • List of Cases | Volume 30 › |
| Volume 29 | |||
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| |||
| Release date: | September 18, 2000 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Chapters: | 285-295 | ||
| ISBN: | ISBN 4-09-125499-3 | ||
| Publisher: | Shogakukan | ||
| English release date: | May 19, 2009 | ||
| English ISBN: | ISBN 1-4215-2197-0 | ||
| English Publisher: | Viz Media | ||
| |||
| |||
Volume 29 was released on September 18, 2000 in Japan.
Contents
Cast
Gadgets
Chapters
Girl Clubbing Case
File 285 - The Suspicion
Tae Aizawa worked at the Haido Store and was waiting in the parking lot for her boyfriend Noriyuki Shirakawa, a restaurant chef, to introduce her to his father, Haruyoshi, the store's owner. Noriyuki is being solaced by Yuri Konno, a waitress of his restaurant and a good friend of him. The police asks the parking lot's watchman, Yoshio Sadagane, if he saw anyone suspect around there before the murder, which is not the case. Ran thinks something's not quite right concerning the victim's appearance. The police commissioner Matsumoto comes along and asks Megure if he still remembers "that painful case". Conan tells everyone that, given that most victims of the killer were rather lightly dressed for the winter season, it's possible that they were in a car just before being in the street, and that the murderer has probably something to do with cars. Sato says last year Aizawa accidentally killed a boy, Akira Sakurai, in the parking lot, as her platform boots prevented her from braking at the right moment. Being minor at the time of the deeds, she received a conditional sentence and was released afterwards. Megure scolds Sato for constantly wishing to play the bait, recalling it's way too dangerous. Sonoko wants to go to the bathroom and asks for Kogoro's car keys. As she bends to take her handbag, the killer's dark figure is glaring at her and especially at her boots. The closest bathroom being out of service, Sonoko hurries to the upper floors' bathrooms as the store is about to close. Conan meanwhile notices the victim is wearing shoes too big for her feet. He then deduces the murderer's identity as Sonoko, on her way back to the parking lot, finds herself in complete darkness as the lights are switched off, and she's being followed by the serial killer.
File 286 - An Unexpected Motive
People
Bus Hijacking Case
Characters introduced
| Shuichi Akai | |
|---|---|
 |
|
File 287 - The Unseen Horror
Gin and Vodka are sitting together in a high end bar where a famous female singer is giving a live performance. Gin seems to like her very much and listens attentively, but he is interrupted by a waiter, who delivers two dry martinis to their table and claims that the singer ordered them for them. Vodka happily accepts the martini, but before he has a chance to drink Gin snuffs his cigarette out in his glass (leaving Vodka shocked) and demands to know what the waiter is up to. When the waiter fails to answer, Gin grows aggressive, and he pins the waiter’s head onto the table and attempts to spear him with an ice pick. He ends up only hitting a latex mask, and the waiter is revealed to be Vermouth in disguise; she is attempting to mock Gin’s infatuation with the singer with the martinis. Gin coldly asks her whether she has found her object, and Vermouth answers evasively (this is expected by Gin, as Vermouth has always been quite secretive); she seems to be more interested in something else, concretely, mixing Gin and Vermouth to get martini that night. Vodka wonders what she is hinting at, and Gin does not look moved at all and comments somewhat dismissively that mixing black with black will yield nothing but black.
The file now abruptly shifts to the Detective Boys, who, accompanied by Agasa, are on a bus heading to a skiing resort. Conan looks bored, prompting Haibara (who is sitting beside him) to ask whether he would be thrilled if given a rematch with the Black Organization. Conan says that they certainly are not going to be on a bus, but a passenger dressed in black (called Yasuhiko Machida) passes by at this exact moment, and Conan is immediately alarmed. Haibara tells him not to worry, because, according to her, Machida lacks the “smell” common to Organization members. Conan is not convinced, as Haibara did not seem to have sensed Pisco’s presence during their last encounter with the Organization. Haibara explains that she did, and that she decided to keep her mouth shut because she sensed the presence of another member (Vermouth) whose smell was stronger, more oppressive and more chilling. Barely has Haibara finished the sentence when a shiver runs down her spines, and she rushes to cover her head and implores Conan (whom she refers to as “Shinichi” here, extraordinarily) to switch seats with her and hide her. Conan does not understand what is frightening her (but still switches with her), as the only ones boarding at the moment are Jodie Saintemillion and Dr. Araide. Upon seeing Conan, Jodie cordially greets him (whom she calls “cool kid”), while Araide clarifies that they are not on a date and that they just happened to meet at the bus stop. Then they sit down right in front of Conan and Haibara, who remains petrified as if her soul has just been sucked out of the body.
After Jodie and Araide board a young man called Shuichi Akai and two men in skiing suits. But it is soon clear that they are not skiers, as, right after boarding the bus, they take out two pistols, shoot at the ceiling, warn that the passengers will either hand in their cell phones or die, and command the bus driver to make a call to the bus company and not stop from this point on. The passengers comply with the bus hijackers’ orders in fear, and one of the hijackers grabs the telephone from the driver once the call is picked up. He demands the bus company to contact the police so that they can release Kunio Yashima, a jewelry robber who was arrested a month ago and is presently serving a sentence. From this, Conan is able to determine immediately that the hijackers are two of the three accomplices of Yashima, and that they want Yashima out of jail so that he can reveal where he hid the robbed jewelry.
One of the hijackers goes to the rear part of the bus to collect cell phones but trips thanks to Jodie’s extended leg. She pretends that this has been an accident and rushes to the hijacker to apologize. Since the apology is in English and goes on and on, the hijacker gets confused and fails to notice that Jodie has done something to his pistol. What he does realize is that engaging with Jodie will probably be a waste of time, for which he simply orders her to return to her seat without punishing her or making any threats.
After the hijackers have returned to the front of the bus, Conan takes out his Earring Cellphone in an attempt to contact Inspector Megure. This is somehow noticed by a hijacker, who pushes Conan to the floor while taking his gadget, and shouts menacingly that if Conan attempts anything else his blood will be spilt. Conan, knowing that it is impossible for the hijackers to observe him from the front, strongly suspects that one of the passengers sitting behind him is an accomplice. There is Akai, there is Machida and there is a woman called Miharu Tomino.
File 288 - Danger Signal
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police has been notified of the hijacking and Megure is coordinating the police responses. Thanks to the officers that he has dispatched to sneak upon the hijacked bus, Megure learns that the two hijackers are armed and that they have already used their firearms once. He is thus worried. Shiratori is much more optimistic, arguing that since the bus has been circulating only in the city it will be easy for the police to capture them. Megure disagrees and insists that the hijackers must have a secret plan that will allow them to evade the police.
Back on the bus, the hijackers are informed that the police have agreed to release Yashima. But they have further demands: they want the police to stop tailing Yashima so that he can escape to a truly safe place and confirm that to them personally; then they will release a few hostages. Notwithstanding, their subsequent actions do not seem to fit this narrative: the hijackers proceed to place two ski bags on the aisle, which Conan suspects contain explosives. Just as he leans out to check, the accomplice frustrates his plan again, and in a matter of seconds Conan feels a pistol pushing his head. At this critical moment, Araide fearlessly puts himself between Conan and the pistol, and defends Conan’s actions by downplaying them as a prank. The hijacker is angered by Araide’s comments, but his partner calms him down, reminding him that if he misfires and hits “that thing” then there will be undesirable consequences. Conan is therefore temporarily safe.
During all this time, Haibara has been trembling in her seat, believing that Vermouth is on the bus with her but has not noticed her yet. And for the third time in this story, whatever one deems impossible just a few seconds before becomes the reality. Jodie gets up, turns around and asks Haibara who she is kindly. Haibara is clearly unable to answer, and all she can do is to hold onto Conan’s hand tightly; so Conan comes to her rescue, and claims that he actually does not know her, and that since she is in extreme fear it would be better not to bother her. This forces Jodie to stop asking questions, but doubt is already forming inside her head.
Conan now seems to start understanding Haibara’s dread, but he also knows that he must deal with the hijackers before addressing the potential Organization member on the bus. Thus he tries to focus on finding the accomplice, but it turns out to be rather hard: Akai’s coughs could be signals, but Agasa is coughing continually as well; Tomino is chewing a bubble gum, but the noise is not loud enough for the hijackers to hear; and Machida’s hearing aid does not seem to be a viable communication method either.
Conan’s thoughts are interrupted by a phone call; it is Yashima, telling the hijackers that he is basically free. Now that they have fulfilled their first goal, the hijackers change their plan: now they want the bus to leave the city by going on a highway (and decelerating in the tunnel that they will pass through), and they also summon Araide and Akai to the front of the bus. These commands, along with a balloon that Conan happens to see, inspires him and allows him to figure out the hijackers’ plan and the identity of their accomplice. Conan therefore smiles confidently while passing a note reading “do you have lipstick?” to Jodie. Jodie throws her lipstick to Conan from under the seat, and Conan takes out his Detective Badge. The file ends with Vermouth smirking and thinking to herself “what can a lipstick bring us? show me your magic, cool guy…”.
File 289 - Concealed Beneath the Truth
People
Dog Lovers Case
File 290 - The Dog Lovers
In order for Haibara to take her mind off things after the bus hijacking case, Agasa suggests they all go and visit the son of an old friend who keeps pets and is organising a yard sale as he's about to depart to England. Teruya Kano introduces his dogs Arthur and Doyle to the kids, commenting on the fact that his father's dog, Conan, died recently. Some acquaintances come to visit Kano for the the sale : Yoshio Tsunashima, a dog lover, Aki Tosabayashi, who loves dog sports events, and Shino Hazuki, whose dog Christie loves Arthur. But Haibara fails to smile or even feel comfortable when being with some animals. She starts having morbid thoughts and Agasa wonders what to do to help her. Conan replies he told her everyone in the bus made his statement at the police and nothing particular happened. Though Haibara is terrified to the point of losing appetite and sleep, Conan maintains that if Haibara had really been spotted by the Org, none around her would have stayed alive within the 10 days following the events. Conan believes it's just a mere coincidence. The DB mutter something about Haibara and Conan that intrigues the latter. Teruya wants to show the kids something : whenever the clock rings noon, Doyle the Papillon dog automatically goes and sits on a blue cushion near the clock, waiting for his favourite cheese dish. But this time Doyle is to be found nowhere. Fearing the small dog might have gotten stuck somewhere, everybody searches for him. Conan notes the kiln in the garden is firing while it wasn't at all a few minutes ago. He rushes there and discovers Doyle's burned collar inside it.
File 291 - A Tiny Trace
Conan reassures Teruya : there's no corpse in the kiln, apparently someone played a bad trick on him, and Doyle must be somewhere else. Conan suspects Doyle may have been abducted as it is worth a lot of money, probably by the people who came visiting Teruya today. He doubts about the fact dog lovers would dare to burn alive a dog. The gate left open is accoridng to Conan a trick to have us believe a thief took Doyle and ran away, which is materially impossible. Shino Hazuki's shoes are found in the garden near the kiln, but she can't explain why. Everyone starts searching again for Doyle. Haibara once again plays the killjoy and scares the DB by saying she knows terribly well the feeling of being hunted down and hiding, in fear to be found one day or another. Conan takes her apart and Haibara tells him again she is 100% sure a Black Org member was in the bus on that day. Conan tells her he is 100% sure that it's absolutely not the case, none suspects anythings, because Conan, as a detective, has developed a nose for criminal and murder intents wherever he stands. Just as Haibara feels the Org members, Conan feels the criminals. Habiara seems to believe him when he says so, when he ensures that none had such feelings in the bus except the hijackers. But Haibara seems not to want to show it, and the DB keep on muttering. Eventually, Conan finds some sound-absorbing material in the kiln and declares he knows where Doyle is.
File 292 - The Disappeared Evidence
People
K3 Murder Case
File 293 - K3
Heiji invites Conan, Kogoro and Ran to Osaka to a restaurant's official opening evening party, on the initiative of three world-famous American sport champions : the boxer Ricardo Barreira, the baseball pitcher Mike Norwood, and a celebrity Shinichi/Conan surely loves : Ray Curtis, the "European Steel Gate" football player. Kazuha believes there's another girl in Heiji's life as he keeps hanging up the phone whenever she catches him in the midst of an important conversation. Conan knows that he is "the girl" actually. The three sport celebrities want to call the restaurant "K3" as K stands for Ricardo's Knock out, for Mike's strike out - aka K in professional baseball terms, and for Ray's goal Keeper. But Ed MacKay, an infamous American sports reporter, comes along saying the K of Kitanai ("dirty") is missing, as the three champions were all mixed up in shady bits of business. Ed MacKay is hated by most athletes as he keeps writing fake but very well drafted articles about supposed scandals on such or such champions.
After the incident, Ran asks for Ray to autograph a card for Shinichi, but Ray proposes her something better : a signed football shirt with his number, 8. Conan explains Kazuha Ray was still attributed the 8 number despite the 1 being normally given to goal keepers, as Ray was at first playing in the midfield, then the 8 number, but he was discovered with another skill for goal keeping, therefore he kept his former number. Mike wears a 99 shirt to hint at the 99 miles per hour, his pitching speed. As for Ricardo, the 4 on his gloves means his fights he would always win in 4 rounds. Ray also gives Ran a ticket to go and see him playing in Japan soon, a ticket Ran gives Conan.
After that, Ray gives Ran a walkie-talkie : she has to help him, Ricardo and Mike to switch on the lights of certain rooms of the hotel, in order to make a huge K that could be seen from the outside. As it is a surprise, the three champions are alone in the hotel. As the K is finished, a gunshot is heard, shattering a window to pieces. The three men rush to the balconies to check what happened. Conan and Heiji hurry to the corresponding room and find Ed MacKay shot dead by a gun. Conan notices MacKay left a dying message by gripping his belt and showing on his other hand a strange sign as if he had had previously a round item in the hand.
File 294 - The Last Possibility
Otaki from Osaka Police is called for investigation. Everyone wonders who could have murdered the reporter, and it's certainly not one of the three champions, as showed by Ran that it's impossible for any of them to move from their rooms, kill McKay, and then come back right after, as it would take at least more than 1 minute, and all three went on the balcony immediately after they heard the gunshot. Conan astounds Heiji by saying it's probably not one of the three players, maybe someone from the outside who pretended to belong to the media present tonight, or one of the guests. Otaki proceeds to the gunpowder checking of every guest and person, as a basic and non-automatic gun, without silencer, was used to murder McKay, and it spreads a lot of powder. Otaki even checked the athletes but their respective managers refused a complete body checking.
The three athletes had indeed been the target of MacKay scandal allegations : Ricardo was accused of playing fixed matches, Ray was accused of drug doping, Mike was accused of adultery and divorced. But all three married a Japanese woman after that and all three won their cases against McKay, Conan insists on that point, saying that they're probably not the culprits. Heiji rather keeps investigating the three men, the only one really resenting McKay and being alone in the hotel at that time. Conan tells Heiji not to bother searching tricky mechanisms, as himself went to check rooms and found none, no traces at all. Conan tells Heiji it is materially impossible for the three men to do the return trip over such a very short span of time. What's more, Ray suffers a knee injury, Ricardo isn't a rapid racer and Mike suffers from Achilles' heel pain, which makes accordingly their moving even slower.
Heiji finds strange that Shinichi is trying to find alibis to everyone as he usually does the complete opposite. Conan avoids answering and adds that knocking at the door and waiting for McKay to open takes even more time. Yet, Heiji and Conan find brooms and dustpans in a closet, and make a connection with the light switch. They suddenly realise something having to do with a certain person expert at using a certain object, who could be the murderer. Conan again doesn't answer and tries to put forward the fact that this object must have been found and it's not the case. When Heiji hints at the fact it's easy to conceal, Conan gets infuriated and tells him he's wrong and should just shut his mouth up. He runs away and tells Heiji he'll prove him he's wrong. Heiji remembers Conan telling him during the last Bikuni Case (Vol. 28) that even if something looks horrible to admit or just beyond human comprehension, if it's the truth it should be tackled directly and coldly, and not avoided, what Conan is actually doing with that person.
Conan comes across the three men coming out of the washroom. Conan sees Ray is still suffering from his knee injury, and suddenly decides to search the washroom's bin, where he finds the item he expected. He also hears Kogoro talking about certain restaurant chefs saying strange words having nothing to do at all with food. Conan lowers the gaze and thinks angrily to that person he calls a bastard.
File 295 - Red Card
People
Cover in other countries
See also
| Volumes of the Manga | ||
|---|---|---|
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