Volume 34

Chronology
‹ Volume 33	List of Chapters • List of Cases	Volume 35 ›

Volume 34
Information
Release date:	September 18, 2001
Chapters:	340-350
ISBN:	ISBN 4-09-126164-7
Publisher:	Shogakukan
English release date:	March 16, 2010
English ISBN:	ISBN 1-4215-2885-1
English Publisher:	Viz Media
Featured Detective & Keyhole
Akakabu Kenji Jugo Yokomizo
Aoyama's death & Conan side images

Volume 34 was released on September 18, 2001 in Japan.

Cast

Characters

Conan Edogawa Ran Mouri Kogoro Mouri Juzo Megure Wataru Takagi Sonoko Suzuki Jodie Starling Heiji Hattori Kazuha Toyama Kazunobu Chiba Hiroshi Agasa Ai Haibara Ayumi Yoshida Genta Kojima Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya Shuichi Akai Vermouth Gin (background) Vodka (background) Shiho Miyano (photo) Pisco (background) Shinichi Kudo Yukiko Kudo Hideo Akagi Naoki Uemura Tomoaki Araide (photo) Sango Yokomizo (background) Toichi Kuroba (background) Naomichi Mugikura (background) Mika Nanjo (background) Yasuo Mihei (background) Naoya Tarumi (background) Yoshiharu Tawara (background)

Gadgets

Gadgets
Voice-Changing Bowtie Stun-Gun Wristwatch

Chapters

Escalator Message Case

File 340 - Time to Pick the Apple

Megure tells Jodie (which is ironic given that he just told her and other irrelevant people to stay out of the case) that he has just phoned Chujo's detective agency to see whether his employees knew anything about the case at hand; they said that they did not because Kisugi had insisted on keeping his investigation confidential. Furthermore, all data about Chujo's investigations are on his computer and nobody knows the password, and it is not any permutation of the four symbols in the dying message. Then they must refer to the killer's identity. Jodie and Sonoko say the murderer might be a quiz lover, because Japanese people answer quizzes by using symbols instead of "Yes" or "No". Megure again thinks that such deductions are nonsense and tries once more to keep Jodie and Sonoko away from the crime scene.

  Show spoilers »

Conan steps in and says that Chiba should be a suspect. His rationale is that the first kanji in Chiba’s surname is "千", and a cross remains if the diagonal line on the top is covered, and something resembling a triangle remains if parts of the cross is covered. Similarly, he argues that Takagi should be a suspect because the first kanji of his surname is "高", which looks like a circle if the top and the sides are ignored. Sonoko retorts that what remains bears more similarity to a square, but Conan says that to save time, many Japanese simplify such “boxes” into circles (thus omitting strokes). Sonoko reprimands Conan and says that they cannot possibly be the culprit, but Conan ignores her and eyes Megure, who, by thinking about "omission", "save time" and "cover", figures out that the embezzler must be Bunta Kuniyoshi (the native form of this name is "国吉 文太"). Conan smirks in satisfaction, and Megure explains to Sonoko and Jodie that the square refers to "国" with the strokes inside the "square" omitted in order to save time and that the other symbols represent the lower halves of the other kanjis. The upper halves are missing (this has the same effect as covering the upper halves) because they are on the documents that Kuniyoshi stole; therefore the fact that the square is slightly larger than the other symbols makes sense (this deduction also means that the enigmatic dying message is not what Chujo intended to write).

Jodie wonders where Ran has been, since it is quite late already. Sonoko thinks she is probably phoning Shinichi to ask him what the cross means. Ran turns up blushing, saying that she is now aware of the meaning of the cross, and that whether Shinichi knows it or not is irrelevant, because he will not answer to such a question anyway. Noticing that Conan is gone, they all wonder where he is.

In the meantime, the police rush upstairs to the company in search of Kuniyoshi. Upon finding him, Megure asks whether they can ask a few questions, and Kuniyoshi agrees to that. Megure tells Kuniyoshi about the police's findings, and the latter thinks that it is irresponsible for the police to label him as a murderer just because of what the dying message says. He points out that it is possible for the true killer to use Chujo's blood and finger to write that message so as to mislead the police. He further says that if they want to hold him responsible, then they have to show him the stolen documents. He adds that if he were the killer, he would have run away from the mall and burnt the papers instead of coming back to work. Megure is not able to give a response to Kuniyoshi’s self-defense, but Conan and Takagi come in with a reconstructed version of the upper half of the dying message. It turns out that the paper shredder in the office was spotted by them and together they have managed to put together the shredded pieces back into the dying message. Kuniyoshi starts getting upset, but this is only about to get worse for him: Megure informs him that it is only a matter of time before the police can reassemble the pieces of the other stolen documents and find his fingerprints on them.

Knowing that the police have indisputable evidence of his crimes, Kuniyoshi finally admits that he is guilty. He says that he started diverting money from the company's account so that his family could live slightly more comfortably, and since he was unable to stop others eventually noticed. The case thus is solved and Conan rejoins Jodie and the girls, asking them to tell him what the cross means. Sonoko tells him to ask Ran, which he does, but at an unfortunate moment: Ran just finished writing a message ending with crosses to Shinichi, and she is blushing. So Conan’s untimely question startles her and she answers in panic that she cannot let him know (this also delays the sending of the message). Conan, confused, asks whether it means "cannot", and Ran, unwilling to let Conan know the truth, echoes his words and says that "cannot" is indeed its meaning. After this exchange, Conan and company leave the mall and while Jodie parts with them, she, in a delightful tone, again tells them to be careful of that stalker she was mentioning earlier. Jodie watches them go farther and farther and thinks "is it almost time to pick the apple?".

During the night, Conan is awakened by the loud snores of Kogoro. As he checks his phone he finds that Ran has sent a message to Shinichi's phone. Conan reads it and becomes slightly disappointed at the fact that there are three crosses in the end; he erroneously thinks that Ran is implying that he “cannot” (do something) (i.e. that he is not able, that he is not competent).

In a dark room only lit up by a computer's screen, next to a glass of alcohol, a smirking woman in babydoll is writing to Gin, saying "Can you tell me please Gin, do you believe in heaven? You must (i.e. I am sure that you will) say coldly: "It's not like you to be so silly (i.e. asking such a silly question is not something you would normally do). Until we lift our glasses filled with rotten sherry, please find the answer (i.e. please find the answer before we lift the glasses filled with rotten sherry). I can't wait... XXX". The woman then says to herself that a cross means a kiss and that it is a female's way of expressing affection, although it can also be an evil stamp of hatred. While saying so, she grabs a dart in an ashtray, kisses it, and slings it violently at a dartboard to which three pictures are pinned. The dart hit the center of the dartboard; as a picture of Shiho Miyano in lab coat is there, the dart also manages to pierce through the middle of her forehand. The two pictures below Shiho’s feature a happy Ran with “Angel” written in cursive and a thinking Conan with “Cool guy” written in cursive respectively. The woman, who at this moment is revealed to be Chris Vineyard, stares at the darboard and adds that the cross is "where the fatal silver arrow shoots" and "marks the target spot".

People

Norihisa Kisugi
	50 years old Administrative manager of a Trading Company

Katsunori Chujo
	Victim (stabbed) 43 years old Detective

Major events

• Ran is baffled, who is the mysterious man that she has seen, before?
• Ran is completely clueless, as is Shinichi, about the meaning of "X".
• Ran gets very embarrassed when she discovers the meaning of "X".
• Vermouth sends an e-mail to Gin. She feels that not far to meet with Sherry

Flying Neighbor Case

File 341 - The Hint That Was Against...

Conan eventually tells Agasa about Mouri's cases' police files having been recently stolen and then sent back by post to the headquarters. The Organization may be behind that theft, they may be aware that Shinichi is secretly helping Kogoro to solve cases, they could know he was shrunken by APTX, since Kogoro's fame all started when Shinichi went missing. Yet, who would believe a seven-year-old anesthetises Kogoro and speaks with a voice-changing bowtie ? Conan may well only be a boy genius, and it's not 100% sure the Organization stole the documents. Though, someone is discreetly investigating Kogoro, and Conan has something very important to ask to Agasa, the latter saying he's nothing but a search-machine for Shinichi, and not even a confidant. Conan answers he just didn't want Ai to know it (Vol. 33), since this would scare her once again, she would once again refuse to go out, and Conan promised her he would protect her and take things in hand if they were to worsen (Vol. 29). He doesn't want her to be frightened for nothing, but says they must keep it silent to her for now, since Ai isn't as strong as she wants others to believe she is. Conan is however unaware that Ai is eavesdropping their conversation, and inwardly calls him a moron. Conan still wonders what's the point for that thief carefully sending the documents back to the police instead of just getting rid of them. Is it to trap them or have them understand the thief knows what they're doing ? Or is it maybe a stratagem to scare someone in particular, Shinichi most probably, though it's a rather odd way to scare someone. Conan realises in surprise that Heiji is just next to them, having been secretly called by Agasa in order to be Shinichi's confidant, since at the moment the latter is racking his mind with the Organization matters. Agasa still wonders how they can catch such an elusive enemy, Heiji replying that if Conan came to tell him the truth and ask him something very important, this means either he's found out a paramount clue, or he just wants to retaliate now.

  Show spoilers »

Conan acknowledges he's right and tells them again about the Haido City Hotel Case (Vol. 24), during which they spotted Pisco, an Organization member who was tasked to kill Shigehiko Nomiguchi, a corrupt politician. Shinichi had called Megure telling him to bring and question seven suspects in a private room, since they were all given a purple handkerchief at a certain moment. Given Conan had found a purple handkerchief on the crime scene, it may well have belonged to Pisco, who could be one of them. Yet, Pisco was completely unaware of it, then how come is it that he had a purple handkerchief on him when he was questioned ? The only answer is that he had an accomplice among the six other suspects, one who was questioned before him and told him afterwards about it, giving him their own handkerchief. The six suspects are all very mediatised VIPs, but only one of them hasn't given some sign of life since then : Chris Vineyard, the famous American actress, daughter of world-famous actress Sharon Vineyard, and moreover a very beautiful and sly woman. Conan has investigated her so far, and she's the fishiest suspect, though he can't believe it for some reasons. Conan needs Agasa's help to browse a recent website created by Chris's fans to encourage her comeback on the stage, and he wants Agasa to pretend to be one of them, and to get as much information as possible on the actress. Conan can't do it since it would be strange that a schoolboy spends his time in Internet cafés searching for information on several websites. Conan says this information could be useful in good time. Heiji thinks that Conan is suspecting someone in particular in his entourage, which could be Chris Vineyard in disguise. Agasa thinks Conan is investigating Jodie Saintemilion, and tells Heiji - despite Conan's refusal - that Jodie is Ran's new English teacher, originating from America. But Conan doesn't want such a hot-blooded guy as Heiji to know it since he would spoil everything by investigating her overtly and awkwardly. Heiji indeed suggests they both go to her place to investigate discreetly. Conan believes Heiji is completely unaware of the BO's dangerousness. Ai is startled by the "Chris Vineyard"'s name.

The boys eventually come up to Jodie's flat's door, Heiji wondering how a mere English teacher can afford to live in such a huge and luxurious building, and Conan replying it's because she was born in a very wealthy family. Conan tells Heiji not to act recklessly, but Heiji seems to have no idea what to tell Jodie in order to account for their coming, and Conan can't believe it. They start having a row and Heiji inadvertently presses the door's ring. Conan has to tell Jodie on the intercom that he "came to pay her a liitle visit", and she's very happy about it, and asks him to wait a little moment. Meanwhile, they meet Jodie's neighbour Takai's friends who are leaving his place, all drunk. They seem to blame Takai for being so rude and nasty when he's drunk. After a very long wait, Conan and Heiji are eventually welcomed by Jodie, only dressed in a sexy robe, apologising for the wait, since she was having a bath when they rang. Conan explains he has brought a friend to introduce him to her, and she asks them to wait in the lounge while she gets herself ready. The boys say they need to go to the bathroom, and actually start checking out something in the bath and floor sink. Jodie overhears what they are doing behind the door, and smirks in satisfaction. Afterwards, she decides to take them to a restaurant since she has nothing at home to prepare a meal for them with. Heiji gets infuriated at her beacuse she tells him he looks like a foreigner who doesn't speak very good Japanese, but Conan tries to cool down the situation saying Kansai people are often very tanned and speak a very thick Japanese, such as Southern-American English for instance. Jodie is then told Heiji is also one of Mouri's friends. In front of Jodie's building, they notice Chika Shimoda, Takai's girlfriend who had left the latter's flat and locked it with two other men, is taking snaps of the building, towards the top. Heiji comments on it being rather odd, and suddenly, a phone falls down from upwards, followed by Takai's body, which crashes on the ground.

File 342 - The Flying Neighbor

The four people but Shimoda look at the corpse in a cold-blooded behaviour, saying the person died instantly. Jodie recognises her neighbour Takai and Shimoda starts crying in despair. She tells them Takai was drunk and sleeping on his bed when they all left, she would never have imagined he wanted to commit suicide. Jodie says he could have been pushed in the void from his flat by a kind of burglar just as well, but Shimoda says it's impossible : there was none in the apartment when they all left, and she locked the flat because Takai was too drunk to do it properly. Besides, there's only one key, and it's impossible to hear the doorbell from the bedroom. Then, it's nothing but a suicide. Though, Conan and Heiji tell her it's not necessarily the case, because Takai was speaking with a certain Kawakami on the phone just before dying, and one minute ago he had also received a text message from a certain Nakamichi. What's more, Shimoda was behaving strangely when taking pictures of the building in the dark, these are many peculiar reasons why the hypothesis of suicide can't be absolutely established for the moment. And a person who wants to kill themselves doesn't necessarily has a phone in hand. Heiji asks Shimoda to call her friends Michiya Nakamichi and Noboru Kawakami, and tell them to come along, while they'll also call the police for Shimoda to give a clearer explanation to them. Shimoda tells Megure she actually left Takai's flat to drive Nakamichi and Kawakami back home since they were far too drunk to drive carefully. She told Takai she would come back right after, which is why she locked the flat with his key. Afterwards, she drove back to Takai's, but before going upstairs, she took a few snaps of the building to show her friends where her new boyfriend was living. It is the first time she has come here, while Nakamichi and Kawakami already know the place. She intended to go back to Takai's flat right after, but never expected him to kill himself.

Shimoda, Nakamichi, Takai and Kawakami all work at the same place. They had come at noon to have a few drinks in order to celebrate Takai's promotion to the position of assistant manager of their company. They wanted to stay till late at night, but Takai was getting too drunk, and started to abuse everyone, then they decided to leave. He told them they were and will always be losers because they lacked something which would always prevent them from moving up the social ladder : insensitivity and ambition. Nakamichi later on sent a text message to Takai telling him never to forget "those at the bottom". They also discussed the "Hiraya case" : one of her friends and co-corkers Sumiyo Hiraya who committed suicide last month. Hiraya was a childhood friend of Nakamichi, and they met Takai and Kawakami at college. Takai and Kawakami already knew each other, and Shimoda belonged to the same year group as Hiraya. They remember Hiraya was a very kind and respectful person. She killed herself due to burnout, because she would work far too much. Probably because Takai had told her some day - though he was kidding her actually, and drunk - that if she didn't work even harder than the others, she would be quickly fired in the end. Takai seemed to have forgotten about that story, which is why Kawakami phoned him to remind him that he won his promotion out of blood, he is responsible for Hiraya's death, his career is being founded out of suffering and death. That left him speechless and he hung up afterwards, and Kawakami was then called by Shimoda and came back here at once with Nakamichi. Kawakami acknowledges he's more or less responsible for Takai's leaping in the void, though he never forced him to kill himself, then he's not a criminal. And he was drunk moreover, then Megure should just let them all go back home, since it's a mere suicide. The employees say they've actually already told all of this to Conan, Heiji and Jodie, who asked them to give them Takai's flat's key, and they're probably upstairs now, at the 21st floor. While the latter are thinking about the case, Megure and co, out of breath, turn up, too late, because the group already went into the flat, checked the place, and took pictures of it.

They all come in once again, Heiji telling Megure the door was indeed locked when they tried first. Heiji and co really thought to suicide too until they came in Takai's bedroom and saw the window near the bed was open and a curtain was fluttering in the wind outside. It's clear the victim jumped from that window, but Heiji attracts Megure's attention on the curtain in itself : it's as if someone had pulled it too much strongly, so much that it came off the rod and damaged it, and some hooks popped away. This means Takai was about to fall and then instinctively tried to grab hold of the curtain, in order to pull himself up. Therefore, it's not a suicide but a murder. Jodie appears saying it's just like in movies or novels, sealed chambers murders. She gives Megure her testimony and account of the events. Heiji says he's still not solved the case, but actually found strange impact marks left on the outside window pane, as if someone had hit it from the outside. Chiba then comes up saying he's got Shimoda's pictures' development, among which an enlargment showing Takai indeed grabbing hold of the curtain and about to fall into the void, and flinging his phone against the pane. Shimoda took this picture but couldn't see Takai, it was too far away from the ground, and it appeared like a tiny shadow on the picture. Jodie and co once more reflect about the case aloud, and Megure hollers at them, ordering them to let police work alone this time, commenting that it's been very frequent in these days that his investigations are being interrupted at some point by Ran, Conan, Sonoko, Jodie or co (Vol. 27, 33, etc.) - though Takagi acknowledges that cases are always solved thanks to them, at every time. Conan and Heiji still can't find out how Takai ended up outside his room, being forced to grab hold of a curtain not to fall. Shimoda just took flash pictures towards the top of the building, Nakamichi sent Takai a message a minute before the fall, and Kawakami abused him on the phone, but even though he'd have said "Die", Takai would never have done it. The victim may have flung his phone because there might have been a clue on it he wanted police to find, but actually Heiji checked it out and found nothing at all.

Jodie secretly looks at them as Heiji gets a phone call from an angry Kazuha, who can't believe he forgot their date at the mall. Conan tells Jodie he "doesn't know who Heiji is speaking with", and Heiji realises his mistake. He tries to promise Kazuha they'll do it some other day, but the reception is poor and they can barely hear each other. Heiji goes to the balcony to get better reception, telling Kazuha he's in Tokyo right now, and it's too late then. Doing so, he suddenly realises something very important. Kazuha says she doesn't understand a word he says, but is 100% sure they had planned a meeting, since she wrote it in her datebook. Upon hearing this, Heiji and Conan rush towards the other end of the balcony, and glance through a window at Takai's bedroom. They eventually find out the truth while Jodie secretly takes pictures of them.

File 343 - Who Are You?

Heiji suggests a reconstitution of the events in which he would give the police a hand, which would help them to find out who the killer is. He adds that, for the experiment to be conclusive, they need someone to get drunk and play the victim. Jodie is the perfect actress, given neither policemen who are on duty, nor Heiji and Conan who are minors, are allowed to drink alcohol. Jodie agrees, provided Heiji gives her some of her favourite drink : Sherry... Conan is puzzled about it, while Heiji finds ludicrous the way Jodie is getting drunk with it. Heiji then asks the police to leave Takai's bedroom for a moment while they're preparing the place for the reconstitution. Once they're done yet, they come out saying they "put Jodie to sleep" in the bed and left Takagi's phone near the pillow, and try not to wake her up, just like Takai's friends did with the latter.

  Show spoilers »

They start the reconstitution and Heiji sends a text message to Jodie, just like Nakamichi send his's to Takai, which woke him up, and Jodie receives the message in the dark. She is startled when reading it : "Who are you ?". This makes her smile mysteriously. She then confirms she got the "cute" message, though Heiji refuses to tell Conan about it. Then, just like Shimoda took flash pictures of the top part of the building, Chiba, at the bottom, takes the flash snaps, using Jodie's camera. At last, just like Kawakami phoned Takai before the latter fell, Heiji phones Jodie, asking her to speak with him like Takai spoke with Kawakami, very casually and normally. He asks her to answer his text message, but first Jodie would like Heiji to tell her more about himself, who he really is too, and she asks him "You're not an ordinary teenager, are you ?" (in Japanese). To which Heiji replies "Yes, yes, (in English) I am a very ordinary teenager (in Japanese)". The call reception starts getting poorer, and Jodie says this has to do with them being at the 21st floor, they're very high and it's perfectly normal then that telephonic waves are getting rarer. It's just like at her own home when she's phoning. She gets up, goes to open the window on the left, and says she'll go on the balcony, and he'll hear her better. Suddenly, she screams in fear, asking them to help her. Megure rushes and switches on the light, only to find Jodie about to fall into the void, grabbing hold with her feet and hands to the window panes and frame, and he notices she's been tied to a rope itself tied to the bed, which actually prevents her from falling, something she was totally unaware of. Megure also realises they changed the place of the bed, which explains why Jodie confused the windows and thought she was going on the balcony, while actually she was stepping over the window overlooking the void. Jodie, just like Takai, is used to stepping over the window overlooking the balcony from the bed to have a better reception when phoning.

The murderer, Noboru Kawakami, actually used that trick to have Takai fall into the void without the latter's knowing it. Usually, Takai's bed is placed just in front of the window overlooking the balcony, so as he would easily go to the balcony when phoning. He would get up on his bed, step over the window, and phone on the balcony. But Kawakami changed the bed's place, and Takai ended up stepping over the window overlooking the void, and falling. No wonder he fell then, especially if it was dark and he was hungover, and still drowsy. While the employees were all having drinks in the lounge, Kawakami pretended going to the bathroom, but actually went to Takai's bedroom, and moved the bed in front of the "void" window. Nobody would notice it, since Shimoda had come to Takai's for the first time, and Nakamichi would find no difference, in the dark, the windows being absolutely similar. Afterwards, Takai was put to sleep in his bed with his phone next to his head. Later on, Nakamichi texted him and Kawakami phoned him, and pretended not to hear him very well - or maybe it was the case - and forced Takai to leap unvoluntarily into the void. The police would never get it that Takai's bed was actually at the wrong place. Kawakami says Takai had actually told him in private to help him moving the furniture of his room because he wanted to change the layout, and Kawakami pretends he wasn't aware that this could be dangerous to Takai. But Conan presses a button on Takai's phone which plays a recording track of Kawakaki's voice saying "Farewell Takai, where you are going, you'll apologise to Hiraya". Heiji explains that before falling, Takai, who still had his phone in hand, recorded Kawakami's words with the "Memo" button, and then either he or Kawakami hung up (or when the phone fell on the ground), and Takai flung his phone at the window, hoping to scrape its screen and have the police understand he had recorded his killer's words, such contemptible words.

After the case, Heiji hands Jodie back her camera, apologising for using her as a test subject, but actually, to be very realistic, the reconstitution needed the "victim" to be completely unaware of it, just like Takai was. The police still believe it was very dangerous. Jodie says it was very pleasant actually, and asks Heiji's name, and Heiji asks her first to answer his text message. She says she is very skilled at speaking English, but Heiji doesn't seem to be very good at it as for him. She explains that, when she asked him "You're not an ordinary teenager, are you ?", Heiji answered "Yes, yes, I am a very ordinary teenager". She asked it in Japanese, and Heiji replied in English-Japanese, which means either he doesn't know how to speak English properly, or he wanted to answer in English. But the English answer to that "tag" is "Yes, I am (ordinary)", and Heiji said or meant "Yes, I am not (ordinary)". Japanese who are good at English usually answer to that "tag" by "Yes, I am (ordinary)" or "No, I am (ordinary)". Yet, Heiji confused everything and actually said he was both ordinary and extraordinary... Then either he's bad at English or he's lying, and Jodie assures she's a true English teacher. However, Heiji startles her replying, in excellent English, that he never pretended not to be able to speak English, he actually meant it in English, but silence is way better anyway than her funnily disguised Japanese. He explains Jodie actually speaks perfect Japanese, and pretends the opposite in order to be considered as a "poor foreigner", and not to be considered too seriously, while actually she is. Heiji heard her Japanese accent and it's clear she's forcing herself to speak "bad" Japanese. He then leaves with Conan, saying he'll discuss it more broadly with her next time, bidding her "Sayonara". Megure and Takagi comment on the fact that if they had known earlier Jodie was so good at Japanese, they wouldn't have asked her to take part to the reconstitution, or at least they would have explained her everything. Jodie suddenly thinks to something and checks her camera, only to find the roll is missing indeed - it's unclear if she expected it or not.

On their way home, Conan and Heiji discuss Jodie's "fishiness", since Heiji realised she took several pictures of them in secret. She also pretended to be having a bath when they rang, which is false : Conan and Heiji noticed it when searching the bathroom, the hairdryer was still hot, and there was still some wet body moisturising lotion on the floor. This means she had already taken her bath when they rang, and she was already dry, and she wasn't interrupted in her bath at all or hadn't started it at all. She actually needed some time to hide her "important things" and quickly wetted her hair and body again with hot water, along with the bath, and left some of her hair in the sinks, and all the rest, in order to make them believe she took so much time because she was in the water and needed to dry off, while it wasn't the case at all actually. Heiji says however he's got the roll now, yet he doesn't believe Jodie is such a bad woman, though she's quite weird. Moreover, he doesn't find any likeness between her and Chris Vineyard - depsite the "big breasts". Conan says he's probably right but can't help thinking about something : she's not that bad, as long as this is her true face... Heiji asks him to speak his mind, but Conan switch gears and advises him to go back to Osaka as quick as possible to meet Kazuha, since she's probably still waiting. Before leaving, Heiji recommends his friend to be very cautious, given that person who stole the documents is like an invisible enemy, someone who is able to steal classified police documents in the headquarters and send them back neatly as if nothing had happened. He asks Shinichi to call him if he ever spots shifty people around. As Heiji rushes away, Conan inwardly comments that he isn't suspecting only Jodie, but also two other people, of being very sleazy.

Alone in her flat, Jodie mysteriously and darkly comments on Heiji Hattori, son of Osaka's Prefectural Police Chief Heizo Hattori, being a very clever and interesting guy, and being, just like Shinichi Kudo, a private eye. Saying so, she uncouples her bathroom's mirror from its frame, revealing dozens of pictures among which two pictures of Conan and Ran with "Cool Guy" and "Angel" written respectively on each (the exact same as in Vermouth's/Chris Vineyard's room, Escalator Case, Vol. 34), pictures from the Mouri Agency, from Ran's high school or Conan's primary shcool, one picture from the School Play Case (Vol. 26) on which Shinichi is featured in his knight disguise along with Ran, Heiji and Kazuha, and one from the same case featuring Sonoko and Dr. Araide.

People

Chika Shimoda
	30 years old Office worker

Michiya Nakamachi
	28 years old Office worker

Noboru Kawakami
	33 years old Office worker

Takai
	Victim (fell)

Major events

• Heiji and Shinichi begin to suspect that Chris Vinyard was the accomplice of Pisco and also a member of the organization...then they begin to suspect that Jodie is Chris Vinyard and decide to investigate...
• At the end of the case Shinichi and Heiji come to the conclusion that Jodie is very suspicious and they should not let down their guard.
• Kazuha angrily calls Heiji, because he was supposed to take her out on a dinner date!

Soccer Supporter Case

Characters introduced

Ryusuke Higo
	Soccer player for Big Osaka

Sharon Vineyard
	Deceased? Famous American actress Yukiko Kudo's good friend

File 344 - The Storm of Booing

Agasa and the DBs have been to the derby between Tokyo Spirits and Noir Tokyo. The former won the match, and everyone is leaving the stadium towards the train station. On their way back, the DBs comment on the super-duper match they've just watched, and also on the supporters' constantly booing Ryusuke Higo from Big Osaka during a previous match against Noir some time ago. Ai says this is perfectly normal for a traitor, they have no place where to shelter at all. Higo "betrayed" his Noir team when he left them for Big Osaka, then it's probably well deserved. Conan says it's rather because Higo has still not scored any goals for five days now, since the tournament started. There's also a hearsay about Higo's possibly leaving once again his team to go and play in Spanish League. Ai says if this rumour were justified, then that would be the best he could do, running away from all this shame and suffering, to play in a faraway stadium where none will boo him anymore. Conan wonders what she is thinking to, while the DBs realise today at 5 PM there's actually a match in which Higo is playing. They watch it on a street TV, and notice Higo doesn't play properly, probably due to the thunder of booing in the audience. A passer-by, Kadotake Akano, says Higo deserves well his fate for having left his Noir Tokyo team, he adds traitors who fall down to hell never get over it. He then leaves laughing out loud, and Conan says Akano is a notorious superviolent hooligan who keeps picking up fights with supporters during and after matches, and he goes as far as encouraging the bullying, beating-up and sometimes killing of supporters he dislikes. His "Tokyo Hooligan" website prompted his blacklisting from several stadiums, fearing he might cause big trouble.

Conan secretly asks Agasa what information he's found so far about Chris Vineyard, and the professor says Chris's private life remains a complete mystery, while her mother Sharon's is known from everyone. The only time Chris appeared in public, except during filmings, was at her mother's funeral, last year. The event was so important it was even broadcast on Japanese TV. Tabloids' reporters harassed her with questions such as which school she attended, if she were on bad terms with her late mother, who her father was, was the man whom she allegedly had an affair with at the moment at the funeral too, etc. She only gave a "no comment" answer, and a reporter eventually asked her if this was because these truths could be detrimental to her if they were to be disclosed. She turned her back on her mother's coffin, and, smiling, she said " a secret makes a woman woman". Agasa remembers a very famous Japanese actress looking like Yukiko Kudo was seen among the cortege, but none seems to know who she was, since Chris's words had caught all and everyone's attention around. Conan stands wondering, and Agasa asks him if Chris Vineyard really belongs to the Black Organization, to which Conan answers if it were to be the case, she would then be a very, very problematic enemy. Agasa thinks Shinichi is still trying to conceal something from him, and Conan just says actually as an actress she's used to lie and fake reality, then she could lead them to red herrings very easily.

Conan suggests they all take the train now and go back home, while Ai is looking at Higo's match with some strange apprehension. The train is overcrowded with supporters from both teams, to the point they're all packed like sardines in a can. This is all because Genta wanted to take the first train to be quickly at home in order to watch Higo's match on his TV. Akano is also on the train, complaining aloud about the overcrowding. Mitsuhiko is listening to the match on his portable radio, and Ai puts her head and ear against his's in order to listen more carefully to the match results. Mitsuhiko blushes and tells her Higo's teammates now hesitate to pass the ball to him due to the audience's booing being unbearable now. Ai is saddened by this and asks him to tell her if there's any breaking news about him later on. Conan notices her state of mind, and suddenly the train brakes abruptly, and Conan sees Akano being stabbed to death by an unknown assailant. At Haido Station, the train is emptied at last due to most of the supporters leaving it for the subway, and Conan and co gaze awe-sricken at Akano's bloody corpse on the floor, next to a dagger.

File 345 - The Suspicious Supporters

Conan rushes out of the train towards a station manager, asking the latter to stop all trains immediately, and to tell his colleagues to control the tickets of every supporter leaving the station, since somebody was murdered by one of them in one of the train's carriages. Especially, they should keep aside those who bought their tickets before 5 PM, and he asks him to do it very quickly, or else the killer will escape. The police is called and Megure rapidly turns up. They recognise Akano, the infamous violent hooligan. It seems that the dagger found next to him, and which was used to kill him, is quite rare, with handmade embed patterns. Takagi called all resellers in Japan but they one and all told him it's something which was made in a foreign country, therefore it'll take a great deal of time to find the owner. Given the train was overcrowded, there are no witnesses of the crime at all. People started to realise there was a corpse only when all supporters left the train towards the subway stations. Nobody seemed fishy since they were all dressed in the same way, whether it was Tokyo Spirits or Noir Tokyo. The station manager tells Megure his colleagues kept aside three supporters, just as Conan had suggested him to do. Conan explains it's impossible to commit such a murder, among the crowd, and in a train, without having thought about it way beforehand. The murderer was probably stalking Akano, and bought a ticket in advance, which means before the end of the match, probably just before its beginning, so as not to be compelled to queue at the machines at the end, and in order then to follow Akano into his train car without any problems. They just needed to stand not far away from him, and stab him just before they arrived at Haido Station, when the train would brake abruptly, and people would be jostled, and would then one and all leave towards the subway. They just had to slip among them and pretend being a mere traveller. The culprit is probably a supporter, because otherwise people would have remembered their clothing. Moroever, there aren't so many people who buy their tickets in advance, then no wonder they're just three, most people just follow the crowd and buy their tickets at the same time, queueing, etc. And the match precisely ended at around 5 PM. However, Megure points at the fact they may have changed clothes in the station before leaving, or they could even just have gone to take another train in the opposite direction, or somewhere else. Conan says both suppositions are impossible : the restroom is located outside the station, then just after the "barrier" set up by the train station employees. And if the murderer had been to another platform, they would have been quickly spotted, since they probably would be the only one to wear a football shirt. And they couldn't of course change clothes on the platform, it would have seemed too much suspicious. The safest way to change clothes without being noticed at all was to go to the restroom located outside the station, and escape amidst the supporting crowd. They also knew that Haido Station is an important hub where many people get in/off the subways/trains.

The police are amazed, as usual, and Takagi asks Conan how come did he think to all this in a heartbeat right after the murder? Conan tries to protect hismelf claiming Agasa is the one who thought to everything and sent him to tell those things to the managers. Conan tells the police Agasa wanted them to question the three supporters kept aside. All three indeed bought their tickets beforehand in order to avoid queueing at the machines. Yet, they say it doesn't mean they're the murderers. Though, it's strange all of them got into a crowded train, since with their tickets already in hand at the end of the derby, they could just have caught the first carriage, instead of getting into an overcrowded one like all those who queued. Hazue Kira, a Noir supporter, explains she was in the central bleachers where supporters of both teams are mingled, and she got in a little fight with some Spirits supporters and wasted time, forcing her to take the next crowded train. Mitsuaki Funato, a Spirits supporter, had a phone call from his boss towards the end of the match, because he had lied to his boss about his absence so as to come here discreetly and skip work, and got severely told off by the latter, and the blaming was so long that it lasted until late after the match, and Funato even missed the goal of the "ace wingers" (Naoki and Hideo). Etsutoshi Aoba, a Noir supporter, got so shocked of the match's result, that he stood gaping in a blackout state for a long time even after the derby, and also wasted time. They can't remember in which carriage they got on, yet Conan is pretty sure they were all into overcrowded ones. First, Kira's left hand's ring left a mark on her right elbow because she was tightly holding her handbag's strap and zipper due to the place being crowded and therefore very suitable to stealing property, for a very long time. Then, Ooba crossed his arms for a long time during the fare, and left marks of his left wrist's watch on his right arm, due to him not wanting to be accused of having wandering hands. Lastly, Funato tightly held his leather bag between his hands and still has marks of it on all of his fingers, for the same reason as Kira, to avoid pickpocketing. Conan is almost sure it was like that, because the train was very, very crowded, and people could easily stand in the same position for a very long time, with crossed arms or without grabbing hold to bars or handles in the train, and without even being able to sit down. The three acknowledge this is all true, and Conan says this is what Agasa told him to say... Megure tells the suspects to try and remember as much as possible in which train car they were. Conan looks at the suspects' football shirts : Aoba wears Higo's "9" shirt, Kira wears a black Noir shirt, and Funato wears a black and white striped Spirits shirt, and Conan finds something's not quite right on them.

Ai is nowhere to be found, Mitsuhiko last saw her when she told him she was going to the restroom. Mitsuhiko laments that he's lost his radio due to the crowd movement, he hopes someone found it and brought it to the lost property's. Ai is actually watching Higo's match at the station's giant screen, and is shocked to see Higo's missed his goal, as if "the sky had abandoned him". Ai is joined by Conan and is startled when the latter tells her she's indeed just like Higo, leaving the Organization to go to another "better team", "betraying them" in a way. And just like Ai, Higo had a really good reason to leave them. Higo's father had had a secret child with his mistress : Rikuo Endo. Rikuo and Higo though got on very well, and decided to go and play together in first division in Noir Tokyo. Few people know that story actually, and they keep it secret. Shinichi was told that story by Higo and Endo themselves, he met them by chance some years ago, when he was in first-level secondary school, while he was playing a football match at school. They had come among the audience to see the match, and they told Shinichi he had the potential to join Noir Tokyo like they were about to do, his half-brother and himself. Though, this was all a trap, because two years after the brothers' arrival, Endo was told he lacked the necessary potential to stay with them and become a great player, whereas Higo had it actually. Endo figured out he was taken on for the sole ground of being Higo's brother and then being the only one able to attract him into their team, since they knew Higo was a great player, but Endo wasn't. Higo got it as well and soon left the team just like his brother did, and joined this latter in their new Big Osaka team, because he wanted to play there together with his brother. Endo became instructor there, and Higo player. It's exactly the same thing with Ai and her sister Akemi actually - the teams standing for the Organization and the "life outside the Organization".

Suddenly, their attention goes back to the screen as Higo gets knocked down by another player, but the referee doesn't seem to bat an eyelid, and the supporters rejoice when seeing him badly hurt, and keep on booing. Ai's mood turns darker when listening to the anchor saying "Higo doesn't seem to have any ally in this world, though it's a shame because he's so talented..." She leaves while Conan's attention is completely monopolised by the match, and he suddenly discovers something, looking at his derby ticket. He then inwardly declares he knows who the murderer is and that the latter has lied and that he still has the evidence of their doing. Ai goes straight away to the staircase leading to the platform just in front of where the DBs and Agasa are, and she seems to be preparing to take a train going in the opposite direction and leaving Tokyo...

File 346 - The Fake Supporter

Takagi tells Megure they’ve finished carefully examining the whole train and carriage where the murder took place, and brought it to the warehouse. Megure says now they’ll take the three suspects to the station to question them more thoroughly, though they refuse to follow him since he’s got no tangible evidence they’ve committed the murder. Conan and Agasa turn up saying the three suspects should leave in no case, unless Megure takes the chance to let slip away some important crime evidence.

  Show spoilers »

Conan impersonates Agasa saying the murderer is the « fake supporter » who lied to them. Kira says this might be Funato since he said « ace wingers » when referring to Hideo and Naoki, while actually this is a very old-fashioned expression, nowadays people don’t say « wingers » but « centre-forward players », modern football isn’t played using « winger » strategy anymore. Funato rationalises saying he’s quite old-fashioned indeed and isn’t such a football aficionado as them, he just heard about the « aces » and knew they had scored a goal, he didn’t lie at all. Agasa says it’s indeed the case, he’s only made a a language mistake, and the killer isn’t someone who isn’t a football fan but someone who hasn’t seen the match at all while they claim they have. He goes on explaining that the Spirits-Noir was a very important derby, so that thousands and thousands of people had come to see it, and then it’s very unlikely the murderer was among them, since they would have got lost into the crowd after the game, and would have eventually lost sight of the victim, Akano. The killer instead probably waited in the stadium’s bathroom listening to the match with a portable radio, and then quickly left once the game was over, in order to stand at a strategic place and wait for Akano to emerge, and track him down right after. In order to know who that murderer is, Agasa suggests they all once more listen to the suspects' testimonies. Kira claims she was in the central bleachers and perfectly saw the « aces »’ goal, which annoyed her a lot, to the point she easily got in a fight with Spirits’ supporters. Aoba claims he was watching the game in the bleachers’ curve section, with other Noir’s supporters, behind Spirits’ goal, and very perfectly saw Hideo’s and Naoki’s double goal. Funato was near the curve section, on the opposite side, among Spirits’ supporters, and, tough luck, missed the boys’ goal since his boss called him right at that moment, and just saw the players afterwards, hearing that both had scored the victorious point. The suspects believe Agasa wants to check if they’ve really been to the match, and they one and all show their tickets to prove it. The DBs say they were in the central section too and saw the goal but never notice Kira around, to which she answers it’s perfectly normal since there were hundreds of people, and their seats were probably far away from hers. Agasa asks her then in which direction Hide and Nao were running before shooting, and she says she saw them coming from the right, towards the left, and shooting then. Agasa says then according to her viewpoint, Noir’s goal is on the left.

Agasa tells Takagi Tokyo Spirits were the home team for the derby, and Noir was the away one, something which is clearly written on the game’s tickets. As a rule, in J-League, the home team’s supporters’ seats are mostly on the left according to the central bleachers’ viewpoint, and some of them can be seated behind Noir’s goal, which is on the left. That's the complete opposite for the away’s : they’re all on the right from the central and can be seated behind Spirits’ goal. This means in truth Naoki scored from left to right, in front of his team’s supporters, therefore it’s impossible someone from the complete opposite side could have very perfectly seen how it was all done, yet it’s what Etsutoshi Aoba told them. Because he probably heard it on the radio, he thought they had scored a goal in front of Noir supporters, since it was Noir’s goal, forgetting completely about the real seat arrangement in J-League, which proves he wasn’t seating in the bleachers but was instead in the bathroom or so. Aoba explains hismelf saying he did a language mistake just like Funato, he meant the boys were coming closer to the opposing goal, and that was just a slip of the tongue to refer to Noir, due to the questioning’s tension. He says he has the ticket proving he was seating with Noir’s supporters. Agasa says it’s false : if he really had been among Noir supporters with a « Ryusuke Higo »’s « 9 » football shirt like the one he is wearing, he would have been utterly lynched, and people would have remembered it - because Higo is considered a traitor by Noir. Megure says this is not tangible proof though, and Agasa tells him to look around Aoba’s underarm : since it’s quite weird to see someone holding a dagger in public, or to see someone taking one out of a bag, Aoba probably crossed his arms during the whole fare to conceal the dagger he had in hand, and given he’s wearing a T-shirt with short sleeves, the dagger’s sheath’s carved patterns left marks around his underarm, which is quite tangible proof. He had got into the train crossing his arms, and as the train was reaching Haido Station, he uncrossed his arms and stabbed Akano when the train braked. Of course, he wore a glove on his right hand, but it didn't prevent the sheath mark from being imprinted on the underarm. Megure tells the expert to take a picture of it, while Ooba comments on this irony: to avenge his brother, he had gathered material about football and had learned to be the « perfect supporter », which was completely useless in the end.

He says his twin brother was murdered by Akano one year ago. After attending a Noir match, his twin came back home covered with injuries and bruises, saying he had missed a step in the stairs and fallen down it. In the evening, he suddenly suffered a horribly painful headache and had to be taken to the hospital in emergency. He lost consciousness right after and died three days later, following a brain hemorrhage caused by a head trauma. Aoba figured out what happened when visiting « Tokyo Hooligans », Akano’s site his brother would often visit too, and reading about Akano's rejoicing about pushing someone « stupid » down the stairs just because he had been coming for quite a long time at the stadium. Aoba then went to meet Akano who got surprised « he was still alive ». Then he decided to avenge his brother’s death wearing the latter’s favourite Higo shirt, which actually kind of brought him bad luck, and which is maybe why Akano killed his twin that day. Wearing this shirt today was maybe a warning from his twin telling him not to revenge him, because on his way Aoba didn’t meet any Noir supporters, who could have blamed him for wearing that shirt, and if this had been the case, he could just have listened to them and probably gone back home, and things would have had a completely different turn. He is then taken away by police, as everyone gaze at him flabbergasted and thinking.

The DBs then wonder where Ai has been, and Ayumi spots her on the opposite platform, wondering what she’s doing there since the Beika train isn’t on that platform. Conan gets it Ai is fed up with her « traitor » life and wants to escape once again, forever, far away from Tokyo. A train arrives there and Conan rushes to that platform, hoping to stop her. Once there though, it’s too late, the train leaves, and Conan shouts Ai’s name in anger and despair. She has actually remained on the platform, asking him why he’s shouting that loud. She ironically tells him she didn’t run away, instead she had beforehand asked a station manager if he had found any radio around, and she was told to ask the cleaner on the opposite platform, who actually found Mitsuhiko’s radio. Conan seems relieved and Ai reminds him of his words to her not to always run away, and to face her fate, and also his oath to protect her whatever occurs. She realises Conan and co care about her a lot, and Conan is happy she took that decision, though she says she’s not the kind of girls in constant need of protection. Conan casually informs her Higo eventually scored a golden victorious goal for his team, and that all the booing and whistling at him were to prompt him to do his best, and eventually they got even louder after his goal, and turned into joyful and warm cheering-up. Ai coldly tells him she doesn't care a fig about it, she’s not a seven-year-old football fanatic like him. But actually, she secretly goes and watches Higo’s victorious smile on the giant screen, and seems to enjoy it a lot, and Conan spots her from far and inwardly comments on her being a liar, as usual, and that she is betraying her supposed poker face.

People

Kadotake Akano
	Victim (stabbed) 48 years old Noir Tokyo fan and self-styled hooligan

Hasue Kira
	24 years old Noir Tokyo fan

Mitsuaki Funato
	33 years old Tokyo Spirits fan

Etsutoshi Oba
	29 years old Noir Tokyo fan

Rikuo Endo
100px	Soccer player for Noir Tokyo Higo's older half-brother

Major events

• Takagi starts to question Conan's intelligence by asking him directly "How are you deducing like that?".
• Haibara feels an emotional connection with the soccer player Higo.
• Haibara ask conan "You'll protect me, right?". Conan answered "Yeah..." This might state something about Haibara's feelings for Conan.

Chinatown Murder Case

Characters introduced

Jugo Yokomizo
	Police Inspector Twin brother of Sango Yokomizo

File 347 - Raining Deja-Vu

Ran has an important history exam the next day. Due to the many society activities that she has been taking part in, she has to mug up on it at the eleventh hour, while on the way to Yokohama’s Chinatown to have dinner. Conan is surprised that she is not getting carsick, and Ran answers that she is tougher than she looks.

It suddenly starts raining, and Ran starts having flashbacks of a scene that she is unable to date back exactly; the scene features Shuichi Akai looking daggers at her in a city unfamiliar to her, Akai standing still under the rain. Ran does not understand why she keeps connecting that scene to another one whenever she has it in mind, a scene where a slightly younger Shinichi is also standing still in the rain, completely soaked, with a warm but also melancholy smile on his face. As she dives deep into her memories, Conan calls her and asks her if everything is alright, and Ran again answers in affirmative. Despite this, Ran soon starts having a kind of bad fever and starts having blurred vision. She insists that it is not a big deal, but Conan decides to keep an eye on her anyways.

The subsequent pages of this file take place in the Chinese restaurant that Kogoro, Ran and Conan plan to have dinner in. At one table, four movie workers have gotten together to discuss what to do with their new movie when shooting cannot start due to the heroine having broken her leg in an accident. Kaizo Isogami, the film director, suggests they simply stop producing the “cursed movie”. Shiro Kawabata, the producer, however, refuses to give up on the sequel to such a blockbuster that they shot previously. The assistant director, Motohiro Ito, agrees with Isogami, reminding his colleagues that the actress has been refusing to shoot for a long time before changing her mind, and that her getting injured immediately after that cannot just be plain bad luck. And finally there is Keigo Kitaura, the author of the book on which the movie is based, who is even more opposed to producing the movie, and predicts that continuing regardless might lead to another death (“another” because someone died during the shooting of the first movie).

Kawabata, who does not seem to be moved by his colleagues’ pessimism, wonders if there is a young and beautiful girl skilled at acrobatics who can replace the injured actress. Kogoro, Ran and Conan enter the restaurant at this moment; despite showing the waiters their voucher, they are still refused entry. As Kogoro refuses to leave, a beefcake waiter approaches him and tries to make him leave by force. This prompts Ran to stop the waiter with a karate move, telling him firmly that unless an explanation is given, they will not be forced out. The waiter is scared by Ran’s move, and points out while sweating that the voucher only works on Sundays and public holidays. After Conan confirms this, Ran apologizes and prepares to leave, but she is stopped by Kawabata, who is deeply impressed and sees in Ran the new heroine of his movie. He subsequently invites all three to eat at his table and proposes that Ran take the leading role in the movie. Kogoro and Conan initially suggest that Ran refuses, but their eyes start sparkling after Kawabata points out the many benefits of being a famous actress (being able to know other famous people, to travel around the world etc.). Notwithstanding, before long, their minds change again: Kitaura warns that behind all the fame is the danger of being forced by unethical producers (he is clearly hinting at Kawabata) to shoot pointless love scenes for the film to make money, while Isogami comments that she might even end up dead during a filming session.

At this point, Kawabata asks his colleagues to stop scaring Ran unnecessarily, as “she is just about to agree to an acting career.” As Ran lifts her hands up to protest, saying that she has not made a decision yet, she inadvertently knocks Kawabata's soup bowl and chopsticks onto the floor, staining his trousers as a result. Ran apologizes and proceeds to clean up the mess while Kawabata cleans the stain with his napkin and comforts her. He then moves into the seat between Kogoro and Ran, telling her that they should talk about the matter privately and without Kogoro and Conan sticking their noses into their businesses.

After switching seats, Kawabata notices that someone has ordered Pidans and salted egg crab, much to his distaste (Kawabata is allergic to eggs). Conan, who is determined to stop Ran from even considering an acting career, sneaks into the space between Ran and Kawabata, and starts begging for curry rice. Conan knows that since this is a Chinese restaurant, curry rice will not be on the menu, so asking for it and being told that he will not get it will give him an excuse to throw a tantrum and plead with Ran to leave for another place to eat. The plan goes forwards, but Ran fails to realize Conan’s true intent; she thinks that Conan is just not liking the food. So she gives Conan her steamed dumplings, recalling that he once told her that he loved them. Conan is dismayed by this response, but decides to leave it behind and simply enjoy the dinner. He needs soy sauce and hot sauce to condiment the dumplings, and hence starts turning the turntable to get them. However, whenever he does so, someone else turns it in the opposite direction, resulting in several failed attempts, much to Conan’s annoyance. Ran eventually notices this and grabs them for him, but Conan remains embarrassed.

After a short while, the Peking duck that Kawabata has ordered is served. As Kawabata gets ready to eat the duck, he asks Ran about her favorite actresses. Ran gives him two names: Yukiko Fujimine (who is the mother of a friend of hers since childhood*), and Sharon Vineyard. Ran mentions that Sharon Vineyard passed away a year ago, but, fortunately, she was able to meet her before that, and found her to be a very refined person. Kogoro asks Ran where she met such a celebrity, and Ran decides to not tell him, saying that it is a secret. As for the movie workers, they start commenting on both actresses being indeed very famous and having epic careers, and Ito adds if "that person" were still alive, she could have entered history as well. As Ran asks him who he is referring to, Kawabata shrieks in pain, and drops dead in front of everyone.

Note: this friend is obviously just Shinichi Kudo, and “Fujimine” was the surname of Yukiko before she married.

File 348 - The Misleading Washcloth

The police arrive and start investigating; before long, they find that Kawabata was poisoned by cyanide, which was found in his mouth and on his plate, chopsticks and napkin. Since Kawabata got choked right after tasting the Peking duck, and there was no cyanide in the duck nor on the waiter who served it, the inspector in charge of the case deduces that the person who poisoned Kawabata must have been among his co-workers and invitees. The inspector then turns towards them for questioning, and at once finds Kogoro’s face familiar, although his first instinct is that Kogoro might be a former convict who has served his time in jail or a fugitive on the run.

Kogoro, naturally, cannot believe his ears, explaining that he is Kogoro Mouri, the famous detective. The inspector now manages to recognize Kogoro, and murmurs that he has seen “Bumbling Kogoro” on TV. As Kogoro corrects him, a subordinate of the inspector calls him and reports that except for Kawabata’s napkin, on which there is a great amount of poison, there is no poison anywhere else on the table (including the dishes) and on the chairs. Since Kogoro was sitting on the victim’s right, and Conan was on the left, the inspector believes that only Kogoro could have murdered Kawabata then, as it was very easy for him to switch his own poisoned napkin with Kawabata’s. As the inspector stares at Kogoro, trying to assert dominance, Kogoro starts finding the inspector’s face familiar as well, and after a subordinate calls him “inspector Yokomizo”, Kogoro exclaims that he must be Sango Yokomizo. Kogoro comments that Yokomizo has changed a lot: his hair is much shorter (and the hairstyle is much more normal now), and he is acting much colder.

The inspector, realizing the misunderstanding, clarifies (coldly, of course) that his name is Jugo Yokomizo, and works for the Kanagawa Prefectural Police, unlike his elder brother Sango, who works in Shizuoka Prefecture. He adds that unlike Sango, he does not have respect for and faith in detectives like Kogoro Mouri. Before Kogoro has a chance to respond, Yokomizo is summoned by a subordinate again; he informs him that the police have noticed a stain on Kawabata’s right leg. Ran explains that the stain was due to her accidentally spilling his soup on his trousers, which confuses Yokomizo, prompting him to ask who was sitting next to who. After a series of explanations, it becomes clear that originally, Isogami was sitting on Kawabata’ right; Kitaura was on his left, and Ito was in front of him. After Ran, Conan and Kogoro joined them, they decided to sit between Kawabata and Isogami in that order, with Ran on the immediate right of Kawabata. And finally, after the soup was spilled, Ran and Kawabata switched seats, and Conan, who was on the right of Kawabata, sneaked into the space on his left so that he could act as a buffer.

Conan suggests that the police check if cyanide is present on the stain on Kawabata's trousers, as this will allow them to find out if the napkin was poisoned before he switched seats with Ran, or after. If it was before, then Kogoro can be exonerated, as the poison on the napkin can then be explained by Kawabata mopping the stain up with that napkin. Yokomizo agrees to this suggestion, and the conclusion is that there is no cyanide on the stain, meaning that Kogoro still is the most suspicious person. Kogoro tries to defend himself by arguing that he had no motive at all to murder a man he had just met for the first time, to which Yokomizo answers that he may well have known the victim beforehand, and that it is peculiar that Kawabta decided to scout Ran on first sight. Upon hearing this, Ran gets tense and insists that Kogoro is telling the truth, and that they have never met Kawabata before. As she protests, Ran feels dizzy again; she staggers, and, while holding her head, leans onto the table, spilling a glass of water by accident. Akai’s image again appears in her head, and Ran is now sure that he met him on a rainy day. However, she is not able to put other pieces of memory together into anything coherent; all that goes through her mind is three faces: a blonde, mid-aged woman smiling mysteriously and slily under an umbrella, Akai's infuriated and scary eyes glaring at her, and a soaked-to-the-skin Shinichi trying to tell her something, with a warm and melancholy smile on his face. As Ran tries to listen to and understand the imaginary words of Shinichi, she is interrupted by Conan’s call; he asks her again, in a slightly worried way, if she is really doing fine. Ran says that it is nothing more than dizziness, and Conan sits her on a chair, telling her to rest a little and wait for Kogoro to solve the mystery. However, he inwardly comments that Ran is more than simply "out of sorts", and that she needs to see a doctor as soon as possible.

Conan turns to Yokomizo to tell him about Ran’s worsening condition, but the latter is interrupted by a subordinate, who shows Yokomizo an empty jar (possibly having contained cyanide), which he claims he has found in the restroom's bin. Yokomizo sees this as a further piece of evidence of Kogoro’s guilt (and Kogoro is, understandably, annoyed by this unrelenting stream of accusations), but Conan says that this proves Kogoro innocent, as he has not gone to the restroom once. He adds that when Kawabata switched seats with Ran, he took his napkin with him, for which Kogoro could not have switched it at that moment. Yokomizo is not convinced, and says there must be a way to switch napkins without anyone’s notice. Kogoro suggests that the murderer might have balanced a poisoned napkin on the edge of the turntable; then, upon spinning the turntable, the napkin would fall right near Kawabata. Yokomizo deems this hypothesis ridiculous, and dismisses it impatiently by saying that if the victim’s napkin was within hand reach, there was no way that he would use one that suddenly fell off the turntable by accident. These words remind Conan that when he tried to get the sauces, the turntable was being systematically spinned backwards, such that he could grab neither. He then tries to remember how the dishes were arranged on the table: if we list them clockwise, then it will be beef sauté, followed by stir-fried meat, salted egg crab, Pidan, soy sauce, vinegared pork, steamed dumplings, and hot sauce. Since vinegared pork was in front of Kawabta when he died, soy sauce would have been near Kogoro, and hot sauce near Kitaura. Conan thinks about Kawabata's severe allergy to eggs, and then stares at the Pidan and the salted egg crab, near the napkin.

He suddenly goes to ask a forensic agent if his team has checked every item on or near the table for poison. When he gets an affirmative answer, Conan whispers in his ear, asking him if they have checked "that" as well. This time Conan gets a negative answer, so he asks him to check that spot, and tells the agent that it is actually Kogoro’s request. Conan also inquires whether the forensic team has found unusual things on Kawabata’s napkin, apart from the poison. The agent answers that there is a soup stain, but apart from that there is nothing remarkable. Conan smiles confidently upon hearing this, and thinks to himself that the napkin must have been swapped only after Kawabata was dead; he believes that one of Kawabata’s co-workers did it, and that that person is the murderer. The file ends with Conan confidently gazing at the table, thinking that the evidence is probably still there, and Ran sitting at the table, gasping and still holding her head, feeling very feeble.

File 349 - Cleared Memory

Yokomizo eventually concludes the killer went to the restroom to soak his napkin with poison, and then came back, finding a way and moment to switch his’s with Kawabata’s, all the while being seated at the table, in broad daylight, in front of Mouri and co. Kogoro believes the killer used transparent fishing line and resorted to a rod and hook to carry the napkin and drop it near Kawabata…these are special techniques only movie workers know, though Yokomizo says this is utterly ridiculous. All of a sudden, Kogoro feels as if he’s about to sleep, but actually sneezes, and complains about the restaurant’s air conditioning being quite excessive. Yokomizo remembers his brother told him Kogoro would often make up cheesy deductions, but in fact it’s a trick to drop everyone’s guard, and he’s then immediately falling to sleep, starting his true deduction show, with a weird voice and a completely changed behaviour. He then turns unrecognisable, as if he were going into a trance. Though Jugo says his brother always makes a song and dances about it. Yet, they all remark Kogoro is falling asleep indeed, secretly anesthetised by Conan, who sticks a micro transmitter on his back. Kogoro/Conan says discussions have been running for too long now, it’s time to sit down at the same places everyone were when Kawabata died. Yokomizo will play the victim, and Ran agrees to resume her previous role, despite being exhausted and feeling very bad. Kogoro will now tell about the weird things that occurred right before the murder.

  Show spoilers »

Conan pops out saying someone at the table was constantly turning it backwards just to annoy him and prevent him from getting the soy or hot sauces. Conan had actually tried one to three times to get them, turning the table leftwards/rightwards to do so, but each time it would always turn backwards, and he would never get the sauces until Ran would grab them for him without turning the table. To make things clearer, Conan turns the table leftwards/rightwards, and this time none seems to « bother him ». Yokomizo asks Kogoro what’s the link between the boy’s stories and the murder, and Conan tells him not to bother asking Kogoro, since the latter told Conan there was no need to explain to him, given the culprit would eventually give himself away in a moment. Suddenly, a waiter brings Conan a Bao (Chinese steamed brioche), and Yokomizo asks him what the heck this means, the waiter answering Kogoro had asked him to bring Conan something to eat. Conan raises the Bao to his lips, and suddenly Kaizo Isogami hollers to him, ordering him to stop it. He goes on explaining his comrades there’s been a murder by poisoning at that table, and then there’s probably still poison on it, it’s dangerous for someone to eat anything after having touched the table. Yokomizo says the police have carefully checked the table and found absolutely no trace of poison on it. Kogoro says Isogami is right, there’s probably still poison on the table, Conan has laid his fingers on it « by accident », in a place human eyes can’t have access to, a blind spot. Yokomizo loses patience and orders Kogoro to speak his mind about the killer and poison right now. Kogoro asks Yokomizo how he would usually turn the table to get anything on it. Yokomizo says he would just put his hand on it and spin it. But Kogoro asks him now how he would do it if there were two plates of Chinese food next to each other on the edge of the table, just like the Pidan and egg crab, and Yokomizo replies he would just grab between his fingers the edge of the table between the two plates, and turn it accordingly. Yokomizo suddenly realises the killer put some poison under the table on that particular spot. When someone would grab it with their fingers, they would eventually get some poison on them and possibly die later on. Yet, Yokomizo says there were very fewer chances the victim would grab the edge of the table at this very particular spot, except, as Kogoro clarifies it, if he had in his sight two plates of egg meals he would loathe, and therefore he would immediately grab the under spot over which the plates are, and rapidly turn the table away not to have them anymore in his sight. If someone had blocked the spinning of the table, then the victim could even have touched that spot several times to turn away the table again.

Now Kogoro tells Yokomizo to tell him where the soy and hot sauces are when the egg meals are just in front of Kawabata : the soy sauce is near Conan, on the victim’s left, and the hot sauce is near Kawabata, who is sitting on the left of Conan, next to Ran. This means when Conan tried to get the hot sauce, he would have needed to turn the table rightwards, and then he would have prevented Kawabata from touching the spot, or would have possibly caused someone else to come in contact with it. The killer actually wanted to have the egg meals stand in Kawabata’s sight for a long time, in order to annoy and repel the latter, and have him touch the spot quickly and unconsciously so as to turn the table away, which is why he always prevented Conan from turning it first, until Kawabata had done it yet. Though, Yokomizo can’t explain why the killer did the same previously with the soy sauce, and Kogoro says the sauce was near himself at that moment and not near Conan, which means the egg meals were in front of the killer, the latter needing in fact some time to put poison under the table on the specific spot. This is why he would constantly stop Conan from spinning the table, since it would hamper him in his meticulous « work ». Also, the killer needed the poison to be added right before the Peking duck would be served. Indeed, Peking duck is usually eaten using one’s own fingers, and the murderer needed Kawabata to have poison on his fingers right before eating duck, and die afterwards accordingly. To do so, it was paramount to add poison on the spot just before, and the culprit couldn’t let anyone turn the table at that very moment, which would prevent poison from being added, and from being touched and then ingested by the victim. He couldn’t add poison before because it was very likely then someone would touch the spot and get poisoned, or that Kawabata would die before eating duck, which would have seemed too suspicious then. Therefore, the murderer is the person who had the egg plates right in front of him when Conan tried first to get the soy sauce, the person who had shouted to Conan, fearing he might get poisoned after unconsciously laying his fingers right on the spot : Kaizo Isogami.

The fact that there is also cyanide on Kawabata’s napkin - while it is supposed not to have been in contact with the spot ever - means that napkin is actually Isogami’s. He went to the restroom to soak it with poison beforehand, and then came back. When he saw Kawabata was mopping up a soup stain on his trousers with his own napkin, he also discreetly soaked his’s into his own soup bowl, exactly the same as Kawabata. When the latter died, Isogami rushed pretending to help him, but actually secretly took Kawabata’s napkin away, and dropped his’s instead, to make police believe he was poisoned due to the cyanide on his own napkin. Isogami deliberately put an enormous amount of poison on the napkin in order to fool police into believing it. He also had to use a napkin so as to put poison on the blind spot, he couldn’t use his fingers, it was too risky. He wanted therefore police to believe the napkin was really Kawabata’s due to the soup the latter had to mop up, yet Kawabata wore blue jeans, and when he mopped the stain up, he probably did it, as people usually do, quite vigorously, and then probably some of the jeans’ blue color bled onto the white napkin. Why is Isogami’s napkin having such a colour on it while it isn’t supposed to be Kawabata’s but his own ? Yet, this isn’t incontrovertible evidence, someone could well have left that napkin who isn’t Isogami’s to have him accused of the murder. Kogoro actually wishes Isogami would confess, given he’s still got his clear and good conscience, due to him telling off Conan in order to protect him because he was going to eat with poisoned fingers - which wasn’t the case actually since Kogoro had previously asked the forensics to clean the spot before the reconstitution. Isogami agrees, saying though he has « clear and good conscience », Kawabata didn’t, otherwise he wouldn’t have deliberately caused the death of Rika, the actress who died last year. It wasn’t a shooting accident at all : Rika was the perfectionist type who would always want to play her own scenes without any stunt performer, even the most dangerous scenes with biking for instance. Kawabata, as a sensible and ethical producer, was expected to strictly say no to it, though he would always agree, despite death danger, saying this would reduce costs and make things even more realistic. Ito says Isogami hated Rika though, he said she was nothing else but an ugly, arrogant, stupid and unskilled novice, then why would he seek to revenge her. Isogami says this stupid comment accounts for why Ito would probably always remain an assistant director : even if a filmmaker hates an actor, most of the time, they end up falling in love with the actor, by dint of always looking at them and following their slightest moves and reactions through their own lens, for days and months, no matter how unskilled or ugly the actor is.

As Isogami is about to be taken to the precinct by Yokomizo, he congratulates Kogoro for tricking him with Conan and the poisoned spot, but eventually asks him how he would have forced him to tell the truth if his « clear and good consciousness » had been absent and he had let Conan die. Kogoro says if this had been the case then he would have certainly used very bad, hurting, unbearable words to get Isogami to a corner. The latter says then he’s rather unlucky, he should complain to God who made such a scrupulous man out of him, anyway he doesn’t believe in God or whatever, and he would have loved to film Kogoro cornering him in that case. Ran suddenly reacts to the word « God », and pictures herself in a huge city with skyscrappers and Western-style buildings, in the rain, hearing a voice saying « Do you believe in the existence of God ? ». She remembers it to be the voice of a very calm woman, and she starts feeling very dizzy, sweating a lot, and she also hears the resonating sound of the rain, with Shinichi’s picture saying « Do you really need a reason ? ». Akai’s bleak and angry face also yells at her «  Move it ! ». She pictures Sharon Vineyard in the rain as well, under an umbrella, telling her in a both sad and happy way « Angels have never smiled upon me, not even a single time ». Ran eventually remembers everything, where she met all those people and why Shinichi was there too, but ends up collapsing and passing out on the floor.

People

Kaizo Isogami
	52 years old Movie director

Motohiro Ito
	38 years old Assistant director

Keigo Kitaura
	29 years old Writer

Shiro Kawabata
	Victim (poison) 46 years old Producer

Rika
	Deceased (bike accident) Actress

Major events

• Ran is feeling ill! Conan gets incredibly worried about her. Inspector Yokomizo establishes that he is very different from his brother, and is not very fond of him.
• Ran's past, including her thoughts on where exactly she has seen Shuichi Akai, keep bugging her.
• Inspector Yokomizo is a much different Inspector from his brother, not believing in Kogoro at all.
• Conan is incredibly concerned about Ran. Is she OK?
• Ran's past and her memories finally return to her, after she has passed out.

Golden Apple Case

Characters introduced

Toichi Kuroba
	Kaito Kuroba's father World famous magician The first Kaitou Kid

File 350 - Golden Apple 1

Ran's fever is very high and Yokomizo decides to take her to Bay Bridge Hospital as quick as possible. She has a vision of Conan calling her name aloud in fear, but instead pictures Shinichi, and dreams about a case in New York, where she had been invited with Shinichi by Yukiko Kudo. She also comments on Shinichi being always here to save her, once again, just like that time, just like usual, every time she’s in danger. This always annoys her a bit, but she’s happy in the end.

Shinichi and Ran had actually taken the plane to Los Angeles from Tokyo, and Shinichi had solved a murder during the flight, his very first case (Vol. 21). However, once they'd arrived, they were told by Yukiko actually they'd all take another plane to New York, since she hardly managed to get tickets for the must-see opera "Golden Apple", in Broadway's Phantom Theater. However, the show is tonight, and they need to rush, especially because the person who got tickets for the three proposed to show them around the main artists' rooms, backstage, and they accordingly need to be at the theater at least one hour before the curtain riser. Yukiko realises she's actually one hour late due to her forgetting to set her watch fast to summertime. She's driving her beautiful Type-E Jaguar vintage car, and shows the teenagers what it is made of, stepping on it to arrive on time. Ran had been sleeping for a long time now due to the case in the plane frightening her so much she couldn't sleep at all afterwards, and also due to the length of the trip. She only wakes up in the Jaguar, in the back, at night, gazing at the Statue of Liberty in the distance, while Yukiko is driving with Shinichi on her left. She’s quite disappointed Shinichi hasn’t woken her up earlier, she wishes she had seen Brooklyn Bridge, but Shinichi says she was sleeping like a log and he didn't want to bother her. Besides, she can’t understand how Shinichi manages to find sleep in full satisfaction after having solved a recent murder, and he answers her none is always really satisfied « my dear Watson ». Yukiko tells them not to quarrel in the loveliest and most romantic place for lovers : Miss Liberty/Jiyu no Megami.

Shinichi believes her mom’s mild « English-lady-style » driving will never take them to Broadway on time. But Yukiko, saying Jaguar cars were designed to save their passengers, advises her son to fasten his seat belt, and Ran to do so and grab tight hold of anything she’ll find in the back, since she’s going to speed up…a lot. She starts hurtling down the highway, overtaking the other cars at full speed, Shinichi reminding her that, though that car drove the French 24-Hours’ Le Mans’ Race with its 276 hp, though a very skilled New York mechanic of her friends had a look at it, it’s been in reparation recently and she shouldn’t flog it too much. She takes a first tight bend and the right side of the car lifts, frightening both teenagers. Though, Yukiko seems to be a very skilled driver. Shinichi remarks police cars are here and there on the bridge, and her mom replies they’re driving on the other way, and they’ll only get it too late there is a road hog around. Yukiko asks her son to do her a favour, because the next bend is a really, really tight one. Shinichi gets her and takes Ran in his arms, asking her to grab tight hold of him while he sits on the open window, holding tightly the car’s door and bodywork, and lastly lying backwards, with Ran on him. Indeed, Yukiko’s full-speed-taken bend forces the car to do an almost 90° lifting, which would have badly hurt the teenagers if they had stayed at their seats. Shinichi seems very confident while Ran is awe-stricken, but trusts her friend. Once it’s over, Ran shouts at Shinichi, still panic-stricken, for saying it was « not so scary after all ». As they leave the bridge and highway at full speed, and eventually turn up in Broadway, they're arrested by a police car, and Yukiko is about to be in some great trouble due to an over 40-mile and more speeding. The agent says she looks familiar when glancing at her license and registration.

All of a sudden, Radish Redwood, a well-known police inspector of New York, who got helped many times by Yusaku in the past and knows the Kudos very well, along with speaking very good Japanese (his wife is Japanese), turns up telling the police agent he's probably already seen her in some previous case, since Yukiko is in fact "an undercover agent who was rushing to chase a suspect in the "Phantom Slasher" serial killer case, but she seems to have missed him completely". A Japanese-looking man has indeed been murdering young girls in New York after midnight for a few weeks now, and that accounts for the high number of police patrols at night in New York at the moment. Radish tells the agent it's OK and the latter leaves, and the inspector starts speaking Japanese, asking Yukiko to thank "her" for saving her. And, tearing off his mask, that person disguised as Radish is revealed to be Sharon Vinyard. Sharon was waiting for Yukiko with the tickets, and when she heard the agent, one of her fans, telling her a yellow Jaguar is rushing at full throttle towards Broadway, and his comrades walkie-talkied him to arrest the female driver and the two teenagers inside, she decided to go and disguise as Redwood, that she also knows, in order to help her friend out, being compelled to buy a very expensive coat in the meantime to look perfectly like Radish.

Sharon and Yukiko met each other about twenty years ago, at world-renowned wizard Toichi Kuroba's (Kid's late father) make-up art courses, in order be taught how to perfectly play spy roles in movies, and hide their true faces behind masks or make-up, Sharon being very good at it, and having even taught her daughter Chris, a flourishing actress, that art, though she's been on very bad terms with her for quite a very long time. Sharon is a bit older than Yukiko. Shinichi confirms her mother’s disguise skills are not that good…being more carnival-like than spy-like. Yukiko wonders if it’s not too risky for her friend to show herself among the crowd, but Sharon says they’ll probably believe it’s a movie scene being filmed. Yukiko is very grateful to Sharon, but Shinichi doesn’t seem to know who this great American star is, and why she disguises herself as police officers.

Ran thanks heavens for having the opportunity to meet such a great actress, and Sharon is surprised to hear Ran believes in heaven or God or whatever. It starts raining and she takes out her umbrella. She adds if God truly existed, then wouldn’t all honest, hard-working people be happy ? She says "As for me, angels have never ever smiled upon me, not even a single time." The group doesn't seem to understand her words, and especially the both sad and happy way in which she said them.

Shinichi inwardly and retroactively comments on the tragic event that would come up soon and that he didn’t want to remember, to the contrary of Sharon's mysterious words.

People

Radish Redwood
	Captain from New York Police Department

Lilas Sanchez
	32 years old Stage actress

Akane Nielsen
	27 years old Stage actress

Rose Hewitt
	28 years old Stage actress

Iberis Hamilton
	30 years old Stage actress Heath's wife

Heath Flockheart
	Victim (gunshot) 33 years old Stage actor

Slasher
	Serial killer

Cover in other countries

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  China
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  Finland
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  France
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  Germany
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  Hong Kong
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  Indonesia
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  Italy
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  Korea
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  Malaysia (Chinese)
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  Malaysia (Malay)
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  Rep. of China (Taiwan)
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  Singapore (English)
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  Spain (Spanish, Volumen 2)
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  Sweden
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  Thailand
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  United States
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  Vietnam

See also

• Manga
• Volume 31-40
• Detective Conan