Volume 29

Chronology
‹ Volume 28	List of Chapters • List of Cases	Volume 30 ›

Volume 29
Information
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
Featured Detective & Keyhole
Charlie Chan Midori Megure
Aoyama's death & Conan side images

Volume 29 was released on September 18, 2000 in Japan.

Cast

Characters

Conan Edogawa Ran Mouri Kogoro Mouri Sonoko Suzuki Juzo Megure Wataru Takagi Miwako Sato Midori Megure Hiroshi Agasa Ai Haibara Ayumi Yoshida Genta Kojima Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya Gin Vodka Vermouth Pisco (background) Akemi Miyano (background) Jodie Starling Tomoaki Araide Ninzaburo Shiratori Kazunobu Chiba Heiji Hattori Kazuha Toyama Goro Otaki Yoko Okino Shinichi Kudo (background) Minami Takayama Shiina Nagano

Gadgets

Gadgets
Stun-Gun Wristwatch Detective Boys Badge Earring Cellphone

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

  Show spoilers »

Conan reveals the killer chases female drivers with platform boots, as these were possibly responsible for the death of Akira Sakurai. Sato remembers Akira's divorced and alcoholic father insisting on that point without being heard at the end of the day by the judges. Conan suggests that man's surname is "Sadagane", which means that Yoshio Sadagane, the watchman, is the serial attacker. His position in the parking lot enabled him to check the shoes of any person getting off their car. Moreover, the platform boots add around 10 centimeters to their wearer's size, explaining why the victims claimed having been mugged by a person of their size, which is actually not the case. The police didn't notice it when the girls went for their statements at the station afterwards, as they were wearing more formal shoes. Sadagane applied to be a watchman on this parking lot in particular as he wasn't given the name and occupation of the minor responsible for the accident, and therefore had to stand every day in the parking lot in wait for the girl to come back for some shopping one day or another. He might have tracked the three previous victims after spotting them at the parking lot too. He started assaulting every female driver in platform shoes when he lost patience, not seeing Aizawa.

Sadagane is confirmed to be Akira's dad but has vanished and Conan gets scared when being told by Ran that Sonoko still hasn't come back from the bathroom, remembering she wears platform boots as well. In the stairs, Sonoko is indeed assaulted by Sadagane but avoids the bat, screams and flings her phone at Sadagane's face, disclosing his identity to Sonoko, who runs away. Conan realises Sonoko has been mistaken for a driver in platform shoes and is being chased by Sadagane, because he saw her doing something with the car using the car keys. They try to locate her thanks to her mobile phone, who fell near a print club machine. The police rushes then to the store's restaurant floor. Sonoko stumbles and the killer comes closer, telling her she's a demon like the others, with a false innocent face, killing children, and deserving nothing else than death. Takagi fails to switch on the lights as a sudden storm makes the power supply trip out. Sonoko shrieks but manages to avoid the blow, that broke a display case and knocked over strange round items with a rolling noise. Conan, Sato and Ran believe it to be a broken aquarium with pebbles dropping on the floor, and they rush to the pet department.

Megure hesitates to follow them and reads carefully the information sign. Just as Sadagane is about to kill Sonoko, telling her he just wanted to humble her a little but since she saw his face, she must die, Megure steps in and receives the blow on his head. He had guessed the noises were actually dropping stone go pieces, and hurried to the games' department. He tells Sadagane he's going too far in trying to kill an innocent girl, just as he did with the others, but this won't rise his son from the dead, it's just pure madness. Sadagane calms down and cries, explaining he just wanted them to apologise and remove their boots who killed his son. When Conan and co turn up, lights are switched on again and Megure's temple is seriously bleeding, but the latter says it's an old injury that should have remained hidden.

Later on, Conan and co, along with Matsumoto, visit Megure at the Police Hospital. Matsumoto tells them Megure wears a hat to conceal an old injury he got during a hard case twenty years ago. Megure was a young policeman investigating a serial killer tracking "furyo-style" high school girls for some reason, with his car, at night. At first, he was just jostling them, but soon one died and he started to kill every furyo he would meet on the road, to the point police had to seriously deter furyo girls from wearing their outfits. This happened and accidents stopped, but a young girl who had seen her best friend killed by the mad driver wanted to play the bait to attract the driver one last time and have him arrested by Megure, despite police trying to convince her to give up that idea. She insisted, and Megure had to be sent to her to protect her. The mad driver showed up and knocked Megure and the girl over. He was later arrested but Megure was injured at the head and the girl everywhere, on the brink of dying. Since then, Megure is reluctant to use baits in police actions and hides his injury under his hat, for none to ask him ever about it. Hopefully, the girl survived, and she married Megure, becoming Midori Megure.

People

Ryouko Mizutani
	Victim (beaten - injured)

Hitomi Endou
	Victim (beaten - injured)

Michiko Ishiguro
	Victim (beaten - injured)

Tae Aizawa
	Victim (beaten) 20 years old Former Haido Department Store clerk

Noriyuki Shirakawa
	24 years old Chef

Yuri Konno
	24 years old Waitress

Yoshio Sadakane
	43 years old Security guard

Haruyoshi Shirakawa
	53 years old Haido Department Store owner

Akira Sakurai
	Deceased

Major events

• Whenever the past serial killer case is mentioned, Megure immediately stiffens up, and becomes all business.
• Ran and Sonoko are shopping for a sweater for Makoto and discuss about their love lives and it is hinted that Ran likes Shinichi and she wants to tell him how she feels but is afraid of his answer (how he feels about her). It is then revealed to us that Conan was standing next to them hearing the entire conversation and becomes very embarrassed and red-faced (which is super cute)! And then runs off to look for Kogoro.
• Brief pieces of Megure's past are hinted and shown.
• Megure saves Sonoko from the strange attacker, taking a baseball bat to the face, re-opening his scar. Megure explodes at the attacker.
• We learn that Midori and Juzo met each other when Midori played the role of someone who would look like someone the past serial killer would attack. After she gets attacked for real, Megure tries to save her, both of them being injured. They both fall in love with each other afterwards.
• The full story of Megure's past is finally revealed, as well as the reason why he always wears a hat, never wanting to take it off.

Bus Hijacking Case

Characters introduced

Shuichi Akai
	Mysterious man

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

  Show spoilers »

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”.

People

Man #1
	Hijacker Robber gang member

Man #2
	Hijacker Robber gang second-in-command

Kunio Yashima
	Jewel broker Leader of robber gang

Shuichi Akai
	Passenger

Yasuhiko Machida
	Passenger

Miharu Tomino
	Passenger

Major events

• Shuichi Akai is mysterious and silent in his first appearance.
• Haibara is incredibly scared, and freaks out, a member of the Black Organization is on the hijacked bus!
• Haibara thinks of her past, and her sister, Akemi.
• Jodie's incredible skills as an FBI agent are on display, as she helps Conan by taking down the bus hijackers.
• Haibara stays on the bus when it is about to explode, wanting to commit suicide. However, Conan runs in the bus and saves her, jumping out of the window, telling her that she cannot give up.
• The Black Organization appear at the tail end, talking to Vermouth.

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

  Show spoilers »

Conan shows Doyle and reveals the thief had planned Teruya's stereo system to play a record of Teruya's clock sound, ringing as if it were the real clock, but actually attracting Doyle in the stereo room, and not in the clock room. The thief then put Doyle's cushion - he found it in the clock room given it was the most bite-marked cushion - in the stereo room for the dog to sit on it and wait as usual. But the fact is that the thief put the cushion inside a hiding place : inside one of the stereo's speakers, from which he removed much sound-absorbing material to get more space where to put the cushion to welcome Doyle, leaving the back door of the speaker open for the dog to enter. Not forgetting to put some cheese on the cushion, and to mute the sound of the speaker where Doyle would go, not to frighten him. Doyle didn't leave the stereo speaker after eating because there was a sleeping pill in the cheese. The record was precisely planned for noon, and none get fooled by the clock as it didn't ring at all even though it indicated noon, as actually it indicated midnight (the clock only rings noon).

The culprit can't be Shino as, even if she needed the stereo for her home, she would never leave 10 days a dog stuck in a box in wait for Teruya to give her the stereo. The true culprit rather made sure to close the stereo speaker door after Doyle fell asleep for nobody to get the facts when searching obviously behind the speakers, while he was searching Doyle in that room, and that person is Yoshio Tsunashima. Tsunashima knew Doyle's habits and was a frequent visitor of Teruya's parents. After the search, Tsunashima removed Doyle's collar and threw it into the kiln, set the clock right back, put back the cushion in the right room, opened the garden's gate, and also tried to burn the sound-absorbing material, but it's made out of glass and it took some time to burn completely. Actually Tsunashima wasn't interested in Doyle but rather in the precious jewel hidden in its collar Teruya's grandfather brought back from France. Tsunashima hid it behind the clock's pendulum, which is why the clock started lagging behind. Tsunashima was about to bring the clock home as agreed with Teruya and therefore enjoy the money from the jewel's sale.

Tsunashima runs away, jostling Teruya, which angers Arthur and scares Christie, who is used to chase running sheeps as her breed is a shepherd dog. Christie and Arthur circle Tsunashima who tries to hit Arthur, but stops, as a dog lover wouldn't dare to hurt a dog. This is also proved by Tsunashima's not killing or doing Doyle harm, and leaving the stereo door ajar to allow it to go out once it would wake up. Tsunashima confesses stealing Doyle's collar's jewel to get enough money to care for his numerous dogs, who cost him more and more, and he can't resolve to leave them die from hunger or put them down. And none would buy them as most of them are abandoned mongrels taken in by him.

Hearing this, Teruya agrees to give Tsunashima the jewel, his granddad wouldn't disagree if it was to help dogs. But Tsunashima should make sure his dogs aren't getting too many next time. As for Shino Hazuki's shoes left near the kiln, the culprit is Arthur, who played that trick because he loves Christie and Shino and wants them to stay longer at home. But actually Shino and Teruya are loving each other and Shino plans to move to London as well. Haibara tells kinds words to Arthur to solace him, smiling, and the DB are overjoyed to see Haibara is getting better, as they were worried about her. Conan adds Haibara needs such a merry child face, to go better and also to really look like a child.

People

Teruya Kanou
	26 years old Son of Professor Agasa's friend

Arthur
	Kanou's pet dog Shiba Inu

Yoshio Tsunashima
	45 years old Dog lover

Doyle
	Victim (dognapped) Papillon

Aki Tosabayashi
	39 years old Dog lover

Shino Hasuki
	27 years old Dog lover

Christie
	Hasuki's pet dog Shetland Shepherd

Major events

Haibara starts acting strange, and continues to do so for her next several appearances.

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

  Show spoilers »

The hotel employees find a deflated foot ball under the lottery table, and believe it is one of the goods that burst. Heiji suggests Otaki should release the three champions except Ray, as he'd like to ask him a favour before leaving : one of his greatest fans would like to meet him and tell him something, he is in the room where Ray was when the gunshot was heard. When Ray arrives up the stairs, he feels shocked to see the room wide open with items placed in a weird manner. Conan goes down the stairs saying it's exactly the same room and easy trick the murderer left : wedging the door by opening it wide to the maximum, taking the closet's door off, putting it on a broom, in a vertical position and lying in diagonal against the wall, the broom preventing the door from touching the switch which is off. Afterwards, shooting in a foot ball from the upper floor, the ball bounces against the wall in the stairs, and flies over it, lands on the lower floor, where the wide open room is, and rolls until and inside that room, bumping into the broom which falls on the floor, and allows the closet door to fall on the switch and accordingly to switch on the light in the room. As curtains have been opened beforehand, it gives the impression to those outside that someone switched on the light of the room. This could have only been done by a football expert and someone the closest to MacKay's room, and who was supposed to light the lower room : Ray Curtis.

This could give Ray the perfect alibi : people would swear he was in his room and then couldn't kill MacKay a few seconds after. But this trick makes it entirely possible. Conan explains Ray's plan : he said he would switch on the lights of the two first floors, starting by lighting the first room and then going to the second room, the room of the trick, where he prepared his ploy. Then he went upstairs with a foot ball and a gun and lit the three other rooms. Afterwards he called Ran who told him he had forgotten to light the second room, actually the trick room. He didn't go directly there but instead stayed on the second floor, knocked at MacKay's door, shot his ball in the stairs, went to MacKay as he opened, shot him dead, left the gun there, and ran downstairs as quick as possible to the trick room now lit, up to the balcony to pretend asking what happened. Doing so, the room would be lit, one or two seconds after MacKay would be shot, and another five seconds after Ray would be on the balcony just like others. It's possible because MacKay was probably waiting for Ray in his room, and Ray checked with Ran the lighting of the room while waiting for MacKay to open.

Neither Mike nor Ricardo could have done it, otherwise they would have met Ray on the lower floors and wondered what he was doing, and there was no trace of stratagems in both rooms. And they couldn't get back so quickly to their rooms who are not so close to MacKay's room. Only Ray could have done it. The police found no powder traces on him because he had beforehand turned his shirt and trousers inside out and left his jacket downstairs before shooting. He quickly put this latter on again when he rushed to the balcony. After the crime, waiting in his room as the police had told him, he turned again his clothes inside out, therefore, unless a complete body check which was impossible as the managers had refused to allow it, no traces of powder would be found on Ray's clothes. And no fingerprints as well on the gun if he was wearing a glove. Ray then burst the foot ball with a needle and discarded the needle in the washroom's bin, and left the deflated ball under the lottery's table.

MacKay pointed Ray out as his murderer before dying : his right hand with the strange finger position as if he was holding something refers to the way of eating sushis, with three fingers only, and the fact he gripped his belt refers to the old name for belt which is "strip" or "band", recalling "bande", a secret code sushi restaurants use to stretch the dishes' prices from the customers, among many others such as "geta", "kiwa", "menoji", etc. And "bande" refers to a code number 8, 8 which is Ray's famously attributed number. Conan says in Ray's room he found a wet towel Ray used to wash his hands and face in case powder had stained them as well. Conan ironically remarks the more evidence of Ray's innocence he tried to gather, the more evidence of his guilt he found. Ray says Conan is wrong because as he usually sweats a lot, he changed clothes and gave the old ones to his manager to have them washed in Ray's hotel. Conan reminds him of the shoes : a classic revolver spreads a lot of powder, until the shoes, as Ray needed shoes to shoot in the ball. Conan says then that the police will find undeniable evidence by analysing his shoes, which is why he begs Ray to go and surrender.

Ray refuses as he doesn't want to destroy his family and friend circles, along with his fame. Ray says he'll change shoes rather and find an excuse for police. Conan replies he also has to find an excuse for something else and shoots violently the ball at him. Ray tries to catch it but fails and gets it in the face, which makes him stumble. Conan asks angrily why Ray, the "European Steel Gate", isn't even able to catch a shoot whose strength is from the level of a high school teenager, and Ray confesses being weakened by heroin consumption. Conan says he noticed Ray was drug-addicted given his repeated yawns and muscle pain, signs of a dependence from drug. Ray lied about his injury as he claimed his left knee was aching while he always held his right one. Drug addicts need constant narcotic consumption for the euphoria it provokes and because it calms the muscle and joint pain caused by withdrawal.

Ray owns up to taking some drug but only after the reporter's article about it, which was a web of lies that caused the suicide of his wife. To revenge her, Ray really took some heroin and hoped MacKay would meet him to get some information, and that Ray could kill him. But Ray got trapped into heroin as he took even more drug to forget the pain caused by the death of his wife. Conan tells him to stop it because even if he's facing a bitter aspect of life, drugs and murder are foul without any excuse, deserving a red card for a loser. Ray says Conan got it, he was playing in the field that he had lost, but now must leave for his wife and for fans like him. Ray eventually surrenders, and later on, at Heiji's home, Conan undergoes a fit of depression, like a kid disappointed by bad news, just like Shinichi.

Conan hesitates to use the ticket Ray gave Ran. Heiji taunts Conan with a foot ball and mocks it, this stirs Conan who calls him an idiot and shows him how to juggle with it. Kazuha comments they look like brothers.

People

Ricardo Barreira
	36 years old Former pro boxer

Mike Norwood
	35 years old Major leaguer

Ray Curtis
	37 years old Pro soccer player Shinichi's idol

Ed McCay
	Victim (gunshot) 48 years old Journalist

Mai Kuraki
	Real-life pop singer

Miho Komatsu
	Real-life pop singer

Major events

• Conan is very excited to see the soccer player, who was his favorite soccer player growing up.
• Kazuha gets jealous when she sees Heiji talking to girls.
• When Conan and Heiji are investigating, anytime Heiji finds a clue that points to the soccer player, Conan tries to prove it as wrong. However, when Conan faces the facts, he tells Heiji that he wants to confront him alone. Conan has to confront the soccer player, who is the killer. Although it hurts him greatly, he does realize that justice comes before anything else, and is even hurt when the soccer player tries to weasel his way out of handing himself in. This depresses Conan. Later, Heiji helps cheer Conan up, and Kazuha comments on how they both look like brothers.

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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  Norway
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  Rep. of China (Taiwan)
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  Spain (Spanish, Volumen 2)
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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 21-30
• Detective Conan