On the Trail of a Silent Witness

Chronology
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Episode 307-308 (Int. Episode {{{int-episode}}})
Information
Title:	The Dark Footprint
Japanese title:	残された声なき証言 (Nokosareta Koenaki Shougen)
Original airdate:	January 27, 2003 (Part 1) February 3, 2003 (Part 2)
Season:	11
Manga source:	Volume 37: Files 5-7 (377-379)
Case
Cast:	Conan Edogawa Kogoro Mouri Ran Mouri Inspector Megure Wataru Takagi Detective Chiba Shuichi Akai Tequila
Case solved by:	Kogoro Mouri (via Conan)
Next Conan's Hint:	Go pieces (Part 1) Diary (Part 2)
Staff
Director:	Yasuichiro Yamamoto
Organizer:	Yasumi Mikamoto
Storyboard:	Yasumi Mikamoto
Episode director:	307 Yoshio Suzuki 308 Nana Harada
Animation director:	307 Izumi Shimura 308 Hirobi Muranaka
Music
Opening song:	Kaze no lalala
Closing song:	Ashita o Yume Mite

Characters introduced

Suguru Itakura
	45 years old Game programmer

Cast

Characters
Conan Edogawa Kogoro Mouri Ran Mouri Inspector Megure Wataru Takagi 100px Detective Chiba Shuichi Akai Tequila (flashback)

Gadgets

Gadgets
Voice-Changing Bowtie Stun-Gun Wristwatch

Case

Situation

Part 1

Three game designers arrive at Kogoro's agency to ask for his assistance to look for their game programmer Suguru Itakura. He was last heard in a video mail which shows him in a hotel with an Igo, Shogi, and Chess set. One of the game producers believe that a mysterious man may be the cause of Itakura's disappearance; Conan realizes from his description the man is Tequila from the Black Organization. Kogoro decides to call hotels and ask them if anyone rented a Shogi, Chess, and Igo set at once. After learning of Itakura's hotel and room number, they enter the apartment only to find out Itakura had died of a stroke.

Murder
	Victim: Suguru Itakura Suspects: Katsumichi Sugai, Johei Naito and Ryusuke Soma

The police's investigation reveals that Itakura's body was tied up before his death; This means someone tied him up to prevent him from being able to take his medicine which would have prevented the stroke. Further investigation reveals that someone other then Kogoro also phoned the hotel asking for a person with a Shogi, Chess, and Igo set; Since the three producers are the only ones who knew Itakura had those three sets and was staying in a hotel, this makes them the prime suspects for murder.

Part 2

The three designers are: Katsumichi Sugai, Igo board game designer; Ryusuke Soma, Shogi board game designer; and Johei Naito, a chess game designer. While the police investigate, Conan attempts to steal a floppy disk containing Itakura's diary so he could investigate the Black Organization but to no avail. A forensic officer reveals that the body is missing a sock impression on the right ankle, this causes Conan to realize who the murderer is.

People

Katsumichi Sugai
	39 years old Game company executive

Johei Naito
	47 years old Game company executive

Ryusuke Soma
	44 years old Game company executive

Suguru Itakura
	Victim 45 years old Game programmer

Resolution

  Show spoilers »

After tranquilizing Kogoro, Conan impersonates Kogoro and tricks Megure into copying Itakura's diary onto another floppy disk. He then afterward reveals that Itakura, while tied up, used his feet and moved the pieces on the Igo board to reveal who the murderer is. When the white pieces are ignored, the black pieces represent kanji characters in Braille and ultimately reveals that Ryusuke Soma is the culprit. As proof, Conan reveals that Itakura made the message on an Igo board since Soma is unfamiliar with Braille and would not recognize the strange patterns on the Igo board since he is not familiar with the game. As evidence, Conan reveals that there should be Itakura's fingerprints on Soma's watch. Soma confesses and reveals that he was angered that he invested twenty years worth of money and time into Itakura to build him a Shogi program, yet had made no development throughout the years. Later that day, Conan and Ran are grocery shopping when they run into Shuichi Akai.

Gallery

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  The radiant heat from the CD tells Gin the "clever fox" is nearby.

See also

• Season 11