Volume 34
| ‹ Volume 33 | List of Chapters • List of Cases | Volume 35 › |
| Volume 34 | |||
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| Release date: | September 18, 2001 | ||
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| 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 | ||
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Volume 34 was released on September 18, 2001 in Japan.
Contents
Cast
Gadgets
Chapters
Escalator Message Case
File 340 - Time to Pick the Apple
Megure tells Jodie he has just phoned Chujo's detective agency to ask his employees if they'd ever been informed about who Chujo was suspecting to be embezzling Kisugi's company's money. They told Megure they had absolutely no idea, since Kisugi had insisted on the investigation to be kept strictly confidential. Furthermore, all data about Chujo's investigations are on his computer and nobody knows the password, and it's not OX△□ at all. Though, Megure sent people there to try and crack the password. Then, the four signs indeed refer to the killer's identity. Jodie and Sonoko say the murderer might be a quizz lover or champion, since Japanese people answer quizzes using "O" or "X" instead of "Yes" or "No". Megure once again keeps them away from the crime scene, saying they're now completely free to leave and go back home.
People
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 Organisation 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 Organisation 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 Organisation 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.
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.
People
Soccer Supporter Case
Characters introduced
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 Organisation, 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 Organisation 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 Organisation and the "life outside the Organisation".
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.
People
Chinatown Murder Case
Characters introduced
| Jugo Yokomizo | |
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File 347 - Raining Deja-Vu
Ran has an important history exam tomorrow and mugs up on it at the eleventh hour, due to her karate training taking too much time in these days, and because there are important TV programs she absolutely wants to watch tonight. Conan is surprised she's not being carsick due to reading while in a car, and she answers she's tougher than she looks. It starts raining and she remembers a scene she is unable to date back, featuring a dark Shuichi Akai looking daggers at her, in a kind of Western-style city, Akai standing still under the rain. She doesn't neither understand why she keeps connecting that scene to another one whenever she has it in mind, a scene where "teenager" Shinichi is also standing still in the rain, completely soaked, smiling in a strange way, both sadly and nicely. She has no idea what's going on, and what Shinichi is trying to tell her. Conan asks her if everythings's okay, since she's always got that wrinkle between the eyebrows whenever she feels concerned by something. She replies this has to do with a complicated history question, and she resumes her learning, but seems to be having a kind of bad fever and starts having blurred vision. Though, she believes it's just carsickness after all, and she insists on going and eating with them at a Chinese restaurant in Ikebukuro, since she's the one who got discount vouchers for that very fine and select place. Conan keeps an eye on her however. In the Chinatown Restaurant, four movie workers are lamenting about their bad luck, the fact that their film's heroine had a motorbike accident and broke her leg just before shooting, which is always better than a more serious accident. Kaizo Isogami, the filmmaker, suggests they just stop producing that cursed movie. The producer, Shiro Kawabata, refuses to give up on the sequel to such a blockbuster they shot previously. Motohiro Ito, the assistant director, says it's really a curse since the actress had long been refusing to shoot, before eventually accepting, and having that accident, that can't just be plain bad luck. Keigo Kitaura, the screenwriter, says if this keeps on that way, there might be another dead person, just like last year. He adds it's actually a nice stroke of luck she had this accident after all, since she wasn't at all like the heroine he had imagined when writing his screenplay. Kawabata wonders if there is such a girl that exists, a young, beautiful, and strong girl skilled at acrobatics.
They are cut off by Ran's loud unbelieving comment that their vouchers can't be used, though it's the right restaurant. Kogoro starts getting angry, believing it's only based on whether they like the look of their customers or not, and, refusing to leave, he is coldly approached by a beefcake waiter who tells him to cool down and talk it over with him outside. Ran quickly stops the waiter with a karate move, threatening to kick him in the face if he lays a finger on Kogoro, and demanding a clear and true explanation. They are eventually told by the manager the vouchers only work on Sundays and public holidays, and Conan says it's indeed written on them. They apologise for the inconvenience and prepare to leave, but are eventually invited by Kawabata at his table. Kawabata proposes Ran a lead role of actress in his film to replace the one who got injured recently. He says she perfectly fits what they are looking for. Kogoro suggests her to refuse : acting is very complicated, and requires she learns tons of lines. Of course, this would be utterly different if she were as good speaker as he is - Conan secretly reminding him of Sleeping Kogoro being actually himself -, and Kawabata goes one further that actresses can quickly become famous and meet many other VIPs, stars, singers, football players, etc., she could befriend later on, and she'll also be able to travel the whole world for the sake of shooting, etc. Conan's and Kogoro's eyes sparkle upon hearing all this, and they strongly recommend Ran say yes, before changing their mind upon hearing this requires however some hard psychological training because certain unprincipled producers sometimes add useless sex and love scenes to the original storyline just to make more money. Kawabata seems to take it for himself, while Isogami says indeed she needs to be very psychologically ready for shooting, because if a mere love scene scares her, then what if she still keeps on and, due to some lack of luck, and to her fright, she ends up dying in the dead of a filming session. Kawabata tells him to stop scaring her uselessly, she may well have the makings of a great star. Ran cringes and inadvertently knocks Kawabata's soup bowl and chopsticks over on the floor, staining his trousers while doing so. She apologises and goes to pick up the bowl and chopsticks, and clean the floor, while Kawabata comforts her and takes her seat, suggesting she should go and seat at his place so his father and Conan would stop sticking their noses into their businesses.
When picking up the bowl, Ran feels dizzy again, and Conan puts his hand on her forehead, saying she's got fever. Ran says she's probably caught a light cold, and Conan fears she might faint like last time. Ran asks him what this means and he quickly corrects himself saying it's not so important after all. Kawabata mops his trousers up with his napkin and asks a waiter for another pair of chopsticks. He asks Ran to order whatever she wants, and they keep the discussion going. He notices someone ordered Pidans and egg crab though he loathes that food, he just can't even stand the sight of eggs, he's allergic to it. Though, Ran is free to eat whatever she wants. Conan takes a seat between Ran and Kawabata, pretending to lament that there's no curry rice - which is obvious since they're in a Chinese restaurant. He says he wants to leave the place then, and throws a tantrum, nicely pleading with Ran to leave and go back home. Ran says she got the message, and...gives Conan her steamed dumplings instead, recalling when he told her he loved that food. Conan feels stupid and inwardly comments that Ran still doesn't get a word he means. He rather focuses on his dinner and tries to get the soy sauce using the turntable. Yet, the table constantly turns in the opposite direction, and the sauce seems to remain near Kogoro. He gets annoyed by it and Ran eventually grabs it for him. He then wants the hot sauce which is near Kitaura, and does the same, but still the table always spins backwards whenever he's about to get the sauce. Ran once again asks it for him, which shames him, he finds the situation so pathetic. At last comes the Peking duck Kawabata had ordered, reputedly excellent. Kawabata asks Ran about her favourite actors/actresses, and she answers Yukiko Fujimine, Shinichi's mother she's long been marvelling at, and also her own mom's childhood friend, and Sharon Vineyard, the great American actress who passed away last year. Ran said she met the latter once and remembers her to be a very refined person. Conan looks at her thinking, and Kogoro asks Ran where she's ever met such a VIP, and Ran refuses to tell him, saying it's a sweet secret. The movie workers comment on both actresses being indeed very famous and quite epic, and Ito adds if "that person" were still alive, she could have entered history as well, since she was so talented. As Ran asks him who she was, Kawabata suddenly shrieks in pain, and drops dead in front of everyone.
File 348 - The Misleading Washcloth
The police arrive and start investigating, eventually deducing that Kawabata was poisoned by cyanide found in his mouth and on his plate, chopsticks and napkin. Kawabata had Peking duck in his mouth when dying, and he got choked right after tasting it. They found no cyanide in the duck though, and the waiter hadn't any poison on him. This means Kawabata had poison on his hands even before starting to eat his meal. Accordingly, the person who poisoned him was sitting at the same table as him, among his friends and guests. Inspector Yokomizo seems to "remember Kogoro's face", believing he may be one of those he's already arrested before, or a runaway whose face he might have seen at the precinct. Kogoro can't believe his ears, explaining he's Kogoro Mouri, the famous detective. Yokomizo now recalls "Bumbling Kogoro", the one he saw on TV and papers... The police add except on the things they checked previously - especially the wet napkin on which there is a great amount of poison - there is no poison at all however on the table, chairs, other meals, etc. Kogoro was the one sitting on the victim's right, and Conan on his left. Yokomizo believes only Kogoro could murder Kawabata then, switching his own napkin which had poison on it with the victim's. He was best placed to do it, and Conan sure isn't the killer. He just had to wait for Kawabata to wipe his hands before eating duck, and die afterwards... Kogoro and Ran seem not to recognise Inspector Yokomizo until he is called by his name by another agent. They find Inspector Yokomizo has changed a lot : he's being and acting colder, warier, and he's cut his hair very short. Actually, the inspector reveals he's not Sango Yokomizo but Jugo Yokomizo, his twin brother. Sango works in Shizuoka Prefecture while he's in charge of Kanagawa Prefecture, where they are. Jugo warns Kogoro he's not as easygoing with detectives as his moronic brother is, and indeed spends his time investigating against Kogoro, believing he's the only one who could poison Kawabata.
The police find Kawabata has a stain on his right leg, and Ran explains she accidentally spilt his soup on his trousers as she was sitting next to him. Yokomizo doesn't understand anything and asks who was sitting next to who at last. They all go on explaining before meeting Ran and co Isogami was sitting on the victim's right, and Kitaura on his left, and Ito in front of him. When they invited the three to their table, Ran sat next to the producer - on his right, Conan on her right, and Kogoro on the latter's right, and then Isogami, Ito and Kitaura. Later on, Kawabata took Ran's seat when she went to pick up the bowl, and then Conan came to sit between her and Kawabata. This means Kawabata had Conan on his left, then Ran, then Kitaura, Ito, Isogami, and Kogoro. Isogami precises when they were only four at the table they all had one empty chair at least between each other. Ito insists on him being innocent since he's always been facing Kawabata, but Yokomoizo says they'll check that after thorough investigation. Conan suggests the police check out if the stain on Kawabata's trousers has cyanide on it, in order to know whether the napkin was poisoned before he changed places with Ran, or after, which could exonerate Kogoro or not (because Kawabata had mopped the stain up with that napkin). Later on, the police say they've found no cyanide on the stain, neither on the chopsticks Ran had accidentally dropped on the floor, and that were taken away by the waiter. Which means Kogoro still is the most suspicious person since Kawabata was murdered after the incident then. Kogoro says he had no reason at all to murder a man he had met for the first time, to which the inspector answers he may well have known him beforehand, it's peculiar his daughter was the first one to be spotted in the restaurant, he may have planned to come along. Ran gets tense and insists on saying it's all true, they'd never met him. Suddenly, she feels dizzy again and staggers, holding her head, spilling once again by accident a glass of water on the floor when leaning on the table. She once more remembers the rain and Shuichi Akai, being now sure it was rainy on that day. She wonders who that man is, suggesting he may look like another person she's met in the past, just like the Yokomizo twins. She can't remember well though, and this gives her headache, she has three different faces in her mind : a blond-haired woman slily smiling under an umbrella, Akai's infuriated and scary eyes glaring at her, and a soaked-to-the-skin Shinichi trying to tell her something in a very sad way. As she's trying to listen to it and to get what he's trying to say, she hears Shinichi's voice calling her aloud, which is actually Conan's, asking her again if she's really doing fine. She says it's just sudden tiredness. Conan though sits her on a chair, telling her to rest a little and wait for her dad to solve the mystery. However, he inwardly comments on Ran being more than simply "out of sorts", she needs to be taken to the doctor as quick as possible.
He tries to tell it to Yokomizo, but the latter is interrupted by a policeman saying he's found an empty jar in the restroom's bin, having probably contained cyanide. Kogoro is annoyed at Yokomizo’s unrelentingly accusing him of having soaked the napkin with poison previously in the restroom. Conan says Kogoro can't be the culprit given he hasn’t been to the restroom at all since they've arrived at the Chinese restaurant. Conan adds when Kawabata got the soup on his trousers, he mopped the stain up and kept his napkin in hand when changing places with Ran, then Kogoro couldn't switch it. Yokomizo says there must be a way to change napkins without anyone's notice. Kogoro suggests the murderer might have balanced a poisoned napkin on the edge of the turntable, and then he spinned it so that the napkin would fall right near Kawabata. Yokomizo yet says the victim would have very probably found quite weird a napkin "falling by accident" close to him, and if he already had his napkin within hand reach, why would he have used another one ? Conan is suddenly reminded of when he tried to get the soy and hot sauces, and eventually failed to do it, due to the turntable being systematically spinned backwards as he was about to grab one or the other. He tries to remember how the meals were arranged on the table, being, clockwise: beef sauté, stir-fried meat, egg crab, Pidan, soy sauce, vinegared pork, steamed dumplings, and hot sauce. As for the people, clockwise: Kawabata, Conan, Ran, Kitaura, Ito, Isogami, and Kogoro. Vinegared pork was in front of Kawabata when he died, soy sauce was near Kogoro, and hot sauce near Kitaura. Conan thinks about Kawabata's allergy to eggs, the fact he couldn't even stand their sight. He then stares at the Pidan and egg crab, near the napkin. He suddenly goes to ask the forensic agent if he’s checked if there were any poison on every item on or near the table. He replies he’s done it indeed, and Conan secretly asks him if he’s checked "that" as well. He says he hasn't yet, and Conan says he should do it, since « Kogoro asked it actually ». He eventually asks him if he’s found something else except poison on the napkin. The agent says there was a strange brown stain on it, and he smelt it, finding it was just soup after all. He says it's probably connected to the stain on the victim's trousers. Except that, he’s found nothing else, and Conan is just cunningly surprised to hear it... He then pretends going and telling it to Kogoro, inwardly deducing that Kawabata actually didn't die after the napkin was changed, but the napkin was changed after he died. As he had supposed it, Kawabata was killed by one of his three comrades. Conan gazes at the table saying to himself the evidence of the crime is probably still here.
Meanwhile, Ran's condition is worsening.
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.
People
Golden Apple Case
Characters introduced
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
Cover in other countries
See also
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