Volume 41
| ‹ Volume 40 | List of Chapters • List of Cases | Volume 42 › |
| Volume 41 | |||
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| Release date: | April 9, 2003 | ||
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| Chapters: | 414-424 | ||
| ISBN: | ISBN 4-09-126411-5 | ||
| Publisher: | Shogakukan | ||
| English release date: | January 10, 2012 | ||
| English ISBN: | ISBN 1-4215-3607-2 | ||
| English Publisher: | Viz Media | ||
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Volume 41 was released on April 9, 2003 in Japan.
Contents
Cast
Gadgets
Chapters
Eri vs. Yukiko Murder Case
File 414 - Mama's Rival!?
An atmosphere of tension brews between the two mothers while they exchange remarks. However, as Ran begins to fear the worst, the two reveal that they have a very amicable relationship. They recount their past encounters at the now defunct Ms. Teitan beauty pageant, where the two had a legendary competition. Yukiko, the Teitan Princess, and Eri, the Teitan Queen, each gained exactly ten thousand votes, but neither was declared the winner as the one deciding vote had gone missing. Due to the ensuing panic, future pageants were subsequently canceled. Yukiko states she's here on behalf of her husband, Yusaku, who received a call for help from Shigeru. The two men had formerly met when Yusaku solved a relevant case in Los Angeles and are both mystery writers—Shigeru noting Yusaku's greater success.
Eri informs Yukiko of Kogoro's predicament while the detective is seen at the agency, forcibly restrained to the sofa, all in a comedic attempt to prevent him from using any more money. Back at the mansion, Yukiko suggests meeting with Yukio, but Ueki and Motoka deny her access, stating that Yukio is in the audio room, listening to music and reading books. Seen as he's a man who dislikes intrusions, the group decides to monitor him through the security cameras. Yukiko is alarmed to see the gardener, Doi, tending to the plants so late at night, but Ueki assures her that it's part of his nightly routine. The bulk of the group disbands while Ran presses the two mothers on their Ms. Teitan pageant, adding that she recalls seeing an unsubmitted Ms. Teitan voting slip in Kogoro's blazer pocket. Hearing this, the two ladies push their self-deprecating attitudes aside and immediately demand to know who's name was written on the slip. Ran replies that she accidentally put the blazer in the washing machine, crumpling the slip, leaving the outcome a surprise for when they confront Kogoro. Ueki suddenly notices Yukio is on his feet with raised arms. Moments later, the man falls to his side, seemingly shot by someone off-screen. Everyone rushes to the room, with Ran forced to kick the locked door down to enter. Eri checks Yukio's vitals but finds him to be dead.
File 415 - Suspicious Gunshot
Inspector Megure, Takagi, and Chiba arrive on the scene where they are informed of the situation by Eri and Yukiko. Takagi locates the gun besides a broken window where presumably, the killer shot Yukio through. Chiba additionally finds a charred towel which he suspects the killer used to reduce gunpowder residue and muffle the noise. Wasting no time, Eri orders the two sergeants into action and takes control of the investigation while Yukiko explains to Megure of her friend's stake in the case. Meanwhile, Kogoro, still restrained on his sofa, cries for the bathroom. Back at the mansion, Megure interrogates Ueki, Motoka, and Shigeru about their whereabouts during the time of murder. Shigeru and Motoka take a seat while Ueki remains standing. Soon after, officers arrive with Doi who they found still tending to the gardens. Eri explains that despite his suspicious appearance and actions, Doi cannot be the killer as footage of him in the gardens was recorded at the time of death.
Megure confirms the security footage but notes that the camera shifts away from him during the exact moment of Yukio's death. Although the footage shows part of Doi's light, the inspector states it's not enough for him to be crossed from the suspect list. Eri and Yukiko use the abundance of security footage as evidence for the killer not being an outsider. Coupled with how all of the maids have an alibi, the only suspects are Ueki, Motoka, Shigeru, and Doi. Conan wonders about two inconsistencies: one, the near-two-minute interval between the first and second shot; two, how Yukio seemingly placed a bookmark in his book despite being threatened at gunpoint. Yukiko and Eri ask the maids: who of the suspects has the biggest grudge towards Yukio, but they answer that they all have a reason to be angry. Suddenly, Doi jumps out of his seat and yells at the officers to stay away from his garden. Hearing his voice for the first time, Yukiko identifies that Doi's accent is from the Kōchi Prefecture. Yukiko speaks to the gardener in his native accent, engaging the once reticent man in a lively conversation. Conan explains that Yukiko once played Ryōma Sakamoto's sister who had the Kōchi accent, making her fluent in the region's Japanese. The brilliant actress returns with valuable information: the gunshots came after the shattering of the window. The two mothers talk it over, as Yukiko is reminded of Yusaku's hint, "The Arms are a red herring." Hearing this, Conan sparks a confident grin on his face.
File 416 - The Night Baroness Enters!
Chiba informs Megure about a trio of faint lines streaking across one of the three bullets. Hearing this information, Conan formulates the rest of his deduction. Suddenly, Yukiko bashes him on the head, believing her son to have solved the case. Conan expresses his disdain for her "Night Baroness" antics but shares his deduction anyway. As the suspects voice their concerns to the police, Yukiko stages a dramatic entrance with the nearby household lamps, proclaiming that the Night Baroness has solved the case—spectated by an unamused Conan.
Motoka verbally states her plans to seize Yukio's inheritance as he lacks parents or siblings, but Eri stops her, saying that's only the case if the will is missing. Eri had phoned her associate who is Yukio's lawyer to confirm the specifics of the will, finding a line at the end stating that if his associates fail to protect his life, he'll instead donate his inheritance to the government. Motoka then pivots her plan to liquidate all the assets Yukio had gifted her and travel abroad, but Eri once again stops her, showing the contract Motoka had signed with Kogoro which only stipulates finding the culprit, not protecting Yukio's life.
The next day, Eri and Yukiko return to the Detective Agency with their harvested funds. Conan then asks whom Kogoro voted for in the Miss Teitan Beauty Pageant. He answers "Eri." He then explains to a flustered Eri that back then, he believed the "Miss" in "Miss Teitan" stood for "Mistake" and he voted for the worse of the two contestants. Disappointed, the two mothers pull a million yen (~$10,000) out of the fund. Ran additionally pulls 938,618 yen (~$9386.18) for general fees and dues, leaving Kogoro with roughly four thousand yen. The two mothers leave to spend their money, leaving a shocked Kogoro at home.
People
Dark Apartment Murder Case
File 417 - Darkness is a Death Trap
Yukiko brazenly speeds through the streets of Tokyo with the Detective Boys as her passengers. The boys ask her where she's taking them, but she's insistent on keeping their destination a surprise. However, after hearing Yukiko speak jargon related to film production to someone on the phone, Conan quickly deduces that they're being taken to an early screening of "Kamen Yaiba the Movie II." With the kids rejoicing in the backseat, Yukiko kicks the car into high gear—prompting Ayumi to comment on the woman's fun nature, believing her to be Conan's mother.
The group arrives at the film-development studio, where they're greeted by an old associate of Yukiko's, Takayoshi Karata, the film's color grader (timing man). The boys are surprised to learn Yukiko was an actress, leading Haibara to understand that Conan's impulsiveness and acting ability came from his mother. Karata explains the film still needs more time to develop. He asks Akira Hojima and Yoshihiko Negami to show their guests around the studio while they wait for the product to finish—the two men happily accept. The boys are shown several intricate mechanisms used to create films, including the darkroom used to process images. Hojima and Negami additionally explain their roles in the production process: Negami is the darkroom operator who works with negative films (genzou man), and Hojima's job is to turn negative films into positive ones (yakitsuke). The boys comment on how Hojima is the only worker who lacks the word "man" in his job title. The group is then approached by Norihiro Furumura, who informs them that the footage will not be ready until at least 11:00 PM. Given such a late time slot, Yukiko worries as she's got a flight to catch, and the kids can't stay at the studio without a chaperone. Hojima offers to let the boys sleep in his apartment, and he'll drive them all home in the morning. The detective boys accept. Before leaving, Yukiko teases her son on how he's "such a lady's man," stating that in addition to Ayumi, Haibara likely has feelings for him. Conan is skeptical of her theory, but Yukiko insists that Haibara's frequent glances at him show her interest. Changing the topic of the conversation, Conan asks if Yukiko properly lost the car that was tailing them on the way to the studio. She believes that she did but is still unsure of their motives. Conan speculates that if their target is either him or Haibara, there's a high probability that it's the Black Organization, but Yukiko instead wonders if they were just her fans who wanted an autograph.
At Hojima's apartment, the Detective Boys settle themselves into the artist's extremely cluttered abode. Furumura takes a vlog on a VHS camera before taking a nap on the sofa while Negami returns to the studio to finish his work. Hojima shows the boys to the bedroom, where they all sleep in a row on his bed—Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, and Genta fall asleep instantly. Conan and Haibara remain awake; the former asks an important question: "is there something on my face?" leaving the latter dumbfounded. As everyone sleeps, a silhouette approaches Furumura, stabbing him. The man's scream wakes everyone in the apartment as they rush to a scene where a man lies dead on the couch with a knife through his chest.
File 418 - A Silent Murder in the Dark
Inspector Megure and Wataru Takagi arrive at the scene, believing the culprit stabbed Furumura through the blanket to reduce blood splatters. Hojima and the Detective Boys explain the state of the crime scene as Conan adds how they strangely heard no sounds indicating the culprit had escaped. Megure believes it's because the boys were groggy, but Haibara adds the implausibility of someone silently sneaking out of a room this cluttered. Thus, the police point to Hojima as the only possible suspect as he was present beside Furumura after the lights were turned on. The man frantically explains that Negami and Karata possess keys to his apartment. The two other suspects are brought in, where they, unfortunately, report their lack of an alibi. Conan switches off the lights, showing everyone how pitch-black the room becomes due to Hojima's thick curtains, proving no one could remember their way around. Negami scolds the boy for interfering with the investigation. The forensic investigator calls Megure to inspect Furumura's damaged and dirty shirt, theorizing he could've gotten physical with the culprit before his death. They clarify that it's likely because Furumura rarely bathed.
Megure finds a VHS camera on the ground, still recording. They play its contents and confirm that the room is silent besides the already known sounds produced by Conan, Ayumi, and Hojima. With the Hojima painted as the primary suspect, Negami believes his motive could be because in the past, Furumura failed to identify a cut in their film, leading to it snapping in the recording device. The three men believed that film to be their masterpiece and were disheartened by Furumura, who took the intricate task despite drinking the night before. Meanwhile, Conan strolls about the apartment, accepting that the culprit must be Hojima. But then, he notices a feature on the ceiling as well as a feature on the VHS camera. He links the two pieces of evidence and deduces the true culprit's identity, but he still lacks solid evidence. While the boy continues to ruminate on the case, Ayumi checks on Haibara, who attentively peers outside the window. Haibara answers she's okay before looking down at a suspicious black car—its rider, a bespectacled man shrouded by shadow.
File 419 - Mystery of the Black Light
Professor Agasa arrives at the crime scene to ostensibly accompany the Detective Boys. Upon his arrival, he supports Megure by stating Hojima is likely the culprit. However, he draws attention to how Furumura's third button has not been found yet, believing the curio is likely somewhere on the ground or the culprit's person. The police wrap up their investigation at the apartment and ask for all parties to report to the headquarters for further questioning. The boys enthusiastically head out, followed by a hesitant Haibara, who is still concerned with her apparent pursuers. Later that evening, a silhouette enters the pitch-black apartment and pulls the button out of their pocket. They confidently stroll towards the center of the room but finds it unusually difficult to navigate through the cluttered furniture. The lights suddenly flick on, revealing the culprit's identity.
As Conan listens to the culprit's sorrowful cries, Haibara notices her stalker's car approaching them. The two vehicles slowly line up with one another, terrifying the girl. Conan suddenly reaches out, covering Haibara's mouth, before reassuring her that everything is okay. He points to the driver conspicuously smoking a cigarette, stating that it's a sign that they've lost sight of them, as they wouldn't do such a thing if he wished to remain covert. Based on their patrolling behavior, Conan believes they haven't figured out where Haibara lives yet, thanking Takagi for escorting them through a police checkpoint on their way here. Haibara asks who they are, but the boy answers he doesn't know, but their target is probably them.
Shuichi Akai is seen on the phone—receiving news that his men have lost sight of their target. He tells them to continue their search while eyeing a photograph taken of Haibara in front of the studio. The man ominously comments on her uncanny resemblance to someone.
People
Four Porsches Case
File 420 - The Enclosing Surrounding Net
Conan arrives at Professor Agasa's house to visit a feverish Haibara. As it's Sunday, most local clinics are closed, but as her cold worsens, Agasa asks if Doctor Araide is available. Conan says he isn't, likely preparing for the upcoming trial. Instead, the boy recommends taking Haibara to a clinic at the Tohto Department Store, which is closed on Thursdays. The three hop onto the Volkswagen Beetle but find that they'll have to wait two hours for an appointment due to a backlog of patients. With no other choice, they plan to eat at the popular egg porridge restaurant at the department store in the meantime. Agasa parks the Beetle in the basement garage alongside dozens of other cars. To Haibara's horror, one of them is a Porsche 356A—Gin's signature vehicle. The anxious girl frantically scans her surroundings, but Conan assures her everything is fine, as Gin's car is black while the one before them is green. He also points out the two other Porsches next to it, a sign the owner is likely a member of a Porsche fan club visiting the store together. The group then witness a fourth Porsche, ridden by four passengers, enter the garage. The passengers: Yukiya Banba, Eiji Hotei, Kaoru Tariyama, and Yoshihiko Kureko, disembark, revealing themselves as each an owner of one of the Porsches. Banba remains hungover in the shotgun seat. The remaining three explain that they're all Porsche enthusiasts and use the store garage as a place to park their cars while going out to golf. They intend to go shopping while Banba recovers from his alcoholic haze.
Agasa suggests they get moving, but Haibara returns to the Beetle and decides to wait for her appointment. Meanwhile, Akai is seen patrolling the snowy streets in his truck. Conan and Agasa enter the line to the restaurant, seeing the Porsche enthusiasts ahead of them. Suddenly, the two are greeted by Jodie, Ran, and Sonoko, who also came to try the popular egg porridge. Ran asks why Conan is here since he said he'd visit Haibara. Jodie expresses intrigue in Haibara. Agasa attempts to explain, but Conan cuts him off, lying that she didn't come with them.
Soon, a television crew arrives at the scene to report on the sensational egg porridge restaurant and the hordes of customers lined outside. Akai flicks through several news stations on his in-car TV until landing on the one interviewing Conan about the restaurant. He recognizes the boy as Haibara's associate, as he's also present in his reference photo. Now locked on a target, the man spins his car around and heads towards the department store. Conan pulls Agasa out of the line to head back to Haibara, leaving Jodie with Ran and Sonoko. Meanwhile, Haibara wakes up from her nap, seeing Kureko return to his Porsche. Around the same time, Agasa and Conan return to the Beetle but hear Kureko scream. They approach his Porsche to find Banba strangled in his car.
File 421 - The Crisis that is There
Conan instructs Agasa to drive Haibara home while he stays to solve the case. Agasa believes it's implausible that the Black Organization would know their location based on a news broadcast with ten percent subscriber viewership. Conan counters, stating there are forty million TV subscribers in the Kanto region; ten percent would still mean four million viewers, meaning their pursuers could have seen him. Agasa concedes. Meanwhile, Sonoko notices a police car entering the department garage; she entertains the idea that Conan is involved. Jodie says, "seeing is believing," suggesting they should go investigate. Back at the garage, Agasa informs Conan the police barred the entrance, and they can't leave the department store. The boy assures him he'll solve the case quickly.
Inspector Megure and Takagi arrive and give a rundown of the situation. Conan elaborates further on the initial conditions of the case, allowing Megure to narrow down the suspects to Banba's three colleagues. Kureko says he returned to the car after realizing he had forgotten his phone; he instead found a strangled Banba. Megure finds an operational music box with a broken pin in his Porsche's glovebox but concludes it can't be used as a weapon. Megure searches Hotei's car next, finding fishing paraphernalia, including an electric reel he imagines could be used to strangle someone remotely. Hotei denies it, stating the reel is meant for shallow-water fishing and lacks the power necessary to asphyxiate a grown man. Lastly, Megure finds a stack of boxes containing remote-control toy cars in Taiyama's car—another item impractical for assassination.
Conan suggests checking the security cameras pointed at the scene. As the police heed his proposal, Agasa calls out to Conan, explaining that Haibara's condition is rapidly worsening and needs to see a doctor soon. Conan weighs the idea of Takagi driving her to another clinic but realizes the enemy could be planning an ambush outside. Jodie suddenly appears behind him, asking who the "enemy" is. Shocked, Conan twirls around to see Jodie, Ran, and Sonoko, curious as to what's going on. Ran spots Haibara in the back seat of the Beetle, prompting Conan to distract the trio by suggesting Sonoko, a detective, visit the police who are inspecting the security camera footage. He drags Jodie along with him, but while rushing by, she notices Haibara—a girl with reddish brown hair.
Megure sees that Hotei and Taiyama both returned to their cars during their time at the department store but finds that neither of them performed any suspicious actions. As Sonoko announces her entrance to the investigators, Conan desperately searches for a thread to connect his deductions but finds one. An officer then enters the room with photographs of the three Porsches' interiors. Conan notices something after inspecting the photos. Outside, Akai smokes a cigarette, standing guard outside the department store.
File 422 - Inescapable Target
While the investigators bicker over the logistics of the case, Jodie compares the girl with the red hood from the bus hijack[1] to Haibara, who, she saw in the Beetle. She links the two together as she thinks of Sherry's picture on the dartboard. Meanwhile, Haibara's condition worsens even further, forcing Agasa to call Doctor Araide in desperation. Araide answers the call, and the two men figure out a way to meet. Unbeknownst to both, Akai had tapped Agasa's phone and is listening to their conversation. Conan lures Sonoko to Taiyama's Porsche before knocking her out with his Stun-Gun Wristwatch.
As Sonoko wakes up, she's approached by Ran, who explains that Jodie had abruptly left during her deduction as she "remembered something important." Horrified, Conan rushes to check on the Beetle but finds it empty. He suspects the worst has happened, but Agasa calls him on the Earring Cellphone and jovially informs him that Doctor Araide came to the garage and negotiated with the police to drive the group home. While leaving, they met Jodie, who offered to drive the group instead. Haibara is now resting in the professor's home while Araide and Jodie monitor her condition. Across the street, Akai listens to their conversation.
Later that day, Vermouth sits in her abode and counts to ten before saying, "ready or not, here I come." She removes Sherry's photo from her dartboard and burns it with her lighter, ominously teasing that she found her.
People
Bathroom Murder Case
File 423 - A Mystery Left by a Visitor...
While Haibara sleeps, she remembers the times Conan's words resonated with her. She groggily emerges from the covers and surmises that a doctor took care of her. She fails to recall recent events when suddenly, the frightening thought of Vermouth makes her check on Agasa, who's slumped over his desk in front of the computer. Her relief slowly turns into horror as a liquid drips from the table—appearing to be blood. The girl rushes over to him but finds the liquid to be Agasa's tomato juice that had spilled on the table when he fell asleep. Conan reveals himself to be in the room, explaining that he had a bad feeling about the situation and came to oversee Haibara's recovery. He tells her that everything seems okay and that she can rest easy.
The next morning, Ran comes to Agasa's residence, bringing her egg porridge for Haibara to eat. Oddly, Haibara appears to have fallen asleep just as Ran arrived. Ran places the food on the bed and leaves to hang out with Sonoko, following through on her promise to use the backdoor exit when leaving the house. Conan asks Haibara why she pretended to be asleep while Ran was here, but she doesn't respond—only vaguely stating in her thoughts, "he doesn't know anything, not that I want him to know." She takes a bite of the porridge, remarking that it's hot. As she eats, Agasa states that while asking his colleagues about Atsushi Miyano, he learned that the scientist had a childhood friend who used to design the covers for his books. Agasa suggests that once Haibara gets better, they should visit him in hopes of gaining more information on Haibara's parents and the Black Organization. Unbeknownst to the three of them, Vermouth listens in on their conversation, meaning that she had recently tapped the house.
Later that day, the trio heads to Miyano's friend's house—despite the dangers. They meet Souhei Dejima, who states the last time he met Miyano was when he let Dejima borrow his parents' house, meaning the building they're currently in was Atsushi Miyano's childhood home. Dejima also says that Miyano went to work at a large research facility owned by a sponsor who saw merit in his theses. The two haven't talked since. Usahiko Zaitsu enters the conversation, adding that while Dejima was away, Miyano had visited the house, bringing his wife, Elena, and daughter, Akemi, with him. Tetsuo Imai also joins, saying that Akemi was a strange child who often hid their work tools in odd locations and laughed at their confusion. The wife remained silent while Miyano ceaselessly looked out the window at a black car parked outside—likely deployed by the organization to monitor the family's behavior. Isamu Natsubori enters the room and asks everyone what they want for lunch, with everyone mostly settling for fast food. Imai goes to use the bathroom. Zaitsu says that recently, an older Akemi visited the house, asking to use the bathroom. Dejima recalls her telling him not to tell anyone about her bathroom usage, wanting him to keep it a secret. Conan and Haibara dash towards the bathroom, pounding on the door and switching with Zaitsu, who had used it before them. The two kids enter the restroom together and search for something left behind by Akemi, but before they can finish their search, they give the room to Dejima.
Isamu returns with the food, and the group eats. Zaitsu says that after Akemi visited, someone had broken into the house twice but took nothing. Dejima tries to explain something strange that occurred after her visit, but he gasps for air before he can finish his thought. After a brief struggle, the man collapses to the ground dead. Poisoned by his food.
File 424 - A Secret Left in a Small Room
People
Cover in other countries
References
- ^ Bus Hijacking Case (Manga: Volume 29: 287-289)
See also
| Volumes of the Manga | ||
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| Volume 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 • 26 • 27 • 28 • 29 • 30 • 31 • 32 • 33 • 34 • 35 • 36 • 37 • 38 • 39 • 40 • 41 • 42 • 43 • 44 • 45 • 46 • 47 • 48 • 49 • 50 • 51 • 52 • 53 • 54 • 55 • 56 • 57 • 58 • 59 • 60 • 61 • 62 • 63 • 64 • 65 • 66 • 67 • 68 • 69 • 70 • 71 • 72 • 73 • 74 • 75 • 76 • 77 • 78 • 79 • 80 • 81 • 82 • 83 • 84 • 85 • 86 • 87 • 88 • 89 • 90 • 91 • 92 • 93 • 94 • 95 • 96 • 97 • 98 • 99 • 100 • 101 • 102 • 103 • 104 • 105 • 106 • 107 |
