Fujino: "…"
This move was so smooth.
He must've knelt a lot in the past, huh?
As expected, when it comes to disciplining a disobedient little punk, nothing beats the real deal—cold, hard steel.
Seeing his son drop to his knees at lightning speed, Odagiri Toshiro took a deep breath. His grip on the knife handle loosened slightly, and he set the blade back onto the rack nearby.
The little brat, noticing his old man had put the knife away, didn't waste a second. He sprang to his feet, brushed off his knees, and acted like nothing had happened.
"…" Fujino thought to himself, *Yeah, I should've just given this kid a good stab.*
Odagiri Toshiro paid no attention to his son's antics. It was as if he'd seen it all before. He turned around and handed a golden lighter to Niya Tamaki. "I found this in my no-good son's room about a month ago."
"T·JINNO."
Niya Tamaki read the name engraved on the lighter, then looked at Odagiri Toshiro with a puzzled expression. "This definitely belonged to my brother. But… why was it in his room? Did he… blackmail someone for it?"
Odagiri Toshiro raised an eyebrow. "You already know about this?"
"Yeah, I heard about it before I came here."
Niya Tamaki nodded, then shot a cold glance at Odagiri Toshiro. "And it's all thanks to Detective Fujino. If it weren't for him, I never would've imagined my brother was being blackmailed…"
"By the way, Toshiro," Fujino suddenly chimed in, curious, "why would you even want a lighter?"
Cash or a fancy watch would make sense, but a lighter? It didn't even look like it was solid gold.
What's the point of blackmailing someone for something like that? Was he planning to juggle it for tips when times got tough?
"Honestly, I don't really get it either…"
Niya Tamaki sighed, rolling her eyes. "The son of the Criminal Division Chief blackmailing someone for a lighter? That's just embarrassing."
Hakuba Tan nodded silently in agreement.
As the son of the Police Superintendent, Odagiri Toshiro might've been a step below him in rank, but they weren't that different. Still, Hakuba couldn't wrap his head around Toshiro's move—blackmailing someone and then keeping evidence of it? What was that about?
Odagiri Toshiro faltered for a moment, caught off guard.
He felt like a complete idiot.
And the way everyone was looking at him… was that… disdain?
Damn it, all he did was take a lighter! Was it really that humiliating? After a brief silence, he awkwardly explained, "I just thought it looked cool, so I kept it. But how do you guys know for sure it belonged to Niya Tamotsu?"
"It's got his name on it, doesn't it?"
Niya Tamaki held up the lighter, pointing to the engraved letters: "T·JINNO. That's my brother's initials."
Odagiri Toshiro: "…"
He'd thought it was some brand name.
No wonder he couldn't find anything about it after searching for so long.
Damn it, he'd been burned by his lack of education again.
"…" Odagiri Toshiro's face darkened.
His lifelong reputation was ruined by this little punk.
Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he changed the subject. "A year ago, Officer Tomonari had a heart attack while on duty. That name came up in the last case he was investigating, so it stuck with me…"
"After you asked Toshiro about it, I realized he'd been blackmailing someone by claiming he had dirt on them selling illegal drugs."
Fujino picked up the thread. "And after you found out, you asked Officer Narazawa to look into the case, right?"
"You've already figured it all out, huh?"
Odagiri Toshiro was surprised that Fujino knew exactly what he was getting at.
But then again, if this famous detective was here, he'd probably already pieced everything together…
*What a guy,* Toshiro thought to himself. Out loud, he said, "Once I learned about it, I checked the case files, but there was nothing on Toshiro. So I asked Officer Narazawa to reopen the investigation."
"And it was *you* who ordered him to look into it?"
Niya Tamaki frowned. Clearly, this wasn't the answer she'd expected.
"I never imagined Officer Narazawa would end up dead, though."
Odagiri Toshiro's expression darkened. "Now the case has been handed over to Inspector Megure. Hakuba and Fujino were brought in to help, so they probably know the details too."
"Actually, I think this case is tied to you in some way," Fujino said, looking at Odagiri Toshiro calmly.
"Yeah…"
Odagiri Toshiro seemed to misunderstand. "If I secretly ordered the investigation, I could be a suspect too—maybe even the killer trying to cover my tracks."
"Uh…"
Fujino gave him a blank look.
Nice, he was answering his own questions now.
Too bad he got it wrong.
*Maybe don't jump in next time,* Fujino thought. Rubbing his chin, he organized his thoughts and explained, "What I meant was, this case is connected to you ordering Officer Narazawa to investigate. Beyond that, there's not much else linking you to it."
He paused, then added, "As for suspects, I've already ruled both of you out."
"Ruled us out?"
Odagiri Toshiro frowned, confused by Fujino's reasoning.
Fujino glanced at him. *What, you're upset I cleared you?* "If either of you had killed him, you wouldn't have bothered with all this hassle. If you really wanted to protect your son, you wouldn't have ordered Narazawa to reopen a closed case. And you definitely wouldn't have returned the lighter to Ms. Niya."
"Same goes for Ms. Niya. She might have a motive to go after the police, but based on the info left by the two dead officers, there's not much connecting her to this."
He shifted his gaze to Odagiri Toshiro's son. "As for Toshiro… well, I don't buy him as the killer. He left evidence behind while blackmailing Niya Tamotsu. No offense, but I doubt he's got the skills to pull off a murder."
"Exactly," Odagiri Toshiro nodded. "My son doesn't have the brains or the guts for that. You're spot on—no offense taken. If he had half a brain, I'd have arrested him myself ages ago."
Fujino: "…"
*Wow, you really don't hold back when it comes to roasting your own kid.*
Odagiri Toshiro's son: "…"
*Why do I feel like my own dad's dissing me again?*
"So if it's not Ms. Niya or Toshiro…" Hakuba Tan mused, "that leaves only one suspect: Tomonari Makoto."
"Nope," Fujino wagged a finger, cutting off Hakuba's guess. "Tomonari Makoto isn't the killer either."
"Huh?" Hakuba looked at Fujino, baffled.
But then it clicked. "Wait, are you saying the real killer isn't even on the police's radar?"
"Exactly."
Fujino nodded. "We've all been stuck in the traps the killer set for us. Toshiro, his dad—those are just distractions."
"Distractions?"
"If you look closely, Toshiro was only tied to last year's case through the blackmail. But Tomonari Makoto? He's got no real connection to it."
"If Tomonari wanted to kill someone, he could've done it way earlier. No need to wait until the Chief ordered a reinvestigation and then make his move."
Fujino scanned the room. "If none of our current suspects are the killer, then who is?"
"The real killer, huh?"
Hakuba Tan pondered. "They didn't kill those two officers for no reason. Both died after the Chief ordered the case reopened, so it's gotta be tied to that old case. If Toshiro's not the murderer, then it's someone else. But no one else knew about this except the victims and the Chief…"
For a moment, they hit a dead end.
Criminal investigations are like that sometimes. When all the suspects are cleared, it means the real killer was never even on the police's radar—and all the work up to that point? Wasted.
"But finding the killer now isn't actually that hard," Fujino said, breaking the silence. "This case isn't really about the murdered cops—it's about Niya Tamotsu's death. Maybe the person who killed him is the same one who took out the officers. And that person must've had contact with both victims."
"Sure, but that's still a pretty wide net…"
Hakuba Tan scratched his head. "If that's the case, we'll have to ask Inspector Megure to dig up more leads."
Odagiri Toshiro nodded, agreeing with Hakuba.
Fujino narrowed his eyes.
Without the ability to see the future, they couldn't just point at the killer and call it a day. Even Conan needed a hole in an umbrella and a bunch of coincidences to pin down Kazato Kyosuke.
With the killer still unidentified and info missing, someone like Kazato—outside the police's scope—was tough to lock onto.
The longer this dragged on, the messier it'd get.
Fujino sighed. "Actually, I've got a hunch about who it might be."
"Hm?"
Everyone turned to him, intrigued.
"Kazato Kyosuke."
"Who?"
The name drew blank stares all around.
"He's a psychologist I met at a party yesterday. He's Officer Shiratori's therapist."
Fujino thought for a second, then went full-on speech mode, spinning his tale. "I didn't think much of him at first, but the more I mulled it over, the more it made sense. The clue Officer Narazawa left behind before he died—it might've been pointing to him."
"So you're saying Narazawa wasn't clutching a police handbook, but his heart?"
Hakuba caught on quick. "If it's him, it could fit. The second victim's handbook might've just been a red herring. Maybe he heard about the handbook thing from one of the investigating officers…"
He glanced at Odagiri Toshiro. "Chief, aside from Officer Hakuba, was Narazawa also seeing him for therapy?"
"I heard he started seeing a psychologist after Officer Tomonari's death caused him some mental strain…"
Odagiri Toshiro frowned, thinking. "But I can't say for sure if it was Kazato Kyosuke."
"Got it."
Hakuba nodded, piecing it together.
In his mind, Kazato was now suspect number one.
But he didn't feel smug about it.
He turned to Fujino, eyes narrowing.
His mind was sharp, clearer than ever.
From the start, Fujino had been steering the case—clearing suspects, tossing out Kazato's name. He'd been guiding the whole conversation, dropping key ideas…
"How'd you connect Kazato Kyosuke to this case?" Hakuba asked, curious.
Fujino grinned, dead serious. "Detective's intuition."
Hakuba: "…"
*Intuition? That feels like a cop-out.* Detectives were supposed to rely on evidence and logic, not gut feelings.
Noticing Hakuba's skepticism, Fujino chuckled. "It's just a hunch, really. When I met him, something felt off. The more I thought about it, the more it bugged me, so I threw him into the mix. If we can dig up something on him, great."
"Intuition, huh?"
Odagiri Toshiro rubbed his chin, nodding solemnly. "It's not the most reliable, but in police work, we do trust our gut sometimes. It's not scientific, but it's practical. Plenty of cases get cracked that way."
He looked at Fujino with admiration. "Matsumoto was right about you. You're a natural-born cop."
(End of Chapter)