There was no doubt about it—the question Senma Furuyo had just posed was directed at the one person she should have avoided at all costs.
The "Goddess of Death" in the form of a primary school student.
"That's right," Conan said, his voice bright and clear. "Back then, Tsuneo-niisan and Ran-neechan weren't involved in the toss; it was only the five of us."
"The fact that you specifically reached for the ten-yen copper coin that was furthest away was the first thing that made me suspicious of you."
"Later, when we were returning in the car after checking the bridge, your expression was visibly off. It was as if something completely unexpected had happened."
Mogi Harufumi listened to the boy's explanation and shot a surprised glance toward Tsuneo.
He hadn't expected this man to do more than just dismantle bombs. Tsuneo had actually set this whole stage—instructing the kid to use that single ten-yen coin as bait to hook a liar.
It seemed his colleague was far more "enlightened" in the ways of detection than he let on.
Why was Senma Furuyo so desperate to ensure no one else touched that specific coin? The reason was simple: cyanide and the oxidation-reduction reaction it triggers on copper.
"As for why you were guaranteed to be the one in the car... do you remember after Mr. Ogami died, you used a coin to test the tea's components?"
"Later, when it came time to choose who would get in the car, you simply kept your own coin hidden in your palm with the patterned side up. Then, you let this little boy's coin fall to the side. A simple, effective bit of cheating," Hakuba Saguru said with a knowing smile.
Because the toss was supposedly a matter of pure luck, no one else—unless they had a hidden agenda—would have even thought to cheat.
"Since you're so certain that I am the one who organized this gathering," Senma Furuyo said, her smile finally beginning to fade, "then how exactly did I kill Mr. Ogami?"
Kogoro Mouri looked at Senma on his right, then at the empty seat on his left.
That was where Ogami Shukuzen had been sitting. Since the seating arrangement had been completely randomized by Rock-Paper-Scissors, poisoning someone across an empty seat was no easy feat.
"Actually, the methodology had nothing to do with the seating chart," Hakuba Saguru said, picking up a teacup. "Potassium cyanide was coated on every single teacup in the room. However, the placement of the poison was very specific."
Indeed, the poison hadn't been placed inside the cup or on the rim where the lips would touch. It had been smeared onto the handle.
Ogami Shukuzen had a nervous habit: whenever he was deep in thought, he would subconsciously bite the nail of his thumb. By grabbing the handle, the poison transferred to his hand, and from his hand, it was delivered directly into his mouth.
The reason Senma had insisted on taking the furthest ten-yen coin was out of fear that someone else might have poison residue on their hands, which would react with the copper and reveal the trick.
"But everyone was being cautious," Senma Furuyo countered, her voice steady and sharp. "Didn't everyone wipe down their utensils with a napkin before eating?"
"Exactly," Hakuba replied. "For a detective as experienced as Mr. Ogami to overlook such a detail is fundamentally unrealistic."
"And it was that very fact that led us to our final deduction."
Everyone turned their eyes toward Senma Furuyo.
Tsuneo watched the scene, thinking to himself: The gazes and smiles of these detectives are all carved from the exact same mold. If I were her, I'd just confess right now just to spite them. Why give them the satisfaction of their 'grand reveal' high?
"Accomplices!" Conan shouted, being the first to break the silence.
Ah, that felt good!
Ikumi Kyosuke glanced at the boy and picked up the thread. "Exactly. If this party was co-hosted by the two of you from the start, and you both knew the ultimate goal was to find a treasure..."
"...then neither of you would feel the need to meticulously wipe down your own utensils. Why poison your own valuable partner before the treasure is even in hand?" Mogi Harufumi finished, lighting a cigarette.
The tape recording must have contained something—a specific code or hint—that was meant only for Ogami's ears to trigger his deep thinking. It was the lure on the hook.
"No wonder..." Ran murmured, looking around at the group.
She remembered several people telling her specifically to wash her hands thoroughly earlier.
The deduction that Ogami was an accomplice might have been weak if it relied solely on him not wiping his cup properly. But when combined with that Mercedes parked out front—the one that suggested the host had arrived early—the theory of a partner became much more solid.
To leave a car in such a remote place beforehand, you would need someone else to drive you back down the mountain.
"That car...?" Ran recalled that when they were driving up, Senma's car had been 'broken down' by the side of the road. Was that also a setup?
"She sabotaged her own car to block our path," Tsuneo said, looking at "Uncle Mouri." "It was a way to establish her presence and drop the hint that she hates the smell of tobacco—ensuring no one would smoke around her."
Her only target had been Ogami Shukuzen.
And Kaito, being the cooperative actor he was, had taken the hint and hadn't touched a single cigarette since, not even for the sake of the disguise.
"I see now," Ran nodded.
Senma Furuyo had indeed confiscated the ashtray in the car the moment they started the trip.
With that, the detectives had reconstructed the entire truth.
First, the Mercedes was placed to mislead everyone into thinking the host was already there. Then, she rode in Ogami's car to go back down the mountain, only to rejoin the group later. The tape was used to trigger Ogami's habit, leading to his death. Finally, she faked her own death with the car bomb to pile psychological pressure on the survivors.
"So, according to your original plan," Mogi Harufumi said, blowing out a cloud of smoke, "what did you intend to do once we solved the riddle and found the treasure? Were you planning to kill us all, 'Sister' Senma?"
After all, they had found the bloodstained message in the piano room—the one signed by Kyosuke Senma, detailing the horrors Renya Karasuma had committed forty years ago.
"No. I am not Renya Karasuma. I have no interest in such things," Senma Furuyo sighed. She stood up, clasped her hands behind her back, and walked to the window.
"Kyosuke Senma... was indeed my father's name."
"He was an archaeologist. Forty years ago, he was invited to this very annex."
"The multi-millionaire, who was over a hundred years old at the time, had found a clue to a massive treasure hidden in this mansion—a gift left to him by his mother. He wanted to find it before he died, so he gathered experts from every field to solve the mystery."
"The reward was incredibly enticing. My father would send letters home every day, each containing a substantial sum of money. My mother and I were overjoyed."
"But after six months, the letters stopped. My father, who had never told us exactly where he was going, vanished completely."
"The truth only came to light by sheer accident. Years later, I happened to hold the last letter my father sent up to a lamp."
"The entire page was covered in tiny pinpricks. He had used a needle to punch out words that were invisible to the naked eye."
"The letter detailed the riddle of the treasure. It also revealed that many other scholars had been invited along with him—and that as Karasuma's death approached, the old man's sanity crumbled. He began to slaughter them, one by one."
(End of Chapter)
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