"Just a little trick with time," Fujino mused. "Mrs. Shibata did leave before 5 a.m., but that doesn't mean Mr. Shibata died at 8 a.m."
"Mr. Shibata didn't die at 8 a.m.?" Yokomizo asked, puzzled. "But the TV recording was from a show that only airs at 8, and the newspaper on the table was the morning edition, available after 6 a.m. Are you saying Mr. Shibata came back to life or something?"
Fujino nodded seriously. "Well, maybe it's possible."
"What? Seriously?!" Yokomizo's jaw dropped, shock written all over his face.
If an ordinary person said this, he'd think they were nuts.
What was this, a ghost story?
But since it was Fujino, the high school detective who came with Mr. Mouri…
Yokomizo had half a mind to believe the corpse might've actually gotten up and walked!
"I'm just kidding. Coming back to life? No way," Fujino said, giving Yokomizo a deadpan look.
He hadn't expected the guy to actually buy it.
Man, Neon's police were way too gullible…
Snapping out of it, Fujino explained, "What I mean is, Mr. Shibata didn't die at 8 a.m. He was already dead before Mrs. Shibata left at 5 a.m."
"It's reasonable for a couple living under the same roof to know each other's habits. Mr. Shibata ate breakfast while reading the paper and watched TV at 8 a.m. sharp."
"I think the newspaper was placed on the table by her after she came back. As for the TV recording, she set it up in advance."
Fujino turned to Kyoko Shibata. "The goal was to throw everyone off, creating the illusion that he died at 8 a.m. to establish an alibi and clear your name, right?"
"But whether it was 6 a.m. when the paper was delivered or 8 a.m. when the recording started, Mrs. Shibata was playing golf with her friends," Yokomizo said, frowning as he eyed Kyoko. "If what you're saying is true, Detective Fujino, then her friends must be covering for her leaving midway."
"Not necessarily. Her friends probably aren't lying. She did go golfing before 5 a.m., and she was back after 7 a.m. That's all true," Fujino said, shaking his head. "But 'after 7' could mean 7:10 or 7:30. I think Mrs. Shibata came back, took the newspaper from the mailbox, and placed it on the table. As for the recording, she set the VCR to start at 8 a.m. before she left—sometime before 5 a.m."
"I see…" Mouri Kogoro nodded. "If that's the case, Mrs. Shibata came back once before we arrived. That way, it'd look like Mr. Shibata died at 8 a.m."
"Exactly," Fujino said. "Actually, Mrs. Shibata's behavior was off the moment we walked in. That's when I started paying attention."
"Off behavior?" Mouri blinked. "Was there something?"
"Big bro Mouri, you didn't notice?" Fujino glanced at him, a bit surprised. But then he remembered Mouri's panicked apologizing earlier and let it slide. "When we arrived, didn't Mrs. Shibata say something like, 'What are you doing in my house? I'm calling the police'?"
"Yeah, that's true…" Mouri rubbed his chin, still not quite getting it.
"It's Mrs. Shibata's reaction, right?" Ran piped up, like an eager student. "Was she already aware we were in her house?"
"Exactly." Fujino nodded, relieved Ran was on the ball. "Normally, seeing strangers in your house would mean one of two things: either she knew her husband wasn't home, or she knew he was already dead."
"But what really tipped me off was when we got to the Shibata house. I heard faint breathing."
Fujino looked at Kyoko. "I didn't think much of it at the time since there were a lot of people around. But now that I think about it, that was you, Mrs. Shibata, hiding somewhere and watching us, wasn't it?"
Conan listened quietly, nodding in agreement with Fujino's reasoning.
Their conclusions aligned, though their starting points differed.
Suspecting someone because of breathing sounds?
Was Fujino even human, or was he some kind of sound-collecting microphone?
"…"
Kyoko Shibata stayed silent, head bowed, swallowing hard.
She hadn't expected her over-the-top reaction when she walked in to give her away.
In truth, she hadn't thought much about it at the time…
"If you put it that way, it makes sense. If Mrs. Shibata did this, she'd have an alibi," Yokomizo said, clarity dawning. But he still had a question. "Why was Ms. Ikenami's photo clutched in Mr. Shibata's hand?"
"To frame Ms. Ikenami, obviously!" Mouri Kogoro declared, his tone dead serious. "If the victim's holding a photo of someone at the scene, that person becomes the prime suspect, letting the real culprit slip away clean!"
"That's it!" Yokomizo, the ultimate Mouri fanboy, instantly bought it. His mind went into overdrive, muttering, "No wonder you said Ms. Ikenami wasn't the killer, Mr. Mouri. Did you already figure out who the real murderer was?"
"You didn't say anything earlier because you were looking out for Fujino-kun, your junior, right?"
"As expected of Mr. Mouri!"
"Ahem." Mouri scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "It's nothing, really."
"Hm?" Shizuka Hattori glanced at Mouri curiously.
She didn't quite buy the cop's theory. From what she'd seen, Mouri seemed like a bumbling, unserious uncle.
But he was the Sleeping Kogoro Mouri. Could he really have figured it out?
Plus, that comment hinted he might've known about her and Shiro Shibata's arrangement…
Was he actually looking out for his junior?
Shizuka started overanalyzing, sinking into thought.
"…"
Kyoko Shibata remained silent.
Frame someone? She'd just grabbed something to put in his hand.
That Ikenami woman was just a coincidence. She hadn't expected her to show up…
"That's part of it, but I think the main reason was to cover something else up," Fujino said, exasperated, cutting off their wild speculations.
"Something else?" The group looked at Fujino, hesitant.
"The wedding ring," Fujino said gravely, looking down. "Mr. Shibata's left hand was covered in blood, but there was a spot on his ring finger without any. His right hand, holding the photo, had blood on the palm. If I'm right, he was holding his wedding ring."
"Just as Fujino-kun said!" Yokomizo hurried over to inspect the body. "There's a circular bloodless mark—definitely like a wedding ring."
"When Mrs. Shibata came home, she was shocked to find her husband had crawled to the study to call for help before dying. He didn't reach the phone, but it still rattled her."
Fujino's eyes narrowed as he studied Kyoko. "Afraid of being exposed, you checked the body and realized his ring was missing—it was in his left hand. To avoid suspicion, you took it out, intending to put it back on."
"But the body was already stiff, and the fingers wouldn't budge. So, you hid the ring. To cover the unnatural way his hand was positioned, you placed the photo in it… which created the illusion that Ms. Ikenami was a suspect."
Fujino's gaze shifted to Kyoko's tightly clenched hand. "From the moment I saw you, your hand's been closed. If I'm not mistaken, that ring's in your hand right now, isn't it?"
Caught red-handed, Kyoko froze. Her hand opened instinctively, and a ring fell to the floor with a faint, ethereal clink.
"You killed Mr. Shibata because of his gambling, didn't you?" Fujino said, glancing at the blood-stained wedding ring.
"Yes, just as you said," Kyoko sighed. "I killed him because of his gambling… He even said the next things to sell were my golf clubs and the heirloom sword my father gave him…"
She shot a venomous glare at Yoshikawa. "This is all because of that guy! I couldn't stand watching him ruin us anymore, so I…"
She trailed off, then looked at Fujino. "You figured out I was the killer from the moment you exposed his gambling… or even when I walked in, didn't you?"
"I only figured out he was gambling," Fujino said, arms crossed, dodging a direct answer.
"I see." Whether she'd accepted her fate or was too rattled, Kyoko didn't argue.
Shizuka Hattori looked at Kyoko with a trace of pity, feeling a bit sorry for her.
Gambling until you lose everything, then snapping and killing?
She couldn't relate, but she could imagine the desperation.
Still, in her eyes, murder was always wrong.
"Alright then, Mrs. Shibata, Mr. Yoshikawa, please come with me to the station," Yokomizo said, stepping forward now that the deduction was done. He glanced at Kyoko, then Yoshikawa.
This case was wild—not only did he get to work with Mouri Kogoro and Fujino, but he also stumbled into a gambling ring alongside a murder.
Sure, stealing credit from another department wasn't ideal, but who'd turn down extra merit?
Just then, as Kyoko prepared to leave with the police, she suddenly remembered the samurai sword in the bedroom—a gift from her father.
After a moment's thought, she asked Yokomizo in a daze, "Um… can I change my clothes first?"
"No problem," Yokomizo agreed to the basic request.
It never crossed his mind that a suspect might try to take their own life.
Fujino quietly watched Kyoko enter the bedroom.
He couldn't quite wrap his head around her case.
Her husband was a gambling addict—why not just divorce him?
No need to "explode coins" on the guy.
But if one side refused to divorce, maybe it made sense.
After some thought, Fujino pushed open the door.
In Japan, murder wasn't that severe a crime. With good behavior, she could be out in 18 years, maybe even just over a decade for a case like this.
Inside, Kyoko had picked up the samurai sword and drawn it from its sheath.
"Stay back!" she screamed, pressing the blade to her neck, hysterical. "I had no choice but to kill him! There was no other way to stop him!"
"Hey, Mrs. Shibata!" Yokomizo, who'd followed, panicked at the sight of her attempting suicide.
If she died, he'd be in hot water—probably demoted.
Shizuka Hattori stepped in, eyeing Kyoko with the blade at her throat, her eyes narrowing.
"Move aside…" Shizuka pulled a fan from her obi, cautiously approaching.
Kyoko, clearly unstable, pointed the sword at Shizuka, stunned. "You… what are you doing?!"
A shadow darted from behind Shizuka. Fujino, drawing a wooden sword from his suit, struck Kyoko's samurai sword with a fierce blow.
Clang!
With a sharp metallic ring, the sword flew from her hand, embedding itself in the floor.
"Huh?" Shizuka blinked, staring at Fujino, who now held the wooden sword.
She hadn't even noticed when he'd rushed past her.
And… where'd that wooden sword come from?
"I just wanted to end it…" Kyoko, snapping out of it, collapsed to her knees, clutching her aching arm and sobbing.
"AHO!" (Idiot!)
Shizuka, feeling she couldn't just stand there, stepped forward and scolded her. Kneeling on the tatami, she quietly pulled the sword from the floor and sheathed it. "You idiot! You killed someone, and now you want to end yourself, creating more sin? Every life is precious, no matter whose—yours included! What were you thinking?"
As Shizuka stood, Fujino walked over. "Ms. Ikenami, have you ever been a Hokage?"
"Huh? A what-shadow?" Shizuka looked up, clearly confused by Fujino's words, her Osaka accent slipping out.
"Forget I said anything," Fujino muttered, shaking his head and tucking the wooden sword back into his suit. "Thought I ran into someone's first love for a second."
That "AHO!" had weirdly reminded him of Tsunade.
Honestly, Shizuka's voice was eerily similar to Tsunade's—so much so that he half-wondered if she was Tsunade reincarnated.
But from this, it was clear she'd never been a Hokage. Probably not that Tsunade.
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