"Ootake Wataru-san, why aren't you saying anything?"
Damn it. The arrow was already on the string—there was no backing out now. This was not remotely the situation Conan had wanted.
But at this point, staying silent might actually expose him instead. He could only shift position, move closer to the culprit, and continue:
"My method was actually very simple. I had already begun the crime before the incident happened. Just as all of you suspected, the victim was Hosono, the Kamen Yaiba performer who was absent at the time. But in fact, from the latter half of the show all the way until the bungee cord broke and the person fell into the water, the one inside that same Kamen Yaiba suit was me!"
Inspector Megure sucked in a sharp breath.
Why were you saying it with such righteous conviction?
At first, everyone had thought this was a confession. Yet the culprit was describing his own actions in the same lofty tone a detective would use to solve a case, as though he were proudly showing off his method to the police.
Feeling the strange silence around him, Conan realized he had unconsciously slipped into his usual tone for revealing the answer. He hurriedly toned it down and continued:
"After attacking Hosono, I first threw him into the water while he was unconscious. Then I changed into the Kamen Yaiba costume and performed in front of everyone. Following today's script, I secured the bungee cord while hiding a remote-controlled explosive inside it."
"I'm the only one in charge of props and special effects, so I'm the only person who could have done that. I'm sure none of you saw where I was at the time of the incident, either. As for evidence, there should be blast injuries around my ankle. And the missing victim was probably rescued by that white-haired little girl."
You sound pretty proud of listing the evidence against yourself.
That was enough. Inspector Megure walked straight over and put him in handcuffs, while Kogoro, who had been standing uselessly to the side, lifted Ootake Wataru's trouser leg to check.
Because Kogoro could build up resistance, Conan had always asked the professor to keep adjusting the anesthetic dose.
But perhaps Ootake was simply sturdier than expected, or perhaps the click of handcuffs made a guilty man shudder himself awake. Either way, a dose that would have kept Mouri Kogoro out for a while longer only left Ootake groggy for a moment before his eyes slowly opened.
The instant he saw the silver bracelets around his wrists, he snapped fully awake. His gaze instinctively dropped toward the ankle Kogoro had exposed, where the blast injury that could serve as evidence was clearly visible to everyone.
"Ootake Wataru, why did you do this?" The coworker playing the Princess covered her mouth and delivered the classic line.
Ootake stopped pretending. Disgust spread across his face. "Hosono was always saying I wasn't fit to play Kamen Yaiba. He kept telling me that being Kamen Yaiba wasn't just about striking poses, that you had to be worthy of being a hero, all that crap."
He turned his face aside and shouted, "He just wanted to keep me down so I could never steal the spotlight from him!"
People really were killing for stranger and stranger reasons these days, and even his confession carried the same arrogant swagger he had shown while explaining the trick.
"That wasn't what I meant at the time." Just as everything was coming to an end, Hosono—the real performer who had managed not to die—walked in and removed his helmet.
"You always assume the worst of everyone. You even said yourself that playing Kamen Yaiba was nothing more than striking a few poses."
In fact, some of the children below the stage had probably already noticed that today's Kamen Yaiba performer was different. Hosono's imitation for the stage play was intentionally a little out of character.
For example, he always made some of his poses slightly different from Kamen Yaiba's on television. A gesture pointing toward the sky, for instance, was actually a promise to the children that they would "see each other next time," a little symbol of friendship.
...
News headline: SLEEPING CRIMINAL BRAZENLY SHOWS OFF HIS MURDER METHOD IN FRONT OF EVERYONE!
"Heh..."
At Professor Agasa's house, Conan stared at the newspaper with dead-fish eyes and lowered it.
Everything afterward had only happened because Yimi found the victim and ruined Ootake's plan. On top of that, his attitude while "confessing" to the method made it impossible to treat the incident as a voluntary surrender. Hopefully he would simply receive the punishment he deserved.
Conan put down the paper and sighed. "I really hope something like that never happens again."
"Why?" Yimi looked at him in confusion.
"Because it's bad," Conan replied, only to suddenly run out of words.
A thought had just occurred to him. Did randomly shooting anesthetic needles at people and making them lose consciousness count as a crime too?
Ai, sitting nearby, lowered the book in her hands and unconsciously reached over to rub Yimi's head. Then she finished Conan's explanation for him.
"What he probably means is that a detective's job is only to uncover the truth. Confessing on behalf of a bad person who wasn't prepared to do so, and thereby reducing their punishment, would be unfair to the victim. On the other hand, something like the newspaper's 'brazenly showing off the method' could increase the culprit's sentence, which would also be bad for the culprit."
"Mhm." Yimi nodded, feeling as though she had come one step closer to becoming a detective.
It was just like what the old geezer in the Spirit world had taught her. For an outsider kitty to help the First Spirit make up for mistakes that had nothing to do with Yimi herself was also a bad thing.
Then she pointed at Conan in confusion. "Then why did you, shoot the culprit?"
"I told you, I wasn't trying to shoot him... Anyway, you absolutely can't tell anyone what happened before. I'll buy you a hamburger." Conan raised an index finger to his lips.
If big-mouthed Yimi went around blabbing and Ran somehow figured something out, he was finished.
"Hamburger. I won't tell anyone." Kitty agreed.
She was still a little puzzled, though. He had not been shooting the detective, and he had not been shooting the culprit, so had that needle been meant for the victim? But the victim had not even been there this time.
"Ding-dong~"
The doorbell at Professor Agasa's house rang. Yimi trotted over to open the door and found Kisaki Eri, who had deliberately come to pick her up.
"Queen." Yimi greeted her and took her hand on her own.
"What do you mean, 'Queen'?" Eri looked into the house. "Professor Agasa isn't home?"
"He's pooping," Yimi answered.
"...A girl shouldn't use such crude words, understand?"
Her cheeks were pinched again. Asuna had only taught her how to eat elegantly. She had never taught her how to speak elegantly.
Eri glanced at the two children still inside and focused on Conan. "This boy... Why does he look so much like Yukiko's son?"
"A-Auntie Yukiko and I are relatives!" Conan hurriedly waved his hands as he explained.
Eri rubbed her chin. "Really? I seem to remember Yukiko hating it when people call her 'auntie.'"
Lawyers really were hard to fool.
Conan flailed in panic and babbled, "I'm the grandson of the uncle of the nephew of the daughter of Auntie Yukiko's maternal grandfather's older sister."
"...Never mind. When the professor comes out, tell him I took Yimi home, all right?" Eri took Yimi by the hand and left.
Then she looked up and thought about it again.
If you followed that ridiculous chain all the way around and rounded things off, didn't it basically come back to "son"? If not, Eri really could not imagine how Yukiko would have any connection to him.
When did Yukiko have a second child?