"I already know who the culprit is." Yimi fiddled with the dial once again and immediately adjusted it to the voice she needed.
She had gotten this at the Professor's house earlier because Conan had remarked that he finally would not need these things for a while.
None of her previous attempts had completed the mission. It had to be because she needed to shoot a real detective. This time there could be no mistake.
Thinking that, Yimi sniffed the air again and stared suspiciously at the solemnly seated Shinichi. He smelled like Conan.
High school detective Kudo Shinichi was so outstanding that newspapers had even called him "the savior of Japan's police force." There was almost no case in this world that he could not solve.
That was what people said, anyway. But there was no way mere achievements would make a Beika criminal confess. Criminals here could be so confident in their own tricks that they would specifically write to a detective and invite him over to establish their alibi.
Kogami Mai was just as confident in her own method.
She had drilled a hole into the middle of an ice cube, placed poison inside, and sealed it again before putting the cube into a drink. To eliminate suspicion from herself, she ordered the same drink and prepared the same kind of poisoned ice cube for her own glass, ensuring that no matter which drink the victim chose, his would contain poison. She then finished her own drink in one go and pretended to chew the ice while secretly hiding her cube in her hood.
Because she knew Kamata had a habit of chewing ice, the poisoning succeeded. Under normal circumstances, she would have been extremely confident in disguising it as suicide—if two little kids had not barged into the women's room and seen her preparing the poison.
But those two little things looked only seven or eight. There was no way they understood what she had been doing. Even if they connected it to this death, no adult would believe them.
Kogami Mai could not help glancing in one direction. The masked boy had Conan's looks and Ai's aloof temperament—an absurdly cool combination—and stared back at her without expression.
Since Tokyo was more or less Kudo Shinichi's territory, Heiji had no intention of speaking up even though Ai had already spoiled the culprit for him. For a detective, having the answer spoiled was not particularly fun.
Kogami Mai happened to meet Ai's eyes. That cold gaze remained fixed on her as though it had seen through everything, yet "Conan" never spoke a single word of testimony.
Maybe he only thought she looked familiar and remembered her shouting at him in the bathroom? She could have been doing anything in there. There was no reason to call her the culprit based on that alone, right?
Thinking this, Kogami Mai turned away, but she could still feel Ai's stare resting on her.
Could that child simply be waiting?
Waiting for her to confess on her own?
For no reason at all, such an absurd thought appeared in Kogami Mai's mind.
The ice cube in her hood had melted, soaking her back.
"..."
That detective had been silent for quite a while too—because Yimi was busy wondering why Shinichi smelled like Conan. Was he waiting for something as well?
Kogami Mai's gaze drifted. She vaguely caught sight of a hat poking up beside Kudo Shinichi. If she remembered correctly, it belonged to the girl who had been with the boy when they entered the women's room.
So that was it. The detective really did know. He was giving her the opportunity to admit it herself and surrender...
Kogami Mai gave a soft laugh and helplessly raised one hand. "I killed him."
Bad people deserved consequences, including herself for killing someone. In front of children, she would at least serve as a negative example and a warning.
"Kogami-san?"
"Why?"
"Because that man was completely unworthy of being a doctor," she replied.
The reason involved an academic conference. Kamata had prepared a paper that was actually wrong, while a patient at the hospital happened to develop symptoms that would disprove his paper. To keep his paper valid, Kamata prescribed the wrong medication and caused the patient's death.
A week ago, after having his marriage proposal rejected, Kamata had gone drinking with Kogami Mai and let the matter slip. He had even complained, "I can decide other people's lives and deaths however I want, yet I got completely played by a girl ten years younger than me. Talk about karmic retribution."
If that paper were published and accepted, wouldn't it end up harming even more people?
Kogami Mai had planned all of this. Yet it seemed she, too, had become someone who believed she could decide another person's life or death.
"Mm?"
Hearing all this, Yimi came out from hiding, the cat ears under her hat drooping.
She could not understand a lot of it, but she somehow felt she had done something bad even though she had not actually begun exposing the culprit yet.
Yimi did not understand human society in this world. From her perspective, she did not think this auntie was a bad person at all. After all, Yimi herself would kill bad people the same way.
Kogami Mai bent down and patted the little eyewitness on the head. "Kid, don't be sad for me. Make sure you never become someone like me when you grow up, okay?"
Yimi did not know how to respond, so she patted Kogami Mai back and offered the same blessing she used to give Flandre. "The Lord will protect you."
Kogami Mai smiled. "Thank you. But as a doctor, I only believe in my own judgment, my own hands, and the things that truly exist in front of me."
"Then, I'll protect you," Yimi quickly added.
"Haha. Suddenly I feel like the rest of my life might not be so terrible." Kogami Mai lightly brushed a finger over Yimi's nose.
Her explanation of the motive may have painted herself in a better light, but there did not seem to be any need to restrain her right now. They only had to wait for Inspector Megure to arrive.
"Shinichi!" With the case over, Ran finally had time to turn her attention to the important person who had suddenly appeared.
At the same time, she felt much more guilty about how coldly she had treated Conan lately.
Ran scrutinized Shinichi, slumped in his seat. "Wasn't Dr. Araide originally supposed to play the Black Knight? Where did you come from?"
Only Hattori's face twitched. He quietly asked Ai, "Kudo got knocked out by that shot, didn't he? Isn't that what he always does to that old man?"
Ai realized something was wrong too. A dose meant for Uncle Kogoro had been fired into Kudo Shinichi himself. There was no way he would wake up easily. She hurriedly pulled Yimi over. "Go keep doing his voice. Say something only he could say, but don't let Ran figure out that he's Conan."
Ai absolutely did not want to entrust such an important task to Yimi, but the voice changer was in Yimi's hands right now, while Ai, as "Conan," needed to remain in Ran's field of view. Hattori Heiji was barely trustworthy, but his Osaka accent and adult build made him impossible as a substitute.
"Mm."
Yimi, who still wanted to say something to Kogami Mai, stealthily slipped back into her hiding place among the seats.
Before she could figure out what to say, Ran seemed to think of something and looked at Sonoko. "Sonoko, this was your doing, wasn't it?"
Sonoko was responsible for the script. Only she could have swapped the actor at the last minute.
Sonoko awkwardly changed the subject. "What does it matter? I only agreed because this guy said there was something he wanted to tell you."
She had also mischievously told Shinichi not to say any lines at all. Just go onstage and kiss her.
"Is that so? What did you want to tell me, Shinichi?" Ran narrowed her eyes at him.
"What did I want to say...?"
Yimi became unhappy.
How could the kitty possibly know what he wanted to say?
Ai had just told her that this Shinichi person was Conan?
Yimi did not understand at all, but her excellent memory still let her recall what Ai had said while the two of them were walking back to the detective agency.
"Who knows? Just think of it as being for the Ran he likes so much... And we still have to make people believe Conan has a cold."
Yimi went with what she remembered. "The thing is, Co—I like you. And Conan has a cold."
"..."
Silence filled the hall.
Confessing at a murder scene—bro, was he really doing something this absurd? But once everyone remembered this was Kudo Shinichi, somehow it all seemed completely reasonable.
The first sentence carried so much weight that nobody paid attention to the second, utterly disconnected one.
Kudo Shinichi happened to wake up at that exact moment and heard everything. He almost did not dare open his eyes.
That brat stole my... Hattori put her up to this, didn't he?! And in a place like this? The body on the floor isn't even cold yet. Show the dead guy some respect, would you?