"The culprit is you!" Conan hid behind Professor Agasa, using the voice-changing bowtie to speak in the other's voice with resounding authority, "Taro Nikaido!"
"How is that possible?!" The crowd immediately buzzed with discussion. "Doesn't he have an alibi? Besides, the culprit has already confessed."
No one in the room found the source of the voice strange, nor did they notice that the slightly balding old man's lip movements were just a tiny bit off. In any case, they were all drawn to Conan's words.
"That's right, young man," Inspector Megure also looked puzzledly at Professor Agasa standing there. "Isn't the culprit Ms. Mieko Fujiwara?"
Mieko Fujiwara: "Yes, I killed him. I've already confessed."
Inspector Megure: …
Come to think of it, there was indeed something off about this culprit. It was the first time he had encountered a criminal so eager to admit to being the murderer.
"I'm afraid not, Ms. Fujiwara," Professor Agasa shook his head, matching Conan's tone. "You didn't kill him. It was Taro Nikaido, whom you wanted to protect, who killed him, right?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the atmosphere in the room shifted instantly. Everyone couldn't help but look toward the shop assistant who hadn't said a word since earlier.
"How is that possible? That's absurd!" Mieko Fujiwara, who had shown little emotion when confessing to the crime earlier, suddenly became agitated. "I killed him! Do you have any evidence to frame a child? He has an alibi! He had no opportunity to kill that person! Only I, only I have no alibi!"
"I can understand how you feel, Ms. Fujiwara," Conan continued using Professor Agasa's voice. "But what's false will always be false. You didn't kill him, and you shouldn't take the blame for him. As for the alibi, all it took was recording the victim's piano playing in advance and playing it back after his death."
As he spoke, Conan ran out and pointed at the stereo in the room. "Look, it can be played here~ And it seems to have a record of the playback time from just now~"
With his reminder, everyone noticed the rather inconspicuous stereo in the corner.
"Although there's no tape inside, there is indeed a playback record," Officer Takagi went over to check and said, "The time is 8:46, lasting until the originally estimated time of the incident, which is 9:04."
"That's right. So the victim's actual time of death, I believe, should be between 8:30 and 8:40."
Conan ran back behind Professor Agasa and continued his deduction.
"If I'm not mistaken, Ms. Fujiwara, you discovered the footprints Mr. Nikaido left on the windowsill while cleaning on the second floor, didn't you? I think he must have used a piano string extended with cotton thread tied at both ends, standing at the second-floor window, to strangle Koji Yamada when he was standing on the first-floor balcony. Then he jumped down from the second floor to dispose of the body, burned the cotton thread at both ends of the piano string, and used the tape to play the piano sound to create an alibi."
"These are all your wild fantasies!" Mieko Fujiwara exclaimed, agitated as if she weren't the one being exonerated. "If, according to your theory, the time of death was around 8:40, then how do you explain Mr. Naoshi Furuta seeing him at 8:55?"
"Then we must ask Mr. Furuta," Conan said confidently in Professor Agasa's voice. "I believe he did indeed see Mr. Koji Yamada, but what he saw was the corpse, wasn't it? Am I right, Mr. Furuta?"
Everyone once again turned to look at Naoshi Furuta, who was sweating profusely. The fat on his face trembled twice before he stammered, "Y-yes, when I arrived, Koji was already dead, and the piano music was indeed playing in the room…"
"Then why didn't you say so?" Inspector Megure said sternly. "Do you know the consequences of lying to the police?"
"I-I'm sorry…" he replied tearfully. "I was terrified at the time, but I was afraid of being mistaken for the murderer, so after stealing the piano, I left quickly and didn't dare say anything. Afterward, to prove I wasn't at the scene when the crime occurred, I chose to hide it…"
"Concealing the victim's actual time of death," Conan added, once again using Professor Agasa's voice to complete the sentence.
Naoshi Furuta's confession directly implicated everyone present except Qianben Xixi—the other three, including the shop assistant, now lacked a solid alibi for the time of the crime.
"Then what's your evidence?" Mieko Fujiwara clung to her last shred of hope. "Why do you say it wasn't me who killed him? Don't all three of us lack alibis?"
Naoshi Furuta shouted, "It wasn't me! I didn't kill anyone!"
This is how a suspect should act… everyone couldn't help but think in unison. That cleaner named Fujiwara was just too strange.
"Evidence, of course we have it," Conan signaled to Qianben Xixi with his eyes.
Alright, I get it. Qianben Xixi sighed, closed her phone, and walked over to the shop assistant.
"Excuse me," she said coldly, grabbing the hand he had in his pocket. "May I see the tape in your pocket?"
As everyone's gaze shifted to him, Taro Nikaido gave a bitter smile, silently loosening his grip and allowing Qianben Xixi to take the tape from his pocket.
"Now, all we need to do is play it to confirm whether the content matches the piano music you heard when you entered the shop," Conan said to Qianben Xixi.
"No need," the shop assistant called out, stopping Qianben Xixi as she was about to walk toward the sound system. "I killed him, that's right."
"Taro!" Mieko Fujiwara burst into tears the moment the shop assistant confessed. Sobbing, she cried, "I was the one who killed him… why did you admit to it…"
"Enough, Aunt Mieko. I take responsibility for my own actions," the shop assistant shook his head, comforting her. "It's my fault. I was too foolish to believe him."
Mieko Fujiwara couldn't accept it, crying, "It's not your fault… it's that person, he was too wicked. He deserved it!"
"Ahem, Ms. Fujiwara, murder is wrong," Inspector Megure admonished, then turned to Taro Nikaido and asked, "Why did you kill your shop owner?"
"Probably for that piano, right?" Seeing the case progressing too slowly, Qianben Xixi couldn't help but step forward to speed things up. "I'm guessing the piano that the victim and Mr. Naoshi Furuta were trading is actually yours, isn't it?"
Taro Nikaido nodded angrily, "Yes, that was the only keepsake my parents left me. And that man, as my parents' closest friend, actually swapped it out for his own gain and traded it away!
And I, foolishly, trusted him so much. He didn't have me work at the shop to take care of me—he was scheming for that fifty-million-yen cello! If it weren't for them arguing in the room last night over the price, which I overheard, I would still be completely in the dark!"
"S-so…" Naoshi Furuta suddenly exclaimed in shock.
"That's right, the one you stole was a fake." Taro Nikaido revealed a hint of vindictive satisfaction. "The fake cello he used to deceive me."
…
The truth finally came to light. It turned out Mieko Fujiwara was the housekeeper for the shop assistant's family and had watched him grow up. Unable to bear seeing the only son of the Nikaido couple ruin his life with revenge after their deaths, she intervened.
Qianben Xixi glanced at the shop assistant being led away in handcuffs before turning to the shelf and picking up the deep blue cello case that had been dropped on the floor.
"Is this the cello you bought?" Conan popped up from somewhere again, asking curiously. "Do you play the cello?"
Qianben Xixi looked at him. "No."
Conan: "…"
Qianben Xixi: "A friend gave it to me. I'm planning to learn."
Damn, to keep up the lie, would she have to go back and actually learn the cello?
Outwardly calm, she couldn't help but feel resentful inside. Was her luck just that bad, or was Rum's luck that bad? Seriously… Couldn't they just give her the gun when it was time for the mission? Carrying it around every day was so inconvenient.
"Miss Qianben." Officer Takagi walked over, somewhat awkwardly. "We'll need you to come to the police station to give another statement."
As an old acquaintance, Officer Takagi knew very well how much this pretty girl disliked coming to the police station every day to give statements, but there was no other way. He could only brace himself and approach her.
"I know." Qianben Xixi sighed. "Let me put the cello away first, then I'll come over. I can't exactly carry such a large cello with me while riding in a police car."
"And it wouldn't fit," she added.
Seeing her relatively cooperative, Officer Takagi breathed a sigh of relief. "No problem, you can come over later on your own. Alright, Conan, let's go first."
Watching Officer Takagi lead Conan away, Qianben Xixi also relaxed. She then carried the cello to a nearby alley, where a very familiar Porsche 356A was parked.
Qianben Xixi first knocked on the car window before opening the door and getting in.
"Taken care of?" Gin put down his cigarette. "Put it in the trunk."
"Yeah." Qianben Xixi opened the cello case, then the cello inside, confirming the sniper rifle hidden within was intact before closing it and tossing it into the back.
"This wasn't my fault," she said. "Just give it to me directly during the mission. No need to make things so complicated."
Gin: "I'll tell him."
It was originally a very simple matter—who knew a murder would occur? Thinking of this, Gin cast a suspicious glance her way.
Qianben Xixi: "Why are you looking at me like that?"
Gin put the cigarette to his lips: "No reason."
Don't think she didn't know what Gin was thinking—it was no different from the look Inspector Megure gave her earlier today.
But what could she do? It wasn't as if she could say it was all the Detective Boy's fault and not blame herself. If she really said that, she'd bet that given Gin's personality, he'd personally eliminate someone the next second, solving the problem once and for all to avoid trouble.
Detective Conan would end prematurely in less than a year.
Qianben Xixi could only silently shoulder this blame for Conan and decided that if she encountered him again on any future Organization missions, she'd bully him a couple more times to vent her frustration.
"Alright, you can get out of the car," Gin rolled down the window, tossed his half-smoked cigarette outside, and urged impatiently.
"Get out? Aren't you going to take me to the police station?" Qianben Xixi asked.
Gin glanced at her, his shocked expression seeming to say: What are you talking about? Say that again?
Put in modern internet slang, it would perfectly translate to: Are you out of your mind?
"Fine, if you won't take me, you won't," Qianben Xixi rolled her eyes at him and got out of the car cleanly.
"Wait," Gin called out to her.
"What?" Qianben Xixi stood by the car, looking at him. "Actually, dropping me off at the subway station would work too."
Gin couldn't be bothered to respond and said on his own, "Vermouth has been up to something in Mihana Town lately. Let me know if you see her."
Hmph, her heartless boss only knew how to assign her tasks. Qianben Xixi nodded perfunctorily, turned, and walked away without giving him a chance to say more.
Gin: …
If she weren't his subordinate, he'd really want to shoot… Forget it, Asti was still useful, and he wasn't that petty of a boss.
So Gin lit another cigarette before slowly starting the car. He decided to go to the bar for a couple of drinks.
…
Meanwhile, Qianben Xixi arrived at the police station, where Conan and Professor Agasa had been waiting for her.
"You're finally here," Conan said with a half-moon eye expression, teasing, "Where's your boyfriend? Why didn't he bring you?"
"What boyfriend?" Qianben Xixi looked utterly confused. What are you talking about, kid? Since when did she have a boyfriend?
"Weren't you constantly texting someone earlier? That should be your boyfriend, right? I don't think I'm wrong. If you went back to drop off the piano, you definitely wouldn't have gotten here this fast. Didn't you give the piano to your boyfriend? Oh, did you break up?" Conan exclaimed, full of gossip. "Didn't you say last time you weren't planning to break up?!"
Qianben Xixi: "…"
Alright, she finally understood who Conan was talking about.
Thinking back to when she had mistaken someone as a boyfriend gifted by the System, Qianben Xixi couldn't help but darken her expression a bit.
"Oh, you didn't break up," Conan pushed up his glasses, engrossed in deduction, completely ignoring her increasingly dark expression as he analyzed on his own. "I get it. You two just had another fight, so he dumped you on the side of the road… Ow! Why did you hit me on the head?!"
Conan hugged his head in grievance. Whether it was because of his buzz cut or not, he felt his scalp was more sensitive than before.
"Good deduction," Qianben Xixi withdrew her hand. "Just don't do it again next time."