“Mouri, my friend, is Sumitomo Shouichi the killer?” Inspector Megure asked.
“No!
It is not him!”
Inspector Megure was startled.
*Could it be that even an honest-looking guy like you has bowed down to the rich and powerful?*
“The killer is actually Mr.
Takeda’s son, Takeda Kazuo.”
“Impossible!” Takeda Kazuo shouted loudly.
“How could I possibly kill my own father!”
“Oh?
Is that so?”
Mouri Kogorou spoke in a low, serious tone.
“According to Mrs.
Takeda, you spent all your money hoarding copper ore.
Recently, the price of copper plummeted from 2,800 dollars a ton all the way down to just over a thousand.
You should have lost absolutely everything.
“If I am not mistaken, you must have taken out quite a few bank loans, correct?”
Shouichi wiped his mouth and raised a hand.
“Ahem, it was only a million dollars.
It’s with Sumitomo Bank.
I actually handled his account before I resigned.”
His reputation as a savior in times of need wasn’t just for show.
He really loved lending people money.
“It’s all your fault!”
Hearing Shouichi’s voice, Takeda Kazuo seemed to suffer an emotional breakdown.
His voice hoarse, he roared at Shouichi, “If your Sumitomo family hadn’t maliciously manipulated the price of copper, how could I have ever gone bankrupt?!”
Shouichi frowned, pulling out a tissue to wipe the spit that had sprayed onto his clothes.
“The price of copper hasn’t been at a normal level for a long time.
Any sane person would have known it was time to cash out.
You couldn’t control your own greed, so you can’t blame anyone else.”
*Besides, I wasn’t the one who artificially inflated the copper prices.*
“You need to look on the bright side.
You only lost a million dollars, whereas the Sumitomo Corporation lost billions.
Doesn’t that make you feel a little better?” Shouichi smiled, tossing the crumpled tissue right into his face.
*If you’re going to speak, just speak properly.
What’s with all the spitting?*
Taking another tissue offered by Miyano Akemi, Shouichi wiped himself down again.
Then, he secretly grumbled about his little secretary’s incompetence.
*What kind of secretary makes her boss wipe off his own grime?
She doesn’t even know how to step up and lend a hand.*
“Damn you!
If it weren’t for you, I never would have risked killing my father to inherit his estate!” Takeda Kazuo said in a frenzy.
Hiding behind Mouri Kogorou, Conan froze.
*I haven’t even started my deduction yet.
Why did this guy just out himself?*
“No, wait!
I didn’t kill my father!
I didn’t murder anyone!”
As reason temporarily returned to his brain, Takeda Kazuo immediately changed his tune, vehemently denying that he had killed Takeda Tarou.
But the young Conan was eager to close the case.
He laid out Takeda Kazuo’s murder method in full detail.
After Takagi presented the ironclad evidence, Takeda Kazuo collapsed to his knees like a defeated dog.
Shouichi turned to the forensic doctor.
“By the way, what was your autopsy report just now?
I didn’t quite catch it.”
“The first shot hit a vital organ, resulting in Takeda Tarou’s death.
The subsequent shots were purely an act of sadistic overkill, extremely malicious in nature!” the forensic doctor stated meticulously.
Inspector Megure’s mouth twitched.
*Isn’t this a bit too drastic of a change from your previous report?*
“Pack it up,” Inspector Megure sighed helplessly.
*I’ll just leave the sentencing up to the judge.*
*Managing to find the real killer was already an impressive feat, okay?*
…
Shouichi walked out of the villa, showing absolutely no anger at having been treated as a murder suspect.
*Why would I be suspected anyway?*
*Because the person you wanted dead actually died.
The person you wanted to kill dying is a good thing.*
“Akemi, go transfer Takeda Kazuo’s debt with Sumitomo Bank over to me,” Shouichi instructed Miyano Akemi.
“I don’t know how,” Miyano Akemi answered honestly.
Shouichi waved his hand dismissively.
“It’s fine.
The bank staff will teach you.”
Miyano Akemi was left speechless.
*The bank staff is going to teach me how to transfer their money over to you?*
Shouichi continued, “As Takeda Tarou’s heir, Takeda Kazuo is entitled to inherit his company shares.
“I need you to acquire his company for me.”
“I don’t know how,” Miyano Akemi repeated.
“If you don’t know how, you can learn!” Shouichi said with a smile.
“With Takeda Tarou dead and his heir Takeda Kazuo going to prison, the rest of the company is bound to fall into chaos.
And they just took on a new construction project.
“If they can’t complete the project on schedule, they won’t get paid.
And if they don’t get paid, they won’t be able to pay their employees.
“Just think of those poor employees.
“Miyano Akemi, you wouldn’t want them to lose their jobs, would you?”
Miyano Akemi gritted her teeth.
Shouichi reached out to pat her on the shoulder, but she resisted and dodged away.
“For the sake of their livelihoods, please study hard on how to acquire a company, Miss Miyano,” Shouichi said.
“Understood.”
Miyano Akemi gritted her teeth again.
“I look forward to you becoming a qualified secretary.”
Shouichi tried to pat her shoulder once more, but she dodged him yet again.
Miyano Akemi glared at Shouichi.
*The tasks you’re assigning aren’t exactly things a secretary needs to know, are they?*
…
Miyano Akemi was a very fast learner.
Under the guidance of professionals, she successfully transferred Takeda Kazuo’s debt and quickly finalized the acquisition of Takeda Construction.
The acquisition process went smoothly without any major hiccups.
The chairman was dead, and the remaining minor shareholders were panicking.
Having someone step in to take over was naturally the best possible outcome for them.
However, it wasn’t entirely without a few minor incidents.
Even though it was a perfectly normal business transaction, there were still some absurd rumors spreading around.
Rumors claimed that Sumitomo Shouichi had used his status as a conglomerate heir to forcefully seize the company.
They said he had shot and killed Takeda Tarou right in front of the police, then lazily made up an excuse that Takeda Tarou had died of poisoning.
And that after realizing how ridiculous the excuse sounded, he framed Takeda Kazuo to eliminate any future troubles.
He supposedly even declared that anyone who dared to oppose him in the future would be wiped out.
Surprisingly, many people believed these rumors, and a trashy tabloid even ran a story on it.
Shouichi sighed and handed the newspaper to Ai.
“What do you think?”
Ai glanced at the paper.
*I think you’re guilty of heinous crimes and deserve to die by a thousand cuts.*
“You are a good person.
They are all just framing you,” Ai praised Shouichi, using a sweet voice that disgusted even herself.
Shouichi nodded and placed his hand on Ai’s fluffy hair.
*Get your filthy hands off me!*
Ai roared in her mind, but in reality, she was still gathering the strength to defeat Shouichi, so she chose to endure it for now.
*Sooner or later, a day will come when I won’t have to put up with this anymore.*
“Don’t you like playing games?
I specifically bought you a gaming outfit today,” Shouichi said to Ai.
“A gaming outfit?” Ai looked at Shouichi in surprise.
*What gaming outfit?*
Shouichi pulled a set of yellow clothes out of his backpack.
When he unfolded it, it turned out to be an imperial dragon robe.
“Don’t you like playing the ‘Jing Ke Assassinates the King of Qin’ game?
Last night you played Jing Ke, so today it’s my turn to play Jing Ke and assassinate you, the King of Qin.”