Difference between revisions of "Volume 24"

Masami Muranishi
	Victim (strangled);

Higashida
	Company employee;

	Volume 24
	Information
Release date:	July 17, 1999
Chapters:	232-242
ISBN:	ISBN 4-09-125494-2
Publisher:	Shogakukan
English release date:	July 15, 2008
English ISBN:	ISBN 1-4215-1676-4
English Publisher:	Viz Media
	Featured Detective & Keyhole
; Perry Mason	; Tomoaki Araide
	Aoyama's death & Conan side images

Revision as of 00:08, 20 June 2025

Chronology
‹ Volume 23	List of Chapters • List of Cases	Volume 25 ›

Volume 24 was released on July 17, 1999 in Japan.

Cast

Characters

Shinichi Kudo (background)

Eri Kisaki

Gin

Vodka

Shiho Miyano

Sumiko Kobayashi (dream)

Gadgets

Voice-Changing Bowtie

Criminal Tracking Glasses

Chapters

Innocent Suspect Case

Anime Episode 156-157: Metropolitan Police Detective Love Story 2

File 232 - Finding Evidence

The Detective Boys are still investigating.

File 233 - Countdown

People

Kitagawa
	Company employee

Major events

Sato and Takagi's romance is once again explored.
Takagi is relieved when he learns that Sato only thinks of Megure as a father figure.

Blackout Murder Case

Anime Episode 170-171: The Blind Spot in the Darkness

Characters introduced

Tomoaki Araide
	25 years old Doctor Teitan High basketball coach

Hikaru Yasumoto
	22 years old Household maid

File 234 - Another Half Year...

Ran collides with Tomoaki Araide.

Conan notices that Ran is increasingly becoming more aloof towards him (Shinichi) during phone calls. Additionally, she spends more evenings outside, citing a rigid practice schedule for an upcoming karate tournament. Conan remains skeptical; he keeps an eyes open.
One day, Kogoro, bringing Ran and Conan, attends an appointment with his physician, Yoshiteru Araide. The doctor tells Kogoro that he has "just half a year”, which Kogoro and his company misinterpret as him only having half a year left to live. Kogoro erupts on Yoshiteru about his callous tone, only to learn he was referring to reducing alcohol consumption for a six month period to prevent further damage to his liver. Yoshiteru's wife, Yoko Araide, enters the room and informs the doctor about a phone call from a persistent "patient." Yoshiteru sighs about the case and exits the room. As her husband leaves, Yoko mutters derisively under her breath that the case is more sexual than medical, believing her husband to be engaging in an extramarital affair.

While looking for the bathroom, Ran runs into the doctor's son Tomoaki Araide. They introduce themselves to each other; Tomoaki mentions that he will take a job in a hospital in the Aomori Prefecture starting the following month. The household maid, Hikaru Yasumoto, breaks a flower pot and is reprimanded by a furious Yoshiteru. Tomoaki attempts to calm his father down while Kogoro prepares to leave. Yoshiteru laments the lifestyle of Kogoro, saying that he does not want to see Kogoro dead while still in the prime of his life, especially when he shares a name with Detective Kogoro Mouri. Kogoro corrects Yoshiteru, affirming that he is the famous detective, which sparks astonishment in the doctor. He believed his patient was too uninformed about medicine to be the real detective, and assumes he was feigning his ignorance during the examination. Yoshiteru then invites Kogoro and company for dinner. Conan protests, not wanting to reveal Kogoro's true ignorance, and looks to Ran for reinforcement. However, the girl uncharacteristically bends her tight schedule and agrees to stay, adding to Conan's wariness.

The group finds the doctor deceased in his bathtub.

At the dinner table, much to Conan’s consternation, Ran stares at Tomoaki, and both Kogoro and Yoko say that the two would make a good married couple. Yoko then leaves the room to make a phone call about an alumni reunion with a friend. With Yoshiteru nowhere in sight, Kogoro questions his whereabouts. Mitsu Araide (Tomoaki’s grandmother) then enters the room and explains Yoshiteru has a habit of taking his bath before dinner. She also reveals her bitterness towards Yoshiteru as he married into the Araide name before remarrying with Yoko. As the old woman leaves to eat alone, Araide apologizes to his guests, explaining Mitsu's bad temper as the result of Yoshiteru's recent Western bathroom renovations to the otherwise Japanese house.
Suddenly, the lights go out, causing Hikaru to accidentally drop a dish. After finding a flashlight, Hikaru rushes off to switch the fuse box back on. The lights flicker, briefly sparking back on before shorting again. A few seconds later, the lights return permanently. Conan and Kogoro find Ran tightly holding onto Tomoaki. She explains she mistook him for her father; Conan does not seem entirely convinced. Yoko and Hikaru go to the bathroom to check on Yoshiteru, who they suppose is furious about the power outage. While the remaining members discuss causes for the blackout, they hear the screams from the direction of the bathroom. Everyone rushes over only to find Yoshiteru's lifeless body half submerged in the bathwater.

File 235 - In the Darkness...

The razor can run independently, suggesting harm instead came from the extension cord

Conan warns that the water is electrocuted by a connected electric razor. Once unplugged, Tomoaki attempts to resuscitate his father, but to no avail. Conan notices an electric burn on Yoshiteru's right shin. Inspector Megure and Takagi arrive and open their investigation. Yoko shares that Yoshiteru often shaved while he bathed while Mitsu adds that her deceased daughter and Tomoaki's mother, Chiaki, often warned him against doing so. Kogoro and the police label the death an accident caused by the razor's extension cord junction touching the bathwater. Conan points out both the body's improper orientation and that the chargeable razor was set to "off"—the latter indicating the water was electrocuted by the extension cord and not the razor. Megure considers someone could have shorted the house's electricity with a timed contraption, and then sneaked into the pitch-black bathroom to surreptitiously move the extension cord junction into the bathtub, which would electrocute the water once the fuse box was pulled. With murder now on the table, the police begin interrogating the four suspects.

Conan suspects Ran has feelings for Araide.

Yoko recounts her phone call, noting she was momentarily interrupted by a different call but the line was silent. Tomoaki's alibi is confirmed by Ran, while Mitsu recalls sensing the presence of something upstairs, but its significance is quickly dismissed. Tomoaki notices a burn on Hikaru's left arm and urges he treat the wound. Before the pair can leave, Megure questions him about his absence between 17:00–19:00. Tomoaki explains his role as the interim basketball coach at Teitan High School. Ran confirms. Conan begins to suspect that Ran's ostensible evening karate practices were instead a facade for visiting Araide.

File 236 - The Unbelievable Link

The labyrinthine corridors of the Araide house.

Tomoaki also notices Mitsu has wounded on her left foot. She confesses that she stepped on something in the darkness. Takagi arrives with a report from Yoko's caller who states there was roughly one minute between when she heard of the blackout and when the lights returned. The sergeant asks to cross examine his findings with Yoko, causing Ran to offer to treat Mitsu in her stead. Conan wishes to follow her, but is stopped by Kogoro. The investigation continues as Yoko mentions Hikaru met the family through Tomoaki who treated her late-stage cecum. Additionally, she mentions she was classmates with Yoshiteru's first wife, Chiaki, at medical school, and that she had died due to drunk driving despite being averse to alcohol. As the police are unable to piece together the mystery, Megure accepts Conan's proposal to simulate the blackout with the suspects. Conan thus goes to call Ran and the others.
At the treatment room, Ran tells Tomoaki that her skills with a bandage comes from constantly having to treat a rambunctious friend as a child. She then accidentally cuts herself with a pair of scissors. As Tomoaki takes her had to examine, Ran blushes and prepares to say something to him. At that moment, Conan and the police arrive to request their simulation. Conan checks the floor plans and finds where Hikaru previous broke the vase. He has an epiphany but is distracted by Ran's relation to Tomoaki.
The simulation reveals that Hikaru took an exceptionally long time to turn on the lights, suggesting the faultiness of several alibis. Tomoaki, on the other hand, does not see that the simulation has led to any new information and slams the investigators for unreasonably suspecting his family without consideration for their mental wellbeing. Conan is still unconvinced the death was an accident but still without an answer. This changes when he stumbles across a fragment of something on the second floor and sees something in Hikaru's room. With the case cracked, he tranquillizes Kogoro and makes Megure carry him to the bathroom. Conan then announces to everyone that Kogoro solved the case and that he will reveal the truth behind the murder once he finishes taking a bath.

File 237 - From the Bottom of the Heart

Conan announces that Kogoro will demonstrate a relevant alibi trick. Twenty minutes pass. Conan notices Ran glancing at Tomoaki again and tries to ask her a question. Before the boy can finish, another blackout occurs and Hikaru is sent to flip the fuse box again.

Show spoilers »

Hikaru inadvertently pulled the trigger on Yoshiteru Araide's death.

The lights turn on faster than expected as Hikaru finds Takagi by the fuse box. The premature re-illumination catches Yoko Araide in the bathroom attempting to electrocute Kogoro. The detective accuses her of using a timed contraption to short the houses' electricity before using a small flashlight to navigate to the bathroom where she moved Yoshiteru's extension cord into the bathroom—electrocuting him when the fuse box was switched on. Kogoro explains that she created her alibi by switching from the corded landline to the handheld landline shortly after the blackout, thus allowing her to maneuver through the house while maintaining her phone call. She then used her cell phone to call the landline in order to briefly interrupt her call while she entered the bathroom. She distracted Yoshiteru with her flashlight and assured him that the power will return soon while she slipped the extension cord into the water.
Hikaru had to reset the fuse box twice as the first attempt had triggered Yoshiteru's electrocution and re-shorted the electricity. Furthermore, Kogoro deduces that Yoko wished for the police to label the death an accident by solidifying everyone's alibis—a plan which depended on a speedy resetting of the fuse box. Unfortunately, Hikaru was delayed. The blackout caused her to break yet another dish. Fearful that Yoshiteru would fire her, Hikaru took a detour to her room where she concealed the dish's fragments, leading to the burn on her arm (from embracing the dish). She additionally dropped a fragment during transportation, causing Mitsu to injure her foot. Therefore, the broken dish in Hikaru's room, Mitsu's physical limitations, and Tomoaki's tactile link to Ran absolve all suspects except for Yoko.
Meanwhile, Tomoaki clashes with Megure, infuriated by the detective's usage of a "trap."
Yoko confesses to her crime after Kogoro mentions the inevitability of uncovering the timed contraption she used to short the lights somewhere in the house. Yoko shares she was motivated to kill Yoshiteru after she discovered Chiaki's diary in the house. Yoshiteru's late wife had succumbed to alcoholism and eventually committed suicide because of Yoshiteru's continuous extramarital affairs. Having broken through Megure's blockage, Tomoaki reaches bathroom exterior and hears the rest of the conversation.

Kogoro reveals the reason he set a trap was to perform the confrontation in private, with the ulterior motive of concealing the truth from Hikaru. Ultimately, Hikaru had effectively pulled the trigger on Yoshiteru's life by pulling the switch on the fuse box. Knowing she would sustain irreparable trauma to her soul if she were to learn the truth about her involuntary role in her employer's death, Kogoro proposes an alternate story: instead of the fuse box triggering the electrocution, Yoshiteru was drugged and electrocuted by the extension cord which was sparked by a timer; the blackout was only used to shroud the culprit's actions. Kogoro says for this plan to work, the culprit must agree to uphold this fabricated narrative in court. Not wanting to harm Hikaru, both the police and the culprit agree.

Conan receives Ran's sweater.

With the case resolved, Kogoro and Conan prepare to leave but realize Ran is missing. The two track her to a hallway where she converses with Tomoaki. The latter wishes for Ran to relay a message to Kogoro—an act which Conan fears is a request for betrothal. Instead, Tomoaki apologizes for his obstructionist attitude and he commits to cooperating with the detective going forward. Conan's relief is short-lived as instead, Ran begins blush. She musters up the courage to ask if she could borrow Tomoaki's hand-woven sweater. Conan is confused. Tomoaki accepts.
Some time later, Ran is seen with her mother, Eri, where she attempts to knit a copy of Tomoaki Araide's sweater. Eri offers to fix an error but Ran refuses, insisting she knits the final product herself. Eri rolls her eyes and tells her to "dispose" of the two copies she knit as demonstrations. One month later, Professor Agasa delivers Shinichi's sweater to Conan who thanks Ran on the phone. Behind Ran, Kogoro is seen wearing Eri's copies.