Volume 18

Chronology
‹ Volume 17	List of Chapters • List of Cases	Volume 19 ›

Volume 18
Information
Release date:	January 17, 1998
Chapters:	171-180
ISBN:	ISBN 4-09-125048-3
Publisher:	Shogakukan
English release date:	July 17, 2007
English ISBN:	ISBN 1-4215-0883-4
English Publisher:	Viz Media
Featured Detective & Keyhole
Shunsaku Kudo Ai Haibara
Aoyama's death & Conan side images

Volume 18 was released on January 17, 1998 in Japan.

Cast

Characters

Conan Edogawa

Ran Mouri

Kogoro Mouri

Ayumi Yoshida

Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya

Genta Kojima

Hiroshi Agasa

Sonoko Suzuki

Sumiko Kobayashi

Juzo Megure

Sango Yokomizo

Gin

Shinichi Kudo
(flashback)

Shiho Miyano
(flashback)

Akemi Miyano
(flashback)

Yukiko Kudo
(background)

Vodka
(background)

Gadgets

Gadgets

Voice-Changing Bowtie

Stun-Gun Wristwatch

Transmitter

Criminal Tracking Glasses

Power-Enhancing Kick Shoes

Earring Cellphone

Chapters

Actor's Apartment Case

Characters introduced

Wataru Takagi
	26 years old Police detective

File 171 - It Must Be Similar...

The media had arrived at the apartment. They want to know if it's true that Isami Nagakura was murdered.

File 172 - Two Rooms

  Show spoilers »

The culprit is Kozaburo Hijikata.

People

Kozaburo Hijikata
	51 years old Actor

Hajime Okita
	29 years old Actor

Isami Nagakura
	Victim (strangled) 38 years old Actress Kozaburo Hijikata's wife

Shinichi's First Love Case

File 175 - Unlock Your Heart!?

  Show spoilers »

The culprit is Manabu Sawai.

Shinichi confessed to Asami that he already loves someone.

Asami confesses to Ran that despite the rumors she started, Asami confessed to Shinichi in middle school and was instantly rejected because he likes someone else. Asami relates the description Shinichi gave, which Sonoko recognizes as a description of Ran, but Ran is oblivious and asks Sonoko if there is such a girl.

People

Asami Uchida
	Victim (burned-injured) 18 years old Freshman, Literature Department Tohto University

Manabu Sawai
	22 years old Senior, Tohto University, Literature Dept. President of the Mystery Club

Tomoko Hayasaka
	21 years old Senior, Tohto University, Literature Dept. Vice-president of the Mystery Club

Shigehisa Noguchi
	20 years old Sophomore, Tohto University, Literature Dept.

Chika Miyazaki
	19 years old Sophomore, Tohto University, Literature Dept.

Yoshinobu Morimoto
	22 years old Junior, Tohto University, Literature Dept.

Major events

It is revealed that Asami only confessed to Shinichi, to which he replied he's in love with "someone weird", a.k.a. Ran.

Missing Older Brother Case

Characters introduced

Ai Haibara
	7 years old New student at Teitan Elementary

File 176 - The New Student...

Ai Haibara joins the class.

Ayumi shares news of a transfer student joining their class to Genta and Mitsuhiko. While the children enthusiastically speculate on the personality and appearance of this mysterious new individual, Conan voices his general indifference. Ayumi recalls catching a glimpse of the student's surname at the school infirmary, a two kanji name reading, "Haibara (灰原)." Their teacher, Sumiko, then arrives at the entrance and welcomes Ai Haibara to the classroom. The girl, met with a shower of praise and applause, remains stoic. She calmly ignores Genta's offer to be her desk-mate and chooses an open seat next to Conan, much to the boy's confusion and surprise.

After school, the Detective Boys approach an aloof Haibara and inquire about her life. She says she lives on the twenty-second building of Beika's second ward, making her neighbors with Shinichi. Conan, however, does not recall seeing a "Haibara" name-plaque near his house. Ayumi and Mitsuhiko try to recruit Haibara into the Detective Boys, as Genta shows her his shoebox which is supposedly stuffed to the brim with various requests and letters. However, the box appears empty, much to the children's chagrin. As Genta wears his right shoe, he notices a hidden request note hidden inside and eagerly reads the contents.

Toshiya describes a woman in black.

The Detective Boys are summoned to classroom A where they meet a boy named Toshiya, who claims his older brother has gone missing. Despite consulting various detectives and the relevant authorities, his brother's disappearance has continued for close to a week. Sensing danger surrounding the circumstances, Conan leads the Detective Boys to Toshiya's house.
Once at the abode, the children search the brother's room, quickly determining that he has not run away from home as he has left his wallet. Ayumi then discovers a series of bizarre paintings under the boy's bed, which Haibara immediately identifies as a recreation of a Picasso painting. They continue to discover several skilled recreations of various famous artworks. Conan deduces that Toshiya's brother was not kidnapped for ransom money, as Toshiya himself would be a more suitable target. Additionally, he was likely not taken for his ability to produce artistic forgeries, as his skills in coloring and finer details are still amateur. The boy's attention is drawn to a lone image of Natsume Sōseki. Toshiya explains that his brother is a major fan of the author's work and has even presented his portrait of him at a town exhibition. Since the portrait was a copy of a pre-exiting image, his work was largely panned. Nevertheless, one woman showed interest in his work, a woman dressed fully in black. Conan's eyes light up with shock as he interrogates Toshiya about the woman, believing her to be a member of the Black Organization. Dropping his innocent child-like demeanor, Conan commands Toshiya to lead him to various locations his brother would frequent in close proximity. Meanwhile, Haibara observes the frantic boy with a blank expression.
Sometime later, the Detective Boys find themselves exhausted and gasping for breath on a city sidewalk, having searched several locations suggested by Toshiya. Ayumi proposes they rest at a nearby convenience store and hydrate themselves. Once inside, Conan notices a suspicious man dressed in dark clothing paying for a singular box of ¥230 cigarettes with a ¥1000 bill. Seen as the man has no reason to pay for the cigarettes at the cashier since there is a vending machine outside, Conan climbs onto the store desk and inspects the used bill. He holds the central circle to the light and confirms the bill lacks a transparent portrait of Natsume Sōseki, proving it is counterfeit. He casually notifies the clerk about his discovery before rushing out the door.

File 177 - The Lady In Black

The Detective Boys state their confusion about Conan's actions, wondering why they are tailing this man in black. Conan states that Toshiya's brother had perfectly forged an image of Natsume Sōseki, who is on the ¥1000 bill. If an underground counterfeit ring is currently up and running, the boy's missing brother may have a connection to its operations. Noting the possibility of the Black Organization's involvement, Conan decides that he must direct his friends away from the potential danger. He approaches the man in black and hands him a ¥1000 bill, saying he had dropped it on the street. The man spitefully grabs the note and walks away in silence. After disbanding the group and going his separate way, Conan sparks up his tracking glasses and tracks a transmitter he placed on the bill to a station-side vendor.

Conan determines his target's destination based on his change.

The clerk explains that the man in black bought a coffee with the ¥1000 bill and asked for change in ¥10 and ¥100 coins. She lacked the necessary ¥100 coins so she included a ¥500 coin and returned a total of ¥890. The man had then walked over to a nearby phone booth and continuously inserted coins to continue his call for about ten minutes. A janitor then approaches Conan, believing him to be the man in black's associate, and hands him a ¥50 coin he forgot to extract from the ticket machine. He recalls that he purchased a Tohto line ticket using a ¥500 coin and had received at least three coins in change (including the ¥50). Conan digests the given information and determines that the man must have bought a ¥320 Tohto line ticket, producing ¥180 in change, taking him to Daitoma station.

Conan arrives at the station but fails to find any promising leads. He decides to inquire a nearby real estate firm about remote storage locations and their sale status. The agent denies any knowledge about such a property and instructs Conan to leave with his friends. Conan twirls around and sees that the Detective Boys have followed him, each one, with the exception of Haibara, sporting an unamused face. They explain that Haibara had deduced Conan's intentions and suggested they follow him. Toshiya then asks an agent if a novelist lives nearby. He explains that his house had recently received a frantic phone call from his brother about "being with people like Sōseki." The agent then recalls a man who physically resembles Sōseki owning a neighboring bookstore.

The woman in black prepares to execute the intruders.

The Detective Boys investigate the bookstore and its owner but are quickly evicted from the establishment. Conan surmises that the owner is innocent, stating the store lacked the required printing equipment to effectively run a counterfeit-ring. Hearing the words "printing equipment," the agent recalls a station-side newspaper company that recently purchased several printers. When asked about the company's employees, the agent perfectly describes the woman in black. Ayumi and Mitsuhiko debate the newspaper company's connection to Sōseki, leading Conan to recite a famous Sōseki quote about hiding in plain sight—deducing that Toshiya's brother intended to relay such a message. With their sights set on the newspaper company, the group approach a nearby police box and inform the officers of their findings, but fail to be taken seriously. With no other choice, Conan calls Inspector Megure as Shinichi and informs him about the counterfeit ring. As the boy hangs up the phone, he is reminded of a former encounter with a female member of the Black Organization, an encounter that ended in a gruesome tragedy.

Gin orders the capture of their liability at all costs.

Genta disobeys Conan's instructions to remain at the police box and ventures into the newspaper company's headquarters in search of the counterfeit ring. He is followed by the rest of the Detective Boys, who discover that the central room is devoid of any striking evidence for criminal activity. Haibara, however, finds various bottles of painting solution, indicating that attempts at counterfeit were conducted.
Meanwhile, the woman in black strikes the man in black, admonishing him for his recklessness. Nevertheless, he delivers the requested painting solutions, the final ingredient necessary for Toshiya's brother to produce perfect ¥10,000 counterfeit. A member of the operation then notices the five children in the room next door, their images captured by security cameras. The woman pulls out a firearm, intending to silence their little intruders. Back at the police box, Conan learns of his friends' actions and rushes after them.
Meanwhile, Gin drives his car down a busy city street while calling Vodka over the phone. The two discuss a potential liability, an individual who managed to escape their grasp and who could leak Organization secrets to the public. Gin orders their immediate capture, dead or alive.

File 178 - Code Name Sherry

Haibara fires the gun without compunction.

Ai Haibara confronts Conan with her true horrifying identity.

Conan arrives at the newspaper company door but is stopped at gunpoint by a rotund man with sunglasses. Inside the headquarters, Mitsuhiko discovers a spreadsheet of incomplete ¥10,000 bills, giving credence to the existence of a counterfeit operation. The woman in black and her group of co-conspirators burst into the room and capture the children, intending to execute them one at a time to motivate Toshiya's brother to expedite his work. The woman approaches Ayumi first, gloating about Conan's capture and presumed death, sending the girl into a spiral of distress. Suddenly, the woman's gun is knocked out of her hand as the room door creaks open, revealing an unharmed Conan. He points to the man in an arm cast, identifying him as their original sketcher. Due to some accident, he injured his arm, forcing the gang to kidnap Toshiya's brother to finish the work on his behalf. He notices the painting solution placed beside the magnetic printer and surmises that the ring was intending to mass print thousands of counterfeit bills and exchange them for legitimate tender at various currency exchange machines, thereby ballooning their wealth. The woman in black expresses shock, confused as to how he evaded capture. Conan opens the door fully, allowing for the rotund man's tranquilized body to fall to the floor. He then activates his Power-Enhancing Kick Shoes and launches several paint cans into the ring members, incapacitating two men. The woman reaches for her dropped gun, but Haibara manages to grab the weapon first. She calmly raises the barrel and fires a deafening round past the mortified woman's face and into the building window, alerting the nearby police officers in the process. The Detective Boys, stand around speechless about what they witnessed, but their moment of shock is soon interrupted by the responding police officers.
Inspector Megure arrives twenty minutes later and arrests the members of the counterfeit ring. Conan relishes his victory over whom he assumes is in league with the likes of Gin and Vodka, but the woman denies any knowledge of such codenames. Megure explains that the group is a notorious counterfeit ring called the Silver Fox. The inspector inquires about the gunshot, and upon learning that it was Haibara's doing, he furiously reprimands the girl for her dangerous actions, causing her to cry.
Later that night, Conan walks a still downhearted Haibara home, internally expressing his annoyance about the lack of connection between the counterfeit ring and the Black Organization. As the boy bids the girl farewell, Haibara ominously drops her teary facade and says, "APTX4869." Conan, taken aback for a moment, asks for clarification. Haibara says it is the name of the drug he was given by the Organization, and that she was the one who produced the miracle poison. Conan, desperately concealing his panic, feigns ignorance about the girl's exposition. Nevertheless, with an overwhelmingly sinister tone, she states that she took the same drug, and that her codename is Sherry. All Conan can do is stare in shock and fear as Haibara correctly names him as "Shinichi Kudo."

People

Toshiya
	Teitan Elementary student

Boy
	Victim (kidnapped) Toshiya's brother High school student Artist

Lady in black
	Silver Fox Counterfeit Ring mastermind

Man A
	Counterfeiter

Man B
	Counterfeit artist with bandaged arm

Inuyama
	Counterfeiter

Major Events

• Introduces Ai Haibara, a transfer student at Teitan Elementary School.
  • She reveals herself as a Black Organization member with the codename Sherry, having taken the same drug Conan was given.
  • Haibara reveals that the mysterious drug used by the Black Organization is called APTX4869.

Murdered Professor Case

File 179 - The Girl Made of Lies

Agasa discovered Haibara unconscious in front of the Kudo Residence

Haibara reminds Conan about her address, the twenty-second building of the second ward of Beika, Agasa's house. Horrified of the implications, Conan dials the professor's number on his Earring Cellphone, but gets no response. The girl smirks, stating that he will never pick up as he is "no longer in this world." Conan glares at her with a piercing rage.

The Black Organization had extensively investigated Shinichi Kudo after his death remained unconfirmed.

However, contrary to Conan's expectations, he finds Agasa perfectly well and happy in his home, although without a properly functioning communication system. Haibara makes herself at home, placing her bag on the table and taking out a magazine. Conan is flooded with a sense of relief but also shame, believing he had been fooled by an actual child debriefed about his situation by Agasa. The professor, however, insists that her claim about being a member of the Black Organization is true, adding that the name, "Ai Haibara," is derived from the names of two fictional female detectives, V.I. Warshawski (I = Ai) and Cordelia Gray (Gray = Hai). Conan shouts his anger and confusion, not understanding why Agasa would let a member of the enemy into his home. Haibara explains that the professor saved her, having discovered her unconscious body in front of the Kudo Residence.
Amongst those administered the APTX4869 poison, only Shinichi Kudo's death remained confirmed. Thus, the Organization had dispatched an investigation team to the Kudo Residence twice. Haibara, who had joined both missions, confirmed the house was in a state of abandonment upon her first visit. Though, on her second visit, she noticed that Shinichi's childhood clothing was missing from its container. Having observed the rare instance where a laboratory rat survived the poison, returning to a younger form of itself, Haibara had known of the possibility of a human experiencing the same effect. Conan, frightened, asks if the Organization is aware of his survival. Haibara assures him that they do not, as she had kept the discovery a secret since she wanted to observe the prolonged effects of her poison without her "subject's" termination.
Ultimately, Haibara reveals that she betrayed the Black Organization, citing her sister's murder as the reason for her rebellion. Despite her repeated request for the reason for her sister's death, she was denied information, leading her to threaten to cease the development of her drug. In response, the Organization restrained her while the upper echelons decided her fate. Believing she would be executed, she attempted to take her life using a APTX4869 pill she had purloined, only to transform back into her seven-year-old self. Her shrunken hands soon slipped through her manacles, allowing her to escape the facility through a trash chute and into the Beika streets. Believing Shinichi Kudo to be another survivor of her drug, she believed him to be her sole ally, and thus approached his residence.

Conan remains unsympathetic to her tragic story, accusing her of being an accessory to countless murders. Haibara understands, though insists she did not want to develop a poison, implying she was forced into the work. Agasa tries to arbitrate the intense conversation and suggests that Haibara could develop an antidote. She denies the notion, holding up a newspaper from three days ago showing a laboratory of a pharmaceutical company destroyed in an accident. She states that the Organization has destroyed any and all evidence she could use against them, including her research. Conan understands the gravity of the situation and the liability Haibara poses to his safety if she were to be captured. Thus, he condones her stay with Agasa.

The group finds Masami Hirota crushed under his bookshelf.

The professor asks about Haibara's parents, but the girl states they are deceased, having died in a laboratory accident when she was very young. The Organization sent her to grade school in the United States while her sister remained in Japan, performing various tasks in exchange for Haibara's safety. While on the topic of her sister, Haibara recalls that a few years ago, her sister sent several floppy disks containing photographs of her trip. After briefly viewing the contents, she sent the floppies back. Around the same time, she had lost a key fragment of the APTX4869 development data and was unable to locate it within her lab. Conan deduces that Haibara may have accidentally included the lost data fragment in the set of returned floppy disks, meaning it may yet still exist. Haibara remembers being told that the received floppy disks were originally arranged by her sister's professor, Masami Hirota, who was a member of her trip.
Agasa manages to call Professor Masami Hirota through the university directory and asks about the floppy disks, giving Haibara's sister's name, Akemi Miyano. Hirota confirms that he is in possession of the floppies in question, noting the inclusion of a "strange disk" mixed amongst them. Believing it to be the missing data, Agasa sets an appointment in three hours.
Conan clears his schedule with Ran and sets off to Professor Hirota's residence in the Shizuoka Prefecture. In the car ride over, Conan instructs Agasa to remain alert around Haibara, finding her ignorance about the Organization's broader goals suspicious. He also expresses familiarity with the name, "Masami Hirota," but remains unsure about where he had previously heard it.
Once at the Hirota residence, they are greeted by the professor's wife, Toshiko Hirota, who guides them to his office. She knocks on his door but oddly finds it locked. Conan leaps to gain visual through a high window. To his shock, he sees Hirota crushed under a bookshelf, blood pooling around his head. With Agasa's help, Conan breaks through the door and into the room, confirming Masami Hirota's death.

File 180 - Checkmate

Conan and Haibara recognize the insurance agent's voice as belonging to Vodka.

Inspector Sango Yokomizo arrives at the scene and declares the death an accident—the result of the professor climbing his bookshelf to reach something, only to lose balance and fall onto a hard object which had landed on the floor. He points to the room's one and only key found amongst the clutter and the locked door and windows. Conan disagrees, pointing to a fallen landline telephone under an open book. He states that if the phone fell from the nearby table, the handset would naturally be displaced from its original position atop the speaker, meaning the object was deliberately placed in that form to camouflage a murder. Sango questions Toshiko if the residence had any recent guests; she responds there were four including Agasa. Meanwhile, Haibara operates the office computer and finds that entire floppy disk collection is missing. Conan quietly floats the idea of the Black Organization committing the murder, a notion Haibara concurs with. Still, they decide to withhold their judgement until they meet the full cast of suspects.

Toshiko is able to identify one of their guests, Kazuhiro Hosoya, while the remaining two, Akira Shirakura and Michio Morioka, are determined by listening to various voicemails recorded on the fallen landline. Sango also finds a voicemail left by an "insurance agent" wishing to visit his home to advertise a new plan. Conan's eyes widen in horror, recognizing the tone and voice despite its alteration; it is Vodka's voice. Agasa turns to Conan, asking if the voicemail serves as confirmation for the Organization's involvement, but to the contrary, Conan states that the possibility has decreased. If their goals were to retrieve the missing floppy disk, they would not sloppily commit a locked-room murder and leave their voicemail at the scene of the crime. Haibara agrees, surmising that Vodka's attempt at setting an insurance appointment was likely to allow him and his operatives to better infiltrate the professor's home and purloin the floppy disk. Conan smiles, believing the Black Organization to still be lurking nearby.

Haibara recalls seeing Conan beside Masami Hirota's body.

The three suspects arrive at the scene and give their stories. Hosoya visited to ask if Hirota could write a letter of recommendation for his daughter, though left after noticing the professor was inebriated; Morioka stopped by to play a chess match, but left after finding the office door locked; and Shirakura, who arrived at the residence after the body was discovered, came to claim a floppy disk containing a photograph of him cross-dressing next to the professor, wanting to include it in a magazine issue he is contributing on. Conan digests the information, noting the crumpled cassette tape discovered at the site. Haibara quietly observes the boy while remembering a conversation she had with Akemi, her sister. Akemi had told her about Conan Edogawa, describing him as a peculiar and intelligent young boy. Haibara then asked about Akemi's job, having heard it was in a state of disarray. Despite her sister's assurance about her safety, Haibara's mind dwells on a newspaper page reporting the one billion yen robber's suicide, featuring a distraught Conan standing beside the corpse.
Haibara approaches a ruminating Conan and lists the confounding elements of the case before reminding him of the dangers of lingering. She says it is "checkmate," placing a knight piece atop the landline. Conan, inspired by this action, solves the locked-room mystery and stops Haibara from leaving. He promises to prove to her that there is no such thing as an unsolvable mystery.

People

Masami Hirota
	Victim (bludgeoned) 61 years old Professor at Nanyo University

Toshiko Hirota
	53 years old Masami Hirota's wife

Akira Shirakura
	25 years old Model

Michio Morioka
	48 years old Veterinarian

Kazuhiro Hosoya
	43 years old Manager at a Trading Company

Trivia

• The title for each chapter are worded as the following in Case Closed:

• File 171 - The Same?
• File 175 - To Win a Heart
• File 176 - The Transfer Student
• File 177 - Woman in Black
• File 179 - The False Girl
• File 180 - Checkmate

Cover in other countries

• 

  China
• 

  China (2020 reissue)
• 

  Finland
• 

  France
• 

  Germany
• 

  Hong Kong
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  Indonesia
• 

  Indonesia (reprint)
• 

  Italy (Comic Art)
• 

  Italy (Star Comics)
• 

  Italy (La Gazzetta dello Sport)
• 

  Italy (New Edition)
• 

  Korea
• 

  Malaysia (Chinese)
• 

  Malaysia (Malay)
• 

  Norway
• 

  Rep. of China (Taiwan)
• 

  Philippines
• 

  Singapore (Chinese)
• 

  Spain (Catalan)
• 

  Spain (Spanish, Volumen 2, part 1)
• 

  Spain (Spanish, Volumen 2, part 2)
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  Sweden
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  Thailand
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  United States
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  Vietnam
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  Vietnam (New Edition)

See also

• Manga
• Volume 11-20
• Detective Conan