Volume 25

Chronology
‹ Volume 24	List of Chapters • List of Cases	Volume 26 ›

Volume 25
Information
Release date:	October 18, 1999
Chapters:	243-253
ISBN:	ISBN 4-09-125495-0
Publisher:	Shogakukan
English release date:	September 16, 2008
English ISBN:	ISBN 1-4215-1677-2
English Publisher:	Viz Media
Featured Detective & Keyhole
Mikeneko-Holmes Makoto Kyogoku
Aoyama's death & Conan side images

Volume 25 was released on October 18, 1999 in Japan.

Cast

Characters

Conan Edogawa

Ran Mouri

Kogoro Mouri

Sonoko Suzuki

Juzo Megure

Wataru Takagi

Miwako Sato

Makoto Kyogoku

Heiji Hattori

Kazuha Toyama

Hiroshi Agasa

Ai Haibara

Ayumi Yoshida

Genta Kojima

Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya

Shinichi Kudo (background)

Tomoaki Araide (background)

Mrs. Kojima (flashback)

Gadgets

Gadgets

Voice-Changing Bowtie

Stun-Gun Wristwatch

Chapters

Skating Rink Case

File 243 - Not Like the Rest!?

Sonoko, Ran, and Conan visit the ice skating rink at Tropical Land. Sonoko marvels at the plethora of handsome men, leading Ran to ask about her relationship with Makoto. Sonoko shares that he seldom contacts her while abroad, comparing her "waiting damsel" situation to Ran's relationship with Shinichi, sparking embarrassment. After learning Shinichi had taught Ran how to ice skate, Sonoko suggests Ran should now teach Conan to skate. Conan refuses but recalls Haibara's words after their encounter with the Black Organization. The Organization's meticulous attention to secrecy and security cannot be understated. Thus, all threats and liabilities, including unconfirmed but probable associations, are promptly eliminated. If Conan were to confess to Ran about his true identity, he would effectively burden her with a danger so extreme that she will inevitably cave, leaving no semblance of her former bubbly character. With this in mind, Conan feigns his inability to skate and accidentally collides with another skater, Chihiro Itami. Itami's friends, Yasuharu Misawa, Izumi Sano, Yoriko Komatsu, arrive to apologize but show a strained social dynamic. They reveal that they are a group of clay target shooters who recently reunited after being separated due to an "incident." Before Itami can share details, a fifth friend, Kunitomo Oda, arrives and shuts her down. As Oda leaves, Itami expresses her grievances with him, one of which being that he is not part of the "in-group." Her friends inquire about what she means by "in-group," but Itami refuses to elaborate and walks off to the bathroom while further demonstrating her immaturity.

Conan and Ran enjoy the firework display at Tropical Land.

Sonoko notices the influx of skaters and believes people must be gathering to watch the fireworks at 19:00. Itami's group further splits up. Sano goes to get coffee, Misawa goes to get food, and Komatsu goes to the bathroom. At the bathroom, an impatient Itami waits in a stall. She complains about "them" being late. She hears a knock on the stall and opens the door only to find a hooded figure pointing a shotgun at her chest. Meanwhile, Sonoko also goes to use the bathroom but finds it has been temporarily closed for custodial sanitation work. She knocks on the bathroom door but is distracted when she hears the sound of a singular firework. Still, she notices a hooded figure exit the bathroom and quickly run away.

Sonoko discovers Itami with the letter "S."

Back at the rink, Conan and Ran enjoy the colorful aerial display with Itami's friends, who each make their separate arrivals. Suddenly, Sonoko's piercing scream reaches everyone's ears. Conan rushes to the bathroom where Sonoko has discovered a deceased Itami, shot through the heart with the letter "S" written on the stall wall with her blood.

File 244 - The Victim Doesn't Talk

Ran wakes up Kogoro who had been sleeping in his car at the parking lot and informs him of the murder. Inspector Megure and Takagi arrive at the crime scene and begin by identifying the shotgun as the murder weapon. Sano states the used shotgun belongs to her and that it was stored in a secured locker along with her friends' rifles. Megure suggests testing each suspect for gunpowder residue, but Misawa points out that they will all come back positive as the group had been rifling earlier that day. Misawa floats the idea of an external killer, but Oda states that Sano's shotgun was stored in an inconspicuous case and is deconstructed when stored, meaning the crime can only be committed by those in the group with knowledge about the gun. However, before the police can even begin their interrogations, Kogoro accuses Sano of the crime. His deduction is rests upon three pillars: Itami had been waiting to meet someone in the woman's bathroom thus the killer must be a woman, Sano's relationship with Itami was noticeably strained, the "S" written on the stall must stand for "Sano."

Sonoko reminded of her long-distance relationship with Makoto.

Takagi corrects that Itami could not have written a dying message after being shot through the heart, therefore the "S" on the wall must have been written by the killer—likely in an attempt to frame Sano. Conan noticing saliva on the tip of the shotgun. Kogoro suggests the killer had placed the nozzle in Itami's mouth to silence her before synchronizing the firing of the weapon with the bursting of the fireworks, masking the noise. Sano counters that the killer could not be her since she was present at the rink when the fireworks began—leaving Oda as the only member without an alibi. Conan also notices Itami died with her hand in her coat pocket clutching a phone. The police redial her most recent message and find "KIX ########"
The suspects are given permission to take off their skates under supervision. They depart from the crime scene. Hearing the friend's mourn Itami's death, Sonoko sorrowfully looks down at her phone, saying "Idiot." Conan notices that Sonoko has the same type of phone as Itami and asks to inspect it. He questions whether Sonoko truly heard the sound of fireworks while Ran notices that Sonoko has a new phone. Conan deduces the trick but still lacks a culprit. He eavesdrops on the friend group's conversation where they discuss the previous incident regarding a friend named Narita who died via accidental gun discharge. Now confident about why Oda is considered separate from the "in-group," Conan rushes to the bathroom. He discovers vertical streaks of blood running near Itami's feet and cracks the case.

File 245 - The Experimental Words

Makoto calls Sonoko and informs her of his victories.

Takagi enters and reports that the police have found the killer's clothing in a nearby garbage can. Before Conan can expand on his findings, Kogoro reprimands him for "treating the crime scene like a playground." The detective then proudly presents yet another flawed deduction, this time suggesting that Oda is the culprit. However, before he reaches his conclusion, Conan tranquilizes the man mid-sentence with his wristwatch and begins the real deduction.

  Show spoilers »

Failed reverse psychology.

The ¥5 coin's hole was used to create the "ascending firework" sound effect.

Kogoro immediately re-accuses Izumi Sano as being the culprit. She used her own gun and drew "S" on the stall in order to draw the investigation away from her via reverse psychology. She additionally moved the gun from Itami's mouth to her chest in order to give credence to the notion that Itami had written the "S" herself—since someone shot through the head would undoubtedly be unable to write a dying-message. Kogoro then counters Sano's alibi by showing how one can fake the sound of fireworks in order to fool Sonoko into believing the culprit was still in the bathroom at the time of the fireworks.

Conan demonstrates by making a convincing high-pitched "ascending firework" sound using a ¥5 coin (a coin which is designed with a hole in the middle). The gunshot then makes a perfect "firework explosion" noise thus completing the two-part sound effect. By making this sound effect roughly one minute before the real show, Sano effectively convinced a witness that the killer left the bathroom one minute later than they actually did. He further states that Sonoko only heard one firework despite the park typically launching them in groups of three. Sano objects, saying that such a trick could have been performed by anyone. Kogoro points to the message "KIX ########" left on Itami's phone. He explains that the woman likely wrote her intended message, "KIX," before repeatedly hitting the triangle button, resulting in the string of sharps (#). By repeatedly pushing the triangle button, the message is sent and thus cannot be deleted by Sano. Therefore "KIX" is Itami's real dying-message.

Airports are the common denominator.

To decode, Kogoro mentions the "in-group" Itami was referring to were those who shared a name with a prominent Japanese airports.

• Itami = Osaka Itami Airport
• Komatsu = Komatsu Airport
• Misawa = Misawa Airport
• Narita = Narita International Airport
• Izumi Sano = Kansai International Airport (located in the Izumisano city of Osaka).

The IATA code for Kansai International Airport is "KIX." (Note that Oda is not part of the in-group because his name does not coincide with any airport).
And as a final nail in the coffin, Kogoro points to the vertical blood marks on the floor next to Itami's feet. He explains that these are marks left by Sano when she stepped on her victim's blood with her skates writing her fake dying-message. Thus, Itami's blood is likely left on the blades of Sano's skates. Sano admits defeat and shares her motive.
The Motive:
Narita's gun-related accident was a suicide motivated by Itami's rejection. Sano, who was sick at the time, had received a phone call from Narita who explained that Itami rejected him since she was apparently with Oda, who was cheating on Sano with her at the time. Thus, Sano decided to murder Itami and frame Oda for the crime.
Before Sano is arrested, Oda explains to her that Itami was lying about him cheating with her. When Sano asks why he did not explain that to Narita, he admits his fault and states that it was because he was too concerned with tending to a feverish Sano. The two appear to affirm their enduring affections.

On the walk back to Kogoro's car, Sonoko solemnly reflects on Oda and Sano's conversation and how it relates to her relationship with Makoto. She suddenly receives a phone call from him reporting that he has won the championship match of the Winter Cup. Sonoko sheds tears and asks why he did not call sooner. He replies he felt guilty calling her when he nothing to report. The two share an endearing conversation as Ran realizes that Sonoko had bought a separate phone to call Makoto. The girl delights in the thought of having a phone just for two people. A few days later, she receives a package from Shinichi containing a phone, ostensibly gifted in gratitude for the knitted sweater.

People

Chihiro Itami
	Victim (gunshot) 27 years old Daughter of a Corporate Executive

Yasuharu Misawa
	29 years old Banker

Izumi Sano
	28 years old Office worker

Yoriko Komatsu
	30 years old Housewife

Kunitomo Oda
	29 years old Firefighter

Major Events

• Romantic development between Sonoko and Makoto.
• Romantic development between Shinichi and Ran.
  • Shinichi gifts Ran a phone.

Spider Mansion Case

File 250 - Unable to Speak

  Show spoilers »

The murderer is Robert Taylor. Robert tied a long thread to his motorbike, connected to a hanging rope hidden in the dark and placed around the window. He shot some Airsoft-type pellet gun projectiles to the window to attract Nobukazu there, and then started his bike and drove away, pulling the thread and accordingly pulling the rope backward, tearing it off from the window. The rope went circling Nobukazu's neck, and with the strength and speed of the bike, the rope drew Nobukazu backward and knocked him down against a beam, strangling him to death afterwards. The thread then broke and released the hanging rope, who took a vertical position again, making it as if Nobukazu had been naturally hanged. Robert wanted to avenge Mina's suicide, after she got brutally beaten by her father, to the point of disfiguring her. But Heiji says that when he murdered Negishi, and assaulted Kazuha and almost killed her, he was just a monster, not avenging Mina anymore. He also reveals, despite Conan's forbiding him to do so, that Mina actually committed suicide because she misread a note from Robert to her, as Robert wasn't very good at writing Japanese : she read "Die", and she accordingly died as she thought Robert had rejected her due to her facial accident.

People

• Robert Taylor
  	26 years old Photographer

• Yuzo Takeda
  	35 years old Third son of the Takeda family

• Yoko Takeda
  	33 years old Ryuji Takeda's wife

• Ryuji Takeda
  	38 years old Second son of the Takeda family

• Sae Takeda
  	9 years old Ryuji and Yoko's daughter Emi's older twin sister

• Emi Takeda
  	9 years old Ryuji and Yoko's daughter Sae's younger twin sister

• Chie Takeda
  	71 years old Mother of the Takeda brothers

• Miyuki Shioya
  	26 years old Housekeeper

• Nobukazu Takeda
  	Victim (hanged) 45 years old Eldest son of the Takeda family Master puppet maker

• Misa Takeda
  	Deceased (hanged) 18 years old (21 if alive) Nobukazu's daughter

• Kinuyo Takeda
  	Deceased (hanged) Nobukazu's wife

• Akio Negishi
  	Deceased (hanged) Nobukazu's colleague

Major events

• Ran and Kazuha become close friends, both even poking fun at each other for having crime loving boyfriends.
• Heiji jokingly says that Kazuha and him can sleep close to each other at night if they get lost. Kazuha thinks about this, and gets very embarrassed.
• When Kazuha is attacked by the killer, Heiji is the first person to run up to her before anyone else, trying his best to save her.

Dangerous Cave Case

File 251 - The Wounded Detective Boys

The Detective Boys go camping with Professor Agasa in the mountains. During the trip, Haibara seems lost in her thoughts, looking at Conan, who wonders if Ran knows about his identity. Indeed, Ran has been acting very strangely recently, leading Conan to believe she knows the truth about him. While gathering firewood in the forest, the Boys decide to explore a cave where they find an enigmatic stone which reads something about "a way of a dragon that leads to heavenly light". In the cave, they come across three bank robbers trying to hide the corpse of their accomplice they killed some time ago. The kids try to run away but Conan gets shot in the back. Hiding behind a rock, the Boys listen to Conan's idea to escape the robbers.

File 252 - The Brave Great Detectives

The Detective Boys leave Conan's glasses and transmitters in a certain position in the cave, hoping Haibara and Agasa will find it and understand their message. Then they walk further into the cave, carrying Conan, and coming at a crossroads leave the latter's wristwatch in one of the two paths in order to lure the robbers. The robbers find the watch and believe the kids deliberately left the watch on the right path to make it as if they had lost it while on their way, whereas they actually took the other way, the left way, into which the robbers go. But in fact the Boys took the right path, where the watch was, Conan knowing that the robbers would think so and take the left one. The kids find afterwards another crossroads with five paths, and notice a strange egg-shaped stone where the same inscription is written as on the one they saw at the entrance. Conan deduces the meaning of the inscription and which path should be taken, but eventually passes out in exhaustion. Meanwhile, the robbers realise they've been fooled and backtrack in anger. Haibara and Agasa look for the kids in the forest and finally enter the cave, finding the glasses and detecting the transmitters that make a "110" shape, which means to call the police.

File 253 - One Conviction

The Detective Boys think they're unable to find the path and the meaning of the inscription without Conan's help, and they hide in one of the paths as they hear the robbers coming closer. Two of the robbers start exploring the paths one after the other, while the last one stands guard at the entrance of each, completely stopping the kids from making any move. Ayumi, Genta and Mitsuhiko try to figure out the key to the mystery.

  Show spoilers »

Mitsuhiko eventually deduces that, given there are two different kanjis for "egg" - which has to do with the egg-shaped stone, given the "to" character engraved in the stone at the entrance, and given the "way of the dragon", the five paths resemble a shogi board : "to" is the character written behind the "march" piece, "dragon" is for the "dragon king", the character behind the "flight" piece, and the two kanjis for "egg" refer to the two names for the "king" piece ("osho" or "gyokusho"). "The way of the dragon" is therefore the right path to take, the "dragon king", as it leads to "heavenly light", which means the cave's exit. Comparing the position of the pieces on a game-start shogi board to the position of the paths, the Boys find out the path corresponding to the "dragon king". They lure the guarding robber by throwing their detective badges on the floor near him, which attracts a swarm of bats, and they make use of that diversion to escape towards the exit. However, they are caught up by the two other robbers, one seizing Conan and threatening to kill him. But the police was waiting in ambush and they encircle the robbers, and Conan wakes up a few seconds to congratulate the Boys and fire a tranquiliser dart onto the robber. Afterwards Conan is quickly taken to Beika Hospital's emergency department, ans needs to undergo a surgery. As blood supply for his type is almost empty, Ran, who turned up with Kogoro, surprisingly proposes to donate her blood, apparently knowing Conan's blood type. Conan then deduces Ran knows his true identity, as the only blood type Ran knows is Shinichi's one.

People

Man #1
	Robber

Man #2
	Robber leader

Man #3
	Robber

Man #4
	Victim (gunshot)

Cover in other countries

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  China
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  China (2020 reissue)
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  Finland
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  France
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  Germany
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  Hong Kong
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  Indonesia
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  Indonesia (reprint)
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  Indonesia (Premium, combined volumes 25-26)
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  Italy
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  Italy (La Gazzetta dello Sport)
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  Italy (New Edition)
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  Korea
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  Malaysia (Chinese)
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  Malaysia (Malay)
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  Norway
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  Rep. of China (Taiwan)
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  Singapore (Chinese)
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  Spain (Spanish, Volumen 2, part 1)
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  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 21-30
• Detective Conan