Difference between revisions of "Volume 28"

From Detective Conan Wiki
(Files 274-275 edit)
(Files 276-278 edit)
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==== Characters introduced ====
 
==== Characters introduced ====
 
{{NewChar|name = [[Shizuka Hattori|Shizuka Ikenami]]|image = Shizuka Hattori.jpg|description =
 
{{NewChar|name = [[Shizuka Hattori|Shizuka Ikenami]]|image = Shizuka Hattori.jpg|description =
* 42 years old}}
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* 42 years old
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* Kogoro's client}}
 
{{NewChar|name = [[Azusa Enomoto]]|image = Azusa Enomoto.jpg|description =
 
{{NewChar|name = [[Azusa Enomoto]]|image = Azusa Enomoto.jpg|description =
 
* 23 years old
 
* 23 years old
* Worker at the Café Poirot}}
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* Worker at Café Poirot}}
 
{{clearleft}}
 
{{clearleft}}
  
 
==== File 276 - The Client Full of Lies ====
 
==== File 276 - The Client Full of Lies ====
A mysterious and beautiful client asks Kogoro to find her first love Shiro Shibata, and Conan discovers that this client, Shizuka Ikenami, tells many lies. They finally figure out Shiro's living place and meet one of his neighbours and friends, Takezo Yoshikawa, thus that Shiro's wife, Keiko. But Shiro is found dead, bludgeoned, holding a picture of Shizuka in his hand.
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A person sounding like a middle-aged woman calls Kogoro and expresses her wish to meet him. As Kogoro is watching a horse race and thinks that the caller must be an ugly woman wanting him to find her first love or do some other boring thing, he starts making up excuses, but Ran is (as usual) unhappy with Kogoro’s nonsense and tells him that he should be more dedicated to the job. The intense pressure from Ran means that Kogoro has no choice but to give in, and soon the caller comes. It turns out that despite being more than forty, the woman appears quite young, and she is additionally beautiful and elegant. As is typical of him, Kogoro changes into a handsome suit within seconds and greets his client cordially and more than slightly flirtatiously. This kind of behavior continues as the client (who is named Shizuka Ikenami) explains that she wants Kogoro to find a man named Shiro Shibata. This man went to middle school with her and was a member of the kendo club just like her (and she wants to find him because he is the possessor of a very precious photo of hers; to be precise, Shibata lent her a novel during middle school, she inserted that photo into the novel as the bookmark and forgot to remove it as she returned it to him). Kogoro’s obsession with Shizuka culminates when she mentions her single status, and Ran, who has already been interjecting their conversation with mentions that Kogoro is married to Eri, openly mocks Kogoro for abandoning Eri, whom she believes to be as glamorous as Shizuka. <br><br>
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Conan listens to the conversation from a different angle; he notes that Shizuka is inserting many unnecessary and trivial lies in her narration. For example, Shizuka claims that she does not know how to cook at all, but later (in Shibata’s house) is able to tell the species of fish served just by a glance of a dish of sashimi; similarly, she mentions that she is allergic to dust and has a sensitive trachea, but also that she is good at weaving. <br><br>
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After talking to Shizuka for a long time, both in the Agency and in the café Poirot downstairs, Kogoro concludes that there is not enough information to find Shibata or get in contact with him. Shizuka suggests Kogoro call Shinichi Kudo, who, according to her, is rumored to come to the Detective Agency sometimes. Conan, who worries that the Black Organization might have heard of this also, thinks that he should keep a lower profile in the future and interrupts to stop the others from talking about Shinichi. He then suggests a way of finding Shibata that Kogoro has overlooked. The plan works out, and Shizuka, seeming to have noticed that Conan is a rather special and intelligent 7-year-old, thanks him for his crucial contributions. <br><br>
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Conan, Ran, Kogoro and Shizuka head to Shibata’s apartment in Shizuoka Prefecture. When they arrive, they encounter a friend of Shibata (named Takezo Yoshikawa), who finds it strange when Kogoro tells him that nobody responded when they rang the bell. Since the door is left open, the five visitors are able to enter without a key, and find a meal half-eaten, the television on and Shibata himself dead. He has been beaten on the forehead and clutches in his right hand a photo of Shizuka when she was young.
  
 
==== File 277 - The Evidence Held ====
 
==== File 277 - The Evidence Held ====
Conan realises Shizuka has a very extended knowledge of legal and judiciary system, and her strong-mindedness reminds Conan of someone. Meanwhile, Conan finds out who killed Shiro.
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Sango Yokomizo comes to investigate. After determining that Shibata likely died in or before the morning (it is night now), Yokomizo starts collecting the abili of the suspects, of which there are three: Shizuka (whom he initially thinks is Kogoro’s wife; this makes Kogoro honored and pleased, but Shizuka is quick to correct Yokomizo), Yoshikawa and Kyoko Shibata, who is Shiro’s wife and arrived home soon after the five visitors went into the apartment. After some questioning, Yokomizo and Kogoro determine that Kyoko has a perfectly valid alibi (according to a friend with whom Kyoko went golfing, she left the apartment at five in the morning and did not return until seven in the evening, which was approximately when Conan and company arrived) and that Yoshikawa’s is more problematic. However, for Yokomizo, the biggest suspect of all is Shizuka. He believes so because of several reasons. Firstly, Shizuka has confirmed that the photo that Shibata was clutching is the one that she is looking for and that the novel under Shibata’s belly is the one that he lent Shizuka in middle school. Secondly, Kyoko has said that she saw her husband search the bookshelf whilst on a call, and then took a book out, opened it and said “I have found it, I have found it”. <br><br>
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Kogoro objects to Yokomizo’s conclusion, remarking that such a beautiful woman cannot possibly be a murderer. Regardless of the respect that Yokomizo holds for Kogoro,  he still insists on taking Shizuka back to the police station for further questioning, but this ends up not happening because Shizuka argues that with the little amount of evidence in hand, Yokomizo will not be able to obtain an arrest warrant from a judge, and therefore cannot lawfully take her to the police station without her consent. Conan is stunned by her words, but decides to first solve the case and then worry about Shizuka’s identity. After examining the blood on Shibata’s left hand and some unknown mark in the palm of his right hand, he realizes who the murderer is and that this person had come into the apartment and left before his arrival. In the mean time, Yokomizo’s deputies find what they believe to be the murder weapon - a bokuto (i.e. a wooden sword used for training in kendo and related Japanese martial arts).
  
 
==== File 278 - The Horrifying Woman ====
 
==== File 278 - The Horrifying Woman ====
<spoiler>Conan tranquilises Kogoro and reveals the murderer to be '''Kyoko Shibata'''. She made Shiro believe a fake timescale by changing time, serving him his breakfast at dinner time, etc. The evidence of the murder is their wedding ring Kyoko took from Shiro's hand and replaced by a random picture where Shizuka was featured, the ring is probably in her pocket, stained with her husband's blood. Kyoko confesses and explains Shiro and Yoshizawa were gambling too much, to the point Shiro was highly indebted and dragging his wife down with him in his financial problems, selling their goods one after the other to pay it off, without Kyoko being able to stop it. When he said he wanted to sell Kyoko's father's sabre too, she decided to kill him. She accepts to surrender and asks to fetch a few things in the next room. She comes back with a sabre and threatens to kill herself, claiming she had no other choice than killing Shiro, and she doesn't care about dying now. Shizuka walks in her direction and blocks Keiko's sabre blow with her fan and disarms her, telling her she has no right to decide the life or death of anyone. Conan asks Shizuka why she lied four times, and it is Heiji who answers that she wanted to hide her true motives, the fact that she had come to see and test Kogoro, to make sure Heiji had found a proper mentor and a true detective, because '''Heiji is her son'''. Shizuka says that Kogoro's high deduction skills comforted her and she can go back to Osaka in peace. Heiji says he also came with Kazuha to invite Kogoro, Ran and Conan to a special investigation.</spoiler>
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 +
<spoiler>
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Conan tranquilizes Kogoro and begins his deduction. He gives reasons of why neither Shizuka nor Yoshikawa is the murderer; basically, if they were, then their subsequent actions would not make any sense. The true murderer is therefore Kyoko. Conan says that Kyoko’s friend’s original words were “she returned at a bit over seven o’clock”, which is an ambiguous expression, and could mean, for example, 7:05 or 7:10 (and everything in between). This leaves open the possibility that she actually arrived at her apartment before Conan and company instead of right after, which invalidates parts of her alibi. Conan proceeds to say that assuming that this conjecture is true, then the other part of the alibi (the one in the morning) does not stand either. It was established based on the assumption that Shibata was killed when having breakfast and reading a newspaper delivered to the household around six, but any meal, when accompanied by a newspaper coming in the morning, can misdirect people and make them think that the meal must be the breakfast. So it could be the case that the half-eaten meal prepared by Kyoko was her husband’s midnight snack (as, the night before, he had played mahjong with friends, including Yoshikawa, until three), and that the newspaper was placed beside the meal after Kyoko had come back from golfing (i.e. around seven o’clock in the evening and a short while before Conan and company’s arrival). <br><br>
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At this point Yoshikawa points to a piece of “evidence” that shows that Shibata was certainly alive at eight o’clock in the morning. Conan explains how that piece of evidence is flawed and how Kyoko can easily manipulate it. He then carries on by saying that placing the newspaper was not the only thing that Kyoko did in the short interval between her arrival and that of Conan and company. For example, she noticed that her husband had moved significantly from the spot where she struck him with the bokuto, and that his (bloody) wedding ring was not on the ring finger of his left hand, but instead in the clenched right hand’s palm (which is why there were unusual marks in the middle of the palm). Believing that this would incriminate her, Kyoko took the ring out of the clenched hand and tried to put it back in place, and when that did not work removed it altogether and placed Shizuka’s photo (which happened to be near) in the right palm in order to lay the blame on someone else and make the half-clenched hand seem natural. She also fastened bandages on the ring and pinky fingers of her husband’s left hand (Conan was able to imagine this scheme because the entire left hand was covered by blood except for the bandages, which were completely clean); on the ring finger because she wanted to cover the mark left by the ring, and on the pinky finger so that her mark-covering scheme would not be immediately obvious to others). Yokomizo orders subordinates to remove the bandages to check for any mark, and its presence on the ring finger proves Conan’s conjecture. <br><br>
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Conan also guesses that Kyoko originally planned to call the police herself; unfortunately, during her struggle with her husband’s ring, the telephone rang, and Yoshikawa’s voice, which revealed that he was coming over (for more mahjong), resonated in the room. This forced Kyoko to flee the scene as soon as she could; Conan postulates that she hid in the stairway, where she decided to let Yoshikawa discover the body instead and return home after that pretending that she knew nothing about the murder. <br><br>
 +
 
 +
Conan is now done with all his hypotheses and moves onto the incriminating evidence. He says that since disposing of the ring constitutes a risky move and Kyoko has a good alibi, the safest thing to do is to keep it on herself and wait until the police leave; then she will have plenty of opportunities to go to a place far-away and throw away the ring there. Upon hearing this, Kyoko, who is already very nervous, involuntarily drops the blood-stained ring and thus indirectly admits that she has killed her husband. Her motive is simple: the couple’s life is being destroyed by Shibata’s addiction to mahjong. He gambled when playing, and lost a tremendous sum of money, for which he sold the computer, the amplifier, the car, jewelry and other expensive items, and planned to sell more, including his wife’s golf equipment and the present that his father-in-law had given him when the couple got married. Yokomizo, unmoved by this rather sad story, tells Kyoko that she must go with the police. She agrees, and goes into a room under the pretence of changing, but is actually thinking of committing suicide with a katana. Conan notices that something is wrong and rushes towards the room; he opens the door, and to his horror, Kyoko has already placed the katana upon her neck, and demands that nobody approach her. Yokomizo tries to talk her out of killing herself, but to no avail; at this critical moment, Shizuka calmly steps into the room and produces a folding fan. Kyoko, desperate and not knowing what Shizuka would do to hear, swings the katana violently but aimlessly through the air, allowing Shizuka to masterfully block it and stop any movement with her folding fan. Shizuka proceeds to swiftly disarm Kyoko; she then approaches her, looks into her eyes and asks whether she wants to commit murder again. A sobbing and confused Kyoko says that she only wants to claim her own life, and Shizuka sternly rebukes her by saying that every human life is precious, that none should be taken away like this and that taking one’s own life is nothing less than a homicide. She puts the katana into its scabbard, turns away from a stunned and speechless Kyoko and to an awestruck Yokomizo and tells him joyfully that she should go with him to the police station as a person relevant to a case. <br><br>
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Yokomizo agrees, but Conan (still using Kogoro’s voice) tells her to wait for a moment, as he wants to know why she lied repeatedly while in the Detective Agency (and the café). Conan points out that apart from the untruths about her culinary skills and about her trachea, she lied when she said, back in the café ordering drinks, that the novel Shibata lent her has a character named “Reiko” in it. Before she has a chance to respond, Heiji and Kazuha appear at the door (to the surprise of Ran and the shock of Conan), and the former explains that “Reikō” (冷コー, which sounds very similar to “Reiko”, a Japanese female given name) is the term that Osakans use to refer to ice coffee, and Shizuka, well aware that this usage might give her origins away, had to invent a story on the spot; he also calls Shizuka “obasan”. Kogoro, who happens to wake up at this moment, hears Heiji use this term. He thus confronts him, lecturing Heiji on how his inappropriate use of the term is disrespectful towards Shizuka. The latter is unfazed by Kogoro’s lambast, as “she is my mother”. Conan, Ran and Kogoro are all astounded and dumbfounded by this revelation, and Ran, in a move that breaks significantly from her usual character, points at Shizuka and shouts “but her skin color is so pale (and yours so dark)!” Heiji is deeply upset by this comment and yells that he has inherited his skin tone from his grandfather. <br><br>
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Now that the case is solved, everybody goes downstairs; they start chatting on the patio in front of the apartment building. Shizuka reveals that she feared that Kogoro is a cruel and unreasonable man who treats Heiji like a servant, the rationale being that every time that Heiji came to Tokyo and worked with Kogoro on cases he got hurt, and that during Kogoro’s visit of Osaka he did not even bother to visit the Hattori’s. To confirm her suspicions, she contacted Shibata to ask for his collaboration, came to the Agency as a normal client and used her surname before her marriage to Heizo Hattori to introduce herself. Her conclusion, to the delight of Kogoro, is that he is the opposite of what she had in mind: a capable, intelligent and kind man who wrapped up the case quickly and saw right through her lies. Shizuka Hattori also says that she is happy to finally have the photo back, but her son thinks to himself that that is another lie, as Shizuka has previously said that she did not want a photo depicting her crying after losing a kendo match to a younger girl (this younger girl is actually Michiko Kurogane, who also appears in Shizuka’s photo; she is the blonde girl at the back). <br><br>
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This file ends with Shizuka telling Kogoro that because of his character, she can entrust Heiji and Kazuha to him without having to worry; Kogoro is unable to comprehend initially. Meanwhile, Ran wonders why Heiji and Kazuha are carrying a large amount of luggages with them.
 +
</spoiler>
  
 
==== People ====
 
==== People ====

Revision as of 17:54, 3 July 2022

Volume 28

Volume 28.jpg

Information
Release date: July 18, 2000
Chapters: 274-284
ISBN: ISBN 4-09-125498-5
Publisher: Shogakukan
English release date: March 17, 2009
English ISBN: ISBN 1-4215-2196-2
English Publisher: Viz Media
Featured Detective & Keyhole
Detective 28.jpg
Kyosuke Kamizu
Keyhole 28.jpg
Shizuka Ikenami
Aoyama's death & Conan side images
Aoyama 28.jpg
ConanSide 28.jpg
Chronology
Prev volume: « Volume 27
Next volume: Volume 29 »
List of chaptersList of cases

Volume 28 was released on July 18, 2000 in Japan.

Cast

Gadgets

Chapters

Bear Hunters Case

File 274 - The Shrunken Target

Haibara and Mitsuhiko have left onion chips on the forest floor in order for Conan’s group to be able to follow them. Fortunately for them, Conan and company do spot them and understand their meaning. After following the onion chips for a while but still not being able to find the missing ones, Conan senses that there is something wrong. He secretly instructs Agasa to call the people from the motel and the police to investigate the place where Mitsuhiko left his badge, the rationale being that a gunshot on a tree near the badge, a blood mark at roughly the same place and the fact that the group still have not found Haibara and Mitsuhiko imply that they have run into trouble and might be hiding from someone.

Meanwhile, the hunters hear a noise in the bushes, and all of them shoot at once. None is able to kill the source of the noise - a rabbit, but this is enough to give Mitsuhiko (who is observing with Haibara from afar) chills and make him understand that Haibara’s was absolutely right. Agasa protests the shots, but the hunters say that they can distinguish between children and wild animals, and Negoro tells him that this is what he will do if he ever gets a chance to confront Jubei. Saika replies derisively that Negoro’s bullets are not going to hurt Jubei, as she is sly in that she can approach humans soundlessly and monstrous in that she can overwhelm humans easily even when wounded. Saika adds that he is the only one who is able to take down the beast, and that Jubei has been blind in one eye for twenty years thanks to his shot. Negoro, noticing that Saika treats his words with scorn and knows Jubei exceptionally well, asks Yasaka whether he knows who Saika is. Saika responds that he has heard others describe Saika as the former leader of a hunting organization who started living in this forest after meeting Jubei.

Mitsuhiko now knows that they definitely cannot approach the group, and asks Haibara what they should do. Haibara says that they eventually have to leave the forest with Agasa, and that they can do so safely after Conan notices that something is not right with the deliberately dropped badge and calls for external help. She continues to say that for the time being they have to keep walking and try new ways of relaying information to Conan. Later on, they reunite with the bear cub, who stays faithfully with them, and Haibara suffers a severe sprain on her foot; Mitsuhiko is able to help alleviate her pain by fastening surrounding areas with bandages. Although he is glad to have helped her, the thought that it was the omniscient Conan who taught him this treatment makes this happiness vanish rapidly. However, Haibara is able to re-animate him by saying that who taught him is irrelevant, that what is important is that Mitsuhiko has been able to apply his knowledge in such a critical situation. She goes on to say that Mitsuhiko is the best helper that she can expect in this case, which makes him blush; he then boldly puts Haibara’s arm across his shoulders to support her walk (this makes him blush even more; Haibara notices this and becomes thoughtful), and tries to take the initiative in coming up with a message. In the end, they decide to use various species of mushrooms arranged in a very specific way to encode a message. Namely, they pierce, at different angles, three pieces of mushrooms (fly agaric, matsutake and shiitake in that order) with a tree branch and leave the branch on the forest floor, and they place one piece of hatsudake and three pieces of shimeji on the side of the branch.

The file now returns to the group. Yasaka mentions that he has a hunter friend. Conan asks whether his friend is in this forest as well, and explains that his doubt arose upon seeing Yasaka carrying with him two types of bullets, which is uncommon for a hunter. Yasaka says that the friend is indeed in this forest, and explains that he has two types of bullets because his friend forgot to bring back-up bullets and thus asked Yasaka to bring some so that he can give them to him if they happen to meet in the forest. Meanwhile, Ayumi senses that something is following the group, and Agasa receives a call from the police, who tells him (and thus Conan) that they have found a human body that has been shot in the stomach and a bear cub body. Contrary to the state of the human body, the young bear has been properly buried, and there even is a tomb. The hunters notice the call, and they ask what is going on; Conan hurriedly hangs up and misleads them with a fabricated story. Agasa asks why Conan wants to conceal information from them, and Conan replies that the murderer is likely to be among the three hunters, but that without further evidence he cannot narrow down. Conan is not worried, however, as he believes that Haibara and Mitsuhiko will find a way to convey relevant information to him.

After some more searching, the group does stumble upon the mushrooms that Haibara and Mitsuhiko have prepared. Conan takes a good look at them, is able to understand it and work out the murderer, but pretends that he does not and casually tosses the tree branch aside, much to the surprise of Mitsuhiko and to the disappointment of Haibara, who are hiding in some bushes very near him together with the bear cub. As Conan prepares to stun the murderer, Jubei gets nearer and nearer to the group.

File 275 - True Motive

Conan aims, but before he can stun Genta puts himself between him and the murderer, forcing Conan to abandon the attempt and explain what he is doing to the other Detective Boys present. Doing so makes him recall what the police has said about the body of the bear cub; by thinking for a while about the implications about this piece of information, Conan realizes that there is a flaw in his deduction and proceeds to lower his stun-gun. Haibara and Mitsuhiko, who are still watching, are shocked by this.

People

  • Old Photograph Murder Case

    Characters introduced

    File 276 - The Client Full of Lies

    A person sounding like a middle-aged woman calls Kogoro and expresses her wish to meet him. As Kogoro is watching a horse race and thinks that the caller must be an ugly woman wanting him to find her first love or do some other boring thing, he starts making up excuses, but Ran is (as usual) unhappy with Kogoro’s nonsense and tells him that he should be more dedicated to the job. The intense pressure from Ran means that Kogoro has no choice but to give in, and soon the caller comes. It turns out that despite being more than forty, the woman appears quite young, and she is additionally beautiful and elegant. As is typical of him, Kogoro changes into a handsome suit within seconds and greets his client cordially and more than slightly flirtatiously. This kind of behavior continues as the client (who is named Shizuka Ikenami) explains that she wants Kogoro to find a man named Shiro Shibata. This man went to middle school with her and was a member of the kendo club just like her (and she wants to find him because he is the possessor of a very precious photo of hers; to be precise, Shibata lent her a novel during middle school, she inserted that photo into the novel as the bookmark and forgot to remove it as she returned it to him). Kogoro’s obsession with Shizuka culminates when she mentions her single status, and Ran, who has already been interjecting their conversation with mentions that Kogoro is married to Eri, openly mocks Kogoro for abandoning Eri, whom she believes to be as glamorous as Shizuka.

    Conan listens to the conversation from a different angle; he notes that Shizuka is inserting many unnecessary and trivial lies in her narration. For example, Shizuka claims that she does not know how to cook at all, but later (in Shibata’s house) is able to tell the species of fish served just by a glance of a dish of sashimi; similarly, she mentions that she is allergic to dust and has a sensitive trachea, but also that she is good at weaving.

    After talking to Shizuka for a long time, both in the Agency and in the café Poirot downstairs, Kogoro concludes that there is not enough information to find Shibata or get in contact with him. Shizuka suggests Kogoro call Shinichi Kudo, who, according to her, is rumored to come to the Detective Agency sometimes. Conan, who worries that the Black Organization might have heard of this also, thinks that he should keep a lower profile in the future and interrupts to stop the others from talking about Shinichi. He then suggests a way of finding Shibata that Kogoro has overlooked. The plan works out, and Shizuka, seeming to have noticed that Conan is a rather special and intelligent 7-year-old, thanks him for his crucial contributions.

    Conan, Ran, Kogoro and Shizuka head to Shibata’s apartment in Shizuoka Prefecture. When they arrive, they encounter a friend of Shibata (named Takezo Yoshikawa), who finds it strange when Kogoro tells him that nobody responded when they rang the bell. Since the door is left open, the five visitors are able to enter without a key, and find a meal half-eaten, the television on and Shibata himself dead. He has been beaten on the forehead and clutches in his right hand a photo of Shizuka when she was young.

    File 277 - The Evidence Held

    Sango Yokomizo comes to investigate. After determining that Shibata likely died in or before the morning (it is night now), Yokomizo starts collecting the abili of the suspects, of which there are three: Shizuka (whom he initially thinks is Kogoro’s wife; this makes Kogoro honored and pleased, but Shizuka is quick to correct Yokomizo), Yoshikawa and Kyoko Shibata, who is Shiro’s wife and arrived home soon after the five visitors went into the apartment. After some questioning, Yokomizo and Kogoro determine that Kyoko has a perfectly valid alibi (according to a friend with whom Kyoko went golfing, she left the apartment at five in the morning and did not return until seven in the evening, which was approximately when Conan and company arrived) and that Yoshikawa’s is more problematic. However, for Yokomizo, the biggest suspect of all is Shizuka. He believes so because of several reasons. Firstly, Shizuka has confirmed that the photo that Shibata was clutching is the one that she is looking for and that the novel under Shibata’s belly is the one that he lent Shizuka in middle school. Secondly, Kyoko has said that she saw her husband search the bookshelf whilst on a call, and then took a book out, opened it and said “I have found it, I have found it”.

    Kogoro objects to Yokomizo’s conclusion, remarking that such a beautiful woman cannot possibly be a murderer. Regardless of the respect that Yokomizo holds for Kogoro, he still insists on taking Shizuka back to the police station for further questioning, but this ends up not happening because Shizuka argues that with the little amount of evidence in hand, Yokomizo will not be able to obtain an arrest warrant from a judge, and therefore cannot lawfully take her to the police station without her consent. Conan is stunned by her words, but decides to first solve the case and then worry about Shizuka’s identity. After examining the blood on Shibata’s left hand and some unknown mark in the palm of his right hand, he realizes who the murderer is and that this person had come into the apartment and left before his arrival. In the mean time, Yokomizo’s deputies find what they believe to be the murder weapon - a bokuto (i.e. a wooden sword used for training in kendo and related Japanese martial arts).

    File 278 - The Horrifying Woman

    People

  • Mermaid's Curse Case

    Shiho Miyano's name is in a guestbook logging past contestants for the immortality arrows.

    File 279 - The Mermaid's Curse?

    Heiji invites Conan, Ran and Kogoro to join him and Kazuha on a case he got a letter about. The letter is from a woman named Saori, who lives on a tiny island off Wakasa Bay in Fukui Prefecture, known as the Island of Mermaids. It is famous due to it's elder who is over 100-year-old and rumored to be immortal. Apparently Saori is afraid of getting killed by mermaids. Conan isn't pleased with being dragged in this case, but Heiji reveals to him that while the letter was sent to his address, it was meant for Shinichi. After arriving on the island, the group learns that Saori has disappeared three days ago. No one worries because it's not unusual for Saori to leave home when she has had a fight with her father. They meet four of Saori's childhood friend, Naoko, a shop clerk, Toshimi and her fiancé Rokuro, and Kimie, a shrine maiden who is also the great-granddaughter of the elder. Each year there is a festival on the island where the elder awards three winners with a dungong arrow, that wields protection for it's bearer. Saori won one last year, but lost it last week, and up to her disappearance, she had become fearful of being cursed of mermaids. Kimie reveals that last time she saw Saori was three days ago. Kimie needed to go the dentist on the coast, and Saori went with her. She promise the group to take them to Saori's house after the festival, and offers Ran and Kazuha each a ticket to the lottery for the Dungong Arrow. She had two left after a couple cancelled. During the festival the Elder reveals the winning numbers, and Kazuha's number is one of the three. Later at the mermaid waterfall, Kazuha and the two other winners, Naoko and Saori's father, receives their arrows, but as the firework is shoot up, the audience sees a body hanging in the waterfall.

    File 280 - The Elder's Prophecy

    The body is Toshimi. The cause of death was hanging. It is uncertain to determent if it was an accident or a murder, but Heiji asks what she would be doing in the forest instead of attending the festival at the waterfall. Naoko suggests that she was looking for a grave of a mermaid. Three years ago after the festival, a warehouse near the shrine was burned to the ground and a body was found in the remains. The body is buried in the forest. Kimie recalls that Toshimi often spoke of that grave. Skeptical Heiji asks if it really was a mermaid's body. Kimie says that the locals thinks so, but the police determined that the body was of a middle aged woman. Naoko and Rokuro futher tells that the body didn't have any legs, and that is the reason behind the idea that it was a mermaid. It gained a lot of attention and the Elder became famous. Kimie tells that the police concluded that it might have been a tourist who was searching for an extra arrow and accidently set the warehouse on fire. It was never discovered who it was and the bones were buried on the island, but later moved to a secret spot in the forest on orders from the Elder after tourists had been trying to steal bones from the grave, since it is said that a bone from a mermaid gives long life.

    Rokuro doesn't appear to grieve much over the death of his fiancée, since the engagement was arranged by their parents. After moving Toshimi's body from the forest, the group decides to ask the Elder how she picks the winning number for the contest. But the Elder claims that it's just random picking. The Elder then warns Kazuha that if she loses her arrow, bad fortune will follow her. The next day there is hold a wave for Toshimi at her family's home, but then Naoko is found dead outside the house, strangled by fishing net.

    File 281 - The Devil's Arrow

    Naoko's crime scene is set up to make it appear she was murdered by a mermaid. And her Dugong Arrow is missing. The police arrives from the coast and takes over the investigation. Conan and Heiji discuss the case. The two victims and the missing Saori has one thing in common. They all three believe that the Elder was immortal and in the power of the arrow. They then decides to check the book that holds the list of the contestants in the lottery and their numbers. Kimie takes them home to herself, but the recent one has gone missing. She denies that the Elder should have taken it and decides to search the other rooms. While they wait Heiji and Conan takes a look at the older books. Heiji is amazed by the names of the high ranked people, but Conan finds a familiar name - Shiho Miyano. He recalls that it was Haibara's real name, but doubts it's her, because she doesn't appear to the type who want immortality. But then Ran and Kazuha screams up, they have seen a figure outside that is similar to the missing Saori. After that the new warehouse has caught fire and is burned down, and like three years ago a body is found inside.

    After noticing that Kimie is nowhere to be found, they contacts the dentist she visited, and he confirmed that the body's teeth matches Kimie's. Rokuro breaks down mourning over Kimie's death.

    File 282 - The Last Arrow

    The Elder takes to the bed after learns of her great-granddaughter's death. The locals begins to talk about ending the festival, since Kimie now was dead. Then Ran answer a strange phone call to the shrine. Someone wants to say thanks to a man, apparently working for the shrine, who sold an arrow a million yen. Kazuha and Ran guess that it might be the couple, which lottery numbers they took over. From the description Ran has been given, Heiji and Conan realize that it's Benzo, Saori's father.

    File 283 - Uncompensated Heart

    People

  • Girl Clubbing Case

    Characters introduced

    File 284 - The Buried Secret

    A serial killer targets tan blond-haired "ganguro-style" girls and bludgeons them. Kogoro is mistaken for the killer and the police has to explain him the case. Meanwhile, Ran discovers the corpse of a ganguro girl beaten to death in the Haido General Store parking lot. The victim, Tae Aizawa, is the first killer's victim to be killed. As the grieving victim's boyfriend tells police they're useless, Megure is reminded of an old and painful case.

    People

  • Cover in other countries

    • China
    • Finland
    • France
    • Germany
    • Hong Kong
    • Indonesia
    • Italy
    • Korea
    • Malaysia (Chinese)
    • Malaysia (Malay)
    • Norway
    • Rep. of China (Taiwan)
    • Spain (Spanish, Volumen 2)
    • Spain (Spanish, Volumen 2)
    • Sweden
    • Thailand
    • United States
    • Vietnam

    Trivia

    • Shiho Miyano's name is listed among contestants in the Dungong's arrow festival. Conan noticed this, but doubts that it is her.

    See also

    Volumes of the Manga
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