Volume 34
| Volume 34 | |||
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| Release date: | September 18, 2001 | ||
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| Chapters: | 340-350 | ||
| ISBN: | ISBN 4-09-126164-7 | ||
| Publisher: | Shogakukan | ||
| English release date: | March 16, 2010 | ||
| English ISBN: | ISBN 1-4215-2885-1 | ||
| English Publisher: | Viz Media | ||
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| Prev volume: | « Volume 33 | ||
| Next volume: | Volume 35 » | ||
| List of chapters • List of cases | |||
Volume 34 was released on September 18, 2001 in Japan.
Contents
Cast
Gadgets
Chapters
Escalator Message Case
File 340 - Time to Pick the Apple
Megure tells Jodie (which is ironic given that he just told her and other irrelevant people to stay out of the case) that he has just phoned Chujo's detective agency to see whether his employees knew anything about the case at hand; they said that they did not because Kisugi had insisted on keeping his investigation confidential. Furthermore, all data about Chujo's investigations are on his computer and nobody knows the password, and it is not any permutation of the four symbols in the dying message. Then they must refer to the killer's identity. Jodie and Sonoko say the murderer might be a quiz lover, because Japanese people answer quizzes by using symbols instead of "Yes" or "No". Megure again thinks that such deductions are nonsense and tries once more to keep Jodie and Sonoko away from the crime scene.
People
Major events
- Ran is baffled, who is the mysterious man that she has seen, before?
- Ran is completely clueless, as is Shinichi, about the meaning of "X".
- Ran gets very embarrassed when she discovers the meaning of "X".
- Vermouth sends an e-mail to Gin. She feels that not far to meet with Sherry
Flying Neighbor Case
File 341 - The Hint That Was Against...
Conan eventually tells Agasa about Mouri's cases' police files having been recently stolen and then sent back by post to the headquarters. The Organization may be behind that theft, they may be aware that Shinichi is secretly helping Kogoro to solve cases, they could know he was shrunken by APTX, since Kogoro's fame all started when Shinichi went missing. Yet, who would believe a seven-year-old anesthetises Kogoro and speaks with a voice-changing bowtie ? Conan may well only be a boy genius, and it's not 100% sure the Organization stole the documents. Though, someone is discreetly investigating Kogoro, and Conan has something very important to ask to Agasa, the latter saying he's nothing but a search-machine for Shinichi, and not even a confidant. Conan answers he just didn't want Ai to know it (Vol. 33), since this would scare her once again, she would once again refuse to go out, and Conan promised her he would protect her and take things in hand if they were to worsen (Vol. 29). He doesn't want her to be frightened for nothing, but says they must keep it silent to her for now, since Ai isn't as strong as she wants others to believe she is. Conan is however unaware that Ai is eavesdropping their conversation, and inwardly calls him a moron. Conan still wonders what's the point for that thief carefully sending the documents back to the police instead of just getting rid of them. Is it to trap them or have them understand the thief knows what they're doing ? Or is it maybe a stratagem to scare someone in particular, Shinichi most probably, though it's a rather odd way to scare someone. Conan realises in surprise that Heiji is just next to them, having been secretly called by Agasa in order to be Shinichi's confidant, since at the moment the latter is racking his mind with the Organization matters. Agasa still wonders how they can catch such an elusive enemy, Heiji replying that if Conan came to tell him the truth and ask him something very important, this means either he's found out a paramount clue, or he just wants to retaliate now.
The boys eventually come up to Jodie's flat's door, Heiji wondering how a mere English teacher can afford to live in such a huge and luxurious building, and Conan replying it's because she was born in a very wealthy family. Conan tells Heiji not to act recklessly, but Heiji seems to have no idea what to tell Jodie in order to account for their coming, and Conan can't believe it. They start having a row and Heiji inadvertently presses the door's ring. Conan has to tell Jodie on the intercom that he "came to pay her a liitle visit", and she's very happy about it, and asks him to wait a little moment. Meanwhile, they meet Jodie's neighbour Takai's friends who are leaving his place, all drunk. They seem to blame Takai for being so rude and nasty when he's drunk. After a very long wait, Conan and Heiji are eventually welcomed by Jodie, only dressed in a sexy robe, apologising for the wait, since she was having a bath when they rang. Conan explains he has brought a friend to introduce him to her, and she asks them to wait in the lounge while she gets herself ready. The boys say they need to go to the bathroom, and actually start checking out something in the bath and floor sink. Jodie overhears what they are doing behind the door, and smirks in satisfaction. Afterwards, she decides to take them to a restaurant since she has nothing at home to prepare a meal for them with. Heiji gets infuriated at her beacuse she tells him he looks like a foreigner who doesn't speak very good Japanese, but Conan tries to cool down the situation saying Kansai people are often very tanned and speak a very thick Japanese, such as Southern-American English for instance. Jodie is then told Heiji is also one of Mouri's friends. In front of Jodie's building, they notice Chika Shimoda, Takai's girlfriend who had left the latter's flat and locked it with two other men, is taking snaps of the building, towards the top. Heiji comments on it being rather odd, and suddenly, a phone falls down from upwards, followed by Takai's body, which crashes on the ground.
File 342 - The Flying Neighbor
The four people but Shimoda look at the corpse in a cold-blooded behaviour, saying the person died instantly. Jodie recognises her neighbour Takai and Shimoda starts crying in despair. She tells them Takai was drunk and sleeping on his bed when they all left, she would never have imagined he wanted to commit suicide. Jodie says he could have been pushed in the void from his flat by a kind of burglar just as well, but Shimoda says it's impossible : there was none in the apartment when they all left, and she locked the flat because Takai was too drunk to do it properly. Besides, there's only one key, and it's impossible to hear the doorbell from the bedroom. Then, it's nothing but a suicide. Though, Conan and Heiji tell her it's not necessarily the case, because Takai was speaking with a certain Kawakami on the phone just before dying, and one minute ago he had also received a text message from a certain Nakamichi. What's more, Shimoda was behaving strangely when taking pictures of the building in the dark, these are many peculiar reasons why the hypothesis of suicide can't be absolutely established for the moment. And a person who wants to kill themselves doesn't necessarily has a phone in hand. Heiji asks Shimoda to call her friends Michiya Nakamichi and Noboru Kawakami, and tell them to come along, while they'll also call the police for Shimoda to give a clearer explanation to them. Shimoda tells Megure she actually left Takai's flat to drive Nakamichi and Kawakami back home since they were far too drunk to drive carefully. She told Takai she would come back right after, which is why she locked the flat with his key. Afterwards, she drove back to Takai's, but before going upstairs, she took a few snaps of the building to show her friends where her new boyfriend was living. It is the first time she has come here, while Nakamichi and Kawakami already know the place. She intended to go back to Takai's flat right after, but never expected him to kill himself.
Shimoda, Nakamichi, Takai and Kawakami all work at the same place. They had come at noon to have a few drinks in order to celebrate Takai's promotion to the position of assistant manager of their company. They wanted to stay till late at night, but Takai was getting too drunk, and started to abuse everyone, then they decided to leave. He told them they were and will always be losers because they lacked something which would always prevent them from moving up the social ladder : insensitivity and ambition. Nakamichi later on sent a text message to Takai telling him never to forget "those at the bottom". They also discussed the "Hiraya case" : one of her friends and co-corkers Sumiyo Hiraya who committed suicide last month. Hiraya was a childhood friend of Nakamichi, and they met Takai and Kawakami at college. Takai and Kawakami already knew each other, and Shimoda belonged to the same year group as Hiraya. They remember Hiraya was a very kind and respectful person. She killed herself due to burnout, because she would work far too much. Probably because Takai had told her some day - though he was kidding her actually, and drunk - that if she didn't work even harder than the others, she would be quickly fired in the end. Takai seemed to have forgotten about that story, which is why Kawakami phoned him to remind him that he won his promotion out of blood, he is responsible for Hiraya's death, his career is being founded out of suffering and death. That left him speechless and he hung up afterwards, and Kawakami was then called by Shimoda and came back here at once with Nakamichi. Kawakami acknowledges he's more or less responsible for Takai's leaping in the void, though he never forced him to kill himself, then he's not a criminal. And he was drunk moreover, then Megure should just let them all go back home, since it's a mere suicide. The employees say they've actually already told all of this to Conan, Heiji and Jodie, who asked them to give them Takai's flat's key, and they're probably upstairs now, at the 21st floor. While the latter are thinking about the case, Megure and co, out of breath, turn up, too late, because the group already went into the flat, checked the place, and took pictures of it.
They all come in once again, Heiji telling Megure the door was indeed locked when they tried first. Heiji and co really thought to suicide too until they came in Takai's bedroom and saw the window near the bed was open and a curtain was fluttering in the wind outside. It's clear the victim jumped from that window, but Heiji attracts Megure's attention on the curtain in itself : it's as if someone had pulled it too much strongly, so much that it came off the rod and damaged it, and some hooks popped away. This means Takai was about to fall and then instinctively tried to grab hold of the curtain, in order to pull himself up. Therefore, it's not a suicide but a murder. Jodie appears saying it's just like in movies or novels, sealed chambers murders. She gives Megure her testimony and account of the events. Heiji says he's still not solved the case, but actually found strange impact marks left on the outside window pane, as if someone had hit it from the outside. Chiba then comes up saying he's got Shimoda's pictures' development, among which an enlargment showing Takai indeed grabbing hold of the curtain and about to fall into the void, and flinging his phone against the pane. Shimoda took this picture but couldn't see Takai, it was too far away from the ground, and it appeared like a tiny shadow on the picture. Jodie and co once more reflect about the case aloud, and Megure hollers at them, ordering them to let police work alone this time, commenting that it's been very frequent in these days that his investigations are being interrupted at some point by Ran, Conan, Sonoko, Jodie or co (Vol. 27, 33, etc.) - though Takagi acknowledges that cases are always solved thanks to them, at every time. Conan and Heiji still can't find out how Takai ended up outside his room, being forced to grab hold of a curtain not to fall. Shimoda just took flash pictures towards the top of the building, Nakamichi sent Takai a message a minute before the fall, and Kawakami abused him on the phone, but even though he'd have said "Die", Takai would never have done it. The victim may have flung his phone because there might have been a clue on it he wanted police to find, but actually Heiji checked it out and found nothing at all.
Jodie secretly looks at them as Heiji gets a phone call from an angry Kazuha, who can't believe he forgot their date at the mall. Conan tells Jodie he "doesn't know who Heiji is speaking with", and Heiji realises his mistake. He tries to promise Kazuha they'll do it some other day, but the reception is poor and they can barely hear each other. Heiji goes to the balcony to get better reception, telling Kazuha he's in Tokyo right now, and it's too late then. Doing so, he suddenly realises something very important. Kazuha says she doesn't understand a word he says, but is 100% sure they had planned a meeting, since she wrote it in her datebook. Upon hearing this, Heiji and Conan rush towards the other end of the balcony, and glance through a window at Takai's bedroom. They eventually find out the truth while Jodie secretly takes pictures of them.
File 343 - Who Are You?
Heiji suggests a reconstitution of the events in which he would give the police a hand, which would help them to find out who the killer is. He adds that, for the experiment to be conclusive, they need someone to get drunk and play the victim. Jodie is the perfect actress, given neither policemen who are on duty, nor Heiji and Conan who are minors, are allowed to drink alcohol. Jodie agrees, provided Heiji gives her some of her favourite drink : Sherry... Conan is puzzled about it, while Heiji finds ludicrous the way Jodie is getting drunk with it. Heiji then asks the police to leave Takai's bedroom for a moment while they're preparing the place for the reconstitution. Once they're done yet, they come out saying they "put Jodie to sleep" in the bed and left Takagi's phone near the pillow, and try not to wake her up, just like Takai's friends did with the latter.
People
Major events
- Heiji and Shinichi begin to suspect that Chris Vinyard was the accomplice of Pisco and also a member of the organization...then they begin to suspect that Jodie is Chris Vinyard and decide to investigate...
- At the end of the case Shinichi and Heiji come to the conclusion that Jodie is very suspicious and they should not let down their guard.
- Kazuha angrily calls Heiji, because he was supposed to take her out on a dinner date!
Soccer Supporter Case
Characters introduced
File 344 - The Storm of Booing
Agasa and the DBs have been to the derby between Tokyo Spirits and Noir Tokyo. The former won the match, and everyone is leaving the stadium towards the train station. On their way back, the DBs comment on the super-duper match they've just watched, and also on the supporters' constantly booing Ryusuke Higo from Big Osaka during a previous match against Noir some time ago. Ai says this is perfectly normal for a traitor, they have no place where to shelter at all. Higo "betrayed" his Noir team when he left them for Big Osaka, then it's probably well deserved. Conan says it's rather because Higo has still not scored any goals for five days now, since the tournament started. There's also a hearsay about Higo's possibly leaving once again his team to go and play in Spanish League. Ai says if this rumour were justified, then that would be the best he could do, running away from all this shame and suffering, to play in a faraway stadium where none will boo him anymore. Conan wonders what she is thinking to, while the DBs realise today at 5 PM there's actually a match in which Higo is playing. They watch it on a street TV, and notice Higo doesn't play properly, probably due to the thunder of booing in the audience. A passer-by, Kadotake Akano, says Higo deserves well his fate for having left his Noir Tokyo team, he adds traitors who fall down to hell never get over it. He then leaves laughing out loud, and Conan says Akano is a notorious superviolent hooligan who keeps picking up fights with supporters during and after matches, and he goes as far as encouraging the bullying, beating-up and sometimes killing of supporters he dislikes. His "Tokyo Hooligan" website prompted his blacklisting from several stadiums, fearing he might cause big trouble.
Conan secretly asks Agasa what information he's found so far about Chris Vineyard, and the professor says Chris's private life remains a complete mystery, while her mother Sharon's is known from everyone. The only time Chris appeared in public, except during filmings, was at her mother's funeral, last year. The event was so important it was even broadcast on Japanese TV. Tabloids' reporters harassed her with questions such as which school she attended, if she were on bad terms with her late mother, who her father was, was the man whom she allegedly had an affair with at the moment at the funeral too, etc. She only gave a "no comment" answer, and a reporter eventually asked her if this was because these truths could be detrimental to her if they were to be disclosed. She turned her back on her mother's coffin, and, smiling, she said " a secret makes a woman woman". Agasa remembers a very famous Japanese actress looking like Yukiko Kudo was seen among the cortege, but none seems to know who she was, since Chris's words had caught all and everyone's attention around. Conan stands wondering, and Agasa asks him if Chris Vineyard really belongs to the Black Organization, to which Conan answers if it were to be the case, she would then be a very, very problematic enemy. Agasa thinks Shinichi is still trying to conceal something from him, and Conan just says actually as an actress she's used to lie and fake reality, then she could lead them to red herrings very easily.
Conan suggests they all take the train now and go back home, while Ai is looking at Higo's match with some strange apprehension. The train is overcrowded with supporters from both teams, to the point they're all packed like sardines in a can. This is all because Genta wanted to take the first train to be quickly at home in order to watch Higo's match on his TV. Akano is also on the train, complaining aloud about the overcrowding. Mitsuhiko is listening to the match on his portable radio, and Ai puts her head and ear against his's in order to listen more carefully to the match results. Mitsuhiko blushes and tells her Higo's teammates now hesitate to pass the ball to him due to the audience's booing being unbearable now. Ai is saddened by this and asks him to tell her if there's any breaking news about him later on. Conan notices her state of mind, and suddenly the train brakes abruptly, and Conan sees Akano being stabbed to death by an unknown assailant. At Haido Station, the train is emptied at last due to most of the supporters leaving it for the subway, and Conan and co gaze awe-sricken at Akano's bloody corpse on the floor, next to a dagger.
File 345 - The Suspicious Supporters
Conan rushes out of the train towards a station manager, asking the latter to stop all trains immediately, and to tell his colleagues to control the tickets of every supporter leaving the station, since somebody was murdered by one of them in one of the train's carriages. Especially, they should keep aside those who bought their tickets before 5 PM, and he asks him to do it very quickly, or else the killer will escape. The police is called and Megure rapidly turns up. They recognise Akano, the infamous violent hooligan. It seems that the dagger found next to him, and which was used to kill him, is quite rare, with handmade embed patterns. Takagi called all resellers in Japan but they one and all told him it's something which was made in a foreign country, therefore it'll take a great deal of time to find the owner. Given the train was overcrowded, there are no witnesses of the crime at all. People started to realise there was a corpse only when all supporters left the train towards the subway stations. Nobody seemed fishy since they were all dressed in the same way, whether it was Tokyo Spirits or Noir Tokyo. The station manager tells Megure his colleagues kept aside three supporters, just as Conan had suggested him to do. Conan explains it's impossible to commit such a murder, among the crowd, and in a train, without having thought about it way beforehand. The murderer was probably stalking Akano, and bought a ticket in advance, which means before the end of the match, probably just before its beginning, so as not to be compelled to queue at the machines at the end, and in order then to follow Akano into his train car without any problems. They just needed to stand not far away from him, and stab him just before they arrived at Haido Station, when the train would brake abruptly, and people would be jostled, and would then one and all leave towards the subway. They just had to slip among them and pretend being a mere traveller. The culprit is probably a supporter, because otherwise people would have remembered their clothing. Moroever, there aren't so many people who buy their tickets in advance, then no wonder they're just three, most people just follow the crowd and buy their tickets at the same time, queueing, etc. And the match precisely ended at around 5 PM. However, Megure points at the fact they may have changed clothes in the station before leaving, or they could even just have gone to take another train in the opposite direction, or somewhere else. Conan says both suppositions are impossible : the restroom is located outside the station, then just after the "barrier" set up by the train station employees. And if the murderer had been to another platform, they would have been quickly spotted, since they probably would be the only one to wear a football shirt. And they couldn't of course change clothes on the platform, it would have seemed too much suspicious. The safest way to change clothes without being noticed at all was to go to the restroom located outside the station, and escape amidst the supporting crowd. They also knew that Haido Station is an important hub where many people get in/off the subways/trains.
The police are amazed, as usual, and Takagi asks Conan how come did he think to all this in a heartbeat right after the murder? Conan tries to protect hismelf claiming Agasa is the one who thought to everything and sent him to tell those things to the managers. Conan tells the police Agasa wanted them to question the three supporters kept aside. All three indeed bought their tickets beforehand in order to avoid queueing at the machines. Yet, they say it doesn't mean they're the murderers. Though, it's strange all of them got into a crowded train, since with their tickets already in hand at the end of the derby, they could just have caught the first carriage, instead of getting into an overcrowded one like all those who queued. Hazue Kira, a Noir supporter, explains she was in the central bleachers where supporters of both teams are mingled, and she got in a little fight with some Spirits supporters and wasted time, forcing her to take the next crowded train. Mitsuaki Funato, a Spirits supporter, had a phone call from his boss towards the end of the match, because he had lied to his boss about his absence so as to come here discreetly and skip work, and got severely told off by the latter, and the blaming was so long that it lasted until late after the match, and Funato even missed the goal of the "ace wingers" (Naoki and Hideo). Etsutoshi Aoba, a Noir supporter, got so shocked of the match's result, that he stood gaping in a blackout state for a long time even after the derby, and also wasted time. They can't remember in which carriage they got on, yet Conan is pretty sure they were all into overcrowded ones. First, Kira's left hand's ring left a mark on her right elbow because she was tightly holding her handbag's strap and zipper due to the place being crowded and therefore very suitable to stealing property, for a very long time. Then, Ooba crossed his arms for a long time during the fare, and left marks of his left wrist's watch on his right arm, due to him not wanting to be accused of having wandering hands. Lastly, Funato tightly held his leather bag between his hands and still has marks of it on all of his fingers, for the same reason as Kira, to avoid pickpocketing. Conan is almost sure it was like that, because the train was very, very crowded, and people could easily stand in the same position for a very long time, with crossed arms or without grabbing hold to bars or handles in the train, and without even being able to sit down. The three acknowledge this is all true, and Conan says this is what Agasa told him to say... Megure tells the suspects to try and remember as much as possible in which train car they were. Conan looks at the suspects' football shirts : Aoba wears Higo's "9" shirt, Kira wears a black Noir shirt, and Funato wears a black and white striped Spirits shirt, and Conan finds something's not quite right on them.
Ai is nowhere to be found, Mitsuhiko last saw her when she told him she was going to the restroom. Mitsuhiko laments that he's lost his radio due to the crowd movement, he hopes someone found it and brought it to the lost property's. Ai is actually watching Higo's match at the station's giant screen, and is shocked to see Higo's missed his goal, as if "the sky had abandoned him". Ai is joined by Conan and is startled when the latter tells her she's indeed just like Higo, leaving the Organization to go to another "better team", "betraying them" in a way. And just like Ai, Higo had a really good reason to leave them. Higo's father had had a secret child with his mistress : Rikuo Endo. Rikuo and Higo though got on very well, and decided to go and play together in first division in Noir Tokyo. Few people know that story actually, and they keep it secret. Shinichi was told that story by Higo and Endo themselves, he met them by chance some years ago, when he was in first-level secondary school, while he was playing a football match at school. They had come among the audience to see the match, and they told Shinichi he had the potential to join Noir Tokyo like they were about to do, his half-brother and himself. Though, this was all a trap, because two years after the brothers' arrival, Endo was told he lacked the necessary potential to stay with them and become a great player, whereas Higo had it actually. Endo figured out he was taken on for the sole ground of being Higo's brother and then being the only one able to attract him into their team, since they knew Higo was a great player, but Endo wasn't. Higo got it as well and soon left the team just like his brother did, and joined this latter in their new Big Osaka team, because he wanted to play there together with his brother. Endo became instructor there, and Higo player. It's exactly the same thing with Ai and her sister Akemi actually - the teams standing for the Organization and the "life outside the Organization".
Suddenly, their attention goes back to the screen as Higo gets knocked down by another player, but the referee doesn't seem to bat an eyelid, and the supporters rejoice when seeing him badly hurt, and keep on booing. Ai's mood turns darker when listening to the anchor saying "Higo doesn't seem to have any ally in this world, though it's a shame because he's so talented..." She leaves while Conan's attention is completely monopolised by the match, and he suddenly discovers something, looking at his derby ticket. He then inwardly declares he knows who the murderer is and that the latter has lied and that he still has the evidence of their doing. Ai goes straight away to the staircase leading to the platform just in front of where the DBs and Agasa are, and she seems to be preparing to take a train going in the opposite direction and leaving Tokyo...
File 346 - The Fake Supporter
Takagi tells Megure they’ve finished carefully examining the whole train and carriage where the murder took place, and brought it to the warehouse. Megure says now they’ll take the three suspects to the station to question them more thoroughly, though they refuse to follow him since he’s got no tangible evidence they’ve committed the murder. Conan and Agasa turn up saying the three suspects should leave in no case, unless Megure takes the chance to let slip away some important crime evidence.
People
Major events
- Takagi starts to question Conan's intelligence by asking him directly "How are you deducing like that?".
- Haibara feels an emotional connection with the soccer player Higo.
- Haibara ask conan "You'll protect me, right?". Conan answered "Yeah..." This might state something about Haibara's feelings for Conan.
Chinatown Murder Case
Characters introduced
| Jugo Yokomizo | |
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File 347 - Raining Deja-Vu
Ran has an important history exam the next day. Due to the many society activities that she has been taking part in, she has to mug up on it at the eleventh hour, while on the way to Yokohama’s Chinatown to have dinner. Conan is surprised that she is not getting carsick, and Ran answers that she is tougher than she looks.
It suddenly starts raining, and Ran starts having flashbacks of a scene that she is unable to date back exactly; the scene features Shuichi Akai looking daggers at her in a city unfamiliar to her, Akai standing still under the rain. Ran does not understand why she keeps connecting that scene to another one whenever she has it in mind, a scene where a slightly younger Shinichi is also standing still in the rain, completely soaked, with a warm but also melancholy smile on his face. As she dives deep into her memories, Conan calls her and asks her if everything is alright, and Ran again answers in affirmative. Despite this, Ran soon starts having a kind of bad fever and starts having blurred vision. She insists that it is not a big deal, but Conan decides to keep an eye on her anyways.
The subsequent pages of this file take place in the Chinese restaurant that Kogoro, Ran and Conan plan to have dinner in. At one table, four movie workers have gotten together to discuss what to do with their new movie when shooting cannot start due to the heroine having broken her leg in an accident. Kaizo Isogami, the film director, suggests they simply stop producing the “cursed movie”. Shiro Kawabata, the producer, however, refuses to give up on the sequel to such a blockbuster that they shot previously. The assistant director, Motohiro Ito, agrees with Isogami, reminding his colleagues that the actress has been refusing to shoot for a long time before changing her mind, and that her getting injured immediately after that cannot just be plain bad luck. And finally there is Keigo Kitaura, the author of the book on which the movie is based, who is even more opposed to producing the movie, and predicts that continuing regardless might lead to another death (“another” because someone died during the shooting of the first movie).
Kawabata, who does not seem to be moved by his colleagues’ pessimism, wonders if there is a young and beautiful girl skilled at acrobatics who can replace the injured actress. Kogoro, Ran and Conan enter the restaurant at this moment; despite showing the waiters their voucher, they are still refused entry. As Kogoro refuses to leave, a beefcake waiter approaches him and tries to make him leave by force. This prompts Ran to stop the waiter with a karate move, telling him firmly that unless an explanation is given, they will not be forced out. The waiter is scared by Ran’s move, and points out while sweating that the voucher only works on Sundays and public holidays. After Conan confirms this, Ran apologizes and prepares to leave, but she is stopped by Kawabata, who is deeply impressed and sees in Ran the new heroine of his movie. He subsequently invites all three to eat at his table and proposes that Ran take the leading role in the movie. Kogoro and Conan initially suggest that Ran refuses, but their eyes start sparkling after Kawabata points out the many benefits of being a famous actress (being able to know other famous people, to travel around the world etc.). Notwithstanding, before long, their minds change again: Kitaura warns that behind all the fame is the danger of being forced by unethical producers (he is clearly hinting at Kawabata) to shoot pointless love scenes for the film to make money, while Isogami comments that she might even end up dead during a filming session.
At this point, Kawabata asks his colleagues to stop scaring Ran unnecessarily, as “she is just about to agree to an acting career.” As Ran lifts her hands up to protest, saying that she has not made a decision yet, she inadvertently knocks Kawabata's soup bowl and chopsticks onto the floor, staining his trousers as a result. Ran apologizes and proceeds to clean up the mess while Kawabata cleans the stain with his napkin and comforts her. He then moves into the seat between Kogoro and Ran, telling her that they should talk about the matter privately and without Kogoro and Conan sticking their noses into their businesses.
After switching seats, Kawabata notices that someone has ordered Pidans and salted egg crab, much to his distaste (Kawabata is allergic to eggs). Conan, who is determined to stop Ran from even considering an acting career, sneaks into the space between Ran and Kawabata, and starts begging for curry rice. Conan knows that since this is a Chinese restaurant, curry rice will not be on the menu, so asking for it and being told that he will not get it will give him an excuse to throw a tantrum and plead with Ran to leave for another place to eat. The plan goes forwards, but Ran fails to realize Conan’s true intent; she thinks that Conan is just not liking the food. So she gives Conan her steamed dumplings, recalling that he once told her that he loved them. Conan is dismayed by this response, but decides to leave it behind and simply enjoy the dinner. He needs soy sauce and hot sauce to condiment the dumplings, and hence starts turning the turntable to get them. However, whenever he does so, someone else turns it in the opposite direction, resulting in several failed attempts, much to Conan’s annoyance. Ran eventually notices this and grabs them for him, but Conan remains embarrassed.
After a short while, the Peking duck that Kawabata has ordered is served. As Kawabata gets ready to eat the duck, he asks Ran about her favorite actresses. Ran gives him two names: Yukiko Fujimine (who is the mother of a friend of hers since childhood*), and Sharon Vineyard. Ran mentions that Sharon Vineyard passed away a year ago, but, fortunately, she was able to meet her before that, and found her to be a very refined person. Kogoro asks Ran where she met such a celebrity, and Ran decides to not tell him, saying that it is a secret. As for the movie workers, they start commenting on both actresses being indeed very famous and having epic careers, and Ito adds if "that person" were still alive, she could have entered history as well. As Ran asks him who he is referring to, Kawabata shrieks in pain, and drops dead in front of everyone.
Note: this friend is obviously just Shinichi Kudo, and “Fujimine” was the surname of Yukiko before she married.
File 348 - The Misleading Washcloth
The police arrive and start investigating; before long, they find that Kawabata was poisoned by cyanide, which was found in his mouth and on his plate, chopsticks and napkin. Since Kawabata got choked right after tasting the Peking duck, and there was no cyanide in the duck nor on the waiter who served it, the inspector in charge of the case deduces that the person who poisoned Kawabata must have been among his co-workers and invitees. The inspector then turns towards them for questioning, and at once finds Kogoro’s face familiar, although his first instinct is that Kogoro might be a former convict who has served his time in jail or a fugitive on the run.
Kogoro, naturally, cannot believe his ears, explaining that he is Kogoro Mouri, the famous detective. The inspector now manages to recognize Kogoro, and murmurs that he has seen “Bumbling Kogoro” on TV. As Kogoro corrects him, a subordinate of the inspector calls him and reports that except for Kawabata’s napkin, on which there is a great amount of poison, there is no poison anywhere else on the table (including the dishes) and on the chairs. Since Kogoro was sitting on the victim’s right, and Conan was on the left, the inspector believes that only Kogoro could have murdered Kawabata then, as it was very easy for him to switch his own poisoned napkin with Kawabata’s. As the inspector stares at Kogoro, trying to assert dominance, Kogoro starts finding the inspector’s face familiar as well, and after a subordinate calls him “inspector Yokomizo”, Kogoro exclaims that he must be Sango Yokomizo. Kogoro comments that Yokomizo has changed a lot: his hair is much shorter (and the hairstyle is much more normal now), and he is acting much colder.
The inspector, realizing the misunderstanding, clarifies (coldly, of course) that his name is Jugo Yokomizo, and works for the Kanagawa Prefectural Police, unlike his elder brother Sango, who works in Shizuoka Prefecture. He adds that unlike Sango, he does not have respect for and faith in detectives like Kogoro Mouri. Before Kogoro has a chance to respond, Yokomizo is summoned by a subordinate again; he informs him that the police have noticed a stain on Kawabata’s right leg. Ran explains that the stain was due to her accidentally spilling his soup on his trousers, which confuses Yokomizo, prompting him to ask who was sitting next to who. After a series of explanations, it becomes clear that originally, Isogami was sitting on Kawabata’ right; Kitaura was on his left, and Ito was in front of him. After Ran, Conan and Kogoro joined them, they decided to sit between Kawabata and Isogami in that order, with Ran on the immediate right of Kawabata. And finally, after the soup was spilled, Ran and Kawabata switched seats, and Conan, who was on the right of Kawabata, sneaked into the space on his left so that he could act as a buffer.
Conan suggests that the police check if cyanide is present on the stain on Kawabata's trousers, as this will allow them to find out if the napkin was poisoned before he switched seats with Ran, or after. If it was before, then Kogoro can be exonerated, as the poison on the napkin can then be explained by Kawabata mopping the stain up with that napkin. Yokomizo agrees to this suggestion, and the conclusion is that there is no cyanide on the stain, meaning that Kogoro still is the most suspicious person. Kogoro tries to defend himself by arguing that he had no motive at all to murder a man he had just met for the first time, to which Yokomizo answers that he may well have known the victim beforehand, and that it is peculiar that Kawabta decided to scout Ran on first sight. Upon hearing this, Ran gets tense and insists that Kogoro is telling the truth, and that they have never met Kawabata before. As she protests, Ran feels dizzy again; she staggers, and, while holding her head, leans onto the table, spilling a glass of water by accident. Akai’s image again appears in her head, and Ran is now sure that he met him on a rainy day. However, she is not able to put other pieces of memory together into anything coherent; all that goes through her mind is three faces: a blonde, mid-aged woman smiling mysteriously and slily under an umbrella, Akai's infuriated and scary eyes glaring at her, and a soaked-to-the-skin Shinichi trying to tell her something, with a warm and melancholy smile on his face. As Ran tries to listen to and understand the imaginary words of Shinichi, she is interrupted by Conan’s call; he asks her again, in a slightly worried way, if she is really doing fine. Ran says that it is nothing more than dizziness, and Conan sits her on a chair, telling her to rest a little and wait for Kogoro to solve the mystery. However, he inwardly comments that Ran is more than simply "out of sorts", and that she needs to see a doctor as soon as possible.
Conan turns to Yokomizo to tell him about Ran’s worsening condition, but the latter is interrupted by a subordinate, who shows Yokomizo an empty jar (possibly having contained cyanide), which he claims he has found in the restroom's bin. Yokomizo sees this as a further piece of evidence of Kogoro’s guilt (and Kogoro is, understandably, annoyed by this unrelenting stream of accusations), but Conan says that this proves Kogoro innocent, as he has not gone to the restroom once. He adds that when Kawabata switched seats with Ran, he took his napkin with him, for which Kogoro could not have switched it at that moment. Yokomizo is not convinced, and says there must be a way to switch napkins without anyone’s notice. Kogoro suggests that the murderer might have balanced a poisoned napkin on the edge of the turntable; then, upon spinning the turntable, the napkin would fall right near Kawabata. Yokomizo deems this hypothesis ridiculous, and dismisses it impatiently by saying that if the victim’s napkin was within hand reach, there was no way that he would use one that suddenly fell off the turntable by accident. These words remind Conan that when he tried to get the sauces, the turntable was being systematically spinned backwards, such that he could grab neither. He then tries to remember how the dishes were arranged on the table: if we list them clockwise, then it will be beef sauté, followed by stir-fried meat, salted egg crab, Pidan, soy sauce, vinegared pork, steamed dumplings, and hot sauce. Since vinegared pork was in front of Kawabta when he died, soy sauce would have been near Kogoro, and hot sauce near Kitaura. Conan thinks about Kawabata's severe allergy to eggs, and then stares at the Pidan and the salted egg crab, near the napkin.
He suddenly goes to ask a forensic agent if his team has checked every item on or near the table for poison. When he gets an affirmative answer, Conan whispers in his ear, asking him if they have checked "that" as well. This time Conan gets a negative answer, so he asks him to check that spot, and tells the agent that it is actually Kogoro’s request. Conan also inquires whether the forensic team has found unusual things on Kawabata’s napkin, apart from the poison. The agent answers that there is a soup stain, but apart from that there is nothing remarkable. Conan smiles confidently upon hearing this, and thinks to himself that the napkin must have been swapped only after Kawabata was dead; he believes that one of Kawabata’s co-workers did it, and that that person is the murderer. The file ends with Conan confidently gazing at the table, thinking that the evidence is probably still there, and Ran sitting at the table, gasping and still holding her head, feeling very feeble.
File 349 - Cleared Memory
Yokomizo eventually concludes the killer went to the restroom to soak his napkin with poison, and then came back, finding a way and moment to switch his’s with Kawabata’s, all the while being seated at the table, in broad daylight, in front of Mouri and co. Kogoro believes the killer used transparent fishing line and resorted to a rod and hook to carry the napkin and drop it near Kawabata…these are special techniques only movie workers know, though Yokomizo says this is utterly ridiculous. All of a sudden, Kogoro feels as if he’s about to sleep, but actually sneezes, and complains about the restaurant’s air conditioning being quite excessive. Yokomizo remembers his brother told him Kogoro would often make up cheesy deductions, but in fact it’s a trick to drop everyone’s guard, and he’s then immediately falling to sleep, starting his true deduction show, with a weird voice and a completely changed behaviour. He then turns unrecognisable, as if he were going into a trance. Though Jugo says his brother always makes a song and dances about it. Yet, they all remark Kogoro is falling asleep indeed, secretly anesthetised by Conan, who sticks a micro transmitter on his back. Kogoro/Conan says discussions have been running for too long now, it’s time to sit down at the same places everyone were when Kawabata died. Yokomizo will play the victim, and Ran agrees to resume her previous role, despite being exhausted and feeling very bad. Kogoro will now tell about the weird things that occurred right before the murder.
People
Major events
- Ran is feeling ill! Conan gets incredibly worried about her. Inspector Yokomizo establishes that he is very different from his brother, and is not very fond of him.
- Ran's past, including her thoughts on where exactly she has seen Shuichi Akai, keep bugging her.
- Inspector Yokomizo is a much different Inspector from his brother, not believing in Kogoro at all.
- Conan is incredibly concerned about Ran. Is she OK?
- Ran's past and her memories finally return to her, after she has passed out.
Golden Apple Case
Characters introduced
File 350 - Golden Apple 1
Ran's fever is very high and Yokomizo decides to take her to Bay Bridge Hospital as quick as possible. She has a vision of Conan calling her name aloud in fear, but instead pictures Shinichi, and dreams about a case in New York, where she had been invited with Shinichi by Yukiko Kudo. She also comments on Shinichi being always here to save her, once again, just like that time, just like usual, every time she’s in danger. This always annoys her a bit, but she’s happy in the end.
Shinichi and Ran had actually taken the plane to Los Angeles from Tokyo, and Shinichi had solved a murder during the flight, his very first case (Vol. 21). However, once they'd arrived, they were told by Yukiko actually they'd all take another plane to New York, since she hardly managed to get tickets for the must-see opera "Golden Apple", in Broadway's Phantom Theater. However, the show is tonight, and they need to rush, especially because the person who got tickets for the three proposed to show them around the main artists' rooms, backstage, and they accordingly need to be at the theater at least one hour before the curtain riser. Yukiko realises she's actually one hour late due to her forgetting to set her watch fast to summertime. She's driving her beautiful Type-E Jaguar vintage car, and shows the teenagers what it is made of, stepping on it to arrive on time. Ran had been sleeping for a long time now due to the case in the plane frightening her so much she couldn't sleep at all afterwards, and also due to the length of the trip. She only wakes up in the Jaguar, in the back, at night, gazing at the Statue of Liberty in the distance, while Yukiko is driving with Shinichi on her left. She’s quite disappointed Shinichi hasn’t woken her up earlier, she wishes she had seen Brooklyn Bridge, but Shinichi says she was sleeping like a log and he didn't want to bother her. Besides, she can’t understand how Shinichi manages to find sleep in full satisfaction after having solved a recent murder, and he answers her none is always really satisfied « my dear Watson ». Yukiko tells them not to quarrel in the loveliest and most romantic place for lovers : Miss Liberty/Jiyu no Megami.
Shinichi believes her mom’s mild « English-lady-style » driving will never take them to Broadway on time. But Yukiko, saying Jaguar cars were designed to save their passengers, advises her son to fasten his seat belt, and Ran to do so and grab tight hold of anything she’ll find in the back, since she’s going to speed up…a lot. She starts hurtling down the highway, overtaking the other cars at full speed, Shinichi reminding her that, though that car drove the French 24-Hours’ Le Mans’ Race with its 276 hp, though a very skilled New York mechanic of her friends had a look at it, it’s been in reparation recently and she shouldn’t flog it too much. She takes a first tight bend and the right side of the car lifts, frightening both teenagers. Though, Yukiko seems to be a very skilled driver. Shinichi remarks police cars are here and there on the bridge, and her mom replies they’re driving on the other way, and they’ll only get it too late there is a road hog around. Yukiko asks her son to do her a favour, because the next bend is a really, really tight one. Shinichi gets her and takes Ran in his arms, asking her to grab tight hold of him while he sits on the open window, holding tightly the car’s door and bodywork, and lastly lying backwards, with Ran on him. Indeed, Yukiko’s full-speed-taken bend forces the car to do an almost 90° lifting, which would have badly hurt the teenagers if they had stayed at their seats. Shinichi seems very confident while Ran is awe-stricken, but trusts her friend. Once it’s over, Ran shouts at Shinichi, still panic-stricken, for saying it was « not so scary after all ». As they leave the bridge and highway at full speed, and eventually turn up in Broadway, they're arrested by a police car, and Yukiko is about to be in some great trouble due to an over 40-mile and more speeding. The agent says she looks familiar when glancing at her license and registration.
All of a sudden, Radish Redwood, a well-known police inspector of New York, who got helped many times by Yusaku in the past and knows the Kudos very well, along with speaking very good Japanese (his wife is Japanese), turns up telling the police agent he's probably already seen her in some previous case, since Yukiko is in fact "an undercover agent who was rushing to chase a suspect in the "Phantom Slasher" serial killer case, but she seems to have missed him completely". A Japanese-looking man has indeed been murdering young girls in New York after midnight for a few weeks now, and that accounts for the high number of police patrols at night in New York at the moment. Radish tells the agent it's OK and the latter leaves, and the inspector starts speaking Japanese, asking Yukiko to thank "her" for saving her. And, tearing off his mask, that person disguised as Radish is revealed to be Sharon Vinyard. Sharon was waiting for Yukiko with the tickets, and when she heard the agent, one of her fans, telling her a yellow Jaguar is rushing at full throttle towards Broadway, and his comrades walkie-talkied him to arrest the female driver and the two teenagers inside, she decided to go and disguise as Redwood, that she also knows, in order to help her friend out, being compelled to buy a very expensive coat in the meantime to look perfectly like Radish.
Sharon and Yukiko met each other about twenty years ago, at world-renowned wizard Toichi Kuroba's (Kid's late father) make-up art courses, in order be taught how to perfectly play spy roles in movies, and hide their true faces behind masks or make-up, Sharon being very good at it, and having even taught her daughter Chris, a flourishing actress, that art, though she's been on very bad terms with her for quite a very long time. Sharon is a bit older than Yukiko. Shinichi confirms her mother’s disguise skills are not that good…being more carnival-like than spy-like. Yukiko wonders if it’s not too risky for her friend to show herself among the crowd, but Sharon says they’ll probably believe it’s a movie scene being filmed. Yukiko is very grateful to Sharon, but Shinichi doesn’t seem to know who this great American star is, and why she disguises herself as police officers.
Ran thanks heavens for having the opportunity to meet such a great actress, and Sharon is surprised to hear Ran believes in heaven or God or whatever. It starts raining and she takes out her umbrella. She adds if God truly existed, then wouldn’t all honest, hard-working people be happy ? She says "As for me, angels have never ever smiled upon me, not even a single time." The group doesn't seem to understand her words, and especially the both sad and happy way in which she said them.
Shinichi inwardly and retroactively comments on the tragic event that would come up soon and that he didn’t want to remember, to the contrary of Sharon's mysterious words.
People
Cover in other countries
See also
| Volumes of the Manga | ||
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