Conan: Death is Watching Me

Chapter 368 Qiuting Lianzi
"Crack crack!"

The fire lasted for several hours.

Even the firefighters who arrived at the scene could only watch the fire end on its own; all they could do was prevent it from spreading to other places.

Akiba Reiko looked at Gao Mo, who was deep in thought by the ruins, with a strange expression on her face. Her usually haughty eyes were now filled with curiosity.

Genzaburo of the Shiraku family died in the fire.

However, firefighters said the fire was caused by smoking in bed.

"The fire originated near the ashtray in the room where the body was found. The door to that room was locked. You broke down the door to get in, didn't you?"

"I originally wanted to save my third uncle, but when I broke down the door I realized it was too late."

Kyosuke Haga was soaking wet, and his face was blackened with soot, looking like he had been doused in water and rushed into a fire.

When the fire broke out, this handsome man with long hair rushed up to the third floor and rescued Mrs. Ayane Shitara, the grandmother of Shitara Renki.

They're practically risking their lives.

"You suspect Yuhe?" Akiba Reiko took a step closer to Gao Mo. "But you saw it yourself, if he were the criminal, how could he react like this?"

"That's precisely the problem: why work so hard?"

Gao Mo subconsciously replied, then looked at Akiba Reiko with surprise after realizing what he had said.

This woman actually took the initiative to talk to him.

I used to think he was the aloof type, but it seems he's like Makoto Kyogoku, just not good at or fond of interacting with people.

"You're very familiar with music, aren't you?" Gao Mo asked. "DEFG, in terms of music, what does this order represent?"

Reiko Akiba frowned slightly: "If we represent the musical scale using English letters, it would be DEFGAB..."

"A musical scale?"

“Gensaburo, who was burned to death, is G, and Ayane is A. According to your logic, Haga should not have saved her even more.”

What if G and A can't die together?

Gao Mo walked into the annex after the fire and began to inspect Genzo's room, which was in a mess.

In fact, after the fire, he saw the projected text of Haga Kyosuke. There was no information about murder, but rather a slightly strange message: "Composing a musical movement."

This situation is undoubtedly very abnormal.

"The first to notice something was wrong were Haga Kyosuke and the butler. Haga couldn't open the door, so he broke in, but the door wasn't actually locked from the inside."

Gao Mo picked up the keyhole that had been deformed by the impact.

"Only half of the keyhole is deformed, so he must have pretended to lock the door from the inside, then broke it open and locked it properly when the housekeeper wasn't looking... It's a very simple locked-room trick."

Then Gao Mo turned to Akiba Reiko and asked, "If G and A are listed together, is there any problem?"

"Dissonant sounds".

Reiko Akiba frowned again. Although she didn't want to admit that her friend had killed someone, she still believed it to some extent.

“If two adjacent notes are played at the same time, it will be particularly jarring and annoying to us… But I don’t think Haga would involve music in a crime, and only the butler matches the B in the second note. We can’t kill the butler, can we?”

Akita Reiko shook her head.

“That butler worked for the Haga family 30 years ago, and only came here later.”

"A should not be followed by B."

Gao Mo opened his phone, which displayed the resume of Yuga Kyousuke sent by Xiao Ai.

"If it's German, what's the musical note following A?"

"H."

"That's either Lianxi or Yuhe, both of their Roman names start with H."

Gao Mo put away his phone and looked down at Shitara Renki, who was caringly tending to Yuga Kyousuke's injuries.

Although Yuhe fits the description, it is ultimately just a surname.

Will Shira Renki be the one they kill in the end?

It doesn't seem like it on the surface, but one shouldn't judge a book by its cover.

Murder by piecing together musical scales is already abnormal, and the most typical example of this type of criminal is Takato Yoichi, whose thoughts are sometimes hard to fathom.

“The first one to pass away was actually Hideaki Haga’s mother, Chiba C, and Danjiro, who represents D, died from serious injuries,” Gao Mo stroked his chin. “I think he probably thought he would start with his mother’s C and end with Tsouichiro’s C, but I don’t know why he suddenly started to get anxious.”

This year, they even started killing people before the banquet even began…

“Grandpa Tiao Yilang is now in the late stage of lung cancer,” Qiu Tinglianzi continued, frowning. “The doctor said he only has six months to live. We don’t know when he will die. He’s probably worried about the change in the musical scale order.”

She clearly wanted to speak up for her friend, but now she's even treating her friend as the murderer herself?
Akiba Reiko felt inexplicably embarrassed and annoyed: "And then what? Will Yuga really kill Madam Ayane?"

"Indeed, and it should be tonight."

Gao Mo saw through the woman's inner conflict.

Perhaps because he had also killed people, he could actually understand Haga Kyosuke's desire for revenge, even though he had only killed assassins.

Having lived in this kind of world for a long time, my views on some criminals have changed a lot. Apart from the oddballs, it doesn't seem surprising that most people become criminals.

Of course, as a detective, he would still try to stop Kyosuke Haga.

Forget about the others, Shira Renki is his client.

After leaving the annex, Gao Mo found the bespectacled housekeeper who had settled Madam Ayane. He still needed to learn more about the Shetara family.

"Has tonight's birthday dinner been cancelled?"

“What can we do? With something like this happening to the Third Master, the event definitely can't go on,” the housekeeper pushed up her glasses. “I’ve already put the Stradivarius back in storage, but…”

The housekeeper hesitated.

"Today we'll be playing a requiem... The tradition of Shitakara is that when a loved one passes away, family members are required to play a requiem. In previous years, it was Mr. Genzaburo, but now... the master and mistress are in such a state that they can't play, Miss Renki hasn't practiced, and young master Kyosuke is injured..."

Gao Mo turned his gaze to Qiu Tinglianzi, who snorted coldly and turned her head away.

Why are you looking at her?
Is all she can play a requiem?
Besides, they said they wanted a family member to perform.

"I am fine."

Kyosuke Haga brought Renki Setara over.

"I'll play today, so the guests can enjoy a live performance by Kyosuke Haga."

"Is it alright?" The housekeeper looked worriedly at Haga Kyosuke, whose burns had been given simple treatment.

"No problem, it's just a minor injury."

"Then I'll go prepare the instruments. The rest were all in the annex and burned down. Now the only usable instruments are the Stradivarius and the lady's pianos..."

"Don't!"

Yuga Kyosuke waved his hands repeatedly.

"Putting the piano aside, I wouldn't dare use a Stradivarius, my hands would shake. I brought my usual violin in the car, and I'll play the Requiem in Lianxi's room at midnight."

“I’m really looking forward to it,” Shira Renki’s face turned rosy again. “Uncle Kyosuke’s violin skills are top-notch, a graduate of the German University of Music. We’re in for a treat.”

Gao Mo's eyes were calm.

He knew that Kyosuke Haga's performance was not just an ordinary one, but had another purpose.

"Is Mrs. Ayane in her bedroom upstairs?"

“Yes,” the housekeeper glanced at the clock. “It’s almost midnight. Ever since the young master passed away, the lady seems to have taken the Stradivarius violin that the young master used to play as his own, so she takes that violin to her room every day at midnight.”

"Could you go and confirm this?"

Gao Mo did not follow Shira Renki to her room, but instead had Shira Renki lead him to explore the main building.

What's puzzling is that this young lady can't stop talking about Kyosuke Haga, and she practically recounts Kyosuke Haga's resume based on the information Ai collected.

"You really like Mr. Yuhe?" Gao Mo interrupted and asked.

"Huh?" Shiraku Renki panicked briefly. "N-no, it's just that Uncle Kyosuke has been my idol since I was little. I originally wanted to study in Germany, but I couldn't because of my father's situation."

Do you really know him?

Gao Mo was speechless.

Putting aside whether Shitara Renki's father was killed by Haga Kyosuke, Haga Kyosuke may not have been as perfect as Shitara Renki saw him to be.

"Don't you know me well enough?" Shiraku Renki asked with her beady eyes.

"enough."

Gao Mo quickened his pace.

Fortunately, he had gathered almost all the information he needed.

Tōichirō and his wife Ayane now live on opposite sides of the storage room, with Mrs. Ayane's room located above Shiraku Renki's room.

The old lady was in a very poor mental state due to her son's death, and seemed to have suffered great psychological trauma.

Haga Kyosuke may be planning to use this to set up a murder plot.

The image of the Stradivarius violin he had come into contact with flashed through Gao Mo's mind.

It is indeed a bit strange that such a violin, located at the epicenter of death, shows no signs of being cursed.

If his intuition wasn't wrong, then he hadn't actually encountered the real Stradivarius.

Gao Mo uses his memory to revisit clues and regain his photographic memory.

It felt like I was back to the time I was playing the violin today, and a seemingly insignificant scene was playing back in a fixed frame.

The violin's soundbox reveals an internal signature, but it is not Stradivarius's; rather, it is the signature of another maker.

Counterfeit?

With all the clues coming together, Gao Mo, who had walked outside the main building, turned back to look at the window of Madam Xuan Yin's room.

What happened 30 years ago may not have been a robbery, but a tragedy triggered by a Stradivarius violin.

These people are just paying the price; whether they live or die is not something he really cares about.

Even if he stops Kyosuke Haga, the rules of death will most likely still apply, and he might die an even more gruesome death.

However, besides protecting his client, he had just received a mission from Akiba Reiko—to disrupt this death symphony, as music shouldn't be used in such a context.

The female singer finally accepted reality.

……

(End of this chapter)