Conan: Death is Watching Me

Chapter 372 Hondo Eisuke: The Future Belongs to Me
"I?"

Hondo Eisuke was taken aback when Gao Mo asked him a question, and after a moment of confusion, he became alert.

He sensed that Gao Mo didn't seem to like him staying at the firm, and now was the time to prove himself.

“I just checked,” Hondo Eisuke said seriously, adjusting his glasses. “Only two clocks were set 5 minutes fast: the entryway and the bedroom. The clocks in the other places—the living room and the kitchen—are normal. It’s very likely that someone set them beforehand and then set them back without knowing about the 5-minute difference.”

As for why the entryway and bedroom weren't touched, it's because delivery personnel or similar people might see them in the entryway, and the bedroom was left untouched because Officer Chiba could change clothes directly in the bathroom while showering, making it unlikely he'd return to the bedroom. Also, tampering with the bedroom clock could be discovered.

As he spoke, Hondo Eisuke stared intently at Coral Head, whose forehead was beaded with sweat.

"You probably set the clock before waking Officer Chiba this morning, right? You deliberately moved it forward by two hours, haha. Officer Chiba wasn't actually watching the live broadcast."

"Didn't I just say that?" Coral Head chuckled dryly. "If it's a replay, how do you explain the time display? Replays don't display the time, do they? Even if I changed the videotape, Chiba would notice it when he watches TV, right?"

“Indeed,” Chiba recalled, stroking his chin. “I was watching television, not a videotape. I’m certain of that.”

"But you didn't pay attention to the time, did you?"

Hondo Eisuke recalled Chiba's hesitant expression earlier.

“If you’re not sure, it can’t be evidence. With so many notes on the TV, it’s easy to temporarily cover up the time and location. Plus, the fact that they deliberately got you to drink and stay up all night makes it very suspicious. People who have just been woken up are unlikely to notice that the time has been blocked.”

"Hey, hey," Coral Head said urgently, "Don't forget, we've been watching Kamen Rider for six hours straight since this morning. Chiba even took a half-hour shower in between. The baseball livestream just started right after we finished watching. If we had started watching at 9 o'clock, we wouldn't have had enough time!"

"is it?"

Hondo Eisuke blinked, then looked confused again. After thinking for a while without finding an explanation, he became increasingly anxious.

They encountered difficulties on their very first attempt.

"about this……"

"Is it really 6 hours?"

Gao Mo picked up the videotape from the table.

"Actually, I'm also a tokusatsu fan. As far as I know, this show should only be 4 hours long in total. Of course, if you include the opening and ending credits, next episode previews, commercials, and even recaps, it should be 6 hours. But a normal person wouldn't watch all that on a videotape, right?"

"Is Mr. Kido a tokusatsu enthusiast?"

Hondo Eisuke was taken aback.

He wasn't looking down on older tokusatsu fans, it's just that there were absolutely no tokusatsu elements in the agency. Not to mention the figurines that were everywhere in Officer Chiba's room, he didn't even see a trace of the corresponding videotapes.

The videotapes in the living room were all soap operas, and there were also science documentaries that I don't know who was watching.

"Isn't it similar?"

Gao Mo casually put on the number 1 knight mask on the shelf and struck his signature pose to the astonished looks of Sato and Takagi.

"Transform!"

Hondo Eisuke's lips twitched. He felt something was off; this was nothing like the usual Mr. Kido.

However, Chiba, standing to the side, was full of excitement, as if she had found a kindred spirit. The sense of embarrassment she felt at being discovered to be a tokusatsu fan by Sato and the others vanished instantly.

Indeed, age is never an obstacle; a man is a boy until he dies.

"Ahem, let's not talk about that for now," Gao Mo said, ignoring everyone's stares, and patted Hondo Eisuke on the shoulder. "Let's continue investigating the case. Don't let his unreliability fool you; he's quite clever when it comes to cases and has a keen sense for crime. He's currently working as a part-time detective at our agency."

Although it's a part-time job, it's only because I'm too young; I'm destined to become a pillar of the firm in the future.

"Really?" Hondo Eisuke's eyes welled up with tears.

He misunderstood his boss.

I didn't expect the boss to value him so much.

"Boss, I will definitely work hard!"

As he spoke, Hondo Eisuke's face hardened, and he turned to the stunned Coral Head with a snort.

"Do you have anything else to say now? We should be able to find more evidence. You were wearing a coat and a black hiking backpack this morning. You probably left them somewhere, right?"
"From here to that apartment, the Tsutsumi River is the best place to hide. Also, check your car; you might find something there." *Bang!*

Coral Head slumped to the ground, her back against the wall, her face filled with fear and resentment.

"That's just how I am, I can't do anything right, not even killing. I never thought I'd be recognized..."

"So it really was you?" Chiba's expression changed. "Kato, you really used me as an alibi?"

"Yes, I thought having you, a police officer, as a witness would make it more credible, but I was so focused on getting revenge on that guy that I didn't even notice you set the clock forward."

Coral Head's face was full of bitterness.

"And the bloody fingerprints on the car, I planned to wipe them off carefully later, I didn't expect they'd start investigating now..."

Chiba grabbed his friend's collar in anguish: "Where's the weapon?"

"It was thrown into the river along with the clothes, just like this part-time detective said."

Coral Head glanced at Hondo Eisuke, then turned to Komo, who was admiring tokusatsu toys in the room.

His premonition came true.

He had a bad feeling when he saw the two of them, and he would rather be exposed by Chiba or the police officers handling the case.

What's the point of having someone else prove your worth to you?

He could tell, because his former boss had led him in the same way, making grand promises and saying that he was destined to become a pillar of the company.

But what?
Not only did he lose his job, but his girlfriend was also stolen away.

“I’m sorry, Chiba,” Coral Head said, cutting through Chiba’s gaze. “I can’t think of any other way. I’m really sorry. Actually, I’m not feeling well today. I just acted impulsively… I’m sorry.”

What's the point of saying all this now?

Chiba, feeling down, let go of his hand.

"I trusted you so much, yet you... I'm really not a good police officer; I should have been able to tell..."

“Police officers need to be skeptical when investigating cases, but trusting friends is also important,” Gao Mo put down the Gomera figurine. “I think you did the right thing. After all, you’re not the one investigating the case. If you can’t trust others in private, wouldn’t it be terrible to be a police officer?”

"Mr. Kido..."

Chiba was stunned for a moment, then turned around as if he saw Shinichi Matsuda right in front of him.

"That tone of voice is so similar to that guy's. Did Mr. Kido also work as a policeman?"

"I might have played a policeman, but I don't remember. I was just saying it offhand."

Seeing the light return to Chiba's eyes, Gao Mo bid farewell with Hondo Eisuke.

"Let's take the statement later. We're heading back now."

He felt pretty good during his first few days as a policeman, but it was impossible for him to go back to being a policeman.

Sato and Takagi watched Gao Mo leave, both somewhat dazed.

“Chiba, you must be talking about Officer Matsuda Shinichi, right? I don’t think they are,” Sato shook his head. “Boss Kido is too low-key. He seems to like to hide behind the scenes. If you didn’t know better, you would think he was some kind of suspicious guy.”

Takagi didn't say anything.

People often say he's like Matsuda Jinpei, but he doesn't actually like that.

Everyone is themselves, why should we try to be like everyone else?
However, it's true that the owner of Kido is low-key.

Could he be the boss of some secret organization? Haha.

Takagi chuckled to himself as he thought about it.

How can it be?

(End of this chapter)