The Phantom Thief of Heart! But Conan.

"In the end, they chose to cooperate..."

"There's nothing we can do about it. I guess they can't compete with each other, and they all want to get the code."

"So which side is ultimately in charge?"

"It seems that Mr. Naito is in charge of the connection..."

"Well, he does seem easier to communicate with."

"I think the three of them are about the same..."

Ran Mouri and Conan, who were following behind Kogoro Mouri, were whispering and followed the people in front into the hotel lobby.

Maori Kogoro led the way, looking at the three clients behind him who were also leisurely visiting. He curled his lips and said, "You three are so competitive, and yet you can work together to find a detective and arrest someone. It's not easy."

"Because he mentioned in his email that he was working on more than one project simultaneously, I knew something was amiss, so I contacted some friends in the industry to find out. That's how the three of us got together," explained Naito Sadahei, who served as the primary liaison. "While there was indeed competition on the project, we were merely project managers or employees. Perhaps there will be opportunities for collaboration in the future."

In other words, competition is a matter between products and companies. These employees may meet each other every day in the future, so there is no need to make things so awkward.

"Actually, there are more than just the three of us," Soma Ryusuke said calmly. "As far as I know, we're the only three who've taken on this type of game. He's also taken on a lot of other projects."

"You can't finish it, right?"

"It's definitely not finished. But the initial deposit has already been paid."

No one present said it explicitly, but everyone could tell that this meant he wanted to run away with the money.

"There's no need for that. From what you said, he has been in this business for a long time, and he even has connections in the entertainment industry because of his involvement in film production. Does he want to abandon the career he has built and run away?" Kogoro Mouri frowned strangely.

Soma Ryusuke snorted coldly, clearly distrusting Itakura Taku's character. "Who knows? He owns two or three properties in Tokyo. Changing his residence temporarily and disposing of the real estate would also yield a large sum of money, and it would also further reduce risks."

"I suspect he chose the company's project because of this." Xu Beikelu spread his hands. "If he offended the company, it would at most be a contract dispute. Unless the amount involved is high enough, the police might not be willing to invest the energy to arrest or find the person."

Itakura Taku had the ability to fulfill the contract and a stable trading record. His inability to perform only indicates a dispute, not subjective malice. Therefore, even if a company noticed something was amiss and wanted to arrest him, it would be unlikely to classify the case as fraud.

In other words, even if they run away, they can't be caught.

"Let's not make such malicious speculations. It's always been a pleasant cooperation with Mr. Itakura..." Naito Sadahei wiped the sweat from his forehead and grabbed his complaining colleague.

Conan followed behind them and walked into the elevator. After listening to their discussion, he pursed his lips.

It would be fine if Itakura Taku was simply delaying the transaction, but he is an engineer who is involved with Tequila.

Rather than planning to run away with his belongings, his behavior seemed more like he had gotten into some trouble and was planning to raise as much money as possible to get out of it.

The only thing to be thankful for is that the people who provided the information about Tequila were just the first party he was working with. Since Itakura Taku was able to let them see Tequila leaving their studio, it meant that Itakura Taku did not understand the nature of the organization and did not realize the need to keep it secret.

...At least that's what he thought two years ago.

If we find Itakura Taku, we might be able to find the reason why Tequila keeps collecting the list of engineers, and find the clues that were interrupted by the explosion...

As he was thinking this, the elevator had already reached the 20th floor where Itakura Taku was.

The corridor has a very standard hotel decoration. The soft patterned carpet and the soft-colored wall lamps and wallpaper create a warm atmosphere. The faint fragrance floats in the air, and the atmosphere is very cozy.

Even the clients who were in a bad mood couldn't help but relax their expressions, and the leader, Naito Sadahei, even visibly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Detective Maori should have picked a better watch," Naito Sadahei said with a smile, noticing Kogoro Maori checking the time as he walked. "Mr. Itakura is particularly picky about this. If someone doesn't wear a nice watch during an interview with a company he doesn't work with a lot, he'll be quite unfriendly."

Maori Kogoro gave him a puzzled look and asked, "Why, do you still want to continue cooperating with him?"

He is clearly here to catch pigeons, so why is he behaving so flatteringly, as if he is afraid that the other party will be dissatisfied?

He deeply suspected that this guy just wanted to show off.

"Well, if he's not deliberately delaying with malicious intent, I think I still have to trouble him for some work..." Naito Sadahei smiled awkwardly.

Conan narrowed his eyes and studied his expression.

No, you want to get his cooperation when registering the copyright later...

After complaining in his heart, Conan retracted his gaze and looked at the hotel corridor in front of him. He saw that a door opposite was closed a little bit, and instinctively raised his eyes to look at the room number.

2029.

"Tsk," Subeko made a sound of disgust and raised his wrist. "Mine is much more respectable than yours. This is just basic business etiquette. Is it something worth showing off?"

Naito Sadahei glanced at the shiny gold watch and quickly looked away: "God knows whether it's real or not."

"What are you talking about? Yours is the fake one."

"Yes, I bought this five days ago..."

"Mr. Itakura's eyesight is so poor now, who knows if you guys will try to fool me by wearing a high-end imitation?"

"you--"

Their increasingly heated discussion came to an abrupt end when they turned the corner leading to Itakura Taku's room.

Right in front of him, the door of Room 2004 where Itakura Taku was was wide open, and several staff members were busy with something in front of the door.

Soon, two people in hotel uniforms came out of the door carrying a stretcher, passed by them, and moved quickly towards the elevator.

On the stretcher, there lay a man curled up in a ball with an expression of extreme pain.

"Mr. Itakura?!" Naito Sadahei's voice changed.

----

When the chaotic scene ended, everyone stood in room 2004 waiting for the police, looking at each other in confusion.

Good news: the person has been found.

Bad news: It seems to be dying.

Kogoro Mouri, who gained the trust of the staff by scanning his face and calling the police, was able to enter Taku Itakura's room. He cleared his throat and briefly explained the situation.

"Mr. Itakura just had a heart attack. At noon, he ordered a meal to his room, and the hotel staff delivered it on time, but they couldn't knock on his door. Out of concern, they used the spare key to open the door, and found that Mr. Itakura had suffered a heart attack and collapsed at the table. He was rushed to the hospital."

After summing up his speech, Maori Kogoro crossed his arms and shook his head: "Everyone, your luck is not very good."

Even when Itakura Taku was conscious, he might not be able to deliver on time. Now he is still being rescued. It is really unknown when the project of these three people can be completed.

"Alas, when it rains it pours. When one is unlucky, nothing can go well for them." Naito Sadahei sighed deeply. "I can only hope that Mr. Itakura is alright..."

"He's had heart problems for a long time," Soma Ryusuke said a bit stiffly. "It's not like no one tried to persuade him to go to the cardiology department earlier. Interventional surgery is quick, but he just didn't want to, and he kept putting it off until he needed a thoracotomy and a bypass."

"He's in this state, but he still lives alone, doesn't contact anyone, and hides in a hotel?" Kogoro Mouri's mouth twitched.

With such a serious heart disease, he could die at any time.

Being able to live alone is already very generous, but this guy also likes to avoid all social relationships during working hours and hide away by himself. He is really playing with his own life.

"That's more than that. I just checked with the hotel front desk, and Mr. Itakura isn't just hiding here. He also says he doesn't like his things messed up, and won't let anyone come in to clean it up." Subeklu sighed, "If it weren't for this lunch, he really would have died alone in his room without anyone noticing."

"Well, we understand the situation now. What's going on now? Do we need to wait here for the police to come and pick us up?" Naito Sadahei, having recovered from his shock, checked the time with a hint of anxiety. "I still have work to do..."

To be more precise, after confirming that Itakura Taku was unable to complete the commission, they now had to race against time to find alternative solutions and find ways not to slow down the progress.

"There's nothing we can do. We have to cooperate with the investigation." Maori Kogoro spread his hands. "Itakura Taku's heart disease is so severe that he might not be able to be saved. That would be a case of unnatural death. We have to cooperate with the police to eliminate suspicion."

Situations such as suicide, accidental death, and illness can all be classified as unnatural death cases.

It was not a homicide, but in order to avoid panic and misunderstanding, the police still had to clarify the whole situation before they could conclude that it was not a homicide, close the case, and issue a death certificate.

Naito Sadahei and Subaru sighed in unison.

Soma Ryusuke looked at him with a serious expression, then silently looked away without saying a word.

He was worried about much more than his two colleagues next to him.

Didn't Itakura Taku have to take his medication three times a day with meals? He'd already started the operation two days in advance, so how had he managed to hold on until today, until he needed emergency treatment?

Besides, when he came to check last night, wasn't Itakura Taku almost dead?

He had cleaned up the scene and placed the person next to the computer desk, just waiting for the person to be completely dead. Today, he and the detective came to witness the scene of the other person's death from a heart attack. Why did it take until this morning, and the person is still not dead?

This is trouble...

Feeling quite troubled, Ryusuke Soma bit his nails anxiously, while Conan frowned and looked at the pills scattered beside the computer.

The medicine bottle fell to the side and the pills were scattered on half of the table.

Both the messy distribution and the shape of the medicine bottle are consistent with the traces left by someone who had a sudden heart attack and did not have time to take the medicine and swished it around on the table.

But apart from these marks, the table is very clean.

When suffering from acute myocardial infarction or abnormal heart rhythm, the patient will often be pale and sweating profusely. When Itakura Taku was carried out just now, there was some pink foam at the corners of his mouth, and it was obvious that the situation was very critical.

But if that's the case, why is there no trace of his sweat, saliva or other body fluids on the table?

It really looks like homicide, and then some methods were used to disguise it as the symptoms of an illness.

and……

Looking at the computer with a black screen on the desktop, Conan took a deep breath.

It's always like this. Every time I feel that my fingertips have touched the clue, it seems like there is some kind of curse in the dark, and I always fall one step short.

If he had come earlier, would he have been able to see Itakura Taku sober in time? Would he have been able to find out about his commission, his recent breakthrough in algorithms, and what kind of invitation he had received two years ago?

He stared at the computer unwillingly for a moment, knowing that he couldn't touch the items that were still evidence in front of a room full of people. He could only turn his head and begin to observe the other arrangements in the room.

In this world, the only person who can lock onto Itakura Taku's location so accurately is Mouri Kogoro, apart from the three clients who were once affected.

These detectives and Itakura Taku had no past or present grudges against each other, not to mention that their schedule last night was quite busy.

Even if we use the process of elimination, we know that the suspect can only be among these three clients.

Although it is currently unknown whether Itakura Taku is alive or dead, and the suspect may not be qualified to be the murderer, there is no doubt that this case can be classified as murder. Otherwise, we should hurry up and solve the case.

As for the others, we can only pray that Itakura Taku's body can hold on, so that his computer won't become evidence in a murder case and be taken away by the police, and that those dark shadows won't escape back into the darkness again...

After a quick glance, Conan suddenly discovered a clue.

He stared at the pattern on the wallpaper in the corner for a while, took out his cell phone, turned on the rear camera, and took a few steps in that direction.

As the camera scanned, two red dots appeared on the corner of the wall.

Infrared light of a pinhole camera.

There is a camera in Itakura Taku's room.

As if realizing something, Conan controlled his expression and walked around the small hotel room as if he was just casually.

This time, his discovery was more direct.

"Diary?" Looking at the floppy disk in the bag, Conan couldn't help but look weird.

Are there really programmers in this world who not only write diaries and save them on storage media, but also write two big words outside: "Diary"?

Huh? What's that? Is this a case of trying to cover up one's own flaws? Even teenage boys know to name special folders "Study Materials," right?

The corners of his mouth twitched twice, and Conan was about to shake his head when he suddenly realized what was happening and the playful expression on his face disappeared.

Yes, the owner of a diary does not need to use any labels to tell himself that it is a diary.

So why did Itakura Taku do this?

There seems to be only one answer - this is used to mark it for others to see, telling other people who can see it that this is his diary.

In other words, it is also a kind of "death message" prepared in advance, a suicide note written by a person who does not know when he will die but is worried about his own safety and afraid that death will cause certain information to not be delivered.