Detective Conan: The System Takes Me to Zero's World

“But I saw it very clearly just now!” Conan pointed to the other person’s pocket. “When you took out your phone, the screen was always on.”

“If the phone is set up like that, the screen will stay on and the battery will run out quickly! But when you showed it to us just now, the battery was still full, it didn’t look like it had been on for a long time.”

One sentence instantly drained all the color from Domoto Kosuke's face. The "manager's call" he had just shown was a pre-prepared fake, but it had inadvertently revealed the fatal flaw of "the screen being constantly on."

Sera Masumi leaned forward, her shoulders slightly tense, her gaze falling on the other person: "I see, it's always kept unlocked."

She paused slightly, then her speech quickened abruptly as she weaved her logic into a coherent line: "First, use the victim's fingerprint to unlock the phone, then turn off the automatic screen lock. If you simply change the standby screen to your own advertising photo, at first glance, wouldn't it look no different from your own phone?"

"Then you take out your own SIM card and put it in the victim's phone. That way, calls to yourself can be answered using the victim's phone. As for your phone without a SIM card, you can just pretend it's a malfunctioning one and get away with it, right?"

Kudo Yuki's lips curled into a cold smile, hitting the nail on the head: "If this phone really belongs to the victim, isn't it irrefutable evidence?"

Domoto Kosuke gripped his phone, trying to appear calm: "Damn... it's just like a scene from a movie or TV series, where the murderer ends up getting caught, right?"

"Did you kill him to avoid paying the sports brand's breach of contract penalty?" Inspector Megure asked in a deep voice.

“That’s not how it works.” Domoto Kosuke handed over the phone. “Open the ‘Treasure’ folder in the photo album, and you’ll find out the real reason why reporter Ogasawara is blackmailing me.”

Kudo Yuki leaned closer and looked at the screen with Ogino Ayami and Inspector Megure.

"Those two people on the right side of the photo..."

"The man is Mr. Domoto!"

"Is the woman 'Fusamoto RIABU'? The one who plays the lead role in the morning drama?"

Amid the murmurs, Kudo Yuki's delicate eyebrows suddenly furrowed.

In the photo, Sera Masumi is crouching on the ground protecting Akai Mary. The mother and daughter are hiding in the gaps of the crowd, which is surrounded by a dense crowd of people.

"This photo was taken when the hotel accidentally triggered the alarm and evacuated the guests... and of all things, it was a picture of me and her together." Domoto Kosuke lowered his head, his voice full of regret.

"I still have a mortgage and car loan to pay off. I finally got the role of the second male lead in a big-budget historical drama, and I thought I could finally pay off the loans. But if this affair is exposed now, everything will be over. I could have just deleted the photos, but he suddenly came back to get his phone..."

"You knew he would come back, so you deliberately put a GPS on him, didn't you?" Ayami Ogino interrupted him, puzzled.

"GPS?" Domoto Kosuke looked up, his eyes full of confusion.

“It was hidden in the edge of the victim’s rolled-up trouser leg,” Ayami Ogino added.

"Place it inside the victim's rolled-up trouser leg."

"Wasn't it you who was faking it?" Inspector Megure's gaze fell on Kosuke Domoto in despair.

Domoto Kosuke turned to Kondo Hidemine beside him, his tone laced with a defiant sarcasm: "The one who could do this is probably you, Representative Kondo, right? Zoom in on the group of people slightly to the left of the center of the photo."

Inspector Megure immediately took action, then his face darkened: "The one filmed with Representative Kondo is Kiriko Busujima and his men!"

"I don't know what you and Ogasawara talked about at the hotel," Kondo Hidemine said hastily, his face ashen.

"But as a candidate for the next ministerial election, you probably don't want this photo to be made public, do you?" Domoto Kosuke said coldly, his hands in his pockets.

"You probably plan to wait until reporter Ogasawara is on his way to dinner, then use GPS to have the people from the Mud Ginseng Association ambush him and steal his phone."

"But the GPS shows that he didn't move after returning to his room. When you came to check on him, you also became a suspect in the murder case. But don't worry, reporter Ogasawara is dead, and no one will ever know about this photo."

Kondo Hidemine didn't argue anymore, but stared at the photo on the screen and said in a low voice, "I did have my men set up a trap at the hotel, intending to intercept him when he left the room. The GPS location showed that he didn't move after returning to the room, so I came to check because I was afraid of causing trouble. I didn't expect to see him lying on the ground when I opened the door."

His gaze swept over Domoto Kosuke, his eyes filled with only the dejection of being exposed. "I didn't touch him, nor did I touch that phone. You can confirm it by checking my fingerprints."

Domoto Kosuke twitched the corner of his mouth, didn't reply, but just looked at the phone in Inspector Megure's hand, his voice as calm as if he were talking about someone else's business: "At least you didn't get your hands dirty. If I hadn't been driven to desperation by my mortgage and car loan, and hadn't been afraid that an extramarital affair would ruin my job, I wouldn't have ended up like this."

Inspector Megure put away his phone and gave the officer behind him a look: "Congressman Kondo, please come with us to the police station to make a detailed statement. We will determine your responsibility based on the evidence later."

He then turned to Kosuke Domoto, his tone serious, "Mr. Domoto, you are suspected of intentional homicide, and you are hereby arrested in accordance with the law."

Kondo Hidemine looked at Domoto Kosuke, who was being restrained by the police officers, and said in a calm tone, as if he were stating the weather: "I originally only intended to get the photos back, but I didn't expect you to take action. I had my assistant install the GPS, thinking that I would wait until you and reporter Ogasawara separated before having someone intercept you, but now it has become evidence that I can't get away with."

Domoto Kosuke hung his head, the glint of his handcuffs reflecting on the floor, his voice hoarse: "At least you still have a way out. I was driven to the brink by my mortgage and my career."

Kondo Hidemine looked up at Inspector Megure and said, "I will give a truthful statement and will not shirk the responsibility I should bear."

Rina Nomura, still clutching the tissue, added softly, "I didn't dare say I smelled a stench in the bathroom at the time, for fear of causing trouble. Now that I think about it, Mr. Domoto did indeed put something in his bag before entering the bathroom."

Inspector Megure gestured to the officers: "Take Mr. Domoto back to the police station first. Representative Kondo and Ms. Nomura will come with us to give their statements. Be careful to preserve any clues at the scene."

Two police officers stepped forward and took Domoto Kosuke away.

As he passed Kondo Hidemine, Domoto Kosuke stopped but didn't say anything more. He just stared at the broken pieces of the can on the floor, the last glimmer of light in his eyes completely extinguished.

Kondo Hidemine followed the police officer to the other end of the corridor.

Rina Nomura followed closely behind, passing by Yuki Kudo, and whispered, "Thank you."

The people in the room gradually dispersed.

Ayami Ogino glanced towards the door to make sure the officers had taken the suspect away before quickly approaching Yuki Kudo and whispering, "Yuki, Kenji has been talking to me a lot lately about taking me on dates to all sorts of places."

Kudo Yuki turned to look at her, a smile in her eyes: "The second-year student is always very thoughtful. Since he's taken the initiative to plan the date, why don't you give it a try and go along with his arrangements? It's a rare opportunity to make the most of this time, isn't it?"

Ayami Ogino's eyes held a hint of shyness: "But he keeps saying he wants to go to a stargazing station in the suburbs, and he also mentioned wanting to take me to a handmade ceramics museum. The places he chose are all too quiet, and I'm wondering if it will be lively enough..."

"In my second year of graduate school, I want to save up enough time to talk to you alone. Next time he mentions the stargazing station, try bringing a can of hot cocoa. You might hear words softer than the stars."

Hurried footsteps came from the end of the corridor.

Inspector Megure pushed open the door and entered, his gaze sweeping across the room before landing directly on Ayami Ogino: "Ogino, the station just sent word that you need to go back immediately to organize the preliminary statements of the three suspects, especially the clues related to the 'mud gathering' mentioned by Representative Kondo. You need to compare them with the previously filed information on the organizations."

Ayami Ogino immediately put away her earlier embarrassment and gripped the notebook tightly with her fingertips: "Understood, I'll leave now."

She turned her head and remembered the topic of dating they had just discussed, her ears burning slightly, "What about the second year of graduate school..."

"Don't worry, I'll help you explain things to him." Kudo Yuki's eyes were filled with a smile as she watched her quickly catch up with Inspector Megure.

The tension in the room finally dissipated.

Sera Masumi tapped twice quickly on her phone screen, then looked up with a hint of lightness in her eyes: "Ran and Sonoko are still waiting for us in the hotel lobby. Let's go and meet up with them first."

Kudo Yuki patted Conan's shoulder lightly, then turned to Sera Masumi in a natural tone: "Let's go, and I'll let you meet Aunt Mary while we're at it. I saw in your text message this morning that she hadn't gotten better from her cough, so I can check on her symptoms."

The lights in the hotel lobby cast a warm white glow, and the twilight slowly seeped in through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

As soon as Kudo Yuki pushed open the glass door, he saw Mouri Ran sitting on the sofa by the window waving.

Hearing the glass door open, Sonoko Suzuki's voice was filled with urgency: "Yuki-neechan! You're finally back! What happened inside? Was it really a murder?"

Ran Mouri also stood up, her gaze sweeping over Yuki Kudo and Masumi Sera before finally settling on Conan. Her tone was filled with worry: "You weren't in any danger, were you? I heard some noises upstairs from the lobby, but I didn't dare go up."

Kudo Yuki walked over to the sofa and sat down: "There's no danger. The culprit's identity has been confirmed, and the case has been handed over to the police."

She didn't mention the details of the death or the method of the crime, only briefly mentioning that "it was Domoto Kosuke, who had been blackmailed by Mr. Ogasawara, who made a mistake on impulse because he was afraid that the exposure of his extramarital affair would ruin his career."

"An extramarital affair?!" Sonoko Suzuki's eyes lit up instantly, and she leaned closer to ask, "Which female celebrity is it with? I just saw someone in the gossip group saying there was a murder at the hotel, I didn't expect it to involve this kind of gossip!"

Conan tilted his head back, immediately adopting a well-behaved demeanor, and tugged at Ran's sleeve: "Don't worry, Ran-neechan, I've been staying close to Yuki-neechan and Sera-neechan the whole time. There's been no danger at all! In fact, we even helped find crucial clues!"

He deliberately skipped over the details of his demonstration of the business card, only mentioning the safe parts, afraid that Lan would worry that he was being reckless.

Sonoko Suzuki wasn't stopped by Ran Mouri. Instead, she leaned closer and pressed her elbow against her knee, asking, "But who exactly is the person you're having an affair with? I've been scrolling through gossip groups for ages, and I can only guess it's someone in the industry. You must know, right, Yuki-neechan?"

Her eyes sparkled, like a reporter eagerly awaiting an exclusive scoop. "And another thing, how exactly was that death information deciphered? I heard some police officers in the lobby discussing how some numbers were related to tires—that's incredible!"

Kudo Yuki smiled helplessly: "Don't be so gossipy. The privacy of the parties involved should be protected. As for the death information, it was indeed deciphered from the speedometer marks on the tires. Masumi reacted very quickly, immediately connecting it to what she had talked about with Mr. Ogasawara about motorcycle tires."

She simply brushed it off to avoid Sonoko asking any more questions.

Sera Masumi sat to the side, propping her chin up with one hand, and added, "The key is the clues left by Mr. Ogasawara. The way he gripped the chair wheel and the numbers on the calculator—it would be hard to connect the tire markings without any of them." She glanced at Conan, her eyes filled with approval. "But Conan's discovery of the flaw in the phone screen was also very clever; otherwise, Domoto would have continued to try to deny it."

Conan was a little embarrassed by the praise and scratched his head: "I just felt that it was a bit strange that the phone was always lit up, I didn't expect it to be fake." He secretly glanced at Ran Mouri and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that she didn't look worried.

Ran Mouri was relieved and reached out to ruffle Conan's hair, her voice gentle: "From now on, stay close to Yuki-neechan and don't run around on your own, okay?"

She then looked at Kudo Yuki, "Now that the case is solved, what are your plans next? How about we have dinner together?"

Before Kudo Yuki could speak, the little mouse that had been lying in her pocket suddenly poked its head out: "Yuki, I think I smelled cake outside. Is it from that new dessert shop on the corner? Can I buy a piece?"

A smile flashed in Kudo Yuki's eyes. Following up on what the mouse had said, she said to everyone, "Dinner can be eaten later, but I think I smelled something from the dessert shop on the corner. Should we go buy some cakes for dessert? I remember their matcha mousse is pretty good."

Sonoko Suzuki's eyes lit up: "Great! I've wanted to try their desserts for ages! I've heard their strawberry cake is amazing!"

Ran Mouri smiled and nodded, "That's fine, let's eat something first to fill our stomachs, Conan must be hungry too."

She took Conan's hand and looked at Sera Masumi, "Sera, why don't you come too?"

Sera Masumi stood up and picked up her coat from the sofa: "Of course, I'd also like to try their desserts."

The group chatted and laughed as they walked toward the door.

Conan quietly approached Kudo Yuki and asked in a low voice, "Sis, are you looking at photos of the crime scene? Is there something wrong with them?"

Kudo Yuki looked up, the seriousness in her eyes not yet completely gone. She quickly put away her phone's photo album and lowered her voice: "These are supplementary photos that Officer Ogino just sent. They show an inconspicuous scratch on the inside of the cabinet."

She deliberately avoided the blurry figure of Sera Masumi supporting Akai Mary in the corner of the photo, and continued, "I didn't notice these details before, they may be related to the modus operandi, I have to go back and check with the police again."

To be continued...