Model worker and his little darling

Conan: ...

What's with this strange magnetic field?

Noticing Conan's strange gaze, Hirai grabbed Conan's big head and started rubbing it.

Uncle Mori stared blankly at the overly enthusiastic Yamamura Misao, inwardly thinking, "Don't they have any other prefectural police officers in Gunma?"

Unfazed, Officer Yamamura approached the man with a cheerful expression. "Mr. Mori, what kind of murder happened this time? Where's the murder weapon? Where's the evidence?"

Uncle Mori looked speechless and covered Officer Yamamura's face with one hand. "Don't laugh like that at a murder scene. It's too careless. The important thing is that we can't confirm it's a murder yet. The body is still there."

Seeing Uncle Mori's actions, Hirakiyo's lips twitched. He remembered that the uncle had touched the deceased's feet just now.

"We've been together in the living room on the first floor for the past two hours, but I took a bath in between."

Upon hearing this, Officer Yamamura pointed a trembling finger at Uncle Mori and said, "Then...then the only one who can actually kill someone is you, Mr. Mori?"

The man was exasperated. "Listen to me," he said, "this is my first time in this house. I don't even know if there's any rope here. How can I do something like this?"

He then glanced back at the body. "Although the blood I saw made me a little suspicious, this situation should be considered suicide."

Upon hearing that Uncle Mori had ruled it a suicide, Taira Kiyoshi clearly sensed a sigh of relief from Hiroto Akashi beside him.

Ran and Sonoko were puzzled. "That's how it is in the TV series."

Conan, who was standing nearby, started giving a science lesson. After he finished speaking, he started coughing, and Ran, worried, told him to stop talking.

Hiroto Akashi explained that the old man had gone to the dentist a few days ago, and added that he was an adopted son who had been raised since childhood.

Conan walked around the room and started causing trouble in his raspy voice, "This grandpa is only 30 centimeters taller than me, but the light switch is designed to fit his height, yet he clearly can't reach it."

“My dad woke up in the middle of the night and said that the end of the wire was touching his eye, which made him feel very uncomfortable, so the wire in this room was specially shortened.”

This explanation brought the incident back to the suicide theory. Afterwards, the group returned to the living room on the first floor to wait for orders, while Sonoko and Ran read a book about fishing.

Conan became suspicious; there were too many strange things about the house. After running up and down the stairs, he finally gathered evidence.

He then walked over to Pingqing and tugged at her clothes. Seeing Conan blinking his big eyes, Pingqing patted Conan's head and said, "What's wrong? Are you sleepy? Why don't you go to sleep first?"

Upon hearing this, Akashi Hiroto prepared to tidy up the house so that Conan could sleep.

Conan tried to stop him, "Ah...ah..."

Conan's expression changed drastically when he realized he couldn't speak. He finally understood the truth of the matter.

Seeing Conan being mercilessly muted and only able to say "Aba," Ping Qing laughed out loud, "Conan, after saying so much just now, you're now mute, aren't you?"

Conan was indignant, but fortunately he knew the case was important. He patted Hirai with his only remaining hand, then pointed at Hiroto Ishii, indicating that he was the culprit in this case.

He believed that Pingqing would understand.

Although he knew what Conan meant, Hirakiyo still looked confused. "What's wrong? Do you want to sleep with Hiroto-san?"

Conan: ...

Who would want to sleep with him? He's not sick.

Heiji usually sees through the culprit immediately, so why isn't he quick to spot it this time?

Hearing Pingqing's ramblings, everyone looked over. Conan quickly shook his head, demonstrating that he didn't want to go to sleep yet. Turning his head and seeing the smile on Pingqing's face, he realized that Pingqing was playing a trick on him.

He then slapped Pingqing a few times in annoyance. Pingqing brushed Conan's hand away and gave him a knowing look. "Oh, you want to sleep with Ran?"

The sound wasn't loud, just enough for the uncle next to me to hear.

Conan was stunned by Hirai's nonsensical talk. Uncle Mori's sharp gaze fixed on Conan, "You brat..."

Seeing the uncle's fist, which seemed to be about to retaliate, Conan waved his hands repeatedly, thinking that Hirai was really too much of a jerk.

Seeing Conan's flustered movements, Hirai stopped him, saying, "Alright, I'll cooperate with whatever you need to do."

Conan glared angrily at Hirai, "Wouldn't it have been better to do this earlier?"

After gathering everyone together, Conan started gesturing. He ran to the kitchen, pointed to the curry, then pointed to the group of people and made a "one" gesture, before pointing to the older man and making a "three" gesture.

No one reacted for a moment.

Conan was getting impatient and started jumping up and down. Pingqing then smiled and said, "What Conan means is that we ate one plate of curry, but Uncle ate three. There are usually only two people living here, so the portion is a bit too much."

Seeing that Akashi Hiroto wanted to explain, Taira Kiyoshi gestured for him to wait a moment.

"There was a tooth in the old man's meal, which proves that he had just had a tooth extracted. There were marks on his hands that indicated he had been tied up, and the light switch wire in the room was tied in a knot, not a fishing knot."

"I think we should put a handkerchief in the old man's mouth and make him bite the rope..."

Hearing Pingqing's eloquent explanation, Conan became even angrier. He remembered that Pingqing had just circled around twice, asked a few questions, and then stopped moving. It turned out that he had known all along.

He didn't say anything and just watched him busy himself.

After finishing his speech, Pingqing withdrew without paying any attention to the sulking little corgi.

Officer Yamamura looked at Hiroto Akashi and asked, "Mr. Akashi, did you do all of this?"

Akashi Hiroto glanced at Hiraiyoshi. This young man had been staying on the first floor the whole time; he hadn't expected him to know everything. He then shook his head and smiled bitterly, admitting everything. After all, the other man had explained the evidence of the methods so clearly.

Ran and Sonoko were a little upset. "If we hadn't come here, this wouldn't have happened."

Hiroto Akashi shook his head. No matter what, he would make his move tonight.

After hearing a tragic story, Conan looked at Hirai and asked with his eyes why he hadn't told him sooner.

"I was just worried that if I told you how enthusiastically you were investigating, it would discourage you."

Conan's lips twitched. "Thanks," he thought, "I'm not that fragile."

Yamamura Misao walked up to Hirakiyo and launched into a barrage of compliments, "When we last met, I didn't realize your reasoning skills were so strong. You're even better than Sleeping Kogoro..."

Hirakiyo was astonished as he watched Yamamura Misao babbling on and on. Inspector Megure was far superior in this regard, simultaneously criticizing them while demanding their help in solving cases—it felt like he was taking advantage of their kindness.

Seeing that Hirai was having a good time chatting with Yamamura, Conan felt he understood: Hirai liked to have fun.

The next morning, the group rode in a police car with sirens blaring to the police station to give statements, and then returned to Tokyo in a less than pleasant manner.