Detective Conan 697

File 697: Cursed Fashion!?

P2

Megure: What a strange look…

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Megure: This woman’s clothes…

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Megure: Is this what’s popular these days?

Takagi: No, it’s called goth-loli… / It’s been a chosen style for some people for a while now…

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Megure: Sorry for being an old man who doesn’t understand these things…

Takagi: Oh, no…

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Megure: Have we identified the victim?

Takagi: According to the driver’s license that she had on her…

P3

Takagi: She lives on Haido Street… // and her name is Kuze Mihiro…

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Megure: There’s a mark from something being wrapped around her neck and Yoshikawa lines… // There’s no mistake that this is a strangulation…

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Ran: Yoshikawa lines?

Sonoko: What’s that?

Takagi: Oh, it’s police jargon…

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Conan: If you’re getting strangled by someone, you’d claw at the rope to try to stop the strangulation, right? // It’s common for scratch marks to be left on the victim’s neck because of it! / When you’re being strangled, you don’t even feel the pain from the scratching because it’s more painful being unable to breathe!

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Conan: The chief of forensics back in the Taisho era, Yoshikawa Chouichisan, first focused on these scratch marks to be evidence of a murder by strangulation… // And ever since, the scratches are called “Yoshikawa lines,” named after him!

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Mouri: Did you see that on TV too?

Conan: Oh… / Yeah…

P4

Megure: Is it true that you folks saw this woman earlier today?

Mouri: Yes… / I came along with these two that wanted to go shopping…

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Mouri: We stopped by a café and these two were looking through a fashion magazine that they picked up in Shinjuku… // Then the victim came in!

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Megure: A café in Shinjuku?

Mouri: Yes… // Then, they came into this bathroom to change into the clothes they bought in Harajuku and that’s how they found her…

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Mouri: In this tragic scene…

Takagi: Was the victim with someone when she came to the café?

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Ran: She was supposed to be meeting her friend…

Sonoko: A OL*-type woman in glasses…
*OL = office lady

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Megure: What time did they come into the café?

Sonoko: The goth-loli girl came in a little before 1:00…

Ran: And the OL-type woman came in 10 or 15 minutes after that…

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Megure: The estimated time of death is between 12:30 and 1:30…

Takagi: Yes… Which means it’s possible for that OL to have called the victim out here and killed her…

P5

Megure: But how did she lock the door after leaving the body in here…?

Mouri: She probably climbed on top of a bucket and used the handle of a brush to lock the door from the outside… / The lock is a slide-type…

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Megure: Is this bathroom always this crowded?

Takagi: Yes, it’s usually crowded around this time… / According to these women, the door was already locked when they came in and her phone went off from time to time…

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Megure: Her phone?

Takagi: Yes… We looked through the call history and it seems like someone called her every 10 minutes during these past 2 hours…

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Megure: Oh! The phone…

Takagi: It’s the same number calling again!

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<beep>

Yuika: Hey, Mihiro! What are you doing!? / I’ve been waiting for you in the café!

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Megure: Hello, this is the police…

Yuika: Police!?

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Yuika: Did something happen to Mihiro?

Megure: Actually…

P6

Yuika: No…!

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Yuika: Mihiro… // Why… // Why!?

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Megure: You were supposed to meet Kuze Mihiro-san today?

Yuika: Yes… // We were supposed to meet at the café at 1:00…

Box: Shoudou Yuika (26) OL

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Megure: And after you met up with Mihiro-san, you both came to this restroom?

Yuika: I hadn’t seen her yet today until now!

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Megure: Huh? But you both came to this café…

Ran: They missed each other…

Sonoko: She came in about 10 minutes after the goth-loli girl went to the restroom…

P7

Takagi: So she just never returned from the restroom?

Yuika: Yes… I asked the café staff to go check because she was taking so long, but she said no one was in there…

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Yuika: I called her every 10 minutes but she wouldn’t pick up and when I thought she finally answered…

Megure: It was me…

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Megure: Why didn’t you go check the restroom yourself?

Mouri: The restroom is outside! / She couldn’t leave before she could pay…

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Megure: So you have been waiting in the café all this time?

Yuika: Yes… // You can ask the café staff to be sure…

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Mouri: Maybe we should go to the café?

Megure: Okay… While everyone’s memory is still fresh…

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Mouri: We’ll head to the café but you stay here, Takagi! / Call me if you find something out!

Takagi: Yes, sir!

Ran: What’s wrong, Sonoko?

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Sonoko: Something doesn’t seem right about her…

Ran: Huh? // What do you mean?

P8

Sonoko: Goth-loli girls usually pain their nails white or black… // but she hasn’t painted her nail at all.

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Sonoko: I guess her nails weren’t painted when she came into the café either…

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Conan: Were there any fake nails or anything on the floor?

Takagi: Oh, no…

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Mouri: Hey, what are you doing? Let’s go! // You guys are witnesses too!

Ran: Okay…

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Café staff: Yes, she did come in! // A little before 1:00… // And sat here…

P9

Megure: And you’re sure it was this woman?

Café staff: Yes, I believe so…

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Café staff: She was very soft-spoken…

Megure: Soft-spoken?

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Café staff: She asked me the time as soon as she sat down, so I told her it was 12:56… // But the clock is right near where she was sitting…

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Megure: Is it true that this woman came in 10 minutes after the other woman went to the restroom?

Café staff: Yes… She said she was meeting her friend… // I think it was around 1:12…

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Megure: And she sat here this whole time?

Café staff: Yes… / She seemed to be calling the other woman many times…

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Megure: If she’s the murderer… // She would have had to kill the victim right as she went into the restroom and come here after the job was done…

P10

Megure: But it would take over 30 minutes by car or train to get to that restroom from here…

Mouri: It’s impossible for her to do it…

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Conan: I think she was cursed to death by an evil witch!

Ran: What?

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Ran: An evil witch…?

Conan: That goth-loli lady looked so normal in her driver’s license picture… / but she looked like she was cursed or something when we saw her!

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Sonoko: You’re so dumb!! Goth-loli people make their skin look whiter with foundation and use mascara to make their eyes stand out!

Ran: If Sonoko or I did the same, we’d look like that too!

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Conan: Then if you dressed the same, no one could tell the difference between you two…

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Mouri: Chief… I think this might be…

Megure: Yeah… We need to make sure that the woman that came in here was the real Mihiro-san…

P11

Megure: Did the woman that came in first order anything?

Café staff: No, she didn’t… // She looked at the menu before she left…

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Megure: Can I borrow this menu then?

Café staff: Sure…

Yuika: I don’t think Mihiro’s fingerprints will be on that…

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Megure: Huh?

Yuika: I accidentally spilled some water… / When I went to pick up the glass, I put the menu on the spill so I had to wipe it off later…

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Yuika: I also wiped the tabletop and seat off since they were wet… // So Mihiro’s fingerprints or any evidence that she was here is gone…

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Yuika: I guess that makes me the murderer? // Officer?

Megure: Uhh… Well…

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Yuika: Mihiro’s glass also broke when I dropped it…

Mouri: It broke?

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Mouri: Do you still have the glass?

Café staff: Oh yes! // It’s in the trash…

P12

Mouri: These are the pieces?

Café staff: Yes… It’s the only broken glass of the day…

Megure: We should have someone investigate!

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Yuika: Should we go to the store where Mihiro bought her clothes? / I know which store she would go to…

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Store staff: Yes, this is her…

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Store staff: She came yesterday afternoon…

Megure: Alone?

Store staff: Yes…

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Yuika: Is she the only one that bought that dress?

Store staff: No… It’s an original of ours that we started selling yesterday and it’s very popular, / and they’re all sold out within yesterday…

P13

Mouri: Was she one of the people that bought the dress?

Store staff: I don’t know…

Yuika: There’s no way I could buy it! / I was in a taxi coming back from my business trip in Fukuoka when I heard that she bought the dress!

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Megure: Fukuoka?

Yuika: Yes! I got back to Haneda airport at noon today and came straight to the café in Shinjuku!

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Yuika: Why don’t you go double check? / You can ask my coworkers that were on the same flight!

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Conan: If that’s true, there’s no way she could have bought the dress… // But she’s most likely the murderer… // But how?

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Ran: Hey, Conan-kun…

Conan: Huh?

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Ran: I’m borrowing their changing room to change my outfit…

Conan: You’re changing into Lolita clothes in the middle of a murder case?

P14

Ran: How is it?

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Ran: Does it look… // weird?

Conan: I… // don’t think so…

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Conan: Wow… She looks pretty cute!

Sonoko: Hey! / You shouldn’t show that kid, what a waste!

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Conan: Why are you wearing the same thing?

Sonoko: You don’t get it at all!

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Sonoko: This… // Is an important part of fashion…

P15

Megure: Okay… // So you found a fingerprint from the glass?

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Mouri: Her alibi is complete…

Yuika: Can you let me go soon?

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Yuika: It’s getting… // Late…

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Conan: I get it… // So that’s it!

P16

Takagi: Huh? // A section that’s suspiciously clean?

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Takagi: I don’t think there’s anything like that in the stall that the body was in…

Conan: Did you check the other stalls?

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Takagi: Not yet… // Oh!

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Takagi: The toilet paper cover in the next stall… // Is very clean for some reason…

Conan: There it is!!

To be continued in Issue 31