Detective Conan 698

[Almost caught up........almost!!!!]


File 698: An Obscure and Fragile Thing

P2

Yuika: I’ll be leaving now!

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Yuika: I have to let our other friends know about Mihiro’s passing…

Megure: Wait, you can’t leave yet…

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Megure: There’s something we’re stuck on… Your friend Mihiro-san that you were supposed to meet… // Left the café that you two were supposed to meet….

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Megure: And for some reason she was found murdered in a restroom in Harajuku…

Yuika: I don’t know why either!

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Yuika: The only thing that I can say is that I came into this café 10 minutes after Mihiro went to the bathroom… // And I tried calling her a bunch of times because she’s taking so long and when I thought she finally answered…

P3

Yuika: You answered her phone while at the crime scene! // Or what? Are you suspecting that I did it?

Megure: Uh, no…

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Megure: It’s not that…

Mouri: Chief, Shoudou-san is innocent!

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Mouri: We talked about this already! If Shoudou-san is the murderer, she would had to call Mihiro to make her go to the restroom in the park… / and then come to the café after she killed her…

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Mouri: But it would take her 30 minutes roundtrip from the café to the restroom in Harajuku… // There’s no way she could have come to the café 10 minutes after Mihiro-san left…

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Mouri: And we found fingerprints on the broken glass from the café. // Which means we know for sure that Mihiro-san was in the café!

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Conan: I wonder why Mihiro-san touched that glass.

Mouri: Huh?

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Mouri: If you’re served water at a café, you would drink it!!

Conan: But the glass that she dropped and broke…

P4

Conan: Didn’t have any lipstick on it!

Mouri, Yuika, Megure: What?

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Conan: That goth-loli lady was wearing black lipstick.

Mouri: Oh, you’re right…

Yuika: Maybe you don’t know, little boy…

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Yuika: A real lady wipes off any lipstick that gets on a cup out of courtesy!

Conan: But I don’t think there were any smudge marks from her wiping it off either…

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Yuika: Maybe she just moved the cup so that she wouldn’t hit it with her menu when she was looking at it. / So she didn’t get to drink the water before she got up!

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Yuika: But I accidentally hit the cup with my menu when I opened it…

Conan: Hmmm…

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Conan: Then you were really lucky about the glass breaking!

Yuika: Lu… // lucky?

P5

Conan: If it didn’t break, the café staff would have cleaned up after you left to come to the crime scene… // and the fingerprints would have been washed away!

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Conan: Why did you sit on the side that the cup was placed? Wasn’t it clear that your friend was sitting there since the cup was there? / People usually sit on the opposite side of the person they’re waiting for…

Yuika: That… / that’s…

Conan: If you sat on the other side you wouldn’t have broken the glass…

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Mouri: You idiot! She’s free to sit on whichever side she wants to!! / That broken glass would have been thrown away so we would have lost the fingerprint anyway!!

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Mouri: If the garbage truck came to pick up the trash, it would have been taken away… // and do you know how many officers would need to go searching through the pile of garbage…

Conan: He’s so annoying…

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Mouri: do you…?

P6

Mouri: Do… // do… // do…

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Megure: Hey, Mouri-kun!? Did you…!?

Yuika: Mouri!?

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Yuika: Are you sleeping Kogoro!?

Conan speaking as Mouri from now on: Indeed I am…

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Mouri: But I won’t let this case go into eternal sleep… // I will explain it completely…

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Mouri: How Kuze Hirose-san was killed in the Harajuku park restroom… // and how the murderer was able to create an alibi by coming to the café right after the murder took place…

P7

Mouri: Shindou Yuika-san… // You are the one that committed this crime!

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Megure: Hey Mouri-kun... // You even said it yourself / that it would take 30 minutes roundtrip to from the restroom to the café…

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Megure: But Shoudou-san came into this café 10 minutes after Mihiro-san left…

Mouri: Sure, it would be impossible for her to kill Mihiro-san after she went to the restroom…

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Mouri: But what if she killed her before Mihiro-san came to the café? // Then it’s possible.

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Megure: Before she came here? // Then who came to the café…?

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Mouri: I’m sure you thought that the goth-loli fashion is extremely unique when you saw Mihiro-san’s body…

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Mouri: All of us in the café thought the same thing and our attention went straight to her clothes… // No one really looked at her face enough to remember it…

P8

Mouri: No one would have guessed that the OL-style woman that walked in 10 minutes later… // was the same person as the woman in goth-loli fashion from just a few moments ago!

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Yuika: What? That’s such nonsense! // Mihiro’s fingerprints were on that glass!!

Mouri: Of course they were!

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Mouri: You had stolen that glass in advance from the café… // and had it all prepared!

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Yuika: What!?

Mouri: I’m assuming you served Mihiro-san something to drink in that glass when she came to your house… // and made sure her fingerprints were on that glass!

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Mouri: When you first arrived dressed in goth-loli clothes, you were served some water… / and then you switched the glass with the one you hid in your purse when you came back in the OL-style clothing…

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Mouri: You purposely sat on the same side to make swapping easier… // since you had to switch the water into the glass as well!

P9

Mouri: Then you purposely knocked the glass over and broke it… // So that you could get rid of any evidence that Mihiro-san would have left of her sitting there… // and to force us to use the glass as the only thing that we could use… // Plus, if it’s broken, you could try to help pick up the pieces and say your fingerprints got on it at that time…

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Yuika: But you said if the glass broke, it would have been thrown away…

Mouri: That would only apply if several days had passed since Mihiro-san’s body was found!

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Megure: So that’s why you kept calling Mihiro-san! // If someone was in the restroom and the phone kept ringing but no one answered, someone would eventually check on the person inside the stall! / That’s especially true at a time the restroom gets crowded!

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Megure: After Mihiro-san’s body is found, the police would wonder who kept calling her and head to the café she was supposed to go to… // and we would be forced to find the glass to use as evidence!

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Yuika: Wait a second! // Have you forgotten? // Mihiro came to this store to buy that dress alone yesterday afternoon / and it was the only day the dress was available…

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Yuika: There’s no way I could have bought t hat dress while I was away on my business trip in Fukuoka until today…

Mouri: The question is not about who bought the dress…

P10

Mouri: It’s about how many…

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Mouri: Did Mihiro-san only buy one dress yesterday?

Store staff: No, she bought two…

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Store staff: She had called in to preorder, since she could only come pick them up in the afternoon and she asked for two dresses of the same size… // She was worried that they’d be sold out since we had put an ad up a few days ago and the dress is very popular…

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Mouri: When the chief asked if Mihiro-san came to buy the dress alone…

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

Mouri: You interjected with that question.

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Mouri: It was to prevent her from saying that Mihiro-san had bought two of the dresses before the question was raised. // You wanted us to focus on who bought the dress opposed to how many she bought…

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Mouri: Am I wrong?

Megure: But Mouri-kun…

P11

Megure: I understand that you’re saying that she made Mihiro-san buy her the same dress in the same size and bring it with her but… / it would take her a really long time to do her make up and hair after she killed Mihiro-san. How can she do it quickly enough so she can keep her alibi?

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Megure: You’re not implying that they had planned to meet each other looking identical to one another…

Store staff: Oh, about that…

Yuika: THAT’S EXACTLY IT!!

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Yuika: How do you know she didn’t buy them both for herself? / It might have been a spare in case she ruined one of them by accident!

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Yuika: Right!? // There are people that do that!?

Store staff: Yes… I suppose…

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Mouri: My daughter… // helped me solve this mystery…

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Conan: Ran nee-chan and Sonoko nee-chan! // Why are you two hiding over there?

Ran: Wha…

Sonoko: That brat!

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Conan: Everyone wants to see your cute dress!

Ran: Whaaaat!?

Sonoko: Fine fine.

P12

Sonoko: Tada!!

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Megure: What are you wearing!? And why are you dressed the same!?

Store staff: Oh, that’s…

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Store staff: It’s called twin-fashion… / It’s when really close friends wear the same clothes, same make-up, same hairstyle and even carry the same handbag… / They try to look like they’re twins!

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Store staff: So I thought that Mihiro-san was going to do the same twin-fashion with her friend…

Megure: I see… So you talked Mihiro-san into doing this… / And after you two changed into your clothes in the park restroom…

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Megure: And you strangled her to death!!

Yuika: I don’t know about that… Can you prove to me that I’m the one who did it then?

P13

Mouri: There is proof… // On your left arm…

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Yuika: What?

Mouri: Earlier on, you went to look at the time on your watch but you stopped and checked your cell phone instead. / The reason why you stopped was…

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Mouri: When you were strangling her… // Mihiro-san scratched your arm…

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Megure: There is a wound here…

Yuika: No! // I did it myself by accident…

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Mouri: Sure… You can make up any kind of excuse about that… / Your skin wasn’t found under Mihiro-san’s nails, presumably because they were caught on her fake nails… / So all you had yo do was remove her fake nails to get rid of the DNA evidence…

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Mouri: Despite the fact that you didn’t have much time since you had to complete your alibi… / You had to remove all of her fake nails carefully… / The reason why is…

P14

Mouri: You wanted to hide the fact that she scratched you at all! // You had to hide the blood that fell from your wound onto a specific place in the restroom!!

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Megure: What is that specific place you speak of?

Mouri: Officer Takagi should be contacting you soon…

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Megure: Yes, this is Megure… // What!? There’s evidence of blood in the stall next to where the body was!?

Takagi: Yes!

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Takagi: The toilet paper cover didn’t have any dust on it so I had someone test it for a luminol reaction!

Megure: And what did you find!?
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Takagi: It’s not the victim’s blood so it must be the perpetrator’s blood! // The murder must have taken place in this stall… / The body must have been moved because the perpetrator’s blood was in this stall…

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Megure: That’s the word! / We would like to examine a sample of your blood…

Yuika: Heh… You can if you want…

P15

Yuika: But Mihiro has stolen everything from me… // so I probably don’t have any blood left to give you!

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Sonoko: Stole what? Your boyfriend?

Yuika: Yes, that’s one thing! The first time she stole something of mine was when we were 20 years old. / I was already depressed but I was fired soon after, got kicked out of my apartment and all of my friends stopped seeing me for some reason…

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Yuika: She was the only one left… // Mihiro spoke to her parents and got me a job at their company… / and I was able to get an apartment thanks to her…

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Megure: She was such a giving friend!

Yuika: Yes… I thought so until recently…

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Yuika: Until I found out that the reason why I was fired, kicked out of my house and lost all of my friends… // was all because of her evil schemes!!

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Ran: Why would she do that?

Yuika: I don’t know… Maybe she wanted me to be dependent on her? / She didn’t have any other friends…

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Yuika: But she betrayed me… When I trusted her… // So that’s why I took everything away from her…

P16

Yuika: You happy-go-lucky girls should watch out too… // Friendship is an obscure and fragile thing…

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Megure: We’ll hear the rest back at the precinct…

Sonoko: Are you stupid or something!?

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Sonoko: It’s not obscure or fragile!! // That’s why we become stronger when we feel ourselves connected to each other!!

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Sonoko: If your heart is hard as steel and your friendship is only about convenience… // you’ll never be able to connect!

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Yuika: You’re right… // If I could have said something like that to her…

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Yuika: We might have been able to… // connect like we once did a long time ago…

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Ran: You’re so cool, Sonoko!

Sonoko: Thanks!

Conan: Not so cool when you’re dressed like that…

To be continued in Issue 32