Detective Conan 719

Chapter 719

01

Title: File 719 Request from the Bottom of a Lake
Text: A plate on the head means...!?
[TN: The plate is meant to be reminiscent of the bowl-like indentation with water in it on a kappa's head.]

02

Ran: To Mouri Kogorou-sama...
Ran: I seek your services as a detective...

Ran: 11 years ago, I was said to have committed murder...
Ran: I would like for you to use your skills to prove my innocence...

Ran: I will give you the details in the early morning of January 24th at the Koura Inn in Kuchibashi city of the Gunma Prefecture which is near where the incident occurred...
Ran: Tatezato Mika...

Ran: Wait...Isn't this woman saying she wants to meet with you while she's on the run as a murderer?
Mouri: Yeah...
Mouri: It's possible...

Right margin: The incident started with an odd letter that arrived for Kogorou...

03

Ran: It's possible...?
Ran: Is it okay to meet her...?
Conan: That's right! We should contact the police first...

Mouri: I already thought of that and contacted Yamamura of the Gunma Prefectural Police.
Mouri: But there weren't any murders near that inn 11 years ago.
Mouri: And no one named Tatezato Mika is currently wanted...

Mouri: Although, if she's really wanted, then that was probably a fake name...
Mouri: Yamamura said it was probably just a nasty prank.

Ran: Then why did we come here?
Mouri: I had no choice.
Mouri: We already used up the payment that came with the letter!

Ran: Used up...?
Ran: Don't tell me that was last night's Chinese dinner...
Mouri: Let's go all out to celebrate the New Year!!
Conan: He's the one who ordered a whole bunch of expensive looking food and drinks...

Mouri: Well, I'm just here to see whether it's a prank or not!
Mouri: And I thought you two were happy to be staying at this inn!
Ran: W-we are, but...

Mouri: Hm?

04

Mouri: Wah!

Mouri: You idiot!! That's dangerous!!
Tokubi: S-sorry!
Tokubi: Are you going to Koura Inn by any chance?

Ran: Yes...
Ran: We are...

Tokubi: Oh! Then can I hitch a ride?
Tokubi: I'm staying there today, too.

Mouri: I don't mind...
Tokubi: Thank you very much!

Tokubi: You're a huge help! I thought I would walk there from the station, but I got tired partyway there...
Mouri: Are you Tatezato-san?

Tokubi: No...
Tokubi: My name is Tokubi Rokurou...
Box: Tokubi Rokurou (42) Painter

05

Conan: But isn't the station pretty far away...?
Tokubi: I used to teach at the elementary school near here. I liked to walk around looking at the scenery around here, but I'm not in as good shape as I used to be...

Tokubi: The school stopped getting very many students and was shut down, so I quit being a teacher and started painting...
Mouri: A painter, huh...?

Tokubi: Oh, that's right!
Tokubi: Since you're giving me a ride, do you mind stopping by to visit a grave?
Mouri: A grave?

Mouri: Ohh...

Mouri: A student was swept away by the river and drowned...?
Tokubi: Yes... His name was Numayama Tatsuhiko. He was swept down to a pond downstream.
Ran: C-could that be the murder from 11 years ago?

Tokubi: It was an accident, not a murder!
Tokubi: He was playing in the river even though it had been raining a lot and was swept away.

Tokubi: But I do think it was about 10 years ago...

Araiwa: Ah...

06

Araiwa: Tokubi-sensei...
Tokubi: Huh?

Tokubi: Oh, it's Araiwa-kun!
Tokubi: Are you visiting the grave, too?
Araiwa: Yes...

Araiwa: Today is the day Tatsuhiko died...
Araiwa: After this I'm heading over to his house to light an incense stick at his altar there...
Box: Araiwa Kazuki (21) Tatsuhiko's Classmate

Mouri: Isn't this a little crude for a grave?
Tokubi: Oh, his real grave is elsewhere.
Araiwa: This is one the class built when he died...

Araiwa: Instead of his remains, we buried things that reminded us of him.
Araiwa: I already visited his real grave, of course...
Ran: But why is it here?

Araiwa: This river flowing behind it is the river he was swept away and died in.
Araiwa: It was 11 years ago today...

07

Ran: E-eleven years ago...
Ran: So then that really was the murder the letter mentioned.

Tokubi: Letter?
Conan: How do you know he was swept away in this river? Wasn't he found in a pond downstream?
Araiwa: H-his shoe was found here...

Araiwa: His shoe was found stuck between some rocks at the bottom of the river.
Araiwa: That's why the police said he probably got his foot stuck while playing in the river and couldn't move, and then the rain got stronger and stronger until a flash flood swept him away.

Mouri: But you usually don't play in the river at the end of January...
Tokubi: Where was the shoe found in the river?
Araiwa: Over there where the rocks stick out of the river!

Araiwa: Right about here.
Mouri: With that shoe being there...
Mouri: it must've been an accident.

Conan: Where is that shoe now?
Araiwa: It's buried underneath that grave.
Tokubi: You could probably dig it up if you wanted to see it.

Tokubi: Wah!

08

Mouri: H...
Mouri: Hey...
Ran: No way!!

Araiwa: Oh, we're fine!
Tokubi: It's shallow...

Tokubi: Sorry... I got your clothes and luggage all wet...
Araiwa: Don't worry about it...

Tokubi: It looks like my painting supplies are fine...
Tokubi: but this sketchbook is unusable.

Tokubi: And the incense sticks are ruined.
Araiwa: My bag is plastic, so my stuff didn't get very wet.

Araiwa: The cap to my plastic bottles are still on tight...
Araiwa: and my clothes and pillow are safe!

09

Numayama: Hey!!
Numayama: What are you doing!?

Numayama: Hm?
Numayama: Have I seen you two before?
Araiwa: Oh, I'm a friend of Tatsuhiko-kun's. I'm visiting his grave.

Numayama: Visiting his grave?

Numayama: You mean this grave!?
Tokubi and Araiwa: Ah!

Numayama: My son died 11 years ago!
Numayama: Just forget about him already!!
Box: Numayama Banzou (51) Tatsuhiko's Father

Mouri: S...
Ran: Son?

10

Ran: Oh... So he was Tatsuhiko-kun's father.
Tokubi: Yes...

Tokubi: He's also the owner of the inn we're heading to.
Mouri: Eh!?

Conan: But why was the owner of the inn there?
Araiwa: Maybe he was watching.

Araiwa: The inn is on high ground. If you used binoculars from the small window in the attic, you could probably see all over the area.
Araiwa: He must have thought we looked suspicious.

Mouri: Eh?
Mouri: She's not here!?
Sign: Koura Inn

Mouri: There really isn't someone called Tatezato Mika staying here? I'm supposed to meet her here early tomorrow morning.
Man: No, there's no one named that here.

Mouri: Then do you know anything about a murder here 11 years ago?
Man: No...

Nohira: Yeah, there was a murder.

11

Nohira: But then, the murderer...
Nohira: was a kappa.
Box: Nohira Bousuke (45) Guest

Ran: A...
Conan: A kappa!?

Nohira: Yes...The legends of kappas still continue strong in this area.
SFX: *cough* *cough*
Nohira: About 12 or 13 years ago, there were some people who said they saw a kappa. The TV stations and journalists even came out here.

Nohira: And right after all that, there was a uproar about a kid who was swept away in a river and drowned!
Nohira: Everyone was saying the kappa did it and that kappas must actually exist.
Nohira: This inn was full of people coming to try and find the kappa!

Nohira: But after that, no one saw a kappa, so people stopped coming.
Ran: W-wait a second...

Ran: The name on this letter, Tatezato Mika...
Ran: If you put the four kanji making up the name together...

12

Ran: It...
Ran: It becomes the word "Kappa"!

Ran: Th-that has to be it! The kappa called you here to prove its innocence in the murder!
Mouri: That's ridiculous...
Tokubi: I see. So it's saying Tatsuhiko-kun's death wasn't an accident or a kappa's doing, but he was killed by someone.

Araiwa: A-a kappa sent that letter...?
Nohira: Sounds interesting!
Numayama: Hmph!
Numayama: Everyone gets so manipulated by these stupid superstitions.

Numayama: If you keep talking about these imaginary creatures, I'm kicking you out of my inn!!

Mouri: Geez. Are you serious?
Mouri: You dropped your cell phone next to the river?

Ran: Yeah, I think so. I was writing a reply to an email I got from Sonoko when those two fell in the river.
Mouri: So you threw the phone on the ground so you could save them, did you?

13

Mouri: Can't we just do this tomorrow?
Ran: I-I thought that too...
Ran: but Conan-kun said...

Conan: I said that if the battery ran out, we couldn't call it to find it by its ring.
Conan: And it would be bad if someone picked it up and misused it, right?
Ran: See?

Mouri: We were right around here...
Ran: Let's split up and search!
SFX: *click*

Mouri: Hey! Have you called it?
Conan: Yeah!
SFX: Rinnng
SFX: Rinnng

Ran: H...
Ran: Here it is!

Ran: Eh?
SFX: *splash*

Ran: What?
Ran: What was that noise?

14

Ran: Ky...

Ran: Kyaaaah!

Mouri: Hey, what is it!?
Ran: K...
Ran: K...
Ran: Kappa!!!

Mouri: There's nothing there!
Ran: I-it was right there!
Ran: It stood up from the water...

Conan: Oh! You found your cell phone!
Ran: Y-yeah...

Mouri: Wah! It's started raining!
Conan: Let's go back!
Ran: Y-yeah...

15

Tokubi: Eh!?
Sign: Koura Inn
Tokubi: You saw a kappa!?

Tokubi: Are you serious?
Mouri: Yes...
Mouri: My daughter said she saw it in the water last night.

Mouri: But she's afraid of monsters like that, so it was probably just a tree branch or something.
Ran: It was really there!

Araiwa: C-could it have been a ghost?
Conan: A ghost?

Nohira: Let's quit talking about kappas!
Nohira: That old man's gonna start yelling at us again.

Nohira: See, here he is!

Man: E-emergency!!
Man: M-master's been...

Mouri & Conan: Eh?

16

Box: The body was lying in the dimly lit attic...

Box: It was like he had been entranced by a kappa...
Box: and dragged down to the bottom of a lake.

Box: He was covered in a raw smelling liquid...

Box: And in his embrace was what once belonged to his dead son...

Right margin: How did this soaking wet corpse get in this dry room!?