Detective Conan 721

Chapter 721

01

Title: File 721 The Kappa's Identity
Text: Could this be...!?

02

Yamamura: Anyway!
Sign: Koura Inn
On cop car: Gunma Prefecture

Yamamura: Since Ran-san saw this unknown otherworldly being...
Yamamura: the murderer must have been none other than an alien!!

Yamamura: So I'll have to put this incident in the top secret "File X" in the deepest depths of the Gunma Prefectural Police Headquarters...
Yamamura: so that it will never see the light of day again.
Mouri: Hey, Are you trying to cover this up?
Conan: There's no way that file actually exists...

Ran: B-but why would aliens kill Banzou-san, the owner of this inn!?
Conan: Hey...
Yamamura: Weren't you listening? Banzou-san was always keeping watch over the river with binoculars from the attic!!

Yamamura: He must have seen them from there!!
Yamamura: He saw a swarm of kappa-like aliens playing in the river!!
Yamamura: A-and when the aliens realized they'd been found out...

Right margin: Conan has solved the mystery of the drowning trick...

03

Yamamura: They...!?
SFX: Ps

Yamamura: Niheen...
SFX: *beep* *beep*

Conan: Well, it'll be easier putting this hack to sleep this time...

Mouri: Hey, Yamamura?
Ran: It's just like dad's Sleeping Kogorou...
Tokubi: C-could it be the kappa's curse?

Conan: That's right, the kappa...As soon as I said that word, the truth behind this case came to me!!
Ran: Th-the complete jump in reasoning is the same too...
Mouri: Eh? I do that?

Conan: Now! Call the other two suspects here! I'm going to reveal the truth behind this case to you all!
Conan: I bet my name as an inspector in Gunma Prefecture's first investigative department!!

04

Nohira: Huh?
Sign: Chrysanthemum Room

Nohira: You know who the murderer is?

Nohira: So you're gathering all of us...
Araiwa: because one of us is the murderer!?

Tokubi: But the suspicion about us was cleared up after that inspector searched our rooms...
Mouri: That's right, Yamamura!

Mouri: The major point of this case...
Mouri: is that bad-smelling water.

Mouri: The owner of this inn, Numayama Banzou-san, was drowned in the attic...using water from a pond 10 kilometers from here!
Mouri: To fill that bucket with enough water to drown someone would take about a liter...
Mouri: So the murderer had to have brought a liter of that smelly water here in some kind of container.

05

Mouri: But all of the bottles of colored inks Tokubi-san had were almost full.
Mouri: And he used that ink to paint a picture.

Mouri: Araiwa-san had two 500 milliliter plastic bottles and a water pillow in his bag...
Mouri: but the plastic bottle that was unsealed still had half its contents left and the water pillow was empty when he brought it into the inn.
Mouri: It was impossible for either one of them to have brought in a liter of water.

Mouri: And the reporter, Nohira-san, had a bunch of film cases...
Mouri: but, at the time of the crime, from 6 to 7 AM, he was on the phone with his editor. He has a perfect alibi.

Mouri: And yet you're saying one of them is the murderer?
Conan: Don't you think it's odd?

Conan: Ignoring Nohira-san who has an alibi...
Conan: If the contents of Tokubi-san and Araiwa-san's bags weren't known beforehand, they would still be under suspicion.

Conan: They could have brought in the water in a carton or a balloon...
Conan: and, after the crime, chopped it up and flushed it down the toilet.
Mouri: Th-that's true...

Conan: But we found out what was in your luggage beforehand.
Conan: Why was that...?

06

Conan: Tokubi-san, it was because you slipped and fell in the river...
Conan: and spread out everything in your bag saying you were checking your luggage!
Conan: It was preparation for your murder trick!!

Ran: Th-then, you mean...?
Araiwa: T-Tokubi-sensei's the murderer!?

Conan: Yes... That's why he sent a letter to Mouri-san under the suspicious name of Tatezato Mika calling him here...
Conan: and hitched a ride with him when he was on the way to this inn.

Conan: And he had them visit the grave of Banzou-san's son, Tatsuhiko-kun, before they got to the inn...
Conan: so he could trip on something and fall into the river!

Conan: He dragged Araiwa-san who happened to be there too in with him so that he could take suspicion off of his old student.
Ran: But...I don't remember anyone telling you about the letter we got.

Conan: I told him about it!
Conan: I told him we came to this inn because of a letter from some strange person whose name was Kappa if you rearranged it!

Araiwa: B-but...sensei only has these small colored ink bottles!!
Araiwa: How did he bring in a liter of water with these...?

07

Conan: He has nine 60 millimeter bottles, sixteen 15 milliliter bottles, and a 100 milliliter water bottle. That's a total of 880 milliliters.
Conan: If he filled up all of them to the very top, he would have about a liter.
Conan: It would be enough to drown someone when it was put in a bucket.

Ran: B-but he painted a picture using the colored ink!
Ran: He used a whole bunch of colors.
Ran: And the bottles he didn't use have the same color as it says on the labels.

Conan: He...
Conan: didn't use the water bottle, did he?

Conan: See...it's lying there empty!

Conan: Usually, you use water to dilute the colored inks...
Conan: because they're too strong as they are.
Conan: If you don't dilute it, you would use up those small bottles of ink really quickly.

Conan: But he painted that light painting without using any water.
Conan: That's because the undiluted ink...

08

Conan: was just what could fit in the dropper on the lid.
Conan: After the murder, he diluted it using tap water!

Ran: T-tap water?
Mouri: I-I see... If he sucked the color up into the dropper and emptied the bottle...
Mouri: and then filled the empty space with the pond water...

Mouri: after using the pond water in the murder, he could fill it with tap water and mix in the undiluted ink from the dropper giving it color.
Mouri: At first glance it would look like colored ink!

Conan: Yes...Of course, before the murder, he had to seal the dropper with tape or something...
Conan: so the ink's coloring didn't mix with the pond water.

Conan: As evidence, when he was checking his luggage after falling in the river...
Conan: he didn't take the colored ink bottles out of their case.

Conan: If he had, it would have been found out that it wasn't brightly colored ink, but muddy pond water inside of them.
Mouri: Hmph...You idiot.
Mouri: If you hadn't made that picture, you wouldn't have been found out.

Conan: He had no choice but to make it...
Mouri: Hm?

09

Conan: It's impossible to properly wash out that many bottles in that small amount of time.
Conan: There must be some amount...
Conan: of pond water remaining in the diluted colored ink.

Conan: That's why he dared to paint that picture.
Conan: He was giving us the impression that it was definitely colored ink inside those bottles.

Conan: Well, I'll have someone check the contents of the ink, so we'll know soon enough.
Araiwa: N-no way!!
Araiwa: Sensei couldn't be the murderer!!

Araiwa: I mean, he's been visiting Tatsuhiko's grave for 11 years now!!
Araiwa: Even after he quit teaching here!

Araiwa: Why would someone like that have to kill Tatsuhiko's father!?
Tokubi: It was because he was his father...

Araiwa: Eh?
Tokubi: Because that man was Tatsuhiko-kun's father...
Tokubi: I couldn't forgive him.

10

Tokubi: It's that man's fault that Tatsuhiko-kun was swept away in that river and died.
Tokubi: It's exactly as if he had killed him!!

Araiwa: S-sensei...
Tokubi: After school the day before Tatsuhiko-kun died...
Tokubi: I saw him in the art room.

Tokubi: I saw him looking around franticly in that dim room for some paint that some student might have forgotten.
Tokubi: I was sure he just wanted to paint a painting so I gave him some new paint.

Tokubi: But a few days after he died, that man returned that paint to me.
Tokubi: None of the colors appeared to have been used, so I assumed he just hadn't done any painting.
Tokubi: I've kept that paint unused to remember Tatsuhiko-kun with.

Tokubi: But a few days ago I noticed...
Tokubi: something odd about that paint.
Mouri: Something odd?

Tokubi: The green paint had been switched out with another brand of paint!!

Mouri: Wh-why just the green...?
Tokubi: When I checked the shoe buried under his grave that he had worn when he was swept way, I confirmed it.

11

Tokubi: The fact that there was green paint on the inner toe of the shoe...
Tokubi: means that on the day he was washed away...
Tokubi: Tatsuhiko-kun's whole body was painted green!!

Ran: His whole body was painted green...?
Mouri: You don't mean...
Tokubi: Yes, that's right...

Tokubi: Tatsuhiko-kun's father ordered him to wander around the river dressed like a kappa!!
Tokubi: To get people to come to the inn!!
Tokubi: And in the cold January weather to boot!!

Ran: No way...

Nohira: So the kappa sightings from before that kid died...
Tokubi: They were probably Tatsuhiko-kun acting on that man's orders...

Tokubi: When that man took the shoe Tatsuhiko-kun's body had on when it was found floating in that pond and hid it in his pocket...
Tokubi: And when he put in a new bottle of green paint and returned the paints to me...
Tokubi: It was all in order to destroy the evidence!!

Tokubi: That's also why he was always keeping watch from the attic!!
Tokubi: He was making sure no one dug up the other shoe from the grave!!
Conan: No, that's not why...

12

Conan: I think Tatsuhiko-kun dressed up like a kappa on his own!
Tokubi: He did it for the sake of his dad's inn without his dad knowing!

Tokubi: Ha ha... What are you saying, boy...?
Conan: I mean...If you were secretly having your son do that, you would normally have him go buy paint!
Conan: If anyone saw him looking around for paint, they might realize he was dressing up as a kappa.

Conan: You can buy paint in bulk...
Conan: and there's nothing odd about a kid buying paint!
Tokubi: Then why did he take the shoe from the body!?

Conan: Wasn't it for Tatsuhiko-kun's sake?
Conan: It it was found out he died dressed like a kappa he'd be laughed at and it was something that belonged to his deceased son.
Conan: If it was proof of something bad, I don't think he would have put it in his pocket and taken it with him; I think he would have thrown it away long ago.

Conan: Isn't that right, Araiwa-oniisan!?
Araiwa: Eh?

Conan: When Ran-neechan said she saw a kappa, you said it might have been a ghost, right?
Conan: You knew Tatsuhiko-kun was dressed like a kappa, didn't you?

Araiwa: Th-the truth is...on that day when Tatsuhiko was swept away...
Araiwa: I was with him.
Ran: Ehh!?

13

Araiwa: Back then...there was a rumor spreading that, since the kappa stopped showing up once it got cold, someone must have been dressing up as a kappa.
Araiwa: Since it was going to be found out that Tatsuhiko was the kappa...
Araiwa: he said he was going to do it on that cold day.

Araiwa: It started raining, so I told him to stop, but...
Tatsuhiko: It's just sprinkling, so I'll be okay!
Tatsuhiko: Go to the inn and bring some of the guests here saying the kappa's shown up!

Araiwa: But on the way to the inn it really started to rain, so I turned back to tell him he should really stop.
Araiwa: When I got there he couldn't move because his foot was caught between some rocks at the bottom of the river.
Araiwa: I hurried to go get his father...

Araiwa: B-but he wasn't there anymore.
Mouri: And the two of you searched and found him floating in the pond downstream...

Araiwa: Yeah...Banzou-san took off Tatsuhiko's green-colored shoe...
Araiwa: and asked me not to tell anyone Tatsuhiko was dressed as a kappa.
Araiwa: He said that, if some idiot copied him and met the same fate, it would sadden Tatsuhiko.

Mouri: I see...So that's why he was always watching over the river.
Mouri: It wasn't to make sure no one was swept away in the river...
Mouri: It was to make sure no one messed around dressed up like a kappa.

Tokubi: N-no...
Tokubi: No...
Nohira: But... What about the rumors of that old man prowling around that grave night after night?
Conan: Most likely...

14

Conan: He was secretly building the grave back after destroying it in front of Tatsuhiko-kun's friends so they wouldn't go near the river.
Conan: It may have just been a pile of rocks, but that doesn't change the fact that it was a precious grave built by his son's friends.

Tokubi: Wahhh...
Box: As if acting in concert with Tokubi-san's cries as he was taken into the police car...
Yamamura: *yawn*

Box: The area was completely dyed in the sorrowful colors of the sunset.

Mouri: I have a whole new opinion of you, Yamamura!
Mouri: Did becoming an inspector unmask the real you?
Yamamura: Ha ha...
Yamamura: I have no idea what he's talking about...

Yamamura: Well, it looks like this case is resolved. How about we go get a drink?
Mouri: Good idea.
Ran: W...

Ran: Wait a second!!
Ran: We haven't solved the mystery of the kappa I saw.

15

Yamamura: Are you still going on about that?
Mouri: Give it a break already...
Ran: But I really, really saw it!

Conan: Like we've said...You probably only thought you saw it because you were so afraid...
Ran: Why are you talking to me like I'm a child...
Ran: when you're the child.

Conan: Eh?

Conan: A...
Conan: kappa!?

Yamamura: It's here!!
Mouri: H-hey, Ran! Use your karate on him!!
Ran: Ehh!?

SFX: *slide*

16

Nohira: Hm?

Mouri: I-it was you!?
Mouri: You're the kappa!!
Nohira: Eh?

Nohira: Oh... I thought I'd take some pictures near that grave last night...
Nohira: and your arrival scared me making me slip and fall in the river!

Nohira: When that girl was going on about a kappa, I knew that, if I said the wrong thing I'd be treated like the murderer, so I didn't say anything.
Yamamura: But, in this picture, the body is more slender, the stomach sticks out more, and it looks like there's hair coming out from under the shell.

Conan: The body is more slender because your clothes were sticking to your body from getting wet in the river and the stomach is sticking out because you had something in there, right?
Nohira: Yeah...Film and stuff...

Ran: Th-then what's the hair coming out from the shell?
Nohira: I do survival games every once in a while...
Nohira: and I stick leaves all over myself as camouflage.

Mouri: Are you an idiot!?
Conan: Well, that's resolved...

Right margin: This is what they mean when they talk about examining the ghost.
[TN: This is a reference to a Japanese phrase saying that "if you examine a ghost closely, it's only withered silver grass." It means that if you look at the strange carefully, it's something ordinary.]