Detective Conan 723

Chapter 723

01

Title: File 723 The Lake-Top Sealed Room
Text: What exactly is he recalling!?

02

Unpei: Hm?
Unpei: Did something happen?
Mishio: I don't know!

Mishio: I came to get in the lake-top open air bath, but these kids won't let us in...
Mitsuhiko: I told you. No one can go in.
Genta: That's what Conan told us!

Ai: Hey...
Ai: Is he dead?
Conan: Yeah, he isn't breathing.

Ayumi: No way...
Conan: Haibara! You've called the police, right?
Ai: Yes...

Right margin: That perverted and arrogant scriptwriter lies dead on the rocks of the lake-top open air bath...

03

Junsaku: T...
Junsaku: Tetsuyama-sensei...

Junsaku: N-no...
Junsaku: Why is he...?

Junsaku: Sensei!
Junsaku: Tetsuyama-sensei!?

Yokomizo: The cause of death was an acute subdural hematoma and cerebral contusion caused by a blow to the back of the head.
Yokomizo: The estimated time of death is just after 5 this morning.

Yokomizo: Seeing the foam marks on the bottom of the deceased's foot...
Yokomizo: the foam marks on the tiles below his foot...
Yokomizo: and the soap that...
Yokomizo: has been knocked across from his feet...

04

Yokomizo: it looks like he accidentally stepped on the soap coming out of the bath, slipped, and fell.
Yokomizo: Hitting his head on the rocks around the bath was clearly the cause of this accidental death.

Conan: But isn't it weird?
Conan: This is the women's bath.
Yokomizo: This kid again...

Yokomizo: I thought that was odd too...
Yokomizo: but he headed to the open air bath at around 4:30. The area must have still been dark, so he mistook the women's bath for the men's bath!

Conan: But we came right after he did and the curtain telling you which it was was easy to see!
Yokomizo: Then I'm sure you met...
Yokomizo: the two employees who were at the entrance to the bridge!

Yokomizo: Those two said...
Yokomizo: that this old man was the only person to come through there before you kids did!

Yokomizo: Since you all came after he did, and you found his body, it has to have been an accident!
Conan: But look...
Conan: at his collarbone!

05

Conan: There's a little pool of water!

Conan: And on his belly button, too!

Conan: If he slipped with the force needed to kill him, any water on him would've flow off, right?
Yokomizo: T-true...

Conan: Maybe someone poured water on him after he fell to wash something off of him!
Yokomizo: Wash something...?
Yokomizo: But what...?

Yokomizo: I know. Blood! Blood that unnaturally landed on his shoulders and back when he was first hit.
Yokomizo: Someone washed it off after finishing him off by hitting his head against the rock...
Yokomizo: to make it look like an accidental death.

Yokomizo: Hey, wait a second.
Yokomizo: There wasn't anyone here but the kids you came with when you found the body, right?
Conan: Right!

Conan: And there weren't any loud noise sounding like someone had jumped into the lake!
Yokomizo: Then this lake-top open air bath was a completely sealed room...

06

Conan: Making this an impossible crime, right?

Conan: So first we have to solve that mystery...
Yokomizo: Yeah, that's right...
Yokomizo: And...

Yokomizo: Kids need to stop act all self-important like they're police detectives!!

Yokomizo: Hey! Call back the examination team! Have them reexamine everything!!
Policeman: Yes, sir!
Mitsuhiko: H-hey, Conan-kun...

Mitsuhiko: H-how was it?
Genta: Did you see?
Conan: See?

Mitsuhiko: Y-y'know, that!
Genta: When Ayumi screamed!
Conan: Yeah, I saw...

Ai & Ayumi: Eh?
Mitsuhiko S-so you did...
Genta: You saw!?
Conan: Yeah! Clear as day!

07

Conan: Completely naked with not a thing on.
Conan: Well, it's a bath, so that should be obvious.

Genta: C-completely naked...
Mitsuhiko: N-not a thing on!?

Ai: Y'know...
Ayumi: Conan-kun, stupid, stupid, stupid!!
Conan: Hm?
Conan: You saw it too, right? That old man's dead body...

Kids: Eh?
Conan: What were you all talking about?

Mitsuhiko: Oh, well... We saw that old man's dead body, too!
Genta: Just a glimpse before the police got here...
Conan: You couldn't have. You didn't come inside!

Mitsuhiko: We saw it from outside!
Mitsuhiko: We went around through there!

Mitsuhiko: Look, you go past the outside ventilation fan...

08

Mitsuhiko: See!?
Mitsuhiko: You can see it.

Yokomizo: Hey, you kids!!
Yokomizo: Where did you come from...?
Conan: This veranda is connected on the outside!

Yokomizo: What!?
Conan: And the window not being locked means...

Ai: I see...
Ai: If someone hid in the blind spot on the pathway last night before the bath closed...

Ai: they could have killed that old man when he came early in the morning and then used that path to join the crowd of people who couldn't get in.
Conan: Exactly...

Conan: So could you gather the guests who came to the bath alone without telling anyone they'd be here? The murderer might be one of them.
Yokomizo: Y-yeah...

09

Yokomizo: So...
Yokomizo: The people who came to this bath alone without telling anyone...

Yokomizo: by some miracle are just you three who have some connection to Tetsuyama Ganji-san, the victim.
Yokomizo: Well, most of the other guests were with their families...
Yokomizo: The only people staying in a room alone were you three and Tetsuyama-san.

Yokomizo: Okay, I'd like for you to take out everything you have with you and tell me where you were and what you were doing at 5 this morning when the murder occurred.
Yokomizo: We'll start with the one playing the heroine in the movie Tetsuyama-san wrote the script for.

Yokomizo: In other words, you, Natori Mishio.
Mishio: I don't know why you want to know...
Mishio: but all I have is this pouch with my make-up supplies in it and this towel.

Mishio: My room key is at the front desk.
Mishio: I was told to leave it with them when I went to the open air bath.
Box: Natori Mishio (28) Actress

Mishio: At 5 I had just woken up.
Mishio: I came here at about 5:30 because I wanted to watch the morning sun while I was in the bath.
Mishio: I happen to like hot springs.
Yokomizo: Oh...

Yokomizo: Well? Was your relationship with Tetsuyama-san merely that of scriptwriter and actress?
Mishio: Yes...
Unpei: Liar...

10

Unpei: You were coming on to Tetsuyama-sensei!
Unpei: Wasn't there a rumor that the heroine part was gotten by becoming that famous scriptwriter's lover this time too?

Mishio: Huh? I got that part with my acting ability! I'm not like you who got the leading role by flattering him!
Unpei: What do you mean? I was the obvious choice!
Yokomizo: So? Where were you at 5, Mr. Leading Role?

Unpei: I was asleep in my room. I came here just before 6 to take a morning bath.
Unpei: All I have is a towel, my cigarettes, and my room key.
Box: Teradou Unpei (33) Actor

Yokomizo: You didn't leave your key with the front desk?
Unpei: It seemed like a pain in the ass.
Junsaku: I came without leaving my key there, too.
Junsaku: But then, I only came in search of her because she had been away from her room for a while.

Junsaku: So I have my room key, my wallet, and my cell phone.
Junsaku: At 5 I was in my room watching TV.

Yokomizo: Watching TV at 5...You get up early.
Junsaku: Yeah...I actually woke up just after 4 and went to the front desk to get change at around 4:30.
Box: Tanzawa Junsaku (34) Mishio's Manager

11

Conan: Did you get change to buy a can of coffee? We saw each other in front of the vending machine at 4:30, right?
Junsaku: Yeah...

Yokomizo: So it looks like Tanzawa-san couldn't have stayed here all night waiting to kill Tetsuyama-san.
Mishio: K-kill...?
Unpei: So it wasn't an accident?

Yokomizo: No. I can't give you any details yet though.
Unpei: Then it's clear who did it, inspector.

Unpei: The murderer is obviously her!!

Unpei: I heard Tetsuyama-san on the phone in the lobby last night.
Unpei: He said someone had finally come around...
Unpei: and smiled while saying something about the shining morning sun in the lake-top open air bath.

Unpei: And he said something about switching out the lead actor if whoever he was talking to didn't like him.
Unpei: Y-you clearly seduced him into coming here so you could kill him!
Yokomizo: I see...That would explain why he died in the women's bath.

Yokomizo: So?
Yokomizo: Was that you he was on the phone with?

12

Mishio: Yes, it was me. I told him I would get in the women's bath with him in the early morning before anyone else came.
Mishio: But I wasn't going to kill him.
Mishio: I just wanted to give him the shame of waiting in vain for me to come.

Mishio: Because I'm not the only actress who has been inconvenienced to death by his sexual harassment.
Yokomizo: So both of you had a motive to kill Tetsuyama-san.

Unpei: H-hey, wait! He had a motive as well!
Unpei: 5 years ago, Tetsuyama-sensei decided all of a sudden that he wouldn't play the lead in a movie and he hasn't had a part since!

Yokomizo: Is that true?
Junsaku: Yes...I had a bit of a grudge back then, but I'm actually grateful now.
Junsaku: Thanks to that, I've been able to gain experience in a lot of things besides acting.

Mishio: I-I didn't hate him enough to kill him!
Unpei: N-neither did I!!

Policeman: Inspector Yokomizo!
Policeman: This was found behind a basket in the changing room!
Yokomizo: Hm?

Yokomizo: A plastic bottle for Japanese tea...
Yokomizo: But that doesn't look like tea inside it.
Policeman: No. It's seems to just be water.

13

Policeman: Also, there are used matches floating on the lake surface around the area.
Yokomizo: Used matches...?
Yokomizo: Why?

Mitsuhiko: Um...How about you show those three to the employees at the entrance to the bridge?
Yokomizo: Hm?

Ai: Yeah...If they hid throughout the night, they wouldn't have passed through there yet.
Genta: They would know if they'd seen them, right?
Ayumi: The murderer is the one they didn't see today!

Men: *sigh*
Men: That's a good question...

Men: but the lights were dimmed on this floor until 6 so it was dim.
Men: And with the police coming here, a lot of people have come through, so it's hard to remember.
Men: I remember that Tetsuyama-sensei was the first to come through and those kids were the next, but beyond that...

Yokomizo: What was Tetsuyama-san like then?
Yokomizo: Was he cheerful?
Men: Who knows. He had a towel wrapped around him like a scarf so I couldn't see his expression, but he seemed as stern as ever.
Conan: Hey!

14

Conan: You said Tetsuyama-sensei gets to go to the open air bath before anyone else, but does he always do so?
Men: Yes. He loves baths. When he's staying here, we always turn the lights to the bath on before 4:30 and let him through early.

Men: This hotel is famous for being the hotel the setting of a movie he wrote a long time ago was modeled off of.
Mitsuhiko: Come to think of it, that was a story about a sealed room murder, wasn't it?

Mitsuhiko: Maybe this was done the same way...
Junsaku: It couldn't have!
Junsaku: In the movie, the criminal stuck his hands into the space between the boards of the bridge and climbed under the bridge like on a horizontal ladder.

Junsaku: There isn't a space between the boards on the bridge here.
Mishio: I heard that scene was going to be filmed in the studio using a bridge built for that purpose.
Unpei: The plan was to have a stunt man do it for me for the real thing.

Policeman: Inspector!
Policeman: It seems one of the victim's rings is missing.

Yokomizo: A ring?
Policeman: Yes. The empty case was left in his room.
Policeman: The case said it was a prize for a Nichiura TV newcomer script award.

Mishio: Oh, that ring with the tiny jewel on it!
Unpei: Yeah, the silver one! He showed it to me and boasted about it to me, too.
Unpei: He said he wore it like a charm when he would give a lecture or give a speech at a party.

15

Yokomizo: You couldn't find it anywhere?
Policeman: Correct! We searched every nook and cranny of the bath, too.
Policeman: It's probably at the bottom of the lake along with the murder weapon.

Yokomizo: Did you find anything in their rooms?
Policeman: There was something odd in each room.

Policeman: In Teradou-san's room, there were a bunch of used matches in the ashtray.
Yokomizo: Matches!?
Unpei: I-is there anything wrong with lighting your cigarettes with matches?

Policeman: In Tanzawa-san's room, there was a glove in his bag, but only the left one.
Junsaku: It's a golf glove. A lot of people use something to keep their left hand from slipping and I'm right handed.

Policeman: And in Natori-san's room, there was a broken wine glass in the trash can...
Policeman: and a script on the desk with a single page crumpled up.
Mishio: I was getting into my part!

Mishio: I was reading the script last night, and there was a scene where my character gets enraged, destroys a document, and throws a glass at someone.
Mishio: I did the same without thinking!

Mishio: Focusing on my part to completely become them is my way of doing things.
Conan: Focusing on the part...
Conan: to completely become them...

16

Conan: I see...
Conan: So that's it...

Conan: That person got too absorbed in the part...
Conan: and forgot about it.

Conan: And that they hid...
Conan: the definitive evidence in their pocket...

Right margin: What was the trick used to create the lake-top sealed room? Next issue!!