Chapter 43 Just and Noble

"Since that's the case, let's talk about Keiji Aso," Jii said aggressively.

Although he couldn't remember the exact details, it was more than enough to scare someone.

"He's not dead! He's still alive!" Nishimoto finally cracked. (I noticed a typo in the manga while checking references today. What a pain, the translations of early manga chapters really seem unreliable...) "Save me! I don't want to die!"

"If you don't tell me everything, there's nothing I can do to help you."

He had finally taken the bait.

"Don't you know already? We were the ones who used that guy Aso's piano as a cover to smuggle addictive substances," Nishimoto replied, trembling. "Everything was going fine until that guy suddenly said he wouldn't do it anymore. We had no choice, so we had to kill him."

Jii sighed. That just went to show you really shouldn't get involved in peddling addictive substances.

Then again, this was the world of Conan. In any other timeline, which cartel or syndicate would operate like this group?

You actually dared to meddle in a path meant exclusively for desperados?

"Give me the names of everyone involved," Jii said coldly.

Nishimoto honestly spilled everything.

The current village mayor Tatsuji Kuroiwa, his secretary Kazuaki Hirata, the deceased Hideo Kawashima, and the late former village mayor Yu Kameyama were all members of the gang.

Question: How to prevent Seiji Asai from taking revenge?

Answer: Arrest all the victims-to-be.

Meanwhile, Conan, who was sitting in the lobby waiting to be questioned, was growing somewhat impatient.

He thought to himself, since Jii already knew his identity, wouldn't it be better to just sneak in and listen?

Before he could put his plan into action, he saw a group of police officers run out and slap handcuffs on Tatsuji Kuroiwa and Kazuaki Hirata.

Conan: ......

Seeing Jii come out, Conan hurriedly rushed over. "Did you find the culprit?"

Jii was actually feeling somewhat hesitant.

From a legal standpoint, Seiji Asai had undoubtedly committed a crime.

From a simple moral perspective, was he really in the wrong?

Let's not elevate this to grand principles by saying he chose to kill this time, so he would kill again when facing problems in the future.

Hand on heart, was he wrong?

Didn't drug dealers deserve to die?

Just as Holmes chose to look the other way at the end of *Charles Augustus Milverton*, and Poirot offered two answers in *Murder on the Orient Express*.

"My dear Lestrade, I think that when the law fails to bring justice to the parties involved, private retribution becomes from that moment justified, and even noble. Therefore, I have decided not to take up this case this time."

--- *The Return of Sherlock Holmes: Charles Augustus Milverton*

Jii would never forget what he felt when he first read those lines.

That was why he always believed that Conan, or rather Shinichi Kudo, despite constantly claiming to be a Holmes enthusiast, didn't actually understand the core of Holmes prior to Moonlight Island.

The Sherlock Holmes penned by Conan Doyle was never a cold, emotionless sociopath who only cared about deduction.

On the contrary, Sherlock Holmes was actually a remarkably warm-hearted person deep down.

Or rather, assuming that brilliant detectives are merely high-IQ individuals who coldly pursue the truth was a fundamental misconception of them.

From Holmes to Poirot, Miss Marple, and even later figures like Kaga Kyoichiro.

Without deep empathy for the emotions of others, one could never become a detective worthy of being called great.

In traditional literature, Justice Bao's iron-faced impartiality was never directed at innocent victims.

Most of the time, justice needs no definition, because deep within the human heart, the answer has already been given.

However, must the truth really be concealed for this sake?

Of course, he could fabricate a story about the gang turning on each other and call it a day.

But would that really do?

At the very least, Conan wouldn't accept it.

So was it all Conan's fault?

Was there really something wrong with pursuing the truth?

Or rather, even in the original Moonlight Island case, was Conan's conduct truly wrong?

Oh, absolutely, it was all Conan's fault; he was just an idiot who only knew how to deduce.

Just because Seiji Aso was a good person, killed only guilty people, and ultimately chose suicide, did Conan's choice to pursue the truth somehow turn him into a murderer?

The reason Conan was willing to think that way was because of his high moral standards and strict self-discipline.

By what right did anyone else point fingers at him?

To put it bluntly, Seiji Aso committed suicide to escape justice.

Had Conan been the cold-blooded deduction machine some people imagined him to be, he could have simply walked away indifferently.

It was just that he wasn't.

He was never a deduction fool.

Conan was merely young, and therefore held a belief in truth and justice that could only be described as naive.

Even without Moonlight Island, the day would eventually come when he would awaken from that fairytale-like belief in truth; Seiji Aso's death simply shattered his fairytale world in a cruel manner.

"I don't think these people are the murderers of Hideo Kawashima," Conan added, seeing that Jii remained unresponsive.

"Yeah, it's not them," Jii didn't hide it, or rather, even if he had tried, Conan would have figured out the truth on his own. "They were arrested for peddling addictive substances."

"Peddling addictive substances..." Conan recalled the items the police had fished out from the piano that morning.

"Could it be..." A flash of lightning went off in the back of Conan's mind.

He recalled the deceased pianist Keiji Aso, and then remembered Dr. Asai's behavior before Hideo Kawashima's death...

Because he had always assumed that a woman couldn't possibly move a heavy corpse, he had subconsciously ruled out that possibility.

But what if...

He turned and bolted away.

Jii merely watched silently, saying nothing more.

Conan would figure it out sooner or later; let him investigate whatever he wanted.

Before long, Conan had learned about Seiji Asai's background from the islanders.

"Sure enough, the person who orchestrated all of this and sent the challenge letter to the old man is him..."

Even now, from Conan's perspective, the purpose of Seiji Aso's advance notice could only be interpreted as the culprit's provocation toward a detective.

This was not his fault; it was dictated by his perspective and experience.

In Conan's worldview, the concept of a culprit "hoping someone will stop them" did not yet exist.

"Next, I just need to tell Inspector Toyama the truth..." Conan thought to himself. He didn't doubt that Jii would soon figure out the culprit anyway; he was simply taking advantage of having arrived on the island earlier and having had more contact with Seiji Asai.

However, why wasn't Jii at the office anymore?

And moreover, where had Seiji Asai disappeared to as well?!

"You're looking for the Inspector and Dr. Asai?" Ran tilted her head to think for a moment. "Dr. Asai seemed to be heading toward the community center."

"No way, but if he's fooled by that guy's female disguise, and the culprit is preparing to silence witnesses..." Conan panicked.

Where could they have gone?

Right, the community center, the piano.

Conan subconsciously assumed that Jii must have wanted to use the piano to decipher the code, while Seiji Asai had secretly followed him.

He had to hurry!