Chapter 8: The Piercing Glance

After asking a few more questions, Ji Yi was nearly certain that Takasugi Toshihiko harbored ulterior motives.

However, he was unsure what the other man’s plan for revenge actually entailed.

If it had been on a different film set, standing up and kicking would have definitely counted as retaliation.

Though for people from Mihana, perhaps it didn’t really qualify as revenge.

In any case, Ji Yi had gathered all the information he needed to help with the inquiries. What happened next was a private matter behind closed doors. Unless Takasugi Toshihiko actually killed his wife or father-in-law, it was no longer Ji Yi’s concern.

While he wished to prevent a joyous occasion from turning tragic, he couldn’t interfere too much.

He did, however, feel a bit guilty toward Miss Takenaka, Mihana’s true close friend.

But secrecy is always like that—“I’ll tell only you, don’t spread it”—and yet, everyone eventually finds out.

Ji Yi didn’t know what happened afterward; he only heard that Officer Matsumoto had a big scene at home, but the wedding proceeded as planned. Still, the officer’s dark mood, already sour for days, worsened.

It wasn’t until the wedding day that Ji Yi learned Matsumoto Sayuri had once taught middle school music classes to the Grim Reaper, and that Ran Mouri and Lady Madoka had even brought the Reaper to attend the ceremony.

It seemed someone was really destined to die.

Conan really ought to be banned from all celebrations.

In any case, that matter passed.

Strangely, after the wedding, the Grim Reaper seemed to enter a quiet period with no new “cases,” so Ji Yi finally had time to review the Reaper’s record during his return to Yokohama.

As he looked, he suddenly realized something terrifying.

It was the timeline of Conan’s world.

Even with prior preparation, when the actual timeline unfolded, it was chilling.

This was nothing like the chaotic, nonsensical jumps people joked about in previous lives—today is Monday, tomorrow Saturday; yesterday the 1st, today the 28th—without any pattern.

This was a case of “you cannot observe both the time and the date simultaneously.”

When you observe the date, the date flows normally; when you observe how much time has passed, the time flows normally.

It was as if you took seven days off.

When calculating the days off, it was truly seven days, but looking at each day during that period, it felt like far more than seven days had passed.

Within those actual seven days, the date had advanced nearly a full month.

Yet, it was indeed only seven days.

Everyone knew it was only seven days.

It was like playing a game with date calculations but activating a “lock date” cheat.

Indeed, classic Conan logic.

But after the indescribable horror of that realization, coming back to one’s senses was actually a relief.

At least that meant there wouldn’t be thousands of episodes crammed into a few months, averaging over a dozen murders a day, exhausting oneself to death. Nor would there be weird date jumps making it impossible to tell seasons apart, appearing utterly insane.

Ji Yi found himself accepting this setting without difficulty.

A few months or even decades might pass without aging or promotion—except for the pain of being stuck at the same rank—yet it was still a good thing!

Immortality!

Conan, you might as well stay small forever...

Sacrificing your own happiness for the sake of the whole world.

Who would have thought that after bracing himself for overwork and exhaustion, Ji Yi would be pleasantly surprised to find Conan’s workload wasn’t so terrifying after all.

Yet, what must come will come.

Ran Mouri, the professional call-in informant, was on the line.

Though it was a holiday, police officers, of course, never got to enjoy days off.

Moreover, a few nights ago, Megure had worked late at the supermarket overseeing the “Freebies Gang” and a thief group cosplaying as “Home Alone” kids, and now had to handle the aftermath of their capture.

Ji Yi decided to show respect for his senior and let the obviously stressed middle-aged man rest.

Sato, Takagi, and the other officers had paperwork to handle; he didn’t bother calling them in—no use anyway.

So, he drove to the building where the incident occurred.

Upon entering, he saw Ran waiting by the entrance.

“Inspector Higashino,” Ran greeted as she approached. “The crime scene is by the elevator on the eighth floor.”

Ji Yi acknowledged with a hum and followed her toward the elevators.

The building had three elevators: the left one went straight to the top floor, the 15th; the middle served floors eight and above; and the right one was for the lower floors, one through eight.

A common setup for high-rise elevators.

Ji Yi said little, followed Ran, and took the right elevator up to the eighth floor.

Exiting the elevator, they saw Kogoro Mouri, Conan, a security guard, and a woman carrying a large bag.

The victim lay by the elevator door, a knife plunged straight into her chest.

Kogoro began recounting the events.

Apparently, Ran had been chosen as a model by Japan’s top designer, Eiko Toya—the woman carrying the large bag—so the whole family had come along.

The victim was Mika Taniguchi, Toya’s secretary, working her last day before quitting.

Before the incident, Toya had taken the left elevator to the 15th floor to handle paperwork and bring flowers for the Mouri family.

The victim took the middle elevator to the eighth floor, preparing in the clothing accessories room for a photoshoot.

When Toya couldn’t reach Mika by phone, she called everyone to the eighth floor, where they found the body fallen backward from inside the elevator, wedged in the door.

“How long did it take Miss Toya to take the elevator up and back here?” Ji Yi asked.

“Two minutes? Maybe just over a minute,” the security guard replied.

“Inspector, I think this was a robbery gone wrong when the culprit encountered Miss Taniguchi by chance,” Kogoro said, addressing Ji Yi by his title since they weren’t close.

“The shoe prints on the floor lead to the stairs, and the emergency exit on the first floor was unlocked.”

The security guard stated he had patrolled two hours before the crime; the emergency exit was locked then.

Since then, only Chairman Eiko Toya had entered or left the building, about an hour ago.

“So, the answer is obvious: the murderer picked the lock on the emergency exit, climbed the stairs to the eighth floor, and happened to run into Miss Taniguchi near the elevator, causing this tragedy,” Kogoro emphasized.

“After killing her, the culprit escaped outside via the stairs and emergency exit, and the shoe prints on the floor are the best evidence.”

Ji Yi looked at the prints with some disbelief.

Kogoro might be inexperienced, but to be this inept was hard to believe, especially given he was once an outstanding graduate of the police academy.

These shoe prints—weren’t they obviously fake?

Not to mention the almost identical stride length back and forth—who kills someone and then leisurely walks away?

Even the prints themselves were off.

The forensic team had measured them as 26 centimeters long, equivalent to a size 42 shoe.

Normally, this would belong to an adult male at least 1.7 meters tall.

But even an adult male wouldn’t have such a small stride walking casually.

Clearly, a short person was trying to disguise themselves.