Chapter Twenty-Four: Is He Truly Human?

However, Inspector Megure had little interest in such gossip. He turned again to Dr. Hatano, who had been standing quietly to the side for some time. “Dr. Hatano, you are one of the five people Mr. Maru met with today, correct? Where were you between three and five this afternoon?”

“Uh, well…” Dr. Hatano stammered, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead as he glanced pleadingly at Mrs. Maru.

At that moment, a youthful voice sounded from below.

“Huh? That’s strange…” Conan, wearing an innocent smile, said, “The scent on this doctor and Mrs. Maru is exactly the same~”

Mouri took a sharp breath, crossing his arms to calm the goosebumps rising on his skin.

“What?!” Everyone was shocked.

“Does that mean you’re Mrs. Maru’s secret lover?!” Kogoro Mouri exclaimed in astonishment.

“That’s right!” Mrs. Maru, realizing the secret could no longer be kept, threw caution to the wind and clung to Dr. Hatano’s arm. “But from noon till evening, the doctor and I were together the entire time at the Rice Flower Grand Hotel!”

“Then how do we know you two aren’t conspiring?” Mouri scoffed.

“What did you say?!” Mrs. Maru snapped, outraged.

“Meaning, except for Kogoro Mouri, who has Ran and Conan as witnesses staying in his room without leaving, the other four all had motives and no alibis?” Inspector Megure looked around at the group.

“And among them, Mr. Suwa, a master swordsman, is the prime suspect.” He glanced at Maru Denjirou, who was impaled by a sword through the chest and nailed to a pillar, then surveyed the room covered with fierce sword marks.

“Wait, doesn’t this seem strange to you?” Ran Mouri tentatively spoke up.

“If the assailant struggled with Mr. Maru, why are the sword marks everywhere on the walls, cabinets, even the ceiling? That doesn’t make sense.”

“Huh?! It doesn’t?” Mouri gasped. “Like, sword energy or something…”

He had assumed that Japanese kendo, like the sword schools from his past life, could produce sword energy with a swing, which explained the marks all around the room.

But judging by everyone’s reaction, clearly not!

An awkward silence fell over the room.

“Ahaha… Well, Mr. Mouri, being a foreigner, it’s only natural to have some strange misunderstandings,” Inspector Megure offered as a small defense.

Then he realized something was off. “The way Mr. Maru held the sword—I recall the correct grip for a katana is right hand on top, left hand below?”

He gestured in the air. “But Mr. Maru’s grip was the opposite: right hand below, left hand on top?”

“So, it’s very likely the assailant tried to frame Mr. Suwa by fabricating these marks,” Ran Mouri said, covering her mouth in surprise.

“Well then, the answer is clear,” Kogoro Mouri said confidently, turning back. “The culprit is you, Mr. Mouri!”

“You attacked Mr. Maru from behind, and due to your misunderstanding of Japanese kendo, fabricated this crime scene to frame swordsman Mr. Suwa.”

“And it was precisely this misunderstanding that caused you to slip up just now!”

“Do you have anything to say for yourself now?”

Mouri was speechless.

If necessary, he wouldn’t mind killing the old man — but there was no need.

Still, without the existence of sword energy, the marks on the cabinet were truly puzzling.

He looked at the cabinet covered with cuts of varying depths. Some were deep but seemed abruptly interrupted, disconnected; others were shallow but continuous.

He had assumed the deep cuts were made by the sword itself, and the shallow ones were traces of sword energy. But since there was no sword energy, why did the cuts form like this?

Why did the deep cuts appear severed, while the shallow ones connected smoothly?

If the drawers were swapped to connect the deep cuts…

Mouri memorized the images on the drawers, mentally rearranging their positions.

“Speechless now, Mr. Mouri? I advise you to confess,” Kogoro Mouri said, seeing Mouri’s silence as admission. “With so many people here, you can’t escape…”

“Shut… wait.” Mouri stared at the cabinet, ignoring Kogoro entirely. “Don’t bother me while I’m thinking!”

How arrogant! Kogoro’s face flushed red.

“Mr. Mouri, how could you do such a thing?!” Ran’s eyes filled with tears as she stepped forward. “Aren’t you supposed to be a righteous detective?!”

Mouri finally snapped out of his thoughts. “First, I’m not a detective, nor righteous—just an ordinary math teacher.”

“Second, I’m not the real culprit. I’ve already found who truly did it.”

Impossible! Suwa Yuji’s eyes flashed sharply.

So fast! How did he manage that? Conan squatted by the landline, mouth slightly open.

He just thought of the strange calls made that afternoon while waiting in the yard for Maru Denjirou’s return—he planned to search the voicemail for clues!

“The real culprit is you, Mr. Suwa,” Mouri said, looking at the seemingly calm Suwa Yuji.

“Even now, you want to frame me, Mr. Mouri?” Suwa shook his head. “If you say I’m the killer, where’s your evidence?”

“Evidence?” Mouri casually pointed at the cabinet. “Hasn’t the victim already told us?”

Suwa’s pupils dilated in shock.

“If there’s no sword energy, these marks on the cabinet are strange, aren’t they?” Mouri pointed to several spots. “Here, here, and here… The cuts seem divided in the middle.”

“But the shallower cuts are continuous.”

“This is a trick the killer used to mislead us and hide the true cause of death. Now, if we connect the deep cuts together, what do they form?”

Suwa swallowed hard.

Conan glanced at the cabinet, feeling dizzy.

At this moment, it was time to use modern technology!

He dashed off to the Maru household maid. “Sister, do you have a Polaroid camera?”

Inspector Megure also caught on. “Right, we can take instant photos of the images on the cabinet, then…”

“Too much trouble,” Mouri shook his head. “To avoid suspicion, I won’t do it myself. Inspector Megure, could you handle it?”

“What?” Megure was puzzled.

“Put the drawers in their correct positions.”

Conan whipped his head around.

“This is a cabinet with five rows and four columns. Let’s number the leftmost as the first column, and the topmost as the first row. First, swap the drawers in the first row, second and third columns…”

Mouri began giving instructions.

“Then swap the drawers in the second row, first and fifth columns.”

“Swap the second row, second and third columns.”

“Swap the third row, second and fourth columns…”

“And finally, swap the fifth row, second column with the fourth row, third column.”

When the drawers were placed correctly, the culprit’s name was clearly inscribed on the cabinet—

Suwa!

Everyone turned to look at Suwa Yuji, who clenched his teeth tightly.

Conan stared in shock at Mouri, who appeared completely unfazed.

This man hadn’t used any photographic tools or sketch paper.

In other words, he had solved this complex puzzle purely through thought alone?!

Is he even human?