Conan, looking every bit like a little adult, ordered everyone to stay back and not approach the body. The arcade staff also came over to help protect the scene.
Ada watched Conan and thought, 'This kid is really special.' Jodie noticed it too.
Then Ada went to examine the body. Poisoning—she could tell at first glance. Most likely a neurotoxin that caused muscle paralysis, leading to breathing failure and finally death by lack of oxygen.
The killer was probably still inside the arcade. But Ada noticed there were security cameras at all four corners of the hall. Once the police came, they'd just need to check the footage to know who did it. But clearly, she was overestimating the police of this world.
Inspector Megure arrived, but he acted like a blind man with his eyes open. The officers just followed routine, taking statements. They didn't even notice the cameras at first.
Ada thought maybe at this time, it wasn't as common for shops to have cameras like it would be in later years. But Conan's performance shocked her. The boy seemed to be guiding the police through the investigation, his sharp eyes picking out those who had been in close contact with the victim before death, pointing out the suspects were among them.
The suspects: the staff, Shimizu from Haido, and an old man caught on the surveillance.
Just one glance at the footage and Ada could already see it—Shimizu, the so-called gaming champion from Haido, was the killer. He was the only one who had physical contact with the victim. He should have been arrested on the spot.
But these police acted as if they couldn't see it. They insisted the victim died during the game. Since the match had been so intense after it started, they believed the victim was alive then.
Such a petty trick, yet Ada saw through it instantly. The truth was, the killer and the victim had swapped characters. Shimizu chose Caesar, the character his opponent excelled at, while he had the Beika gamer play Lucas.
Everyone assumed the fierce fighter playing Caesar was the victim. In reality, the one getting pummeled was him. It was the opposite all along.
These police weren't even as sharp as a child. Ada didn't know how to even begin mocking them.
"Aren't you Ran's classmate? Who is this Conan boy to you?" Ada asked.
"Teacher Ada, Conan is a relative of a friend staying at my house," Ran explained. She knew Conan's behavior looked abnormal to outsiders, so she added, "Because my father is a detective, Conan has been at crime scenes a lot. He likes reasoning."
Ada nodded but kept observing. This child might actually guide the police to catch the culprit.
The key to this case: establish the time of death, find the murder weapon, and secure direct evidence.
If the time of death was before the game began, the killer was already in range. The weapon would reveal the method, and the evidence would nail the culprit.
Shimizu had been cunning. He wrapped a poisoned needle inside a half-smoked cigarette he found in the arcade. Then he stuck the weapon to a gum wrapper with chewing gum. That made it easy to hide, carry, and destroy later, while avoiding fingerprints.
But the flaws were obvious. After the murder, Shimizu dropped the gum wrapper on the floor, hoping the crowd's shoes would carry it out. But wouldn't someone notice something stuck to their sole? If they did, the weapon wouldn't leave.
And since Conan immediately told the staff to lock the doors and not let anyone out, the weapon had to still be inside. A police search would uncover it.
Second, the toxin used was tetrodotoxin, pufferfish poison. Tracing its source would also point to the killer. Honestly, Ada couldn't understand why the killer went through all this pointless self-deception.
Yet, even with the clues laid out in front of them, the police just kept asking useless questions. Their stupidity was unbelievable. Ada didn't know who was dumber—the killer or the cops. If her subordinates had been this incompetent, she would have fired them long ago.
Just as Ada was enduring the insultingly stupid investigation, she suddenly noticed little Conan aiming his wristwatch at Sonoko. That gadget was all too familiar—her husband had one just like it.
Could it be? Yes, that unmistakable tranquilizer dart—exactly the same as A'dou's.
Sonoko fell asleep, and then Conan used a voice changer to start his deduction. That device too—it was the same. Wait… could Conan be A'dou's illegitimate son??
Ada suddenly thought, maybe A'dou would one day return from the future and father a child with some woman, then pass the tranquilizer watch and voice changer on to Conan?
How ridiculous. Ada laughed at herself. Most likely, A'dou's knowledge had simply been drawn from this world.
Everyone else was focused on Conan's brilliant reasoning. He was sharp and full of energy, nothing like the gloomy boy from before. Whenever a case appeared, he transformed completely.
"Ada, what are you laughing at?" Jodie wasn't too interested in the case, but she did notice Ada's little moment of amusement. "You look really beautiful when you smile."
"Thanks," Ada said. "I just thought of something funny and couldn't help it."
"Oh." Jodie turned back to listen to the case. She was surprised that Sonoko, or rather Sonoko's borrowed voice, was step by step cornering the culprit.
The killer, forced into a dead end, still tried to fight back. "Evidence. Do you even have evidence?"
Conan shattered everyone's assumptions by having Takagi and Ran do a demonstration fight. Ran picked a male character, Takagi picked a female one. In the game, Takagi didn't fight back, so the male character pummeled the female one. To the crowd, it looked like Takagi was beating up a girl, but in truth, Takagi was the one taking the hits. This proved the victim had already been attacked before the game began.
Then Conan revealed the murder weapon. No fingerprints, no direct link to the killer. That's why the culprit demanded proof, daring Sonoko to produce evidence.
But there was proof. Right before the match, the staff had collected tokens. That meant there should only be 2 coins in the box—one the victim used before he was attacked, and one Takagi used.
"…But right now, there are 3 coins in there!" Conan declared. The killer had inserted an extra coin when choosing the victim's character.
"Open the box," Inspector Megure ordered.
The staff obeyed, and sure enough, there were 3 coins. Everyone's eyes went wide with shock.
"That extra third coin is the best evidence. It will definitely have your fingerprints on it." Conan delivered the final blow.
The killer's face twisted into that all-too-familiar "criminal expression," then he began ranting about how the victim had mistreated his sister. The truth spilled out: the victim was lazy, deep in debt, yet still had a good girlfriend—the killer's sister. She worked herself sick, overworked and malnourished, nearly going blind, all just to cover the victim's debts. And this was already the year 2000, yet she was suffering from malnutrition.
The killer had originally planned to beat the victim fairly in the game and force him to break up with his sister. But after losing over and over, he finally gave in to murderous thoughts.
So in the end, the whole family was a mess. Ada shook her head with a half-laugh, half-sigh. "He didn't want to break up with your sister, so why didn't you just convince her to leave him? Honestly, there are so many things wrong with this. Instead of correcting your sister's warped mindset, you went down a path of no return. Is this what your family calls education? Stubbornness without flexibility? You're not pitiful. Neither you nor your sister deserve pity."
The criminal collapsed to his knees, tears streaming down his face.