Disclaimer: Detective Conan is not mine. This fanfic is a translation.
Enjoy Reading!
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Taking small sips of his Calpis, Ritsu leaned back in his seat and stared blankly at Jinpei and Date, who were still devouring food with their heads down.
'Do their stomachs connect directly to Tokyo Bay or something?'
Just after the nigiri sushi platter that Rei ordered was served, Jinpei, who had just claimed he was already full, reached out again with his sinful hand. He grabbed the only sweet shrimp nigiri and popped it into his mouth.
While chewing, he complained,
"There's barely any shrimp sushi here. I want to order more."
"No sweet shrimp, no sea urchin either. That's a bad review from me~"
"If you want it, just order it separately,"
Rei was just about to call a server, when suddenly two female screams rang out from the booth area.
"Ugh… Ah!!"
"KYAAAH—!!!"
Ritsu reacted instantly. He jumped to his feet and rushed over.
Then he saw a shocking scene.
A man wearing a dark purple shirt had collapsed face-down onto the table.
Worse still, his entire face was pressed directly against the grill plate, producing a sizzling sound.
The sight made Ritsu, who had just eaten grilled meat, feel extremely uncomfortable.
"Jun!!"
A blonde woman was the first to react. She tried to pull the man away from the grill but a strong hand stopped her.
"Let me handle it," Ritsu said calmly.
"Please step aside."
The three people froze for a moment before hurriedly standing up and moving away.
Ritsu carefully separated the man's face from the grill.
In less than a minute, the man's face had already suffered severe burns. The imprint of the grill plate was clearly visible, making the scene both grotesque and strangely absurd.
The surrounding diners lost their appetites instantly.
A girl at the neighboring table nervously suggested,
"Sir… shouldn't someone call an ambulance?"
By then, Rei and the others had arrived.
Seeing the man lying motionless on the grill, they had already formed their own conclusions.
Standing closest to the body, Ritsu could smell a faint bitter almond scent.
Potassium cyanide.
"There's no need to call an ambulance," Ritsu said.
"Date-cho, please call the police. This is a murder case."
"Got it!"
As police academy students, they had been trained to remain calm in situations like this.
In poisoning cases involving potassium cyanide, the most likely suspects were people at the same table or restaurant staff such as servers or chefs.
Their first priority was to narrow down the suspect pool and have unrelated customers leave the crime scene.
Almost simultaneously, the five of them pulled white dust-free gloves from their pockets.
They began a preliminary investigation of the scene.
After finishing the call to the police, Date took charge of maintaining order. He directed everyone away from the area and asked the restaurant staff to hang up a "Temporarily Closed" sign.
Nearby customers began whispering.
"Those guys look really young… are they police?"
"If they were police, why would they still need to call the police?"
"Wait… what if they're the killers? Working as a group?"
Date's mouth twitched.
People's imaginations were really something nowadays, they were even suspecting them.
He glared at the group whispering while trying to secretly take photos and shouted,
"We are active students of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Academy!"
"Do you need me to explain what the crime of illegal photography is?"
"Huh? What are you talking about? I didn't—"
Date stepped forward and grabbed the man's wrist holding the phone.
With a faint smile, he said,
"According to Tokyo regulations, serious violations can result in up to six months in prison and a 500,000 yen fine."
"I—I'll delete it!"
Meanwhile, Rei and Jinpei were examining the table for traces of how the poison might have been administered.
Morofushi was already helping record preliminary witness statements, starting with the three people who had been sitting with the victim.
As for Ritsu, he crouched beside the body and conducted a basic preliminary examination.
There was a strong bitter almond smell around the victim's mouth and nose.
The same smell was present on his right hand, suggesting that the victim had likely touched potassium cyanide with his hand and then ingested it while eating.
The victim's fingernails were pale pink, while his skin and mucous membranes had turned a dark purplish color.
Small bits of food were leaking from the corner of his mouth. It was clear he had died mid-chew, unable even to swallow.
"It's indeed potassium cyanide poisoning," Ritsu concluded.
"But we still can't determine where the poison came from."
After finishing his inspection, he asked the restaurant for a white tablecloth and covered the victim's face.
After all, the sight of it was quite horrifying.
"We found something here," Rei said.
He pointed at the unfinished nigiri sushi on the table.
"There's no cyanide smell coming from the sushi. The victim most likely didn't die from poisoned sushi."
"Of course, we can't rule out the possibility of a random poisoning."
Jinpei shrugged.
"Besides that, none of the other items on the table show signs of poison, at least not by smell or visual inspection."
"We'll have to wait for the forensics team."
Morofushi looked down at his notes.
"I've finished verifying the identities of the three people at the table."
"The victim is Jun Hanazaki, 27 years old, a bartender at Blue Lasers Bar in Wakamatsu District, 1-chome."
"Sitting across from him is his friend Takuya Namiki, also 27. They were classmates in university."
"He currently works as a marketing section chief at Matsui Corporation in Asahi Town, 2-chome."
"Next to the victim was his girlfriend, Nanako Asamoto, 24 years old. They've been dating for a year. She works as a waitress at the same bar."
"The last person is Ayaka Matsui, 25 years old, the daughter of the president of Matsui Corporation and Namiki's girlfriend."
After hearing the identities of the four people, Ritsu frowned.
He recalled what had happened in the restroom earlier.
The suspect pool could already be narrowed down to those three people.
Any of them could have committed the crime.
And the motive… was related to romantic relationships.
His gaze swept over Takuya Namiki, who was currently comforting his girlfriend.
Ritsu remembered something their instructor Onizuka had said during cultural studies class.
'When gathering information about a target, never jump to conclusions.'
Better to wait for the police to arrive and gather solid evidence.
If poison had been used, there had to be a container or delivery method.
Once they figured out how the poison was administered, the case would become much simpler.
The Tokyo police arrived fairly quickly.
Leading them was a slightly overweight man wearing an orange trench coat. A tight belt around his waist made his beer belly especially noticeable.
He also wore a matching fedora, his expression extremely serious.
"Who called the police?"
"I did," Date said, raising his hand as he stepped forward.
"Hello, officer. Please come this way."
When the officer arrived at the scene, he noticed the body had already been moved slightly, and the restaurant's customers had all been gathered neatly in one area.
What was going on?
Weren't young people nowadays the type who loved crowding around gossip?
Why was everything so orderly?
"Forensics team, get to work."
"The rest of you start collecting witness statements and identifying suspects."
"Medical examiner, please conduct a preliminary examination."
"The cause of death is potassium cyanide poisoning," Ritsu said.
"Time of death should be between 8:49 PM and 8:52 PM."
The officer blinked twice at the boy who looked no older than eighteen.
"Hmm? And who are you?"
"Sasajima Ritsu. Student at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Academy."
"I've already conducted a preliminary examination, so there's no need to repeat it. What the police need to determine now is the source of the poison."
The officer narrowed his eyes.
His expression clearly said.
'Are you trying to tell me how to do my job?'
Ignoring Ritsu's comment, he walked over to inspect the body himself.
After observing the condition of the corpse, he realized that this young man did seem to know what he was doing.
"Sasajima-kun, was it?"
"Are you and the one who called the police all police academy students?"
"Yes. The other three as well."
The officer nodded.
"For you students, it's still a little early to be handling crime scenes."
"You may observe from the side. Leave the rest to us."
It seemed they hadn't earned the officer's trust.
Which made sense.
They still looked like kids who hadn't even graduated yet.
Earning instant recognition from a seasoned detective wasn't easy.
"Officer," Ritsu said.
"There's something I'd like to tell you. It's related to the case."
"Oh?"
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The Real Author Notes:
[Original Case — Cameo appearance by readers Namiki and Hanazaki (lol)]