Today is the weekend, and it is bright and sunny. Tamazawa Shuxin originally planned to go play baseball with Matsuda Jinpei and Hagiwara Kenji, but a sudden emergency mission called the two of them back, leaving only Tamazawa Shuxin home alone. He lies in his room, having nothing to do, stretching lazily from time to time or working on his manuscript.
"Ah~, how boring. Suddenly getting used to a peaceful life feels a bit strange." He lets out a leisurely yawn. "I might as well take a nap. I don't even know what I want for lunch anyway, so I'll just sleep the midday away."
Suddenly, a phone call rings. "What? My book signing session is this afternoon?! Editor Matsubara, this is way too sudden. Shouldn't you have communicated with me in advance?" ... "Oh, I see. Fine, just this once. I'll be there on time."
He hangs up the phone and sits straight up from the bed. "As expected, there are all sorts of strange things in this world. Whatever, at least I got to hear some gossip." He changes his clothes and heads straight out the door. It is only eleven in the morning, and if Tamazawa Shuxin drives himself, it should take about thirty minutes, which isn't too long. He walks over to where he parked his car last night. "Where's my car? Hagi, Jinpei, did you two ditch the main group and drive to the venue by yourselves?"
If anyone were here, they could see Tamazawa Shuxin gradually losing his mind right before their eyes. Describing it by his current feelings, Tamazawa Shuxin thinks his luck is about to run out for the near future. But a promise made must be fulfilled. With a heavy heart, Tamazawa Shuxin hails a taxi and heads for his destination.
Inside Chikyudo Bookstore, Tamazawa Shuxin sits in the middle, maintaining a polite smile. "Thank you for your support, thanks." With the same repetitive phrases, his face is almost stiff from smiling. Matsubara Keisuke scuttles over cautiously. "I am terribly sorry, Mr. Tamazawa! Harada Yuuichi suddenly bailed, but the organizers aren't people we can afford to offend, so we had no choice but to ask you to step in and save the day!" Tamazawa Shuxin nods and continues working. As time passes, the book signing is nearing its end.
"Hey, what is the meaning of this?! This is clearly my book signing session! Why is there someone else here?!" A rough voice booms as a middle-aged man dressed in loud, flashy clothes storms in.
"Mr. Harada?!" Matsubara Keisuke gasps in shock. Instantly, the people in the shop break into murmurs. Harada Yuuichi swaggers right up to Tamazawa Shuxin. "I'm telling you, Mr. Tamazawa, what is the meaning of this? This is my book signing, isn't it?"
Matsubara Keisuke steps in to explain, "Mr. Harada, it's like this. We couldn't get in touch with you all morning, so we had to ask Mr. Tamazawa to step in and save the day. I am truly sorry."
Tamazawa Shuxin rolls his eyes dramatically. Caught in the act, he is unceremoniously yanked to his feet by Harada Yuuichi. "What kind of attitude is that, you bastard?!"
All around them, the relentless clicking of camera sounds echoes. News about two well-known authors coming to blows over a single book signing will undoubtedly be hyped up by rival media and plastered across tomorrow's front pages. Matsubara Keisuke tries frantically to mediate, but Tamazawa Shuxin firmly pries Harada Yuuichi's hand away from his collar. He straightens his lapels, raises his voice, and announces directly, "Dear readers, today's book signing ends here. We'll see you next time."
Matsubara Keisuke regains his composure in time and signals the security guards to clear the venue and escort the troublemaker out. Now only Tamazawa Shuxin, Matsubara Keisuke, and Harada Yuuichi remain. "Tamazawa Shuxin, you just saw that my writing is better than yours, so you deliberately hijacked my signing to get back at me, didn't you?!"
Tamazawa Shuxin has to admit he truly encounters too few lunatics these days. After all, he used to deal exclusively with high-IQ, high-EQ villains; suddenly running into someone with such a bizarre train of thought leaves him momentarily speechless. "Mr. Harada, I was merely called in by Assistant Matsubara to help out because of your absence. Please don't misunderstand."
Unable to find any valid grounds to interrogate Tamazawa Shuxin, Harada Yuuichi shifts his target to his own assistant, pulling out his phone and unleashing a torrent of abuse. Tamazawa Shuxin frowns, but since it's not his place to interfere, and with the book signing officially over, he takes Matsubara Keisuke and leaves the bookstore directly.
Just as he steps out of the shop, a voice calls out, "Mr. Tamazawa? Oh, my luck must be pretty good if I can still catch the tail end of the signing."
Tamazawa Shuxin looks to his left and sees the Kudo mother and son. He never expected to run into them this early. Kudo Yukiko immediately pulls out a novel and steps right up to him. "Mr. Tamazawa, please sign this! I adore the high school campus romance stories you write. They're so pure!"
Standing beside her, twelve-year-old Kudo Shinichi pulls a deadpan face and mutters under his breath about what's so great about romance novels, but he still steps forward. "Mr. Tamazawa, could you sign one for me too, please?"
Tamazawa Shuxin looks at the book, which is kept in pristine, brand-new condition, and at Kudo Shinichi's bashful demeanor. He flips the cover open to check the owner's name: Mouri Ran. "Ah, so you're getting an autograph for your crush."
With a meaningful, lingering tone in his voice, Kudo Yukiko flashes an "I knew it" smile. Only Kudo Shinichi flushes crimson; after all, a young person's crush can never truly be hidden, Tamazawa Shuxin thinks to himself.
"So when is Mr. Tamazawa releasing the second installment? Didn't you say you were going to write an adult arc?"
At this question, Tamazawa Shuxin coughs guiltily. "Well, that... it's still in preparation. It'll come out eventually." But Kudo Yukiko lives with a world-class author who constantly blows deadlines; how could she not recognize Tamazawa Shuxin's perfunctory stalling and guilty conscience?
"As expected, procrastinating authors are all the same." After much talking and promising that the second volume will definitely come out this year, Tamazawa Shuxin finally reassures Kudo Yukiko enough for her to leave, looking satisfied.
Right then, a scream from the nearby parking lot draws everyone's attention. Kudo Shinichi dashes toward the scene like a sword drawn from its scabbard. When Tamazawa Shuxin walks over, he sees that the dead man inside the car is none other than Harada Yuuichi, the very person he had a conflict with earlier.
"Don't touch the crime scene! Call the police!"
Before long, the police have cordoned off the area with yellow tape, with Megure Juzo taking charge. After giving his statement, Tamazawa Shuxin grabs Kudo Shinichi by the collar and drags him away from the crime scene. "Let me go! I'm going to solve the case!"
"A well-behaved little kid should go home instead of looking at murder cases that will give him nightmares tonight."
Kudo Shinichi instantly spots a loophole and stops struggling, staring straight at Tamazawa Shuxin instead. "Big Brother, why did you immediately judge this to be a murder instead of a suicide?"
Preliminary police assessments show no fatal external injuries, and the lips are bluish-purple. Based on the timeline and events, plus a bottle of potassium cyanide found in the trunk, it is provisionally judged as a potassium cyanide suicide. Tamazawa Shuxin puts Kudo Shinichi down. "I'll explain it to the police. Leave this matter to them."
Kudo Shinichi ignores him and heads straight back toward the crime scene. Yet no one is about to take a child seriously. Kudo Yukiko, however, doesn't stop him; instead, she pulls out her phone and makes a call.
Seeing Kudo Shinichi hitting walls everywhere, Tamazawa Shuxin simply can't bear to watch any longer. He walks back into the crime scene, presses down on Kudo Shinichi's shoulder, and tells Megure Juzo, "Inspector Megure, the victim lacks any motive for suicide. Furthermore, the position of his dropped phone clearly shows he was trying to call for help but was too late. Otherwise, why wouldn't a suicide victim have put their phone away properly instead of dropping it on the edge between the seats? The garbled outgoing call log on that phone is the proof."
Kudo Shinichi looks at Tamazawa Shuxin in astonishment. "That's identical to my deduction! You're completely familiar with police procedures, and you called Inspector Megure 'Senior'—you used to be a cop, didn't you?"
"Deduction correct, Detective Kudo. Now it's time to uncover the truth."
At this, Megure Juzo finally remembers who the person in front of him is. "Ah, it's you, Tamazawa! Long time no see. So you went off to become a novelist?"
Tamazawa Shuxin nods, then shares the gossip and speculations he overheard earlier. Afterward, he takes Kudo Shinichi along with him to Harada Yuuichi's house, which the police have already sealed off.
Meanwhile, Harada Yuuichi's assistant, Nakano Kujin, is also summoned there. Following another round of questioning, Harada Yuuichi's wife, Harada Asamina, and the boyfriend of the woman he had an affair with, Azuma Kenjiro, both become suspects.
"At 1:00 PM, Mr. Azuma Kenjiro came over because of the affair, got into a conflict with the victim, and fought him. At 3:00 PM, Ms. Harada Asamina got into a shouting match with the victim, and the victim stormed out. At 3:40 PM, he called Mr. Nakano Kujin to buy desserts. At 4:00 PM, he had a quarrel with Mr. Tamazawa Shuxin, and at 4:40 PM, he was found dead in the parking lot."
It is a simple timeline. Since Tamazawa Shuxin had no motive for murder, he was cleared of suspicion long ago. Tamazawa Shuxin watches as Kudo Shinichi searches everywhere, seemingly unable to find any crucial evidence. Meanwhile, the suspects are already eagerly exposing each other's murderous intentions just to prove the other person is the killer.
"I heard Izumi-chan say that Harada Yuuichi got into a physical fight with this assistant recently, taunted him for being cowardly and weak, and told him to kill him if he had the guts, or else he'd be nothing more than an assistant for the rest of his life."
"You bastard! The moment you found out your girlfriend was cheating on you, you went straight to Harada to blackmail him! You used this to threaten Harada multiple times during that period, and Harada even instigated your girlfriend to sue you and get you thrown in prison. That's why you flew into a rage and decided to kill Harada! And Asamina knew about Harada's cheating all along—they had countless fights, and she wanted a divorce. But Harada made off with all their assets, leaving Asamina with not a single penny, so Asamina wanted to kill Harada!"
Dirty secrets pour out one after another. By the end, Tamazawa Shuxin thinks none of these three are decent human beings: the mistress climbing the ladder for money, the boyfriend extortionist using his girlfriend, and the stepping stone victim who became a stepping stone himself. Still, judging by their motives, any of them had more than enough reason to kill.
Since it is cyanide poisoning, Tamazawa Shuxin goes to consult the forensic doctor, while Kudo Shinichi uncovers a new clue. "Did Mr. Harada need to bring two handkerchiefs when going out?"
On the sticky note with the daily checklist on the refrigerator, one item reads: one face-wiping handkerchief, one hand-wiping handkerchief.
"That was my husband's habit. He's a bit of a clean freak and always took two handkerchiefs when he went out." But not a single handkerchief was found at the scene.
Tamazawa Shuxin walks over. "According to the latest forensic report, no potassium cyanide was found in Mr. Harada's clothing pockets, but potassium cyanide was detected inside the dessert."
Upon hearing this, Azuma Kenjiro points straight at Nakano Kujin. "It was you!"
For a moment, both suspects point the finger at Nakano Kujin. Meanwhile, Kudo Shinichi is just a hair's breadth away from the truth. Tamazawa Shuxin murmurs a few words to Megure Juzo, then raises his head to look at Kudo Shinichi, who is deep in thought. Walking straight over, Tamazawa Shuxin asks, "Has the little detective found the real killer?"
Kudo Shinichi looks up. "I'm still missing crucial evidence, or the culprit won't confess. Besides, the poison wasn't in the dessert—you were just bluffing."
"Oh, well, that's just a standard interrogation tactic for the police. What if I told you I've already found the crucial evidence? The garbage truck for the evening run hasn't arrived yet, so it should still be in the parking lot trash can or the outdoor dump. What's more, I've already notified the police to run lab tests on them. Time for your deduction show, little detective."
Tamazawa Shuxin watches with keen interest as shock registers on Kudo Shinichi's face. "You knew the truth all along."
Tamazawa Shuxin says nothing, but the smile on his face says it all. "Sometimes, what exposes people isn't so-called evidence; it's habits that couldn't be changed over many years. And the ones who know your habits best are the pillow-partners you've lived with the longest, aren't they? Of course, there are exceptions—like couples passionately in love, or bitter rivals who guard against each other while living under the same roof."
Tamazawa Shuxin gently ruffles Kudo Shinichi's hair and pushes him toward the center. "Alright, stop dwelling on that question and hurry up and wrap up the case. If I get home any later, my phone is going to blow up."
Kudo Shinichi points a finger straight at Harada Asamina. "The culprit is you, Ms. Harada Asamina! This was a premeditated murder, and you even tried to frame Mr. Nakano Kujin... After everything was over, when Mr. Harada returned to the parking lot and wiped his hands with his handkerchief, he habitually started eating the dessert. As soon as he finished it, the sodium cyanide took effect and killed him! The evidence is the sodium cyanide in the trash bag at the outdoor dump and the handkerchief stained with both sodium cyanide and Mr. Harada's fingerprints in the parking lot trash can!"
At that exact moment, a policeman walks in from outside. "Inspector Megure, we found sodium cyanide inside the Harada family's trash bag at the outdoor dump, and we recovered a handkerchief from the trash can in the parking lot! The test results show traces of sodium cyanide, the initial fingerprint comparison matches Mr. Harada's, and Harada Asamina's fingerprints were also found on the sodium cyanide."
With no room left to argue—since she was the only one who knew every single one of Harada Yuuichi's habits—and with the evidence completely airtight, Harada Asamina collapses. "I admit it, I did it. But I don't regret it."
With the truth finally brought to light, Kudo Shinichi, standing right in the middle, becomes the center of attention. "What a juvenile hero! I never imagined a twelve-year-old child could solve a murder case. But then again, knowing that Shinichi is Yusaku's son makes it feel only natural." Megure Juzo sighs in admiration. And with that, the case comes to a close.
"Wait!" Tamazawa Shuxin looks behind him. "Little Detective Kudo, is something the matter?"
"I heard Inspector Megure say that Mr. Tamazawa was at the top of his class at the police academy. Why aren't you a cop anymore?"
Tamazawa Shuxin smiles, then gives Kudo Shinichi a flick on the forehead. "A little detective should find out the truth on his own—and besides, your mother looks furious!"
Kudo Shinichi starts and looks ahead to find Kudo Yukiko wearing an extremely "friendly" smile. He suddenly remembers that he forgot to tell his mom he was coming to a crime scene. *I'm done for,* Kudo Shinichi thinks to himself. Watching Kudo Yukiko talking while pinching Kudo Shinichi's cheeks as the two figures recede into the distance, Tamazawa Shuxin sets off for home as well.
***
**Bonus Scene:**
The next day.
"Eh?! My book actually has Mr. Tamazawa's personal autograph!" Mouri Ran looks at the signature with a blissful face, hugging the book to her chest as she walks up to Kudo Shinichi. "Thank you, Shinichi." With that, she flashes a wide, sweet smile.
Kudo Shinichi awkwardly looks away. "My mom wanted an autograph too, so I just got it while I was at it, that's all." But his beet-red ears betray a young boy's hidden romantic feelings.
"I'll cherish it forever! This is the signature I asked Shinichi to get for me!" Mouri Ran declares solemnly.
Kudo Shinichi buries his face in his arms, refusing to look up for a long time. In reality, his entire face is completely flushed.
Suzuki Sonoko walks over, takes one look, and scoffs dismissively, "Tch, little couple games. Too bad a certain smug detective still hasn't dared to confess to Ran."
Turning her gaze back, she sees a beaming Mouri Ran, who hasn't noticed Kudo Shinichi's current state at all. Suzuki Sonoko shakes her head with a sigh. "Ran really hasn't figured it out yet. Honestly..."
Hearing Suzuki Sonoko seem to call her name, Mouri Ran turns around only to see Suzuki Sonoko looking at her with a resentful expression. "Sonoko, what's wrong?"
"Nothing. I'm just feeling anxious on someone else's behalf."
"Huh?"