Dies irae

Chapter 2

Kogoro Mouri was looking through the serial killer's victims' files. Conan was looking quietly over his shoulder.

First Victim: Haruto Tanaka, 17 years old. He was a student at the Kinjo Gakuen High School. He was also a skillful violinist and was even doing international concerts. He disappeared three weeks ago and was found murdered — seemingly beaten and stabbed to death — two days after his kidnapping. No further details have been given about the crime.

Second victim: Jun Fujiwara, 14 years old. The teen was a national swimmer with several medals. He was kidnapped as he was going to cram school — two weeks ago — was found three days later, in the same eerie state as Haruto Tanaka.

Third victim: Miyoko Sawai, 17 years old, junior athlete. She was kidnapped the day after Tanaka was killed.

Before reading anything further, Conan noticed something peculiar about Miyoko's murder. She wasn't beaten to death like the others and was only stabbed. Her murder was much less violent than for any of the other victims. This alone raised questions about Miyoko, or even more, about the murderer.

Fourth victim: Eliott Sekiguchi, 15 years old, world-renowned pianist. He was kidnapped a week ago. According to the autopsy, Miyoko was still alive when Eliott disappeared. The murderer apparently went fast for this victim for some reason.

Fifth victim: Hiroshi Watanabe, 13 years old. The youngest victim. He was already known for his soccer skills by his first year of middle school. He was found yesterday in a forest — in the suburbs of Tokyo. Once again, he was beaten and stabbed a hellish amount.

Mouri sighed before putting the case report back on the table.

"These are sure gruesome murders... Why would anyone kill this? And children on top of that." The private eye told himself.

The day after, a sixth victim was found. Like the others, he was a teenager, heavenly skilled in a field: Satoshi Iwate, 15 years old. He was said to become a pro soccer player by high school.

Conan was at school when he saw it on the news, so he couldn't go home to see if Megure was there to discuss it with Mouri.

"Hey, Conan! What are you looking at?" Genta asked.

The other Detective Boys rushed to them, looking at Conan's phone.

"Oh... This killed murdered someone else..." Mitsuhiko sighed in sadness after seeing the news. Genta and Ayumi both let out a sigh themselves. Haibara went to Conan and whispered:

"Do you know anything? Thanks to Mouri?"

Conan breathed.

"Not much." He admitted.

"The police didn't come to the agency yet?"

"Yes, they did. But Mouri threw me out before I could listen to anything. But..."

"But?"

"Someone came to Mouri to ask for help about this."

Haibara waited for Conan to continue.

"A man named Atobe. Apparently, he has a son within the age range of the killer's victims and... He is pretty good at tennis."

"So he thinks his son could be next?"

"Yes. And I can't say mister Atobe is in the wrong to think like this... Anyway, he asked Mouri to find the killer."

"This is so scary! What if he wanted to kill us as the Detective Boys!" Genta screamed.