IM turned the bottom of the pen to reveal the tip and then tried it on his little notebook "The color and the thickness are the same. The victim probably used this"
'That's strange. Kubota-san should know about the camera. Why did he use this room when he had to hide his identity in armor? In order to match that painting? No. He doesn't seem to have any interest in art. Why would he do such a thing?' Kana still feels that something is wrong
"Wow, crazy!"
"It's like a gory movie" exclaimed the police when he rewatched the video in the security room
"Hey, you guys" Kana and Conan entered the room
"Hey, kids! You can't come in here"
"Inspector Megure asked you to go help with the other stuff," Conan said
"I-I wonder if he found out that we're having fun watching the video"
"A-Anyway, let's go"
They left the room and Conan and Kana took this opportunity to rewatch the video. "What is with that expression?" Conan noticed "Why is he so surprised when looking at the tab? Why did he throw away the pen after he finished? The criminal might notice it"
"Wait! Until we found the pen, the tip of it was in! That's weird. Why would somebody about to get killed put back the tip of a rotating-style pen? Maybe..." Kana trailed off and then suddenly ran alongside Conan toward the crime scene
"Then, please take care of it" -IM
"OK" answered his subordinate
Conan grabbed the paper where the victim tried to scribble something and then they inspected it "There are marks on here! So that's how it was done. We figured out what the trick was" Conan muttered to Kana
"Inspector we found it. The armor from Kubota's locker"
"You found it?"
They the sack and it revealed the bloodied armor.
"T-That's impossible! I don't know anything about it!" Kubota retorted
"There are 2 unassailable pieces of evidence here. The bloody armor and the dying message that the victim left!" -IM
'No. That is not a dying message. It's a trick that the criminal left to blame on Kubota' Conan thought
"Anyways, what bloody armor. It ruined the artwork" Kogoro muttered
"No, no, that's just a replica for decoration. It's probably the one that Kubota-san was carrying earlier" Iijima explained
"Oh, that one"
'I get it. That was a replica. So that's why the director didn't say anything about it' Kana thought
"We were lucky that the armor used in the murder was a replica. It seems like the other artworks were saved too"
"Now that I think about it...the wall that the murder took place on... the tabs were there but the paintings weren't. The criminal took it off prior to the murder in order to save the paintings from getting blood on them. The criminal has to be somebody from the art gallery after all. But wait a sec... This is a trick where it wouldn't make sense unless Kubota-san's alibi wasn't proven. This must mean that the only person that could have done that is... the director!" Kana mumbled to Conan
"If our reasoning is correct then he would still have it" Conan commented
"Now Kubota-san, please come with us to the police station" -IM
"What? No... no..." before they can even arrest him, Kana grabbed Ran's notebook and approached the director
"Director, can you write the directions of the directions towards the bathroom on here?"
"Huh? Alright..." he grabbed a pen from his coat and then started writing "So you go out of this room and..." he suddenly gasped and then his hands began shaking
"What's the wrong mister? Why aren't you writing it?" Conan asked him
"Oh yeah! That's right! You knew even before you started writing that the pen doesn't work" Kana tilted her head
"But that's weird. Why do you have a pen that you know doesn't work?" -Conan
Kogoro finally started to realize what they were doing "Pen..."
"A pen that doesn't work?" IM started to catch up on what's happening too
"Wait a sec... If the pen that the Manaka owner had didn't work, then this dying message should be... blank" Kogoro finally realized it while Kana and Conan are nodding in the background their faces instantly dropped with what they heard
"Uh... Look, isn't there some weird mark on it?" Kana pointed out
"Huh?" Kogoro looked closer
"There's a mark on there that looks like it was made by a pen that wasn't working" -Conan
"Oh!"
"What if that mark was made with a pen that doesn't work in order to erase what was originally on there?" -Kana
"Th-this children..." -director
"I get it! The Manaka owner didn't write this. It was written by the criminal from the start!"
"What? Then why would the owner take that tab?" -IM
Kogoro chuckled "That's easy. The criminal told Manaka to look at the tab behind him. The name of the criminal is on there... but on the tab, it said Kubota instead of the criminal's name. The owner, surprised, tried to erase the name of it with the pen, and write the real criminal's name. But he couldn't. Why is that? Because the pen that was placed there didn't work"
"That's why the owner threw away the pen and tried to crush the paper in his hands" -IM
"Therefore, in order to isolate us from the truth, this was a trick that the criminal did with a camera that doesn't record sound and a pen that doesn't work" Kogoro started laughing
"Yeah but... uhh, the pen that we found works" IM tried the pen they found on his little notebook
"That pen's tip was in when we found it right?" Conan reminded them
"Oh. Yeah..."
"That's very odd. Why would you put the pen tip back in if you were about to be killed?" -Kogoro
"Then, this must be what the criminal placed but he forgot to place the pen tip out" -IM
"That would mean... that the person with the pen that doesn't work would be the criminal. Therefore it would be you director Ochiai. Now then, let us hear what your alibi is at 4:30" Kogoro provoked
"At that time, I was waiting. Waiting for that evil devil by hiding myself in that armor. The rest of it was just as you said" Ochiai confessed
"Hmph! The camera captured the murder perfectly by coincidence" -Kogoro
Ochiai shook his head in denial "No, it wasn't a coincidence. The timing to come forward to make it look like I gave the owner some time, the placement of the tab, the placement of the pen... It was all according to plan since I practiced it here many times"
"Ahh. Then, that rumor that the guards saw a moving armor at night was..." -Kogoro
"I did think it was a foolish thing to do, but it was all done to get rid of Owner Manaka the devil that tried to take the art gallery which I thought of as my own child, for his own selfish reasons" Ochiai looks at Kubota "And I also wanted to punish" Kubota-kun who sold the artworks behind our backs
"Ochiai director, unlike the painting, it seems like you received divine punishment, too" -Kogoro
"No. It is just like that picture. The devil was destroyed by the heroic knight, but the knight who was covered in the evil blood was eventually turned evil by it. No matter what the reason, I'm a murderer. I also turned into a devil. As proof of that, I was unable to deceive a tiny eye of justice"
"A tiny eye of justice?" Kogoro questioned
"Little kids, you don't need to go to the bathroom anymore?" hearing that, Kana and Conan sweatdropped since they forgot they did ask for directions. Ochiai started laughing
YOU ARE READING
Little Detectives
FanfictionShimizu Daitan (Nakano Kana), is the other childhood friend of Ran and Shinichi. A kind, blunt, and sarcastic teenage girl, don't make her mad. But she's not weak. She's more potent than Ran in terms of combat. Her parents are assassins which makes...
