Reincarnated into Case Closed!!

The Debut of the Great Detective (Part 2)

The screams were so loud, I had to try not to cover my ears.

"P-police!" Kogoro yelled out. "Call the police!"

"Please, wait!" the manager grabbed the detective's sleeve desperately. "We don't want a scandal. If the press catches wind of this...-"

Since I couldn't bear to hear any more of his bullshit, my attention panned over to Yoko, feeling really bad for her. Who would want to see a dead body first thing when they come home? She probably doesn't want to live here anymore.

"-....So if there's anyway we can keep this quiet," the manager had the audacity to say. Hey, man. If you say that, don't you realize that you're just pinning more suspicion on yourself?

"Oh, we can certainly keep this a secret," Kogoro responded, and the two men half-heartedly laughed for a second. "HOW STUPID DO YOU THINK I AM!? WE'RE TALKING ABOUT A MURDER HERE!!!"

He turned his head to face his daughter. "Ran! Call the police!"

"'Kay!"

Now, I just hope I can remember the case before anything else bad happens. Then, maybe––just maybe––I can prove my worth to our little detective.

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Chik! Chik! Chik!

Lights from the camera flashed as the forensic team took pictures of the crime scene.

"Hmmm..." a chubby guy with a brown trench coat (and a matching hat!) was crossing his arms while he was deep in thought. His mustache seemed to twitch as he frowned at the body. That's right, people, it's the one and only: Inspector Megure! Man, to think that I had to wait three whole days to see him in person for the first time. "So when you returned to your room, this man was already dead."

"Y-yes..." Yoko confirmed.

"And at that time you were accompanied by this private investigator..." Megure glanced to his side at the grinning Kogoro.

"Yes, Inspector Megure! It's me, Mouri Kogoro!" the detective gave a salute while the inspector turned away to hide his scowl. "It's been a long time! Remember all those cases we worked on together?"

"With you working under me, most of the cases went cold," Megure grumbled. He then loosened his tie a bit and started to fan himself. "Phew, this room is hot. Do you always turn up the heat this high?"

"No, not this high," Yoko responded. "I'm sure I turned everything off once I left."

Megure scratched his chin. "Hmm...that's strange."

"That's not all that's strange, Inspector..." we all spun our heads towards the boy with glasses and a red bow-tie on the floor. I almost thought he had a magnifying glass in his hand as he inspected a spot on the ground. "There's a slight trace of wetness on the floor around the body. And this room is trashed. Why would this one chair remain upright?"

A slight trace of wetness on the floor..? Hearing that triggered a fragment of my memory, but I'm not able to piece it together just yet...something about ice? Ice? What does ice have to do with this?

Conan pointed to a chair near the corpse, which was upright as he had just said.

"And was the overheated room done in order to prevent accurate estimations of the time of death? No...if that was the case, putting the body in water would be more..." he trailed off, noticing the stares of people around the room. "...more effective..... ha ha ha..."

BONK!

Conan rubbed the giant bump he just got from Kogoro as he walked over to me and Ran.

"Who's the boy?" Megure asked.

"The son of an acquaintance. He's staying with us for a bit," Kogoro nervously laughed. He turned in our direction. "I told you not to get in the way!"

Ignoring the random outburst, Megure turned back to the crime scene to ask the forensic team a question. "How's it going? Did you figure out the cause of death?"

"The cause was the knife in the back, just as it appears," the man in a uniform responded. "Most likely killed instantly."

Megure turned to Yoko. "Is that knife yours?"

"Y-yes..."

"Hmmm...so it'd only be natural to find you finger prints on it..."

"Y-yes..." After confirming once again, the manager stepped in.

"Y-you don't suspect Yoko, do you?"

Megure hummed. "Who are you?"

"Yoko's manager, Yamagishi.."

"Do either of you recognize the victim?" the inspector asked.

"We were too frightened to even get a glance at the face..."

Megure stepped aside and scratched his mustache. "Then please, take a look."

Yoko and Yamagishi slowly shuffled over to the body. As their eyes landed on the face, their expressions went from nervous, to absolutely terrified.

"!?"

"So, do you recognize him?" Inspector Megure asked.

"N-no, I have to take a closer look," the manager bent down, apparently trying to get a better view of the face. Hm? Wait, if he didn't see recognize the face, why did he look so horrified?

Before I could think deeper into it, Yamagishi slipped on the blood, falling right on top of the corpse.

"Yahh!!" he shrieked as he hurriedly pushed himself away from the body. I saw Yamagishi holding something in his hand as he got up to stand, and a strand of hair fluttered to the ground as he put his hand in his pocket.

Conan darted over to his feet and stomped on the strand, hiding it in a hurry.

The confused face of Yamagishi looked down at the little boy that laughed nervously. He ignored him and went back to Yoko's side.

I make my way over and come to a stop at Conan's side. "Found something?"

"Yeah, but I don't know what it is yet..." Conan removed his foot to take a look. "...a hair?"

"It could be the murderer's," I say without much thought. I then put my finger to my chin. "Is it?"

"Possibly," he mumbled. Conan didn't say much after that. He just walked away and started thinking about the case on his own.

I know we just met a few days ago, but it still kind of hurts that he doesn't trust me as much as I hoped he would. I guessed it would be like this——but still! This is so unfair!

Sighing, I turn my attention to Inspector Megure and Kogoro. If I want to show my worth, don't I just have to figure this out myself? Plus, I have the advantage of knowing what happened, I just have to remember.

Why does solving a case always have to be so hard?