Chapter 18: Sore wa Doukana?
The room went very quiet.
He bought the hotel.
To crack a single kidnapping case—to verify a single detail—he went out and bought a five-star hotel?
Never mind Kogoro and Ran being stunned—even President Tani, a man of enormous wealth himself, was speechless.
"Rich" wasn't nearly enough of a word for it.
This was beyond wealthy—this was obscene wealth, wealth that broke every scale.
"N-no way?"
Conan's cheek twitched, his expression defying description.
Of everyone in the whole world—was there actually someone who could do something this absurd?
Wait.
Maybe there really was.
Conan vaguely found himself thinking of a certain someone by the name of Suzuki.
"Th-that doesn't prove anything, does it?"
Aso pushed back, still trying to hold on.
But the panic on his face and the cold sweat beading across his forehead had already given everything away.
"It proves you were lying."
"This kidnapping wasn't two incidents—it was three."
"The first was Tani Akiko's scheme, staged with your help, to get President Tani to shut down the company for a month so he'd spend more time with her."
"That idea, though—it came from you nudging her in that direction, didn't it?"
Makoto said with a cold smile, continuing his deduction.
"And the second was the kidnapper Uncle Kogoro caught."
"But doesn't it strike anyone as too much of a coincidence?"
"How would a stranger know this little girl was President Tani's daughter? How would he just happen to catch her alone? How would he have the nerve to demand 1,000,000,000 yen?"
Kogoro's mouth fell open, as though something had just occurred to him.
And Conan—as if a light had switched on—suddenly thrust his finger toward Butler Aso and shouted, "An inside man!"
"Only Mr. Aso, who planned the staged kidnapping, could know exactly when and where Akiko would be, and who would be around her!"
"In other words, only an inside man like Mr. Aso could have set up the second kidnapper—giving him everything he needed to pull it off so smoothly!"
With that, even Ran—even Kogoro—had caught up completely.
And President Tani, reacting immediately, scooped up his daughter and took several steps back.
The look in his eyes was complex—wary, disappointed, shifting between the two.
"That's correct—by using the staged kidnapping as cover, he created the conditions for a real one."
Makoto continued to explain.
"So what does he get out of it? What was the point?"
"Even if the kidnapping succeeded, the 1,000,000,000 yen would go to the kidnapper."
Kogoro asked, unable to follow.
"Hmm, sore wa doukana?"
"In my country, there's an ancient idiom called—'earning redemption through meritorious deeds.'"
Makoto held up his phone.
On the screen, in large, bold characters, were four Chinese characters.
"What does it mean?"
Ran tilted her head, puzzled.
Clearly, being a karate black belt had come at some cost to her academic studies.
"It refers to a person who has committed a serious crime but wants to atone for it by performing meritorious deeds, thereby redeeming themselves."
"I think what Higashino means is that Aso's plan was to ask President Tani to let him personally take the 1,000,000,000 yen to negotiate with the kidnapper—as a way of making up for his mistake."
Conan explained, his expression complicated, his tone heavy.
Whether he was sighing at Aso's scheme or lamenting his own failures, it was hard to say.
"But what if I refused?"
President Tani pressed.
Even now, he didn't want to believe it.
After all, the old butler had served them for so many years—the bond between them was no small thing.
"Even if you refused, even if the plan fell apart—what would he actually lose?"
"A punishment of planning a one-week trip to Australia?"
"Or a punishment of three months' docked pay?"
Makoto smiled coldly. "But if it succeeded—1,000,000,000 yen."
"I—I…"
"Thump!"
Butler Aso dropped to both knees in a full confession and, weeping bitterly, began to explain his reasons.
Late one night, he'd been secretly browsing shady websites and accidentally clicked on an ad.
He'd fallen into gambling after that—lost more and more, racked up a mountain of debt—and that was when the idea of kidnapping and extortion had come to him.
Before long, Inspector Megure and Officer Takagi—who had only just returned to the station and were about to head home for the night—climbed back out, drove over in their patrol car, working overtime, and took Butler Aso away.
"5,000,000 yen?!"
"Hahahaha…"
"Higashino—you really are my lucky star!"
Back home, Kogoro slapped Makoto on the shoulder, laughing heartily.
A true businessman—generous beyond measure, handing over 5,000,000 yen all at once, more than he usually made in an entire year.
"Think nothing of it—all the credit goes to you, Uncle."
"If it weren't for Uncle's heroics, the suspect would never have been brought down so quickly."
Makoto laid it on thick, naturally and seamlessly.
With one sentence, he'd shifted the key to solving the case—from finding the culprit to catching the culprit.
Handed all the credit to Mouri Kogoro, and flattered his future father-in-law in the process.
Even the reason Aso had come to Kogoro in the first place was because this detective was easy to fool.
Otherwise, for a case this serious, how would it ever have fallen to Mouri Kogoro?
But he'd said nothing at the time, purely to save his future father-in-law's face.
Compared to being some famous detective, all he wanted was to be a plain, ordinary smooth-talker.
"The only thing Uncle actually contributed was landing this case."
"I'd guess that butler did his homework, figured out Uncle's deductive skills weren't up to much, and chose you on purpose."
Conan said bluntly, clearly unimpressed.
"Kid, what are you saying?"
Kogoro's iron fist landed and reminded him who the adult was.
"Conan—you're at it again."
"Is this any way to behave at the dinner table?"
"No wonder you never grow."
Ran set a bowl of rice down in front of him and glared.
"I'm just saying what's true!"
Conan bowed his head and shoveled rice into his mouth, looking thoroughly wronged.
As if eating more rice might actually make him taller.
"Pay no attention to the kid."
"Besides—after this case, your name is out there now, Uncle."
"From here on, the agency's business is only going to get better and busier."
Makoto kept the flattery going.
Flattering his future father-in-law—but Ran was really the one he was after.
"Makoto!"
Ran looked at him with soft, warm eyes.
She knew, of course, that the real credit was all her boyfriend's.
But!
For her sake, Makoto had asked for none of it—not the fame, not the recognition—and handed everything to her father.
Sure enough, Makoto really was a gentle person.
Compared to him, that reasoning idiot would only gloat about his brilliance and never miss a chance to mock her father's incompetence.
No—that person had no right to be compared to Makoto at all.
…
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Aso — Tani family butler. Series: Detective Conan.
Edogawa Conan — Shinichi's alternate identity. Series: Detective Conan.
Higashino Makoto — Protagonist. Transmigrated.
Mouri Kogoro — Ran's father. Series: Detective Conan.
Mouri Ran — Shinichi's childhood sweetheart. Series: Detective Conan.
President Tani — Tani Akiko's father. Series: Detective Conan.
Tani Akiko — President Tani's daughter. Series: Detective Conan.
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Translated by CheapBiscuit.
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