401 PS reward. Enjoy!
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Night had long since fallen.
Under the moonlight, the sea shimmered with silver ripples. The luxurious cruise ship sailed steadily across the water, still more than a dozen hours away from Tokyo Port.
The sound of leather shoes striking the metal staircase echoed sharply through the otherwise peaceful silence.
A man concealed within the shadows glanced left and right. After confirming that no one was watching, he pulled a long, wrapped object from inside his coat.
A bloodstained napkin was wrapped around a Western-style kitchen knife.
As long as he threw it into the sea, both the murder weapon and the evidence of his crime would disappear forever.
But as he raised his right hand to hurl it overboard, applause suddenly sounded from behind him.
"Shoji-san, what is that you're holding? Mind letting us have a look?"
Hatamoto Shoji stared in disbelief at Shinichi, who was standing behind him. However, his composure was excellent. He quickly lowered his hand and forced a smile.
"Oh, this? It's a new kitchen knife I bought."
"Taking a kitchen knife out of the kitchen isn't exactly safe, is it?"
"I'm a chef. I know how to avoid hurting myself. Thank you for your concern, Kudo-kun."
Shoji slipped the knife back into his coat and smiled. "I still need to prepare dessert for everyone after dinner, so if you'll excuse me."
But as he turned toward the stairs, he saw Ritsu leaning casually against the railing below. Holding a lens cloth, Ritsu was leisurely polishing the lenses of his gold-rimmed glasses.
Both escape routes were blocked.
Suddenly, Shoji remembered something.
As long as the murder weapon disappeared, there would be no evidence. And without evidence, there could be no conviction.
He immediately pulled out the knife again and gathered all his strength to throw it into the sea.
Once it sank beneath the waves, so too would all proof of his crime.
Seeing him attempt to destroy the evidence, Ritsu put on his glasses and rushed forward in two long strides. Under Shoji's horrified gaze, he reached for the weapon.
Startled out of his wits, Shoji fell backward onto the deck. The knife flew from his hand. Ritsu had assumed Shinichi, who was standing behind him, would naturally catch the weapon.
Instead, something unexpectedly dramatic happened,
The instant the knife came flying toward him, Shinichi reacted with incredible speed and dodged to the side.
Judging from that movement, he must have been exceptionally good at dodgeball in elementary school.
A perfect arc.
A perfect splash.
The murder weapon plunged directly into the sea.
"..."
Silence.
The three of them stood frozen.
For a moment, nobody knew how to react.
Then Shoji's laughter broke the stillness.
"Hahahahaha!"
"KUUDOO!"
"Sorry! It was completely instinctive! I just dodged automatically!"
Ritsu pressed a hand against his forehead in frustration.
Then he grabbed Shoji by the collar, hauled him to his feet, and slammed him against the wall without hesitation.
"You think getting rid of the murder weapon means you can escape legal punishment?"
"Officer, what are you talking about?"
Shoji chuckled.
The polite façade he'd maintained all this time completely disappeared. In a vicious tone, he said,
"The thing I just threw away was merely a kitchen knife. Besides, I didn't throw it intentionally, you two startled me.
"And if you don't let go right now, I'll hire a lawyer and sue you for misconduct. I really dislike being threatened."
Ritsu tightened his grip. "You think destroying the weapon means there's no evidence left?
"That's incredibly naive, Shoji-kun."
"What do you mean?"
At that moment, Shinichi suddenly crouched down beside him and exclaimed dramatically,
"Huh? What's this, Shoji-san? Why are there glass fragments stuck to the bottom of your shoes?"
"What's strange about that? I probably stepped on them by accident." Shoji didn't realize the problem.
Clearly, he had never carefully observed the crime scene.
"Shoji-kun, you seem like the type of student who'd finish an exam and immediately put your head down until time was called.
You'd never check whether you'd filled in the answer sheet correctly or misread a question."
Standing up, Shinichi smiled brightly.
"There was a shattered ashtray at the crime scene. At the time, you were completely focused on committing the attack and never paid attention to your surroundings, right?
The glass fragments stuck to your shoes most likely came from then. And if we're lucky, traces of Gozo-san's blood can still be recovered from them."
Judging from the shocked look on Shoji's face, he clearly hadn't noticed that detail.
The cruise ship was simply too luxurious.
The soft carpeting muffled every sound, preventing him from hearing the crunch of glass embedded in the soles of his shoes.
"Well?"
Ritsu asked coldly. "Why aren't you saying anything now?"
"Heh. What else is there to say?"
Shoji sneered. "So the three of you were acting from the very beginning?"
'The three of them?'
Ritsu and Shinichi exchanged a glance. Both instantly understood what the other was thinking.
The third detective hadn't been acting at all. He had genuinely believed Hokuro was the culprit. Neither of them felt like explaining that detail.
After escorting the real culprit back to the dining hall, Kogoro predictably looked shocked. However, he quickly regained his composure and adopted an expression that practically said,
"I knew it all along."
Ritsu lowered his head and chuckled. He never expected Kogoro to be such a natural actor.
When Mariko learned that her husband wasn't the culprit, she practically sprang out of her chair. Overjoyed, she turned toward her son.
"This is wonderful, Ichiro! That means your father can inherit the Hatamoto family's assets, and you'll become the future head of the Hatamoto family!"
Ichiro frowned immediately.
Grandpa hadn't even woken up yet, and his mother was already thinking about money.
"Mother, I have absolutely no interest in inheriting the family business. I plan to study abroad and continue my education. I want to become an artist capable of holding my own exhibitions."
"What nonsense are you talking about?"
Mariko gracefully lifted her wine glass, though it contained freshly squeezed orange juice rather than wine.
"How much money can an art exhibition possibly make? You're still a child who doesn't understand anything."
Seated at a nearby table, Akie admired the gemstone ring on her finger and laughed.
"Auntie, we're really lucky~ Thanks to Uncle Shoji, Grandpa will definitely step down immediately and hand over the money for us to manage."
"That's right."
Mariko smiled smugly. "Then the entire Hatamoto Group will belong to my husband."
The spiky-haired Tatsuo immediately snapped, "Hey! Don't tell me you're planning to keep all of Grandpa's assets for yourselves!"
"Don't worry. Of course I'll remember to share a little with all of you."
Mariko was already completely immersed in fantasies of inheriting the entire fortune. She had conveniently forgotten one important fact.
The old man had only been seriously injured.
He wasn't dead.
As outsiders, Ritsu and the others could only stare speechlessly.
This family was truly beyond saving. Every single one of them had money on the brain. Ritsu glanced toward Natsue and Takeshi, both of whom looked utterly dejected.
It was obvious that the only people genuinely worried about Gozo were those two. And Ichiro, who had finally resolved to apologize to his grandfather.
If a dead person heard what the rest of the family was saying, they'd probably climb right out of their grave, curse them out, and then lie back down.
"Sensei, look over there."
Feeling an elbow nudge his side, Ritsu followed the direction Shinichi was looking. His eyes immediately lit up. The gossip-loving side of him suddenly burst into flames.
'This was going to be good.'
Ran was pushing a wheelchair toward them. And sitting in that wheelchair was none other than the newly awakened Gozo.
The old man's pale face combined with his furious expression was honestly terrifying. Clearly, he had overheard everything his ungrateful children and grandchildren had been saying.
His mustache was practically standing on end from anger.
"A bunch of worthless ingrates... cough cough! You think I'd hand the Hatamoto Group over to the likes of you?"
"Keep dreaming... cough cough cough!"