Inside the Beika Hotel.
"Exactly. Just before he drew his final breath, Mr. Itakura used the toes of his left foot to peel off the sock on his right," the Sleeping Detective declared, his voice steady and resonant.
Inspector Megure nodded solemnly. He had just finished confirming this specific detail with the forensics team.
Judging by the marks left on the ankles, it was highly probable that the suspect had returned to the room long after Itakura Suguru had passed. By then, rigor mortis had already set in, and the killer had forced the sock back onto the deceased man's right foot.
"Officer Takagi, please hand over Mr. Itakura's diary disk and the blank disk to Inspector Megure," Conan whispered. He was crouched out of sight nearby, directing the scene through his butterfly voice-changer.
"I say, Mouri-kun... what exactly do you want me to do with these?" Megure asked, sitting before the computer with a look of utter bewilderment.
"Next, please turn on the computer and copy the files from the diary onto the blank disk."
Conan's eyes gleamed with intensity as he watched the Inspector. To the police, this step had little to do with solving the murder—but for Conan, it was everything. He needed that data.
"..."
"Turn it on..." Megure stared blankly at the machine, his eyes scanning the casing. He couldn't find anything resembling a power button.
"Inspector, it's on the side," Takagi whispered. He reached over, clicked the button to boot the system, and began the process of copying the data onto the blank diskette.
"Mouri-kun, you aren't just making fun of a computer illiterate like me, are you?" Megure asked, his face flushing with embarrassment.
"Of course not. Now, if you would, please turn your attention to the Go board beside the table."
While the officers were distracted, Conan moved with feline grace. He crept toward the edge of the computer desk, his movements silent.
"Mr. Mouri, are you suggesting this is a dying message left by Mr. Itakura?" Takagi frowned. The height of the Go board was such that even someone bound to a chair could reach it with their feet. It was entirely possible to arrange stones on it using one's toes.
However, as Takagi stared at the chaotic scattering of black and white stones, he couldn't make heads or tails of it.
While the group was preoccupied with the board, "Director" Conan had already snatched the copied disk. He slipped it into his sleeve with practiced ease and walked back toward Kogoro as if nothing had happened.
Got it!
"Actually, this arrangement violates the rules of the game," a man with curly hair, Sugai Katsumichi, remarked as he stepped forward. He was the one who had commissioned Itakura to develop a Go simulator. Pointing to a section of the board, he added, "A white stone here is completely surrounded by black stones but hasn't been removed. Itakura was a pro; he would never make such a secondary-school mistake."
"So, the secret really is hidden in this game?" Megure turned back toward 'Mouri,' who had gone uncharacteristically silent for a moment.
"Ahem. Inspector Megure, please take a look at the computer keyboard. Don't you think it looks a bit... unusual?" the Sleeping Detective asked, clearing his throat.
"The keyboard?"
"Honestly..." Megure let out a weary sigh. If the keyboard was the issue, why make a 'computer illiterate' like him go through the hassle of booting the machine and copying files?
"Oh!"
"It's Braille!" Officer Takagi exclaimed, recognizing the raised bumps immediately.
"That makes sense," said Naito Teiping, the balding man with glasses. "Actually, Mr. Itakura and I shared a similar affliction—our eyesight was deteriorating rapidly. I heard he had recently begun learning Braille input."
"Officer, the stones on the board!" Takagi and Megure shared a look of realization. They immediately asked Mr. Naito, who was fluent in Braille, to examine the Go board.
"The shapes don't quite fit standard Braille... wait. If you ignore the white stones and only look at the black ones..." Naito squinted, tracing the patterns.
"The... killer... is... Soma...!"
The killer is Soma!
As Naito translated the dying message, every head in the room snapped toward the burly man with the middle-parted hair: Soma Ryusuke.
"Hey, hey! What is this? This is a frame-up!" Soma's composure flickered for a split second before he regained his voice. "It's a setup! Naito knows Braille—he's the one who's framing me!"
"I recall you all mentioning that Mr. Itakura was extremely sensitive about the wristwatches people wore," Conan said, his voice echoing through the room as he suppressed his inner excitement. He continued in Kogoro's tone, "Mr. Soma Ryusuke, you bought that watch five days ago, didn't you?"
When the three clients had first arrived at the Beika Hotel, they had bragged about their expensive watches. They had even urged Kogoro to take off his cheap timepiece, fearing Itakura would lose his temper at the sight of it.
They hadn't expected that Itakura would be long past losing his temper.
"What... what are you trying to say?" Soma looked down at his watch, his face turning pale. A terrifying detail suddenly clicked in his mind.
"Heh. Did Mr. Itakura not personally handle and admire that watch of yours?" the Sleeping Detective chuckled.
Inspector Megure's gaze sharpened. He stepped forward and firmly gripped Soma's wrist.
According to the clients, Itakura had been missing for a week, and they hadn't seen him since. If Soma's watch—purchased only five days ago—bore Itakura's fingerprints, it was ironclad evidence of their meeting.
"I suppose they'll be there," Soma muttered with a hollow laugh as he watched Officer Takagi carefully place the watch into an evidence bag.
Megure remained silent, not wanting to interrupt the man's momentum. It looked like a confession was coming. That was for the best; the police were never entirely certain about the quality of fingerprints retrieved from the metallic surfaces of a watch.
"After I showed it to Itakura, I didn't wear it again. I only put it back on today," Soma sighed, a weight seemingly lifting from his shoulders.
If he had worn the watch over the last few days, he might have had the confidence to bluff his way out. But his decision to kill had been a sudden impulse upon arriving at the hotel. Once suspicion fell on him, he knew he couldn't hide the truth.
In truth, he and Itakura had been friends for many years.
But Itakura had betrayed the dream and the promise they once shared. For years, Soma had poured his heart and soul into creating a Shogi software capable of defeating a Meijin, gathering massive amounts of data to hand over to Itakura.
In the talent-filled—and often blood-soaked—district of Beika, that motive was more than enough.
Soma knew his friend relied on medication to stay alive. It was a precarious existence. The wine, the sleeping pills, and the tape used to bind him had all been bought on a whim after he left his house. Had he planned it in advance, perhaps the case wouldn't have been solved so easily.
"It's always the old friends who strike the cruelest blow," Tsuneo remarked.
Having listened to the entire sequence of events via remote surveillance, Tsuneo leaned back and offered his evaluation.
Being taped to a chair, fixed to a table, with only the lower legs able to move and the mouth sealed shut—Itakura hadn't even been able to struggle or cry out as his heart failed him.
"I ran a simulation; it feels like it really came down to luck," Hiroki's voice chimed in.
If Itakura hadn't suffered a cardiac episode so quickly, he might have been able to make enough noise to be rescued.
"Get ready..." Tsuneo said quietly, his eyes fixed on the feed.
(End of Chapter)
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