Beika Town
First Investigation Division, Metropolitan Police Department
Kotoko Iwanaga pushed open the door to the Third Division office with a grim expression.
"Sorry to bother you."
"Oh, it's little sister Kotoko!" Inspector Megure straightened up in his chair, gently blowing on his teacup.
"Hello." Kotoko curtsied gracefully.
Over the past month, she'd shuttled between bizarre crime scenes, earning the same "little sister" moniker from Megure as Conan had "Mouri's little brother." While not as fast as Mori Kogoro on normal cases, she was uncannily good with anything "paranormal."
Megure had recently heard she'd solved a patricide case in Hokkaido,perpetrator Ogiwara had confessed, but by the time Kotoko arrived, his parents had been consumed by a strange entity, with autopsy reports showing they'd been dead for a month. To protect Sayu Ogiwara (the prime suspect in a "murder and escape" case), her older brother had taken the blame and been committed to a local mental hospital on grounds of instability. Now Sayu had inherited the family company and become its president.
"Are you here to give a statement?" Megure asked, taking a sip of tea.
"Not exactly." Kotoko sat down across from him, sounding helpless. "I need a favor, I'm here to bail someone out. The one who took down half the Beika Town biker gang single-handedly."
Pfft! Cough, cough! Megure choked on his tea, dabbing his mouth with a tissue. "Who are you talking about?!"
Kotoko covered her face: "His name is Minoru Kageno."
"Is he the one who kept mentioning a mysterious organization on his phone?!" Megure's expression was incredulous.
He remembered the arrest clearly over a dozen officers had been taken down before a warning shot ended the standoff. They'd initially suspected an international spy or retired special forces operative and confiscated all his belongings. But then the kid had broken his handcuffs, bent the cell bars, and stolen back his phone to send a rescue message to some "organization."
Megure had thought he'd caught a big fish and laid a trap only to find the suspect looked like a disabled middle school student.
"I'm sure you've verified this already," Kotoko said, her tone solemn yet sympathetic. "He's a genuine high school student."
"But how do you explain him bending iron bars?!"
Kotoko spoke seriously: "It's from persistent training! There's a precedent of a high school taekwondo athlete breaking a load-bearing column with a kick."
She took a deep breath and forced out words she clearly didn't believe:
"This is perfectly normal."
Perfectly normal... The phrase echoed in Megure's mind before he sank into his chair, suddenly understanding.
"Normal? Then that's fine! But should we report this to higher-ups? Recruit talent from sports schools?"
With Kotoko's explanation, suspicion around Shadow shifted from "international spy" to "high school brawler." The biker gang was linked to a yakuza group and operating in a lawless area, they'd only been arrested because over a hundred people had called the police.
------------
Soon after, Minoru Kageno was brought to the office. After posting bail, Megure lectured him sternly:
"High school students should focus on studying, not act like those troublemakers!"
"I'm upholding justice!"
"That's our job! If you're serious about it, join the police academy after graduation!"
Megure had his own agenda obsessive as the kid was, his fighting skills were impressive. He'd make a great officer someday. He patted Minoru's shoulder: "I'm counting on you. Don't go astray. Now go home."
While they talked, Kotoko's eyes were fixed on a case summary on the wall.
"This case..."
Megure followed her gaze to the "Museum Murder Case" closed that morning.
"Ah, that's the one about the 'moving medieval armor' that's been trending online. The culprit's already in custodybhe's the museum director, Rakuhe."
Minoru walked over and stared at the photo of gleaming red armor.
Kotoko scrolled through her phone and showed Megure a news comment:
"Netizens are saying it's impossible, how could a 70-year-old man wear 100-pound armor, wield a 10-pound two-handed sword, and lift a grown man to pierce his throat with one blow?"
Megure's eyes bulged: "But you said breaking a column with a kick was normal!"
Kotoko's face froze, then her lips twitched: "I meant professionally trained athletes. Was the director a tennis player or pro mahjong player in his youth?"
"Not that I know of... You're right it is strange for a 70-year-old to lift someone over 100 pounds with one hand." Megure stroked his beard thoughtfully. "But he's already confessed."
"Just raising suspicions deciding what to do is up to you." Kotoko shrugged, then added casually: "By the way, could I see that medieval armor?"
"No problem! Takagi take Kotoko to the evidence room."
"Yes, sir!"