19. Conan's Competitiveness

When Hayashi Yoshiki arrived at the bottom of the apartment building where Yoko Okino lived, he saw several police cars parked downstairs.

He took the elevator to the 25th floor without stopping.

As soon as he stepped out of the door, Hayashi Yoshiki saw a group of people gathered in the corridor - the body was found in the living room of Yoko Okino's house, and the police were now investigating and collecting evidence inside, so everyone was asked to come out.

"Nice to meet you, Uncle Mouri."

"Who are you?"

"My name is Hayashi Yoshiki, and I'm Aunt Eri's nephew."

"Oh! So you are Eri's nephew...!"

Mouri Kogoro, who had just looked confused, became clear-headed at a speed visible to the naked eye. He walked up, patted Hayashi Yoshiki on the shoulder and exclaimed: "No wonder you look so handsome."

"You flatter me."

Hayashi Yoshiki just smiled.

Mouri Ran stood aside very ladylike at this time and greeted him softly, "...G-good evening"

"Good evening."

Hayashi Yoshiki smile seemed friendly. Seeing that Mouri Ran seemed a little uncomfortable, he said, "Don't be so distant. You can call me Brother Yoshiki."

"Huh?"

Mouri Ran felt a little awkward of suddenly calling someone she met the second time with their first name.

However, after finding that he was indeed her cousing, she chose to go along with it.

"Who are these kids?"

Hayashi Yoshiki noticed several elementary school students.

"These are just some naughty kids who came to join in the fun when we weren't paying attention. Oh, and this one is Conan who's staying at our house temporarily."

Mouri Kogoro put his big hand on Conan's head, causing the latter to roll his eyes.

Kojima Genta and Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko were a little dissatisfied with being called naughty kids, and whispered:

"What?"

"We just want to see what our idol's home looks like."

"Isn't that right, Ayumi?"

"…"

Being stared at by the two men, Yoshida Ayumi looked at Hayashi Yoshiki blankly: "What a handsome big brother!"

"…"

Ignoring these kids for the time being, Hayashi Yoshiki looked towards Yoko Okino and her agent Yamagishi Sakae as they walked over.

"Hayashi-Sensei..."

"Well, what's the situation now?"

"I don't know." Yoko Okino shook her head. "I just got home and saw someone lying in a pool of blood. Then, under Mr. Mouri's instructions, I called the police and waited for them to come..."

"Okay, then may I ask if the deceased inside has any relationship with you, Miss Yoko?"

"That person has absolutely nothing to do with Yoko."

Hayashi Yoshiki was asking Yoko Okino, but it was Yamagishi Sakae who rushed to answer, and immediately after he finished speaking, he turned to Yoko Okino and said, "Isn't that right, Yoko?"

He looked as if he was afraid that she might say something wrong.

However, Yoko Okino did not seem to have any impression of the body lying there. After careful recollection, she frowned and shook her head and said, "I don't know. I don't seem to know him."

"You really don't know him?"

At this time, Megure Juzo walked out of the house.

Although he looked chubby, he had the imposing aura of a policeman when he spoke in a stern voice. Megure Juzo looked at Okino Yoko seriously and said, "According to what you said just now, this house was locked when you came here. It is impossible to open it without a key. In other words, if someone was killed in a closed room, the criminal is most likely the owner of this house!"

"How could it be... How could I kill someone, officer!" Yoko Okino was shocked.

"That's right! Officer Megure!"

When he heard that Megure Juzo actually suspected Yoko Okino, Maouri Kogoro immediately became anxious: "How could the criminal be such a lovely Miss Yoko Okino!"

"…"

A black line appeared on Megure Juzo's forehead.

"It's still too early to tell whether it's a secret room or not. After all, it's just a door that can be opened with a key."

Hayashi Yoshiki's clear voice came over, and Yoko Okino seemed to have found her backbone.

"Oh! Brother Hayashi!"

Megure Juzo was deeply impressed by Hayashi Yoshiki, and his eyes lit up at that moment.

"Does Miss Yoko have a spare key to this room?"

"Yes, I have a spare key at Mr. Yamagishi's place."

"I see! Then the culprit is Mr. Yamagishi!"

Mouri Kogoro could not wait to point his finger at the unprepared Yamagishi Sakae, and when he panicked and quickly waved his hands to indicate that he had nothing to do with the matter, Mouri Kogoro rushed over and grabbed his collar and said angrily: "You bastard! You must be unwilling to be just Miss Yoko's agent. You confessed to her and was rejected, so you feel resentful and want to put the blame on her, right!?"

"Please don't talk nonsense! Although I do have a spare key, I accidentally lost it a few days ago! It was in the TV company's employee lounge."

"Where's the evidence? Just based on your one-sided statement——"

"I know this, Mr. Mouri. Yamagishi did not lie."

Yoko Okino, who didn't want to sit idly by and watch her agent being wrongly accused, hurried to help explain. Looking at her anxious and serious cute face, Mouri Kogoro had to "cough" to soften his throat.

"Well, since Ms. Yoko has said so..."

(Don't just listen to one side of the story.)

Witnessing the double standard of the uncle in front of him, Conan's mouth twitched.

Then he turned his head to look at Hayashi Yoshiki and found that the other party was just watching the scene with a smile on his face, as if he didn't care about this ridiculous farce at all.

But let's compare and see!

A strong desire to win surged in Conan's heart.

He had not seen the previous live broadcast of Nichiuri TV, but he did watch the process of solving the case that was widely publicized in the news... He immediately understood the murderer's method of committing the crime just by walking around the crime scene. This was not impossible for Conan, because sometimes solving the case was just a matter of a flash of inspiration that connected all the things together.

Maybe that was Hayashi Yoshiki's situation at that time.

However, being able to do this is enough to prove that he is an extremely capable detective.

It's a rare opportunity to meet a rival who can compete with him, which makes Conan eager to try.

"How is the police's investigation and evidence collection going?"

"Well, it's almost done. Do you want to go in and take a look, Brother Hayashi?"

"OK."

Hayashi Yoshiki did not expect that Megure Juzo would actually invite him instead.

It seems that the police in this world are indeed very accustomed to and good at handling cases under the guidance of detectives.

"Well, I'll come and help too, Officer Megure."

At this time, Mouri Kogoro also stood up to make his presence known.

The latter waved his hand and let him in.