Chapter 11: Black on the Inside

"How could I possibly know the victim?!"

The manager forced an awkward smile, though a hint of guilt flickered behind it.

"Even if it was just for a second, I saw the look of shock in your eyes when you glanced at the body."

Fujino locked his gaze on the manager's eyes. "If I'm not mistaken, you deliberately pretended to slip just now to take the strand of hair clutched in the victim's hand!"

"What?!"

Inspector Megure immediately gestured to the forensic officers. "Quick, go check the victim's hand—see if there is a strand of hair like Detective Fujino says!"

"Inspector Megure!"

"In the victim's hand, we did indeed find a strand of long adult female hair!"

Megure took the evidence bag, examining the long strand of women's hair inside, his tone grave.

"Both of you—care to explain exactly what's going on here?"

"Actually… I do know that man."

"Yoko!"

Just as Chouno Yoko started to speak, her manager shouted out in panic.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Eiichi, but I can't hide this any longer…"

She bowed slightly to Yamagishi Eiichi in apology, then lowered her head and explained, "Not only do I know him… that man was—he was my boyfriend back in high school. His name was Akira Fujie."

"Nani?!"

Inspector Megure was visibly shocked by this revelation. He immediately pressed her, "If that's the case, then you must be the one who killed Mr. Fujie, right?!"

"You killed him to sever your relationship and prevent it from affecting your popularity!"

"It's not like that!"

Chouno Yoko hurriedly explained, "He was the one who wanted to break up with me, not the other way around…"

"Something's not right…"

At that moment, standing at the doorway, Conan muttered to himself.

Even though it was Chouno Yoko's hair found clutched in Fujie's hand, something about this whole situation didn't sit right with him.

If only he could get inside the actual crime scene…

Just as Conan racked his brain trying to piece things together, a voice suddenly cut through his thoughts:

"Inspector Megure, the culprit isn't Chouno Yoko!"

Fujino suddenly interrupted Megure's interrogation, his tone firm. "I already know who the real murderer is!"

"What?! Fujino, if it's not her, then who could it be?"

Inspector Megure looked at Fujino in confusion.

Based on Fujino's earlier deductions, wasn't Chouno Yoko the obvious culprit?

If not her, then who?

What, was the victim supposed to have killed himself?

"There's usually only one truth."

Taking a deep breath, Fujino slowly raised his hand—and pointed directly at the corpse lying on the ground.

"The one who killed Mr. Fujie… was himself!"

What?!

Megure's eyes widened in disbelief. "That doesn't make sense—Fujie was stabbed in the back! How could that possibly be suicide?!"

"It's quite simple."

As he spoke, Fujino pointed at the puddles of water surrounding the corpse. "Did no one else notice the water stains on the floor?"

"Water stains? What do they have to do with the case?"

Inspector Megure was still confused.

Scratching the back of his head, Fujino silently cursed the tendency for police in this 'Conan World' to have dramatically lowered intelligence, then explained patiently:

"If Mr. Fujie used ice to fix the knife in place before adjusting the air conditioning to blow hot air, then stabbed himself—once the room warmed up, the ice would melt, causing these puddles of water. And that melting ice is closely tied to the nature of this case!"

Inspector Megure rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "If that's the case, then Fujie staging his suicide to look like a murder makes complete sense."

He gave Fujino an approving look, and for a moment, it felt as though he was seeing a familiar figure from the past.

A new promising junior!

"But Fujino, if the victim committed suicide, then why was he holding a handful of Yoko Okino's hair in his hand?"

At that moment, no one knew when Conan had managed to slip away from Ran's supervision and sneak into the room, raising the question to Fujino.

Fujino wasn't surprised by Conan's sudden appearance.

Instead, with a mischievous smile, he crouched down, ruffling Conan's hair teasingly. "Remember to use honorifics when addressing your seniors, okay? Conan-kun."

Ouch! Didn't this guy see the big bump on my head?!

He did that on purpose! So annoying!

But… for the sake of solving the case… I'll endure it!

Conan's lips twitched slightly, his gaze toward Fujino gradually filling with grievance. "I got it… Fujino-nii-chan…"

"Good boy! Conan-kun!"

Fujino chuckled and continued with his reasoning, "If my guess is correct, he went to all this trouble to stage this entire incident for the sole purpose of framing Miss Yoko Okino for his death."

"Frame Miss Yoko Okino?"

"But… if they'd already broken up, why would he come back to get revenge on her?"

Conan frowned in confusion.

Something about this just didn't sit right.

"That's why this whole thing is, through and through… a complete tragedy."

Fujino shook his head and turned to Yoko. "Miss Yoko, I hope you don't mind me revealing the details of this case publicly?"

"No problem."

Hearing her response, Fujino nodded and continued, "Just now, Miss Yoko Okino commissioned me to investigate the recent incidents of her being stalked. If I'm not mistaken, the person stalking Miss Yoko was none other than her ex-boyfriend, Mr. Fujie…"

"Mr. Fujie was still in love with Miss Yoko, but he broke up with her due to external pressures."

As he spoke, his gaze locked onto the manager, Yamagishi Eiichi. "Isn't that right, Manager Yamagishi?"

"W-What?!"

Yoko Okino's eyes widened in disbelief, staring at Yamagishi Eiichi.

"I… I won't deny it."

The manager lowered his head in shame. "It's true… back then, I went to him and begged him to break up with Yoko. At that time, her career was just taking off… I didn't want her popularity to be affected by having a boyfriend."

"Why… why would you… do something like this…"

Yoko collapsed weakly to the ground, her eyes brimming with tears.

Seeing this, Fujino sighed softly. "I'm guessing that strand of hair in his hand was torn from Miss Yoko's head last night."

"Last night, the one who was following you… was Mr. Fujie. He wanted to explain everything to you one last time. But you were so terrified at the time that you didn't hear what he was saying…"

With that, Fujino wore the look of a weary middle-aged uncle. "Sincere love gradually turning into hatred… the deeper the love, the deeper the hate."

"This guy…"

Conan frowned, staring at Fujino intently.

As Shinichi Kudo, he had to admit—this guy's reasoning was indeed sharp, almost as if he'd seen through the whole truth from the very beginning.

But still… why did it feel like… this guy is rotten on the inside?

(End of this chapter)