Chapter 17: The Killer's Flaw

Akikawa Kyousuke was a little surprised.

Not to mention that we are now in the hospital room, there are two outsiders behind this beautiful police officer!

"So, do all detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department look like this?"

"Just bringing outsiders here to observe in such a grand way?"

Akikawa Kyousuke originally thought that if everyone were like Takuto Nakajima, a little clever but not too intelligent, he should be able to handle it.

But he didn't expect the Metropolitan Police Department to allow the "handsome" detective and the primary school student Shinigami to attend the interrogation.

"All the detectives in the world of 'Detective Conan' seem to have a superior IQ. If there's a flaw, it will be noticed immediately…"

Akikawa Kyousuke thought to himself, then looked at Conan and Sera Masumi.

"May I ask who these two are...?"

"They are Conan-kun and Sera-san. They might also have some questions they want to ask Mr. Akikawa."

"Okay…"

Akikawa Kyousuke saw that Sato Miwako had no intention of letting the two detectives leave, so he nodded slightly.

"Thank you for your cooperation. Without further ado, could Mr. Akikawa please tell us his itinerary from yesterday?"

"Recount the itinerary? Just a simple inquiry, or do you want to confirm if my answer conflicts with Nakajima's previous recording?"

Akikawa Kyousuke thought for a moment, then said:

"Yesterday I turned twenty, so I planned to go out with my mother to celebrate."

"After the celebration, I was ready to go home..."

"Sorry, can you tell me specifically how you celebrated? For example, where did you go and what did you do?"

"I just had a normal meal."

Of course, Akikawa Kyousuke didn't know what the original owner did yesterday with his mother.

However, considering the original owner's physical condition, most activities should have been impossible.

Also, he hadn't felt hungry until this morning, and the car accident yesterday occurred around nine at night. The original owner and his mother must have eaten out.

"Excuse me, what restaurant did you go to? What did you eat?"

"Sorry, I don't remember..."

"Ah, well, does most people forget what they ate last night? Wasn't it my older brother's birthday last night? Wouldn't he forget?"

Suddenly, a childlike and artificial voice sounded.

Conan blinked his confused eyes, looking at Akikawa Kyousuke with doubt in his eyes.

"Yesterday was his birthday, how could he forget what he ate?"

"Since he wants to hide his food, that means if the restaurant where he and his mother ate is found, something will probably be exposed!"

"For example... putting sleeping pills in his mother's food..."

Conan was very aware of Akikawa Kyousuke's intentions.

The corners of his mouth curved, and he gently pinched his neck.

He prepared the mini-microphone in his collar and relayed the information to Takagi Wataru, who was taking notes outside.

As a result, Akikawa Kyousuke's next words made Conan stop.

"For me, eating itself is painful, so the same applies to everything I eat."

"Any food is hard to swallow."

"Every time I eat, I have to take a lot of pills to swallow it, but even if I eat a little more, I spit it out."

"Even if I ate sushi last night, I don't think I would have any impression."

Upon hearing Akikawa Kyousuke's words with his head bowed and eyes sad, Conan's expression suddenly froze.

"I really forgot! Most people don't forget what they ate yesterday, but this Akikawa Kyousuke is not an ordinary person!"

"As a patient with chronic liver failure, he long ago lost the ability to enjoy food."

Conan, realizing this, suddenly felt ashamed.

He had originally wanted to play the role of an ignorant child and point out the unreasonable aspects of Akikawa Kyousuke's words.

Unexpectedly, it turned out to be a mischievous child saying nonsense and provoking people's pain.

"Even if I ate sushi last night, I wouldn't have any impression..."

Sera Masumi quietly repeated Akikawa Kyousuke's words.

"Is sushi the best for him?"

Masumi Sera had once heard that for children from ordinary families, sushi is the most luxurious food.

At that moment, when she heard Akikawa Kyousuke doing his best to imagine and could only name food like sushi, she suddenly felt inexplicably sorry for him.

"It's really rude, Mr. Akikawa, please continue talking," said Sato Miwako.

"Well... when we were walking back, suddenly a motorcycle appeared in front of us, and my mother also braked at that moment."

"What kind of motorcycle was it?"

"Black."

"Can you be more specific?"

"Sorry, I don't know much about motorcycles."

"What then?"

…

After that, Akikawa Kyousuke told Nakajima Takuto earlier:

After braking, they were hit from behind, the car hit the guardrail, he hit his head and hand, and then he completely recounted the story of his mother's death at the hands of a motorcyclist.

But something was different.

Almost every time Akikawa Kyousuke retold it, Sato Miwako asked for more details.

"Sorry, I wanted to ask."

At that moment, the voice of Sera Masumi, who had never spoken, sounded.

"Mr. Akikawa, you said you were a little confused when you hit your head, but you must have noticed the order in which the killer stabbed Mrs. Ryoko, right? The killer should have stabbed Mrs. Ryoko first in the neck, right?"

Akikawa Ryoko's injuries occurred in the neck, chest, and abdomen.

Finally, the knife was inserted into her abdomen.

Since there were strangulation marks on Akikawa Ryoko's body, it shows that she fought violently when she was killed.

The stab wound in Akikawa Ryoko's neck was in the throat area. It was impossible to fight violently after being stabbed, so it couldn't have been the first place the knife cut.

Also, Akikawa Ryoko had no fingerprints on her body, and Akikawa Kyousuke wasn't wearing gloves.

So the strangulation marks belong to "confidential police information" known only to the police.

In this case, if Akikawa Kyousuke is the killer, his answer is likely designed to confuse the police's judgment about the correct order of the knife's movements.

And his investigation simply followed the killer's wishes.

Given that the knife was inserted into Akikawa Ryoko's abdomen in the end, the knife was pulled from the top of the throat, which aligns with the impression of the outsiders who witnessed the tragic situation of the deceased.

"As Akikawa Kyousuke nods, he is most likely the killer."

Sera Masumi was thinking this in her mind and heard Akikawa Kyousuke recall with a trembling voice:

"I have a good impression... It doesn't seem like it... The man seemed to have stabbed my mother several times in the chest, and then stabbed her abdomen and throat."

"I only remember my mother struggling fiercely, I was too scared to move and couldn't see clearly..."

"Actually, I avoided Sera's trap..."

Conan sighed softly in his heart but did not easily deny the possibility that Akikawa Kyousuke was the killer.

He silently extended his hand and activated the microphone on his collar twice, sending the signal.

A moment later, someone knocked on the door of the room.

Then Takagi Wataru entered.

Sato Miwako looked at Takagi Wataru with a confused look, and then heard Takagi Wataru whisper at a volume still audible to the people in the room, even though he was speaking softly:

"The people from the forensic department received news. No traces of sleeping pills were found in Ryoko Akikawa's body."

"That denies the possibility that sleeping pills caused the car accident." Sato Miwako nodded.

"One more thing is that the people from the forensic class judged by the luminol reaction that the fingerprints on the dagger's handle had been wiped by the killer."

"But the killer showed their flaws here."

"Because the forensic class later used a cyanacrylate fumigation method, they found fingerprints from someone other than the deceased Ryoko Akikawa on the handle of the dagger."

During the time Takagi Wataru was "reporting" to Sato Miwako,

Conan's eyes behind his large round glasses had been closely watching Akikawa Kyousuke.

As expected.

After hearing Takagi Wataru say that fingerprints from other people were found on the handle of the dagger, Akikawa Kyousuke showed a very surprised expression on his face.

**(End of Chapter)**