Chapter 126: Are You Telling Me to Be Indifferent?

The ambulance crew from the Fire Department arrived at Soma Miho's screening room, placed Akikawa Kyousuke on a stretcher, and took him away.

After seeing Akikawa Kyousuke off, Conan returned to Soma Miho's screening room.

Mouri Ran and Suzuki Sonoko went to meet with officers from the Metropolitan Police Department who had entered the film festival exhibition area.

Conan approached Sera Masumi and noticed her wearing gloves and examining a document with a serious expression.

---

"Miss Sera, what is this?"

"Officer Toda didn't just bring out the murder weapon from the car accident. He also retrieved Akikawa's hospital examination report, the case file, and other materials."

Sera Masumi showed the document she was holding to Conan.

Conan looked at it and found that it was no different from the inspection report he had read earlier.

---

"Is there a record there of the Traffic Division ruling out all other suspects?"

Conan asked again.

"No."

Sera Masumi replied in a deep voice.

---

"As expected, Kyouji Toda is trying to provoke Akikawa Kyousuke into confessing," Conan said.

"Because he couldn't extract a confession, he must have realized that Akikawa Kyousuke might not be the real murderer. So, he decided to target him instead."

"That kind of person doesn't deserve to be called a detective at all. He's just using his title to disguise his severe violent tendencies."

Sera Masumi's pure tone was still full of anger.

---

"Just now, I asked Qiuchuan for a summary of what happened.

He said that Toda spoke to the director Hota this morning and then ran into Akikawa. Toda called him 'a matricide' and forcibly took him away, confiscating his mobile phone.

After that, Toda continuously pressured Akikawa to admit to being the murderer in the matricide case.

He also revealed that the Traffic Division had ruled out the possibility of another suspect and identified Akikawa Kyousuke as the killer.

When Akikawa protested again, Toda suddenly attacked him with a dagger."

---

After hearing the story, Sera Masumi asked Conan, "Did Akikawa say he wanted to kill himself?"

"No."

"Well—"

Hearing this, Sera Masumi let out a deep sigh.

"If we had gotten here earlier, we could have prevented what happened this time."

---

Conan heard the deep guilt in Sera Masumi's tone.

He knew what she was thinking.

She was wondering if she had regretted her earlier actions that had hurt Akikawa Kyousuke.

---

"That said, we were already moving very quickly.

After watching Sakura Rain, we didn't even stop for lunch and went straight to Soma Miho's exhibition hall," Conan said.

"Besides, I noticed something.

I briefly asked Akikawa about what happened yesterday. He said that after Toda questioned him about Ohga Takao, he also asked if Akikawa would attend the film festival today."

---

Sera Masumi looked at Conan in surprise when she heard this.

Then she saw Conan nod at her with a serious expression.

"I'm afraid Toda planned all of this.

When he asked if Akikawa would come to the film festival, it was probably to confirm if Akikawa would go home.

If what Akikawa said is true, there's a high possibility that Toda planted evidence in Akikawa's house!"

---

As soon as Conan finished speaking, he suddenly heard the sound of hurried footsteps.

Megure Juzo entered with a group of officers, a serious expression on his face.

When all the detectives saw Kyouji Toda unconscious to the side, they looked visibly shocked.

---

Megure Juzo stared directly at Sera Masumi and asked loudly, "Sister Sera, what is going on?"

"When we arrived, we saw Officer Toda attacking Akikawa with a knife, so I knocked him unconscious."

Sera Masumi showed no fear of the serious Megure Juzo and responded loudly.

---

After hearing Sera Masumi's words, Megure Juzo and the detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department looked as if they had seen a ghost.

"Officer Toda is a retired member of the Organized Crime Countermeasures Bureau. He's extremely skilled!"

"Yeah, didn't you defeat this detective? Is that true?"

"My God, is she really that capable?"

---

Cough.

Megure Juzo couldn't help but twitch at the corner of his eyes as he listened to the detectives' chatter and let out a dry cough.

The detectives quickly quieted down.

---

"Sister Sera, your actions were too impulsive. After all, Brother Toda is still a detective with the Metropolitan Police Department," Megure Juzo said.

"So, Officer Megure, are you telling me to be indifferent to crimes?"

"No, if Brother Toda indeed made a mistake, he should be punished.

But I heard from Ran that you only witnessed the scene where Brother Toda removed the dagger from Akikawa's neck. In other words, you're not certain that Brother Toda was deliberately hurting him, correct?"

---

"Officer Megure, are you aware that Officer Toda induces and extracts confessions during interrogations and deliberately provokes prisoners to attack police officers?"

Sera Masumi knew Megure Juzo wasn't excusing Kyouji Toda but rather emphasizing that one cannot be sure the truth aligns with what they saw.

However, she still felt furious.

Masumi Sera believed Megure Juzo bore significant responsibility for someone like Kyouji Toda existing in the Criminal Investigation Division.

---

After hearing Sera Masumi's words, a horrified expression appeared on Megure Juzo's chubby cheeks.

He had reprimanded Kyouji Toda multiple times before for his frequent use of excessive force when dealing with ordinary prisoners.

However, considering Kyouji Toda's previous experience in the Organized Crime Countermeasures Bureau and his relatively good performance in the First Division, he hadn't paid much attention to it.

This was the first time Megure Juzo heard about Toda's efforts to induce confessions and provoke prisoners into attacking police officers.

---

At the same time, the Metropolitan Police detectives who overheard Sera Masumi's words began whispering again.

"Speaking of the two recent attacks on officers, both occurred during Officer Toda's interrogations."

"Yeah. Come to think of it, this kind of thing didn't happen before in the Metropolitan Police Department. Then, a few years ago, incidents like this suddenly increased."

"So, it seems it started after Officer Toda joined."

---

Cough—!

Megure Juzo coughed again, his expression growing more serious.

"Sister Sera, I'll investigate everything you've said carefully.

But the priority now is to find out what happened today.

Did Toda attack Akikawa Kyousuke as you claimed?"

---

(End of Chapter)