Chapter 127: Miss Sera, Akikawa Fooled You

Inspector Megure Juzo sent criminal investigators from the Forensics Division to extract fingerprints from the daggers and other items abandoned at the scene.

At the same time, Takagi Wataru was asked to wake Kyouji Toda.

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Kyouji Toda slowly opened his eyes.

When he saw all the detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department, along with their chief, Inspector Megure Juzo, gathered in the projection room, he suddenly became fully alert.

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"Detective Toda, Miss Sera says you attacked Akikawa Kyousuke. Can you explain what happened?"

Megure Juzo looked at Kyouji Toda and asked.

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"That's nonsense!"

Upon hearing this, Kyouji Toda quickly responded in a loud voice.

"It was clearly Akikawa Kyousuke who tried to kill himself! I was just trying to stop him!"

"He took advantage of a moment when I wasn't paying attention, released the hand holding the dagger, and pulled away, making it look like I had taken the dagger from his neck!"

"I never intended to kill him! That guy set me up!"

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"Then why would Akikawa try to kill himself?" Megure Juzo asked.

"Maybe he felt guilty after I started looking into his previous car accident, so he wanted to shift the blame onto me."

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Sera Masumi stared coldly at Kyouji Toda as he argued, then said,

"But I heard that you asked about Akikawa's itinerary yesterday and even brought him to this projection room, which isn't normally open for use."

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Sera Masumi's pointed question stunned Kyouji Toda for a moment.

'She already knows that I asked about Akikawa Kyousuke's schedule yesterday?'

'That means Akikawa Kyousuke must have told her about what happened during my questioning yesterday.'

Kyouji Toda made a quick judgment based on Sera Masumi's words.

---

Yesterday, when he had been taking notes from Akikawa Kyousuke, there had been a camera recording everything.

If they checked the video, it would confirm exactly what had happened.

'Even so, it only proves that I knew his schedule for today. It doesn't prove anything else.'

'Akikawa Kyousuke and the detectives definitely wouldn't have anticipated my backup plan.'

'By the way, is it just a coincidence that this tomboy detective suddenly appeared in the projection room? Or did Akikawa Kyousuke predict this in advance?'

---

Kyouji Toda couldn't help but start analyzing.

But he quickly dismissed the latter possibility.

After all, he had brought Akikawa Kyousuke to this projection room. It wasn't a place Akikawa himself had chosen.

So, it must have been pure coincidence.

---

Kyouji Toda looked coldly at Sera Masumi and asked,

"So, what's your point? I was just asking Akikawa about the car accident case, so I brought him here. What's wrong with that?"

---

Hearing this, Megure Juzo looked at Sera Masumi, waiting for her explanation.

So far, what Sera Masumi had said only proved Toda Kyouji's curiosity about the car accident case. It didn't prove that he had acted against Akikawa Kyousuke.

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"I believe Akikawa Kyousuke didn't try to kill himself but was deliberately attacked by Detective Toda. And I do have evidence to support this."

Sera Masumi said as she took Conan's phone.

On Conan's phone was a rather gruesome and disturbing photo.

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"Inspector Megure, please look at this. This is the wound on Akikawa's neck."

Sera Masumi proceeded to explain how the angle of Akikawa Kyousuke's wound and the degree of muscle tearing at the upper and lower ends of the injury made it impossible for Akikawa Kyousuke to have inflicted the wound on himself.

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Hearing this, Kyouji Toda suddenly understood.

No wonder Sera Masumi had accused him of lying after hearing Conan's description of Akikawa Kyousuke's neck wound.

Because she had determined that if Akikawa Kyousuke were trying to "kill himself," the injuries wouldn't match the actual situation.

---

Furthermore, he realized why Akikawa Kyousuke's posture had been so awkward when he stabbed his neck with the dagger.

It was to create the illusion that he was being attacked.

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After Sera Masumi's explanation, Megure Juzo felt it made sense. He once again turned his attention to Kyouji Toda.

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"Oh."

Kyouji Toda sneered. The earlier panic on his face was gone.

"Miss Sera, I see what you're trying to say."

"You want to use the angle of Akikawa Kyousuke's wound and the muscle tearing to prove that Akikawa Kyousuke couldn't have killed himself."

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"However, the evidence you mentioned only shows that it's likely I stabbed Akikawa. It doesn't prove that Akikawa himself didn't deliberately create this situation to frame me, does it?"

"And the truth is, Akikawa deliberately inflicted the wound at an 'unusual' angle and method just to set me up!"

Kyouji Toda said loudly.

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"Wait a minute, Detective Toda, Miss Sera, what are you even talking about? I don't understand!"

Hearing the exchange between Kyouji Toda and Sera Masumi, Megure Juzo felt his brain couldn't keep up.

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'Idiot.'

Kyouji Toda cursed in his heart before patiently explaining to Megure Juzo in simpler terms.

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"Simply put, when someone commits suicide with a dagger, the most common and convenient posture is to stab upward into their neck."

"Miss Sera found that the angle of Akikawa's wound was slanted upward, meaning the dagger entered his neck from above."

"This angle is very awkward for someone committing suicide, but for an attack, it's perfectly normal."

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"That's right."

Megure Juzo and the detectives around him nodded in understanding.

This time, they got it.

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"Although this angle is awkward for someone committing suicide, it's not entirely impossible."

"If they hold the dagger overhead and stab downward, they can still pierce their neck from above."

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"In that case, however, the way the dagger enters the neck should be reversed. This would align with the stance of someone committing suicide in this way."

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Hearing this, Megure Juzo visualized holding a dagger overhead, slashing down in an arc, and stabbing himself in the neck.

Indeed, the dagger would enter the neck in a 'reversed' position, with the primary edge on top and the false edge on the bottom.

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"But the wound on Akikawa's neck wasn't in a 'reversed' state. It was in a 'normal' state. In other words, this doesn't match a suicidal stance."

"Exactly."

Megure Juzo nodded again.

He didn't understand why Kyouji Toda was explaining this to Sera Masumi.

Didn't this only further prove that Kyouji Toda had attacked Akikawa Kyousuke?

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"What I'm saying is that Akikawa anticipated your thinking, Miss Sera. That's why he deliberately stabbed himself in an 'unusual' way."

"Although the angle and method of stabbing were awkward, they weren't 'impossible.'"

As Kyouji Toda spoke, the blood-stained corners of his mouth curved into a smirk.

---

"Miss Sera, don't be so quick to refute me."

"What I'm saying is that Akikawa fooled you."

"You think Akikawa is just a naïve child incapable of such behavior."

"But in truth, he's a criminal genius and an extremely dangerous individual."

"Akikawa's goal is to confuse your judgment, Miss Sera, so he can frame me and hide the fact that he killed his mother."

(End of Chapter)