Conan: Ran, I really am Shinichi, you have to believe me!

Page 170

Jiang Chengbei's unusual behavior in the KTV room was his own choice, but Conan's inability to get a microphone and sing in the KTV room was not his own choice, but rather something that was unanimously forbidden by everyone—that was the consensus.

Conan, who could only listen to everyone singing in turn and couldn't show off his singing skills, was a little bored, so he came over to see what Jiang Chengbei was doing.

After receiving a loving punch from Jiang Chengbei and ending up with a bunch of gourd-shaped bumps on his head, Conan finally behaved himself and obediently went back to observe the others, no longer bothering Jiang Chengbei to look at Kimura Tatsuya's information and videos.

Having reviewed most of the materials and videos, Jiang Chengbei realized that waiting like this wasn't a solution, so he packed up his computer, grabbed a beer, and clinked glasses with Kimura Tatsuya.

Jiang Chengbei used too much force, and when they clinked glasses, a lot of beer splashed out, which just happened to wet Kimura Tatsuya's pants.

With his pants wet, Kimura Tatsumi, who was also foul-mouthed, grumbled a few words before finally taking a clean pair of pants to the toilet.

As expected of a karaoke bar run by the former leader of the Rex Band, this private room is indeed a room that the Rex Band has booked for years to cater to their former leader's business. In one corner of this room, there is a huge collection of Tatsuya Kimura's performance costumes, including clothes, pants, and other items.

After Kimura Tatsuya took his pants to the restroom outside to change, Jiang Chengbei said goodbye to everyone and left under a flimsy excuse, leaving only Sonoko grumbling a few times in the private room:

"Honestly, Jiang Cheng is such an unreliable guy. He actually abandoned us two beautiful girls and ran away. We'll have to take a taxi home from now on. We'll never ask him to drive us home again."

Not long after, Tatsuya Kimura returned, having changed his pants.

When Kimura Tatsuya returned, he was just as foul-mouthed as when he left, making sarcastic remarks about his teammates and former teammates.

Everyone was used to his foul mouth, so they just ignored the sarcastic remarks that came out of his mouth, continuing to eat, drink, and sing as usual, taking turns to sing.

Soon, the "ugly duckling" that Tatsuya Kimura was talking about, the band's manager, and former lead vocalist Mari Terahara apologized to everyone and went out to make a phone call.

As soon as she left, one song ended in the KTV room, and the intro to another song began.

After the intro to the song played for a while, Tatsuya Kimura's teammates stared blankly at him, who continued eating, drinking, and spouting nonsense.

"Are you all out of your minds? Why are you staring at me like that? If you've had too much soda and your brains are full of water, then go outside and dump it out."

Although he didn't understand why they were looking at him like that, Tatsuya Kimura wasn't guilty at all and continued to hurl insults at them.

Katsumi Yamada, the drummer of the band Rex, pointed to the microphone in front of him and said, "Tatsuya, your song."

After being reminded by Katsumi Yamada, Tatsuya Kimura thought hard and finally recognized that the song was one he had sung.

Although his reaction was a bit slow, Tatsuya Kimura remained unfazed and continued to speak confidently:

"Yes, it's my song, but so what? It's not like I requested it. Whoever requested my song, whoever sings it is going to do it!"

Only after hearing your awful covers can the beauty of my voice truly shine through. That's why I was able to go solo and sign with a famous record company, while you had to disband after losing me.

After hearing Tatsuya Kimura's sarcasm, his bandmates exchanged glances. Then, Mieko Shibasaki, the band's guitarist, looked at Tatsuya Kimura with some disbelief and said:

"Tatsuya, what's wrong with you today? Before, whenever this song was requested, no matter if it was your request or not, you would definitely go up and sing it. No one could take it from you. This is your karaoke exclusive song. Only you, the karaoke hog, can sing it."

"What?" Kimura Tatsuya was shocked when he heard his teammate's words and saw the other teammates nodding in agreement.

He had only ever heard that singers were sick of singing their own songs. In private, unless there was a need or for practice purposes, they would never sing their own songs.

I'm sick of singing my own songs on stage, at commercial performances, and in any other public setting, especially my signature songs and representative works.

That loser Tatsuya Kimura, even at a private gathering, when singing karaoke with friends, he still insists on singing his own signature song. How unpopular are you? How many of your signature songs have you sung yet? You're such a flop!

With so many people watching, in order to maintain Tatsuya Kimura's pathetic image, the Tatsuya Kimura in front of him could only spend 1 kill coin to buy a music skill in the Detective Conan shop, then coughed and stood up without any guilt:

"I'm a little tired of singing my own signature song, but since you all want to hear my singing so much, I'll let you have it this time."

After saying that, Tatsuya Kimura glanced contemptuously at Conan, who was tone-deaf: "You little tone-deaf kid, you'll be tone-deaf for the rest of your life."

But I, your humble servant, can go from being tone-deaf to a pop star in no time. Perhaps my current skill level is even better than that of Tatsuya Kimura, that struggling singer who secretly performs his signature songs at karaoke.

Having acquired musical talent and gained confidence, Tatsuya Kimura, who was on stage, recalled the performance video of Tatsuya Kimura that he had just watched on the computer and began to imitate his movements, one by one.

Although Kimura Tatsuya doesn't know the complicated singing and dancing moves now, he can still learn those pretentious moves, like flicking his clothes and crossing his arms before singing.

"Hey? Katsumi, don't you think Tatsuya's singing and dancing were a bit off today?"

"Mieko, stop talking. Tatsuya has his pride too. If you point out any more of his shortcomings, he might come down and yell at you."

"I know, I won't say anymore. Maybe Tatsuya is upset today. He just seems to have a foul mouth and looks down on us on the surface, but when he really leaves us to go solo, I think he must be feeling bad. Otherwise, he wouldn't have sung this song so off-key today, and he didn't even sing as well as us."

Chapter 234 Where is the dead? Where is the body?

Amidst somewhat awkward stares from the audience, Jiang Chengbei, who had overcome his previous tone-deafness through musical skills, finished singing one of his signature songs before stepping down from the stage.

After Jiang Chengbei got off, he sprawled out on the sofa in a relaxed, sprawling position, and then, opposite him, drummer Ueda Katsumi, who was eating rice balls, began to speak:

"Tatsuya, your singing today is different from before... cough cough... um, never mind. This rice ball is pretty good, want one too?"

After saying that, Ueda picked up a rice ball from his plate and threw it at Jiang Chengbei without waiting for Jiang to respond whether he wanted to eat it.

Jiang Chengbei was a little confused after catching the rice ball that Ueda Katsumi threw to him. "I just finished singing my signature song. It would be nice if you came over and had a drink with me, but now you're throwing me a rice ball. What does this mean?"

Aren't rice balls supposed to be eaten as a main meal? We're having a party at a karaoke bar, what's the meaning of you giving me rice balls?

Did you poison the rice ball? That's why you're so eager to make me eat a main dish like rice ball so that I'll be full before I go on my way and avoid becoming a starving ghost on my way to the underworld.

Jiang Chengbei thought a lot, but he didn't receive any kill coins as a reward from the system, nor did he receive any danger warnings. At the same time, he couldn't refuse the other party's hospitality and couldn't let down these potential killers who had been constantly mocked by him and had the motivation to kill him. So he took a bite and ate a few bites with relish.

After he started eating rice balls, he received a system notification that Terahara Mari had poisoned him, so he received a reward of 2 kill coins, and the new skill "Singing Ability" was added to the Detective Mall.

At the same time, Jiang Chengbei did not feel any danger when eating the part of the rice ball that his hands had not touched, but when he opened his mouth to bite the part of the rice ball that his fingers had touched, he immediately sensed that his life was in danger.

So, Jiang Chengbei, no longer caring about the delicious taste of the rice ball with the poisoned part, pointed at Conan with his finger and said with a pained expression:

"Conan... Conan, you poisoned the rice ball! Why did you try to kill me?"

After saying that, Jiang Chengbei wiped his mouth with his other hand, which was not poisoned. Blood flowed from the corner of his mouth, and then he collapsed onto the sofa, looking as if he had died from poisoning.

Jiang Chengbei's words and his current appearance shocked everyone present. They were stunned, their minds went blank, and they couldn't react at all, as if they were frozen in place.

Among those present, Conan, with his rich experience and many life-or-death situations, was the first to react. Although Kimura Tatsuya had wronged him before he collapsed, Conan did not retaliate. Instead, he was the first to react and rushed over to check on him.

After checking Kimura Tatsuya's breathing, Conan found he wasn't breathing anymore. He felt his carotid artery and found no pulse. He lifted his eyelids and found his pupils were dilated. After all the examination, Conan was certain that Kimura Tatsuya, who had just been lively, was beyond saving.

Before he died, he left a message saying he was the murderer. But Conan knew he wasn't the murderer, so finding out the cause of death and the real killer was the most important thing now. So Conan leaned in and smelled Kimura Tatsuya's hands, the rice ball in his hand, and his mouth. After smelling a faint almond scent, Conan shouted:

"Tatsuya Kimura is dead. There is a bitter almond smell on his hands and mouth. Tatsuya Kimura was poisoned by cyanide. Everyone, please stop eating the food on the table."

At Conan's shout, Tatsuya Kimura's friends finally came to their senses. Besides feeling sad for their good friend Tatsuya's sudden death, they glared angrily at the little boy, Conan.

In his last words, Tatsuya Kimura said that Conan poisoned their friend. How could their friend lie?

A dying man's words are often good; no one can doubt the last words spoken by Tatsuya Kimura before his death.

Although Conan appears to be only a 7-year-old child, and even if they didn't know him before, after Kimura Tatsuya left a will and died, they looked him up online and read about Conan's past deeds. They concluded that Kimura Tatsuya was poisoned to death by Conan, a conclusion they accepted.

So, after Ran and the others called the police, and after the police arrived and listened to the testimonies of several of Kimura Tatsuya's friends, including Yamada Katsumi, as well as witnesses to Kimura Tatsuya's death, Conan became the prime suspect in Kimura Tatsuya's murder.

Because Conan became a suspect, he had to endure the double pain of being suspected and being unable to participate in the investigation. Meanwhile, Jiang Chengbei, who was pretending to be a corpse, took advantage of a moment when everyone was not paying attention and transformed into a little fat bird to escape, leaving behind a chakra substitute doll as a corpse, thus escaping the pain of pretending to be a corpse.

Thanks to the existence of the Chakra Disguise Technique, Jiang Chengbei was able to put a chakra fake skin on his neck and chakra contact lenses on his eyes, thus deceiving Conan into not being able to feel his carotid pulse and allowing Conan to see his dilated pupils.

Conan is under close surveillance. Even if Megure is leading the team this time, it won't work. So many people have testified that the deceased said Conan was the murderer before he died. In the simple minds of the police, how could they not believe the deceased's words and instead believe Conan, the murderer designated by the deceased?

The deceased paid the price with their lives. If we don't believe the last words they left behind, how can we believe Conan's sophistry?

Everyone present heard the deceased's last words. Only Terahara Mari, who was not present at the time but went out to make a phone call to avoid suspicion, did not believe that Conan was the murderer. She even took the initiative to speak up for Conan, expressing her disbelief that Conan was the murderer.

Seeing Terahara Mari step forward to speak up for Conan, Jiang Chengbei, who had been watching the show from the sidelines as a chubby little bird, immediately jumped up and down:

He's exploded! He's exploded! Everyone, look! The murderer has exploded!

Aside from himself, the one who framed Conan, only the real culprit with the third eye knows that Conan is not the murderer!

Everyone is now following the deceased's last words and believes that Conan is the murderer. However, Terahara Mari, who has no reason or explanation, has inexplicably concluded that Conan is not the murderer. The only explanation is that she is the real culprit.

The others, whose intelligence had been lowered, failed to notice Terahara Mari's self-destruction. However, Conan, who had been framed by the deceased's last words, immediately discovered this loophole in Terahara Mari's story, even after realizing that he was not the murderer.

It's understandable that she knows she's not the murderer, but why is Terahara Mari so certain that she's not the murderer, and why can't she give a reason or explain how she deduced that? So after Conan asked her a few questions, he immediately confirmed that she was the real culprit.

Out of her conscience, Terahara Mari said a few good words for Conan, but she didn't expect that he would be identified as the murderer, so she got herself into trouble and was now being targeted by Conan.

After deducing that Terahara Mari was the real culprit, Conan followed the clues and worked backward, quickly connecting what he had seen to form a complete deduction to prove that Terahara Mari was the murderer.

Not only that, after secretly looking at some of Tatsuya Kimura's belongings while the police weren't looking, Conan's deductions became more complete. He also discovered many secrets between Tatsuya Kimura and Mari Terahara, some of which were unknown to either of them.

Thankfully, this KTV room is the band Rex's regular room, filled with many of Tatsuya Kimura's belongings; otherwise, Conan, whose movements are restricted, might not have been able to see the things found elsewhere.

However, since many of Tatsuya Kimura's personal belongings were found in this private room, Conan, who couldn't leave the room, was still able to peek at them from the police's side and thus took the opportunity to see quite a few clues.

Unlike the Conan in the original series, this Conan has been a suspect many times. When he is a suspect, he may not be able to convince the police unless he has a complete chain of evidence and very conclusive evidence.

In particular, Conan's deduction this time was very thorough, but the decisive evidence seemed insufficient. What Terahara Mari did could also have been done by some of Kimura Tatsuya's teammates and friends who knew him. If Terahara Mari herself did not admit it, Conan had no evidence to definitively accuse her. Therefore, Conan, who was still the prime suspect, could not prove that he was not the murderer based on these insufficient clues, nor did he have conclusive evidence to prove that Terahara Mari was the real culprit.

Since he realized that his credibility wasn't quite there, Conan, who was being led into the police car, kindly reminded the police officers around him, "Have they forgotten that they are Conan? There's a sign on the wall of the Metropolitan Police Department that says 'Conan is not allowed to enter.'"

Reminded by Conan, the police officers who were preparing to take Conan back to the Metropolitan Police Department for questioning suddenly remembered the days when they were on tenterhooks. They hurriedly got out of the car in fear, leaving Conan alone in the police car. After leaving a few people outside to watch over Conan, one of them ran to the crime scene to remind Inspector Megure that Conan was a menace.

After the police officers who were about to escort him back to the Metropolitan Police Department got out of the car in fear, leaving Conan alone in the car, Conan quickly used his chakra ability to conjure a chakra voice-changing bow tie and a chakra earring-shaped phone, and dialed Megure's cell phone.

After receiving a call from his long-lost younger brother, Kudo, in a karaoke room, Inspector Megure listened with great excitement to Shinichi Kudo's deduction.

As Inspector Megure listened to Conan's phone call and recounted Conan's deductions, especially the story of how the foul-mouthed Tatsuya Kimura, who always called Terahara Mari an ugly monster, loved Terahara Mari but blamed her for having plastic surgery and refused to forgive her current state, hoping she would return to her former self, and telling a tragic love story filled with misunderstandings that led to two people loving each other but ultimately turning into hatred and murder because of misunderstandings, Terahara Mari finally broke down. After kneeling down, she cried and begged to confess her crimes, admitting that she was the murderer.

After hearing the whole story and clearing up the misunderstanding, the real culprit, Terahara Mari, confessed to her crime without sufficient evidence, and Conan, who had been framed, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

If Terahara Mari stubbornly refuses to admit it, it won't be easy for him, a suspect with little concrete evidence, to clear his name.

I'm grateful to the murderer, who had poor mental fortitude but still had a bottom line, for sparing me from this ordeal.

Just as Conan was feeling pleased with himself for getting Terahara Mari to back down, two girls' angry shouts suddenly came through the earring-shaped phone.

With the case solved, the phone that Megure had was immediately handed over to Ran and Sonoko, who then launched into a tirade of angry denunciation and insults against the missing Shinichi Kudo.

When Ran and Sonoko's angry shouts came through the earphone, Conan, whose head was throbbing from the noise, immediately said, "I have something to do," and hung up the phone. At the same time, the chakra earring phone and the chakra voice changer bow in his hand disappeared instantly.

Now that they've lost their communication and voice-changing tools, let's see how fate can condemn him. Even if they call back right now, they can't do it.

Thinking of this, Conan, having cleared himself of suspicion, immediately became smug.

While Conan was gloating, the body, which had been placed in a body bag and left in the car for some time, was taken to the autopsy center for examination. However, when the body was taken off the car, trouble struck: after being transported all the way, the body disappeared, and the body bag was now empty.

When his subordinates reported that the body was missing, Megure and his men didn't react much.

The body is missing, what's the big deal?

The stolen money that had been recovered in the past would disappear in billions after being kept in the car for a while, and they could never find it again. They encountered this several times.

The stolen money could never be found again, and the owners were pressing them for repayment everywhere, especially since some of the owners were powerful entities like banks. They had weathered all these storms, so losing a body was nothing to them. They were used to it, so they just went about their business without getting nervous. All they had to do was try their best to find the body.

After a lot of effort, the body was not found by the police. However, when the KTV was about to close and the cleaning staff went to clean the toilets, they found a stall that had been closed all along.

The door wouldn't open, and they called out several times without getting a response, but it looked like someone was there from below. So they got someone to knock on the door, and they found Tatsuya Kimura sleeping comfortably in the bathroom.