What on earth is going on with this secret chamber?

"You want to join?" Ji I looked at Heiji Hattori, who was giving a silly grin.

"Hehehe..."

Are you and your good buddy Kudo Shinichi trained at the same nursery school? Your main skill is just being sickeningly annoying, isn't it?

"Stop grinning stupidly and come take a look for yourself."

It would be a waste not to use free labor, especially since this is Heiji Hattori. What if, after he arrives, the culprit's intelligence suddenly plummets and they start pulling all sorts of fancy tricks?

Just then, Takagi called.

"I've checked all the visitor records. Aside from Mr. Shingo Katase, Ms. Rika Yajima had no regular or long-term visitors," Takagi reported from the other end.

"Not even Keita Katase?"

"No," Takagi answered resolutely. "Ever since Ms. Rika Yajima nominally left the company a year ago, Mr. Keita Katase hasn't visited her even once."

"Not even once?" Ji I frowned.

This was too bizarre.

If Keita Katase had a connection to the victim...

Then the situation would mean that Keita Katase and another mysterious lover had entered and left the apartment multiple times through mysterious means over a period of a full year without leaving a single trace.

Once or twice might be understandable, but for an entire year? Could that possibly be true?

Are they Kaitou Kid?

Though the people of Beika Town are absurd, they shouldn't be absurd to this extent.

It makes no sense that I've been watching for so long without finding a single loophole, yet the two of you can slip in and out hundreds of times over and over again without anyone noticing...

Wouldn't that just make me look utterly stupid?

"So to speak, this case..." Heiji Hattori figured out the cause and effect, "is also an alternative locked-room murder!"

How interesting, encountering two miraculous locked-room murders in a single day.

Coming to Tokyo this time was definitely the right choice!

At that moment, Shiratori's call came through as well. Ji I had asked him to investigate Sayo Katase's ex-boyfriend, Atsushi Arisawa.

"What? He admitted he was outside the apartment last night?"

Ji I cast a thoughtful glance at Heiji Hattori. Are detectives really this useful? Clues just fall miraculously from the sky the moment one arrives.

This level of convenience was no less than a *deus ex machina*, right?

"So you're saying the person Miss Akiba saw last night was him?" Ji I asked.

"Yes, I checked. The cigarettes he smokes are the same ones Sato found at the scene," Shiratori nodded, "and he has already confessed."

Shiratori paused. "However, according to him, he just wanted to go beg for reconciliation. When he reached the downstairs entrance, he didn't have the courage to go inside, so he wandered around for a bit and then left."

Shiratori had put the call on speaker, and Ji I could hear the wailing on the other end, roughly translating to the notion that if only he had mustered the courage to go upstairs, the woman he loved so dearly wouldn't have died.

What should one say to this?

The characteristic lovestruck brain of Beika Town residents?

"The priority right now should still be figuring out how to crack this locked room!"

After hanging up, Heiji Hattori stared at the apartment lobby floor plan for a long time before reaching a conclusion.

Noticing Ji I watching him, he gave an embarrassed laugh and said, "As for where the loopholes in the apartment's security system actually are... well, I haven't figured that out yet, hehe..."

"..."

Then go ahead and laugh.

Ji I muttered inwardly. He had originally thought his Beika bloodline wasn't pure enough to conceive of all sorts of wild and fantastical tricks, but now it seemed Heiji Hattori couldn't figure it out either.

In that case, it definitely wasn't his own problem. After all, although Heiji Hattori lacked Beika blood, it was a well-known fact that whenever Heiji Hattori appeared, the absurdity of the case generally reached astronomical proportions.

Is there really a trick that neither he nor Heiji Hattori could find the slightest clue to after studying it for so long?

However, the hour was already late. It was obviously impossible to solve this case immediately. Having stayed up all night yesterday, even a coffee addict was starting to reach their limit.

Fortunately, since the case remained unsolved, the police wouldn't actually be forced to work to death of exhaustion.

As quitting time approached, Ji I prepared to go home and get a good night's sleep.

Maybe he couldn't think of the answer simply because sleep deprivation had killed off too many brain cells?

---

Mouri Detective Agency.

Conan had been sleeping heavily ever since he got home, only being woken up by Ran Mouri at dinnertime.

His whole body ached fiercely, and coupled with the dizziness from his cold, he had zero desire to get up. But there was no help for it; even without an appetite, he had to eat.

Because of the severe cold, Conan could barely taste anything and was merely shoving food into his mouth mechanically.

Right at that moment, the agency's doorbell rang.

"Who could it be..." Kogoro Mouri was somewhat displeased. Naturally, he hadn't received any retainer fee for the daytime case, and on top of that, that detective brat Shinichi Kudo had shown off grandly right in front of him. Kogoro's anger still hadn't subsided.

Therefore, as a middle-aged man, his choice was simple: didn't Heiji Hattori bring him some *Baijiu* earlier? Wasn't now the exact time to have a little sip to comfort himself?

Just as he took a single taste, he was interrupted, leaving him thoroughly annoyed.

Ran went to open the door.

Standing outside was a person wearing a duckbill cap and a athletic jacket.

Ran's first reaction was that Heiji Hattori had returned, but she quickly realized the visitor was a woman.

Once the woman stepped inside and Ran caught a clear view of her face, she asked in surprise, "Reiko Akiba-san?"

Kogoro Mouri also managed to get a good look at the visitor.

Holy cow, what a absolute beauty!

Kogoro Mouri was instantly resurrected with full health.

"My dear lady, no matter what kind of troublesome trouble you've encountered, you can leave it entirely to the great detective Kogoro Mouri!"

Reiko Akiba noticed the food on the table, as well as Conan, who looked like a soul had been sucked out of him, mechanically shoveling rice into his mouth and appearing on the verge of collapsing at any second.

"Pardon me for disturbing you at such an hour."

"Not at all! The great detective Kogoro Mouri is always at the service of a beauty like yourself!"

"Dad!" Seeing Kogoro's demeanor becoming increasingly inappropriate, Ran interrupted his sleazy behavior. "I'm so sorry, Miss Akiba, my dad's had a bit too much to drink."

"It's fine," Reiko Akiba said, letting it slide. "I'd like to ask the Mouri Detective to help me investigate someone."

"What kind of person? Someone making threats? A stalker?" Kogoro Mouri put on his most serious and professional expression.

"No, it's my first love," Reiko Akiba said.

Kogoro Mouri shattered on the spot.

"Eh?" Ran blushed instantly. "Miss Akiba's first love..."

"Please tell us the details." Kogoro Mouri had one redeeming quality: when facing beautiful women, his psychological state recovered at lightning speed.

"That was when I was in the first grade of elementary school," Reiko Akiba began. "At the time, because I was a bit too arrogant and didn't want to practice the most basic and boring exercises, I was criticized by my vocal music teacher, so I was very sad. When school was over, I hid alone in the corner of the playground and cried.

"He happened to pass by, and after listening to me explain why I felt so wronged, he comforted me."

"How romantic..." Little pink bubbles were already beginning to form around Ran.

"However, shortly after that, he moved away, and I lost touch with him," Reiko Akiba replied. "Because we weren't in the same class, I didn't even know his full name, but the words he said to me are still fresh in my memory.

"'I'm no genius, so it's hard for me to understand a genius's troubles. But for someone like me with little talent, starting from the most basic details and accumulating bit by bit always seems to lead to pretty good results. Maybe you could give it a try.'"

Conan: *Why does that sound a bit familiar?*

Reiko Akiba continued: "These weren't actually very profound words, but for me at that time, just having someone willing to reach out a helping hand was wonderful. Perhaps it's just a long-held fantasy of mine, but I've always hoped to see him again someday."

"I see..." Kogoro Mouri pondered. This wouldn't be very easy to find. So many years had passed, and nobody knew where the person had moved to.

"Until recently, I heard similar words..." Reiko Akiba continued, "and I know this might just be a coincidence, but..."

"Are you saying you have a suspected candidate in mind?" Kogoro Mouri perked up. If she had a suspect, things would become much simpler.

"Yes," Reiko Akiba said. "I remember very clearly that when he left that day, his classmate called out his surname.

"Tono."

Conan spat out a mouthful of rice.