Conan was momentarily speechless. Okay, thinking back carefully, before knowing Chi Feichi, he indeed often missed lunch or dinner.
"So I have reason to suspect you haven't eaten dinner," Chi Feichi said. "Even if you have, it doesn't matter; you can eat it for breakfast tomorrow."
The three children of the Detective Boys tried hard to recall.
"Really! Being with Conan, sometimes we don't get to eat at all..."
"Or maybe we just didn't have time to eat."
"Or maybe an incident happens just as we start eating. Should we not bring Conan along for meals in the future..."
"Hey, hey..." Conan was under focused fire but couldn't refute it.
"It's not because of Conan, it's because of the cases," Takagi Wataru, the good-natured guy, tried to smooth things over. "But no matter what, you must eat in the future, otherwise you won't grow tall. I forgot to buy you bento tonight; it was my negligence."
Haibara Ai yawned. Why wasn't she surprised at all that Chi Feichi thought of bringing them dinner?
In a park near the crime scene.
A group of people sat on benches eating bento.
While eating, Conan didn't forget to ask Chi Feichi, "Brother Chi, do you have any clues about this case?"
"The first person to discover the body, Mr. Kitagawa, not only works at the same company as the deceased and Mr. Higashida, but on the day of the crime, after Mr. Higashida got drunk, he also left with Mr. Kitagawa," Chi Feichi had reviewed the children's investigation. Judging from the current situation, there was no need for the 'pick one out of three' scenario this time. There was only one suspect. Proving Kitagawa was the murderer would suffice. "Did the police investigate what he was doing at the time of the crime?"
Takagi Wataru nodded, his wavy wig swaying. "He said he went home to rest at that time and has no alibi."
Chi Feichi silently withdrew his gaze.
"Does Brother Chi suspect Mr. Kitagawa?" Conan was thoughtful.
"Yes. According to your investigation, Kitagawa claimed that on the day the body was discovered, because Mr. Higashida and Miss Muranishi hadn't come to the company for a while, he asked the apartment manager to open the room, thus discovering the body," Chi Feichi said. "Why assume they must be home just because they didn't go to work?"
"This..." Takagi Wataru was puzzled. "Is it strange to assume they are home if they didn't go to work?"
"I understand!" Conan said seriously. "Generally speaking, finding that a colleague and a superior haven't come to work, and getting no response after knocking, one would also suspect if they went out, right? Unless these two often oversleep and are late..."
"We went to investigate at their company," Takagi Wataru said. "Mr. Higashida often drinks too much and is late, but Miss Muranishi has a very serious attitude towards work and can be said to have never been late."
"Did Mr. Kitagawa ask the manager to open Mr. Higashida's room?" Chi Feichi asked again.
"No..." Takagi Wataru also realized. "If Miss Muranishi is rarely late, while Mr. Higashida is often late, he should have checked Mr. Higashida's room first..."
Conan added, "And according to Mr. Kitagawa, Miss Muranishi is just his superior, while Mr. Higashida is his friend. The two often go out drinking together. If both were late at the same time, Mr. Kitagawa should have asked the manager to open his friend's room first to check on Mr. Higashida, rather than opening the room of Miss Muranishi, who is of the opposite sex and his superior. Either his relationship with Miss Muranishi isn't as simple as he says, or he went there specifically to discover the body. In short, even if Mr. Kitagawa isn't the murderer, he definitely hid something!"
Half an hour later, the group arrived at the apartment building where the crime occurred.
As expected, there were police guarding nearby. Luckily, they didn't recognize Chi Feichi. Seeing people passing by, including both boys and girls, they didn't pay much attention. At most, they looked at Chi Feichi a couple of times to confirm he wasn't Takagi Wataru.
After Takagi Wataru bluffed his way through, he changed clothes in the apartment, wiped off his makeup, and asked the manager to open the door as a police officer. Turning around, he found Chi Feichi and the group of children ready to rummage. "Hey, hey, don't touch the crime scene randomly..."
"It's okay!" Genta put on gloves. "While you went to buy a hat, we went to buy gloves!"
Ayumi smiled. "Conan told us to buy them."
Mitsuhiko looked at Chi Feichi. "But Brother Chi wasn't there at that time, so we only bought five pairs of gloves..."
"He..." Before Conan could finish, he saw Chi Feichi consciously take out gloves from his pocket and put them on. He chuckled inwardly. He knew that since Chi Feichi knew he was coming to help investigate, he wouldn't forget gloves.
"Judging from the sun marks on the wooden floor, the furniture has been moved," Chi Feichi glanced at the table and chairs, looked around, walked to the wall, reached out to gently touch the edge of a distinct white patch on the wall, then withdrew his hand and looked at the dust on the index finger of his glove. "Something was originally pasted or hung here, blocking the sun for a long time. There is still a bit of dust accumulation on the upper edge. It was taken down only in the last two days. Judging by the position, shape, and size, it should be a calendar, poster, or hanging painting."
"Uh, does this have anything to do with the case?" Takagi Wataru was confused.
"Don't know, but it can reflect a person's living state. Collecting information first won't hurt," Chi Feichi looked towards the bed. "The room decoration, furniture, and tableware are all beige, but the pillows, quilt, and curtains on the bed are all gray. Even for a contrasting design, this wouldn't be so strange. It's too abrupt."
Conan sweated. Hey, hey, what is this speed of Chi Feichi...
Chi Feichi turned to ask the three children, "I remember your investigation notes said Miss Muranishi liked beige, right?"
"Mn!" Ayumi nodded. "Also, she was a fan of the Tokyo Spirits team, and she liked cacti the most."
"When did you find out about these?" Takagi Wataru was puzzled.
"Just earlier at the izakaya, we told the landlady that we wanted to publish a case file about the female boss in the class newspaper, so the landlady told us a lot of interesting things," Mitsuhiko handed the investigation notes he had shown Chi Feichi to Takagi Wataru, then turned to ask Conan, "Right, Conan?"
Conan nodded. "If the police ask questions, ordinary people might worry about being blamed for talking about irrelevant things, so they won't mention things unrelated to the case. Also, the case happened only a few days ago, so the landlady might still be a bit scared. That's why the police didn't learn about their hobbies."
"I found a suspicious point here. In this cold season," Haibara Ai stood in front of the balcony, looking at the pots of cacti outside, "Miss Muranishi clearly liked cacti, yet she put cacti that aren't cold-resistant on the balcony. Isn't that very strange?"
Conan felt a sense of urgency. This investigation tonight is a bit too fast. If I don't hurry up and find something, I'll really become a soy sauce passerby (bystander)...
"Found it," Genta, rummaging through the wardrobe, picked up a calendar. "It's a Tokyo Spirits calendar!"
Conan: "..."
Hey, hey...
"Miss Muranishi is a Tokyo Spirits fan, and Mr. Higashida is anti-Spirits," Haibara Ai walked over, took the calendar, and flipped through it. "If Miss Muranishi really liked the Spirits, she wouldn't have specifically put the calendar away in the closet, right? And the schedule is recorded until the end of December, so it shouldn't be put away."
Conan picked up a matchbox, opened it, and his eyes lit up. Finally, a discovery.
Chi Feichi came out of the bathroom. "Miss Muranishi has a boyfriend, but they don't live together."
Conan: "..."
This investigation speed is soaring too fast...