"Yes, you're right. To throw the puppet out and then retrieve it, you would have to get your body out of the window."
"And it's obvious that with your current build, that's impossible."
"Therefore, Heiji-san's deduction must be incorrect."
"Besides, during the blackout, when the bandaged man came in to kill Ohta and escaped through the back door, I was with all of you the entire time. Isn't that right, everyone?" Takahashi Ryoichi said, scratching his head with an innocent smile.
"Heiji, it's true. When we lit the candles, Takahashi-senpai was right beside us," Ran recalled. "If he were the bandaged man, he couldn't have changed his clothes so quickly."
"And if he had come in from outside, one of us would have noticed."
That's not right. Even without leaving the villa, it's possible to kill someone.
You just need a mechanism... but what kind of mechanism could break the window and then open the door?
Conan lowered his head, deep in thought.
"And what if Takahashi Ryoichi never disguised himself as the bandaged man, but simply killed Ohta Masaru in the dark?" Heiji said calmly. "That way, he would only have to pretend that nothing happened."
"Don't talk nonsense! Let's see, Heiji-san, explain to me how I broke the window from the outside, killed someone, and then opened the back door!"
"During the thunder and lightning, everyone could see that I was with you the whole time!" Takahashi Ryoichi shouted, furious.
"Heiji, I saw it too. Takahashi-senpai was with all of us," Kazuha said in a low voice.
Without realizing it, Conan stopped thinking for himself and began to follow Heiji's line of reasoning.
"A mechanism!!!"
"A mechanism???"
Everyone was perplexed, looking at Heiji in confusion.
"A very simple mechanism. You only need a steel wire, a rope, and a rain-and-wind-proof kerosene lamp."
Takahashi Ryoichi froze, staring at Heiji in horror.
No... impossible. Absolutely impossible. How did this high school student know? My method was flawless.
"Kakutani Hiroki, could you go to the back door and see if there's anything on the outside?"
Kakutani Hiroki approached the back door and examined it closely. His eyes widened.
"There's a deep nail hole!"
"A nail hole? I remember it was perfectly fine in the afternoon," Ayako said, puzzled.
"Because it was nailed in at night. While I was carrying Sonoko to the second floor, there was a whole hour, enough time for him to prepare the mechanism."
Conan's eyes lit up. It was true, at that moment, only he was sitting in the living room, bored.
Wait a minute!!!
"Heiji-niichan, I was in the living room the whole time, and I didn't see Takahashi-san leave."
"He climbed out from his own room. That's why you didn't see him."
Climbed?
The others looked at Takahashi Ryoichi's portly figure with skepticism. Could such a fat man really climb down from the second floor to the first and then back up again?
Takahashi Ryoichi said nothing, just stared at Heiji.
"Heiji-san, I still don't understand what mechanism you're referring to. I don't have the power to duplicate myself, it's impossible for me to have been controlling a mechanism at that moment."
"You didn't need to control it, because it was a simple timed mechanism."
Takahashi Ryoichi's pupils contracted, and panic seized him.
"First, you find a small tree and bend it into the shape of a bow."
"Then, you take a hemp rope. You tie one end to the trunk and pull the other towards the ground, securing it there."
"After that, you drive an iron nail deep into the back door, leaving only a small part outside."
"You tie one end of a steel wire firmly to the tip of the nail and then stretch it in a straight line backwards."
"You walk to the tree you bent and tie the other end of the wire to the trunk, making sure the wire is taut."
"Finally, the most important part: you place a modified kerosene lamp under the hemp rope."
"This way, as soon as the rope burns through, the tree will spring back to its vertical position."
"The enormous force generated will be transmitted through the steel wire to the nail."
"The nail will be instantly ripped out, pulling the back door open."
Silence.
Conan stared at Heiji, astonished. That mechanism... it really could make the back door open by itself. You just had to calculate the time correctly.
"As for the mechanism to break the window, the principle is the same."
"But instead of a tree, a giant slingshot is used. An elastic cord is tied to a tree at one end and to a heavy object at the other."
"When the kerosene lamp burns the hemp rope, the heavy object is launched, crashing into the window."
"Since the cord is retractable, it doesn't leave any trace."
"First, you created a simple device to cause a short circuit."
"Then, right after the window-breaking mechanism was activated, you killed Ohta Masaru."
"You hid the axe and waited for the back-door mechanism to activate."
"Of course, you must have tested this type of mechanism many times before daring to use it."
Conan looked at Heiji, shocked. He wasn't surprised that Heiji knew the principle of the mechanism; it was quite simple and most people would know it.
What amazed him was why Heiji had focused the investigation in that direction.
Everyone assumed the bandaged man was an outsider, and that preconceived notion usually leads to a dead end.
This Hattori guy... how did he figure all this out?
"Heiji-san, I must say, your reasoning is very interesting. However, there's a fatal flaw in it," Takahashi Ryoichi said, lifting his head with an innocent smile.
"The back door was locked. With such a violent pulling force, the lock would have been broken. But, as you can see, the lock is still intact."
"Oh, and what would happen if, when closing the door, this piece of cardboard was placed between the latch and the frame?"
"That way, the door would be securely closed, but not bolted."
Heiji took out the piece of cardboard and threw it in front of Takahashi Ryoichi.
"Besides, it's about time you took out the axe you're carrying in your stomach, you fake fat man."
Takahashi Ryoichi stood motionless. Suddenly, he snapped his head up, his eyes bloodshot, and glared at Heiji.
He reached into his fake stomach, pulled out an axe, and lunged at him.
"I'm going to kill you!"
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Hey guys, I want to apologize for not uploading any chapters lately. My mother passed away a week ago, and honestly, I just didn't have the energy to do anything. The chapters that were uploaded were the ones already scheduled.Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your patience and for still being here. Starting tomorrow, uploads will return to normal.