Mouri Kogoro, following Aoshima Zenda's directions, drove to her apartment building.
Zenda invited them to wait in the living room, saying they would leave once she woke her sister, Meina.
Looking at the living room, filled with various celebrity merchandise, Mouri Kogoro gasped.
The merchandise, ranging from posters and CDs to light sticks, was so plentiful it was hard to walk, and everything was duplicated.
Conan noticed this detail and exclaimed, "Zenda-san and her sister really have the same hobbies! Everything in the room is identical, in duplicate."
"Hahaha, that's right. My sister and I have had the exact same hobbies since we were little. Whatever I wanted to buy, she would follow suit and buy the same thing.
Please wait a moment. I'll go wake Meina. She probably stayed up late again last night watching concert recordings."
Zenda smiled and turned to walk towards the bedroom area.
However, a few minutes later, a piercing scream came from the direction of the bathroom.
"Ah—!! Meina!!"
Hearing this commotion, Mouri Kogoro and Conan's expressions changed simultaneously.
Ran, with her extensive experience, immediately pulled out her phone, ready to call the police.
The three rushed towards the bathroom, the source of the sound.
They saw Aoshima Zenda slumped outside the bathroom door, her face pale, her finger trembling as she pointed at the translucent bathroom door.
Looking up, the bathroom door was sealed with many layers of wide, clear tape along the doorframe from the inside.
The words "Farewell" were also spelled out on the door with tape.
A figure could vaguely be seen collapsed beside the bathtub.
"Meina! Meina, she's in there! I called her, but she didn't answer... I'm so worried! Let's break the door down together!" Zenda cried out, her voice choked with sobs.
Mouri Kogoro didn't think twice. Together with Ran and Zenda, the three of them forcefully crashed into the bathroom door, which was sealed shut with tape.
"Bang!" After a loud crash, the bathroom door was forced open.
Her sister, Aoshima Meina, lay by the bathtub, a blood-stained razor blade fallen beside her.
Correspondingly, there was a cut wound on her wrist, and blood had already stained the bathtub. On the edge of the bathtub, there were also large splatters of blood.
Not long after, Inspector Megure, who had received the alarm, rushed over with Takagi, Chiba, and a few of his subordinates.
Upon entering and seeing Mouri Kogoro, Inspector Megure's face immediately fell, and he couldn't help but rub his forehead and grumble.
"It's you again, Brother Mouri! Can't you just stay home and rest for a few days? I really don't want to see you several times in one day!"
Mouri Kogoro scratched his head awkwardly and chuckled.
"Ahaha, Inspector Megure, I don't want to either. Come to think of it, before Conan came to my house, I only encountered a few murder cases a year..."
He knew that the police secretly called him a jinx now, so he decisively pulled Conan out to take the blame.
After a preliminary investigation, given that the bathroom was a locked room sealed from the inside with tape, Mouri Kogoro stroked his chin and offered his deduction.
"I understand. It seems this is a suicide. Zenda-san sister must have suffered from pre-marital depression and, unable to think clearly, committed suicide by slitting her wrists."
Inspector Megure frowned, not trusting Mouri Kogoro when he was conscious.
"Suicide? If it's suicide, why go to such lengths to seal the door and create a locked room? Isn't that redundant?"
"Ah, well..."
Mouri Kogoro's eyes darted around, then he suddenly caught sight of two open bottles of cleaner on the floor and immediately had an idea,
"The reason is right here! Inspector Megure, look, there are two open bottles of cleaner in this bathroom. Cleaners generally contain sodium hypochlorite and hydrochloric acid. Mixing these two creates toxic gas.
Meina-san might have originally intended to commit suicide this way but was worried that the toxic gas would harm her sister, which is why she sealed the door with tape, creating the locked room! What a tragic display of sisterly love!"
Inspector Megure picked up the cleaner bottles and looked at them, saying speechlessly:
"Brother Mouri, what nonsense are you talking about? Both of these bottles are sodium hypochlorite! They can't produce any toxic gas at all!"
"Ah? Both are sodium hypochlorite?"
Mouri Kogoro was stunned, then quickly tried to cover his mistake,
"Then, then maybe Meina-san, she originally wanted to buy two types of cleaner to mix for suicide, but she bought the wrong ones! So she ultimately chose to slit her wrists!
Yes! That must be it! Look, this is the shopping receipt I found in the living room, which proves that both the cleaners and the razor blade were bought by Meina-san herself. The evidence is conclusive!"
Seeing that Inspector Megure was about to be led astray by Uncle Mouri and hastily close the case, Conan began his performance.
"Are re~"
He pretended to be innocent as he squatted beside the body and grabbed Meina's wrist,
"How strange~ Oji-san, look, this sister's wrist cut is so messy, it's like someone grabbed her hand and cut it. And..."
He pointed at the bloodstains around the bathtub,
"The blood is all splattered inside and on the edge of the bathtub, but the rest of the bathroom is so clean. If you cut your wrist, shouldn't blood spray everywhere? How could it not splatter outside at all? Is Meina-neesan especially neat, and she even specifically cleaned up before she died so that the blood wouldn't stain the bathroom?"
These seemingly innocent words enlightened Inspector Megure.
"That's right,"
Inspector Megure suddenly realized,
"The deceased couldn't have cleaned the room. Judging from the splattered bloodstains on the edge of the bathtub, some blood should have splattered outside the bathtub.
But now there isn't any! It's highly likely that blood splattered on the culprit! The culprit, in order to clean the blood off themselves, had no choice but to wipe the surrounding affected areas! That's why the outside is so clean!"
Just then, a tranquilizer dart silently struck Mouri Kogoro's neck.
"Uh... I'm not ready yet..."
Mouri Kogoro swayed, then slid down the wall, entering a state of slumber.
Then, the sleeping Mouri Kogoro deduced that the murderer of Meina was her sister, Zenda.
The locked room in the bathroom was faked the tape inside hadn't actually sealed the doorframe securely.
Zenda pretended the door couldn't be opened, tricking them into breaking down the bathroom door, thereby faking the locked room.
The more crucial evidence was that the red support headband on Zenda's head had a character partially obscured by splattered blood.
But because the bloodstain was similar in color to the original headband, Zenda hadn't noticed it.
In the face of irrefutable evidence, Aoshima Zenda broke down. She collapsed to the ground and confessed her crime.
"That's right... I killed that bitch Meina..."
She cried and laughed hysterically,
"Why?! Why did she always snatch everything from me! No matter what I liked, she would buy the exact same thing as me.
She even stole the person I loved! Kenji clearly met me first! But now he's going to marry her, I can't stand it! I really can't stand it!
She lost her life, but I lost my love!!"
Just then, Terahara Kenji, who had received the news, rushed to the apartment.
After understanding the situation, the constantly coughing man revealed a shocking truth.
"No... it's not like that! Zenda, you misunderstood, I was the one who actively pursued Meina!
Meina initially refused me because she was considerate of your feelings! It was only after my persistent pursuit that she finally agreed! She kept telling me that she felt sorry for you, her sister..."
"What?!"
Zenda was completely stunned. She had always thought her sister betrayed her, but she never expected her sister had always been thinking of her.
The so-called betrayal was all her own imagination.
Upon learning the truth, Zenda collapsed onto her sister's cold body, letting out heart-wrenching sobs.
Faced with this scene, Mouri Kogoro felt too awkward to bring up the concert tickets again.
After greeting Inspector Megure, he quietly left with Conan and Ran.
They drove to the concert venue, prepared to at least listen to the songs from outside.
Finally, after parking the car on a street not far from the concert hall, Mouri Kogoro, with Conan and Ran, began walking towards the concert venue.
The thought that Conan and Ran could go in while he had to stay outside left Mouri Kogoro feeling bitter.
"Sigh, never mind. Ran, you and Conan must get me an autographed photo..."
However, just then—
Whoosh—!!!
To the horror of Mouri Kogoro, Conan, and Ran, a missile trailing a fiery tail descended from the sky.
Boom—!!!!
A deafening explosion rang out.
This missile, right before their eyes, utterly destroyed the sedan they had rented.
Car debris and fragments flew everywhere, and the scorching blast of air even knocked them to the ground.
Mouri Kogoro stared blankly at the car, now a pile of scrap metal, his mouth agape wide.
"My car—!!!!"