Chapter 114: Yusaku Kudo's Deduction Show
This game had no specific rules, as it was merely a silent understanding between Shinichi Kudo and Mo Yu.
For Shinichi, the victory condition was simple: stay quietly in a cell for a few days until his heart completely gave out, and then peacefully take his last breath.
Why choose a prison? This was Shinichi's insistence—sin should be buried in a cell to demonstrate the solemnity of justice.
But "simple" did not mean "easy." In fact, Shinichi's resolve soon faced partial bankruptcy. Yusaku Kudo's initiative was exceptional, and with Inspector Megure's deep concern, Shinichi was quickly moved from the detention center to a hospital for a physical examination.
Shinichi originally wanted to resist, gripping the iron bars and refusing to move, but looking at the worried eyes of Yusaku and his mother, Yukiko, he quickly sighed. He had to admit once again that in this world, carrying out a "crime" properly was indeed harder than he had imagined!
The results were worse than Shinichi expected, yet in a way, "better."
His heart showed a bizarre penetrating gunshot wound, large enough for a finger to poke through. However, despite being completely pierced, his heart continued to beat under the influence of a mysterious power, as if the wound were merely an illusion. Yet it wasn't a true phantom; eerie cracks radiated from the center of the wound, slowly spreading across the entire organ.
The "good" news was that modern medicine could not explain the condition. The even "better" news, according to the hospital's judgment based on the rate of decay, was that Shinichi had less than five days to live.
Of course, this was only good news to Shinichi.
To everyone else, it was a cataclysmic disaster. Yukiko and Ran broke down in tears instantly. Even the hyper-rational Yusaku couldn't help but clench his fists. But as the head of the family and a man, he knew that emotion was a detective's greatest enemy. The priority was to exhaust every resource to find a solution.
Yusaku pushed up his glasses, suppressing all worry and grief to perform a cold calculation. He looked at Shinichi, who was handcuffed to the hospital bed, and said:
"Shinichi, based on what I know, this is a game of strategy between you and Moriarty. Since you intend to kill him through active sacrifice, then conversely, there must be a way for you to survive, right?"
Facing Yusaku—who remained calm and logical even now—Shinichi felt a deeper realization of how the criminals he used to catch felt when facing him.
Under those calm, rational eyes and that precise, logical speech, all disguises and schemes were peeled away bit by bit. Everything you wanted to hide was dragged into the light.
To be honest... it felt a bit shameful! It was like being forcibly stripped of one's clothes and placed under a spotlight for everyone to stare at.
Having experienced this empathy, Shinichi felt a newfound respect for the profession of "criminal." He never imagined that past culprits were resisting him while enduring such embarrassing, shameful feelings of "public exposure." It was truly remarkable.
To be worthy of the title "criminal," Shinichi decided to resist. However, past experience told him that the more one said to a detective of this caliber, the more mistakes one made. Thus, silence became his most powerful criminal weapon.
But Shinichi's silence meant little to Yusaku. Yusaku lived in New York not just because of Yukiko's career, but because America was a "holy land" for advanced detective training. The booming economy and free-spirited culture bred more bizarre cases, while the gathering of global scholars led to the birth of new technologies and theories. Beyond forensics, fields like criminal psychology and micro-expression analysis were just being born in the U.S. and were still unknown in Japan.
Yusaku never stopped learning. Even silence could not prevent him from finding the answer.
"Shinichi, I already know the answer. Your silence is meaningless. From Moriarty's behavior, even if you don't speak, he will do something to win this game. For example... telling us how to let you live."
Shinichi was forced to speak: "Dad, there is no way for me to live. Even if there were, the one living would be Moriarty, not Shinichi Kudo."
Yusaku interrupted: "Shinichi, do not be trapped by Moriarty's logic. The 'absolute connection' of black and white is a thinking trap a detective must see through. The world never becomes beautiful simply because of one person's sacrifice; those are two entirely different concepts."
Yusaku paused, choosing his words carefully. "Sacrifice is never a 'must' in a binary choice. As your father, I have not given up. I firmly believe a perfect solution exists. As long as Moriarty exists and can be understood, he cannot be invincible. As my son, I hope you never give up. If justice only wins through sacrifice, then this world is truly beyond saving!"
Yusaku spoke earnestly. Shinichi remained silent. He had inherited his father's intelligence; though he lacked experience, he had already thought of everything Yusaku had.
A "happy ending" perfect solution surely existed. But that "happiness" itself, in Shinichi's eyes, came at a price he and the world could not afford. The world wouldn't necessarily become better through sacrifice, but it could certainly become worse through a specific person's existence.
But there was no need to say these things. Shinichi continued to use silence as his shield. They were father and son, but at this moment, they were Criminal and Detective—one intending to carry out a crime, the other attempting to solve it.
Yusaku sighed deeply, informed the guarding police that the visit was over, and walked out. He comforted the unstable Yukiko and Ran, then, using the excuse of needing to think, pulled out a cigarette pack he hadn't touched in ages. Lighting up in a secluded corner, he muttered:
"Moriarty. You're there, aren't you? I want to talk."
"Brother Kudo, I'm here. I'm always here!"
From the shadows, the black silhouette slowly emerged. He familiarly took Yusaku's cigarette pack, pulled one out, and snapped his fingers to light it. Yusaku suppressed the shiver brought by the proximity of this "Absolute Evil" and spoke calmly:
"From a medical and psychiatric perspective, Shinichi does not have the psychological foundation to birth an 'Absolute Evil' like you. If it were a genetic defect or an antisocial personality, I would have seen it years ago. You cannot be Shinichi's second personality."
The black silhouette took a deep drag and blew out a smoke ring shaped like a skull.
"You detectives who love to dig for roots are truly boring. The concept of a 'reasonless miracle' doesn't exist in your heads. Fine, I'll stop playing games. Let's be honest. First, I must deny one thing: I am not Absolute Evil. Conversely, I am a miracle born of a benevolent blessing. You know about the world-line shifts?"
"I heard it from Shinichi," Yusaku said. "But I remain skeptical of supernatural events."
The silhouette laughed. "Skeptical or not, just listen. Every world-line shift is born to respond to a 'Desire.' I was born during the first shift. As for the reason... a certain brat said he wanted to become the Sherlock Holmes of a new era. To fulfill that dream, don't you think the birth of a Moriarty is a natural necessity?"
In a world of detectives, is the detective the important part? No. To fulfill the dream of the most noble justice, the world's most unpardonable evil must be born to match it.
Yusaku thought for a microsecond and said: "That is a flawed, malicious, and absurd lie!"
The silhouette shrugged. "Boring. Whether it's truth or a lie doesn't matter. Believe what you want. Now, back to business. I was born from Shinichi, so I care about him more than anyone. I want him to live. I'll tell you how to heal him."
Yusaku didn't care about the lie right now; he listened intently.
The silhouette put down the cigarette and smiled. "It's simple. He has a hole in his heart; just find something to patch it. The materials aren't complex. You just need to do what you've always done: step into the labyrinth of sin, peel away the mist of lies, and drag out the filthy truth. Conveniently... this hospital has exactly the materials you need. Feel free to try."
Just as the silhouette finished speaking, a scream echoed through the hospital.
"THE DOCTOR IS DEAD!"
Yusaku instinctively turned his head. When he looked back, the black silhouette was gone. He gnashed his teeth and ran toward the noise.
Shinichi had been moved here, so Megure and the police were already present and arrived at the scene quickly. Yusaku joined them.
The victim was a hospital doctor, dead in his office. A glance from a distance told Yusaku it was cyanide. The cup on the desk was suspicious and deliberate. (Yusaku had long wondered why cyanide was so prevalent in Beika; five out of ten murders seemed to involve it).
Inspector Megure immediately activated his "Little Brother Skill," looking at Yusaku: "Brother Kudo, what do you think?"
"The victim's habits were known, allowing for precise poisoning," Yusaku said calmly. "This is an inside job. The culprit is in this office."
As luck would have it, three people were in the office: an intern doctor, a nurse, and an orderly.
Hearing this, the intern and the orderly immediately pointed at the nurse, claiming she was the victim's secret lover and they had been fighting lately. She was the one who served the tea; she touched the cup.
Megure wore his usual "case closed" expression, but Yusaku sighed. As a writer, he knew the "taboo" that a detective shouldn't judge based on expressions, but as a pro, he knew it worked. The nurse's shock and bewilderment weren't staged.
"The nurse isn't the killer," Yusaku stated. "She was framed."
Because of Yusaku's massive track record, Megure accepted this instantly. As Yusaku scrutinized the remaining two, he felt the "veil of the world" being peeled away. Something was being exposed.
"Then, Brother Kudo, who is the suspect... wait, what's happening to you!?" Megure shouted.
Everyone stared in one direction.
The intern doctor, who had been loudly accusing the nurse, suddenly wobbled uncomfortably under their gaze. "What... why are you all looking at me?"
But he realized they weren't looking at him, but at what was behind him. He turned around.
A strange "fellow" had appeared. The upper body was a skeletal old man; the lower body was a swirling cloud like a genie. The old man held a giant medicine bottle and was muttering:
"Kill him... kill that animal who exploits me and won't let me become a full-time doctor... don't look at me, I'm not the killer... it's that bad woman who's just like him... the teacup is the evidence... it took me half a month to plan this brilliant trick..."
The entity repeated the motive and method over and over.
Silence. Even the rational Yusaku was speechless. The case wasn't hard, but solving it this way was just... absurd.
The intern's face twisted in a breakdown, but as he met the skeletal old man's eyes, a realization dawned. That old man was his soul, his fortune—a supernatural reality higher than the material world. To blame "it" was to blame himself.
"Hmph. The more carefully you plan, the more unexpected crises you face," the intern sneered. "But it won't be that simple to convict me. Go! My Stand: [Vain Existence Medicine]!"
The Stand's eyes widened. It swung the bottle, releasing a purple mist!
Infected by the mist, Megure and Yusaku felt dizzy. They could no longer see the intern; he seemed to vanish. No, his "existence" was transferred onto the nurse. Everyone's minds were filled with the "fact" that the nurse was the killer who poisoned the doctor in a passion. Megure pulled out his handcuffs to arrest her.
"Transferring the 'existence' of your deeds onto another? What a petty, boring frame-up..."
Yusaku was dizzy, but he instinctively knew the truth, as if a voice from a higher plane were telling him. It wasn't just a voice; Yusaku realized a "presence" was emerging behind him as well!
A massive black cloak seemed to envelop the entire world. A white, mocking mask radiated a condescending disdain.
A tiny criminal fortune trying to interfere with my perception?
Joke!
The massive entity known as Night Baron—the symbol of Yusaku Kudo's fortune—manifested from the invisible backend of the world through the tearing barrier.
Night Baron took a light breath, vacuuming up the purple mist instantly! The crowd snapped out of the trance.
"A petty crime... shall reach its end under my deduction!"
Under their gaze, Night Baron groaned, reached out, and gripped the skeletal Stand, crushing it to pieces with a single squeeze.
Under this "Superior Deduction," the intern's arrogance vanished. His eyes cleared, and he collapsed—not in repentance, but vomiting blood as his bones audibly cracked.
End of Chapter
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