A Genius In The World Of Conan

Chapter 12: "You Murderer!"

“Ugh—!”

Suddenly, Nakajima Takuto heard a muffled groan from Kousuke Akikawa, who abruptly covered his mouth.

The next moment, Kousuke bent over the side of the bed and vomited everything he had eaten for breakfast into the trash can with a loud retch.

Watching Kousuke, hunched over the side of the bed and coughing uncontrollably while throwing up, Nakajima felt a mix of complex emotions.

When a person endures excessive psychological pressure, their body can react with discomfort, often resulting in vomiting.

This is a common occurrence during criminal case interrogations.

At this point, Nakajima was certain that Kousuke had reached his breaking point.

He approached Kousuke and gently patted him on the back, speaking in a calm and soothing tone.

“I’m really sorry, Aikawa-kun.”

“I don’t want to see you like this. Truly, I have your best interests in mind.”

“There’s something I need to confess to you. I’m not actually a nurse at this hospital—I’m a detective from the Division 1 of the Criminal Investigation Section of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.”

“As a detective, I promise you this: if you tell me what happened yesterday, I guarantee you won’t face severe punishment.”

“After all, it was your mother who made the first mistake. Plus, you just turned 20 yesterday. You still have a long life ahead of you.”

“If you keep hiding the truth, and the police eventually arrest you with hard evidence, the consequences will be far more severe.”

After the stick, it was time for the carrot.

Nakajima was fully confident.

He believed that after this decisive final blow, Kousuke would give up hiding the truth and confess everything.

As expected, Nakajima noticed Kousuke’s back, which had been trembling violently due to coughing, suddenly still when he mentioned, “Your mother made the first mistake, and you just turned 20 yesterday.”

“R-Really?”

About a minute later, Nakajima finally heard Kousuke speak, his tone hesitant and uncertain.

“Of course! I wouldn’t lie to you!” Nakajima replied quickly, his heart leaping with joy.

He wasn’t lying to Kousuke.

If Kousuke confessed now, it could still count as turning himself in.

But if the police gathered enough evidence and then arrested him, the punishment would be far harsher.

There was, however, one thing Nakajima hadn’t mentioned.

The police didn’t yet have concrete evidence to prove that Kousuke had killed Akikawa Ryoko.

As a result, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department could only detain Kousuke for up to 48 hours. Arresting him outright was out of the question.

Nakajima’s confidence stemmed from projecting an air of certainty that the police already had irrefutable evidence.

This was the only way to make the young man before him believe that Nakajima genuinely had his best interests at heart.

Kousuke slowly straightened up, using the towel handed to him by Nakajima to wipe the tears from his eyes—tears brought on by vomiting and coughing—and the saliva lingering at the corners of his mouth.

Then, in a soft voice, he began to speak:

“Mom had planned for a long time to go out and celebrate my 20th birthday.”

‘Mhm, go on,’ Nakajima urged silently in his heart.

On the surface, he maintained the same gentle and kind expression as before.

But inwardly, he was brimming with excitement.

This case was finally coming to a close.

Even detectives like Sera Masumi, Officer Chiba, and Officer Sato had failed to crack this case.

And yet, in just one morning, he had brought it to the brink of resolution.

With this achievement, Nakajima Takuto believed his promotion to Inspector-General was just around the corner.

“After celebrating outside, Mom drove us home, and I sat in the passenger seat.”

‘Exactly, that’s it!’

Nakajima grew increasingly excited, suppressing a triumphant smile from forming on his face.

Kousuke Akikawa’s confession was being completely recorded on his tape recorder. This recording would become the most significant piece of evidence, even more important than the missing murder weapon.

“As we were driving on the highway, a motorcycle suddenly darted out in front of Mom’s car, so she hit the brakes hard.”

‘Hmm? The braking wasn’t caused by Kousuke Akikawa?’

Nakajima frowned, feeling a slight miscalculation in his earlier judgment.

Still, it wasn’t a major issue.

“After Mom slammed on the brakes, for some reason, the car lost balance and crashed into the guardrail on the left side of the road.”

‘Hmm, that should have been caused by being rear-ended,’ Nakajima murmured to himself.

Kousuke’s description matched the facts the police had uncovered.

This reassured Nakajima that Kousuke wasn’t lying to him.

“I hit my hand from the sudden stop, and my head slammed against the headrest, leaving me dazed. I don’t remember much of what happened, but it seemed like someone suddenly opened the driver-side door where Mom was sitting.”

‘What?!’

Nakajima froze, sensing something was amiss.

“A person wearing all black—it seemed like the same person on the motorcycle.”

‘Wait, wait, wait! What are you talking about?! Isn’t this the moment when you pulled out the knife and stabbed your mother while she was still confused?!’

Nakajima’s thoughts raced as he internally raged against this unexpected twist.

“That person in black was wearing a helmet, so I couldn’t see their face clearly. Suddenly, they pulled out a knife and stabbed Mom multiple times.”

“After Mom stopped moving, they forced open my mouth and made me swallow some kind of pill. Then they hit me on the head, and the next thing I knew, I woke up here in the hospital.”

“What kind of nonsense is this?!”

Nakajima couldn’t hold back any longer and shouted angrily.

He had thought Kousuke was finally ready to confess to his crimes.

But to his disbelief, Kousuke was still fabricating stories at this stage!

Nakajima felt as if he were being toyed with.

Dropping all pretense of kindness, he grabbed Kousuke by the collar, bringing his face inches from Kousuke’s, and yelled:

“You killed your mother! You’re a murderer!”

“You bought sleeping pills and prepared a knife in advance, planning to kill your mother on the day she took you out to celebrate your 20th birthday, then commit suicide!”

“After the car crash, you stabbed your mother to death, swallowed the pills, and tried to take your own life.”

“But you didn’t know sleeping pills rarely result in death. You survived by pure luck!”

“This is your entire crime timeline, isn’t it? Am I right?!”

Kousuke’s face, already pale, turned even whiter as Nakajima clutched his collar.

His bloodshot eyes brimmed with tears again, and his voice grew hoarse, almost breaking into sobs:

“What I’m saying is true! Mom was killed by the person on the motorcycle!”

“Bullshit!!”

Nakajima roared, cutting Kousuke off mid-sentence.

“Neither the knife nor your mother’s body has any fingerprints from someone else. Where’s this mysterious motorcyclist of yours? It’s complete nonsense!”

“If there weren’t any fingerprints,” Kousuke replied softly, “then how can Nakajima-san be so certain that I’m the killer?”

Kousuke’s calm, almost weightless question left Nakajima momentarily speechless.