Chapter 25: Coffee Shop MurderJust when Conan was completely hopeless and depressed, the waitress took the microphone and shouted: "Mr. Edogawa? Is there a Mr. Edogawa here?" Conan walked over and answered the phone. "Conan, I'm sorry, the cash register in the store is broken, so I can't get to your place now. Was there anyone looking for me there just now?" Conan rolled his eyes and said, "Yes, it's Su Beixun, right?" "Eh? Is Su Bei also in the store?" Xiaolan was a little surprised, but quickly reminded him: "Then you stay with classmate Su Bei and don't run around. I'll be back soon!" "Wait, Sister Xiaolan, isn't the person you want to see..." Conan reacted and asked quickly, but the phone was already busy. He hung up the phone helplessly, but he was still relieved after knowing that the person Xiaolan was going to meet was not Su Beixun. "Wait, who is Xiaolan going to meet?"

He immediately became alert and observed all the customers in the coffee shop again, and found that after Su Beixun, a slim man with long hair came in. Conan hid in the seat behind him and eavesdropped, and heard him talking on the phone with someone else, saying that he had tricked an innocent girl into coming for a date, and he was laughing with his tongue sticking out smugly. Conan, who thought it was Xiaolan who was deceived, was so angry that he gritted his teeth and adjusted his foot strength-enhancing shoes, wanting to give him a hard blow. But a pair of hands suddenly reached out, grabbed the back of his neck by the collar, and lifted him up. "I see." Su Beixun turned him around so that he was facing her, and said with a smile, "You are Mao Li's protector, so it's no wonder you took the initiative to ask me questions. Do you suspect that I'm going on a date with Mao Li?" He said meaningfully: "Could it be... that you like women older than you?" Conan's body froze, and he smiled awkwardly: "I... I'm just curious about who Xiaolan is here to see... What... what do you mean by liking? I'm just a child." Su Beixun nodded, not caring, and put him on the seat opposite him. He said to the waitress, "Excuse me, can you give this child a glass of milk?" After that, he showed Conan his phone interface: "Mori-san sent me a text message asking me to take care of the kid who came with him... His name is Edogawa Conan, is it you?" Conan nodded, said thank you to the waitress who brought the milk, then picked up the cup and secretly looked at Su Beixun who was sitting opposite him. Of course he cared about Xiaolan's date, but now he couldn't do anything as he was being watched, so he might as well try to get some information from Su Beixun. Relying on his childish appearance, Conan asked directly: "Brother Su Bei, didn't you get enough rest yesterday? I saw a lot of bloodshot in your eyes." "Yes." Su Beixun took a sip of the bitter coffee and said while holding the cup: "I haven't slept much since the night before yesterday." Conan's eyes sparkled, and he asked childishly, "Big Brother, why don't you sleep? Is it because your teacher assigned too much homework?" Looking at Kudo Shinichi, who had fully integrated into this age group after becoming younger for a few days, Su Beixun nodded with interest and said, "Yes, there is an outrageous amount of homework in high school. You should cherish your elementary school life." "..." Conan gritted his teeth and complained loudly in his heart, how could this person lie in front of a child? Su Beixun picked up the sandwich beside him and stuffed it into his mouth, slightly alleviating his already hungry stomach.

He didn't mind telling Conan something, or rather, after he guessed yesterday that Kisaki Eri was here to see Mouri Ran, he came up to her tactlessly, and he was originally coming for Conan. How could Conan not know about this extremely influential thing "related to the death of Eko Ichikawa"? How much progress would be lost in the world goal? However, you can't just tell him the thing whenever he asks you. This would seem too deliberate. Just as Su Beixun and Conan were pulling each other, a scream suddenly came from the toilet of the cafe. Conan jumped off the bench and instinctively rushed into the bathroom following the scream. The frivolous man with long hair was seen sitting down at the door, pointing tremblingly inside - a pool of blood was spreading on the floor outside the door of a toilet cubicle. He hurriedly peeked inside the toilet cubicle's wooden door, and saw that the first bad-tempered lady who entered the store had been stabbed in the chest and fell inside the cubicle. Su Beixun had just finished his coffee when he saw a brown, chubby police officer walking in with many policemen. Officer Megure took out his police ID and showed it to the customer in the store, and asked seriously: "Someone called the police and reported that there was a murder here. Is it true?" Conan heard the voice and ran out of the toilet and waved: "Inspector Megure, over here." After investigating the scene, Inspector Megure looked at the open window in the toilet and speculated: "Looking at the scene, the murderer should have entered from outside and ambushed in the toilet early. He was seen when he was robbing the victim's money, so he wanted to kill." He ordered the surrounding police: "This prisoner must still be outside, go around and ask about the situation immediately! "Wait a minute! Officer Megure!" Conan hurriedly stopped him, pointed at the window and said, "Isn't it too clean up there?" Officer Megure's eyebrows jumped, and the half-moon eyes shouted at him: "Isn't this good? Toilets should be clean!" Just when he was about to throw the troublemaker out of the scene, Eri Kisaki came in from outside and agreed with Conan. She concluded that the murderer must be someone in the store because there was no blood on the window and the murder weapon was thrown at the scene. Conan then pointed out that there were four people who entered the bathroom: a college student, a strong man, a long-haired man... and Eri Kisaki. Facing Inspector Megure's surprise, Kisaki Eri said calmly: "He is right, I did go to the toilet. But..." She looked at Conan with interest: "You remember it so clearly, little brother." Conan's forehead was sweating, and he pointed at Su Beixun and said in defense: "Ah, it's okay, in fact, I was sitting opposite that big brother, so I saw it more clearly." For some reason, he always felt suppressed and guilty in front of this lawyer. Inspector Megure followed the direction of Conan's finger and saw Su Beixun's back. He immediately lowered his chin in thought: "This person... I seem to have seen him somewhere. What's his name?" Conan reminded: "His name is Su Beixun. He transferred here from Hokkaido a month ago." When he heard the two key words, veins on Inspector Megure's forehead popped up and he finally remembered where he had seen him. A month ago, a file was suddenly transferred from Hokkaido to Tokyo, containing information about a serial killer codenamed Kamikakushi. What was written in the file was extremely strange, and even in the opinion of Inspector Megure, it completely lacked the rationality and objectivity that the police should have - in every case where Su Beixun appeared, they listed him as an important suspect, and even if it was finally found out that the murderer was someone else, they would repeatedly doubt whether they had fallen into the other party's trap. Inspector Megure felt at the time that the person who wrote this file was more or less a little paranoid. Although it was a bit strange that Su Beixun would appear in many cases, he thought that it was because there were no famous detectives in Hokkaido. As a police officer in the Tokyo Investigation Division, he had long been accustomed to always running into acquaintances at the crime scene - like Kudo Shinichi and Kudo Yusaku.

Even thinking about it the other way around, since we always meet him at crime scenes, maybe Su Beixun also has the potential to be a detective? However, out of rigor, Officer Megure confirmed with Conan again: "Are you sure he didn't go to the toilet?" Conan gave an affirmative answer. Although he suspected that Su Beixun was a bad guy, he was definitely innocent in this incident. Su Beixun, who vaguely heard several people talking about him behind him, didn't take it seriously. He looked down at the empty coffee cup and felt waves of sleepiness starting to surge into his head again. Forget it, let’s finish it early. If I don’t go to sleep, I’m afraid I’ll die suddenly! So he stood up, walked forward and asked, "Officer, is the restroom still available?" "Of course not!" Officer Megure waved his hands solemnly: "The murderer has not been found yet, and the evidence collection at the scene has not been completed... So, please be patient!" "The murderer?" Su Beixun smiled softly, pointed at the burly man standing next to him, and asked, "Mr. Officer, have you checked his belongings?" Suddenly, everyone's eyes were focused over there. Conan looked at Su Beixun in surprise. He had never been to the scene, so how did he get the clue? Or... did he just say it casually? Officer Megure, who had worked with the detective for a long time, easily understood what Su Beixun meant. He approached the burly man and asked, "Mr. Donoyama, can you let me see what you are carrying?" The sturdy man nodded and took out his wallet from his pocket and handed it over. Looking at the hand he stretched out, Conan's mind suddenly lit up and he smiled with understanding. He asked cutely, "It's so strange, uncle. I remember when you came to the store, your ring finger was clearly wrapped in a bandage. Why is it wrapped on your middle finger now?" Dianshan Shisan subconsciously covered his fingers. "I see." Hibiki Eri stood by with her arms folded: "You strangled the victim with this bandage, tied a knife to it and inserted it into the victim's heart, threw her into the toilet cubicle, and then pulled the knife out..." "Oh, you are such a careless murderer. You still have such important evidence tied to your body. Even if I am as good as I am, I can't defend you." Seeing that the case was solved, Su Beixun didn't say anything else. He just stood quietly by and watched the situation develop - Donoyama Jusan fought back stubbornly, but was thrown to the ground by Kisaragi with a shoulder throw. It didn't take long. Inspector Megure detected the victim's blood on the bandage and handcuffed the murderer. Before leaving, he expressed his gratitude to Su Beixun, and said in his heart: "How could Brother Su Bei be a bad guy? He is obviously a famous detective who was delayed by Hokkaido!" After the police left, Su Beixun took Conan out of the cafe and met Mao Lilan who was weighing a cake outside. Conan also accidentally ruined the date between the long-haired man and Suzuki Sonoko. Just then, Kisaki Eri appeared beside and scolded Mouri Ran. "Oh, look at you dressed like this again? I've told you so many times that it's easy to catch a cold in your stomach if you wear such a short skirt!" Conan then remembered that the other person was Mao Lilan's mother. The feeling of being suppressed when facing her was a physical reaction caused by being taught too many lessons by her when he was a child. Just as Mao Lilan and Kisaki Eri were talking to each other, a voice interrupted very tactlessly. Su Beixun smiled sheepishly: "I'm sorry to bother you at this time, but could you please listen to my request?" Facing three surprised gazes, Su Beixun extended his hand and said politely, "Hello, Lawyer Fei. I am the client who called you last night."

　When writing the original case, I don't know how much to write. If I write too much, it will be too watery, and if I write too little, it will feel incoherent.

(End of this chapter)