"Not suicide?"
Inspector Megure stared wide-eyed, and everyone around looked at Kurosawa Hoshino in shock. After all, they had personally watched Mishima Katsuji shoot himself right in front of them.
For a moment, the scene grew noisy, with discussions echoing through the basement. But they had all heard of Kurosawa Hoshino's reputation—a high school detective who never made mistakes and always solved cases quickly. So they became uncertain, beginning to doubt their own eyes.
"Hey, do you think this is some kind of magic murder trick?"
"I don't know. I can't imagine how it could be murder if it wasn't suicide."
"He's Kurosawa-kun, the best detective in Tokyo. I believe him."
"I believe him too."
"Yeah, if Kurosawa-kun says so, he'll definitely explain the method."
Honda Osamu listened to the voices around him, his expression changing constantly. He debated whether to confess, yet still clung to a sliver of hope.
Just as he wavered, Kurosawa Hoshino's calm voice rang out. "Mr. Honda, you're really lucky. You were just playing a Kamen Rider character, yet you actually wore a real bulletproof vest—not a prop."
"Right, that's definitely not normal," Conan agreed inwardly.
Ai nodded, a thoughtful look on her face.
Honda Osamu was extremely nervous, but his words remained calm. "I'm usually a bit of a perfectionist, so even when cosplaying, I try to make it as realistic as possible. Not only is my bulletproof vest real, I even tried to make my gun as real as possible."
"That's true. Honda has always been like that," Teikangzhi chimed in.
"Then have you ever touched Mishima Katsuji's gun?" Kurosawa Hoshino asked again.
Honda Osamu was taken aback. He thought about how he had worn gloves the entire time, so there would be no fingerprints of his on the gun. He relaxed even more. "Kurosawa-kun, I didn't even know Mishima would come to this party. How could I have touched his gun? A gun that can actually fire bullets—why would he let me touch it?"
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure."
"Good."
Kurosawa Hoshino walked up to the body and pointed at the gunshot wound at the temple. "Inspector Megure, look at this wound. There's no burn mark, is there?"
In his mind, he recalled Genta's earlier comment about touching the gun, and also remembered some details from the original story. He felt confident there was no mistake.
Inspector Megure approached, examined it, and nodded. "Indeed, there's no burn mark. Brother Hoshino, what does that mean?"
"Inspector Megure, if you were going to commit suicide by shooting yourself in the temple like the victim, how would you do it?"
"Uh—of course I'd—" Inspector Megure raised a hand, fingers shaped like a gun, index finger pointed at his temple. But that very gesture made his words catch in his throat. His eyes widened, and he stared down at the body.
Officer Sato understood as well. She said seriously, "A person truly intending to commit suicide wouldn't be afraid of a burn mark. This clearly shows hesitation."
Honda Osamu bit his lip, trying hard not to show any weakness, keeping perfectly still.
"I think—" Kurosawa Hoshino looked at Honda Osamu. "This was originally supposed to be a prank between you and the victim, just to give everyone a scare. The gun was loaded with two prop bullets—the kind that only make a sound and a flash at the muzzle. The plan was for him to pretend to shoot you, then pretend to shoot himself. You two would lie on the ground together, definitely giving everyone a fright. After a while, you'd both get up and tell them it was a joke, right?"
Honda Osamu felt cold sweat on his back, but he also knew Kurosawa Hoshino had no solid evidence. He wasn't too afraid and even joked, "Kurosawa-kun, even if what you say is true, where's the proof?"
"What I mean is, before the party started, you two must have met somewhere to finalize the details of this plan. At that time, you probably checked the victim's gun and swapped it with your own, which was loaded with real bullets."
"Heh. Kurosawa-kun, if that were true, then Mishima's gun should have my fingerprints, and my gun should have his. Why don't we let the police check?"
Honda Osamu smiled. He had already thought of this problem, so after swapping the guns, he had wiped Mishima Katsuji's gun completely clean. And his own gun—he had wiped it clean when he left the house at noon today, and had been wearing gloves ever since. There was no way his fingerprints would be on it. So he wasn't afraid at all.
Seeing Honda Osamu so confident, Kurosawa Hoshino glanced at the three children—Ayumi and the others—and reminded him, "Mr. Honda, this afternoon, your gun was touched by Genta. You even got very angry about it. Do you remember?"
Honda Osamu was stunned. The scene from the afternoon immediately flashed in his mind. He jerked his head toward the chubby Genta, and cold sweat instantly broke out on his forehead.
"Mr. Honda, tell me—would the gun the victim used to shoot himself have Genta's fingerprints on it?"
Genta's eyes lit up. He said happily, "Great! I helped Brother Hoshino solve the case! That means I solved it too! Hahaha!"
Hearing that, Ai and the others were speechless.
Conan also realized at that moment that Kurosawa Hoshino's deduction was probably correct—the whole sequence of events was exactly as he described. At the same time, he was very frustrated that he hadn't noticed such a huge flaw in Honda Osamu earlier.
Gradually, the surroundings fell silent. Everyone's eyes focused on Honda Osamu, who stood with his head lowered, forehead covered in cold sweat.
After a long while, Honda Osamu raised his head. He looked around at everyone, then at Mishima Katsuji's body, and slowly said, "Mishima was actually the enemy who caused my younger brother's death. Two years ago, my brother took a cardboard cutout of Kamen Rider—one he'd won from a magazine contest—to a friend's house. On the way, Mishima, riding a motorcycle and wearing a helmet, robbed him. While my brother chased him, he was hit by another car that couldn't brake in time. He was severely injured and hospitalized."
"In the hospital, he died just two days later. At the very end, he begged me to get that cardboard cutout with Kamen Rider on it back. To find the culprit, I joined many Kamen Rider clubs."
"Then, half a year ago, Mishima suddenly brought out that cardboard cutout of Kamen Rider—the one that belonged to my brother. He said his older brother had won it and given it to him, but he didn't have any older brother. That's when I knew. He was the one who robbed my brother, the one who caused him to be hit by that car."