Conan: I am definitely not a kid

Chapter 80 Hagiwara Kenji’s reasoning

"Mori-chan saved my life back then."

Mori Yura responded silently to Hagiwara Kenji's probing, but the policeman opposite him, who had a high emotional intelligence, still seemed to notice something from her silence, lowering his head and letting out a sarcastic wry smile.

This taunt didn't seem to be directed at her. Mori Yura thought.

After a long while, Hagihara Kenji murmured: "I didn't expect that it was really for this reason..."

For a long time after the case occurred four years ago, everyone thought that both bombs were set off by the bomber who lost his accomplices.

After parts recovered from the explosion site, it was found that the bomb on the first floor was activated by remote control, while the bomb upstairs was activated by timed remote control.

The Metropolitan Police speculated that the two bombs were made by two suspects separately. The escaped prisoner initially only had the detonator of the bomb he made, and then found the countdown controller of the other bomb made by his companion.

This would explain the time difference of well over 6 seconds between the two explosions.

The only doubt lies in the criminal's motive for planting two bombs in the same apartment.

Considering the harm caused when the first bomb exploded, the Metropolitan Police believed that the bomb on the first floor was probably originally installed to target the police.

This is logically consistent with the hatred the prisoner later showed toward the police.

Such speculation was reasonable based on the known information at the time. It was not until Kenji Hagihara later found out the source of the bomb that he had some doubts about his previous judgment——

There may be a third prisoner in this case.

However, Hagiwara Kenji's speculation about the emergence of a third prisoner in the same case was never accepted by the Search Division. After all, such a statement lacks not only evidence. Compared with the previous logical speculation, Hagihara Kenji's hypothesis obviously lacks rationality.

Most importantly, there is a lack of motivation.

If there is a third criminal, is he or she targeting the apartment residents or the police officers handling the case?

If they were residents, why didn't the prisoners detonate the bomb before the residents were evacuated? Or simply install it again at a different time and place?
  If it was the police handling the case, how did the other party anticipate the development of the situation, prepare the bomb in advance, install it and detonate it at just the right time?
  Hagihara Kenji couldn't give an answer.

Many times, even he himself was doubtful about the idea of ​​a third prisoner, until he finally found Yuro Mori——

In order to protect Matsuda Jinpei, he killed three yakuza members;

I had been following him all those years ago, and I could have followed the mobile team’s police route to find the crime scene;
  Mori Yura bought a bomb on the black market and took advantage of Kenji Hagihara's time to wear explosion-proof clothing to sneak into the crowd and place the bomb on the first floor of the apartment.

Even the motive for the crime that had been puzzling before seems to have been explained.

——That kind of ‘protection’ that people don’t know how to evaluate at the expense of the lives of several other police officers.

I understand a little bit how Xiao Zhenping felt a few days ago...

Hagiwara Kenji struggled to pull the corners of his mouth, trying to show a smile that was always good for women, but failed.

"At that time, you said you fell in love with me at first sight, but you were actually lying." Hagiwara Kenji asked softly, "Why did you do that?"

Back then, Kenji Hagihara didn't think that Mori Yuro had any persistent feelings for him, so he didn't take her stalking behavior to heart at all. Now that he has seen Mori Yuro's attitude towards Matsuda Jinpei, he is even less sentimental. However, since Moriyura didn't like him, why did he spend so much effort to save him?
  "...I want to verify the authenticity of the information in my hand." The main plot of the comic takes place seven years after acquiring the system. The best time to verify the authenticity of the comic is when the time and characters are marked. Pretty clear bombing.

This is one of the reasons why Mori Yura chose to rescue Hagihara Kenji.

The other two reasons were to unlock the manga and Matsuda Jinpei, but the former involved the system and Mori Yura would not tell anyone, and the latter could not explain to people why she was emotionally invested in a police officer she had never met.

Swallowing the real reason, Moriyura avoided the important and took the easy: "The bombing was part of the intelligence. You helped me verify the authenticity of the intelligence. In return, I kept you away from danger."

It makes sense, and even fits the character Mori Yuro has always shown.

Hagiwara Kenji didn't find it strange at all that a woman who was able to make a false stalking case and silence him at the Metropolitan Police Department in order to get to know Jinpei Matsuda had such a way of thinking.

If Ko Furuya hadn't warned him about Mori Yura's other identity, he might have rushed forward now.

Hagiwara Kenji felt an almost painful anger welling up in his heart, but his face was still restrained and there was no wave: "Is it because of this case that Mori-chan found Kojinpei this time?"

"The Metropolitan Police Department receives a fax with numbers on the same day every year. Xiao Zhenping always thought it was a bomb countdown and insisted on reporting it to the superiors."

Of course, not once did I receive a reply.

After all, Matsuda Jinpei is a member of the mobile team and has no way to directly participate in the case investigation of the Search Division. He can only elaborate on his speculations by making a report.

However, for the sake of safety, this kind of conjecture based purely on analysis will not issue any written consent or rejection, and naturally they will not notify the police officers of the Search Division to investigate in this direction.

But Matsuda Jinpei persevered, as if he didn't know this unspoken rule, and submitted reports every year to remind the Metropolitan Police to pay attention to this case where the murder method could cause large-scale damage and the prisoner had extreme hatred for the police.

Although Hagiwara Kenji also agrees with his young tamed conjecture, he will not be like Matsuda Jinpei, who will not look back even if he hits the wall.

...Jinpei-chan is indeed admirable, and Mori-chan likes him more, which is really not surprising at all.

"This year, the countdown is about to reach zero." Hagiwara Kenji said, "Presumably on that day, Kojinpei will be fully equipped at the Metropolitan Police Department and rush to the scene of the crime as soon as possible."

Then, face the trap set by the prisoner who has a deep hatred for the Metropolitan Police Department.

Hagiwara Kenji blinked: "Mori-chan is here to stop this, right?"

Mori Yura:......

That's not the only danger Matsuda Jinpei faces.

Yura Mori, who had long made up her mind to kill the bomber before the bombing occurred, thought that if it were just that simple, she wouldn't have to stay on the roof of the building to blow the wind and guard Matsuda Jinpei every time to defuse bombs.

But Kenji Hagihara is indeed one of the five police academy members specifically named in the comics. Yura Mori never expected that he could use such scattered clues to deduce a conclusion so close to the truth.

Believing that more than 90% of the system's judgment criteria were based on this bombing, Moriyura acquiesced to Hagiwara Kenji's statement: "Don't worry about Officer Matsuda, the bomber will not have another chance to become a threat."

(End of this chapter)