Detective Conan: Death Note

Under the threat of a dark, cold barrel, everyone followed the man's orders and placed their phones on the table.

As he moved toward the desk to place his own, Toru Amuro's eyes narrowed slightly.

The man's gun stance was clearly untrained.

From his appearance, there were no signs of physical conditioning either.

He'll be easy to overpower—or so he thought.

But before he could act, Masumi Sera and Ran had already exchanged a subtle glance.

Using the motion of setting her phone down as a cover, Sera suddenly ducked low and swept the man off his feet with a powerful kick. As he stumbled, Ran seized the opening and delivered a clean strike that sent the gun flying.

Sera leapt forward and pinned him down immediately.

However—

"If you don't stop, we're all dying together!"

The man screamed as he was pressed to the floor, revealing a detonator in his hand.

Amuro's pupils shrank.

"Stop right now!" he shouted, immediately pulling Sera back.

Isao Sawaguri trembled as he stood up, clutching his shoulder. Slowly, he unzipped his jacket and gave a chilling grin.

"Can't be too careful, huh? If I hadn't prepared this ahead of time, I'd have been taken out just now."

Under his jacket was a belt packed with detonators.

Everyone in the room turned pale.

"You really do have a magnetic field that attracts incidents, Uncle Mouri," Hayashi Yoshiki muttered.

"This is not the time for jokes, kid!" Kogoro Mouri snapped, sweat trickling down his brow as he eyed the detonator in Isao Sawaguri's hand—dreading the possibility of a slip.

It was now clear: Isao Sawaguri's target had been Kogoro Mouri from the beginning.

But when he heard Hayashi Yoshiki's voice, his expression lit up.

"Oh, you're that even more famous detective, Hayashi Yoshiki, right? You're actually here too? That's perfect!"

"Yes, that's me. Are you here to request an investigation, or is this about those three women?"

Yoshiki calmly placed his phone on the table and asked.

"Yes! I do need help from a detective!" Isao Sawaguri shouted. "Listen carefully to what I'm about to say! My sister, Miku Sawaguri, was a bestselling author who won the Naoki Prize at a young age. But last month, the police claimed she committed suicide by slashing her wrists at a hot spring inn in Gunma."

"I don't believe it. I know it wasn't suicide. One of those three women—who traveled to the inn with her—murdered her! And the things I brought with me can prove it!"

Just as he reached for his bag to retrieve something, the office landline rang.

The sudden noise made Isao Sawaguri visibly tense.

"It's probably because of the gunshot earlier," Amuro said quickly. "If someone heard the shot and called to check, ignoring the call might make things even more suspicious."

"Then pick it up! But I swear, if you say one wrong word... I won't be polite."

"I understand."

Kogoro Mouri nodded seriously.

Isao Sawaguri picked up the gun that had been kicked away and pointed it at him.

Since his other hand never left the detonator, Amuro couldn't make any sudden moves.

He glanced at Hayashi Yoshiki, who was now frowning, clearly weighing options.

Kogoro answered the phone.

Just as Amuro predicted, the caller was a nearby resident disturbed by the earlier gunshot. With a forced smile and profuse apologies, Mouri explained it was just the TV turned up too loud.

Once he hung up, Isao Sawaguri finally pulled something out from inside his coat.

"Let's begin then, Kogoro Mouri. Hayashi Yoshiki... I hope you two great detectives can fulfill my wish—solve this case."

"Don't worry. As long as you find the killer, I'll take care of the rest. I'll kill her myself, to avenge my sister. And then... I'll end my own life."

"I don't want to hurt anyone innocent," he added.

"But I do have a time limit. If I get even a hint that you're stalling or brushing me off, I'll bring this whole office down with me!"

His voice rose sharply, filled with manic urgency.

Judging from the savage gleam in his eyes, his mental state was clearly unstable.

"For your sister, huh...?"

Hayashi Yoshiki looked at him quietly.

"I don't agree with your methods—storming in here with guns and bombs—but I can understand your desire for revenge... Still, why not just submit a proper case request? Let us investigate properly and get the results without risking everything?"

"Because I don't want to live anymore!"

Zakuri roared. "Rather than wait for you to slowly investigate... this is faster! Now hurry! Find the truth! Tell me who the killer is and I'll take her with me to the afterlife! If not... we all die together in this office!"

"...Yoshiki..."

Ran called out softly, clearly worried after seeing Zakuri's madness.

But Hayashi Yoshiki didn't respond immediately.

As he'd just said, he could understand Isao Sawaguri's pain. If someone close to him were murdered, he, too, would want brutal revenge.

But that... was no justification for a threat.

Damn lunatic...

Without anyone noticing, a flicker of darkness crossed Yoshiki's eyes as he locked gazes with Isao Sawaguri.

But now wasn't the time.

Yoshiki stepped forward and picked up the documents the man had brought.

The case file showed that Miku Sawaguri, a Naoki Prize-winning author, had "committed suicide" on the 4th of the previous month.

Given her fame, the story had been covered on the internet and was easy to find.

That day, she had been staying at a hot spring inn with the three middle-aged women—along with her brother, Isao Sawaguri, who had been the first to discover her body.

According to news reports, Isao Sawaguri had received a final farewell message from his sister, which seemed suspicious to him. He went to knock on her door, but got no response.

He then alerted the front desk, and together they broke in through the window. Inside, the room was filled with steam, and Miku Sawaguri lay dead in the bathroom, wrists slashed, submerged in the tub.

She was still gripping her room key... and her phone.

The most unusual part: the inn rooms didn't lock automatically. They had to be manually secured—creating a textbook locked-room mystery.