Chapter Text
Three suspects: Jinbe Kodai, 28; Nakagiri Kanoko, 27; Ojiro Naho, 26.
The ex’s new beau, the girlfriend, and the ex herself.
Shinichi raises his brows when he realizes that all three respondents have video proof to serve as alibis—and what luck that is! He watches from behind the inspector, but he’s distracted by the way Ran is watching him. The detective observes, noting that everyone’s voices appear in each video and even himself and Ran make some sort of cameo in two of the videos; however, there’s something that doesn’t sit right with him and he’s stuck on what it may be.
Then, he figures it out.
Knowing now who the true criminal is, Shinichi wonders about the setting of the crime scene: a bright, fairly populated tunnel. In the aquarium, he’s noticed darker tunnels where it had been a little difficult to see properly, so why choose that tunnel in particular where anyone can see anything?
“I just feel like there’s something that makes that tunnel special,” he murmurs as he tries to work out exactly where that person placed their phone in order to obtain that video.
“That’s because there are fish everywhere you look!” Ran exclaims, her face lighting up. “And it feels like you’re at the bottom of the ocean.”
The detective gapes, wondering how he hadn’t seen it before and quietly slips out the door, running to the very same tunnel in which a murder took place. He skids to a halt, shoes squeaking against the ground, and he looks around, unable to keep the self-assured smirk off of his face. Shinichi watches schools of fish swim through and Ran jogs around the corner.
Before she can even inquire as to what he’s doing or whatever has crossed his mind, he asks her to gather Megure and the trio of suspects over here.
As expected, all three are varying levels of outraged when they find themselves being singled out and forbidden from leaving. He gives them their moment of protest and the inspector his moment of befuddled confusion before offering his own words.
“Yes, we did see your videos,” he says, capturing their attention, “but there’s something strange about one of them and it practically said to us that you had done it.” To quell Nakagiri’s fear of being named as the perpetrator, he assures her that it hadn’t been her dolphin show video that had seemed strange, but he does refrain from criticizing her video too harshly, which is shaky and lacking in sound quality. “An amateur,” he calls her, “whereas Jinbe-san isn’t; his video is smoother—unfortunately, he’s not the criminal and is just used to videoing. The problem lies in his girlfriend’s video.” Having closed his eyes out of pain for needing to say such an intimate title, he opens them, piercing her with his gaze. “Ojiro Naho-san, it can only be you.”
To begin his demonstration, he holds Jinbe’s and Ojiro’s phones in either hand, playing both of their videos at the same time. To the puzzled audience, he asks if they notice anything different about both videos to which Jinbe points out that his video is horizontal whereas Ojiro’s is filmed vertically.
“Normally,” says Shinichi, “if you want to shoot a long fish like a shark, you’d shoot horizontally just as Jinbe-san did as you’d want its whole body in the frame. And even if you weren’t filming with the intent of catching the shark, it’s still strange how everyone is simply walking right through the shot as though they don’t see someone possibly taking pictures or filming like they did to Jinbe-san; it’s as though they had no idea she was filming.” Noting the look in her eyes, he moves his arm, bringing her phone closer to the back of her boyfriend’s head as he continues. “And it’s no wonder given that you placed your phone in his hat to film this video.”
With an expression akin to a deer caught in headlights, she gawks at him as he explains that this is the reason she had chosen this tunnel to commit her crime. If she hadn’t, her alibi would have been shattered or nonexistent. When asked by Megure how the man hadn’t noticed the phone in his hat, Shinichi replies that his girlfriend must have told him something was on it or something to that effect and that taking the phone out is just as easily done as it is said.
Then, the question of how the video on Ojiro’s phone came out as steady as it did crops up, and Shinichi answers that by pulling on the zipper of Jinbe’s turtleneck jacket. A neck brace, he explains. The teen had noticed it when he had spoken to him and witnessed the man turning his entire body as opposed to just his neck and how the blogger had held his phone in front of his face to look at it.
Shinichi corners her by pulling off her right glove to reveal the blood she had spilled from her ex-boyfriend.
And, after listening to her motives, the case is closed.
Side-by-side, Ran and Shinichi walk together, heading home for the night. Now, there’s nothing to distract him from yesterday, so the latter just stares at the ground quietly with his hands hidden in his pockets.
“You know, Shinichi, I can still catch a train to Ekoda and beat up Kaito-kun for you,” she tells him.
“No need, Ran.” He does a small half-smile. “There’s still hope that he still wants... er, us, right? At the very least, maybe I’ll get an explanation.”
“You’re being all sad again now that you don’t have a case to work on,” she acknowledges, giving him this pointed stare. “It’s not healthy to distract yourself like that. Maybe you should try calling Kaito-kun when you get home to see if he’s willing to talk to you.”
He looks at her. “It’s been a day, Ran, not much can change.”
“You’d be surprised, Shinichi.”