Hattori Heiji's Investigation Results
Conan had to admit he wasn't entirely blameless here. He'd run into rather a lot of cases lately, and as the days stretched on, the call he'd meant to make kept slipping his mind—until now, with the Osaka trip finally upon him, it came rushing back.
He made up his mind: the moment he saw Hattori, he was going to get a clear answer about how the investigation was going.
After all, judging by what Mr. Amuro had overheard last time, the Kamisato family might well be preparing to move against the masterminds behind the scenes on their own.
Conan wanted to identify those masterminds before the Kamisato clan acted—before they did anything the law couldn't forgive.
Once everyone had gathered, there wasn't much small talk beyond Sera Masumi squinting at Amuro Toru for a few extra seconds, as if something about him felt oddly familiar. The group boarded the train and soon arrived in Osaka.
“Mouri-san! Over here!”
The moment they stepped off the platform, a familiar voice came shouting Mouri Kogoro's name.
Everyone turned, and sure enough—it was Hattori Heiji and Toyama Kazuha, come to meet them.
Standing beside them, entirely unsurprisingly, was another familiar face from last time—Thoma.
Just as before, the party split into two groups for the trip to the Kamisato Estate.
Klee, Ayumi, Genta, Mitsuhiko, Haibara, Professor Agasa, Mouri Kogoro, Suzuki Sonoko, Sera Masumi, and Xia Yu rode in Thoma's car. Hattori Heiji, invoking the excuse that it had been far too long since they'd caught up, hauled Conan into his vehicle instead, and an uneasy Ran followed along. Amuro Toru considered for a moment, then got in as well, sharing Conan's car.
Hattori had known a crowd was coming this time, so he'd called in a minivan to help with the transport.
Toyama Kazuha sat with Mouri Ran.
Meanwhile, Hattori Heiji deliberately herded Conan and Amuro Toru into the very back row.
The moment the doors closed, Conan could hardly contain himself and demanded to know what Hattori had turned up so far.
Hattori glanced at Amuro Toru sitting beside Conan. If Kudou was willing to ask point-blank in front of this guy, he clearly trusted him to some degree—so Hattori held nothing back and laid out everything he'd managed to dig up.
“Based on my investigation, the one with the biggest hand in what happened back then is the Takahashi Group of the Takahashi family. Second most likely is Kanko Construction, run by the Kondo family.”
Having named the two most probable masterminds straight away, he didn't wait for Conan to ask—he pressed on with his methodology and reasoning.
“When the Kamisato family first held the open auditions for that idol competition, a lot of people wrote it off. But once the auditions turned into a roaring success, plenty of companies smelled money and started jostling to get in on it.
The Takahashi Group had the most clout and threw its weight around the hardest. Kanko Construction was a step behind in power, but their attitude was a shade more reasonable.
Either way, both got turned down flat by the head of the Kamisato family—Kamisato Ayato himself. Word is both companies grumbled about the Kamisato clan snubbing Osaka's own businesses in favor of Tokyo firms. And both of them caused trouble for the Kamisato family over the course of the event.
What's more, the Osaka police have long suspected the Takahashi Group of ties to organized crime. That's exactly why I rank them as the prime suspect.”
With that, Hattori Heiji sighed helplessly and spread his hands, turning his gaze to Conan. “And that's everything I've got so far. Any other questions for me?”
Conan's brow furrowed. “Two weeks, and that's all you've got?” He shot Hattori a contemptuous look, the corner of his mouth twitching. “No wonder you didn't call me for two whole weeks. You were embarrassed, weren't you.”
Hattori bristled. “Hah! You think this was easy to dig into? My old man and his crew wouldn't give me a single lead on the case, and with the Kamisato siblings away from home, I couldn't work that angle either.
Everything I just told you, I pried out bit by bit—hinting around with my dad's subordinates, chatting up the event staff. So cut me some slack, alright?”
He paused, looking a touch awkward. “And it's not like I avoided calling you on purpose. I only confirmed the two most suspicious companies yesterday, and when I figured you'd be showing up today anyway, I figured it wouldn't make much difference—better to tell you face to face, you know?”
“So that's how it was.” Given how hard Hattori had evidently worked, Conan let the matter of the silent two weeks drop and moved on to pressing for more details.
Amuro Toru, for his part, stayed out of the exchange, quietly listening as the two boys picked the case apart.