Chapter 39: Chapter 39: Sera's Suspicion
In the blink of an eye, it was February 11th, the day the play *The Detective of the Lost City, The Voice of the Dead* was publicly performed for the first time.
The famous detective Mouri Kogoro took a taxi with his daughter Mouri Ran and Edogawa Conan, who was staying at his house, to the Imperial Theater in the Chiyoda district.
The three of them met two of Mouri Ran classmates, Sera Masumi and Suzuki Sonoko, and then walked together to the Imperial Theater.
Upon arriving at the ticket registration area, Mouri Kogoro looked at the huge line at the door and couldn't help but show a look of impatience on his face.
"I'm telling you, we should've arrived earlier. It takes ten minutes to queue up, right?"
"Dad, even if we came early, you still won't be able to see Miss Yoko."
Mouri Ran ruthlessly guessed what her father was thinking.
"Who said that? Yoko-chan admires my famous detective, Mouri Kogoro!"
"And this time, the organizer took the initiative to invite me. It's not easy to meet Yoko-chan!"
Mouri Kogoro said proudly and loudly.
Conan, who was standing beside them with his hands in his pockets, also felt a little embarrassed when he heard this.
The day Mouri Kogoro received the invitation, he went home and showed off how famous he was all night long.
Even through his "excellent" reasoning ability, he deduced that Okino Yoko must have wanted to invite him to watch, but since she was embarrassed, she asked the organizer to invite him on her behalf.
And today is the first public performance of the play.
As expected, Mouri Kogoro found the right moment and once again showed off in front of his daughter's two classmates.
"Boy, are you looking forward to it? Seeing my father's novel adapted into a play and also starring a famous actress."
Sera Masumi approached Conan, bent down, and joked in his ear.
"Actually, it's fine. After all, I've already seen the ending."
"But I think this novel is quite interesting."
"Although I still don't know how the play will turn out, I think the tricks in this novel should allow Mrs. Sera to fully enjoy the fun of reasoning and compete with Mrs. Quinn to uncover the truth faster."
Quinn is the heroine of the *Lost Lady* series and the detective in the novel.
"Since you said that, boy, I'm starting to look forward to it."
"After all, there aren't many opportunities to enjoy only the fun of reasoning."
Sera Masumi also became interested after hearing this.
While waiting in line for registration, she turned around to look at the promotional poster of the play.
*The Lost Lady, Voice of the Dead* is a bestselling book worldwide.
Sera Masumi had heard of it a long time ago, but had never seen it.
Suddenly, Sera's dark green eyes blinked, and she gently nudged Conan beside her.
"Hey, boy, look at that."
"Poster, what's wrong?"
Conan was confused.
"Look at the high school student Sae Otani who plays the role."
Conan listened, looked at the poster, and then saw a familiar name.
"Akikawa Kyousuke?!"
Although nearly half a year had passed, Conan still remembered this name.
After all, this was one of the few cases in which he couldn't find the real culprit and mistakenly accused an innocent person.
If it were anyone else, Conan might not care.
But Akikawa Kyusuke's extremely unusual experience was quite inconsistent with the profession of being an artist.
"Is it really possible for someone who has been under house arrest for more than half of their life to become an artist after their mother passed away?"
Sera Masumi said softly.
"It's not impossible, after all, Akikawa's appearance is quite attractive." "With his little social experience, he went out, was discovered by a talent scout, and then tricked a couple of times. It's very likely he became a contracted artist."
"After all, the greatest attribute of an artist is being 'popular.' This should be a huge attraction for Akikawa, who has always been eager to communicate with others."
Conan said.
"I can understand it if he's just an artist."
Sera Masumi frowned.
"But it can be said that Akikawa is covered in injuries. It will take at least one or two months for him to recover from his injuries."
"Is it really possible for him to get a theater role in such a short time?"
"Still the role of your father, a play adapted from this worldwide bestseller."
"And I see the character shown above is a second-year high school student. That Akikawa didn't even attend high school, so how did he play the role?"
"The fact that he didn't go to high school doesn't mean he can't play a high school student. After all, Officer Takagi said at the beginning that Akikawa had many DVDs of all kinds, so he could imagine what a high school student looks like watching movies."
"As for what you said, Sera, whether Akikawa can land a role in such a short time depends entirely on his personal talent."
"Maybe he's that kind of acting genius."
Conan's words weren't without foundation, as his mother, Kudo Yukiko, is one of those people.
However, Conan's statement didn't fully convince Sera Masumi.
"You and I saw Akikawa in the room before. Not to mention his acting skills, he looks like a child."
"Any emotion in his heart almost instantly shows on his face."
"If someone like Akikawa has exceptional acting talent, I can't accept it."
Sera Masumi retorted.
"Then, Miss Sera, what you're saying is that Akikawa's acting skills are actually very good. Even when he faced the detective and us in the room, was he acting?"
Conan glanced sideways at Sera Masumi.
When he saw the serious expression on her face, he nodded solemnly.
"The real culprit of the car accident from half a year ago still hasn't been found."
"And, wow, you also said at that time that besides the real killer, there is another possibility—"
"Actually, Akikawa was the killer. Everything in that room was staged by him."
"Actually, he's very good in terms of observation, intelligence, and acting ability."
"Mrs. Sera, you want to use the fact that Akikawa has been under house arrest by his mother for the whole year and couldn't possibly have talent for acting to prove that he has excellent acting skills."
Sera Masumi listened to Conan's words and nodded again.
"But have you ever thought that if what you said is true, Akikawa must have been under house arrest by his mother for over ten years and developed magnificent criminal and acting skills that could deceive even detectives and police officers?"
"Isn't the possibility of this situation even smaller than Akikawa simply having untapped acting talent?"
Sera Masumi was stunned when she heard this.
Then she heard Conan continue speaking:
"To take a step back, let's assume Akikawa really has acting skills, insight, and analytical abilities, and also managed to cover up the truth of the crime to the point where you and I didn't notice it."
"Then, why did he become an artist knowing that the police couldn't find the killer and it was impossible to solve the case?"
"Doesn't this amount to revealing to all of Japan that my acting skills are excellent and inconsistent with the image I had when I was interrogated that day?"
"Such a thing is inconsistent with our inferred image of his cunning mind."
Conan handed the ticket to the ticket checker and entered the venue.
Then he heard Sera Masumi's low voice behind him.
"That Akikawa dares to be so unscrupulous, I think there's another possibility."
"That is, Akikawa is actually extremely arrogant."
"From the bottom of his heart, he doesn't believe that you, I, or the Metropolitan Police Department can detect the truth."
"Even if he exposed to everyone that he has great acting skills."
When Conan heard this, his legs suddenly froze in place as if they were filled with lead.
Dear readers, please read and vote! Thank you!
(end of the chapter)
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone