Stay away from Conan

Chapter 454: Puppet (Part 2)

"In this case, she will definitely have a fierce dispute with her mother, right? In order to win the beauty pageant, the contestants' families have also made considerable sacrifices. Your mother has also worked very hard for this, So even if Hualian said this, she would never agree. "

Seeing that Meimei was silent, Officer Megure continued to state his thoughts:

"Then the two of them started fighting, probably because of this. As a result, during the process, your mother accidentally grabbed the dagger Hualian used to defend herself, and accidentally stabbed Hualian. She panicked. , so in a trance, he sent his daughter to the stage for some reason.

"In addition, she has been thinking about how to let her daughter appear on the stage, and in her subconscious, she has always regarded her daughter as a puppet, so she tied Hualian's hands and feet with puppets. Thin line, right?”

"this……"

Facing Officer Memu's repeated questioning, Meimei looked at her mother's face speechlessly.

"Well, as the police officer said, Hua Lian's mother's desire to dominate Hua Lian is indeed extremely strong. She might have sent the threatening letter that said she would turn Hua Lian into a puppet. Yes, the purpose is to scare Hua Lian who doesn’t obey his orders!”

After listening to what Officer Megure said, the organizer of the competition, Miura Daigo, stared at Misuzu and said so.

"Hmph! You have to have a limit when it comes to joking. If you really want to doubt, you should doubt the puppeteer!"

Faced with this statement, Mei Ling glared at Amano who was standing in the corner of the stage with resentment. Amano was still holding the puppet with beautiful eyes in his hand.

"This man has always held a grudge against me for forcing Hua Lian to break up with him. He is a vengeful man with a snake-like heart."

Mei Ling said angrily.

"Well... from what you said, it seems to be true. Moreover, Mr. Amano is also a puppeteer. It is easy to tie thin strings to Hualien's hands and feet to control them."

After listening to Misuzu's words, Officer Megure couldn't help but nodded, and his stern eyes immediately turned to Amano.

"What? You mean I took Hualian..."

Amano began to feel uneasy when he heard that the suspicion was now transferred to himself.

"What's wrong? Mr. Amano, haven't you ever thought about taking Hualian as your own?"

Officer Megure said with a serious expression.

"Indeed, when Ms. Meiling forced us to break up, I was really resentful in my heart. However, I was also very busy at work. After I devoted myself wholeheartedly to my work, I had long forgotten about Hualien. Yeah! And if I have to say it, the person I should resent is not Hua Lian!”

Amano said and couldn't help but glare at Misuzu.

"nonsense!"

Mei Ling was not to be outdone and said:

"Didn't you come to our house many times to pester us? You're just like a perverted stalker!"

As she said that, Mei Ling looked at Amano with disdain.

"That, that's..."

After being told this, Amano was speechless.

"Mr. Amano, are these kite strings the strings used for puppets?"

At this time, Shinichi, who had been observing several people on the side, couldn't help but pointed to the kite string wrapped around Hualien's body and asked Amano.

"Huh? Well...it is indeed the same as the strings used for puppets."

Amano observed it carefully and quickly confirmed.

"See, I told you a long time ago that he is the culprit! Because he had a grudge against Hualian who didn't listen to me, so he took Hualian away from me!"

Misuzu yelled at Amano.

"But this kind of kite string is sold everywhere in shopping malls, and anyone can buy it easily!"

Amano retorted.

"That being said, it is indeed the case."

Officer Megure looked at these kite strings and couldn't help but say.

"Officer, please send these threads for identification first. If the same fibers as the clothes on the puppet Mr. Amano is holding can be found from these threads, these threads should belong to Mr. Amano."

Shinichi said looking at the puppet that Amano was holding very carefully.

"Well, the results of this kind of identification will be available soon."

Officer Megure couldn't help but agree with Shinichi's proposal, so he immediately called the police officers on the side.

The police officers quickly removed the kite string from Hualian's hands and feet and put it into the evidence bag.

"I'm sorry, can we also identify the clothes of this puppet?"

Officer Megure said to Amano.

In response, Amano nodded and handed the puppet directly to the police officer. The police officer carefully cut a piece of fabric from the edge of the puppet with small scissors and put it into another evidence bag.

"Then let's ask Miss Kagami and Miss Sumika next."

Officer Megure called the two people who were standing timidly at the back of the stage and began to ask:

"What were you doing between half past eight and three past nine?"

"I, in order to prepare for the talent show, I changed clothes in the room and touched up my makeup."

"Well, just like Jingmei said, I was with her at the time."

Sumika and Jingmei looked at each other, and then nodded in unison.

"But, as far as I know, the relationship between you and Miss Hualian seems to be very bad. Did the people in the hotel see you two running out of Miss Hualian's room crying?"

Officer Megure stared at the two men with a stern look.

"Yes, because she said something very outrageous... We all thought it would be nice if Hua Lian died..."

Jingmei seemed to be frightened by Officer Megure's aura, and she spoke out what was in her heart at once.

"oh……"

Officer Megure couldn't help but have a sensitive reaction to Jingmei's words.

"But, but, we don't really think so."

Jingmei quickly denied that sentence.

"However, beauty contests are cruel. Although you are also very beautiful, Miss Hualien is the contestant most likely to win the contest. If Miss Hualien dies, maybe one of you may win the championship. Right?"

Officer Megure said this while observing the reactions of the two people.

In response, Jingmei and Chengxiang both bowed their heads and remained silent.

"Yeah, aren't you two extremely greedy!"

Mei Ling suddenly glared at the two men with terrifying eyes.

"Well, indeed, if it's Hua Lian, she can still shine like a queen without changing her expression even if she kills others!"

Faced with Misuzu's words, Sumika retorted not to be outdone.

And these words couldn't help but make Mei Ling's voice become rough:

"What did you say?"

"But we don't have such perseverance and psychological preparation. It is precisely because of this that we were laughed at by Hualian. Although we were not willing to give in, we could only hide and cry."

Sumika mustered up the courage to face Misuzu and said this.

"Is this really true? I heard that Miss Hualian is so beautiful that people are stunned. Don't you see Miss Hualian's beauty and feel that you can't win, so you are unwilling to give in?"

Police officer Mu Mu pressed the two of them step by step and asked:

"Although I don't know much about beauty pageants, you are only able to get to where you are today because your beauty has been recognized. You must have worked hard to participate in this competition. However, I only see Hua Hua. Miss Lian could tell at a glance that there was no hope of victory, and she said something that made you resentful, so you joined forces to take away Miss Hualian's dagger and kill her, isn't it?"

"No! We didn't kill Hualien! If we want to have a motive for the murder, Mr. Miura, the organizer of the competition and chairman of the judging committee, also has one!"

This time Kagami pointed to Miura next to her and explained.

"Why, why do you involve me?"

Facing this sudden accusation, Miura's eyes suddenly widened.

"After the wedding dress review, we saw you forcefully took Hualian to your lounge!"

Kagami and Sumika stared back at Miura and said.

After hearing this, Miura became obviously uneasy.

"is this real?"

This time, Officer Megure turned his stern gaze to Miura.

"Yes, yes. But Hualian said that she could win the competition even without using my power, and then left my room, which made me feel disappointed. What I said is true!"

Miura explained in a panic and eager manner.

"Really?"

Officer Megure asked.

"Really, please believe me!"

Miura put his hands together and begged Officer Megure.

"Perhaps you held a grudge and pestered her because she didn't want to listen to you and become your puppet. But Hualian resisted desperately. When they were pushing each other, you took Hualian's dagger and killed her. !Is it not?"

Jingmei continued.

"No! That's not the case! Hua Lian left my room after really humiliating me, and I didn't go after Hua Lian!"

Miura wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and retorted desperately.

"It's absolutely a lie. Miura is famous in the industry for using despicable means to attack the girls participating in the competition!"

Kagami and Sumika glared at Miura with disdain and continued.

"But I really didn't do anything to anyone this time, believe me!"

Miura, who was weak, also clasped his hands towards Kagami and Sumika and begged.

"'This time'?"

"ah……"

Faced with Miura who revealed his true nature unintentionally, even Officer Megure was surprised and speechless.

Looking at the confessions of these people, Shiho looked a little helpless -

"The seemingly glamorous Miss Hualian is just a puppet on strings in the eyes of these people..."

Saying this, Shiho couldn't help but think of himself——

Even when he was in the organization, he had the code name "Shirley", but to the organization, he was just a "puppet" who could not resist. If I hadn't rebelled against the organization because of my sister's incident, would my fate as a "puppet on a string" have been like that of Miss Hualien...

Thinking like this, Shiho couldn't help but feel a little lucky to have met Gao Yuan at that time.

But at the same time, Shinichi, who had been listening to everyone talk with his eyes closed, suddenly opened his eyes, his face turned livid, and even his lips turned purple.

"Hello……"

Seeing this, Shiho asked in a low voice.

"Well……"

Shinichi felt a sharp pain spreading from his heart, but he could only endure it now, but he still couldn't help but make a painful sound.

Seeing Shinichi's reaction, Shiho knew that he might not be able to maintain this state for much longer and would soon transform back into Conan...