Chapter Forty-Nine: The Truth Revealed

"As for the eyes... Ah! That means, the strange person we saw at the very beginning yesterday might have been Ditto too!" Ran exclaimed immediately.

At that time, she and Conan had seen the suspicious figure, who was also wearing a scarf, a hat... and sunglasses!

Yumi quickly picked up the camcorder again, played the footage back once more, and frowned. "Wait a minute, this person didn't cover their eyes. Even though they were wrapped in bandages, you could still see their eyes..."

Indeed, the eyes of the person who had taken Chikako were not clearly visible, but they were certainly not bead-like.

"Mm, because that was a human—just using Ditto to transform into the Death Coffin for a quick disguise," Amu said as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"So what about Ditto?" Yumi seemed to have an idea but couldn't quite put her finger on it.

And with her temperament, once she sensed Amu "knew the answer," she had no intention of working it out herself. She simply grew anxious for Amu to explain!

"Of course... as I said before, in order to make the 'culprit' have a reason to circle around the house, Ditto transformed into someone and stayed inside," Amu suddenly felt that this deduction was rather simple.

Moreover, with this "you couldn't figure it out, but I did" feeling, Amu naturally adopted that "Shinichi trademark" glance.

"Huh? Then... was the person who attacked me also..." Sonoko looked at Hiroki and the others in shock and doubt. She had been too panicked then to notice the attacker's build.

"I think you must have seen something when you entered the wrong room earlier," Amu speculated.

"I don't remember seeing anything unusual..." Sonoko tried to recall, but nothing came to mind.

"Wait a second, none of us had our eyes covered at that time. If it was Ditto, we would have definitely—" Hiroki was about to argue, but suddenly something occurred to him.

After a moment of silence, everyone turned their gaze to Ryoichi.

"That's right. On closer thought, Mr. Ryoichi never fully showed his face, did he? First, on the second floor, he shouted that he saw someone downstairs, leading us to see the 'mummy' flash past the window...

And after that, although I chased out immediately and didn’t see anything, I heard Kasumi mention it. You quickly followed as well, and you didn't use the front door, but rushed out through the exterior staircase connected to the second-floor corridor, didn't you?"

"In other words, throughout that whole event, no one saw your real face," Amu had already asked Kasumi beforehand about everyone else's reactions.

"But... at that time... If it was Ditto, it wouldn't have spoken..." Ryoichi tried to protest weakly.

But at that very moment, they heard—

"Who's there... Ah!"

It was Ryoichi's voice, coming from the second floor—the exact same words as before!

It was clearly some kind of recording device playing Ryoichi's voice. Which meant... the voice everyone heard then came from this, and what they saw afterward was Ditto transformed into Ryoichi!

"Impossible! I clearly already..." Ryoichi's expression changed drastically as he tried to protest, but realized he had let something slip.

"You clearly already what?" Yumi stepped right up to him.

At the same time, her Arcanine and Houndoom appeared at her sides...

Amu guessed he was about to say, "clearly already destroyed it," or something similar.

But now, with a certain kid upstairs wearing a "voice-changing bowtie," even if the playback device couldn't be found, they could still bluff him!

"I... Hey, enough with these jokes... I don't have a Ditto at all! Right, Officer Junsha?" Ryoichi's face was already pale, but he tried to act calm.

Yumi had indeed used her Junsha powers to communicate with Aipom, and could at least confirm that Ryoichi wasn't carrying any other Pokémon.

But as a Junsha, although this was Yumi’s first case on her own, she’d heard veterans talk about similar situations...

"First of all... call me Officer Yumi. Secondly, if you made use of a wild Ditto with whom you have a close bond, then it’s entirely possible!" Yumi said with conviction, already nearly convinced.

"Evidence? What evidence do you have that it was me?" Ryoichi's fear had already turned to anger.

Like every criminal at the end of their rope, he began loudly demanding proof.

At his words, Yumi sneered and then... turned to look at Amu.

The two of them stared at each other for a moment before Amu reluctantly said, "I think there should be some, right? Sonoko was attacked... which means, she must have seen something in your room. Was it Ditto? No, if it had been Ditto, she would definitely remember it. It must have been something indirect...

Oh! Could it have been... two identical sets of clothes?

Using Ditto transformed into the Death Coffin, you could quickly wrap yourself in bandages, but when Ditto became you, it couldn’t bind itself up—so the strange figure Ran saw at first wasn’t wrapped head to toe. On the other hand, when you abducted Chikako, you first put on the full-body bandages, and then quickly had Ditto transform into you. You wouldn’t have had time to change clothes..."

Ditto could mimic clothing, but it would need to adapt in advance. That Ditto had at least worn two different outfits, so it must have changed clothes.

"Even if... even if I brought two identical sets of clothes, that doesn’t prove—"

"Bringing two sets of clothes isn’t a crime, but you should know that if one of those outfits has Ditto’s skin cells on it, that’s conclusive evidence!" Yumi "reminded" him from the side.

When Ditto switches forms, it’s especially prone to shedding cell tissue—so-called "skin flakes."

At these words, Ryoichi finally revealed the classic OTR pose...

"It’s all... Chikako’s fault! She was the one who plagiarized Atsuko’s 'Bay of the Blue Crocodile' and published it... That’s why Atsuko lost all hope..." Ryoichi shouted, slamming his fist hard against the floor.

"Hey, you jerk, don’t make yourself out to be some kind of righteous avenger... If you’d only targeted the plagiarist scriptwriter, I wouldn’t even care—I’m not a detective or a Junsha. But you tried to go after Sonoko too, didn’t you? You’re just a murderer, so stop trying to make yourself look good!" Amu stepped forward, looking down at him.

———

Note 1: In the episode where the Junior Detective League takes care of a kitten, it’s mentioned that Yumi is allergic to cats, but keeps two dogs at home named "Star" and "Harkin." Here, her Arcanine and Houndoom will retain those names.