Chapter 15: Akemi Miyano, you wouldn't want to

Chapter 15: Akemi Miyano, You Wouldn't Want...

"Mori-san, is the killer Shoichi Sumitomo?" Inspector Megure asked.

"No! It wasn't him!"

Inspector Megure was startled. Could it be that a man with such thick eyebrows and big eyes like you had also bowed to the powerful?

"The killer is actually Mr. Takeda's son, Kazuo Takeda."

"That's impossible!" Kazuo Takeda shouted loudly. "How could I possibly kill my own father!"

"Oh? Is that so?"

Kogoro Mouri said in a low voice, "According to Mrs. Takeda, you spent all your money hoarding copper ore. Recently, the price of copper has plummeted from $2,800 per ton to just over $1,000. You should be completely broke by now. If I'm not mistaken, you must have taken out quite a few loans from the bank, right?"

Shoichi wiped his mouth and raised his hand. "Ahem, it was only about a million dollars, right here at Sumitomo Bank. In fact, I processed his business before I resigned."

His reputation as a "timely rain" was not unearned. He very much enjoyed lending money to others.

"It's all your fault!"

Hearing Shoichi's voice, Kazuo Takeda seemed to suffer an emotional breakdown. He roared at Shoichi with a hoarse voice, "If the Sumitomo family hadn't maliciously manipulated the copper prices, how could I have gone bankrupt!"

Shoichi frowned and took out a tissue to wipe the saliva sprayed on his clothes.

"Copper prices haven't been at a normal level for a long time. Anyone with a brain knew they should have stopped long ago. If you can't control your own greed, you can't blame others."

*Besides, I wasn't the one driving the copper prices up,* he thought.

"You should look on the bright side. You only lost a million dollars. Sumitomo Corporation lost billions of dollars. Doesn't that make it feel a bit less painful?" Shoichi smiled as he tossed the tissue at his face.

*If you're going to talk, just talk. Why do you keep spitting?*

Taking the tissue handed to him by Akemi Miyano, Shoichi wiped himself down again. He secretly felt disdain for his incompetent little secretary; how could she let her boss wipe away filth himself without stepping in to help?

"You deserve to die! If it weren't for you, I would never have risked killing my father to inherit his estate!" Kazuo Takeda said maniacally.

Conan, hiding behind Kogoro Mouri, was stunned.

*I haven't even finished my deduction yet, how did this guy just self-destruct?*

"No! I didn't kill my father! I didn't kill anyone!"

Reason temporarily returned to his brain, and Kazuo Takeda immediately changed his tune, refusing to admit he had killed Taro Takeda.

However, the young Conan craved credit for a case. He laid out Kazuo Takeda's murder method in detail. After Takagi presented the ironclad evidence, Kazuo Takeda collapsed to the ground like a dead dog.

Shoichi said to the forensic doctor, "By the way, what was your autopsy report just now? I didn't hear it clearly."

"The first shot hit a vital organ, causing Taro Takeda's death. The subsequent shots were purely for sadistic mutilation; the nature of the crime is extremely heinous!" the forensic doctor said meticulously.

Inspector Megure's mouth twitched.

*The change in your attitude is a bit too drastic, isn't it?*

"Let's wrap this up," Inspector Megure sighed helplessly.

He would leave the sentencing to the judge. Finding the real killer was already an impressive feat, wasn't it?

...

Shoichi walked out of the villa, showing no anger at being suspected as a suspect.

Why would he be suspected? Because the person you wanted dead died. That's a good thing.

"Akemi, go and transfer Kazuo Takeda's debt to Sumitomo Bank over to me," Shoichi said to Akemi Miyano.

"I don't know how," Akemi Miyano said truthfully.

Shoichi waved his hand. "It's fine. The bank people will teach you."

Akemi was speechless. *Will the bank people teach me how to transfer their money to you?*

Shoichi continued, "As Taro Takeda's heir, Kazuo Takeda is qualified to inherit his company's shares. Help me acquire his company."

"I don't know how," Akemi said.

"You can learn if you don't know!" Shoichi said with a smile. "With Taro Takeda dead and the heir Kazuo Takeda in prison, the remaining company will surely fall into chaos. And they just took on a new project. If they can't complete the project on time, they won't get paid, and if they don't get paid, they won't be able to pay their employees. Think about those poor employees. Akemi Miyano, you wouldn't want them to lose their jobs, would you?"

Akemi Miyano grit her teeth.

Shoichi patted Akemi's shoulder, but she recoiled in resistance.

"For the sake of their jobs, please work hard to learn how to conduct a corporate merger, Miss Miyano," Shoichi said.

"I understand," Akemi said through clenched teeth.

"I look forward to you becoming a qualified secretary."

Shoichi tried to pat her shoulder again, but she dodged him once more. Akemi glared at him.

*None of these tasks you're assigning are things a secretary needs to master!*

...

Akemi Miyano's learning ability was very strong. Under the guidance of professionals, she transferred Kazuo Takeda's debt and quickly completed the acquisition of Takeda Construction.

The acquisition process did not cause much of a stir. With the chairman dead, the remaining minority shareholders were terrified; having someone step in to take over was naturally for the best.

However, it wasn't without its little episodes.

Even though it was a perfectly normal business transaction, unreliable rumors kept circulating everywhere. They claimed that Shoichi Sumitomo used his status as a tycoon to engage in predatory acquisition. They said he had shot Taro Takeda dead right in front of the police and then made up a flimsy excuse, claiming Taro died of poisoning. Once they realized the excuse was ridiculous, they framed Kazuo Takeda to eliminate any lingering trouble. They even boasted that anyone who dared to oppose him in the future would be dealt with.

Many people believed these rumors; even a tabloid newspaper reported on it.

Shoichi sighed and handed the newspaper to Ai Haibara. "What do you think?"

Ai glanced at the newspaper.

*I think you are an atrocious criminal who deserves to be cut into a thousand pieces.*

"You are a good person; they are all just slandering you," Ai said, praising Shoichi with a sweet voice that even she found nauseating.

Shoichi nodded and placed his hand on Ai's fluffy hair.

*Get your dirty hands off me!* Ai roared internally, but in reality, she was still accumulating the strength to take him down and chose to endure for now. Sooner or later, she wouldn't have to endure like this anymore.

"Don't you like playing games? I specially bought you a game costume today," Shoichi said to Ai.

"A game costume?" Ai looked at Shoichi in surprise. *What kind of costume?*

Shoichi pulled a set of yellow clothing out of his backpack. When he unfolded it, it turned out to be a dragon robe.

"Don't you like playing the game 'Jing Ke Assassinating the King of Qin'? Last night you played Jing Ke; today it's my turn to play Jing Ke and come assassinate you, the King of Qin."

(End of Chapter)