"If the accomplice was inside the bank at the time, then they must have used a phone to contact the robber. Furthermore, just as the robber was about to be attacked by the bank employee, the accomplice called the robber."
"If we redial the number from the robber's phone now, we should be able to identify the accomplice in the bank robbery."
"The robber's phone? I'll have Takagi check if the guy he took back has a mobile phone on him right away."
Saying this, Megure Juzo dialed Takagi Wataru's number.
"Hello, Takagi-kun. Check if the robber you brought back has a phone on him..."
"He does?!"
Receiving an affirmative answer, Megure Juzo paused, stunned.
He turned, gave Fujino a deep look, then spoke into the phone again, "Take that phone right now and press the redial button."
"Ring ring ring! Ring ring ring ring!"
A melodic phone ringtone sounded.
Hearing it, everyone turned towards the source.
The sound came from the bank employee who was currently being questioned by the police – the same one who had given Conan the throat lozenge earlier and had been forced by the robber to bag the money.
Hearing the phone ringing in his own pocket, the bank employee's expression stiffened, his brow immediately furrowing tightly.
"Sir, can you explain why redialing the robber's mobile phone makes your phone ring?"
Megure Juzo, his face grim, walked over and sternly questioned the bank employee.
"This..."
"You must be the robber's accomplice, right?"
Fujino, carrying his bokken, also walked slowly forward, stating gravely, "You communicated with the robber beforehand, calling to alert him just before that attacked bank employee intended to go out the back door."
"After the robber entered the bank, according to your prior agreement, he threatened you to bag the money, instead of choosing the female bank employee standing next to you."
"Because the robber knew you were his accomplice, safer compared to the female employee."
"..."
Hearing this, the bank employee remained silent for a moment.
Initially, he considered resisting violently.
But glancing at the bokken in Fujino's hand, recalling his partner's fate earlier, and then looking at the surrounding police officers whose attention was now focused on him, he abandoned the thought.
He sighed softly, resigning himself, "Yes, I am the robber's accomplice..."
Nearby, Conan had just found the discarded half of the throat lozenge wrapper.
Then, turning back, he saw Fujino had already completed his deduction.
The police were already taking the bank employee away.
"..."
Conan looked at the evidence in his hand, his expression resembling a husky whose food had just been stolen.
Damn it, Fujino beat him to it again!
How did he not think of redialing the robber's phone?
The evidence he had considered precious, found after so much effort, suddenly lost its luster.
But just to be safe, he still handed the evidence to Megure Juzo.
By the time Fujino got home, it was nearly six o'clock.
Just as he arrived home, he saw a familiar figure at his doorstep.
It was Niina Kaori.
At this moment, Niina Kaori wore a black top and a black pencil skirt. Had she just finished handling Niina Jintarou's funeral arrangements?
Though only twenty-two, after experiencing the pain of losing her father, she seemed to possess a certain newfound maturity.
"Ms. Niina, what are you doing here?"
Fujino walked over and greeted Niina Kaori, dressed all in black.
"Detective Fujino."
Niina Kaori replied to Fujino.
Fujino noticed the large bag Niina Kaori was holding.
Hmm, probably here to deliver the commission fee.
And the amount seemed substantial.
That large bag, looked like it held several million yen?
Were best-selling novelists really that rich?
But he remembered Niina Kaori hadn't become a best-selling novelist yet, right?
Did she inherit a fortune?
She was quite wealthy too.
Not thinking too much, Fujino invited Niina Kaori into the detective agency.
"I've been busy handling my father's affairs recently. I completely forgot about the commission fee for the previous case. I'm truly sorry."
On the sofa in the detective agency, Niina Kaori held a cup of black tea personally poured by Fujino, her voice carrying a hint of apology.
"It's alright. The commission fee wasn't urgent; anytime is fine, normally."
Fujino said nonchalantly, then added calmly, "Your father just passed away, Ms. Niina. It's completely understandable."
'Detective Fujino really is considerate.'
Niina Kaori took a bank card from the bag she carried. "Do you have a mobile POS machine?"
"Mobile POS machine?"
Fujino's gaze subtly flickered towards the bag placed on the coffee table.
After only a brief glance, he took the mobile POS machine from his pocket.
After performing an operation on the mobile POS machine, Fujino's system balance showed one million yen had been credited.
"One million yen?"
Fujino paused, feeling it was a bit less than expected?
So that bag didn't contain the commission fee?
"I wasn't sure about your pricing standards, Detective Fujino, but I felt one million yen was the most appropriate amount to express my gratitude..."
After swiping the card, Niina Kaori sat back on the sofa, smiling faintly at Fujino. "If it's too little, please don't hesitate to say so, Detective Fujino."
"Ahem."
Fujino recovered and sat back on the sofa as well.
Although it wasn't as much as imagined, honestly, a commission fee of one million yen wasn't small at all.
Thinking about it, Niina Kaori's commission was just payment for a missing person task.
If based on his original price list, such a task would probably only cost around a hundred thousand yen.
Other detectives might charge around two hundred thousand yen.
The one million yen fee given now could already be considered sky-high.
Clearing his throat lightly, he said, "Ms. Niina, that's more than enough... Honestly, you've paid too much."
"That's good."
Niina Kaori sighed in relief; she thought she might have given too little.
"These are all the signed standalone volumes of my father's Detective Samonji. I remember last time, Detective Fujino, you seemed very interested in my father's Detective Samonji series. If you don't mind, please accept them."
Just then, Niina Kaori remembered the large bag.
She took out a standalone volume from it and handed it to Fujino.
Not some doujinshi, but Detective Samonji.
Of course, she knew Fujino hadn't actually read Detective Samonji.
She also knew that Fujino claiming to be a fan back then was just to fulfill her father's dying wish.
"Signed standalone volumes?"
Fujino glanced at the stacks of books.
"Then I'll gladly accept them. I was actually planning to buy some Detective Samonji books myself. This saves me quite a bit of money. Thank you, Ms. Niina."
"I should be the one thanking you."
"Thank me by listening to me..." (Note: Reference to a song lyric, localized feeling might be lost)
"?"
"Ahem, never mind."
Without thinking further, he accepted them all.
After some pleasantries and seeing Niina Kaori off, Fujino carried the stack of standalone volumes back to his room to examine them.
"Signed standalone volumes?"
Fujino picked up one volume, opened the title page, and indeed found Niina Jintarou's autograph, along with some introductory text. "This time, I've really struck gold."
The one million yen was a small matter.
These signed standalone volumes were the truly valuable items.
Niina Jintarou was dead.
Signed books from when the author was alive might be slightly more expensive than regular books.
But after death, it was a different story.
Every signed book became a limited edition.
Especially a complete series of over forty volumes.
To ordinary people, it might mean nothing.
But to fervent fans of Detective Samonji?
They held immense collector's value.
Probably in ten or eight years, these books would become extremely valuable...
Considering Niina Kaori would likely elevate Detective Samonji to new heights in the future...
The thought alone was quite staggering.
Although Niina Kaori wasn't as wealthy as imagined, she was unexpectedly rich, paying one million for a missing person case, observant, and soon to become a popular novelist.
Niina Kaori was someone worth associating with.
[Detected Host completion of Detective Profession Task: Bank Robbery Case]
[System Task Reward Distributed: 1,000,000 Yen, +100 Detective Reputation]
[Current Balance: 2,250,000 Yen]
Just then, a series of system prompts suddenly echoed in Fujino's ear.
"This helped replenish my funds quite a bit."
Fujino looked at the system balance, sighing in relief.
After the intermediate ten-pull a few days ago, his balance had been under one million.
Today, Niina Kaori's million, plus the system task's million, finally helped him recover.
The feeling of having no money in hand...
Was indeed somewhat uncomfortable.
"Looks like I need to think more long-term in the future, can't just drain the pond to catch the fish..."
Suddenly, Fujino seemed to have developed some kind of fear of insufficient funds.
Not having at least a million yen on hand felt somewhat insecure.
As Fujino pondered, the system's notification sounded again in his ear: [New Profession Task Detected, CEO Profession Task. Please check!]
"CEO Profession Task?"
Fujino paused upon hearing this, didn't think much, and immediately opened the task interface:
[CEO Profession Task: Entrepreneurship · Assume CEO Role]
[Task Summary: As a CEO, you need to own a real shop to run the show.]
[Objective: Open a shop, any category unrestricted, starting capital over 3,000,000 Yen]
[Reward: 3,000,000 Yen, +100 CEO Proficiency Points]
"Well damn, entrepreneurship?"
Fujino looked at the system task, his expression turning strange.
But thinking carefully, the CEO profession seemed to be about calling the shots within a company.
Well damn, if there's nowhere to call the shots, just open your own shop to call the shots, right?