Detective Conan - Episode 534

Episode 534: A New Scar and the Whistling Man

Just wait Whistling Man,
I will uncover your face without doubt!
- Conan

Conan, after hearing that Haibara and Ayumi passed by a suspicious person in the last episode, rushed to the victim’s room to see what happened to him. He also called Takagi-keiji to alert them of the possible things that can happen.

And his hunch is correct, Hiramune Douji was killed in front of his computer with a fruit knife from the kitchen. On his back is a letter Z, which puzzels the police even more. They say that the other four victims have E, S, W mark respectively. If you would look at it, you would suppose that the next mark would be N to correspond with the North, South, East, West.

Another clue noticed by Conan is the Ctrl and C keys of the keyboard were marked with blood. Ctrl+C is the keyboard shortcut for copy, thus Conan said that Hiramune might know someone is related to a copy machine. The stains on the keyboard was not deliberately left by the criminal, but a dying message left by the victim. There’s no blood on his left hand. Most likely, he made the stains with his bloody right hand and covered the stains with his left hand, thus hiding it from the culprit. There’s a copy machine in the room, but there’s nothing suspicious about it.

So, Takagi mentioned the other clue that the culprit is whistling a tune, so it could also mean that the “copy” clue left by the victim may refer to copy bands. Superintendent Matsumoto then arrived and said that for the culprit, this song has a deeper meaning. Immediately after the incident 20 years ago, Morimura was questioning drivers of suspicious cars that frequented the area of the crime scene. It was then that he met the culprit and was ran over and died. When Morimura approached the car, he noticed that the suspect was whistling at that time while tears poured down on his face. And this shocked Conan and the others! Anyway, Superintendent Matsumoto delegated tasks: Satou and Chiba are to investigate around the neighborhood, Shiratori will investigate about Hiramune’s whereabouts and Takagi is to visit the relatives of the previous victims and see if they have any connection with Hiramune-san.

Takagi enthusiastically proceeded with his task and was accompanied by Conan and the Shounen Tantei.

The first person that they visited was Boukawa Maiko, the wife of Boukawa Tsuguharu. She inherited a huge amount of fortune after his husband was killed. She only knew Hirasawa because of his TV and magazine appearances and that there’s there no personal relationship between her or her husband and Hiramune. Then, Conan asked if her husband is meeting somone in secret. Maiko-san didn’t remember any but shared his husband would always go out for drink every Saturday night. He would always come home late and drunk and would always say “Damn! wouldn't stop with the ‘crybaby, crybaby’, making me out to be an idiot!”

Next person they visited is Mugita Hidekuni, the younger brother of Mugita Atsunori. He is the beneficiary of Atsunori’s insurance money. Just like the first, he or his brother has no connection with Hiramune. When it comes to Saturday nights, it seems that his brother would also go out at night until morning. According to his brother’s wife who was worried that his husband is having an affair, she would always call him to ask his whereabouts. He would always answer “Im going to the Doctor's now, stop nagging!”.

The last person that they will visit is Nabei Eiki, the son of Nabei Susumu. He was only 10 years when his father died. His mother, after receiving the shock of his husband’s death became bedridden even up to now. He was angry so Takagi didn’t proceed with the questioning. But according to his statements 15 years ago, his father usually slept untill noon on Sundays and it seems he was mumbling something after waking up..."had some parents run over last night as well, too bad".

So after all the questioning, Conan figured the connection between the 4 victims! Its MAHJONG!

Why? All is hidden in the statements each victim said! Take a look:

• Hiramune said in his TV appearance before his death that he will kept on disposing his safe tiles, just waiting for this round to end.
  
• Boukawa Tsuguharu would say after coming home drunk, “Nakimushi nakamushi tte baka ni shiya gatte ” (Wouldn't stop with the ‘crybaby, crybaby’, making me out to be an idot!)
• Mugita Hidekuni would always call back to his wife saying “Ima isha ni itte n da jama sun na” (Im going to the Doctor's now!)
• Nabei Susumu would walk up on Sunday mornings mumbling “Yuube mo oya ga hane rare te taihen datta” (had some parents run over last night as well, too bad…)

Here's the explanation:

• Nakimushi nakamushi tte baka ni shiya gatte (Wouldn't stop with the ‘crybaby, crybaby’, making me out to be an idot!) – nakimushi (crybaby) was misheard for naku (opening doors) in mahjong terms. It’s when you try to hurry and win early by collecting tiles discarded by other players to form groups of 3s and 4s.
• Ima isha ni itte n da jama sun na (Im going to the Doctor's now!) – Was mishead for “ima iishanten da” which means listening to the tiles or iishanten (one tile away from winning).
  
• oya ga hane rare te taihen datta (had some parents run over last night as well, too bad…) – was misheard for “oya NI hane rare te taihen datta”. In mahjoing oya (parent) refers to the oya yaku (dealer) who can capitalize for extra points. Hana reru (run over) is to be overtaken by someone who has more points, thereby losing.
  

After clearing out the relationship between the four victims, they are now to narrow down their search to mahjoing parlors that are accessible to the four of them!

It’s pretty hard to understand the clues without a mahjong background. Good thing, the DCTP was able to properly sub this episode. There are a lot of word plays in Japanese that are hard to notice when translated to English language. I am getting more and more excited as this case comes to a close. As usual, my lips will be sealed as to who is who and what song the culprit is whistling. So, find out more in Episode 535. I will post it soon! :)