As the four entered the room, the scene inside also came into view.
The room wasn't particularly large, but it was decently clean, not like a messy bachelor apartment.
Mouri Kogoro looked around and said, "Although the front door is open, there are no signs of it being forced. The room is still in its original state, not messed up by anyone. Could it be that Kusukawa forgot to close the door?
The dusty tape just now probably means that guy forgot to tear it off and just opened the door directly..."
Mouri Kogoro's reasoning still seemed "depressing," no matter how inconsistent it was, he could always explain errors in a different way, such as "the other party's carelessness."
It felt like shooting eighteen times and missing the bullseye perfectly, which was also why internet users in the past said Mouri Kogoro was a hidden mastermind.
Because even if you answer incorrectly, you still get around thirty points by guessing. If you perfectly avoid all the correct answers, it's reasonable to suspect that you knew the answers.
But Senichi hasn't seen anything unusual so far, wondering if Mouri Kogoro was acting at an Oscar level or if he really was just careless.
This might be the only person Senichi couldn't figure out so far.
Of course, it could also be a self-"cultivation" born out of uncertainty.
Without much ado, Senichi had always listened to Mouri Kogoro's "negative reasoning" in reverse. In a way, it was also a "Detective Conan Law."
Sure enough, not long after hearing Mouri Kogoro finish speaking, Senichi made a discovery under the cabinet below the computer desk.
Under the cabinet, a folded piece of paper shaped like an "L" had fallen on the ground. Senichi tried inserting it into the gap under the drawer, and it fit perfectly.
"Is this also a means to know if someone entered the room?" Ran was surprised to see Senichi's actions. "So, someone really infiltrated Mr. Kusukawa's house!"
"It seems so." Senichi nodded, picking up the paper. "This works similarly to tape. If someone pulls the drawer open, the paper underneath will fall down."
"Hmph... What's there to be afraid of."
Mouri Kogoro looked at his daughter behind him, continuing his "depressing-style reasoning." "Maybe it's like the tape at the door. Kusukawa forgot that he set up a mechanism here, and after pulling the drawer, he forgot to retract the mechanism."
"Hey! What's this on the table!"
Seeing the three people gather around, Conan pointed to the traces on the computer desk and said, "Look, there's a pencil mark here. The square in the middle was probably where a sticky note was placed, right? It's the right size too!"
"Someone probably wanted to know what was written on the sticky note, so they used a pencil to reveal the writing," Senichi smiled. "It's a common plot point in detective stories."
"But Mr. Kusukawa, as the owner of the room, wouldn't use such a method," Ran speculated, looking at the desktop.
"It's probably Hattori. Seeing that Mr. Kusukawa's door wasn't locked, he came in and found this note too," Mouri Kogoro scratched his head. "Now it's troublesome; those two took the note, and we have no way of knowing what was written on it."
"Let's try revealing the layer underneath." Senichi took the sticky note from the desktop, picked up a pencil, and started to reveal the writing. "If the pen pressure is enough to leave a mark on the paper underneath, then even the paper below that should show traces."
Senichi then showed the revealed content to the three.
"Kenbashi City, Ito Residence?" Mouri Kogoro took the sticky note and examined it carefully. "Besides the address, there seems to be a phone number, but it looks like not much pressure was used when writing the phone number."
Mouri Kogoro leaned in and carefully examined the sticky note, ultimately giving up. "Damn... can't see it clearly...
"Then let's go find out. Hattori and Kazuha probably went there after seeing the message."
While saying this, Senichi took out his phone and quickly dialed Chiba, who was in charge of today's duty, asking him to help check the information of Ito Residence in Kenbashi.
With Chiba's help, the information of all households with the surname "Ito" in Kenbashi was quickly sent over.
There were a total of thirteen households named "Ito" in Kenbashi. After getting the information, Senichi drove with the three to the destination.
"I knew it..." Mouri Kogoro held his head in pain. "This is just like the old days when I was a detective..."
"It's not that many." Senichi looked at the information above and smiled. "We can check each one by driving around; it won't take long."
The first house... the second house... the third house...
Just as Senichi said, the visitation of each household went by quickly. A middle-aged bald man, an elderly woman, an impatient young male resident...
After going door-to-door, the result was nothing gained.
"This is already the eighth house..." Mouri Kogoro gritted his teeth. "That troublesome little devil from Osaka... wait until I find him, I'll teach him a lesson!"
"Come on, Dad!" Ran encouraged him with a smile. "There are only five houses left."
Fortunately, the weather cleared up when the group arrived in Kenbashi. Otherwise, Mouri Kogoro might have been even more irritable at the moment.
"Well, you never know." Conan, with a sly tone, initiated the "adding fuel to the fire" mode.
"Despite visiting so many houses and hearing that no one has seen anything, some might be lying. After all, Mr. Kusukawa is missing. If Hattori followed the clues, there might be some danger... and the culprit won't tell the truth."
"Eh? What should we do then?" Ran, worried after hearing Conan's words.
"Well, that's a question for Detective Senichi." Conan glanced at Senichi, smirking with hidden meaning.
"Just continue as planned." Senichi glanced at Conan, knowing he wanted him to share information. While continuing to cross out the eight houses on the list, Senichi smiled, "They are telling the truth. It proves that we haven't encountered the Ito family that Hattori and Kazuha are looking for."
"Eh?" Ran was surprised after hearing Senichi's words. "Detective Senichi, how do you know?"
"Because there's no scent of them in the house." Senichi smiled. "There's no trace of them, whether on their bodies or in the house."
Looking at the remaining five addresses on the list, Senichi couldn't help but smile.
It feels like this case might be quite simple.