Kobayashi-sensei's Love (705-708?): Vote for the culprit!

[caribou]

Weird, according tothis site, and the last page of the previous chapter, there will be  release....

Argh... *breaths in slowly* *laughs*

So there is a double issue this week, right? Right. Which is issue 42-43 according the site you mentioned, right? Right. The next issue after that is 44th. Right? But this will appear on the 30th of September according to that site, which means no Conan for next week, because no SS will be published next week.

@Miakakiri: Did she say that?  I thought his right arm in front of his chest could have looked like boobs in the dark.

It's on page 7, the 4th panel. DCTP translation reads: "She had a full figure..." "Her long hair was tied back, and I think she was wearing a hat." ("full figure" is another way to say "big boobs". Most people wouldn't phrase it that way in casual conversation, but that's usually how you see it in bra ads.)

yeah, I thought so too. the boobs might have been to throw us off the scent. :/ what could have happened is:

Culprit: *holding some goods/money/etc*
Victim: Hand it over! I'll kill you!
Culprit: (not if I kill you first!) *stab* *run away* *in the shadows, the things he's clutching to his chest makes him look like he has a 'full figure'.

it might have been a fight about some things that he's pawned before. he wanted to buy them back, the lady gave him a ridiculously high price, he steals/takes them back by force, and then the argument ensued...

[mizumi]

Weird, according tothis site, and the last page of the previous chapter, there will be  release....

Argh... *breaths in slowly* *laughs*

So there is a double issue this week, right? Right. Which is issue 42-43 according the site you mentioned, right? Right. The next issue after that is 44th. Right? But this will appear on the 30th of September according to that site, which means no Conan for next week, because no SS will be published next week.

@Miakakiri: Did she say that?  I thought his right arm in front of his chest could have looked like boobs in the dark.

It's on page 7, the 4th panel. DCTP translation reads: "She had a full figure..." "Her long hair was tied back, and I think she was wearing a hat." ("full figure" is another way to say "big boobs". Most people wouldn't phrase it that way in casual conversation, but that's usually how you see it in bra ads.)

yeah, I thought so too. the boobs might have been to throw us off the scent. :/ what could have happened is:

Culprit: *holding some goods/money/etc*
Victim: Hand it over! I'll kill you!
Culprit: (not if I kill you first!) *stab* *run away* *in the shadows, the things he's clutching to his chest makes him look like he has a 'full figure'.

it might have been a fight about some things that he's pawned before. he wanted to buy them back, the lady gave him a ridiculously high price, he steals/takes them back by force, and then the argument ensued...

Genta was holding on his cheek cause he was getting a toothache :p
probably the murder holding on his shoulder (which he injured during baseball game) looked like boobs

does anyone have any idea as to what the "09" means? the only think I can make of it is, what Kobayashi saw was not "09" but the letter "OS"... SOS? OSAKA?  KOSHIEN? :p

[Chekhov MacGuffin]

The theme of this arc seems to be mistaken identities. It makes sense after the B.O. chapter. Here is the recap of the points everyone has brought up so far.

Kobayashi didn't hear the voice from among the suspects although she didn't listen to the man's voice. Kobayashi noted that the voice was a deeper woman's voice. That makes is likely that voice she heard was the victim's given her build. That means the victim, Sumida, was ordering someone, probably the murderer to, "Listen up, hand it over!! I'll kill you!!".

Kagitani Kikuna hated Sumida because she kept her mother's ring when Kagitani failed to make payments for it in a timely fashion. Sumida could have been yelling at her to return the ring if Kagitani had forcefully retaken it. I didn't see the ring on the victim's hands, but given the positioning it is hard to tell if there is a ring or not. Also it isn't clear if Sumida would have been wearing it at the time of the crime.

Takimoto Ryouko had a grudge against Sumida because she conned her with a replica plate. Ryouko does not seem to have anything that Sumida would want at that moment, unless Ryouko was blackmailing her somehow...

Kodama Ryuusuke had borrowed 5,000,000 yen from the victim. It makes perfect sense for the victim to tell him to hand it over. If he was carrying something thin and rectangular with his right arm which is possible given the pictures, he would appear to have breasts when seen in profile. He also has long hair that could be tied back in a ponytail. It would not be strange for him to be out on the street because of his job. (See host club to see what I mean)  Finally, although it isn't clear if it is relevant yet, Kodama had a left shoulder injury. If he was a pitcher, that would make him left handed. When I carry things under one arm, I usually use my dominant hand side, which means that if left handed, Ryuusuke would be using his off hand. It is also possible that Ryuusuke was not a pitcher and injured his off arm somehow.

As for the letters on the van, they are probably not numbers but letters. The possibilities are either "OS" or "DS".
Possibilities include "HOST CLUB" (I don't think one of those would have a van though...) or the more likely "OSAKA Nico-Nico Transportation" which Mitsuhiko confirmed had its name written on the side of it and had gotten lost in the vicinity which puts it at the right time and place for the crime. Hopefully the van people get questioned because Conan had some suspicious sweatdrops in the first chapter when the topic of the professor helping someone move came up.

We might have one more chapter of case before the dénouement since we are currently lacking definitive evidence. In the meanwhile, my money is on Kodama Ryuusuke since he has the best motive and he fits with the theme of mistaken identities. I wonder if he will try to invite Kobayashi out to his host club to finish her off after he overheard Shiratori's failed confession...

Prediction one: The culprit tries to attack Kobayashi who is saved by Shiratori.
Prediction two: Kobayashi being saved by Shiratori triggers a flashback to the events of the bookstore. I don't know if that will be enough to alleviate Kobayashi's grumpiness.
Prediction three: The culprit tries to attack Sato thinking she is Kobayashi and then gets served a whopping dose of pain Miwako style.
Prediction four: Sato and Kobayashi finally meet face to face.

[Stepx]

I think this should be going to end next file. I'm still wondering what they want to know about that truck (as, if the driver would have seen anything, wouldn't it be likely that he would have informed the police when he got to know about the incident in TV oder radio?), but I guess they will use him as a witness and therefor as the main evidence. As Conan already should have figured out about "09" and "OS", finding Agasa's truck shouldn't be too difficult that it will take them more then a half file! The rest is going to be about Ryuusuke trying to attack Kobayashi and Shiratori successfully stop him. Happy end.

While I hope there will be a surprise changing the story into something else, I put a bet on that story!

[caribou]

I think someone has mentioned this before, but his 'boob' could also be, his right arm grabbing his left shoulder. I think Conan might have deduced that from seeing Genta holding his cheek due to his toothache. The killer must have used his left hand (his dominant hand probably, so he couldn't help it) to stab the victim, and strained his injured left shoulder as a result. His right hand was grabbing it in pain as he fled from the scene.

Here's a plausible storyline:
The killer, just after receiving some payment from his work as a host, happened to run into the victim on the street. (Or, the victim followed him) The victim saw his money and, since he owed her a huge debt, she ordered him to hand the money over. The killer refused, they started fighting, things got violent, he killed her. Then he ran away from the scene clutching his injured shoulder. When he heard Kobayashi-sensei's scream, he turned back to get a good look at his witness, and fled again as Conan and the kids also came to the scene.

[Chekhov MacGuffin]

I think someone has mentioned this before, but his 'boob' could also be, his right arm grabbing his left shoulder. I think Conan might have deduced that from seeing Genta holding his cheek due to his toothache. The killer must have used his left hand (his dominant hand probably, so he couldn't help it) to stab the victim, and strained his injured left shoulder as a result. His right hand was grabbing it in pain as he fled from the scene.

Excellent theory! I was wondering how that shoulder thing tied in to everything. The major problem with the theory that Kodama was holding something while running doesn't mesh with the fact that the killer wasn't holding anything when he came back around the second time. Now that I think about it, given the likelihood that Kodama is going to attack Kobayashi at some point, Conan and crew won't need decisive evidence. They'll catch the jerk red handed when they stop the assault and that will be that.

Spoiler:

[Nyarl]

I'm kinda having problems with the idea that a particularly devious and greedy pawn shop owner would give anyone an unsecured loan. That's what first made me suspect him. If she recorded a pawned item under his  “professional nameâ€

[Stepx]

and we don't really need more evidence if he's caught attacking Kobayashi/Sato-disguised-as-Kobayashi...

You will (especially at the court) As soon as he does not say out loud that he attacks her because she saw him at the crime scene and there are roundabout 5 people listening to him while he says so, that does not "prove" anything (for the reader of course it does, but indeed for a real crime, you're gonna need a real evidence connected to the murder)! That's why they had to use this truck driver as a kind of witness, I guess!

[Kor]

The next fake spoiler will probably be that the shadowy character from the last page is scar Akai (because of the hat)

[Chekhov MacGuffin]

The next fake spoiler will probably be that the shadowy character from the last page is scar Akai (because of the hat)

We have gotten a rash of those recently... I wonder if it's the same imaginative person?

[Kor]

The next fake spoiler will probably be that the shadowy character from the last page is scar Akai (because of the hat)

We have gotten a rash of those recently... I wonder if it's the same imaginative person?

Maybe, but the last fake spoiler from before 707 was really like a bad fanfic...

[Korn]

kobayashi is definitely not it! considering Gosho's style..

[Akonyl]

I'm going to guess it's the guy, but that it was in self defense.

[Found]

The next fake spoiler will probably be that the shadowy character from the last page is scar Akai (because of the hat)

We have gotten a rash of those recently... I wonder if it's the same imaginative person?

Hmm. A spoiler-spinner.

BTW chekhov, your sigs are pure win. Where did you get that?

[Chekhov MacGuffin]

The next fake spoiler will probably be that the shadowy character from the last page is scar Akai (because of the hat)

We have gotten a rash of those recently... I wonder if it's the same imaginative person?

Hmm. A spoiler-spinner.

BTW chekhov, your sigs are pure win. Where did you get that?

I made them myself. Speaking of which I have to change it. I am supposed to update it every other day...