Who killed Cock Robin?
Well, Sparrow,
it should go according to the scenario that I wrote.
Burn... with hatred.
Dance...
...the Dance of Death.
The Case File of Young Kindaichi Returns
The Prison Prep School Murder Case
The Prison Prep School Murder Case!
W-What is this?!
English Kindaichi
English, Math, Physics! You failed all of them!
Math
Physics
Hajime-chan!
I couldn't eat another bite!
Tonkatsu bento is the best!
Murakami Souta
That's my bento!
Huh? It was yours, Souta?
Kindaichi, you jackass!
Sorry about that! I thought it was Miyuki's!
Hey!
You shouldn't be eating mine either!
Thank you for lunch!
Later...
Where are you going?!
Where?
Come on, Hajime-chan! At this rate, you really will have to repeat the year!
You really do need to go...
to prep school!
Prep school?
There's a perfect prep school for you. Here!
See?
Gokumon Prep School
Gokumon... Prep... School?!
Gokumon Prep School
Here it is. Gokumon Prep School.
They're notoriously strict here, so students call it "Hell's Gate Prep".
Hell's Gate Prep...
Did you know about this place, Hajime-chan?
Yeah, a little.
Souta-kun, your grades shot up after you started going here, right?
Yeah. Because they force you to study 'til you drop.
We're going on a retreat during the holiday.
Retreat?
Yeah. It's at a place that looks like a prison deep in a forest.
You can try to escape, but forget it.
Imagine three full days of being chained to a desk.
Hajime-chan, I think you should go on the retreat too to brush up.
I'll sign up, too.
Sharing a room with Miyuki for three days!
But we'd be studying the whole time...
Huh. Is a cute girl like you going to participate in the retreat?
Konoe Motohiko Prep School Student (Science)
Konoe!
Three rough days at a retreat suddenly sounds like fun.
I'm Konoe Motohiko.
I can tell you all about the retreat.
That bastard!
Huh. So your name is Nanase-san...
Hi, Kaidou-san.
Kaidou Hitomi Prep School Student (Science)
Who's this girl? A new student here?
Yeah. This is Nanase-san. I think she's gonna join the school and the retreat.
I-I'm Nanase Miyuki. Nice to meet you.
You've got that honors student vibe.
But that doesn't mean anything at Gokumon Prep.
Every student here is top-level, on a national scale.
Hey, Miyuki.
Is this your friend? He looks dumb.
You don't have to spell it out!
I'd love to have another dumb student here. It'd give me someone I can be superior to!
Kujiragi Daisuke Prep School Student (Humanities)
Enami Yurika Prep School Student (Humanities)
This should be interesting.
W-What?
Please be careful.
Hama Akiko Prep School Student (Humanities)
This prep school is a scary place.
A scary place?
Gokumon Prep is based on an absolute merit system.
Shikibu Seiko Prep School Student (Humanities)
Only the capable can survive.
The weak will drop out.
Kirisawa Tooru Prep School Student (Science)
The emergency bell.
The second floor!
Where is it? Is it a fire?
Nakayashiki Manabu Prep School Student (Humanities)
What's wrong?
What's the bell about?
Sensei!
Ujie Takayuki Head Instructor
Where is it ringing?
I hope the fire wasn't caused by someone smoking.
Itsukushima Ranko Deputy Head Instructor
There! From that room!
Counseling Room
We didn't use the counseling room today.
Moroi? What are you doing?!
Hey!
He's dead!
What?!
Counseling Room
Is that...?
Detective Mizogishi Fudousan Station
The victim is Moroi Ren, 17 years old. That is correct, yes?
Yes.
Was he a student at this school?
No, Detective. Moroi dropped out last month.
He apparently came today as a visitor just to take a test.
According to forensics, it's most likely he went into cardiac arrest from some poison.
And they also found that he was bleeding slightly from his fingertips.
This was on the floor.
Several of the short needles have been treated with a strong poison.
When the victim picked this booklet up, he was stabbed by the needles.
I believe that's the cause of death.
T-Then...
Yes. In other words, this is a murder case.
I'd like to question everyone who was in the building at the time.
This has nothing to do with me. Can I go home?
Tomorrow is the mock exam...
You'll all cooperate with the detective.
Who was the last person to see the victim alive?
Kujiragi! What are you hiding?
I'm not hidin' anything!
Do you know something?
I saw them, Kujiragi and Moroi.
4th Test for Visiting Students 1:00-4:30 PM in Room 103
It was right after Moroi finished the test for visiting students.
Yo! If it ain't Moroi! Long time no see!
Moroi Ren Prep School Student (Humanities)
I-I just came here to take a test.
Why did you quit Hell's Gate?
Y-You know. You were there, Kujiragi.
After the terrible thing that happened...
I-I don't want to have anything more to do with this school!
I'm leaving right after I pick up the sample answers!
"Terrible thing that happened"?
That is what he said, isn't it, Kujiragi?!
Who knows? I don't remember.
Anyway, the victim did say he was going to pick up sample answers?
Yeah, that's right.
Here are those sample answers.
Collection of Sample Answers (For Visiting Students)
The victim picked this up directly and was stabbed with the poison needles.
No, wait a moment. That isn't the real collection of sample answers. It's a fake.
It just looks the same.
A fake?
I had no plan to hand out sample answers today.
Who made such a thing?
I've got it! It's simple.
When Moroi came to take the test, another non-student probably gave him the bad info.
He must've heard the answers were being given out in the counseling room here.
So he came in and was handed the fake answers with the poison needles.
I see. Not surprised a student at such a famous prep school has superb deductive skills.
But you're still an amateur.
What do you mean?
This is the note the victim was gripping.
"To all visiting students, after the test is over,
sample answers will be distributed in counseling room 205."
After seeing that, the victim came to this room.
This school never put out such a note. So who...?
The killer of course, Ujie-sensei.
For today's test, the answer sheets were put on the student's desks beforehand.
English
The killer secretly slipped this note between the answer sheets of one desk.
The victim saw that, came to this room to pick up a sample answer form,
Counseling Room
and was stabbed by the poisoned needles.
But there were a lot of test-takers, and they sat wherever they wanted.
The victim just happened to sit there and was murdered because of that.
In other words, this is a random killing.
A random killing?
Then the victim could have been anyone, right?
But why would anyone do that?
Stress from studying gave rise to darkness in someone's heart,
which in turn led to this random murder.
I don't know about that.
I think the killer was targeting this Moroi guy from the beginning.
What's this? I don't recall asking for your opinion.
You're not a student here, nor did you come to take a test today.
You're an outsider who just popped in.
You don't know anything about this school.
Exactly.
This is "magician's select".
"Magician's... select"?
The Case File of Young Kindaichi Returns
"Magician's select".
That's right. You often see it on TV magic shows.
An audience member chooses a card,
and the magic happens when the magician reveals that same card to a stunned audience.
But it's really a trick in which the magician forces the person to choose a certain card.
I submit the same trick was used to get Moroi to draw that "joker"!
Ridiculous. There were a lot of students here taking that test.
Nobody knows who's going to sit where,
so it would've been impossible to make Moroi sit at the desk that had the note.
That's right.
Unless the murderer used hypnotism to command the victim to sit at that desk?
Nope. Hypnotism wasn't necessary to get Moroi to draw the joker.
The reason is all of the students taking that test drew jokers, Moroi included.
What?!
All of them?
What do you mean?
In other words, the note was between the answer sheets on every desk.
But each note indicated a different location to go to.
The killer snuck into the test room before the students,
and inserted the prepared notes between the answer sheets.
Then they waited for the test-takers to appear, watched to see where Moroi sat,
Counseling Room
headed for the counseling room as indicated by the note left on that particular desk,
Gokumon Prep School Mock Exam Collection of Sample Answers (For Visiting Students)
and switched the collection of sample answers for one that had poisoned needles.
Gokumon Prep School Mock Exam Collection of Sample Answers (For Visiting Students)
I see. You're right, he could've used that trick to pick off Moroi.
Come to think of it, I picked this up before.
"To all visiting students,
after the test is over, sample answers will be distributed in room 108."
A visiting student dropped that note.
It indicates another place, not this counseling room!
There's no doubt!
The killer lured Moroi here with the magician's select and then killed him!
But what did the killer have against Moroi?
I think someone in this room knows the answer to that!
D-Does anyone here know about this?
Moroi was murdered.
Oh, jeez... It's gotta be about what happened...
You're saying we're targets, too?
Oh, come on!
T-That's right! Why do we have to go on a retreat at a time like this?!
Special Study Retreat
Once we enter that prison, there's no escape!
Interesting.
Well, I wonder who will be killed next.
Wait up!
Hey! Over here! Kindani!
It's "ichi", Old Man.
Can I get a couple of orange juices?
Certainly.
I heard what happened. I'm in charge of the Moroi murder case now.
I see.
It seems your deduction was on the money.
We found out that all the visiting students who took Gokumon Prep's test today
got a note saying sample answers would be handed out,
and they all went to different places.
Figures. But why didn't anyone realize the sample answers were fake?
Because the answers matched up.
If the answers matched up, you wouldn't think anything was wrong, right?
I see...
But if the answers matched up, the killer must've already known the problems on the test?
Yeah. So it would seem.
According to the investigation, only the students in Class A took that same test before,
so they'd know the answers.
So that narrows the suspects down to the Class A students and two instructors.
Feels like we'll catch the killer soon.
Here you are.
Thanks.
I'm not sure about that.
Enjoy.
Thanks.
Magician's select...
This murder smells like a magician who's used to killing people.
I think it's him!
Him?
Yeah. The Puppeteer from Hell.
T-The Puppeteer from Hell! You mean he's...
Kindaichi-kun, you were thinking the same thing, eh?
Inspector Akechi! You're here?!
I'm not surprised! Conceited four-eyes behind an English newspaper!
Sorry, but this isn't an English newspaper. It's a French newspaper, Kindaichi-kun.
I came here to see you for a reason.
I want to show you something.
Show me something?
Something that was delivered to me.
T-This is...
The Puppeteer from Hell... Takatou Youichi!
A criminal who excels at magic!
He's not called a "Puppeteer" for nothing.
He's a genius who manipulates people like puppets!
He writes perfect criminal scenarios for people who bear grudges.
He has them commit murder without leaving any proof behind.
Takatou sent this to me yesterday.
Various places are written down.
I think it's a list of locations where murders are going to happen!
Gokumon Prep School Retreat Hostel
Gokumon Prep School Retreat Hostel...
Takutou is giving us advance notice.
Moroi Ren's murder was just the beginning.
He's plotting something for the Gokumon Prep retreat!
Well, detectives, so it begins.
The magic show of terror...
What the...?!
Puppeteer from Hell!
Don't move!
He disappeared...
Takatou Youichi... I won't let you get away with this!
I swear I'll bring your scheme to light!
I swear it in the name of my grandfather!
The Case File of Young Kindaichi Returns
The Gokumon Prep retreat begins in a place from which there's no escape.
Right before the eyes of me and Inspector Akechi,
Takatou Youichi's creepy criminal plan proceeds.
The students are disappearing one by one, but to where?!
The Case File of Young Kindaichi Returns! The Prison Prep School Murder Case, File 2!
The Prison Prep School Murder Case
The ghost of that person?! What happened in this prep school's past?!