Volume 8

Volume 8 was released on December 9, 1995 in Japan.

Pro Soccer Player Case
Anime Episode 10: Pro Soccer Player Blackmail Case

Night Baron Murder Case
Anime Episode 68-70: Night Baron Murder Case

File 072 - Night Baron


At a beach in Izu, Conan mentally grumbles about being stuck outside of Tokyo when he should be looking for Gin and Vodka until Ran convinces him to come swimming with her. However, when they check into their hotel, the reservations Agasa turned over to them has a catch; it's only half paid for. Agasa signed up for a "mystery tour"; if Conan can figure out who of the ten guests in the tour is the sponsor, the other half of the reservation will be covered and he will also receive a certain computer program. Before Conan can remember what Agasa said was the sponsor's name, Kogoro is asked by another hotel patron if he is the "Night Baron"—a character from Yusaku Kudo's novels. Kogoro reacts with confusion, and the man records the reaction as part of his dataset for determining who is the Night Baron, the alias the tour sponsor.

The man is Shiro Konno, a banker. His methods are derided by Tokio Ebara, a slightly drunk computer programmer who is another participant. Genichirou Kaneshiro, a computer company CEO, defends the method, backed by his lady butler, Shizue Hayashi. He defends his own slow response to Konno's question as having poor eyesight and didn't know the question was at him. Konno is satisfied with his data, but Hideko Kamijo, another computer company CEO, turns his question back on himself. Kogoro is still confused by the conversation and who the "Night Baron" is; though Ran explains, Kogoro remains uninterested and return to the hotel room. Conan realizes that two people from the group of ten are missing at the same time Ebara tries to grope and flirt with Ran. Before Ran can defend herself, another man stops Ebara; she recognizes him as Satoru Maeda, a karate champion who inspired Ran to start karate in the first place.

Ran's minor fangirling is interrupted by the arrival of Maeda's fiancée, Akiko Sayama, a high school teacher who responds coldly to Ran's admiration. Hideko mentions her surprise that Ran and Conan's group are different from expected; Ran explains they came in Agasa's stead, and that Kogoro is a detective, which shocks all present. Afterwards, the group disperses, but Conan feels the gaze of someone watching him intently, though he can't pinpoint the source. In the hotel room, Conan explains the terms of the mystery tour, which Kogoro is determined he can solve. He leaves to investigate, but Conan ponders at the extreme level of reaction from people involved in what should be simply a game-puzzle. Ran also leaves the hotel room, letting Conan stand on the outside balcony and ponder what Agasa meant when he said the other prize was a computer program that Conan wouldn't find very useful. Conan plans to call Agasa after dinner, but suddenly the room door opens behind Conan—it's the Night Baron himself, and before Conan can react, he throws Conan over the balcony!

File 073 - The Terrible Virus
Luckily, Conan falls straight into the hotel pool. When he races back to the balcony, Night Baron is gone, but Conan can't see any sort of clue toward the group sponsor's identity from an action like that. Conan is also concerned that the program prize might be the culprit, but Agasa can only remember that the program is one of secrecy and may be a virus. Before Conan can ask more, Ran interrupts the phone call and asks how Conan got soaked. Conan lies that he slipped and fell so that Ran won't insist they leave until he can find the Night Baron's identity.

Later at dinner, Ran and Conan find Kogoro already sitting with Maeda and Akiko. Ran warns Akiko about Evara, who is watching them with a perverted grin. Over dinner, Akiko reveals that she loves both Yusaku and the Night Baron, even cutting her hair to match the Baron's. Hideko walks by in a sexy dress and mentions that Akiko isn't the only one to know about the Night Baron; Ran and Akiko get angry that Kogoro and Maeda watch her go, while Conan notices that Ebara completely ignores Hideko. Conan also notices Kaneshiro alone at a table, and asks if Kaneshiro is after the computer virus and how he knows so much about it. Kaneshiro answers that anyone familiar with computers knows about a perfectly destructive, elusive virus, also named Night Baron. Kaneshiro seems to associate the Night Baron with his son, who died four years ago. Shizue's arrival prevents any more questions, but after Conan leaves Kaneshiro tells Shizue they must be careful because of Conan's suspicions.

On his way back, Conan overhears Konno, on the phone, say that Ebara is a particular hacker. However, Conan can't learn anything else. Back at the tables, Conan realizes Ebara is gone; a waitress asks Conan to return the tie Ebara had tied around his forehead while drinking. Before Conan can do more than take the tie, Ran remonstrates Conan for wandering off and drags him back to their room. Surprisingly, Kogoro isn't in their room, but Maeda and Akiko are down the hall—Akiko refuses to let Maeda in for staring at the waitress at dinner. He decides to wait in the top floor lounge until she calms down, and invites Ran to come along. Conan follows along and gets between Ran and Maeda when he tries to flirt a little. Ran asks how Maeda and Akiko met; Maeda was friends with Akiko's older brother, who died three years ago.

Downstairs in the hotel bar, Hideko attempts to convince Kogoro to share who the Night Baron's identity is, first by flirting and then by slipping something into his drink. Kogoro doesn't notice. After a while, Maeda decides to head back to Akiko and comments that Conan is like Ran's "little bodyguard". Conan asks if Maeda knows what a virus is, but Maeda only thinks it relates to having a cold rather than computers. Conan ponders why a virus that seems able to steal money from banks and large companies, among other things, would be promised by the sponsor to gather these participants. As he does, outside the hotel, someone dressed as Night Baron falls from somewhere high up in the hotel. The unlucky victim is impaled on a statue in the dining courtyard.

File 074 - Underneath the Mask
Conan and Ran hear about the death of someone "in a mask" and go to look. Conan slips through the police barrier only to be stopped by Sango Yokomizo, who was recently transferred from Saitama to Shizuoka. While Yokomizo explains this to Ran, Conan sneaks the mask off to reveal Ebara. Ran recognizes him and explain the tour to Yokomizo while Conan discovers Ebara only has one glove on, and his costume's tie tied backwards. Yokomizo assumes Ebara was the sponsor but wonders whether the death is suicide or accident and asks where Kogoro is. Hideko tells them he's still in the bar, but stays to look at the body; Conan realizes that behind her sunglasses, she is crying.

In the bar, Ran wakes Kogoro up and they all go to Ebara's room. The anti-theft lock is in place from the inside and only when an officer arrives with a handsaw to cut it are they able to enter the room. Ebara's clothes from early and even his room key are on the floor just inside. The sliding door to the balcony is open, and a glove is stuck in the base of the bars. Kogoro assumes Ebara died trying to scare the occupants of the room below, but Conan points out that on the 21st floor, Ebara would probably have used rope, and needed his room key to get back in. Kogoro smacks Conan in annoyance, causing Conan's fountain pen to fall to the ground below, and leaves with Yokomizo to examine the body.

On the ground, Conan tries unsuccessfully to find his pen around the statue. The other tour participants gather around to learn what happened. Kaneshiro calls it a poor story for the Night Baron to die, and it ends the game. Conan gives him a suspicious look, and abruptly calls attention to the backwards necktie. Kogoro thinks it could be a habit, but Conan produces Ebara's other necktie, which is tied normally. The belt is also backwards, leading Kogoro and Yokomizo to conclude that Ebara was murdered by one of the rest of the group. They start the process to question the others for their alibis.

Ran and Conan provide Maeda's alibi; Hideko reminds Kogoro she was with him, but Conan points out Kogoro was drunk. Shizue and Kaneshiro claim there were in the restaurant together, but with the chaos of the strange death no one may remember them. Konno claims he was reading emails and tells them to check the hotel's internet access logs, but he doesn't have a live person's alibi. Akiko was watching TV until Maeda returned and so has no alibi either. Meanwhile, in the room with Ebara's body, someone attacks the police officer on guard. After questioning, Akiko returns with Ran and Conan to their floor and complains that Kogoro and Yokomizo probably suspect her. While Conan ponders the overall lack of solid alibis and the unknown intent of the killer, Akiko tells Ran that she called the front desk for a wakeup call but didn't think it was important enough to mention. Ran says Akiko should be in the clear just as the elevator door opens—to reveal the Night Baron, bloody mask and all, standing just outside.

File 075 - Ran's Tears
After an initial reaction of shock, Ran immediately attacks Night Baron with a powerful karate kick, but somehow the Night Baron dodges and runs away. Conan tries to get her to chase, but Ran and Akiko are both stunned into immobility until it's too late. They go to tell Kogoro what happened, and also learn that the costume was stolen from Ebara's body but has now—hat, mask, wig, and cape—suddenly appeared in the pool. Conan wonders if this appearance was unplanned while the police question everyone again and learn that everyone was staying in their room as instructed, so no one has an alibi. Even Maeda is unconfirmed, since they came straight back down without going to Akiko and Maeda's room. The rooms are searched, starting with theirs; Conan notes from the balcony that they are a bit below and to the right of Ebara's room. He notes the position, annoyed that he lost his high-quality fountain pen, while inside Yokomizo finds some sleeping pills belonging to Akiko but nothing suspicious.

In Kaneshiro and Shizue's room, Conan sees that Ebara's room was directly above, but it's difficult to make notes with all the wind rushing by. Kogoro is annoyed by Conan's presence until Conan says he's studying Kogoro's detective skills. Kaneshiro mentions that Konno has reasons to want the virus after having tampered with computers at his own bank. However, in his own room, Konno says Kaneshiro hates the Night Baron because his son died as a result of "a virus". Konno's room was closest to Ebara's, but impossible to reach from Ebara's balcony. Konno also says that Hideko was Ebara's wife, which she reluctantly confirms but that she divorced him after she discovered he was a computer hacker. She also mentioned that Akiko's older brother used to have a small software company—everyone has a motive.

Conan notices pills just like Akiko's; Hideko gets flustered when he asks about them, and says they're cold pills. Conan doesn't get the chance to check her window, but she is directly above Konno, leaving Kaneshiro and Shizue's room as the only room reachable from Ebara's balcony. As he consults his sketch-map, he passes two officers looking at the remains of the anti-theft lock and finds scotch tape stuck to the tip, a shocking revelation.

In their hotel room, Ran sits miserably on the bed with the knowledge that only a certain person could have blocked her kick the way Night Baron did. Unsure what to do with the knowledge, she wishes for Shinichi to tell her what to do. A knock on the door interrupts her; she opens the door as far as the anti-theft lock allows to find Conan, who declares his experiment successful because she didn't close the lock herself. He notices her face and asks if she was crying, but she passes it off as yawning and Conan runs off again. He ends up in the same elevator as the two policeman, and as he ponders the suspects he overhears that the officer who was guarding Ebara's body and overpowered was himself a strong practitioner of karate. Like Ran earlier, Conan suddenly wonders if the identity of Night Baron may, in fact, be karate champion Satoru Maeda.

File 076 - A Trick of the Wind!?


Conan realizes that Ran and Akiko must also have recognized Maeda, and he worries about Ran. In the hotel room, Ran remembers a time Shinichi said that by the time he accused someone he knew of being the criminal, he would have already looked everywhere for proof that they were innocent. Ran decides to do the same thing. In the hotel room, Maeda blames the Night Baron rather than Akiko for the trouble on the trip, and Akiko tries to ask him something but can't manage it. Downstairs, Conan demonstrates to Yokomizo and Kogoro how to use scotch tape to close the anti-theft lock from the outside. Yokomizo realizes that Ebara was murdered, set up to look like an accident. When checking alibis, Akiko was confirmed to be in her room at the time of the murder, while the barman reports Hideko's suspicious use of sleeping pills. Kaneshiro and Shizue are also cleared, and Ran appears saying that Maeda has an alibi from some fans. However, Conan realizes that Maeda never mentioned the solid alibi to the police. While thinking, Conan finds his fountain pen on the ground in the outdoor restaurant and learns that wind always blows in the evenings, and stronger high up than at the ground. Conan realizes the origin of Ebara's fall and the identity of the killer. Nearby, Kogoro hears the suspicious karate skills of the Night Baron and orders the suspects be summoned. Conan slips up to the policemen with additional instructions, supposedly from Kogoro, for "an experiment to find the killer".

File 077 - Secret of the Fall Spot
As Conan waits for the experiment to be ready, Kogoro reviews the murder and alibis. When he reaches Maeda, Ran interrupts with the fans who provide Maeda's alibi. Confused, Kogoro switches his focus onto Konno. The police finally signal and Conan knocks Kogoro out with a tranquilizer dart, and starts the experiment: futons weighted to mimic a human, dropped from the balcony of every suspect's room.

Hide= |-|Show= The result of the experiment reveals that the strong wind blew Ebara's body directly onto the statue by chance, from the room of Akiko and Maeda. Maeda interrupts the accusation, claiming that he is the culprit, but Conan proves that Maeda tried to create the false alibi for Akiko because he added the black wig from the Night Baron costume he stole of Ebara. Akiko admits to being the murderer. Her motive was revenge for her brother's suicide after Ebara hacked his life's work and sold it to Hideko, who unknowingly bought and distributed the stolen program. She also confesses to having pushed Conan into the pool to try to scare Kogoro off before killing Ebara. Akiko tells Maeda to forget her and laughs as she's led away, but Conan notices that as she goes, there are tears in her eyes. To her shock, Maeda says he'll wait for her. The next morning, the tour participants check out and Hideko explains to Conan and Ran she used the sleeping pills to check Kogoro's notebook for his deductions of who had the Night Baron virus. Hideko wanted to create and antivirus program for it, and accuses Konno and Kaneshiro of more sinister intentions. Konno looks guilty and says nothing; Kaneshiro wanted the virus to take revenge on the virus creator who ruined a program he wrote four years ago. Kaneshiro pretended to have bad vision to seem more harmless. Hideko also mentions that she heard Ran worked hard to find an alibi for Maeda. Ran says she looked up to Maeda, and "he" told her not to give up until the end. Hideko thinks Ran means a boyfriend, though Ran denies it, and Conan also asks who she means. Ran is disappointed Conan is asking, and describes Shinichi as "that mystery freak wandering around somewhere", though Conan looks confused by the description.

Poisoned Bride Case
Anime Episode 18: A June Bride Murder Case

File 078 - The Bride's Tragedy
Ran, Sonoko and Conan attend the wedding of their junior high music teacher. Sonoko teases Ran about Shinichi, and also mentions that Shinichi is essentially tone deaf. Conan is unenthused about the wedding or the bride, but is still shocked into blushing with Sonoko and Ran at the sight of Sayuri in her wedding dress. Ran and Sonoko are in charge of videotaping the wedding and begin with Sayuri in her dress as they wait for the ceremony to begin. Kazumi Takenaka, Sayuri's college friend and cheerful ex-girlfriend of the groom, brings Sayuri her habitual warm lemon tea. More visitors include Sayuri's father, Police Superintendent Matsumoto, and Inspector Megure. Matsumoto asks Sayuri if she's sure about marrying her fiancee, and also picks up the lemon tea to comment on her childish enjoyment of the sweet drink. Another visitor is a fellow former junior high student who fancied Sayuri; after he leaves, the videocamera battery becomes low. Ran and Sonoko go to buy extras, leaving Conan with Sayuri. She comments that Conan (and also Shinichi) looks like her childhood first love, who got her hooked on warm lemon tea. However, he moved away suddenly, but before Sayuri can tell Conan the story's "epilogue", they are interrupted by the groomsmen shoving the groom, Toshihiko Takasugi, into the room. He compliments Sayuri, then picks up the tea and comments on it. Sonoko and Ran return, with Sonoko recognizing him as a fellow corporation heir, but her comments are interrupted by Sayuri passionately kissing Toshihiko. With the ceremony imminent, they all leave Sayuri, but immediately after the tea drops to the ground inside the room. Everyone rushes back in to find Sayuri collapsed with blood on her clothes and mouth.

File 079 - The Forbidden Lemon Tea!?
Conan orders Ran to call an ambulance and rinses Sayuri's mouth out with milk to counteract the effects of the caustic soda in the tea. She is taken to the hospital, but her chances of survival are unknown. Superintendent Matsumoto refuses to let anyone accompany her and starts the investigation into who might have poisoned her. Watching the CSI officer, Conan notices the remnants of a capsule in the tea. Everyone who entered the room is now a suspect, though the videotape Ran and Sonoko made doesn't show anyone putting the capsule in. While the police continue watching the tape, Conan look for evidence of a drying agent. Ran and Sonoko worry about Sayuri and Toshihiko mentions that when he was young, there was a girl he would give lemon tea to, though he didn't know her name and then she moved away. In the background, Kazumi gives Takihiko a dark look.

The capsule and fingerprint analysis reveals an estimate time of 16 minutes to dissolve. Oddly, Matsumoto's fingerprints are not on the can. Conan also notices something very strange in the video just before it ends, and learns from the officer that Umemiya's prints were also missing from the can. Another officer discovered a bottle with drying agent, in which the caustic soda was held, in the hall outside the room. As a result, Conan furiously realizes who the culprit is.

File 080 - A Reason to Kill
With only Sonoko available to use a voice, Conan uses his tranquilizer needle to knock her out and the bowtie to impersonate her. He directs Megure to the video, where Megure sees that just before Ran and Sonoko leave to get batteries, in the moment while Sonoko's head blocks the screen, the label of the can Sayumi drinks switches sides. Sonoko put her can on the table before leaving, and so Sayuri picked up the wrong can; the other can has Matsumoto's fingerprints on it, which proves the poison was placed less than seven minutes before Sayuri drank it.

Hide= |-|Show= Toshihiko was the only one with the opportunity to put the poison into the can other than Sayuri herself. Because the drying agent jar was in the hall, it had to be him. When Matsumoto grabs Toshihiko and demands to know why he would do that, Toshihiko responds that he wanted Matsumoto to feel the same despair he'd felt twenty years ago—when Toshihiko's mother was hit by a serial killer suspect's car during a chase, and Matsumoto ignored Toshihiko's pleas to continue the pursuit. Matsumoto hadn't realized anyone was hurt, and by the time he heard and visited Toshihiko's home, Toshihiko was already gone. He was adopted by the Takasugi corporation and met Sayuri in college, which inspired the thought of revenge. Toshihiko declares that Sayuri was clueless to his intentions, but Kazumi slaps him and yells that Sayuiri knew everything about his past, including that he was the boy who used to give her lemon tea. She'd worried about whether Toshihiko could ever forgive her father. Conan realizes Sayuri probably saw the caustic soda being put in, yet willingly drank the soda anyway. An officer arrives with the news that Sayuri will recover, to the relief of everyone, including Toshihiko. Two months later, Sayuri is released from the hospital and Ran, Sonoko and Conan visit her. Sayuri mentions that Toshihiko was not indicted because Sayuri drank the caustic soda of her own will. Sayuri even continues to drink lemon tea, and the narrative reveals that three years later, when Sayuri finally does get married, it's to Toshihiko after all.

Trivia

 * The title for each chapter are worded as the following in Case Closed:
 * File 072 - The Night Baron
 * File 073 - The Virus of Terror
 * File 074 - Under the Mask
 * File 075 - Rachel's Tears
 * File 076 - The Wind's Mischief?!
 * File 077 - The Secret of the Landing Spot
 * File 079 - Forbidden Lemon Tree?!