Volume 3

Volume 3 was released on October 18, 1994 in Japan. The book contained only two stories, the Hatamoto Family Case and the Monthly Present Case.

Hatamoto Family Case
Anime Episode 22-23: Luxury Liner Serial Murder Case

File 020 - The Hatamoto Family
Conan and Ran enjoy the view from a luxury cruise ship, whose owners are charitably giving them a ride back to Tokyo since Kogoro forgot the departure time of their original boat. Conan and Ran notice another passenger, Natsue Hatamoto, who just married her husband, Takeshi, on the island they just left. Natsue's grandfather, Gozo, the head of the Hatamoto family and businesses, rants at the eldest son, Kitarou, for allowing non-family members onto the ship. Natsue's uncle, Joji Hatamoto, muses that Gozo's bad mood is likely from Joji cooking Western rather than traditional food. Gozo also belittles Kitarou's son, Ichirou, for being an artist and pursuing a hopeless dream. Gozo then orders Takeshi to come visit his room before dinner, and leaves. After he leaves, the disdain his descendants feel for him is revealed as Kitarou's wife, Mariko, Natsue's older sister, Akie, and Akie's husband, Tatsuo, argue over who will inherit everything after Gozo finally dies. Akie whispers shocking information to Mariko and mentions that there is only the twenty-four hours of the cruise to try to change anything.

Meanwhile, Gozo confronts Takeshi over the fact that Takeshi's identity is fake, and demands to know how he intends to avenge his father, though how Gozo wronged Isao Zaiki is not mentioned. Takeshi does not answer, but someone in the shadows overhears the conversation. As the family assembles for dinner, the butler goes to summon Gozo and finds the flower that Natsue gave Takeshi earlier just outside the door. Takeshi arrives at dinner a bit late and says he was thinking alone in his room, just before the butler's yell summons everyone to discover Gozo's dead body.

File 021 - The Secret of the Impenetrable Room


Kogoro confirms Gozo's death, to Natsue's dismay, and declares that he died approximately 40-50 minutes ago. He confirm Kenji's alibi, and that the locked door and lack of a weapon mean imply murder. The family argues suicide, but Conan proves that it was murder by the blood spatters on the doorframe that could have only have occurred with the door open. After being stabbed, Gozo closed the door and locked it from the inside, but then died from blood loss. The timing, however, means the culprit could have been anyone not in the dining room 40-50 minutes ago, which leaves the entire Hatamoto family but Natsue.

Kenji reports that the only unusual thing he noticed was a flower in front of the door—the flower Natsue had given to Takeshi. Takeshi denies guilt, but Mariko reports overhearing his conversation with Gozo about how he was son of a Zaiki Isao, a business rival who committed suicide after the Hatamoto group took over his company. Takeshi confessed to being Zaiki Takehiko, but denies having murdered Gozo in the face of repeated accusations from the Hatamoto family members, and Natsue's heartbroken doubt of his innocence. Conan ignores the drama to inspect the scene, and discovers something odd in the blood spatter.

File 022 - The Location of the Inheritance
The odd thing is a bloody piece of bread crust. Conan learns from Kenji that the wedding meal included french bread made by Joji, chef and manager of a french restaurant. Gozo hated Western style food, but any of the family ate and could have dropped the bread, and Joji owns cooking knives. Takeshi is locked in a storeroom to await arrest when the ship docks in Tokyo. The family minus Natsue, who has run off alone in distress, discuss the inheritance (and inadvertently reveal why they could benefit from Gozo's death), until Kenji reveals that rather than defaulting into division between members, a will designates Natsue as sole heir. No one takes the news well, though Kogoro tries to keep them calm. Ran and Conan find Natsue outside, afraid she can't trust Takeshi to have loved her. Ran encourages Natsue to believe in him. Conan hears strange sounds — a splash, and then a dull thud — from the lower deck, and after a moment he, Ran, and Natsue investigate only to find Tatsuo dead. The family gathers at the scene, then thinks to check whether Takeshi is still confined; Kogoro or Conan find the storeroom unlocked and empty.

File 023 - Family Obliteration
The empty storeroom appears to confirm Takeshi's guilt. After reviewing the crime, Kogoro speculates that Takeshi may intend to kill the whole family, and they should gather for the rest of the night together in the dining hall. Akie and Mariko blame Natsue for giving Takeshi access to the family, but Conan interjects that Takeshi's guilt isn't proven, because the room had to be opened from the outside. Someone let him out.

While Akie and Mariko argue further about motives and blame, Ran notices Ichiro's sketches of Natsue, which embarrasses him and bring him to Akie's attention. She accuses him and Kitaro of having motives to kill both, before Kogoro interrupts and orders everyone to calm down. Ichiro leaves to use the restroom. While he's gone, Joji suggests that Tatsuo may have let Takeshi out himself, with a plausible reasoning. Suddenly, a blackout occurs. Kogoro sends Ran and Conan to check on Ichiro while he restores the power, and they arrive to find Ichiro alive, but stabbed in the leg.

File 024 - Trap-Springer In The Dark


Ichiro denies having seen his attacker, but the knife on the floor is engraved with Joji's name. Joji claims the dining hall as an alibi for everyone but Takeshi, but Kogoro reveals that the blackout occurred on its own due to a timing device anyone could have set up. Conan studies the device carefully while Kogoro promises to find Takeshi. The family remain in the dining hall while Kogoro, Ran, Conan, and Kenji search the ship, including the rooms. In Kitaro's room, Kenji mentions that Mariko and Kitaro are cousins, who were close since childhood and married despite Gozo's disapproval. Joji's room reveals that two knives from his collection are missing; Ichiro's room contains nothing besides an easel sketchpad full of well-drawn pictures of Natsue and typical art supplies. The other rooms reveal nothing except for Akie's, where Conan sees something surprising in the closet but claims that nothing is there. Conan asks Kenji a whispered question that shocks the butler how he could possibly know a closely kept secret of one of the family. Kenji's confirmation resolves the three incidents in Conan's mind, and he lures Kogoro back into Akie's room and knocks him out using Agasa's latest invention, the Stun-Gun Wristwatch. Conan tells Ran to gather the family on Kogoro's behalf, and drags Kogoro's sleeping form into a chair facing away from the door to look normal. Ran and the others arrive after Conan hides out of sight, and Conan uses the bow-tie to explain that he knows who the criminal is.

File 025 - The Dream That Will Not Come True


Joji, Akie, and Mariko accuse Takeshi, but Conan-as-Kogoro insists on re-examining the crimes and evidence.
 * Gozo was stabbed with the door open, due to the blood on the doorframe, but no blood in the hallway indicates that the murderer stayed to clean it up — and would have noticed a flower dropped on the very floor they were cleaning. The flower was dropped on purpose to frame Takeshi.
 * Tatsuo's has no evidence of being preplanned, and the second missing knife from Joji's case and the sound of a splash before the thud are consistent with the idea that Tatsuo saw the murderer throwing the knife into the sea, and killed to be silenced. Takeshi was released by the murderer because otherwise he had a perfect alibi for the second of supposedly serial murders.
 * At Conan's prompting, Takeshi appears from inside Akie's closet to explain why he left the unlocked storeroom. Because Natsue screamed at finding Tatsuo's body, he thought something had happened to her and desperately tried to get out, until after a bit the door suddenly opened. Hearing himself accused again when he spied on the crime scene, he claims to have hidden in the closet from that point to this, which would make Ichiro's attacker someone else.

Hide= |-|Show= Ichiro's motive to kill Gozo is evident in his sketchbook, which contains nothing but picture of Natsue. Ichiro loved Natsue and asked Gozo for permission to marry her because he was too shy to confess to Natsue himself, but Gozo absolutely forbade Ichiro from marrying Gozo's favorite granddaughter. Gozo also gave Takeshi permission to marry Natsue right after, supposedly to spite Ichiro, and then on the cruise ordered Ichiro to give up his "hopeless dream". Ichiro confesses that Conan's deductions are right, and that he couldn't forgive either Gozo or Takeshi for his pain.
 * Ichiro claimed to have not seen his attacker because it was pitch black, but then the attacker could not have seen him either to stab accurately. Additionally, the knife was not removed from the scene, and Ichiro was not killed, a change in M.O. that implicates Ichiro himself as the culprit.
 * The critical evidence against Ichiro is the bread crust Conan found in the blood. Just before the murder, Ichiro was drawing with a charcoal stick and using a chunk of bread as an eraser, crumbs of which fell into his cuff and then into the blood when he stabbed Gozo. No one could have planted that piece of evidence to frame him in the rush of the murder.

Monthly Presents Case
Anime Episode 7: Once-A-Month Present Threat Case

File 026 - The Curious Presents


Ran receives a letter from Natsue Hatamoto of the Hatamoto Family Case, which mentions Shinichi as Ran's "detective boyfriend". Ran is pleasantly embarrassed, then wonders what happened to Shinichi, since he seems to have disappeared for too long to merely be on a tough case. Her thoughts are interrupted by a new client, who arrives bearing a small mountain of toys that accidentally drop onto Conan. He offers Conan a hand up, revealing a crease in the pad of his index finger, and then explains to Kogoro that he has been receiving one million yen and several toys every month for the last two years. His son just turned five, and enjoys the toys, but he hasn't been able to determine the sender and dares not touch the money. Conan asks whether it was one of the man's patients. After the man confirms he is a surgeon but none of the patients he could think of had sent the gifts, Conan explains that he knew without being told due to the scar-creases on the man's forefingers and the smell of disinfectant.

Ran is impressed and then unsettled at how Conan deduced just like Shinichi, but decides the connection is impossible. The surgeon also received a strange note that accompanied the last money payment, claiming the source will soon take what he's paid for. Conan comments on the oddity of the toys' lack of modern barcodes and used nature, which Kogoro realizes is unusual and must be deliberate, though he doesn't know why. Ran, watching the exchange, realizes that Conan led Kogoro's conclusions, and her suspicions renew.

File 027 - The Same Person
Kogoro dismisses the presents as a prank, but Dr. Ogawa is concerned that the supposed sender is an alias. The only clue is the letter, which Conan suggests refers to buying something - perhaps, Dr. Ogawa realizes, a valuable painting at the hospital. Kogoro latches onto the idea. At the hospital, Dr. Ogawa receives morning glories from the same anonymous sender, as he has on August 3rd for the last two years. Conan suggests to Kogoro checking Dr. Ogawa's patient medical records for anything significant on past August 3rd, which Ogawa reluctantly allows. Kogoro finds nothing useful in the records and leaves to examine the painting. Conan opts to stay behind.

Ran, still suspicious, pretends to leave and secretly observes Conan reviewing the records himself, completely unlike a child. Ran recalls Conan's behavior on previous cases, similar to Shinichi, and how Conan arrived the day Shinichi disappeared. Determined to make sure, Ran goes to ask Conan about his progress, and after Conan explains what he's found about the patients on August 3rd of three years ago, compliments him as if he were Shinichi. Conan starts to react to the compliment before he realizes with shock who Ran, now glaring, has accused him of being.

File 028 - The Mystery of August 3rd
Ran declares that she knows Conan must be Shinichi. Conan, panicking at the thought that his identity might get out to the men in black, grabs a "Gameman" and a video game cartridge and pretends to love playing it like any kid would. Ran isn't convinced, but then remembers several embarrassing moments if Shinichi were Conan after all, including how she confessed her feelings.

Hide= |-|Show= As Ran is frozen with potential embarrassment, Conan realizes that the high score names on the game, Tomoya Ogino, matches a five-year-old boy who died on Dr. Ogawa's operating table three years ago on August 3rd. Conan realizes the implication and yells for Ran to retrieve Kogoro and Dr. Ogawa immediately, which convinces Ran that she's right even as she obeys. Conan explains his conclusions: Dr. Ogawa attempt to check on Yuta at his kindergarten near the hospital reveals that a man pretending to be Yuta's father just picked him up. Knowing they must still be nearby, Conan runs off to search on foot, followed by the others. At Beika park, Yuta happily receives a present from Mr. Ogino, who confirms Yuta's question that he'll take Yuta to a nice place very soon. As Yuta is distracted opening the gift, the man pulls out a knife hidden beneath his coat.
 * Tomoya's father, Mr. Ogino, is sending is sending money and Tomoya's used toys every month, and also the morning glory flowers on the anniversary of his son's death. Mr. Ogino blames Dr. Ogawa for Tomoya's death and sends the 'gifts' out of resentment.
 * The letter speaks of a transaction, which means Mr. Ogino will take the life of Dr. Ogawa's son, Yuta, in revenge, on the same day Tomoya died - today, August 3rd.

File 029 - Safe Before Your Eyes
Hide= |-|Show= As Mr. Ogino prepares to send Yuta to join Tomoya in death, Conan and the other race across a raised bridge passing alongside Beika park. Dr. Ogawa sees Yuta and Mr. Ogino with the knife, but there's no way to get down into the park in time. Conan sees to boys playing with a soccer ball behind them, and uses his Power-Enhancing Kick Shoes to kick the ball past the horrified watchers and on to knock the knife straight out of Mr. Ogino's hand, shattering another tree in the process. Ran notices Conan on the ground afterwards and wonders if he did it, but there's no time to think further as they hurry down to where Yuta is.



Mr. Ogino recovers the knife before they arrive, and threatens Yuta with it, claiming that Dr. Ogawa made a mistake responsible for killing Yuta and that he could never understand the feelings of a man who lost his son so young. He confirms that he sent the money, which was from Tomoya's life insurance, and the toys. Dr. Ogawa begs Mr. Ogino to hurt him instead if he must, rather that Yuta. Mr. Ogino seems too angry until Yuta finally realizes that Mr. Ogino sent the toys, and happily thanks him with a smile that reminds Mr. Ogino of Tomoya. Overcome, Mr. Ogino drops the knife and falls to his knees, crying, and admits that he was wrong. Kogoro order Ran to call the police, but Dr. Ogawa asks them not too, as he understands Mr. Ogino's feelings as a fellow father.

Returning to the Agency, Kogoro wonders why Mr. Ogino waited two years, which Conan unthinkingly dismisses as obviously wanting Yuta to be the same age as Tomoya first. Ran calls Conan on being "brilliant as always", which Conan nervously dismisses and then runs off with the excuse he has something to do. When he finally returns after dark, Kogoro is out and Ran offers to make dinner. She mentions a teacher from middle school while Conan is distracted reading a magazine, and he replies with a comment Conan shouldn't have known enough to make. Ran demands that he admit his identity, only for the phone to ring. Conan convinces her to reluctantly answer it, and the caller appears to be Shinichi, though it's really Agasa with the Voice-Changing Bowtie. Ran is more than happy to believe the alibi and her mood instantly improves, to Conan's relief and Agasa's silent chagrin.

Trivia

 * The video game Conan plays during the Monthly Presents Case is called Yaiba's Great Adventure, a reference to one of Gosho's earlier manga. The magazine Conan reads after he gets home is Shōnen Sunday, which Detective Conan is serialized in.
 * The title for each chapter are worded as the following in Case Closed:
 * File 021 - The Secret of the Locked Room
 * File 022 - Who Gets the Fortune?
 * File 023 - Family Massacre
 * File 024 - Who Rigged the Darkness?
 * File 025 - Unattainable Dream
 * File 026 - A Strange Gift
 * File 027 - The Same Person
 * File 028 - The Mystery of August 3rd
 * File 029 - The Nick of Time