Episode 768: Ai Haibara Imprisonment Case
Scenario: The Detective Boys are wandering the streets in the residential area around Professor Agasa's house, worrying about Ai Haibara, who has gone missing since she went shopping several hours ago. At first, Genta, Mitsuhiko and Ayumi are wondering whether Ai has become the victim of a traffic accident, but then Conan finds a cat's shawl lying on the street. Seeing this, he remembers how he, Ai and the Professor recently met a friendly young woman named Mitsuru Higaki, along with her pet cat Chiro (who wore the shawl) and her Indian Star Tortoise.
Searching the vicinity for Chiro, they find the kitten inside a well in a park, but as they try to return it, Mrs. Higaki does not answer the doorbell, so they take the cat back to Agasa's house to feed it. After contacting Detective Chiba to learn whether there have been any accidents in the area (none have), Conan tries to contact Ai through her badge, but to no avail. And it's no small wonder, since at that very moment Haibara awakes to find both herself and Mrs. Higaki inside a darkened living room, solidly tied and gagged!
As Mitsuri Higaki recounts later, she was assaulted in her home and left tied up to a post while the culprit robbed her house. And as the TV was running, she also helplessly witnessed the news about the murder of her husband. Haibara was later brought into the living room as well and left tied to a chair, close to the post Mrs. Higaki was handcuffed to.
As soon as her situation becomes clear and she has realized that she has been out for five hours, Haibara remembers how she came by after concluding her shopping and spotted Chiro struggling with his shawl, which was wrapped around the leg of a telephone table. When she attempted to free the kitten, she was suddenly grabbed from behind and chloroformed, never getting a chance to see her attacker's face. Then she notices that the TV set in the room is running on silent mode, in which a newsflash appears that announces the murder of Naoshi Higaki, Mrs. Higaki's husband.
Naoshi Higaki was travelling to Chitose on a business trip when he was murdered under unknown circumstances.