Spoilers for Detective Conan manga Files 1167-1169, including the culprit and the end of Ran’s elevator ordeal.
File 1169 identifies composer Kaede Baba as Futaba Kumoi’s killer, explains the guitar-chord message, and brings Ran Mouri’s long attachment to her flip phone to a turning point: Shinichi Kudo buys her a smartphone. The case closes, but her suggestion that they try video calls creates a new problem for a boyfriend who usually looks like Conan Edogawa.
The chapter concludes the case that began in File 1167 and developed its musical clues in File 1168. File 1169, Chizome no Kodo (tentative title), appeared in Japan in Weekly Shonen Sunday issue 45 on October 7, 2026. That Japanese magazine date does not establish a release date for an English edition.
A call from “Takagi” exposes the killer
The chapter opens after Kumoi’s funeral. Baba is speaking with staff members, and we learn that the composer and singer had been making songs together for twenty years. The composer receives a phone call from someone claiming to be Detective Wataru Takagi of the police’s First Investigation Division.
The caller says that Kumoi’s body was found on a mountain, but that she may have been killed elsewhere and left in a small enclosed space. Water-based paint has also been detected on her clothing. Asked whether any of this sounds familiar, Baba remembers trapping her in an elevator and moving her body so that an elevator inspector would not discover it.
Those memories reveal Baba as the killer. Baba agrees to meet “Takagi” the next day, but the immediate danger is that the elevator still contains evidence.
The caller is actually Conan, using his Voice-Changing Bowtie to imitate Takagi. With Ran still trapped, he needs more than the culprit’s name: he needs to make Baba act. The call makes Baba fear that the police are closing in, prompting the composer to return to the building to destroy the remaining traces.
How the guitar-chord message points to Kaede Baba
Ran’s descriptions of the wall markings provide the key. Conan first identifies three chord letters: A, C and E. Placing those letters in the portions he can read produces the incomplete sequence ?A?ACAE?E.
The pattern makes him suspect Baba. He checks the remaining chords, and the completed message reads BABACAEDE, pointing to the composer’s name. The letters shown in the message are worth keeping distinct from the usual English spelling, Kaede Baba: the clue is the chord-letter sequence itself.
This resolves the question left open in File 1168. The blood and musical markings belong to the same case as the singer’s death, rather than being unrelated discoveries. Information from Ran’s isolated surroundings and the news Conan heard can finally be fitted together.
Baba returns to the elevator, and the crime is explained
Speaking as Shinichi, Conan has warned Ran to stay quiet if someone comes: that person will be the culprit. Baba arrives outside the elevator with supplies, including disinfectant spray, to remove the traces. Conan uses his Stun-Gun Wristwatch to put Baba to sleep, stopping the attempted destruction of evidence and bringing the ordeal to its resolution.
Baba and Kumoi had been arguing about their recent songs. They went drinking together at a live music venue, hoping to return to the spirit of their earlier work, but the disagreement flared up again. Baba stabbed her.
The wounded Kumoi fled into the elevator, which stopped between floors. Baba took advantage of the stoppage to keep her trapped. The composer later moved her body to the mountain, but the bloodstains and the coded message remained inside the elevator.
The distinction matters: the stopped elevator gave Baba an opportunity. This account does not establish that Baba arranged for it to stop in advance. The sequence is an argument, a stabbing, Kumoi’s attempt to escape, and Baba’s decision to exploit where she became trapped.
Ran finally moves from a flip phone to a smartphone
After the case, Ran, Sonoko Suzuki and Conan head home in Professor Agasa’s car. Sonoko passes on a message from Shinichi: he will buy Ran a smartphone, and he has sent possible models for her to choose from. Later, Ran is using her new phone.
That change has been prepared throughout the case. In File 1167, Ran could not check a map on her flip phone. In File 1168, its grainy photograph could not convey the markings clearly enough. Those practical limitations lead naturally into the new handset, but they are only part of why the ending works.
Ran kept the old phone because Shinichi had bought it for her. Now the replacement is another gift from him. She can move forward without the story treating her attachment as foolish. The emotional reason for keeping the first phone becomes the reason the next one feels right.
There is a little sadness in losing such a familiar part of Ran’s everyday life. Even so, I like this resolution: it acknowledges what the old phone meant to her while giving the pair a new way to communicate. A change of belongings feels like a small step in their relationship.
Shinichi’s old card trick was about counting, not musical expertise
In a later phone conversation, Ran asks how Shinichi solved the card-guessing challenge recalled in File 1168. His apparent understanding of guitar chords had seemed surprising given his difficulty with music.
The possible cards were ACE, JACK, QUEEN and KING, and the guitar had been played three times. Only ACE has three letters. Shinichi used the number of times the guitar was played to identify the card, rather than recognizing the chord types.
This makes the memory more revealing than a simple demonstration that Shinichi knows everything. He picked out a condition he could understand and approached the problem from another direction. The answer sounds almost disarmingly simple once explained; spotting it at the time is what makes the deduction satisfying.
The impressive Shinichi in Ran’s memory gets a less glamorous explanation, but it does not make him less dependable. I enjoyed that balance. The flashback contributes to the musical mystery, then finds its second payoff in an ordinary conversation between the two.
Why this case works without suspects standing in front of Ran
Across Files 1167-1169, Ran begins with a location and its traces: blood, strange markings and a stopped elevator. She does not have a group of suspects nearby whose statements she can compare. The interest lies in reconstructing what happened in that space from incomplete information.
Her observations reach Conan over the phone, while the news of Kumoi’s death supplies information from elsewhere. Once Baba’s recollection reveals the killer, the chapter changes its focus. The question becomes how Conan can make Baba return to the place where Ran is trapped.
Identifying the culprit and drawing Baba back are separate parts of Conan’s solution. The chord message gives Conan the name; the imitation of Takagi gives Baba a reason to act. That second move turns the deduction into a response to Ran’s immediate situation.
Ran also contributes more than a plea for rescue. She notices the traces in the dark and communicates their shapes. Her observation and Shinichi’s reasoning work together despite the distance between them. The unusual setup makes that cooperation especially clear.
Video calls create a new complication, but a 2027 movie link is still speculation
The final suggestion is wonderfully awkward: now that she has a smartphone, Ran wants to try a video call with Shinichi. For her, seeing his face as well as hearing his voice would be a welcome change. For Shinichi, who normally has Conan’s appearance, it is not a request he can easily accept.
The gift that makes communication easier may therefore make his hidden identity harder to manage. That mixture of warmth and frustration feels right for this pair. The practical problem with Ran’s old phone has been solved, while the deeper problem between them remains.
Could this change also matter in the 2027 film? The year marks the film series’ thirtieth anniversary, which makes the possibility tempting. A direct connection between this manga case and that movie is not confirmed.
One possible use would be for Ran to share images of a scene so that Shinichi can help her, while he still has to avoid showing his own face. That is a hypothetical story direction, rather than a scene announced for the film. What interests me is how the new phone could bring them closer while exposing the limits of what he can share.
Even without a movie connection, the ending leaves a warm impression. The bloodstains are explained and the killer is stopped, but Ran’s new phone leaves a fresh question hanging between her and Shinichi.
When is Detective Conan File 1170 coming out?
The Japanese article lists File 1170 for Weekly Shonen Sunday issue 1, scheduled for December 2, 2026. That is a reported Japanese magazine schedule, not a confirmed English release date; the schedule may change.
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