Spoilers: This article reveals the murderer and disguise trick, and later discusses a separate revelation from The Million-dollar Pentagram.
Kid VS Hakuba: The Azure Throne spans international episodes 1252–1253 (Japanese episodes 1193–1194) and adapts Volume 105, Files 1119–1122. Secretary Kyuya Kamiji murders his employer and impersonates him inside a security system designed to trap Kaitou Kid. Conan must solve that murder while Kid, disguised as Shinichi Kudo, helps him in front of Saguru Hakuba.
A display room built to defeat Kid
Jirokichi Suzuki has spent roughly five billion yen adding a sky-high exhibition room to Bell Tree Tower. Its centerpiece is the Azure Throne, a chair adorned with an exceptionally large tanzanite. Inspector Nakamori joins the operation, but the conspicuously light guard presence conceals a different defense.
Mist sprays from the four corners of the room. The humid environment is intended to ruin Kid’s clothing and disguises, while people conducting checks wear protective suits and caps. That protection also hides faces, creating an opportunity the security plan was not meant to provide.
The people connected to the installation include company president Yotaro Kichida, his wife Satsuki, technical department head Kase and secretary Kamiji. Once the final inspection is over, a localized power outage interrupts the display-room area. Backup power restores the view, but Conan notices something wrong on the surveillance feed.
He enters the room and finds Kichida shot dead on the throne, a silenced pistol nearby and Kid at the scene. Kid insists that Kichida was already dead when he arrived. The timing and the smell of gunpowder give Conan reasons to investigate that account instead of treating proximity to the body as a complete solution.
Conan has to cooperate with an imitation of himself
Hakuba supplied the idea for the anti-Kid system. His plan now has to account for Conan being inside the room as well, and the operation shifts to sealing the scene and questioning those involved. Kid faces the immediate danger of being blamed for a murder he did not commit.
Conan accepts a conditional partnership, and Kid presents himself as Shinichi Kudo. The result is an unusual contest: Hakuba investigates while Conan works alongside a man borrowing his own appearance. Their exchanges have to communicate deductions without openly exposing either deception.
Hakuba notices the odd way Conan and the supposed Shinichi interact, including Conan’s direction of his partner. His observation creates pressure, but it does not establish that he has solved Conan’s identity. Conan’s secret remains intact at the end of this encounter.
The apparent sighting of a living president
Kamiji’s deception begins with Kichida’s murder and an imitation of the victim. The protective clothing conceals much of the wearer’s face. Kichida’s glasses, eyebrows and facial hair can be imitated, and his hoarse voice after the previous night’s karaoke reduces another obstacle.
The apparent president seen leaving on the camera is therefore no assurance that Kichida was alive. The disguise, the outage and the restricted view through the louvered lens all help separate what the observers think they have seen from what happened to the body.
Kamiji also makes a return to the room lasting only about ten seconds. Moving the body onto the throne during that brief opportunity explains why the scene can change despite the tight limits on time inside. The key questions are who could carry Kichida quickly and what traces that handling would leave.
Three clues connect the impersonation to Kamiji
The first discrepancy is a habitual gesture. In a photograph with his wife, Kichida crosses his arms with his right hand uppermost. The apparent Kichida on the surveillance image has his left hand uppermost, matching Kamiji. The mismatch challenges the identification made from the concealed face.
Kamiji’s former work as a firefighter gives him experience of a shoulder carry suitable for moving a person quickly. Scuff marks on the toes of Kichida’s shoes fit the body having been lifted in that way. His experience explains the short return; it is not, by itself, proof that no other person could move a body.
Blood on Kamiji’s shoe heel then links him to the handling of the injured victim. Its blood type matches Kichida’s. The match supports the reconstruction together with the arm-crossing discrepancy and carry marks; a shared blood type should not be confused with a uniquely identifying DNA result.
Kamiji has several reasons to fear Kichida’s next move. His affair with Satsuki has been discovered, he faces dismissal after the Kid incident, and failed stock investments have left him in financial difficulty. He uses the highly publicized theft attempt to cover a murder motivated by his own impending collapse.
Hakuba’s return and the resemblance between Kid and Shinichi
Hakuba’s presence brings Kid’s rival from Magic Kaito back into the Conan story. He and Kaito Kuroba are schoolmates, and his pursuit of Kid makes their everyday relationship part of the tension. His pursuit does not amount to a public identity reveal in this murder case.
Kid’s resemblance to Shinichi makes the disguise especially provocative. Their exchange about why they look alike remains an unresolved question within this case, even while the similarity helps sustain the temporary partnership.
The separate film The Million-dollar Pentagram supplies a family explanation: Toichi Kuroba and Yusaku Kudo are twins, making Kaito and Shinichi cousins. That is a movie revelation; it should not be presented as a fact established by the Azure Throne investigation itself.
The murder works especially well alongside these identity games. Kid uses disguise to help solve a crime, while Kamiji uses a less elaborate impersonation to manufacture an apparent sighting. The final answer depends on an ordinary gesture, a practical way of carrying a body and a trace left on a shoe.
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