Conan: I'm really not the mastermind behind the scenes

The two entered safely and left safely.

There were no screams or accidents during this time, and Morofushi Kagemitsu quietly breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the light at the door again.

He had heard Matsuda say that when some of his colleagues or detectives came to Beika for meals, shopping, or events, nine times out of ten they would encounter a murder or attempted murder. He was surprised to find that he was lucky and didn't encounter one this time.

—This idea came to an abrupt end when he nearly bumped into Aoyagi Akimitsu.

For some reason, Aoyagi Akimitsu noticed something and suddenly stopped walking in front of him. Morofushi Kagemitsu was very close to him, and the sudden stop almost caused a collision, but fortunately he managed to stop in time.

Morofushi Kagemitsu was somewhat puzzled, but soon he also heard the commotion outside.

"Mommy! Mommy! Come here! I want to see this!!"

A child's shout came from the outside corridor.

Looking out, Morobuchi Kagemitsu saw a brightly lit corridor where a woman was walking towards the Hell Exhibition Hall, leading a child on each side.

The two children were dressed exactly alike.

"...Oh, twins."

He heard Aoyagi Akimitsu mutter something under his breath, his tone light and cheerful, as if he was in a good mood.

Then he went straight out to greet them.

Zhu Fujingguang: “……?”

He quickly followed.

A woman, alone with her two children, was telling the one on the left, who was constantly jumping around, to be quiet in public and not disturb others. Suddenly, someone appeared from the darkness, startling her.

Fortunately, in the next second, she saw Aoyagi Akimitsu's face.

"You are... Aoyagi-sensei?"

She called out hesitantly.

Morofushi Kagemitsu followed behind, noticing the way the woman addressed Aoyagi Akimitsu, and subconsciously looked at her face.

Looking at him, he vaguely felt that the other person looked familiar.

"Long time no see, Hoshino-sensei. I'm no longer a teacher, just call me 'Aoyagi'."

Aoyagi Akimitsu smiled kindly at her, then looked down at the two children beside her legs: "Are they your children? They're very cute."

Seeing others praising her children, Ms. Hoshino smiled as well. She brought the two children to her side and introduced them to Aoyagi Akimitsu:
"The older brother is Yota, and the younger brother is Mochizuki. They are three years old this year. Come on, Yota, Mochizuki, quickly say hello to this uncle. He is Mom's former colleague."

Two identical little boys looked at Aoyagi Akimitsu together. The younger brother stared at the face that was clearly different from that of a Japanese person, his eyes full of curiosity, while the older brother only glanced at him briefly before hiding behind his mother, his fingers still gripping the hem of her clothes.

Neither of the two children greeted him properly; one of them even hid. Hoshino said awkwardly, "Sorry, I'm a little shy."

"fine."

Aoyagi Akimitsu smiled again, his eyes softening.

He crouched down and reached out his hand to his twin brother, who was still staring at him curiously: "Come on, want a hug?"

The younger twin was noticeably more lively than his older brother. He looked up at his mother, and seeing that she didn't object, he happily ran to Aoyagi Akimitsu and jumped into his open arms.

Aoyagi Akimitsu held him firmly with one arm and stood up again.

The little boy grabbed his shoulder, fidgeting restlessly, then grabbed a handful of his hair and tugged at it, exclaiming, "Mommy, this uncle has long hair. He looks like a girl."

Hoshino-sensei's expression stiffened slightly again. She wanted to apologize to Aoyagi Akimitsu, but he said nonchalantly, "It's nothing. Is this the first time he's seen a man with long hair? It's smart for a child his age to speak in such long sentences."

Morofushi Kagemitsu watched their interaction silently from the side.

Just when he thought Aoyagi Akimitsu had forgotten about him, the other man turned around and said to him, "Morofushi, this is Hoshino, my former colleague from when I was a teacher in Minato Ward. She is a home economics teacher."

Morobuchi Kagemitsu stepped forward and greeted him with a smile.

"You want to participate in this exhibition?"

After a brief introduction between the two sides, Aoyagi Akimitsu asked.

Hoshino-sensei nodded, looking at the child still being held by Aoyagi Akimitsu with a troubled expression. "The younger brother wants to go in and take a look. He's been clamoring to come here since the front gate. The older brother doesn't seem to care... Well, if only their personalities could be combined."

Aoyagi Akimitsu thought for a moment and said, "I just visited. It's very dark inside, and the edges of the sculptures are quite sharp. Children could easily bump into them. Would you like to go somewhere else?"

While they were talking, Morofushi Kagemitsu was observing the twins.

He had just seen an oil painting about twins and the origin of Gemini, and now he was seeing a pair of twin brothers in person, which he found quite a coincidence.

He discovered that although the two brothers looked and dressed the same, their expressions made them instantly distinguishable.

The older brother was quiet, having remained silent behind his mother since earlier, quietly observing them, and showing no reaction to Aoyagi Akimitsu's kind suggestion.
The younger brother, lively and energetic, was currently perched on Aoyagi Binguang's shoulder, kneading the tuft of hair tied up at the back of his head like clay. When Aoyagi objected, he abruptly turned his head away.

"No! I want to go in and see!!" he screamed. "I want to see the devil!"

The child's voice was high-pitched and thin, and the volume was particularly loud. If the exhibition hall hadn't been in such a remote location, his shout would definitely have attracted a crowd.

Aoyagi Akimitsu seemed stunned. Hoshino-sensei quickly stepped forward, took the shouting twin brother from his arms, and gently comforted him, then turned around and apologized repeatedly.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Aoyagi, that’s just how this child is.” She smiled wryly. “Thank you for reminding me, but I still have to take them in to see him. If he doesn’t see him, he’ll be making a fuss all night, and I can’t soothe him by myself.”

Aoyagi Akihiro remained silent.

Morofushi Kagemitsu also didn't have the habit of interfering in other people's family affairs.

He watched her leave with her twin brother, and was about to say something to Aoyagi Akimitsu when he caught a glimpse of another small figure coming into view.

He was the older of the twins, temporarily left behind by his mother and younger brother. He stood next to Aoyagi Bin's bare legs, looking up at the tall man in front of him, and poked his calf with his hand.

"Uncle, could you please squat down one more time?" he said. Morofushi Kagemitsu looked at the previously silent child with some surprise; he hadn't expected the child to speak so fluently.

Aoyagi Akimitsu wasn't surprised and readily squatted down.

The older twin slowly walked around to Aoyagi Akimitsu's side and reached for his hair. He also grasped the tuft of hair tied up at the back of his head and squeezed it several times, just like his younger brother had done before.

"Okay. I've done the pinching too. Thank you."

He tightened his little face and thanked him in a very serious manner.

Zhu Fu Jingguang: "..."

He did have brothers, but they were older brothers, several years his senior, and very mature since he could remember; they had never done anything like this. However, these were twins, and their relationship might be different from that of ordinary siblings.

He had heard a story before that twins were dressed the same when they were little, not because their parents deliberately bought them the same clothes, but because they would argue over different things, so they simply bought two sets.

It gets better when the child is a little older, but some Geminis who are very close to their children will continue this habit.

—I always buy two identical copies of the same things, the things I like.

A vague memory flashed through Morobuchi Kagemitsu's mind.

So fast was it that by the time he realized what had happened, he couldn't even remember what he had just recalled.

"Brother (Ni-chan)! What are you still doing here!"

Just then, the younger twin ran out again, finally realizing he had lost his older brother. He ran to his brother, took his hand, and without even glancing at the two adults standing nearby, pulled his brother along and ran off again.

Morofushi Kagemitsu snapped out of his thoughts, watching the two brothers run off into the distance, his gaze falling on Hoshino-sensei, who had followed them out and was standing at the door.

He remembered.

He had seen the woman's information before; she was the home economics teacher whom he temporarily filled in for when Furuya Rei infiltrated the Minato Ward Junior High School for his investigation.

However, his impression of her went beyond that.

Three years ago, he met Anisette at a bar. Some men tried to flirt with her, but she ended up stealing their wallets. He had seen her picture in one of the wallets, and Anisette had even mocked some of the men who tried to pick her up, saying they were married.

And he remembered what happened afterward...

Standing beside him, Aoyagi Akimitsu watched her lead the twins into the darkness alone, and whispered, "Being a single mother is really not easy, especially with two children."

Morofushi Kagemitsu fell silent for a moment.

He had seen her information and naturally knew about her family situation.

She was indeed a single mother, but she didn't divorce her husband after discovering he was having affairs during her pregnancy; her husband was already dead.

On November 7, three years ago, the day he was exposed, a high-rise apartment building in Beika collapsed, killing 198 people. This was one of the worst bombings in Japan in recent years, with casualties comparable to the cumulative number of murders in Tokyo over two months.

According to the survivor's report, Hoshino was at the hospital for a prenatal checkup at the time, which is why she escaped the disaster.

"If the child's father were still alive..."

Zhu Fujingguang stopped halfway through his speech.

A reliable spouse can indeed help care for the children and ease the burden, but a spouse suspected of having an affair...

"There's no difference."

Aoyagi Akimitsu seemed to share the same view, his voice as gentle as when he was coaxing the child into a hug.

"That guy who stayed home all those years ago and let his wife go to prenatal checkups alone, even if he were alive now, she'd probably be out having fun with the kids by herself, right? In that case, what difference does it make whether this so-called father is alive or dead?"

Morofushi Kagemitsu: "…………"

He really wanted to say, "Don't be so absolute. What if the other party happens to have something to do that day?" "The child's father needs to earn money, right?"...

But when he turned around and saw Aoyagi Akimitsu, all the words stuck in his throat.

The man in front of me smiled gently, but beneath that handsome and gentle exterior, something was subtly revealed.

Almost instantly, a chilling pressure suddenly pressed down on Morofushi Kagemitsu. His pupils contracted, and he instinctively tensed up, becoming alert.

“Let’s go to the ‘Ocean’ pavilion next. I saw a nice sailboat model in the brochure, and there are also oil paintings on display there… Hmm? What’s wrong?”

Aoyagi Akimitsu flipped through the brochure again, and as if sensing the eerie silence around him, he looked up at Morofushi Kagemitsu with a puzzled expression.

Looking at that nonchalant face, Morofushi Kagemitsu almost doubted whether he had misheard what he had just heard.

However, he did not sense any malice from Aoyagi Akihiro—whether as a police officer or a former undercover agent, he was very sensitive to the evil intentions of others—his body gradually relaxed, but he could not completely feel at ease.

"You've just……"

Zhu Fujingguang tried to inquire.

But before he could ask the question, Aoyagi Akimitsu seemed to remember something and interrupted him.

"By the way, there's no one here right now, I have something I want to ask you."

Aoyagi Akimitsu was still smiling; he seemed to really enjoy smiling. The light from the corridor fell on his eyes, and for a moment, Morofushi Kagemitsu couldn't see his gaze clearly.

"A lot happened to the police today."

Aoyagi Akimitsu spoke slowly and deliberately, his unhurried tone gradually piercing Morofushi Kagemitsu's ears.

"—Will you report the truth?" (End of Chapter)