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

When Furuya Rei saw the person's face clearly, he was slightly taken aback.

He had met the other person before; it was Sirov Chinnikov, the Russian embassy staff member who had visited the Suzuki family in the previous Skobing case.

The Russian secretary was clearly not as perceptive as the FBI agent beside him; he was completely unaware that others were observing them. He waved goodbye to Aoyagi Akimitsu and turned to walk towards a nearby car.

Meanwhile, Aoyagi Akimitsu, accompanied by Edogawa Conan, continued walking towards Furuya Rei.

"Officer Matsuda, Officer Furiya?"

Conan Edogawa was short, and his view had been blocked by the car until he got closer, at which point he noticed Rei Furuya and the others. He asked in surprise, "What are you doing here?"

When Matsuda Jinpei heard him call out the real name of the person next to him, he glanced in surprise at Furuya Rei. Furuya Rei said in a low voice, "I met him when I was working on a case in Osaka."

He then greeted the two men: "Good evening, Mr. Aoyagi, Conan-kun. We're here for the Full Paradise Games launch event, are you two here too?"

Aoyagi Akimitsu smiled and said, "Yes, Conan happened to have tickets, so he invited me to come along."

Rei Furuya's gaze swept over the two of them: "Then why did you come to the parking lot from that direction? I remember the press conference entrance was on the other side."

Aoyagi Akimitsu lowered his head, and Edogawa Conan smiled awkwardly: "It's my fault. I was already in line to enter, but then I realized I hadn't picked up my ticket, so I had to come back to get it."

Rei Furuya had already heard this, but he asked again to show that he and Matsuda had only been there a short time and hadn't heard anything they shouldn't have.

Matsuda Jinpei guessed something and turned to the red sports car next to him and the elementary school student's backpack inside: "So this Ferrari is yours?"

"I suppose so," Aoyagi Akimitsu replied.

He suppressed his smile, his tone neither warm nor cold, unlike other luxury car owners who, upon hearing someone mention their car, would launch into a long discussion about its performance and how difficult it was to acquire it, as if the car in front of them were merely an insignificant object.

Because of his overly indifferent reaction, Matsuda Jinpei, who was originally very interested in the car, had to swallow back all the questions he wanted to ask.

Aoyagi Akimitsu was indifferent to the car, but he was very gentle with the child next to him. He took out his key, opened the car door, bent down, picked up the schoolbag, and handed it to Edogawa Conan.

"If you two want to get in early, it would be best to go now."

He turned to Furuya Rei and Matsuda Jinpei.

"This press conference is very large; almost everyone in the industry is here. It will probably take a long time to queue up."

Rei Furuya understood that this meant they didn't intend to travel together and wanted them to leave as soon as possible, so he readily agreed, "Then we won't bother you any longer."

……

Rei Furuya and Jinpei Matsuda walked together toward the press conference venue.

After walking a distance and finding no one else around, Matsuda Jinpei brought up Aoyagi Akimitsu again: "The foreigner next to him just now didn't look like an FBI agent."

Furuya Rei turned his gaze away from a corner where someone could easily lie in wait and replied, "Indeed, no, they were diplomats from the Russian embassy."

"..."

After what happened last Saturday, Matsuda Jinpei is temporarily more sensitive to the word "Russia," and he was surprised: "How could they be together?"

Rei Furuya is very secretive about the affairs of his country's officials, but he doesn't mind sharing those that are not important, such as those involving foreign affairs: "It must be for that emerald."

Seeing Matsuda Jinpei's puzzled expression, he added, "Aoyagi used to wear an emerald, which was probably a collection item of a Romanov dynasty empress. He intended to return it to Russia."

Although the Russian secretary mentioned a donation at the castle in Yokosuka, not long ago, Furuya Rei discovered that a wealthy Russian had come to Japan.

This wealthy man is quite famous; he frequently buys royal treasures that have been scattered abroad at various auctions around the world and then donates them to museums in his own country. Someone like him certainly wouldn't be coming to Japan for simple tourism.

Matsuda Jinpei, unaware of what happened next, simply said "Oh" after hearing Furuya Rei's description.

"That FBI agent's house must be quite extraordinary, right?" he said thoughtfully. "Ordinary agents can't afford these things." Furuya Rei was a little helpless. He knew that Matsuda Jinpei wasn't gossiping or prying into other people's privacy; he was simply still thinking about that rare limited-edition sports car.

“This has nothing to do with us.” He emphasized, pulling his friend along and quickening their pace. “Let’s hurry to the venue; there are definitely a lot of people here today.”

The two quickly arrived at the entrance. They didn't make the same mistake as Conan Edogawa and quickly got their tickets and lined up to enter.

The venue was packed with people, with queues forming in front of almost every arcade machine. In addition to the players and the staff who were giving introductions, there were also some curious onlookers watching them play.

Matsuda Jinpei, unusually, didn't seem to mind the large crowd; the point of these press conferences was the lively atmosphere. He picked up a booklet from the side and flipped through it: "Which one do you prefer? How about we go check out the area with the online mode first?"

Furuya Rei was only here to look after Matsuda Jinpei; he didn't care what they did for fun. He casually agreed while glancing around again.

It turned out it wasn't his imagination.

He noticed it as soon as he entered: besides the Japanese, there were quite a few foreigners in the venue...

……

the other side.

After obtaining the tickets, Aoyagi Akimitsu led Edogawa Conan back to the scene.

Looking at the crowd that had nearly doubled in size, Conan Edogawa broke out in a cold sweat, once again regretting his mistake.

Aoyagi Akimitsu looked at him and held out his hand: "There are a lot of people here, do you want me to hold your hand?"

"No need, no need." Conan Edogawa waved his hands repeatedly, muttering, "I'm not a real child, I won't get lost."

The two walked through the crowd, curiously looking around, but hadn't yet found a game that interested them. As Conan Edogawa walked, he noticed something—

"Are there a lot of foreigners today?"

Aoyagi Akimitsu had done his homework before coming: "This press conference not only invited Japanese industry professionals, but also extended invitations to well-known overseas game companies—look over there, the person talking to the president of Mantendo is the head of a game project at Syndora."

Conan Edogawa looked over and saw a bald, middle-aged man talking to a foreign man in a corner.

They were accompanied by three people dressed as office workers. One of them, who wore glasses and had a typical office worker vibe, quickly glanced at his watch when no one was looking at him.

Conan Edogawa recognized the foreigner: "It's him?"

Aoyagi Akimitsu lowered his head: "You know him?"

Conan Edogawa shook his head: "I wouldn't say I know him, but I've seen him before..."

A week ago, his parents returned to Japan, but left again after only a few days.

They came back this time to see their son and their long-lost brother, but their most important purpose was actually to retrieve some documents.

Besides writing novels, Yusaku Kudo also takes on scripts for movies, TV dramas, and games. This time, he received a commission from a large company.

"They are developing a virtual reality game called 'Cocoon'. The technology is in place, now all they need is a suitable script."

Conan Edogawa looked in that direction.

“The night before my dad passed away, I saw him video chatting with someone—the person over there—they were discussing the script, and it seemed they were planning to reference some famous unsolved cases, allowing players to solve those puzzles from a detective’s perspective.”

Aoyagi Akimitsu gave a soft "hmm," and no one knew what he was thinking.

The two didn't seem inclined to approach, but just as Aoyagi Akimitsu was about to pull Edogawa Conan away, the foreigner happened to turn around and see them.

His eyes lit up when he saw Aoyagi Binguang's face clearly. (End of Chapter)