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

"Stephen!"

He waved in the direction of Aoyagi Akihiro.

Conan Edogawa paused for a moment when he heard the name.

If he remembered correctly, Stephen was Mr. Aoyagi's former...

“That’s someone I know. Let’s go say hello.”

Aoyagi Akimitsu had no idea what Edogawa Conan was thinking. When he saw someone waving at him, he gently patted him on the shoulder, signaling him to come with him.

Conan Edogawa snapped out of his daze and didn't refuse; the two walked towards that direction together. Seeing them approach, the president of the Mt. Paradise Company turned and spoke to the foreigner, then left with three employees.

The employee with glasses and a receding hairline seemed very hot, with a thin layer of sweat on his forehead. As he walked past Conan Edogawa, he took out a handkerchief from his pocket.

Just then, a small object fell off him, probably accidentally brought out along with the handkerchief.

Aoyagi Akimitsu was walking ahead and didn't see it, but Edogawa Conan behind him could see it clearly.

Those were number tags; the exhibition offered a storage service at the entrance. He walked over, bent down to pick them up, glanced at the number instinctively, and looked up to call out, "Hey, uncle, you dropped something."

"Ok?"

The men walking ahead all turned around at once. The man with glasses reached into his pocket, his expression changed slightly, and he quickened his pace toward Conan Edogawa.

"Thank you."

He took the number plate without looking down to check it, and simply gave Conan Edogawa a somewhat amiable smile.

"Takeshita, hurry up! We still need to go over there to introduce it to the players!"

A man with a middle parting stood behind him and called out to him.

"Okay, sorry! I'm coming right away!"

The bespectacled man turned around and responded, then quickly turned back to Conan Edogawa, smiling, "If you're interested, you can check out the exhibition area on the right. Our company's latest games designed for underage children are all there."

After saying that, he straightened up and hurried toward his colleague who was standing there waiting for him.

Conan Edogawa looked at the figure with a hint of doubt.

He wasn't sure if he was overthinking it, but he felt that the other person's expression when they took the number plate seemed a little strange.

However, since nothing happened at the exhibition, Conan Edogawa stopped thinking about it and turned back to Aoyagi Akimitsu's side.

Halfway through his conversation with the foreign man, Aoyagi Akimitsu saw Edogawa Conan return, and the foreigner curiously looked him up and down:
"Is this Mr. Kudo's relative's child? They do look a bit alike."

He spoke in English. Upon hearing "Kudo," Conan Edogawa tensed, but then, realizing it was a relative, he relaxed and replied in English as well:

"Hello, uncle, my name is Conan Edogawa."

The man smiled and said, "Hello, boy, I'm Daniel Bisignano. If you've played Sindora games, you should have heard of me, right?"

He looked to be under thirty, about the same age as Aoyagi Akimitsu. He was easygoing and even winked and gave a friendly smile after he finished speaking.

Conan Edogawa was stunned for a moment again.

He had indeed heard the name before, but not from Yusaku Kudo or the games, but from—

"Bisciniano?"

He repeated the other person's somewhat difficult-to-pronounce surname and asked curiously, "This surname is quite rare, it's the same as the current US ambassador to Japan."

The foreign man's smile vanished instantly.

The atmosphere between the three of them changed instantly. When Conan Edogawa saw his reaction, his expression stiffened slightly, realizing that he might have said something wrong.

He's not alone now. If he gets into trouble, people might not hold it against him because he's a kid, but they're very likely to hold a grudge against Aoyagi Akimitsu, who brought him here.

"I'm sorry!" Conan Edogawa apologized hastily.

"..." The foreign man looked at him, then at Aoyagi Akimitsu, who was standing silently beside him.

The latter looked at him calmly.

A smile returned to the foreign man's face, but unlike his previous warm and friendly smile, this one was purely polite.

"Sorry, Stephen, I think I have to go." His gaze swept behind Aoyagi Akimitsu, paused when it landed on a certain spot, and his tone turned cold. "I'll ask you out for drinks next time."

Qingliu Binguang nodded: "Okay."

The man smiled at him, then turned and left.

Conan Edogawa watched him leave, and only after the other man had gone far away did he awkwardly look up and ask, "Mr. Aoyagi, did I make him angry?"

"..." Aoyagi Binguang looked down at him, raised his hand and patted his head: "It's just a small matter, he won't take it to heart for long."

Conan Edogawa: "..."

He's definitely angry.

However, he only mentioned a surname and the current ambassador. Is that such a sensitive topic?

Conan Edogawa is very curious, and he happens to be a detective who likes to get to the bottom of things, sometimes to the point that he forgets to consider the feelings of the people involved.

So when the two of them found an empty machine where they could sit down and play together, he asked directly.

"Mr. Aoyagi, what is the relationship between that Mr. Bisignano and the current US ambassador to Japan?"

Aoyagi Akihiro tapped his fingers on the buttons, his eyes fixed on the screen, and said casually, "That's his father."

Conan Edogawa had a "I knew it" feeling. He stared at the screen and continued in a voice only the two of them could hear, "Is their father-son relationship bad?"

Aoyagi Akimitsu pondered for a moment and said, "Well... it's not that bad, it's just a bit contradictory."

Conan Edogawa: "Something's contradictory?"

Aoyagi Akimitsu's gaze seemed to have fallen elsewhere, and his fingers, which were resting on the keys, seemed to twitch slightly.

He said dismissively, "It was something like when he got drunk one time and said he wanted to kill his father."

Conan Edogawa: "?!"

Because he was so shocked, he missed out on many items on his plane, falling far behind.

But Conan Edogawa wasn't concerned about the game; he quickly pressed, "This is serious! Have you told the ambassador?"

The game is over; Aoyagi Akimitsu won the first round.

As he started the second round, he said helplessly:

"You're a detective, you must have seen plenty of people shouting threats like 'I'm going to kill you' or 'Don't fall into my hands,' but in reality, they wouldn't even dare to kill a live fish, right?"

“Besides, he and I are friends who can drink together.” Aoyagi Akimitsu said gently, then sighed softly, “As a friend, I should help him, not exacerbate his family conflicts.”

Conan Edogawa thought about it and realized that was indeed the case.

Some things are fine to keep to yourself or to complain to friends in private, but if you say them out loud and the person involved hears them, it will only further escalate the conflict.

Mr. Aoyagi, being an adult, was more considerate, which is why he didn't offer any advice and even kindly said he would help the other party.

"So how did you meet him? I heard him call you Stephen, that's your pseudonym from when you were at the 'Zoo,' right?" Conan Edogawa bombarded him with questions.

"You have so many questions."

Aoyagi Akimitsu glanced at him speechlessly. Because of this distraction, his plane was now lagging behind.

"Let me think where to begin... Well, I met him at the Sindora Corporation..." (End of Chapter)