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

After Edogawa Conan greeted Matsuda Jinpei, he saw the Metropolitan Police Department detective stride toward him.

"Kid, what are you doing here? Where's your guardian?"

Conan Edogawa was about to answer, but the moment he met the other person's eyes, he suddenly flinched.

For some reason, he sensed that the police officer in front of him seemed to be in a rather bad mood.

……

A few minutes ago, Conan Edogawa came out to buy a drink.

He was so engrossed in looking at his phone that he didn't notice the people in front of him finishing their purchases and about to leave. Just as he was accidentally knocked down by those people, someone helped him up.

He was a man in his early thirties with unusual eye color. Conan Edogawa recognized him at a glance as the man who had called Mr. Furuya away at Hojo's funeral three years ago.

Not long ago, when he was being teased by his own mother and ran away to the street in the port area, he was unexpectedly seen walking through the crowd.

However, the other person didn't seem to remember him. After helping him regain his balance, they walked to the nearby storage area to retrieve their belongings.

Upon seeing this, Conan Edogawa's detective instincts kicked in again.

He was really curious about this man he had met three times and who seemed to be Mr. Furuya's colleague, so he tried to get close to him and ask him some questions, based on the child's appearance.

Unexpectedly, just as he opened his mouth, Officer Matsuda, whom he had met briefly in the parking lot, reappeared.

"I'm a little thirsty and want to buy a drink from the vending machine. Mr. Aoyagi is waiting for me inside."

Conan Edogawa answered honestly at first, then asked suspiciously, "Where's Inspector Furuya? Didn't you come with him?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he noticed that Officer Matsuda's face had darkened even more.

"I'm going out for a smoke."

Matsuda Jinpei stopped in front of them, his gaze sweeping over Edogawa Conan and then onto the person behind him. "We meet again, sir."

Conan Edogawa noticed the subtle change in his tone and curiously turned his head, only to find that he was talking to the man with reddish-brown eyes.

Do they know each other?

The thought had barely crossed Conan Edogawa's mind when Jinpei Matsuda said, "Last time in Shibuya, I asked you to stay and give a statement, but you just left after I left?"

His gaze swept across the man's face, his tone casual: "May I ask why you were in such a hurry to leave?"

The man with reddish-brown eyes was waiting for the receptionist to return with the items. When he heard Matsuda Jinpei's words, he turned his head and looked over, his expression normal.

“I was in a hurry at the time, and your colleague didn’t stop me,” he replied. “I’m sorry, did I cause you any trouble?”

His words were polite, but Conan Edogawa listened and quickly recalled what had happened in Shibuya.

The only major news in Shibuya recently has been the two cases from last Saturday: a dismemberment and a street shooting, both involving foreigners.

Could it be that the police encountered Officer Matsuda and his team by chance while investigating suspicious foreigners there, and secretly left because they didn't want to attract attention?
This is exactly what the police do – he was referring to when the police need to keep their identities secret during a covert investigation. If they could just reveal their identities, Officer Matsuda and his team would probably have been "asked" to leave on the spot.

Conan Edogawa did not suspect anything.

Matsuda Jinpei, standing next to him, had a completely different feeling.

Hearing this answer, his expression remained unchanged, but his heart sank slightly.

Rei Furuya only told him that the man in front of him was a target of the Public Security Bureau, without revealing the man's specific identity, abilities, or crimes, leaving him with no way to proceed.

Moreover, the current environment is not suitable for making arrests. First, it is uncertain whether the other party has accomplices. Second, this is a game expo, and there are unarmed ordinary people everywhere. If the other party is carrying dangerous weapons, innocent people will suffer.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but steal a glance at the innocent-looking Conan Edogawa.

They can't contact Furuya for the time being. If Conan Edogawa is quick-witted and cooperates, for example, by getting him to go buy drinks nearby, they can naturally escape the dangerous man's sight. ...Tsk, what a pity. I didn't expect this kid to be so smart, able to accurately identify criminals before, but now he hasn't noticed anything wrong with this man at all.

After a rapid mental search for various solutions, actually only a few seconds had passed before Matsuda Jinpei calmly replied:
"No, other witnesses at the scene gave supplementary statements. I was just wondering why you didn't wait for me, since your female companion seemed quite helpful last time."

After Matsuda Jinpei finished speaking, he seemed to realize something and looked around. "She didn't come with you today?"

This question is a bit impulsive; it goes beyond the bounds of police concern for ordinary passersby and could easily alert the perpetrator.

To Matsuda Jinpei's surprise, the man opposite him fell silent.

Not only that, his expression became somewhat subtle.

Just as they were talking, the receptionist returned with a black briefcase. The edge of the briefcase bore the logo of the Full Paradise Company.

……

Inside the venue, when Rei Furuya found Akihiro Aoyagi, he was standing next to a game machine with a long queue.

This is a fighting game where players wear protective gear attached to a machine and choose different characters to engage in combat. The FBI agent stood in the crowd, looking up, watching the footage on the large screen along with those around him.

Perhaps his nose was itchy, because he raised his hand and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Seeing his leisurely and carefree demeanor, Furuya Rei, who had just made several phone calls to call for reinforcements, felt a throbbing pain in his temple.

He suppressed his temper and went over to call out, "Mr. Aoyagi, may I speak to you in private?"

Aoyagi Akimitsu was not surprised to see Furuya Rei and followed him away from the crowd.

The two walked to a relatively quiet place, and Furuya Rei got straight to the point: "I've already made arrangements. After Mr. Bisignano leaves, they will follow behind him and escort him back to the hotel."

Aoyagi Akimitsu said gently, "Yes, thank you. Actually, you could have just sent an email about these things; there was no need for you to come all the way here. It's too much trouble for you."

"..." Facing that smiling face, Furuya Rei suppressed his anger again: "What's the deal with the strange thing you said about the president of Manten Company in your email?"

He's a police officer, and although he sometimes operates illegally, he's not a true outlaw. He won't investigate people without reason, especially not the president of a large company.

Aoyagi Akimitsu didn't hide anything. He sighed and said, "It's like this. Daniel said that after he accepted the invitation from Full Heaven, he received an anonymous email telling him not to go, as it would be easy to get involved in danger."

Jiang Guling looked slightly solemn.

"It was called a threat, but the wording was very polite. The email was in English, but it contained many grammatical errors, so it must have been machine-translated from a foreign language. He guessed it was done by a competitor of Full Heaven, and asked the president about it when he met him earlier. But the president said it was just a prank and told him not to take it to heart."

Rei Furuya understood what he meant.

As expected, Aoyagi Akimitsu concluded, "This attitude is abnormal. An ordinary company president would be furious to hear that an important client with whom he has potential for cooperation is being threatened by unknown individuals. But he wants to get through this as quickly as possible, unless..."

"—He knew who sent the email, or perhaps he had received similar emails before but nothing had happened, so he didn't take it seriously."

The valley zero is slowly replenished.

Aoyagi Akihiro nodded, his smile gradually fading.

“I didn’t mean to cause you trouble.” He sighed softly. “The ambassador values ​​Daniel highly right now; he’s his only child. If something happens to him here, it will be a huge problem for you.”

...Only left?
Noticing the strange wording, Furuya Rei wanted to ask more questions.

However, at this moment——

"boom!!"

A violent explosion rang out outside! (End of Chapter)