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

Kogoro Mouri was speechless upon hearing this conversation. He didn't ask any further questions and continued talking.

"Since the attendees were all prominent figures from various sectors, including politicians and other business tycoons, perhaps for the sake of their own reputations, the incident was not reported, and very few people knew about it."

Conan Edogawa pressed further: "Who is currently in charge of the Karasuma Group?"

"I don't know. After that, the Karasuma Group kept a low profile. Although the group is still developing and the surname can be heard in many fields, the family members rarely appear in the media and no longer attend any banquets."

Kogoro Mori recalled what the maid had said at the time and added, "However, the maid said that Mr. Karasuma already had a child at that time, and that he was the only one who was killed in that tragedy, while the rest of his family members were still alive."

"What about marriage alliances?" Aoyagi Akimitsu asked. "Will the younger generation's children continue to marry into other families?"

"I don't know about that."

As Kogoro Mouri spoke, his tone turned helpless: "I dare not ask more questions or in detail, for fear of being overheard. I only dared to ask about the Karasuma family tragedy because it had been a full forty years."

Both people on either end of the call fell silent.

Morofushi Kagemitsu glanced at Aoyagi Akimitsu beside him, and seeing that he did not object, he said to the person opposite him, "Let's stop here then, Mr. Mori. If you stay in there too long, you'll attract attention. Go meet up with Ms. Mori as soon as possible and then come back."

Kogoro Mouri thought of his neighbor's daughter: "I understand."

The phone call ended, and the bedroom fell silent for a moment.

Aoyagi Akimitsu glanced at the call screen and returned to the previous screen, then picked up his phone again: "I hope they're at the station right now, not out on fieldwork... Morofushi, how are things on your end?"

Zhu Fujingguang was taken aback and subconsciously asked, "What do you mean?"

“The Takeuchi family is a local conglomerate in Gunma Prefecture, and the Karasuma family’s main branch is in Tottori. Neither of them has any connection with the Metropolitan Police Department, which is responsible for managing Tokyo. So you must be here for something else, or rather, for someone else, right?”

As Aoyagi Akimitsu dialed the number, he looked at him and said, "Can you tell me? I might know some important information."

Morofushi Kagemitsu paused for a moment, then refused without hesitation: "I'm sorry, I can only tell you that our target is a Japanese person, and has nothing to do with the United States."

"Yeah."

Seeing his reaction, Aoyagi Akira didn't press the issue. Just then, the call connected, and he switched back to English to speak with the other end.

……

When Conan Edogawa returned, this was the scene he saw:
Aoyagi Akimitsu sat at a low table piled with cosmetics. He was combing his long hair in front of the mirror, tightly coiling it up.

Morobuchi Kagemitsu sat beside him and handed him tools.

"..."

Watching Aoyagi Akimitsu take the fake face and put it back on, then put on the wig, Edogawa Conan couldn't help but ask, "Mr. Aoyagi?"

"It's nothing, I'm just changing my appearance again." Aoyagi Akimitsu adjusted the details of his face. "After all, this place isn't 100% safe, so we have to be careful that someone doesn't suddenly break in and see what I really look like."

Morofushi Kagemitsu handed him a comb, then turned to look at Edogawa Conan: "How is Mr. Mori?"

"He went back to the next room with Ran." Conan Edogawa's expression turned serious again. "He said he won't sleep tonight, he'll stay in the room all night, and drive back first thing tomorrow morning."

Zhu Fujingguang nodded, knowing that this was the best choice for ordinary citizens.

Conan Edogawa then asked, "Mr. Aoyagi, did you make the call? What did they say?"

"Several people I know are out on field duty and can't access the information right now. But the one I'm closest to said he's on his way back and can go to that prison to ask the person involved for me."

Aoyagi Akimitsu finished combing his wig, looked at himself in the mirror from left to right, and put down the comb when he was satisfied: "Conan, go brush your teeth. Let's get some rest early tonight."

If a case involves another department, it's good enough if they can help investigate it; these things can't be rushed.

Conan Edogawa understood these principles, sighed softly, but accepted the outcome. He put down the clothes he had brought back and ran to the bathroom to brush his teeth.

Hearing the sound of water coming from the bathroom, Morofushi Kagemitsu looked at Aoyagi Akimitsu again. He wanted to look at his face, but somehow his gaze fell on the wig.

To be fair, Aoyagi Akimitsu's disguise skills are very high. Even up close, you can't see anything unusual about his face.

The only slightly discordant element was the hair. Aoyagi Akimitsu had long hair, and an astonishing amount of it, which, when all piled up, formed a thick, bulky mass. Even with his best efforts to press it down, it still appeared somewhat bloated.

"Isn't it troublesome to have such long hair?"

Morofushi Kagemitsu was unusually intrigued.

This was a question he had when he first saw Gin and Shuichi Akai, who was still Ray: with such long hair, didn't they find it troublesome to manage it?

"No." Aoyagi Akihiro answered readily, then tidied the stray hairs by his temples in front of the mirror. "It only takes half an hour to take care of it every day. Washing my hair won't take too much time either. As long as I use a high-powered hair dryer, it can be completely dried in just a few minutes."

Zhu Fu Jingguang: "..."

He found it unimaginable that Gin or Shuichi Akai would spend half an hour every day styling their hair; the thought alone was terrifying. "You..." He remembered what Aoyagi Akimitsu had said before, about refusing to go to military school to keep his hair, "You seem to really love this long hair."

"Yes, and some people even complimented me, saying my hair is beautiful and they hope I can keep it forever."

Qingliu Binguang smiled.

Morofushi Kagemitsu was somewhat surprised.

Most men—like him—see long hair as a nuisance, and other men with long hair would draw surprised looks, let alone compliments. Older women probably wouldn't accept it either.

So... was it a compliment from a young girl?
Suddenly, Morobuchi Kagemitsu thought of his family.

According to the information I just reviewed, Aoyagi Akimitsu's uncle actually has a daughter. If they got married twenty years ago, that child would be a teenager, around the same age as Ran Mouri and Sonoko Suzuki.

Could it be her?

"By the way," Aoyagi Akimitsu suddenly spoke up, "Morofushi, are you going to take turns keeping watch with me tonight?"

Morofushi Kagemitsu snapped out of his daze and put aside the question that had been completely irrelevant to his current situation.

"You go to sleep, I can keep watch by myself. I have to wait for the police to contact me, so I can't sleep tonight."

"Then trouble you."

Aoyagi Akimitsu did not object to the suggestion and smiled amicably.

"Be careful—if you hear anything unusual, you can wake me up."

He kindly added.

……

Outside the window, the night is getting darker.

With the bedroom door closed, the entire suite was plunged into darkness. Morofushi Kagemitsu didn't turn on the lights, but sat down in a spot in the living room where he could observe the doorway but wouldn't be immediately seen from the opposite side.

At this moment, there were no outsiders around him, and he had time to continue reviewing what had happened that day.

Their journey was smooth, and there were no problems at the apartment. Senior Ishigami disappeared in the hospital, so there must be something wrong with that hospital.

While Aoyagi Akimitsu was taking a shower, he hacked into the hospital's surveillance footage with his phone and discovered that Ishigami-senpai's last known disappearance was at the corner of the stairs in the emergency exit, shortly after he entered the hospital.

However, this cannot be used to definitively conclude that his disappearance is related to the Takeuchi family's involvement in those medical malpractice cases.

Unfortunately, there were very few clues, and there was absolutely no news about Itakura Taku, the target they were supposed to investigate.

It's hard to say what's going on with Ishigami-senpai. He himself ran into Kogoro Mouri as soon as he entered the hospital, and then got dragged into their investigation, without getting to do any of his original work...

Upon thinking this, Morobuchi Kagemitsu fell silent once more.

He shouldn't have done that. Even if he was worried that Aoyagi Akimitsu might call in the US military again to beat people up, he should have done his own thing after understanding the situation. He shouldn't have followed them all the way and delayed his work.

His behavior deviated so drastically because...

Those emerald green eyes, with a light and bright smile like spring, reappeared in Morofushi Kagemitsu's mind.

In an instant, he felt cold, as if a venomous snake was crawling across his back, or as if a pair of icy hands were moving up his body and stroking his cheeks.

Laughter echoed in his ears.

—Morokuseki Kagemitsu shuddered and suddenly woke up.

He was shocked to discover that he had just fallen asleep against the wall. The clock on the wall showed it was two in the morning; he had slept for less than half an hour.

A gust of wind blew by, and Morofushi Kagemitsu's mind was not yet fully clear. He subconsciously turned his head to look, and his pupils contracted again.

—The window in this living room, which faces the street, has somehow been opened.

Morofushi Kagemitsu immediately became alert and reached for his sidearm at his waist. Just as he was wondering whether to make some noise to wake the person next door, a more familiar feeling enveloped him.

He opened his eyes wide, realized something, and instinctively stood up, standing unprotected by the window, looking outside. At that moment, his mind was almost blank.

In that blank space, he saw Anise. He saw only her.

A woman with long, brownish-gray hair and a beautiful face stood there, seemingly out of place in the old street.

Their eyes met, and a smile played in those emerald green eyes. (End of Chapter)