Conan: Rice Flower Spring

Chapter 325, page 319: From petty theft to antique forgery
Lin Longma thought for a while before he realized that, although Phantom Thief Kid was openly targeting the Suzuki Group,

However, it did not cause any losses to the Suzuki Group, and even brought considerable benefits to the Suzuki family's art museum.

As a member of the Suzuki Group, the museum staff, along with other subsidiaries of the group, naturally found ways to gain their own benefits from the situation.

Kaito Kid is essentially a top-tier figure who works for the Suzuki Group for free.

They are still among the top celebrities with the strongest fan base.

If Ryoma Hayashi were Shiro Suzuki, he would also find it difficult to feel ill will towards Kaito Kid—who burns himself to light up others. Even if he can't be called a great man, he must be a noble one.

Hmm. A noble thief?

In short, the benefit of Kaito Kid's advance notice came to the Suzuki family, and Suzuki Shiro couldn't very well "repay kindness with enmity," could he?
Suzuki Shiro had absolutely no intention of turning away this wild, unborn child of good fortune.

So as long as the Egg of Memories isn't stolen by Phantom Thief Kid, it doesn't really matter even if it is.

It's only about 8 million yen, but the revenue that Kidd brought to the Suzuki Group is far more than 8 million yen.

Money wasn't important to Shiro Suzuki; what mattered was how much of the Egg of Memories he lost, which would damage the reputation of the Suzuki Group.

This is the most important.

This is why Shiro Suzuki summoned Ryoma Hayashi. He didn't want to arrest Kaito Kid directly, but he also didn't want his family to lose face.

How exactly to proceed depends on Lin Longma.
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"President Lin means to put the police in charge of guarding the Egg of Memories? But given their capabilities..."

As mentioned earlier, Shiro Suzuki wanted to give Kaito Kid some leeway, but he wasn't prepared to open the floodgates.

If Inspector Nakamori were to take over the guarding of the "Egg of Memories," what difference would that make from simply releasing it into the sea?
The Tokyo police have a 0% win rate when facing Phantom Thief Kid! They've never won even once.

The best outcome would be for Phantom Thief Kid to steal the items and then return them the next day.

It can be said that the loss and recovery of stolen items have absolutely nothing to do with the Metropolitan Police Department.

If the Egg of Memories were stolen by Phantom Thief Kid, wouldn't he lose face?

"President Suzuki, rest assured. Although the police are in charge of guarding the Egg of Memories, I guarantee that the egg will not be stolen by Phantom Thief Kid."

"When the time comes, let Inspector Nakamori and Kidd, those old rivals, fight it out, and we'll cheer them on, won't we?"

With Ryoma Hayashi's assurance, Shiro Suzuki felt relieved. Ryoma then requested to personally safeguard the Egg of Memories.

Suzuki Shiro readily agreed to Ryoma Hayashi's request.

It's just an antique worth 8 million yen, nothing that Suzuki Shiro or Hayashi Ryoma need to pay special attention to.

After being dragged along by Shiro Suzuki to have lunch, Ryoma Hayashi left the Suzuki Museum of Art in Osaka with the wooden box containing the Egg of Memories.

After leaving the Suzuki Museum, Hayashi Ryoma got into a car belonging to the Isshinkai and drove through the streets of Osaka.

Finally, the black sedan stopped at the gate of a detached house, a villa with a single occupancy.

The secretary in the passenger seat got out of the car and pressed the doorbell. A moment later, the villa's main gate opened to both sides.

Bai Shi drove his car through the villa's front yard and straight to the main entrance, where a servant was already waiting to open the door for Lin Longma.

After changing his shoes in the entryway, Lin Longma easily made his way to the door at the end of the third-floor corridor. Bai Niao heard the footsteps and opened the door for Lin Longma.

"You're here? Did nothing unexpected happen?" Shiratori asked with concern.

Lin Longma handed the box to Bai Niao, then went into the room and closed the door behind him.
"Everything went smoothly, and no one was following us on the way."

In terms of tracking and counter-tracking, Shiraishi is undoubtedly the most professional. He's far more professional than any detective in the Metropolitan Police Department.

He said no one was following them, so it's highly likely that no one was actually following them.

This detached villa is Shiratori Ninzaburo's private property in Osaka, and the servants in the villa are also elderly members of the Shiratori family.

The part of the Phantom Thief Kid sending a notice to the Suzuki Group is ostensibly handled by Inspector Nakamori's Second Investigation Division.

In reality, Shiratori had secretly brought some of his subordinates to Osaka, naturally targeting Snake, a "zoo" executive who might be lured out by Kuroba Kaito.

Of course, there were no of Shiratori's subordinates in this villa, and Kaito Kuroba was also temporarily staying here.

There was no way around it; this kid was going to go too far, and Shiratori was starting to develop PTSD. He really didn't know what to do unless he kept a close eye on things himself.

After the door closed completely, Shiratori carried the box to the table in the center of the room. After placing the box on the table, she asked Kuroba Kaito:
"So, is it difficult to do?"

Kaito Kuroba rolled his eyes, speechless at Shiratori's question: "Come on, that's a treasure made by Master Kiichi, how could it be so easy to imitate?"

Kaito Kuroba took out a toolbox, then another box. When the second box was opened, Ryoma Lin couldn't help but let out a "Ugh."

Inside this box, there were several bright green "Eggs of Memory"!
"Fortunately, the description of the Egg of Memory in the magazine was detailed enough, otherwise an afternoon would definitely not have been enough for me to replicate one."

As Kaito Kuroba opened the wooden box, he explained to Ryoma Hayashi and Shiratori, "These are the rough prototypes of the 'Egg of Memories' that I made based on the descriptions and photos in the magazine."

The next step is simply to find one that most closely resembles the Egg of Memory and begin replicating it.

"Can you make an exact replica?" Shiratori felt his mouth getting dry. How did that brat Kaito Kuroba upgrade his business?

From petty theft to antique forgery, huh? I never imagined this kid had this skill.

As a "craftsman," Kaito Kuroba subconsciously let out a sneer: "How could they be exactly the same?"
Do you think Master Xiyi's works are so easy to imitate?

"It takes a long time and meticulous work to create a replica that is exactly the same as the genuine product."

All I want to do is create a "Memory Egg" that can fool laymen and is merely a facade.

With these rough drafts, an afternoon should be just about enough.

This scheme of passing off inferior goods as superior ones was Lin Longma's idea.

In any case, all Kaito Kuroba wanted was to use the Egg of Memories to allow Kiichi Kosaka's descendants to make contact with the Suzuki family.

Since it's just a functional requirement, what's the essential difference between stealing a real memory egg and stealing a fake memory egg?

Not at all, as long as everyone else believes that Kidd stole the real Egg of Memories.

(End of this chapter)