Conan: Rice Flower Spring

Chapter 347, Section 341: Conan's Double Standards

Just as Ryoma Hayashi had guessed, after Conan gathered enough information at the villa, he immediately figured out the "code" left by Nakamura Misao's grandfather.

But the truth is the truth, Conan can't exactly act like an elementary school student and show off his deduction skills in front of Ryoma and Ran, can he?
Among everyone present, Conan was wary of Ryoma Hayashi and Ran Mouri, but he was completely unrestrained towards Misao Nakamura, who was just a "passerby" in his life.

He had shown off his reasoning skills to suspects more than once, since he was going to be sent to prison anyway, so it didn't matter.

But Ryoma Hayashi and Ran Mouri are different.

Conan always instinctively harbors a slight wariness towards Ryoma, which is probably related to Ryoma's profession and age.

Lin Longma is not an official, and he usually collaborates with large conglomerates, making him a legitimate member of the conglomerate faction.

Secondly, Ryoma Hayashi is not Conan's "peer," and there is a generation gap between them. Just as Conan doesn't understand why Ryoma Hayashi likes making money so much, Ryoma Hayashi doesn't understand why Conan likes to court death so much.

Given all the mess Conan has gotten into, if it were Ryoma Hayashi, he would have run away from Japan immediately.

Lin Longma had seen countless people who claimed they weren't afraid of death, but only Conan truly convinced him that this kid was genuinely fearless.

There was even a hint of impatience.
Isn't it good for him to be alive?

In short, Conan is grateful to Ryoma Hayashi for saving his life many times, and he keeps this gratitude in his heart.

If Lin Longma ever encounters any trouble, Conan will definitely help without hesitation.

But let's forget about heart-to-heart talks that come out of nowhere.

As for Ran Mouri, Conan initially didn't tell her his identity because he was afraid the organization would implicate her because of it.

However, after being summoned home by the Kudo couple some time ago, he only realized what was happening after being reminded by Yusaku Kudo.

The Black Organization isn't the kind of police that cares about evidence. As long as it's proven that the Mori family didn't know Conan's true identity, innocent people won't be implicated.

Isn't this kind of nonsense for a criminal group?

Legitimate criminal organizations naturally employ guilt by association—if they can use relatives to subdue people, they will kidnap the relatives of their targets.

If they can use their lovers to subdue their targets, they will do so without hesitation.

If they can use the neighbors to subdue the target, they wouldn't mind acting as a "moving company" and taking all the neighbors around the target with them.

For transnational criminal organizations, this is the first place you (Shinichi Kudo) would come to hide after you (Shinichi Kudo) shrunk.

Then you say you're not related, who would believe that?
If Conan truly cares about Ran Mouri or even Kogoro Mouri, he should reveal his true identity and the predicament he's facing.

Finally, seek help from others—if they are unable to help, it's best to leave quickly to avoid causing them unnecessary trouble.

Using the guise of doing what's best for others to do one's own thing is simply the most self-righteous way of being and acting.

Conan is incredibly persuasive when it comes to convincing, or rather, denouncing, murderers. He can stand on moral high ground and point fingers at the suspects below, until the murderer kneels down and weeps.

But what about him personally?

Leaving aside how many laws his detective work has broken, and how many of his actions have teetered on the edge of illegality, as people who can stand on moral high ground and point fingers, we can't use legality as a constraint on Conan, can we?

It's important to understand that the law is the bottom line of human morality. If the so-called constraint is merely not breaking the law, then that person is truly a bad person.

Even with such low constraints, Conan might not be able to achieve it.

Conan always hopes that the people he meets are morally perfect, but as a high school detective, he simply cannot do that.

This double standard is also reflected in his initial belief that hiding his identity was for the better protection of Ran Mouri.

But now he knows that revealing his identity is the best way to protect Ran Mouri. Even though he has been living in the Mouri Detective Agency for so long, he still hasn't told Ran Mouri his identity.

Only Conan himself knows the reasons behind this, but now Conan is faced with a dilemma.

Should we anesthetize Ryoma Hayashi or Ran Mouri?
If you consider Ryoma Hayashi as a substitute for Kogoro Mouri, then he would undoubtedly be a good choice.

The problem is that Lin Longma often says that he can't reason, doesn't understand reasoning, and isn't good at solving cases.

Based on Conan's understanding of Ryoma Hayashi, he's someone who understands himself very well, unlike Kogoro Mouri and Sonoko Suzuki.

If something similar to the "Sleeping Kogoro" or "Sleeping Queen of Deduction" incident were to happen to Ryoma Hayashi, the first thing he would do upon waking up would definitely not be to be smug.

Instead, they immediately realized that they had been drugged.

Next comes the investigation of everyone present—even if Conan is a child, he will definitely be on Ryoma Hayashi's list of suspects.

In other words, unless Conan intends to reveal his identity to Ryoma Hayashi recently, doing so will only make one more person aware of his true identity.

What about anesthetizing Ran Mouri?

This is clearly not a good idea.

Conan would only risk anesthetizing Ran Mouri if he had absolutely no other choice. The reason, in fact, is even more straightforward than his reluctance to anesthetize Ryoma Hayashi.

Because Ran Mouri is in such good health.

Do you know the physical condition and metabolism of a karate master who can hit people like they're hanging paintings?
Before Conan can finish his deduction, Ran Mouri will wake up. At that point, forget about continuing to hide his identity; if Conan is forced to deduce things using Ran's voice right in front of him, will he even survive?
If neither Ryoma Hayashi nor Ran Mouri can be found, then we can't possibly use Misao Nakamura's voice to deduce the answer, can we?
If Nakamura Misao had that kind of ability, would he have needed to write a letter of authorization to Kogoro Mouri?
Just as Conan was about to take a gamble and give Lin Longma a shot, Lin Longma seemed to sense something and immediately left the study in the villa.
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Lin Longma knew exactly what Conan was planning the moment he saw Conan's little eyes darting around. Lin Longma knew perfectly well how Conan usually treated Kogoro Mouri like a jinchūriki.

He had no intention of using Conan's tranquilizer dart to conduct a drug resistance experiment on himself.

Seeing that things were not going well, Ryoma left the study on the spot, leaving only Ran Mouri and Misao Nakamura in the study. It was up to Conan to decide what to do.

Lin Longma wasn't curious about Conan's choice; he was just curious whether Conan could take responsibility for his choice.

After smoking a few cigarettes in the villa's garden, Lin Longma estimated that it was about time and returned to the villa's study.

At this moment, as the final link in the mechanism, the clock in the study releases a pigeon from its chiming hole, adorned with a jeweled lady's watch.

The secret of this villa has been revealed.

(End of this chapter)