Conan: Death is Watching Me

Chapter 151 The Murder Case of the Magic Enthusiast

Deep in the mountains after a snowfall.

That day, Gao Mo drove Xiao Lan and Yuan Zi up the mountain, with thick snow and snow-covered forests on both sides that seemed to have no end.

Not only are there parallel times, but even parallel universes are mixed together—Japan in this world, as the main stage for the detectives, is much larger than the island nation in the previous life.

"Ah!"

Sonoko sneezed, shivering.

"Seriously, why is it winter here?"

"I told you to wear more clothes," Xiaolan said, pulling a scarf out of her bag. "Just make do with this."

"There's nothing I can do, the rice cakes are so hot... I think I've caught a cold."

With a mask on, Yuanzi looked increasingly listless.

"Kido-kun, are you really not coming with us?"

"No, I just brought you here on my way."

Gao Mo stopped his car at the fork in the road. Ahead was a cliff, with a suspension bridge connecting the two sides.

"To get to that resort you mentioned, we can only cross it via this suspension bridge..."

Why are these villas always built in such strange places? And they're always detached houses.

Gao Mo glanced across the suspension bridge, but the dense forest obscured the location of the villa.

The atmosphere surrounding the case immediately became tense.

After helping Sonoko and the other girl with their luggage, Gao Mo said, "I won't go with you. Be careful."

"Xiaolan."

Sonoko watched Gao Mo drive away with a disappointed look on her face, feeling a sense of defeat amidst her low spirits.

"Does Kido really not like me at all?"

"How could that be?" Xiaolan said, clutching the medicine box. "He even left behind the special cold medicine. He really cares about you!"

“This isn’t what liking someone is,” Sonoko said, lowering her head. “I took Kido to Izu according to the travel guide and even bought him a new swimsuit, but he barely even glanced at it… It’s like he treats me like a kid.”

"And you, Sonoko?" Ran asked, carrying her bag as she crossed the suspension bridge. "Do you really like Kido-nii?"

She knows her best friend very well; she always swoons when she sees a handsome guy, but Gao Mo's reaction this time was unusually long.

“Of course I like him,” Sonoko affirmed. “Kido-san is not only handsome, but my heart always races when I’m around him. I’ve never felt this way before in my life… This is my love!”

"Uh."

Xiao Lan didn't know what to say for a moment.

Her heart would beat slightly faster when she was facing Gao Mo, but she was certain that it wasn't love.

It's just excitement or nervousness.

"Sonoko, do you want to..."

"I admit I have a bad eye for people and I'm easily fooled, but Kido is different from those other scumbags. He's not just handsome on the outside, he's also incredibly charming on the inside... In short, Kido is my destined prince charming! I will never give up on him!"

Sonoko's fighting spirit was rekindled.

"If it's not possible now, then I'll wait another ten years... Xiaolan, what kind of look is that?"

Seeing the doubt in Ran's eyes, Sonoko put down her suitcase, put her hands on her hips, and solemnly swore: "I'm serious, I'm willing to wait a lifetime!"

"What if Kido gets married?" Ran asked curiously.

"what?"

The garden withered again.

"Does Kido-san really have to force himself on her?"

"what?"

"No... I mean I'm sure I can win Kido over."

……

In the snowy forest, Gao Mo turned the car around and drove onto a side road. He exhaled a puff of warm air and deployed the signal relay device from the passenger seat.

It came in handy a second time, and it certainly won't be the last.

It's fortunate that Professor Agasa exists in this world.

All you need to do now is complete the role-playing tasks well and earn an excellent rating.

They then took out the disguise toolbox they had prepared beforehand.

A perfect mask was carefully unsealed by Gao Mo.

During this period, besides studying magic, he spent most of his time on this disguise.

According to his analysis, professional competence is crucial for the rating, but the ability to disguise oneself is equally important.

If he doesn't want to participate in this gathering under his real identity, his disguise must be convincing enough.

Being able to fool everyone is a basic requirement.

Then it's about convincing those people that he's a magician.

Gao Mo flipped his hand and took out his playing card prop.

With Magic Hand and level 3 magic, impersonating a professional magician shouldn't be too much of a problem.

"It's almost time."

After waiting for nearly ten minutes, Gao Mo returned to the cliff at the fork in the road, disguised as a chubby-faced young man.

Even when he was just playing a role, he still felt that simplicity was the best disguise, and apart from slightly increasing the height of his shoes, he didn't make any changes to his physique.

The cold weather also minimizes any potential exposure.

With favorable timing and location, all that's missing is the right people.

Now go and meet the magic enthusiasts at this gathering.

……

"You are the Shadow of Death?"

In the wooden villa, a man in his forties with a side-parted hairstyle led Gao Mo into the house.

“I am the owner of this manor, Aragaki Yoshinori. My code name in the chat room is ‘Ventriloquist.’ Just now, everyone was saying that you might not come… Except for the room leader and Shadow Mage, everyone else is here.”

“Mr. Huang,” Gao Mo said, changing into slippers in the entryway, “why were you invited to this gathering?”

"Oh, actually it's because of the debate in the chat room about Harui Kaze's death. Mr. Nishiyama, also known as the room leader 'Escape King,' said that everyone should meet offline to see what really happened."

Araki explained.

"The original plan was to gather everyone who participated in the escape magic discussion back then. I don't know why Nishiyama invited you. You can ask him when he arrives."

Huang Yi doesn't seem to be lying.

"Where is the Shadow Mage?" Gao Mo continued to ask.

"I wanted to confirm how he, who only recently joined the chat room, knew about what happened back then, and bringing him over would clear up any misunderstandings."

Huang Yi then went upstairs.

"Let me find you a room first. Dinner will probably be a while away."

"It's troublesome."

"Ah!"

In the villa's restaurant, a group of online friends gathered to play cards.

Sonoko's face was flushed, she had started to have a fever, and her vision was a little blurry.

"So sad……"

"Are you alright, Sonoko?" Ran asked worriedly.

"I'm fine. I just took my medicine. I'll be fine after a good night's sleep."

With Ran's help, Sonoko swayed as she got up.

"Sorry, everyone."

"Go and get some rest," several netizens in the restaurant responded. "It's really kind of you to come to a party when you're sick."

"But I never expected that you would be a 'mage's disciple'."

"Yes, I could tell from her tone of voice that she wasn't a man, but I never expected her to be such a cute little girl."

"Haha, we were secretly laughing when she was pretending to be a man and talking..." "Uh."

Sonoko's face turned even redder, and she quickened her pace.

2nd floor guest room.

Gao Mo was led to a two-person room further inside, where a short-haired, chubby man was making up the bed.

“This is ‘Red Herring,’ and you two will stay in this room,” Araki Yoshinori introduced. “We apologize for the large number of guests.”

"Hello," the short-haired fat man greeted him warmly, "My name is Doi Takaki, nice to meet you."

Gao Mo then introduced himself: "I am 'The Shadow of Death,' Rokuro Kuroba."

"what?"

"what happened?"

"It's just a bit of a surprise," the short-haired fat man said with a smile, scratching the back of his head. "It just so happens that he shares the same surname as my idol, Mr. Kuroba Toichi."

"Is your idol Toichi Kuroba?"

"Yes, he is my favorite Japanese magician."

Gao Mo's eyes flickered slightly.

The name Doi Takuki... seems to be an alias for Kaito Kid.

Rearrange and combine them to form "Kaito Kid".

"Wow!"

As the short-haired fat man turned around, Gao Mo's mind went blank, and he focused his attention into a transparent world, instantly seeing through the fat man's body.

The flesh and blood vessels do not match the body shape at all.

Sure enough, this guy was posing as a fat man.

Kaito Kid, Kuroba.

Doi Takaki's body stiffened abruptly, feeling a chill run down his spine. When he turned around, he only saw Gao Mo and Ara Yoshizawa talking.

Just now……

"You guys play by yourselves for a while, I'll go prepare dinner," Araki Yoshinori concluded. "Any other questions?"

"Nothing."

Gao Mo turned his attention to Sonoko, who was being helped upstairs by Xiao Lan, and the two of them also looked in his direction.

"Should we go to the hospital to get checked out?" Huang Yi asked worriedly. "There's a hospital at the foot of the mountain."

"I've already taken fever reducer."

Sonoko glanced at Gao Mo in a daze, then turned around and was led into a guest room by Ran, which was in the next room.

“The one who’s sick is Sonoko, the ‘disciple of the mage,’ and the other is her girlfriend Ran, who came with her,” Araki Yoshinori explained, seemingly remembering something, “Don’t get any funny ideas.”

"How could that be?" Gao Mo waved his hands repeatedly. "I'm not one of those philandering gigolos. Everyone says I'm honest."

That's strange. Does he look like the kind of person who would do something wicked?

We can't be uneasy just because someone is fat, can we?
bias.

"Right, Mr. Doi?"

"Uh……"

Doi Takaki looked away in confusion.

What the hell? What was that feeling just now?
“I’m worried about you guys,” Araki said, shaking his head. “Just now, Ran’s father called specifically to warn her… that Ran is the karate champion in the district, and that she shouldn’t cause any misunderstandings, or it would be terrible.”

After waiting for Aragi to leave, Doi Takaki suppressed his wild thoughts.

"Mr. Kuroba, if I remember correctly, you weren't involved in the discussion about escape magic, were you?"

"Yes, I only joined the chat room recently. Mr. Huang said the room manager was looking for me."

Gao Mo was fully in character, putting down his backpack and taking out a quilt from the closet to make the bed.

Whether it's Kid or not, this guy is undoubtedly a master of disguise, which adds some trouble to his impersonation.

……

dinner time.

The restaurant on the first floor.

Gao Mo officially met the other netizens at the gathering.

One man and two women, all between 2 and 30 years old.

Hamano Toshiya, 27 years old, "The Vanished Pani", is a friendly young man with center-parted curly hair. He is quite enthusiastic and is the kind of person who livens up the atmosphere at parties.

Tanaka Takahisa, 28 years old, "Deceiving Child," is a curly-haired beauty with a mole on the corner of her mouth. She has the demeanor of a housewife, but claims to be single all the time.

Naoko Kuroda, 25 years old, "Phantom", wears black-rimmed glasses, has long hair tied up, and her real occupation seems to be a middle school teacher. She dresses relatively simply.

"Are you a magician?"

After introducing themselves, the group in the restaurant stared in surprise at Gao Mo, who claimed to be a magician.

We are all amateur magic enthusiasts, and we all have our own jobs in real life. None of us are professional magicians.

Only those who can make a living through magic can be called magicians.

"There's a real magician in the chat room... Could Harui Kaze's fax machine be in there too?"

The woman with glasses, Kuroda, didn't look too good.

"It was really because of our discussion that..."

“I’m just a newly debuted magician, earning a little extra money. I can’t compare to a master like Harui Fuden,” Gao Mo said, trying to ease the tension. “Besides, even if Harui Fuden performed an escape magic trick in the chat room, it was his own decision. If you didn’t encourage him, you can’t really be blamed.”

"That's what I said..."

The woman with glasses sighed.

"That Shadow Mage is convinced it's related to us... Hopefully, this gathering will clarify things."

“Only the room leader and that Shadow Mage are missing, which means that Harui Fuden is definitely not among us, right?” Hamano Toshiya shook his head and said, “I think someone must have shown the chat log to Harui Fuden... or maybe that Shadow Mage just caused trouble for no reason.”

Gao Mo crossed his fingers and glanced around.

This Toshiya Hamano, "the missing Pani," doesn't seem like much, but based on his current experience, he's definitely become a target of criminals just like him.

The other person's comments in the chat room were far more impressive than his.

And then there's the chat room administrator who hasn't shown up yet...

This gathering was caused by an argument between the room leader, "Escape King," and "Shadow Mage."

“Mr. Ara,” Hamano Toshiya asked Ara Yoshinori, who was serving the food, “the headmaster and the Shadow Mage aren’t here, so isn’t this gathering pointless?”

"Yeah, could the date be wrong?"

"Probably not?"

Huang Yi was also unsure, so he went to the entrance and tried calling again, but couldn't get through.

"That shouldn't be the case, there was an answering machine just now..."

“Forget it, I think we should just ignore them,” Hamano Toshiya shrugged. “It’s not like we encouraged Harui Fuden to perform the escape magic trick; he didn’t even tell us.”

That shadow mage was definitely just looking for trouble... Let's treat today as an offline event for the chat room and stop harping on Harui Kaze's story.

Huang Yi then put down the phone: "But the person who organized today's event is the room leader, and he also arranged the program..."

"We'll arrange today's program ourselves, and we happen to have a magician... how about we have a magic competition?"

Hamano Toshiya made a mysterious suggestion.

“I happen to have a magic trick that can be used to select an acting head of the department… Oh, and also select a banquet manager to be responsible for planning and organizing the content of tonight’s party, as well as other tasks. How about we assign them all randomly?”
"We can't let Mr. Huang do all the work by himself; everyone has to contribute."

"What kind of magic trick?" Doi Takaki became a little interested.

“I guarantee it’s a magic trick that will surprise even magicians,” Hamano Toshiya said with a smile as he looked at Gao Mo. “Does anyone have paper and pen? Can I borrow them?”

"So I don't need to be assigned any other tasks, right?" Gao Mo interrupted. "All I know is magic performances."

I feel like there's a pitfall.

There was a faint sense of danger.

Although it wasn't fatal, it was still best for him to avoid it and not fall into the criminal's trap.

(End of this chapter)