Conan: Death is Watching Me

Chapter 184 "Nagato Hideomi's Guide to Novels"

"call!"

After the door was closed, Hattori Heiji pressed himself against the outside of the door, feeling inexplicably nervous.

The fact that the lazy Kido suddenly started searching for clues everywhere is very likely because he has contacted Kindaichi.

The famous detective has started investigating the case remotely again.

When you encounter problems in reasoning, try going back to the starting point; you might find a new approach.

I doubt only Kindaichi would say something like that.

Has the other party already found the truth of the case and solved all the mysteries?
But we haven't even found a trace of Nagato Hideomi yet, isn't it too early to draw conclusions?
Hattori Heiji's brows furrowed.

He's quite good at gathering clues, so why hasn't he made any progress?

What's still missing...?

"Mr. Shiro, Mr. Shirodo."

Hinata Yuki put the electric kettle aside, her expression becoming increasingly unnatural. Even without turning around, she could still feel Gao Mo's gaze.

"Weren't you going to find Hideomi?"

“Continuing to search is a waste of effort,” Gao Mo glanced at the old man Nagato who was still pretending to be asleep. “Mr. Hideomi is no longer in this world, is he?”

"What are you saying?" Hinata Yuki's fingers trembled.

"Since yesterday, the editorial department has been unable to contact Mr. Hideaki. There have been only voicemail messages in his room. However, Mr. Hideaki, who is not in his own room, is able to eat on time and even eat more than before."

Gao Mo casually remarked, noticing that the old man on the bed was breathing more heavily.

"Actually, I asked someone to investigate Chairman Nagato's first love today. Coincidentally, a fire broke out at a hotel nearby 20 years ago, the same year that the Yamato couple disappeared. If their child is still alive, he would be about your age... It is said that before you went to the orphanage, your name was Yamato Yuki."

Hyuga Yuki's eyes narrowed sharply: "There must be a mistake, Mr. Kido..."

"A mistake? The reason Chairman Nagato dreamed of his first love was because he saw your mother's shadow in you... After so many years, why would he suddenly think of looking for someone?"

Gao Mo casually sat down opposite Hinata Yuki. Although his appearance hadn't changed, he gave off a feeling as heavy as a mountain.

"The old man himself must have realized it, which is why he treated you so well, even saying that the Nagato family owes you too much—I think it's not just because you're going to marry Nagato Hideomi."

Heiji Hattori felt a chill run down his spine as he stood outside the door.

He hadn't thought about any of that.

It turns out that while he was running around aimlessly, Kido had already learned so much.

“Perhaps,” Hyuga Yuki lowered his head, “What does all this have to do with not being able to find Hideomi? I am just Hyuga Yuki now.”

“Nagato Hideomi and Mr. Koumitsu became enemies after that fire, and logically speaking, Nagato Hideomi, who was disfigured, should have had the funds for plastic surgery and repair, but he has been wrapped in bandages all year round and locked himself in his room all day long... Was that fire really just an accident?”

Gao Mo looked at Old Master Nagato as if talking to himself.

"Old sir, you actually know the truth, don't you?"

"Ugh."

Chairman Nagato sighed and opened his eyes.

"It's a tragedy. Twenty years have passed, and Hideomi still can't let go of that incident. It was clearly Kōmyō who caused the trouble, but he..."

"Chairman?" Hinata Yuki stood up abruptly, a hint of fear on her beautiful, delicate face, and sweat beading on her forehead. "When...did you wake up?"

“Just after everyone else ran out,” the old man said with a complicated expression, “I hadn’t taken my medicine that night, I just dozed off for a while.”

He saw everything Hinata Sachi did.

“Hyuga has been taking care of me the whole time. He just left for a few minutes,” the old man said in a deep voice, turning to Gao Mo. “He shouldn’t be involved in this case, right?”

"I'm not a police officer, I just want to know what's going on with Mr. Hideomi."

Gao Mo calmly stared directly at Hinata Yuki.

He was quite certain that Hinata Yuki was the mastermind behind the case.

He didn't come here to solve the case—even the old man was protecting Hyuga Yuki, so there was no need for him, who wasn't exactly "righteous" to begin with, to pursue the matter to the end.

I sensed the other party's will to die simply through the projected text.

“There’s something else I’m curious about,” Gao Mo continued, “was Mr. Hideomi’s suicide or…”

Chairman Nagato struggled to his feet: "Hyuga, Hideomi... he's really dead?"

"If one is to be wronged and unable to rest in peace after death... isn't it cruel just to think about it?"

Gao Mo looked at Hinata Yuki, who was silent and had his eyes closed.

A person with such a death wish would have no reason to arrange unnecessary things, such as deliberately framing Nagato Hideomi.

"Miss Hinata must like Mr. Hideomi, right?"

"When did Mr. Kido begin to doubt me?" Hinata asked, bowing his head bitterly.

“You used to habitually check the time on your watch,” Gao Mo said, his gaze falling on Hinata Yuki’s wrist. “That watch disappeared after the incident.”

Hinata Yuki's body trembled slightly, and he subconsciously pressed his wrist: "Just because of this?"

“Your fiancé killed someone downstairs, but you insisted on staying with the old man alone. After hearing that your fiancé was missing, you didn’t rush to look for him. You just emphasized that your fiancé wouldn’t kill anyone.”

Gao Mo spoke calmly.

"Either you don't love Mr. Hideomi at all, or you know that Mr. Hideomi has passed away."

“But…” Hinata Yuki looked up, “Even so, I’ve always been in this room…”

"If someone attacked Mr. Guangming downstairs, the blood from that 5-centimeter-long wound on his arm wouldn't have simply splattered onto the bandage on his face, and it certainly wouldn't have been just one simple wound. Even if Mr. Guangming was trying to escape by jumping off the building, he wouldn't have died in that backward-facing position..."

Gao Mo crossed his fingers.

"My detectives immediately spotted the flaw and deduced that Mr. Guangming was trying to climb up using the grappling hook, but was pushed off the third floor. The small wound on the back of the corpse's hand was probably inflicted by the pen you always carried with you..."

"Mr. Guangming probably didn't expect you to stay here to deal with him, did you?"
"You didn't expect that he would grab the watch when he fell, and then break the watch strap... Actually, you should have disposed of the pen at the same time, the police could have found bloodstains by testing it."

The three people on the scene stared at each other for a moment.

Especially Hinata Yuki himself.

This is no longer deduction; it's as if I witnessed her committing the crime firsthand.

“This is a keepsake left to me by my father,” Hinata said with a bitter smile, clutching the pen tightly through her tears. “How could I possibly throw it away?”

Chairman Nagato hesitated, then said, "Hyuga..."

“I’m sorry, Chairman,” Hinata Yuki turned his head away, “It was I who suggested to Hikaru that killing you would allow me to inherit the Nagato Group… But Hideomi committed suicide, and by the time I found out, it was too late.”

Two lines of clear tears streamed down Hinata Yuki's cheeks.

"The truth of what happened 20 years ago was written in Xiuchen's suicide note... I hate that Guangming was able to live openly after setting that fire, I hate Xiuchen for condoning the whole thing, and I hate Xiuchen for abandoning me on his own initiative, leaving me all alone..."

As he spoke, Hinata Yuki wiped his face and walked out of the dormitory: "I know where Hideomi is now. Koujin hid him under the pond in the yard."

Before Hattori Heiji could hide, he was caught red-handed by Hinata Yuki, and awkwardly met Gao Mo's gaze.

"City, Brother Kido, since you knew the truth from the beginning, why didn't you just expose her? Wouldn't that have given her a chance to deal with the evidence?"

Normal detective reasoning usually involves setting up a stage for a reasoning show, but Gao Mo prefers to talk to criminals in private, as was the case with the diplomat last time.

It's not pleasant at all.

Of course, reasoning should be done in front of everyone, that thrilling moment of uncovering the truth and cornering the criminal...

Gao Mo immediately saw what Hattori Heiji was thinking: "Detective reasoning is not a game. Everyone here is a living, breathing human being. Even criminals are not all vicious and evil people."

Hattori Heiji stopped mid-sentence, feeling that Gao Mo, who was usually a lazy bum, had suddenly become more unfathomable, and for a moment he felt ashamed and didn't know why.

"Kito-san..."

"This is all Kindaichi's idea."

Gao Mo coughed lightly and added, then reached out and turned on the electric kettle on the table.

A pungent smell of gasoline wafted over. So that's what happened.

Hinata Yuki's chosen ending was to die by self-immolation.

It began with flames and ended with flames.

With a light breath, Gao Mo handed the water bottle to Hattori Heiji and began drawing a mission.

"Take care of this. Don't let Miss Hinata commit suicide. If she really loves Mr. Hideomi, she should cherish her life even more."

"Hyuga is going to commit suicide?" The old man on the bed asked excitedly.

"She should have been mentally prepared when she saw the detective coming."

Gao Mo drew the card twice before finally locking onto Megure's mission: "Find the culprit."

The others were either unsuitable, impossible to complete, or unnecessary to complete—the first one drawn was Nobuko Nagato's [I want to get married].

“The old man may have protected Miss Hinata out of guilt,” Gao Mo paused, “but for Miss Hinata, being arrested is better than doing something rash. I hope you won’t blame me for meddling.”

“That pen,” the old man lay back down, “was actually a gift I gave to her mother before I transferred schools in elementary school. I just wanted to confirm it, so I hired a detective.”

Hattori Heiji stood there dumbfounded.

Is Kindaichi really solving cases remotely?
He suddenly had some doubts.

But to say that Kido's reasoning ability is better than his...

It's impossible that being framed would lead to leaving the entertainment industry, right?
I've never heard of Kido-san solving any cases.

……

Changmen Family Courtyard.

Police found Nagato Hideomi's body in the pool that same night.

He was pinned to the bottom of the pool by a pile of rocks, and a suicide note was found on his body.

It is said that he was first wrapped in a bed sheet and buried in the ground by Nagato Mitsuaki in an attempt to isolate him from the air and obscure the time of his death.

However, the trick failed because the body was discovered beforehand.

Bed sheets and other tools were also found in the room where the incident occurred, and a blood-drawing syringe was found thrown on a lampshade.

The syringe still contained traces of the victim's blood. Nagato Mitsuaki had indeed made considerable preparations in order to frame Nagato Hideomi.

The whole case became completely clear.

After discovering that Nagato Mitsuaki planned to kill Nagato's chairman, Inspector Megure quickly followed the clues and suspected Hyuga Yuki, who was on the third floor at the time.

When they finally found Hinata Yuki, he was staring blankly at the empty kettle. Then, heart-wrenching cries echoed through the mansion.

"Why? It's so easy for Guangming to start a fire, but I can't light mine!"

"Why do you do this to me?"

"I have nothing left! Hideomi has abandoned me too!"

The cries of anguish carried far into the night, sorrowful and desolate, filled with anger and despair.

Hattori Heiji, who had just reached the door, couldn't help but shudder: "It might be better if she died like that."

"Even the Grim Reaper wouldn't take a life so easily... This is Nagato's last request."

Gao Mo was holding a check for 1000 million.

He wasn't planning to charge a commission fee after this happened, but the other party offered too much.

Let Hyuga Yuki hate if he wants to.

"But why me?" Hattori Heiji wondered. "I didn't solve this case, yet the credit is going to me..."

If it weren't for Gao Mo, he doesn't know when he would have found out the truth, and he might even have ended up driving Hinata Yuki to her death.

It just doesn't feel right to have him wrap up the case.

“We can’t let Miss Hinata resent me as her boss,” Gao Mo patted Hattori on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, the old man will talk to her. She’ll thank you later.”

Hattori Heiji turned around and glanced back, his lips twitching.

The crying grew even more piercing.

Okay, you're the boss.

"Heiji!"

A car suddenly pulled out from the intersection, and Kazuha's familiar figure appeared. Upon seeing Hattori, she shouted loudly.

"It's so slow, how long are we supposed to wait?"

"Kazuha?" Hattori Heiji rubbed his eyes. "What are you doing here?"

“I called you but you didn’t answer, so I had to ask your aunt. She said you were investigating a case here,” Kazuha said, tilting his head back triumphantly. “It just so happens that Sonoko has been here before.”

Gao Mo deliberately lagged behind, failing to keep up with Hattori.

Deduction and romance...

He's probably not meant to be with the latter.

Immortality can also be seen as a curse, not to mention that he is also half "Death God".

Even now, he can only protect himself; dating would only harm his partner.

"Kido-kun".

Yuanzi moved slowly like a crab to Gao Mo's side, and somehow she was wearing a sweater in the same color scheme as Gao Mo.

"That movie theater has been handed over. After it's been renovated, do you want to go see a movie again?"

Before Gao Mo could respond, Sonoko blushed and steamed, like a steam engine in motion.

"It just so happens that the final chapter of Gomera will be released around that time... Ai seems to really like watching it too."

Although I don't really want any third wheel around, it's definitely not okay to just ask Gao Mo.

"We'll see when the time comes," Gao Mo shook his head secretly.

It wasn't that he disliked Sonoko; their social status and age difference weren't issues either.

The Suzuki family is indeed a behemoth, but not enough to make him back down.

The age difference did not create a generation gap.

He simply doesn't have any other ideas at the moment.

Let alone Sonoko, even if Yoko Okino had feelings for him, he wouldn't agree.

I don't know what Sonoko likes about him—there are plenty of handsome guys in the world, and given Sonoko's infatuated personality, she should have fallen for someone else long ago.

【Task Settlement】

[Nagato Hideomi's Guide to Novel Writing - 4 stars]

The belated note projection reminded him to return to Gao Mo's thoughts.

It turned out to be Nagato Hideomi's professional book.

The novelists who can be serialized in "Bungei Jidai" are quite good, much better than that novelist from the Tomizawa family who killed his father.

After all, it is the representative publication of the university.

If I have time, I can study it and add another novelist's ability.

He had long wanted to follow in Yusaku Kudo's footsteps.

Starting a career as a novelist will be a bright future for me.

(End of this chapter)