Conan: Death is Watching Me

Chapter 298 The Longing of the Living
"Then I'll go get you some hot water."

Akashi Hiroto took off his wet coat and went to the kitchen, leaving Gao Mo alone to look around.

It's a typical old Japanese building, but it's fully equipped with appliances, though I don't know where the electrical wires came from.

In the center of the living room was a fireplace with long light cords hanging from it. The light bulbs were old-fashioned, the kind that required several pulls to turn off.

There were some miscellaneous items and a storage cabinet placed around the room.

An old wall clock hangs on the wall, its round pendulum swinging back and forth, and there is a landline telephone next to it.

There is no cell phone signal in this area, and we rely entirely on this one phone to communicate with the outside world.

The overall layout is very similar to Nobita's living room, except that it lacks a television.

Gao Mo knelt beside the kotatsu table and reached out to pull at the light cord that was almost up to his nose.

“This was my dad’s special request. He said he wanted to make sure that even someone as old and hunchbacked as me could manage.”

Akashi Hiroto smiled and brought over the kettle.

"Sorry, we only have plain boiled water left."

Gao Mo didn't drink the water. Instead, he pointed to the knot in the rope and asked, "Did you tie this knot to extend the rope? It looks like a fishing line knot."

“Oh, this was made by my wife before,” Akashi Hiroto said, surprised. “She seems to be interested in fishing and even bought a fishing book.”

"If you're interested in fishing, you should at least buy some fishing gear, right?"

"That's true, haha."

"What kind of person is Mr. Akashi's wife?" Gao Mo noticed a fishing book in the locker.

At a glance, even seemingly insignificant things in the room could cause a ripple in the memory of the notes.

In particular, some clearly feminine items have been preserved in the kitchen.

Aprons, towels, headscarves...

The refrigerator was also covered with expired little notes, the handwriting neat and warm.

"Mr. Akashi loves his wife very much, doesn't he?"

"Yes, yes," Akashi Hiroto said with a look of nostalgia, so much so that he didn't even notice Gao Mo's cautious attitude. "My wife is very gentle and always thinks of others. Sometimes she's a little silly and likes to put on a brave face. She could have just refused..."

As he spoke, Akashi Hiroto couldn't help but wipe away his tears: "I'm sorry, you must have seen this."

"It's okay, I would have done the same as you."

Gao Mo glanced at the clock.

"May I visit your father upstairs?"

“It’s better not to go,” Akashi Hiroto whispered. “My dad has been a bit neurotic lately. Even though he was so easy to talk to just now, he’s probably getting old and his temper has become very bad. He often says things like he might as well just die. If we wake him up now, who knows what will happen.”

"Is that so?"

Gao Mo's eyes were calm.

The tennis coach was suddenly shown a new projected message above his head: "[A reporter used this to create an alibi. Kill that devil tonight.]"

Seriously, his last wish was for him to help this guy.

But he had no intention of helping others commit crimes.

Moreover, in his view, the old man who was thinking about who was about to die was already nearing his end.

Gao Mo tapped the table lightly with his finger, and spoke again when Akashi Hiroto awkwardly avoided his gaze: "Mr. Akashi, you invited me to be your guest because you couldn't invite any students, right? You stopped me on purpose at that time."

……

Forest riverbank.

The man with the mustache went down to the riverbank to fish with a bucket, fishing rod, and portable folding chair. He did catch a big catfish at first, and he was overjoyed, as proud as ever.

"Haha, what a wonderful start! What a good omen! What a great omen! It looks like today will be a fruitful day. I told you this was a good spot!"

Xiao Lan next to her also cast a shot, but her luck seemed to have run out, and she made no move at all. Seeing her father's gleeful expression, she became annoyed.

"My buoy has been washed away again..."

“That’s because you didn’t tie it properly,” the man with the mustache said, amused by his daughter’s discomfiture. “Fishing line is slippery, so you have to use a special knotting method. Xiao Lan, you’re still too young.”

"I don't know how to fish!"

"Xiao Lan, let me do it!" Yuanzi couldn't stand it anymore and quickly snatched the fishing rod away.

“But Uncle,” Conan, who was helping to hold the umbrella, suddenly noticed something was wrong with the river. The river, which had been relatively calm, had become rapid and turbulent. “The water level in the river seems to be rising rapidly!”

“It’s alright, this is the taste I’m looking for,” the man with the mustache cast his line again. “Isn’t there a saying? The bigger the waves, the more expensive the fish…”

"Something's not right!" Sonoko exclaimed. "Look over there, a car has been swept away!"

“Oh…ah?!”

The man with the mustache reacted a beat too slow, then his expression changed instantly, and he hurriedly swung his fishing rod and line to hook the car.

"It's my rented car! Damn it, I won't let you wash it away!"

"Don't do that, Dad, it's too dangerous!"

The fishing rod bent into an astonishing arc in the mustachioed man's hand, and finally, with a sharp crack amidst Xiao Lan's exclamation, the tip snapped off.

Conan was almost knocked into the river, but Sonoko pulled him out in time.

"It's over!" The man with the mustache cried out in despair, clutching his head as he watched helplessly as the car splashed through the water and disappeared downstream.

He even went out of his way to get a luxury model.

He lost his car while fishing.

I don't know how much money I'll have to pay now.

“Honestly,” Sonoko watched the car disappear and glanced speechlessly at the mustachioed man, “Who told you to park the car so close to the riverbank on a rainy day like this? Now look what’s happened, our luggage is still up there, and there’s even a tennis outfit I specially prepared inside, which I was going to wear for Kido-san.”

"I'm the one who should be sad, okay?"

The man with the mustache stared longingly at the river.

"No, I have to go and see, maybe there's still hope."

Conan's eyelids twitched: Impossible. It's no use getting the car salvaged. We'd better pray that the insurance company will cover more money, although this situation is very risky.

I should have known he would stay in the villa with Kido.

"Damn it," Sonoko said, pulling out her phone and holding it above her head. "There's absolutely no signal here. Are we going to have to walk back? Kido-kun, help!"...

A secluded house deep in the mountains.

Akashi Hiroto's forehead was covered in sweat as he stared wide-eyed at Gao Mo, who had suddenly become a completely different person.

"W-what are you saying? I..."

"You wanted to kill your father, and the reason you invited someone to your house today is so that someone could provide you with an alibi."

Gao Mo spoke calmly.

"Let me think, should we stage a suicide by delivering the curry rice? That way, there will be no alibi... How can we postpone his death in some way?"

It's possible that she would deliberately ask a guest to help collect the tableware, and if the lights were on, she would quietly come down, only to go up again after the lights were turned off, claiming that her father was a bit neurotic...

Although I don't know the specific methods you'll use, I imagine there are only a few. Using drugs would be easily detected... You probably intend to have your father hang himself, but you haven't prepared any special tools. Could it be that you'll have him bite the rope and hang himself when he's exhausted?

Gao Mo observed Akashi Hiroto's changing expressions and accurately extracted the criminal method from him in just a few words.

“What’s so surprising? It wasn’t a particularly clever method to begin with, and it had major flaws. After all, things might not go as you expect. You were gambling, betting that the client wouldn’t think you were going to kill his father, and betting that the local police weren’t that professional.”

"Who exactly are you?" Akashi Hiroto felt immense fear, a suffocating feeling of being completely seen through.

"The people who came to help you."

Gao Mo got up and walked to the locker, taking out the fishing guide inside.

“Some people don’t want you to make a big mistake. Your father may deserve to die, but you have a long life ahead of you. You shouldn’t ruin it with him.”

"Who?"

"A special friend."

Gao Mo did not sense any malice from Akashi Hiroto, and the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.

"The greatest revenge I can take against you, your father, is to abandon you and leave this place. Killing you is just the worst option."

"Excuse me, sorry to bother you!" A mustachioed man's voice suddenly called from outside. "Is anyone home? We've been caught in a flash flood and are lost..."

Akashi Hiroto remained silent for a while before getting up with a wry smile to open the door for the man with the mustache.

When her back was to Gao Mo, tears were faintly visible streaming down her face.

“Originally, I just thought he was difficult to please and a bit neurotic, and that he didn’t treat me, his adopted son, as an outsider… It wasn’t until after my wife’s funeral that I realized he had always treated us like toys and dolls, torturing us for his own amusement.”

My wife caught a cold because of him, but he still insisted on drinking mushroom soup while she was sick. My wife didn't know how to refuse, so she dragged her sick body to the market down the mountain to buy groceries, and then on the way back..."

Akashi Hiroto paused.

"Do you know how he reacted? Afterwards, in front of the Buddhist altar, he actually said that he had finally broken the toy and that next time he would find a long-lived one, as sturdy as an adopted son... Yes, I always thought his strange demands on me were fatherly love, if only I had realized it sooner..."

"Hey?"

The man with the mustache looked at the light and continued patting the door.

"Is anyone here? We'd like to ask for the night's lodging. Don't worry, we're not weirdos. My name is Kogoro Mouri, the famous detective."

Akashi Hiroto's hand, which was reaching for the door, suddenly stopped. He hesitated, looked back at Gao Mo, and then took a deep breath and opened the door.

Fate really loves to play jokes.

Even a famous detective has come.

Lost? Need lodging?

Is it really such a coincidence?

Of all times, he got lost at this time, and of all times, he found his house while he was lost.

"Excuse me, excuse me," the man with the mustache breathed a sigh of relief. "I wonder if I could borrow the restroom, and if so, the phone. It's really unlucky. We originally planned to stay at the Karuizawa villa, but a flash flood occurred and we couldn't get back. We just wandered around and got lost."

"It's alright, you can stay at my house. I have plenty of blankets anyway." Hiroto Akashi smiled and led everyone into the house.

"Thank you so much."

The man with the mustache sniffed the air and first smelled curry, then he saw Gomez cooking curry in the kitchen.

"Who is this……"

"He was also someone who came here to stay, a reporter."

“Hello,” Gao Mo smiled and turned around, “I am Shinji Hasegawa, a freelance writer.”

Huh?
Conan's ears twitched, and he peeked out from behind the mustache, giving Gao Mo a strange look before shaking his head with a self-deprecating smile.

Why is he so suspicious?
Kido should be sleeping at the villa, how could he possibly be playing role-playing games in this godforsaken place?
Besides, they came here by chance because they got lost.

"I've prepared a lot of curry, let's all eat together." Akashi Hiroto was completely different from his previous sadness, warmly welcoming everyone. Only Gao Mo could see the sorrow hidden in his eyes.

Some things cannot be let go of in just a few words.

The deeper his love for his wife, the deeper his hatred for the old man.

But it doesn't matter, his intuition is very accurate.

That old man is destined to die; he won't live much longer.

Although they were rivals, he had to admit that Death Rule was still very dedicated.

"call!"

“Mr. Akashi,” Gao Mo briefly closed his eyes to listen to the rain outside the window, “do you believe in the existence of spirits in this world?”

"Undead?" Akashi Hiroto was slightly confused. "What does that mean?"

"I've heard that if the longing is strong enough, you can see your deceased loved ones at certain times. I believe your wife might be watching you from somewhere right now."

Gao Mo put down the fishing guide in his hand.

The projected notes seemed to turn a page automatically, and the aroma of curry in the kitchen and living room became even stronger, as if a ghostly figure was waiting for the food to be served, just like always.

Akashi Hiroto's eyes were blurred with tears again at some point.

[Akashi Hiroto's Tennis Guide] 4 stars

"Uncle, what's wrong?" Conan sat down by the stove.

“It’s nothing, Uncle is just too happy,” Akashi Hiroto said, clutching the fishing guide tightly to his chest, his voice choked with emotion. “It’s been a long time since we’ve had so many guests at home. If my wife were still here, she would be happy too.”

(End of this chapter)