The cross-dressing master in the world of Detective Conan

"Oh, don't scare me, Xiaolan."

Although Sonoko is usually carefree, she is actually a timid girl at heart. Hearing her best friend say this made her a little nervous.

"I always feel like someone is watching me, it gives me the creeps."

"I think you haven't encountered some kind of pervert, Xiaolan, have you?"

Kazama Kaoru knows that there are indeed some things in this world that science cannot explain, but under normal circumstances, Ran will not encounter them.

The feeling of being stared at is probably most likely a product of island nations—subway perverts, gropers, and the like.

"Hey Xiaolan, you didn't run into a pervert, did you?"

"No, I think it's something like those naughty kids that often exist at home."

Xiaolan looked frightened; it seemed that this illness had made her physically and mentally vulnerable.

"Look, there are strange noises outside the door right now. It must be that kind of thing, there's no doubt about it."

Hearing the faint sounds coming from outside the door, Xiaolan became even more certain of her guess.

However, Kaoru Kazama had already keenly sensed through his chakra that the noise outside was Conan, who had just come home from school.

Right now, this guy is cowering in front of Xiaolan's bedroom door, trying to eavesdrop on the conversation inside.

"Shh, don't speak yet."

Kaoru Kazama gestured to stop the two from talking, then walked lightly to the door and turned the doorknob with a click.

Then, a schoolboy, seemingly trying to eavesdrop, appeared in front of them.

"Conan, are you out of school? Are you hungry? I'm sorry, I'm not feeling well right now. You can go and have some snacks to tide you over."

Seeing that it wasn't the mischievous kid she had guessed but Conan outside the door, Ran's fear disappeared, and she started worrying about Conan again.

"Xiao Lan, don't worry about this brat right now. I think the reason you fell ill is because of this guy."

"Xiao Lan... Sister, I'm sorry."

Conan apologized with a guilty expression. This guy obviously wouldn't be affected by Sonoko's sarcastic remarks. The reason he acted this way was mainly because he hadn't been able to explain the truth to Ran during the previous plan to grow bigger. Instead, his sudden appearance had distracted Ran, causing her to fall ill and be bedridden.

"Conan, don't listen to Sonoko-neechan. She's just joking. I got sick because I didn't cover myself properly while sleeping, so I caught a cold. It has nothing to do with you. Please don't take Sonoko-neechan's jokes seriously."

Seeing Conan like this, Ran became anxious and hurriedly began to explain, which immediately made her feel much better.

"It seems that whether he grows bigger or smaller, Shinichi Kudo is always the culprit who affects Ran's mood."

Kaoru Kazama looked at the expressions on the two people's faces and came to this conclusion.

"Alright, Ran, you should rest well. You're still quite weak, so resting is the most important thing. I'll take care of Conan for you. Let him come to my house for dinner tonight, and I'll bring him back safe and sound after dinner, so don't worry about him."

"Alright then, Conan, you have to be good over there, okay? Don't cause any trouble for Kaoru-neechan, and don't be picky about food, understand?"

Under Kazama Kaoru's amused gaze, Conan could only nod reluctantly.

God knows, he's not that childish at all. It's just that his cute and innocent image has become so deeply ingrained in people's minds that Xiaolan habitually worries about him.

"It seems I need to be more careful about this in the future."

Realizing he had caused Ran a lot of trouble, the great detective began to reflect on his actions. However, when it came to actually gathering information to solve a case, he would probably resort to the same old tricks again.

Chapter 673 Detective's Nemesis Kazama Kaoru

"Alright, alright, it's getting late, I should go now. I sneaked out to see you during my lunch break, Xiaolan."

Kaoru winked at Ran, then very naturally pinned the excuse of slacking off on Ran.

Xiaolan readily accepted the blame, truly a kind angel.

"I think this guy just wanted to sneak out and have some fun."

Conan is very familiar with Kazama Kaoru's habits, but unfortunately it's useless. Even if he says it now, Ran won't believe him, and he'll be hated by the Great Demon King Kazama for it.

He wouldn't do something that would be thankless and exhausting.

"By the way, Kaoru-neechan, Teitan High School is going to hold its annual school festival soon. Don't forget! The script written by Sonoko-sama is sure to be popular. If you miss it, Kaoru-neechan, it will be a lifelong regret."

"Okay, Sonoko, I'll go on time."

Kazama Kaoru, both amused and exasperated, promised Sonoko that it wasn't hard to guess what kind of script Sonoko, with her love-struck mind, would come up with. However, after watching so many murder cases, it was nice to change things up once in a while.

And so, Kaoru Kazama, who ostensibly went to visit the sick Ran but actually sneaked out during his lunch break to drink tea and slack off at the Mouri Detective Agency until nearly four o'clock before returning to the Metropolitan Police Department, told Inspector Megure's questioning gaze with righteous indignation that he had gone to observe an important witness.

Ran topped both the list of people who made emergency calls and the list of eyewitnesses in Tokyo this year, making her an important witness that the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department must protect.

God knows if, without Xiaolan, that idiot and the reasoning fanatic would still remember to call the police.

In many cases, failing to report a crime in a timely manner can lead to very serious consequences.

Therefore, in conclusion, Kaoru Kazama felt no remorse for slacking off; on the contrary, he was filled with pride.

Yes, that's how much she loves her work.

"By the way, Kaoru, I think Manager Matsumoto said there were orders from above to investigate recent unsolved cases. Did you know about this?"

Miwako was suddenly struck a blow by Kazama Kaoru's smugness, leaving her stunned.

In fact, unsolved cases are basically within their job scope even without orders from above, but given Tokyo's current crime rate, there are new cases to handle almost every day.

Under these circumstances, with the existing manpower and police force, it is impossible to take care of those long-standing cold cases, so they have just been left unsolved.

But now, the higher authorities have suddenly issued an order to intensify the investigation of these unsolved cases, so as not to disappoint the families of the victims who are still hoping for the truth from the police.

To be honest, your intentions are very good, but you should at least send me more people.

If I just talk the talk but walk the walk, am I supposed to risk my life to handle all those cases by myself?

"Xiao Xun, why are you suddenly spacing out again? Are you even listening to me?"

"I'm listening, I'm listening. I was just reminiscing about the days of freedom."

Kaoru Kazama never expected that the afternoon that had just passed would be the last time she had the freedom to slack off in a while.

Although only half an hour has passed, it is still unforgettable.

"Did the order just come out verbally? Are there any corresponding solutions, such as sending more people, or..."

Kaoru Kazama made a money-counting gesture. Although she likes to slack off, when she has to work overtime, she will still choose to embrace the greatest thing in the world: overtime pay.

"It's still unclear, since it's all just rumors. They were discussing it this afternoon, and based on past practice, they should be organizing a special operations team."

Miwako pointed to the group of middle-aged men next to her. Although they were also a bunch of seasoned veterans at work, they were quite familiar with inside information and police practices.

As for why Miwako knows so much, we need to talk about the origin and composition of the Miwako Guard, an internal police organization.

"Forget it, I don't want to think about these unlucky things anymore. They're going to happen sooner or later anyway. The most important thing is to seize the moment."

Kazama Kaoru uttered a very insightful maxim. Just when Miwako thought she was about to work hard, she saw her quickly pack up her things and get ready to leave work in ten seconds. Then she stared motionlessly at the wall clock, waiting for the exact moment of 5:30.

Seeing this, Miwako covered her forehead and inwardly criticized herself: "How could I have had any expectations of such a lazy guy? I was so naive."

"It's time to get off work! It's finally time to get off work!"

Kaoru Kazama let out a cheer as she left work, then dashed out in a flash.

Its speed is almost comparable to the Body Flicker Technique; even Minato Namikaze would struggle to match it here.

And so, Kaoru Kazama happily spent his last days of being a couch potato.

The next morning, she was called to a meeting as soon as she arrived at the Metropolitan Police Department.

The topic of the meeting was the gossip that Miwako had told her yesterday: the special task force established to solve long-standing cases, with Kaoru Kazama as the team leader, the other members to be determined, and the funding for the operation pending approval.

"So, this is a three-no organization. What do we have besides me, the lone commander? It's really a case of the higher-ups just talking and the lower-ups running themselves ragged."

After finishing the meeting, Kaoru Kazama returned to his seat and, taking advantage of Inspector Megure's absence, poured out his grievances to Miwako, who was focused on her work.

"There's nothing we can do about it. The entire Metropolitan Police Department is incredibly busy, and we simply can't spare any manpower. So, we have to do as much as we can."

Miwako pointed to a stack of reports on her desk and said helplessly.

Kaoru Kazama strongly suspected that someone had snitched on her, because she was always the last to arrive and the first to leave, and she was also the fastest to be promoted. Was someone jealous of her?

Feeling resentful, Kaoru Kazama began to make endless assumptions, but in reality, not so many scheming things had actually happened.

The reason for forming this special task force is indeed to solve numerous unsolved cases.

As for why this lone commander ended up hitting Kazama Kaoru on the head, it can only be said that among the vast police force, Redemption has the highest case-solving rate and rarely relies on the help of detectives.

Some people even secretly call Kazama Kaoru the detective's nemesis.

That's right, not a criminal killer, but a detective killer.

It is said that someone has specifically compiled statistics showing that when Inspector Kazama appears, not only are other detectives rarely disrupting things, but even the famous Sleeping Kogoro rarely has the opportunity to appear.

Most of the time, you can only see a primary school student active on the sidelines, while the famous detective usually makes some wrong inferences to confuse the public.

Therefore, some people have proposed the theory that Kaoru Kazama's presence would suppress the detective's intelligence.

Of course, not many people within the Metropolitan Police Department believed this. These older men, on the contrary, firmly believed that Kogoro Mouri's misleading behavior was actually a pretense of weakness, waiting for the right opportunity to deliver a fatal blow to the criminal.

Honestly, this is all the dreams these middle-aged men have.

It's quite rare for a middle-aged man to regain his vitality, not only becoming famous but also gaining both fame and fortune. Unless you have a future son-in-law who has been poisoned but hasn't died, you can only dream about this while you're sleeping.

Chapter 674 Behind every case lies a liter of tears

"Ugh, what bad luck this time. Could it be that I came back from the Naruto world with some kind of evil spirit?"

Kazama Kaoru suddenly began to doubt his current luck, but after thinking it over, it seemed that nothing in the Naruto world could affect him.

As for the so-called "dirty things," I probably haven't come into contact with Black Zetsu, so it's fine.

"But Xiao Xun, is it really true that the higher-ups haven't assigned you any more manpower? That seems unlikely, considering there are quite a few old cases. They can't possibly let you handle them all by yourself."

"It wasn't for nothing that I spoiled you, Miwako. It seems you still love me."

In this cold Metropolitan Police Department, only Miwako's embrace could give her a little warmth.

Then she plunged into the warm embrace, completely ignoring the wide-eyed stares of the men around her.

Pretty girls sticking to each other like that is probably a hobby of all the men in the Metropolitan Police Department, except for Chiba, who likes tokusatsu.

"They weren't that heartless. They gave me a so-called temporary conscription privilege, which was supposedly a bad idea devised by some big shot to counterbalance the influence of those detectives."