Conan: I'm Really Not Tokyo Ghost Story

A moment later, the girl named Kazuha Toyama finally realized that she had made a mistake.

Sano and his group also learned a bit about this girl.

...It's nothing more than the childhood sweetheart trope. The so-called "chained" best friend relationship is actually just that the two of them accidentally handcuffed each other when they were children, which led to a period of living like conjoined twins.

Kazuha Toyama even used the key to those handcuffs to make a talisman.

Tsk, what a wicked childhood sweetheart, she's so enviable.

Looking at the chattering group, Sano felt that even the pancake in his mouth had lost its flavor.

Another point is...

Kazuha Toyama seems to have been following her since the Tsutenkaku area, so Ran Mouri's previous feeling that "someone was watching her in the dark" was probably because of this little girl.

"Ha, the daughter of a teenage detective and a policeman, what a pair of sworn enemies."

For some reason, Kogoro Mouri said something.

"Now that we've finished eating, let's hurry up and head to our next stop."

The group got into the police car again, but this time Yuanshan and Ye were among the newcomers.

Yeah, it's even more damn crowded now.

Just as Sakata was about to start the car, the pedestrians around him started acting strangely. They all craned their necks and pointed upwards, as if they were looking at something.

Before Sano and the others could react, they all screamed again and scattered in all directions.

"boom!"

A dark shadow slammed heavily onto the hood of the police car, causing the car beneath Sano to shake.

...Conan's curse halo is finally starting to take effect.

Chapter 246, Part 245: I really want to learn the clone technique.

The group quickly got out of the car, and Hattori Heiji and Conan, who looked up and saw people on the roof, quickly ran up, while Sano and the others stayed below.

A few minutes later, Conan and his companion came downstairs with a man who looked to be in his thirties.

...This person was certainly not the murderer who pushed someone off the building and then stupidly stayed on the roof. He was just the owner of the coffee shop on the second floor. The reason he was on the roof was because someone called him and said they saw a strange man on the roof, so he went up to check the situation.

"The body was found to have died about a day ago, which is probably the killer's way of punishing him."

Upon hearing Heiji Hattori's murmur, Conan immediately asked, "What kind of punishment?"

"That's right, stabbing the wallet through the chest with a knife and then into the heart is exactly the same as the previous two cases."

Heiji Hattori muttered a couple of things to himself, whether in response to Conan or not.

Before Conan could ask any more questions, an elderly woman who was watching suddenly looked unwell after hearing Heiji Hattori's words. She turned around and ran away in a panic, eventually getting into a car and speeding away.

"Damn it, she got away!"

Heiji Hattori, who failed to stop the older woman, looked rather grim, while Conan remained calm and composed: "Don't worry, I've already noted down her license plate number. But... shouldn't you give me an explanation first, Hattori?"

Behind them, Ai Haibara stared at the high school detective duo for a while, then turned to Sano, who hadn't moved much, and asked, "You seem a bit different from these two high school detectives. Are you not interested in this case?"

"Because I work part-time."

Sano glanced at the time, then at the location of Numabuchi Kiichiro on the map, which was not in Osaka city.

At this rate, we're afraid we'll hit another bottleneck.

troublesome.

"Let's go to the police station together, and I'll explain the situation to you."

Heiji Hattori originally planned to take Sano and the others to the police station for a short meeting... Actually, he mainly wanted to talk to Sano and Conan, and the others were just there incidentally.

However, Sano rejected his proposal.

"You need to explain the situation first before I can know whether I should go or not."

"This……"

Heiji Hattori hesitated for a moment, but ultimately decided to explain the situation directly.

It turns out that a few days ago, two murder cases had already occurred in two different locations in Osaka. The victims' deaths were very similar to today's case; both victims had their wallets pierced through their chests with a knife before being plunged into their hearts.

Because both cases were suppressed and have not been reported, the possibility of a copycat murder is almost zero.

That's all.

To put it bluntly, this is likely a serial murder case, and there are currently almost no clues.

Knew it.

Sano already had a plan in mind, and said to Hattori Heiji, "You guys go ahead, I won't go."

"what?"

Heiji Hattori and Conan both looked at Sano with some confusion: "If you're not coming with us, where are you going? Or do you already have a plan?"

"No, I just have something I need to take care of."

Sano's denial brought a slight sigh of relief to the... well, high school detective duo.

The two thought that Sano, this monster, had discovered the key again at an abnormally fast speed. Turns out he hadn't, that's good... but that doesn't seem quite right either.

Solving a case should be a good thing. As a high school detective, how can I not want a case to be solved just because I'm not as fast at solving it as others?

guilt guilt...

"That's all for now, see you later."

Sano waved his hand and prepared to leave, but after walking a dozen meters, he stopped and turned around expressionlessly, looking at Ai Haibara, who was also expressionless, and asked.

Why are you following me?

"Can't I go with you?"

"...Yes, provided you can keep up."

Sano suddenly sped up, and Ai Haibara wanted to keep up, but after passing a passerby, the person had disappeared from sight.

...How did this guy disappear so quickly?

Looking around but unable to find Sano, Ai Haibara breathed a sigh of relief and could only turn around and follow Heiji Hattori's police car to the police station.

In the shadows on the street, Sano, who had changed his vest and altered his clothes, watched the police car leave before turning around, hailing a taxi, and heading to where Numabuchi Kiichiro was.

The reason Sano agreed to team up with Conan and the other troublesome guys to come to Osaka is actually quite simple.

That means the situation was already complicated enough.

The mission description for Numabuchi Kiichiro is similar to Sano's previous mission to catch criminals.

They all need to be arrested and sent to the police station, which means they need a pretext.

However, in reality, Kiichiro Numabuchi was the organization's target.

Sano caught this guy, and even if he didn't report it, he should at least kill him and send him to the police station. That would be too much to ask.

Even if it's sent under a pseudonym, there will still be some trouble.

For a while, Sano was frantically completing missions every day, then suddenly disappeared without a trace. The next second, Black Death or Black Mask captured Numabuchi Kiichiro in Osaka.

...Ordinary people who don't know the situation wouldn't feel anything is wrong, but for Gin, who is a paranoid person who already has some doubts about Sano...

That would be a big problem.

If using your original identity doesn't work, and neither does using an alternate identity, then what else can you do?

Sano had considered creating a new... fictitious identity or even a real identity on the spot and sending it over in that name, but he didn't know if such a method would actually work.

If it works, that's fine; if it doesn't, Sano himself will suffer the loss.

After much deliberation, Sano decided that it would be better to send Numabuchi Kiichiro in as his original body.

As for whether Gin will hold someone accountable later.

What does that have to do with me? I don't know anything about it.

Who is Numabuchi Kiichiro?

I'm sorry, I had never heard of or seen this place before coming to Osaka.

How could Sano possibly remember the name and photo of a lowly henchman?

Since the person has already been arrested, if Gin has any complaints, he can just issue another mission to silence them, and Sano can go in and handle it.

It's no big deal.

Although Sano knew that the reason was a bit far-fetched, it was the best possible outcome.

...Well, mainly it's because Sano is too lazy to deal with the headache.

This was the best solution Sano could come up with before completely giving up.

If that doesn't work, then Sano will just give up and let things take their course.

Although using an alias might only arouse suspicion at most, it's actually very close to a complete breakdown in relations.

The problem, like the core issue in most cases, lies in the inability to identify the suspect.

Once you have a goal, it will be a completely different situation from aimless searching or looking for a needle in a haystack.

The key to many things is simply having the intention to calculate without the intention.

If someone else were in Sano's position, and Sano were responsible for finding "evidence" that he was Black Mask or Black Death, then he wouldn't be without a way to find it.

After all, no matter how different two people are, they are still just one person.

Even the most perfect disguise is not a clone.

If you keep a close eye on things, the truth will always come out eventually.

Perhaps due to Sano's cheat code, such a clue would have no legal effect in court, but it would be enough for a criminal like Gin.

As for how to deal with this problem, Sano has no clue yet, and the only solution is...

The tactic of delaying.

After all, Sano isn't planning to sell himself to the organization. He'll get tired of this game someday, and whether he's suspected or even proven wrong then won't matter.