Conan: I'm Really Not Tokyo Ghost Story

It's like cheating on a monthly exam in your first year of high school, and then getting caught only after the college entrance exam is over—what good is that?

...To put it more dramatically, whether Sano will still be alive at that time, or whether he will still want to live, is another matter entirely.

No one can predict the future, so worrying about it now is really not Sano's style. As long as there are no problems in the present, everything will be fine.

With this in mind, Sano soon arrived at a mountain, and after some exploration, he came to a wooden house in the mountain.

According to the map, Numabuchi Kiichiro should be on the second floor, but Sano is not in the wooden house and found a staircase leading to the second floor.

Sano looked around and finally fixed his gaze on a corner of the ceiling. If you looked closely, you could vaguely see four gaps connecting to form a square.

Is it considered a secret passage or hidden passage?

Sano stepped onto the windowsill next to him, leaped into the air, flipped onto the beam, pushed up that section of the ceiling, and then turned on his phone's flashlight, illuminating the dim second floor.

In the corner, handcuffed, Numabuchi Kiichiro instinctively shielded his eyes from the blinding white light, his timid appearance revealing his inner fear.

found it.

Sano climbed up and walked towards Numabuchi Kiichiro.

The pure black coat Sano was wearing caused Numabuchi Kiichiro's body to tremble violently... just like a certain Ai Haibara.

"You, you stay away from me!!"

Looking at the terrified Numabuchi Kiichiro, Sano grinned: "Go ahead and scream, no one will come to save you even if you scream your lungs out."

……Um?

Something seems off.

Are the character positions reversed?

Never mind, they're all trivial matters.

However, what surprised Sano was that Numabuchi Kiichiro, who looked incredibly thin and whose bones seemed like they would break if touched, suddenly unleashed an extraordinary burst of power when Sano approached him.

A whip kick almost knocked Sano over.

Is it possible that the organization's semi-finished drug is so effective?

Sano grabbed Numabuchi Kiichiro's calf with one hand and swung the Hammer of Justice out with the other.

Since that's the case, then I can't blame myself.

"what!!!"

A chilling scream echoed from the mountain cabin.

……

Meanwhile, Conan, Ai Haibara, Heiji Hattori, and the police officer named Sakata, after finding the escaped woman based on the license plate number provided by Conan, discover that she had been murdered. Later, they accidentally discovered the clue of "a wallet with a knife piercing her chest," which might represent a driver's license.

After some investigation, they finally found the commonalities among the four deceased.

That is, they all studied at the same driving school in the same class during the same term.

Chapter 247, Section 246: Sano got beaten up by Hattori!

And most importantly, among the six members of that driving test class, besides these four, there was also a member of parliament and a serial killer currently wanted by the police.

The existence of Numabuchi Kiichiro.

"There's no mistake, the problem must be here!"

After obtaining a group photo of the six students and their instructor from that year, Heiji Hattori became even more certain of the problem. He then became puzzled by the discrepancy in the dates on which the six people received their driver's licenses and began investigating the cause.

Just then, Ai Haibara moved closer to Conan and muttered, "This Kiichiro Numabuchi, I think he used to be a member of the organization."

"……What did you say!?"

Conan, who was previously preoccupied with the details of the case, instantly changed his expression upon hearing this: "You're saying that this Numabuchi Kiichiro was once a member of the organization!?"

"Ah."

Ai Haibara nodded, explaining the situation as she understood it.

"The organization once took a liking to his skills and wanted to recruit him as an outer member, but he was too easily out of control and did not fit the organization's style, so he was later assigned to drug experiments, and no one knows when he escaped."

"...In short, although this guy knows very little about the organization, it's safe to say he's dangerous."

"I see……"

Conan responded somewhat dejectedly; he had thought he was going to catch a big fish this time.

It's a pity that last time at the Beika Hotel, several codenamed members showed up, either openly or covertly, but I failed to catch a single one of them.

...The only one who was accidentally identified by Sano was then silenced.

What are you talking about?

Hattori Heiji, who had already finished researching, came over.

"It's nothing, I was talking to Edogawa about holiday homework."

Before Conan could answer, Ai Haibara had already prepared an excuse.

...Is this to prevent Hattori Heiji from getting too involved?

"Holiday homework?"

Heiji Hattori, who was still unaware that Ai Haibara and Conan were of the same species, paused for a moment before squatting down next to Conan and asking jokingly, "Hey, Kudo, do you, a high school student, feel really good doing elementary school students' holiday homework?"

This guy...

Conan, with his deadpan expression, asked, "Alright, have you found anything?"

"Unfortunately, apart from the coach dying in a car accident while driving under the influence, there were no other gains."

When it came to serious matters, Hattori Heiji immediately sighed: "Right now, we can only go to that senator's house and see if there are any other clues."

"Well, let's go then."

None of the four expected that they would run into Sano, who was carrying Numabuchi Kiichiro, as they were about to go out to investigate.

"Sano?"

Upon seeing the person Sano was carrying on his shoulder, Conan and Ai Haibara's expressions immediately changed: "What are you doing? Where did you kidnap this person from?!"

What are those two guys saying?

Sano glanced at the two fake children, casually tossed Numabuchi Kiichiro to the ground, then turned to Sakata and asked, "Officer Sakata, does he look familiar?"

Upon seeing the face of the unconscious Numabuchi Kiichiro on the ground, the four men were even more astonished.

"Numa, Numabuchi Kiichiro!?"

"Where did you find this guy?"

Sano calmly lit a cigarette, looked at Sakata who had already sensed something was wrong, and explained, "I was planning to go for a walk in the mountains, but I ended up running into this guy in the cabin and overheard some interesting things."

"Something interesting?"

Before Conan could ask any further questions, Sakata couldn't take it anymore and began to confess: "Heh, I never thought you'd find out like this, it's really..."

"...Sakata?"

Heiji Hattori looked at Sakata, a bad feeling creeping into his heart.

"I'm sorry, Heiji-kun, I actually killed those four guys..."

Sakata explained his motive for killing with a wry smile.

It turns out that Sakata's father used to be a driving instructor at a driving school. The four deceased, as well as their two classmates, including Numabuchi Kiichiro, were all students taught by his father.

Then one day, Sakata’s father died in a car accident while driving under the influence of alcohol. Sakata had always believed that his father was very safety-conscious and could not possibly be driving under the influence of alcohol. Later, he accidentally caught Numabuchi Kiichiro and learned the truth from the confused man.

...It seems that the six trainees conspired together to tamper with the brakes of Sakata's father's car in an attempt to scare him, but unexpectedly, it resulted in a death.

Upon discovering the truth, Sakata became enraged and imprisoned Numabuchi Kiichiro, intending to kill the other five people first and then murder him, disguising it as a suicide out of guilt.

And so... well, this could be considered a legitimate reason for revenge, which naturally caused Hattori Heiji and the other two to have complicated expressions.

Only Sano remained calm.

Firstly, Sano didn't care about such a trivial matter, and secondly, he had already heard about these things from Numabuchi Kiichiro in the cabin before, so hearing them again would only feel boring and tedious.

...But to be honest, although Sano did suspect earlier that Numabuchi Kiichiro was related to this case, which he didn't even know much about, and even played a crucial role.

But Sano really didn't expect that once the factor of Numabuchi Kiichiro came out, the whole case would be solved without any further investigation.

According to Sano's original prediction, the case would probably not be over until midnight, which is why he chose to leave the team first to deal with Numabuchi Kiichiro.

The fact that things developed so quickly can only be attributed to Sakata's lack of common sense.

Even setting aside the existence of Kiichiro Numabuchi, why did this guy have to pierce each victim's driver's license with a knife? It's so flashy, is he making a movie?

...Oh, Sakata seemed to have mentioned this earlier. The remaining guy is a politician with bodyguards. He was deliberately leaking clues so he would have an excuse to get closer to the investigation.

Even so, Sano still felt it was absurd. Anyway, if it was him... well, Sakata couldn't possibly be him.

It seems quite normal to lose one's composure and make some stupid moves when facing one's father's killer.

Never mind, it's none of my business anyway. It's better to finish things quickly and get off work early.

"Now that everything has been discovered, my life is over..."

While Sano was distracted, Sakata, who had confessed everything, suddenly pulled out a pistol.

Seeing this, Sano instinctively took a step forward and immediately disarmed the opponent, forcing him to his knees.

...No, this guy doesn't seem to be planning to throw caution to the wind and take a few people with him before he leaves. He's planning to commit suicide. So why am I in such a hurry to do something?

Seeing that Sakata was still trying to break free of his restraints, Sano was about to let go and grant the other's wish, but unexpectedly Hattori Heiji took two steps forward and slapped him across the face.

"Damn it, take responsibility, Sakata! Do you think suicide will solve anything?!"

Hattori Heiji roared angrily, his face full of disappointment, clearly wanting to slap Sakata to see if it would bring him to his senses.

Unfortunately, because Sakata struggled so much, Hattori Heiji's slap missed.

...It hit Sano's face, who was behind Sakata.

Even the cigarette that Sano was holding in his mouth was knocked away by Hattori Heiji's slap.

Sano was stunned after being slapped.