Conan: I'm Really Not Tokyo Ghost Story

However, before Conan and his companions could finish their thought process, Sano, seeing the angry young man's face, suddenly showed a hint of panic and unease: "No, I'm sorry, I was in a car accident when I was six years old. Although I didn't die like my family, I developed some eye problems, so I can't see things clearly. I'm really sorry for stepping on your foot, I didn't mean to..."

"..."

What the hell is Sano talking about?

After all that, which of these points has anything to do with Sano??

Hearing Sano's words, the four of them were all shocked and confused, unable to understand why Sano would say such a thing.

Then look at Sano's face.

Although he was speaking to the young man, his eyes remained motionless, and his pupils appeared somewhat unfocused, making him look as if he were truly blind.

Most importantly, as he spoke, Sano's eyes even started to redden, as if tears would fall at any moment.

...Could it be that my memory is playing tricks on me? In reality, Sano's parents really did die in a car accident when he was six years old, and he really was blind... What a load of rubbish!

When I slapped Heiji Hattori's face yesterday and kicked his butt just now, my aim was perfect, how could it have gone blind?!

The group of four's initial self-doubt was immediately corrected in the next second.

Never easily believe Sano's words. The last person who believed him is probably still cursing in the station... or rather, cursing the tracks.

This is fresh, still-warm advice from experience!

A brief silence fell over the air.

Aside from the two people involved (Sano and his group) and Conan's group of four, the other passengers in the carriage were also drawn to the commotion.

Sano's apologetic words and "fearful" demeanor drew all sorts of strange looks from the onlookers.

Under such scrutiny, the young man, who was also taken aback by Sano's words, immediately blushed.

Although there was no sound, those gazes seemed to conceal invisible accusations, disgust, and criticism, lashing the young man like whips.

Sano looked at the young man's barely concealed unease and sneered inwardly. Of course, he was just pretending; his purpose was to teach the other a lesson.

This is a fatal blow from the moral high ground.

If it weren't for a ruthless person like Gin who has no moral bottom line, even someone like Sano would be unable to withstand it when his moral bottom line is occasionally higher.

Although Sano could actually start teaching him directly.

But I just had a fight with Hattori Heiji, so playing something more real doesn't feel very interesting.

"Yes, I'm sorry..."

Under Sano's watchful, mocking gaze, the young man left behind a trembling apology before hurrying away. Upon reaching the next carriage, he sprinted off as if afraid that if he was too late, he would be dragged back and whipped again.

"Come on, handsome, you can sit here."

A woman in her thirties stood up and, despite Sano's repeated refusals, pulled him back to her original seat.

"Thank you, you're such a kind person, beautiful lady."

After thanking them, Sano secretly glanced at the group of four and gave them a wink.

This scene left the four of them staring blankly with their heads tilted back.

...Sano was just faking it, and the four of them naturally knew it. At most, they would just sigh and say that the other party's acting skills were really good.

But the fact that Sano managed to take a spot after scaring away the young man made the four of them want to complain.

This actually works?!

……

With his trip to Osaka over, Sano naturally had to start grinding through organization missions again.

However, there is still a problem that needs to be solved before that.

That is the trouble caused by the news that "high school detective Shinichiro Sano has captured fugitive Kiichiro Numabuchi and solved a series of murders."

"Why not silence Numabuchi Kiichiro?"

In the dimly lit alley, facing Gin's cold gun barrel and equally cold gaze, Sano, who was already used to it, scratched his face nonchalantly: "I just couldn't remember."

Don't remember?

Gin's breath hitched; a mouthful of saliva was stuck in his throat, unable to be spat out or swallowed.

...In fact, Gin didn't think Sano's unusual behavior meant that the other party had any ulterior motives.

Because almost everyone knows what it means to hand over a target that the organization wants to arrest or silence to the police.

Gin didn't believe Sano wouldn't understand such a simple question.

But Sano still did it anyway.

The reason given was still "I forgot".

Gin was absolutely furious.

He's supposed to be a famous detective, how could his memory be so bad?

The most crucial issue is that, apart from this reason, Gin can't seem to find any other reason why Sano would do this.

If Sano really betrayed the organization and tried to defect to the authorities, then he shouldn't have bothered with someone who wasn't even a peripheral member.

Putting aside the fact that doing so would do more harm than good, even if that were the case, given Sano's abilities... or even just considering the whole situation, having a complete novice do it would be perfectly feasible to quietly and discreetly hand over Numabuchi Kiichiro to the authorities.

There's no need to make such a big fuss and invite trouble.

...Furthermore, Gin doesn't believe that Sano's actions so far, whether for the organization or as an individual, can be easily ignored and erased simply because he has surrendered to the authorities.

Otherwise, Gin's earlier suspicion that Sano was Black Mask wouldn't have been so easily put aside.

After careful consideration, Gin put away his gun: "Fortunately, this incident isn't too serious, and I can help you suppress it. But if something like this happens again, you know what will happen."

Seeing that things were developing as he had predicted, Sano naturally nodded in agreement.

An organization is not a family, so it naturally has its own rules.

However, since the corresponding organizations are not courts, their standards for handling matters are naturally not too strict.

As the leader of the action group, his position would likely rank among the top three senior cadres in the entire organization.

Gin's subjective factors often play a role in many decisions.

In addition, there is the previously mentioned issue of the "lower limit of evidence".

Chapter 251, Gin: Did you take your medicine?

In Sano's view, the organization's judgment mechanism is probably quite similar to that of courts in free Western countries.

Of course, the main reason is that this matter is indeed not a big deal.

As Gin said, Numabuchi Kiichiro was ultimately just a quasi-outsider and didn't know much. Especially given the current situation, it seemed that he had suffered too much torture in that experimental base and had been hunted down after escaping, to the point that... he had developed some mental problems.

So even though it's now very easy to determine where Kiichiro Numabuchi is, Gin hasn't made any extra moves, probably because he doesn't intend to interfere anymore.

"This is your task for today."

Gin then tossed two more document folders to Sano.

This made Sano even more annoyed. You'd already arranged all the mission details, so why did you have to put on that show just now? You were just putting on an act.

...Is it just a formality?

"Yes."

Sano accepted the document. He hadn't calculated it carefully, but roughly estimated that he was now close to meeting the requirements of the thirty organizational tasks. He decided to try to finish it today.

However, just as Sano was about to say goodbye to Gin and leave, a figure completely covered in black suddenly emerged from the other end of the alley.

Upon seeing Sano and Gin, the man paused, clearly taken aback.

"Damn it, I can't believe I bumped into someone while walking on this lousy road."

Sano vaguely heard the other person mutter a curse: "Oh well, I'll just consider it extra money."

A cold glint flashed, and the man produced a butterfly knife.

"Robbery! Hand over all your valuables!"

Good heavens, this little devil has dared to rob the King of Hell himself?!

Gin glanced coldly at the man, then looked at Sano, intending to see if the other party intended to make a move; if not, he would handle it himself.

Unexpectedly, Sano didn't even look at Gin, but asked curiously, "Seriously, there are two of us here. You dare to rob someone all by yourself? Isn't that a bit too arrogant?"

"You don't know anything."

The man sneered, "That's what you call skillful and daring. Watch closely!"

High skill breeds daring?

This guy's got a serious addiction to bad food, right?

That doesn't seem quite right. It should be something like "lighting a lamp in the toilet" or "the old man eating arsenic."

Under Sano's intrigued gaze and Gin's expressionless stare, the butterfly knife in the man's hand began to dance, spinning and leaping in his hand... well, in short, it was very flashy.

The blade flashed, it was quite thrilling, and the fact that they didn't cut their hands shows they have some skill.

As the man stopped his performance and put away his knife, Sano immediately clapped along, saying, "Wow, awesome, awesome, really cool, bro."

"That is!"

Although he couldn't understand everything Sano said, the man could probably tell that Sano was praising him.

So the man immediately raised his chin, looking smug, but then realized something was wrong, coughed awkwardly, and pointed the knife at Sano.

"Get serious! Don't think this is some kind of circus act, it's a robbery!"

"Sigh, that's too narrow-minded. I just feel a sense of kinship with you."

Sano laughed and said, "Actually, I've also studied swordsmanship, so I guess we're kindred spirits."

"Oh?"

Upon hearing this, the man immediately laughed again: "So, you mean you want to compete with me?"

Sano chuckled, adjusted his hat, and reached for his waist with his right hand: "The swordsmanship I've learned is something I created myself. It mainly combines the famous ancient Japanese battlefield killing technique, Iaijutsu, with a new style from the West in recent times."

Upon hearing Sano's description, the person opposite him instantly became nervous.