Conan: I'm Really Not Tokyo Ghost Story

Chapter 264, 263: Gotham and Los Santos

"...Where's Sano?"

Conan first gave the two culprits who had caused him to get a lecture a resentful look, and then noticed that Sano was not in the group. He asked with some confusion.

"I don't know. He said he had other things to do and then left alone."

Hattori Heiji replied... He actually strongly suspected that Sano had already made some discovery, but just didn't want him and Conan to know, so he made an excuse to slip away alone.

On another note, in the previous incident, Sano happened to be visiting the mountain where Numabuchi Kiichiro was imprisoned by Sakata, and he happened to be in the cabin when he discovered the other party's statement. Is there any credibility to that?

...But given the conditions and clues from the last case, it's impossible that Sano could have seen the problem at a glance and directly pinpointed the location of Numabuchi Kiichiro, right?

Hattori Heiji nervously touched his chin.

Conan then turned his gaze to Ai Haibara, who seemed somewhat annoyed, and asked, "...What's wrong with you now?"

Ai Haibara snorted coldly, ignoring Conan... Actually, she had lost Sano again.

...What's wrong with that guy? He disappeared around the corner, like a ghost.

"Alright, now that everyone's here, I know a famous shrine. Let's go check it out, and we can even draw fortune slips."

Seeing that Hattori Heiji didn't respond, Toyama Kazuha, being a local, had no choice but to temporarily take on the role of tour guide.

Meanwhile, after many twists and turns, Sano arrived at a secluded alley and finally pulled out a black doll, a set of clothes, and a mask from under a pile of boxes.

It's a replica doll and a special forces suit.

...The black death that Hattori Heiji mentioned seeing last night was actually a clone created by Sano using a clone doll.

It's just that it's covered by a special forces uniform.

As for Sano himself, after sending the cloned doll over and creating a clone, he immediately returned to Tokyo.

It was precisely because it was a copy that could only exist for a maximum of three hours that Sano called the special forces members a day in advance to ask them to come and arrange everything as soon as possible.

In this way, the clone only needs to show its face at the moment the battle begins, and it will not time out.

Although Sano could have chosen to fight in his true form while wearing a disguise and didn't have to come with the main force today, since he already has the clone technique, why not use it?

...Ahem, Sano definitely didn't just want to try out his new equipment; after all, as the old saying goes, details determine success or failure.

In any case, Sano has already decided that from now on, all actions of the alternate accounts will be carried out by the clones.

The main body can just quietly watch from the sidelines, enjoying its own beauty.

After putting the doll and the special attack uniform back into his backpack, Sano slowly walked back.

...Although Sano didn't know where Kuroba Kaito would appear from, since the other party's target was the Egg of Memories, he figured he could just stay by his side and that wouldn't be a mistake.

But when that familiar figure appeared before him and greeted him, Sano was still surprised.

"Oh, Master, it's been a long time."

...Ito Taka.

What's this guy doing here?

Looking at the smiling guy in front of him, Sano narrowed his eyes and continued walking without asking when the other person was discharged from the hospital. He simply asked, "Why are you in Osaka?"

Ito Taka followed Sano, glancing around at the pedestrians and shops, and casually replied, "Nothing much, I just heard from my friend that you were specially invited to join the joint operation to deal with Kaito Kid, so I came to check it out."

...It's that clueless friend again.

Since Ito Taka chose to be evasive, Sano didn't ask any more questions and the conversation ended abruptly.

After holding back for a while, Ito Taka couldn't help but speak again: "Master, aren't you curious why I came all the way to Osaka to find you?"

"Not curious."

Sano replied without turning his head.

Ito Taka: "..."

Damn it!

Ito Taka held back for a while, but finally couldn't help but confess: "...I admit defeat, Master. I came here specifically to remind you."

Remind him?

Sano raised an eyebrow, glanced at Ito Taka, and gestured for him to continue.

"First of all, besides Kaito Kid, there is another guy who has his eye on that Egg of Memories."

"Scorpion, that's the other party's code name. It's probably a transliteration, but its real meaning is probably... Scorpion. This guy is an assassin... or you could call him a bandit, although I think he should be called a treasure hunter. His gender is unknown. All I know is that he has been collecting artifacts and treasures from the Romanov dynasty all over the world. He's a very good shot, and he especially likes to shoot people in the right eye."

Ito Taka spoke at length, then paused: "Of course, although this Scrooge is indeed dangerous, he is ultimately just one person. The real trouble is the other two groups of assassins who also come from the international community."

"One has his eye on Kaito Kid's head, and the other has his eye on Scottie's head. Although only these two are being targeted, they are ultimately involved with the Egg of Memories. Master, you must be careful not to get caught up in it."

...How come so many assassins suddenly appeared?

Sano blinked. First the Egg of Memories, then the Phantom Thief Kid, and now the Phantom Thief Kid... Speaking of which, isn't Kaito Kuroba also eyeing the Egg of Memories?

So, is it a case of the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind?

If what Ito Taka said is true, then there are really a lot of dangerous people in Osaka now. It feels like the environment is even worse than in Tokyo... No, there are incidents in Tokyo every day, much more frequently, and at least there's a brewery to cover it up. The danger level is no less than in Osaka, and may even be stronger.

Both places are known for producing many talented people.

...So it's really just Gotham and Los Santos now?

Seriously, are the Japanese authorities just sitting around doing nothing? It's one thing to let local bigwigs in, but to let international outsiders in so easily... it's really something...

Wait a minute, if Ito Taka knows about this, then the official authorities should also know...

"Did you hear all this information from that police friend you mentioned before?"

Sano asked.

Ito Taka first shook his head, then nodded: "Although I did hear it from a friend, it wasn't the friend in the police force, but an international friend."

...Another new friend?

"Then the authorities don't know about this?"

"Of course I don't know, otherwise why would I have come all this way to remind you, Master?"

...So, the authorities didn't even get a whisper of the information that even a mentally ill person could find out?

Is he really that useless?

Although this mental patient seems to be more than just an ordinary mental patient.

Sano twitched his lips, somewhat speechless, and then asked, "Then why don't you just go and talk to the officials?"

Ito Taka shrugged: "Who would believe a mentally ill person? I can't just betray my friend, can I?"

"...Okay, I see."

Sano sighed and waved goodbye. Ito Taka watched his retreating figure for a while, and then another person appeared beside him.

"He doesn't seem to have taken your words to heart."

Ito Taka smiled and said, "No, he knows what he's doing."

"You think so highly of him?"

"It's alright... but after all, he's my master, so it wouldn't be right if he wasn't a bit awesome."

"...Then why did you call us here in the first place?"

"Just in case, just in case, hahaha."

……

After a brief meeting with Itō Taka, Sano strolled around the streets for a while before returning to the museum's chairman's office at dusk.

...Firstly, Sano didn't think his guess that the phantom thief Kid would arrive at three o'clock was correct, so the time of action could be between dark and dawn.

Secondly, Sano received a mission.

[Please ensure that the Egg of Memories is not stolen within the mission time limit. Completion will earn you 100 enhancement points. Mission time remaining: 03:59:59.]

...Judging from the time limit of this mission, it's clear that Kaito Kuroba couldn't have made his move at 3 PM; at most, it would be less than 8 PM.

The mission itself was similar to the one on the ship last time.

However, compared to last time, this time Sano's opponents are not only Kaito Kuroba.

Chapter 265, Kaito Kuroba: Are you a devil?

There was also an unknown assassin, Shi Kaobing.

That's probably why there are no locations for these two guys on Sano's map... but there is one location for the Egg of Memories.

So when Inspector Nakamori came to the chairman's office and took away the Egg of Memories, it revealed his plan to openly place a fake to attract the "enemy," while secretly moving and hiding the real one, and not telling "outsiders" like Sano and Kogoro Mouri about the location of the real one.

Sano did not show any unusual behavior.

However, Kogoro Mouri was clearly unhappy about this, and he and Inspector Nakamori started pinching each other's faces under the pretext of "confirming identities by pinching each other's faces".

Ok?

Sano's gaze suddenly shifted and landed on a white dove outside the window... or more precisely, on the dove's leg.

...It's such an obvious bugging device, no, it should be said that it's more obvious to me.

Sano calmly put down the teacup containing black tea and then calmly went to the window.

After the white dove moved a few steps to the side and relaxed its guard after confirming there was no danger, Sano suddenly reached out and grabbed the white dove.

The white dove began to struggle frantically, but Sano remained silent. Instead, taking advantage of the dove's struggle, he installed a transmitter under its wing.

Yes, just in case.

After releasing the white dove, Sano declined Suzuki Shiro's invitation to have dinner together.

After all, Sano still needs to assess the situation and formulate his action plan for tonight.

But then, as he was about to leave the art museum, Sano suddenly stopped again.

Why do I keep running into acquaintances today?

The blond, dark-skinned man in work clothes, pushing a small cart, also saw Sano and raised his hand to greet him: "Yo, Sano."