Conan: I'm Really Not Tokyo Ghost Story

Sano: "..."

The existence of detectives in this world is indeed quite special.

Even kindergarten children are imitating it.

"This is bad! We have to find out the truth quickly!"

The little girl clenched her fists, her eyes filled with fighting spirit: "Next, it's my turn, the famous detective of Futaba Kindergarten, Koizumi Kana, to make my move!"

Looking at the excited little girl who wanted to pretend to be a detective, Sano tilted his head.

...Futaba Kindergarten?

Why does that sound so familiar?

"You just said you were in the Sunflower Class, right? So, is there a little brat in your class with a potato head who keeps shouting 'elephant, elephant' all the time, and who likes mature older women? And does your principal look particularly unlike a good person?"

"Hey?"

The little girl frowned and shook her head: "It doesn't seem like it... Oh well, that's not important. The important thing is to find the missing thing as soon as possible."

"Could someone have stolen it? We don't have any useful clues."

...Am I overthinking it?

Sano squatted down next to the girl who was deep in thought, and pretended to ponder as he continued to stroke his chin. After a few seconds, he asked knowingly, "Is it possible that someone didn't actually steal anything from your bag, but that you just didn't zip it up?"

"Hey?"

The little girl was confused again: "Didn't I poop?"

Sano blinked: "When you were checking just now, was the zipper zipped up?"

The little girl nodded thoughtfully: "It seems not... Oh, I see. Because I didn't zip up the zipper when I was checking, so I didn't actually zip it up at all in the beginning, right??"

"That's right, correct reasoning."

Sano applauded the little girl with admiration.

"Hehehe, no, it's just so-so."

The little girl scratched the back of her head a little embarrassedly and chuckled.

However, a few seconds later, the little girl's smile suddenly froze, and her blushing face turned pale instantly. Only then did she realize that her focus seemed to have gone astray.

"Oh no! Oh no! Does that mean I lost all my things along the way?!"

"Oh no, oh no! If Mom finds out I lost my lunchbox, she'll kill me!"

The little girl didn't even care about Sano anymore; she took off running along the road home, starting to look for the things she had lost on the way.

Looking at that small figure, Sano, who was resting his chin on his hand, turned his head slightly and focused his gaze on the empty schoolbag on the ground that had not yet been zipped up. He pursed his lips.

This girl... is probably beyond saving.

……

At night, several riders dressed in NaDuTong uniforms pushed a cart full of boxes to a nightclub.

"Hello, we are here to deliver a package."

The burly men responsible for security at the entrance glanced at the small cart and casually waved their hands, indicating that it was safe to go in.

After pushing the cart to the door of a private room in the nightclub, the group quickly threw the cart aside and instead pulled out heavy wrenches or sharp screwdrivers from their waists.

"ready or Not."

The blond man looked up, and although his face was covered by a pure black mask, you could still clearly feel that he was grinning.

"Don't worry, boss, nothing will go wrong."

Sano nodded, glanced at the work gloves the men were wearing, and raised his hand: "Let's move out."

At Sano's command, the blond-haired man quickly pushed open the door to the private room and rushed in, followed closely by the others.

Anger and screams erupted from the private room.

Unfortunately, nightclubs are noisy places, and the soundproofing in the private rooms is pretty good, so it won't cause any disturbance for the time being.

Sano didn't participate; he just watched from the sidelines and also kept watch.

"...Shall we grab something to eat later?"

Two figures, presumably responsible for security at the nightclub, came into view. They immediately noticed Sano at the door of the private room, became alert, and walked over.

"Hey, what do you do?"

Sano didn't waste any words; he simply modified the mask, adding the character "kill" to the originally plain black mask. The rest of the special attack uniform was already hidden under the work clothes, so there was no need to modify it.

"Well!"

After dragging the two unconscious guys into the private room, Sano continued to keep watch until the blond-haired men had cleaned everything up and were ready to leave. Only then did he speak up and give a reminder.

"hair."

"what?"

The bewildered blond man followed Sano's gaze and found a blond hair lying on the sofa in the private room.

...Among those present, only one person had black hair, so it was obvious whose hair it was.

"Oh dear, I didn't even notice, hehehe."

The blond-haired man chuckled sheepishly, picked up the strand of hair, and stuffed it into his pocket: "That's good now."

"Don't give me that joking around."

Sano gave the blond-haired guy a cold look: "I can't keep watching you guys clean up your messes. Don't let this happen again."

"……Yes."

The blond-haired boy lowered his head and responded like a student being criticized by a teacher.

"After checking the scene and making sure there are no loose ends, we should hurry up and leave."

Under Sano's instructions, the group quickly evacuated the private room and then left through the main door as if nothing had happened.

Once they were some distance from the nightclub, the blond-haired men's hands and feet began to tremble slightly.

Sano noticed this but didn't pay it any mind. It's inevitable to feel excited or scared when doing something like this for the first time; you'll get used to it after doing it a lot.

The members of the special attack team were all carefully selected by Sano.

Chapter 307, page 306: Sorry, they are temporary workers.

The selection criteria are not limited to combat ability; psychological qualities are also essential.

Therefore, Sano did not think that if he ignored these few inexperienced guys, they would become useless. If they did become useless, it would only prove that they were just good-for-nothings.

There's even less need to waste energy on things that are useless, isn't there?

"Spread out and be careful to hide your tracks. Change your clothes before you go home."

"Yes."

The tragedy at the nightclub wasn't reported in the newspapers until the following day.

Correspondingly, officials once again approached the Black Reaper.

"Black Death, what are you thinking? This time you've gone way too far!"

Looking at the three people with gloomy faces, Sano knew very well that after their last exchange, the fact that they still dared to come to him despite their difficulties meant they must have been under immense pressure.

If things go according to his usual style, Sano will most likely try to fool the other party by saying "we didn't start a large-scale conflict."

But this time, Sano did not.

Instead, he asked in a tone as if he truly knew nothing, "What are you talking about?"

What else is there to say?

Fujiyoshi Saburo slammed today's newspaper on the table, pointing to the nightclub article and saying, "Don't play dumb with us now. Someone has already posted a request to the Armed Detective Agency to assassinate this president, and it's already been circulating in private. Moreover, according to the police investigation, the prime suspect in last night's incident is also an employee of your All-Tong."

"It's very difficult for us officials to cover up this situation for you!"

"Then let's not hide it, just handle it officially."

Sano responded calmly.

"……what?"

Fujiyoshi Saburo asked in disbelief, thinking he had misheard.

“I said, why not just handle it officially?”

Sano picked at his nails: "I've already said this has nothing to do with us. If you don't believe me, then go ahead and investigate."

"This……"

The three of them exchanged hesitant glances, not expecting such a response from the other party.

...Could it be that what happened last night really wasn't Black Death's idea?

Fujiyoshi Saburo frowned, unsure of the other party's true thoughts.

However, since Black Death has already said so, there shouldn't be any problem in doing as he says, right?

"Alright, let's do it officially then!"

Fujiyoshi Saburo confirmed the direction: "Your Armed Detective Agency is now highly suspicious. According to procedure, we need to check your case files."

"Ah."

Sano waved his hand dismissively: "Mr. San, bring this guy the detective agency's case file."

"Yes."

Seeing Sano's calm demeanor, Fujiyoshi Saburo knew that this "request" would most likely not be recorded... Logically speaking, it was impossible for it to be recorded.

"Oh, and those NaDuTong staff members who went to this nightclub last night also need to come back with us to cooperate with the investigation."

...They say they're cooperating with the investigation, but it's really no different from arresting someone.

Of course, Fujiyoshi Saburo was also tentatively giving Sano a way out.

After all, even though it was said to be a business matter, who knows what the other party is really thinking?