Conan: I'm Really Not Tokyo Ghost Story

James lowered his head in deep thought.

On the other hand, if this guy really died, did he intend to take us down with him from the very beginning?

...This doesn't make sense!

What benefits would this result bring to rye?

It couldn't possibly be because they wanted to buy time for Gin's retreat, could it?

So loyal?

But let's put aside whether Rye is really that kind of person. Even if he is, would Gin really sacrifice such a talented person just for a chance to retreat?

James, who was racking his brains but couldn't come up with a solution, felt his head start to ache again.

Forget it, it's all over now, there's no point in thinking about it anymore.

There's no way we can go back and chase after Gin and the others, and if Rye isn't dead... we'll definitely run into each other in the future anyway, so there's no point in worrying about it now.

With that thought in mind, James turned and left, intending to go to the hospital to check on the situation.

Shortly after James left, a tiny black particle emerged from the center of the crater, and more and more appeared, eventually coalescing into a small black doll.

"Gah!"

A black crow landed, quickly snatched the doll, and flew to a room in the hotel where Sano had stayed. It then went to the bathroom and met the gaze of a dog lying on the toilet seat with an innocent-looking face.

"Just put it in its mouth."

An invisible spiritual connection was established, and Dahei obediently placed the replica doll into Xiaohei's mouth. Then, the two disappeared from the room together.

"Keep in touch, I'll contact you again later."

"Gah!"

After retrieving the cloned doll, Sano's affairs in Alica can be considered to be over... except for Daikoku, who is still unable to be summoned.

"Alright, that's all for now, go on."

Sano rubbed Kuro's head and turned to leave.

That's right. In fact, Sano's original body had already returned to Japan before him. As for the rye who left the hotel, it was his clone.

As mentioned earlier, Sano was prepared to "lose" from the very beginning.

To successfully "lose," Sano must "die."

Given that situation, it would be extremely difficult to escape without revealing one's true identity, and even if one did manage to do so, the aftermath would still be quite troublesome.

That would be worse than just going all out and wiping them out.

In the end, Sano decided to "spend money" to settle the matter.

If the clone is brought over using the "Teleportation Technique," Sano can completely remove the copy effect one second before the explosion.

In the end, you don't even need to spend money on the vest; you only need to repair one doll.

In addition, there is another key point.

Sano didn't want to come back with Gin and the others.

That's why Sano arranged the "challenge" to take place so far away.

The purpose was to prevent Gin from "seeing" him.

Only in this way can Sano return to Japan first to complete his other mission, and then quickly go to sleep... Otherwise, if he completes his mission here, but still needs to rush back from the other side, it will be too tiring.

That's precisely why Sano set the time for the fight so early.

Besides being able to leave work earlier, it also allows you to go back and finish tasks if they are not completed or if subsequent related tasks are triggered.

Kill two birds with one stone.

To put it bluntly, the core of Sano's entire series of actions revolved entirely around the word "laziness," with only one objective.

Hurry up and get off work!

Finally, there's the role that Big Black played in this operation.

The fact that they helped recycle the cloned dolls... was something that surprised Sano quite a bit.

Daikoku's "growth rate" has exceeded Sano's expectations.

Unlike Xiao Hei, who used to take several days to have even a few simple conversations, this guy was able to say "good morning" to Sano and even make his own requests after just one night.

Breakfast, or rather lunch, what you want to eat and so on.

So Sano tentatively began to direct Daikoku to do some small tasks.

Of course, even without Daikoku, Sano could go and retrieve it himself, because even if the clone "disappears," the "space passage" still exists.

At most, it's just that Xiao Hei's head will have to hang on the toilet for a little longer.

In short, it's all over.

Sano let out a long breath and looked up at the dark sky... It seems like he got off work a little too early.

Then I turned my head to look at the task content that had been triggered later.

【Please take bus W707 at Mihana Park Station at 12:30. Completing the task will earn you 100 enhancement points. Remaining time for the task is 08:19:49】.

It is a task that is limited to a certain time point or period, and appears in a certain location or scene.

The problem is that Sano needs to take the bus around 12:00.

As for now.

Sano silently took out his phone and changed the clock from America back to Japan.

Yes, a little after four in the morning.

No wonder it's still dark... By the way, what's the time difference between the two places again?

Sano clicked his tongue, closed his phone, and got up to look for a place to stay nearby.

There are still seven or eight hours left; I can't just keep enduring it.

I can sleep as much as I can these days. I have to wake up every two hours or so to keep the clone alive. I'm so tired.

……

The sun gradually rose in the sky, but Sano, who had been woken up by the alarm clock, still felt like he hadn't slept enough. He leaned against the pole of the Beika Park bus stop, watching the chicks peck at the rice.

It wasn't until two somewhat familiar voices reached his ears that Sano regained some of his senses.

Turning his head to look... it wasn't Conan, that jinx, but Teitan High School's school doctor, Tomoaki Shinide, and Jodie, the new English teacher Sano had only met twice.

Why are it those two again?

Sano frowned slightly, and then suddenly realized that there was a third person he knew present.

Only a wisp of black hair peeks out from under the black knitted hat, and the white mask is enough to cover most of her face.

Chapter 369, Professor Agasa, I want that too!

Sano still recognized him.

...What's this guy doing here?

Sano's brows furrowed even more.

Sano had only met each of the three people here two or three times.

One of the times, and the last time, was when all three appeared together.

The first two were slightly better, but the guy in the back was a bit hard for Sano to understand... As a passerby who had never made his presence known in front of the plague god, wasn't he having a bit too much "screen time"?

Isn't he just an ordinary nobody?

After a moment of confusion, Sano put his mind at ease.

Who cares about big or small roles? What does it have to do with me?

Sano just needs to finish his work and then hurry home to catch up on his sleep.

...But speaking of which, what was this guy's name again?

Sano's thoughts drifted back to that day at the Beika Central Building.

After Sano temporarily borrowed Vodka's name, the other party should have told him his name, so why can't he remember it?

Tsk, it's fine if I didn't notice.

It's really frustrating when you can't remember something right now.

In Sano's memory, the bus arrived very quickly.

The doors on both sides of the car opened.

As passengers disembarked, those waiting at the bus stop also began boarding in an orderly fashion.

This time, Sano finally saw Conan, that plague god, and the group of old and young plague gods following behind him—the four-person squad and Professor Agasa.

Almost immediately, everyone in the group recognized Tomoaki Araide, but only Conan recognized Jodie... and Sano, or more accurately, Kurosawa.

Well, strictly speaking, Sano is still in America right now.

Of course, one cannot act using their original identity in Japan.

As for whether there's a problem with Kurosawa appearing in front of Conan even though his disguise has been exposed, Sano thinks it's not a big issue.

As I said before, this vest is as clean as it gets.

Even if you tear it, it won't matter.

To put it even more arrogantly, even if it's dirty, so what if Conan does it?

You say I'm Black Mask, so I am Black Mask?

Investigating a case requires evidence!

...Because the aisle in the middle of the bus is quite narrow, it would be very crowded for two people to pass through. So when Shinichiro was recognized and stopped, the line of passengers naturally stopped as well.

The trio was just greeting Araide Tomoaki when Jodie suddenly appeared, greeting Conan and excitedly introducing herself while calling him "cool kid."

This prompted Sano, who was behind them, to purse his lips and say, "Hey, if you're not going to move, can you at least move aside? You two are really in the way."