Conan: I'm Really Not Tokyo Ghost Story

Sano felt as if he had entered a library.

It's freaking huge, and there are freaking a lot of books.

From the outside, it looks like an ordinary little villa, but how come inside...?

"Hey Xiaolan, slow down, wait for me..."

Sonoko Suzuki forcefully grabbed Sera Masumi's clothes and was pulled along so that she didn't fall too far behind... even though she was still panting heavily.

"I mean, senpai, how could you say something like that... You're not serious, are you? Do you like Subaru's type?"

After grumbling, Sonoko Suzuki looked at Sano with suspicion.

"So many girls like him, yet he never dates anyone. Instead, he keeps saying he has crushes on people he's never going to date... Could it be that all of this is just a cover-up?"

In an instant, Sonoko Suzuki transformed into a master detective, feigning aloofness and profoundness as she touched her forehead: "The purpose of doing this is to hide your unique hobby. Admit it, senpai. I promise I won't look at you differently because of it. True love can transcend age, even race and dimensions, let alone this small difference in gender!?"

A grand and sweeping reasoning process combined with inspirational quotes.

Sera Masumi, Ran Mouri, and Conan, who hadn't even had a chance to say hello yet.

His eyes were glazed over.

Only Sano looked at Suzuki Sonoko with an expression as if she were an idiot.

Sano was naturally not angry about being "misunderstood" like this.

Firstly, this is indeed outside Sano's minefield, and secondly...

Even if you're angry, what's the point of being angry with an idiot?

Whether they're genuinely stupid or pretending, they certainly exude a lot of silliness.

"Cough cough."

Not getting a response from Sano, Sonoko Suzuki coughed awkwardly twice and muttered, "Senpai, you could at least have responded. This makes me feel like an idiot, talking to myself like this. It's so embarrassing."

"do not you."

Sano raised an eyebrow, granting Sonoko Suzuki's request and giving a response.

Sonoko Suzuki: "..."

"Hey kid, did you find the photos yet?"

Sonoko Suzuki looked at Conan with a serious expression: "This is a crucial clue related to two murder cases. What are you standing there for?! Hurry up!"

Conan: "..."

Don't think that just because the topic changed quickly you can pretend nothing happened!

Although he was grumbling inwardly, Conan still had to give Sonoko Suzuki face on the surface... especially since the case was indeed the priority at the moment.

"It has been found, and in addition to the photos, there is some other information about the case from back then, which may come in handy."

Conan, carrying a file folder, climbed down the ladder.

Then, the group moved to the lobby... Shuichi Akai also quietly crept over without making a sound. Sano didn't know if the others hadn't seen him or had seen him but didn't care, and he didn't bother to say anything.

Chapters 561 and 564 are merely simple monetary transactions.

Then look at the two photos on the table.

Beside both corpses was a word "death" written in blood.

Sera Masumi and Conan begin their discussion.

Sano listened from the side without offering any opinion... mainly because he had no opinion to offer. There were too few clues at the moment, and even if he could analyze some things, it wouldn't be as much as Conan and Makoto could analyze.

"On the hands of that corpse from back then, there was blood on the palm and the base of the fingers, but not on the fingertips, and there were no traces of bloodstains that looked like they had been stained and then wiped off... Moreover, this is too redundant and is basically impossible. In other words, this word 'death' is 99.9% not left by the deceased."

"It was deliberately left by the murderer, especially according to the only witness in that case, a kindergarten child, who said that when he first saw the body in the park, there was no word 'death' next to it, which makes it even more likely... That guy probably hid it in the dark until the child left, and then left it there."

"..."

After giving a brief summary, Conan looked at Sano beside him.

"Sano, what... are you thinking?"

Sano snapped out of his daze and calmly said, "I don't want to."

Conan: "?"

Conan had expected not to get a direct response from Sano, but even after changing his questioning approach, the answer was still far-fetched.

Isn't that going a bit too far?

At that moment, Shuichi Akai finally spoke up, intervening in the situation.

"According to the newspaper reports of that case, after the kindergarten teachers learned about the deceased's condition from the child, they immediately went to the park to remove the body. In other words, the blood-red death sign may have already been there, but it was blocked by the body, so the child did not notice it immediately."

"So, when we encountered the deceased, we did see him being shaken by his colleagues who came out looking for him, which is possible."

Ran Mouri said, stroking her chin.

"Then why don't we just call the police and ask them?"

Conan provided a method to proceed to the next stage.

"This case should be handled by Officer Takagi, right?"

After a few words of chatter, the group got through to Takagi Wataru on the phone and received a very unexpected answer—today's case was closed.

It was treated as a theft case.

This surprised the group of people greatly.

"Even if it's not a murder case, it shouldn't be treated as theft, right? What exactly happened?"

Faced with Conan's relentless questioning, Takagi Wataru was a bit flustered... because Inspector Megure was calling him to work overtime on a field assignment.

Therefore, after a period of haste...

Conan and his friends didn't get any real answers either.

"...That case from ten years ago seems to have been closed very quickly as well."

Shuichi Akai, holding the newspaper from ten years ago, stroked his chin: "The officers in charge of that case were Inspector Megure and Kogoro Mouri."

Did Dad participate too?

Ran Mouri hesitated slightly... If this were the case, she would begin to wonder if her father had acted recklessly back then...

"Damn it, what on earth is going on?"

Sera Masumi scratched her head in frustration, while Sano next to her planned to go to the balcony for a smoke.

The next second, he received the mission to find the truth.

...There was no movement until just now, and Sano thought it was over, but it still came. How exactly does this piece of junk trigger?

Having only a superficial understanding is quite annoying.

Sano scratched his head and got back to the main topic: how should this case be solved?

There isn't even a suspect, but it doesn't seem like those decryption-type cases.

How exactly can I be faster than Conan?

Sano paused for a moment.

Wait a minute, since that case from back then has been closed, perhaps the truth has already come out, but I don't know it and I'm not too willing to believe it. And the process of revealing the truth, for some reason, cannot be told to the public. That's why Kudo Yusaku chose to withdraw halfway, which is why we've ended up in a dead end.

...Sano didn't know if his thinking was right or wrong, but he had a way to verify it.

Whether my thinking is right or wrong.

"I'm going to the restroom."

Sano waved his hand and left first. He found a random place and called Inspector Megure. As soon as the other end saw it was his number, he immediately answered: "Hey, Sano, it's rare to hear you call me. Is there something you need my help with?"

Sano ignored the underlying sarcasm in Inspector Megure's words.

They immediately asked about the case from back then and the current case.

When Inspector Megure heard that it concerned a case, he became more serious and provided an explanation.

So, after hanging up the phone, Sano returned to the living room.

Conan had disappeared, but Ran Mouri was on her phone making a call.

"Who are you calling?"

Upon hearing Sano's voice, Sonoko Suzuki, who had been lewdly eavesdropping next to Ran Mouri with a sly grin, immediately turned around and whispered, "Senpai, you're back just in time! Come over here, something interesting is happening. Ran is about to confess to that brat Shinichi!"

"What watch..."

Ran Mouri blushed and patted Sonoko Suzuki. Considering that she was on the phone, she couldn't be too direct and could only say to Sano, "Well, I'm planning to ask Shinichi for his opinion on these two cases."

...No wonder Conan isn't here.

Sano reached out and took Ran Mouri's phone: "Then it's not necessary. I already know why these two cases were classified as theft cases."

"……what?"

Upon hearing this, the three best friends and "Shinichi Kudo" on the phone...

They were all visibly taken aback.

"Are you serious? You already know the truth?"

Conan was the most anxious, and immediately asked Sano over the phone.

"Ah."

Sano opened his mouth, but then thought it would be too much trouble to repeat it, so he simply took out his phone and played the recording of his conversation with Inspector Megure.

According to Inspector Megure, the "death" characters in both cases were not man-made... nor were they supernatural phenomena, but rather the product of a chance occurrence—simply arranging several coins in a fixed order and letting blood flow over them would create the character for "death."

Back then, Yusaku Kudo had already seen this at first glance.

...Of course, there are still some differences between the two cases.

The word "death" in today's case was formed because of a coin, but last time...

It was because of the candy that the child put down.