Conan: I'm Really Not Tokyo Ghost Story

Sano's judgment was undoubtedly made with his subjective judgment at its peak.

Or perhaps, Sano wasn't making a judgment at all, but rather engaging in pure mockery.

"There's nothing we can do about it..."

"Why is there no way? The solution is right in front of us."

Gin was interrupted by Sano before he could finish speaking.

After a moment of surprise, Gin turned to look at Sano and found that he had already turned up the brim of his hat.

A pair of deep blue eyes, unfathomable.

"Lord Gin, don't you want to move your butt up a bit?"

"..."

The driver, Vodka, sat up straight, his ears practically touching the sunroof.

Oh, this car doesn't have a sunroof.

……

The next day.

Ueno Prefecture.

Sano eventually arrived here, but not in his true form.

After getting off the train, Sano noticed the various curious looks he received from people around him. Every now and then, some young people would come up to say hello, and many girls, especially, would ask for his phone number.

The greetings they exchanged were, unsurprisingly, very uniform.

"Hello, are you a cosplayer? What character are you cosplaying?"

...Well, that's roughly the idea.

Although Sano could choose to change his appearance, or even wear a passerby hat or enter cat demon form to avoid these potentially troublesome people and things, he didn't want to, or more accurately, he didn't want to, after wielding this knife.

Sano didn't want to deliberately keep a low profile.

...This might also be another function of intrinsic attributes.

The attributes of aura and willpower are linked, and both can influence the psychology of others to a certain extent. Correspondingly, they may also influence one's own psychology.

Because his personality is quite changeable.

Therefore, it's hard to say whether Sano has reached the level of personality traits.

Lost in thought, Sano turned down the advances of who-knows-how-many girls, finally stopping outside a coffee shop and turning to look.

A one-eyed man, probably in his forties or fifties, was sitting there.

Steam rose from the black tea on the table.

Kuroda Hyoue looked at the white figure outside the floor-to-ceiling window, his intact eye narrowing as he carefully examined the figure from head to toe—a strange robe in pure white, almost like a kendo uniform, and a high ponytail of cherry blossom color.

It hangs down to the waist.

The white cloth covering their eyes was also quite eye-catching.

What caught Kuroda Hyōe's attention even more was the wooden sword hanging at the man's waist, with his left hand casually resting on the hilt, as if he were ready to draw it at any moment to slash someone... According to Suwa Yūji, this man had managed to cut down the entire Yoshitsune school in just a few minutes with this very wooden sword.

I recalled the photos of the scene from the archives of the Yoshitsune-ryu incident that I had seen.

Kuroda Hyōe unconsciously raised his hand and pushed up his distinctive glasses.

...It's truly chilling.

Coming to his senses, Kuroda saw Kurosawa continue walking forward, and just as he thought that the other had not seen him... or had not recognized him.

Kurosawa then turned into the coffee shop and walked all the way to Kuroda Heibei.

"Awaited."

After greeting Kuroda Heiwa, Sano sat down without any hesitation.

Kuroda Hyoue's eyes flickered.

...Just as the intelligence said, even with their eyes covered, they are no different from normal people, and can even recognize details without any problems, except for the general outline?

I wonder if this guy would be able to read a book normally?

"...Do we know each other?"

After deliberately pausing for a moment, Kuroda Hyōe asked another question on purpose.

Sano raised his thin eyebrows, then stood up to leave: "Let's pretend we don't know each other then. I'm sorry for bothering you. Goodbye."

"……Wait a moment."

Helpless, Kuroda Hyōe had no choice but to call for a halt.

"I invited you, come and sit down."

"Didn't you say we didn't know each other?"

"...I didn't say that. I just asked if we knew each other."

After chuckling, Kuroda Hyōe crossed his legs, picked up his black tea, and took a sip.

"But I'm curious, how did you know it was me who wanted to see you?"

Kuroda Hyōe really wanted to know, because he had only told this guy the location and time of the meeting, but had not revealed any information about himself.

...Could it be that the intelligence network of the Black Organization has become this advanced?

"Because you're the only one here with a gun."

While he was thinking, Sano's answer was like a blow to the back of Kuroda's head.

...It's true that I have a gun on me.

But how did this guy know, or rather, discover it?

It's important to understand that Kuroda Hyōe wasn't one of those soldiers who charged into battle on the front lines.

Even if I wanted to, my abilities no longer allow it.

Therefore, the gun used as a safety device is naturally concealed very deep, not placed in a visible position that is easily discovered in order to maximize the speed of drawing the gun.

...This level of skill, isn't it like having X-ray vision?

Kuroda Hyōe was shocked: "Is this what they call cunning?"

"Just take it as that."

Sano raised his hand to call the waiter and ordered an iced coffee.

"So, what exactly do you want to say after calling me all this way here?"

"...I won't say anything."

Kuroda sighed inwardly: "It's just that according to the rules, we have to meet once."

"Oh."

Sano took the iced coffee from the waiter, drank it all in one gulp, and then got up to leave, saying, "Well, I've met you all, so I'll head back now... You should reimburse me for the coffee and the round-trip transportation costs, right?"

...this person.

Kuroda Hyoue's lips moved, as if he wanted to express his speechlessness.

But the next second, the phone in my pocket started vibrating.

Kuroda Hyoue took out his phone and answered it, but within seconds he called out to Sano.

"Wait a moment."

Sano paused, turned around, and asked, "Is there anything else?"

"We have a mission. Follow me."

Kuroda Hyōe was just thinking about what excuse he could use to keep this oddball around.

Unexpectedly, the opportunity came knocking on our door.

...The excuse is far too obvious.

Sano suspected that this person was going to spout some weird nonsense, but the next second he realized that the Plague God's family had arrived at this place even before him.

Ok……

It's not impossible that they might run into each other.

So Sano didn't say anything and just silently followed Kuroda Heibei.

They then got into a police car and drove to a riverbank.

At a glance... well, actually, even before getting out of the car, Sano could already "see" from a distance that the area around the river was surrounded by police and onlookers.

After we got a little closer.

Sano was able to clearly perceive the presence of the Plague God family of three.

"Let's go."

Kuroda Hyōe got out of the car and led the way toward the center.

As they walked, he first explained the general situation to Sano.

...There is no doubt that someone died, but the problem is that the deceased was a police officer.

He is one of the heads of the criminal investigation team in this county, and his surname is Zhutian.

It appears that someone's head was chopped off and thrown into the river, while the remaining body was burned to a crisp nearby. Of course, it's hard to say whether it was actually one person.

"...There were unnatural marks on the deceased's forehead."

Just then, a forensic investigator noticed a hidden detail that drew everyone's attention: on the forehead of that head, sure enough, there was something resembling...

The "X" symbol?

This made Conan unconsciously think of a certain guy who had so many nicknames that it was dizzying, one of which was "X"... Of course, he didn't think there was any connection between the two, after all, that nickname was subjective.

too weak.

The word "mask" is enough to make people take it seriously.