"Kazawa!"
A black hand—literally—reached out from the side and grabbed Kazawa by the collar.
Kazawa, who was squatting on the ground happily chatting with Conan, let out a short "Ah!" and was yanked up from the ground by Amuro Tooru.
"Where did you just run off to?" Amuro Tooru, who had almost walked a whole round of the cruise ship, was not in a good mood. That devilish boss mode he usually only showed in front of Kazami Yuya peeked out a little.
"Ah, I just… noticed a strange figure on the outer deck, couldn't help but chase after it. Who knew suddenly so many people would pour out of the banquet hall." Kazawa coughed awkwardly twice, his expression a bit guilty.
To be honest, his "Joker" identity was still not very securely hidden.
He had tried multiple times to race against the Grim Reaper group—before they caused the deaths of unlucky clients or the clients' relatives and friends—by sending a notice letter ahead of time and resolving the root of the hatred. Including the first case he got involved with after running into Maruden Jirou on the street—that guy was a client of Mouri Kogorou.
Even the media declared that the Phantom of the Heart was targeting cases taken on by Mouri Kogorou. And since he lived just downstairs, Kazawa naturally fell into suspicion.
If situations like today happened a few more times—every time Joker appeared, Kazawa would be missing—then the sharp-eyed detectives would soon narrow it down to him.
And unfortunately, all the people around him were top-tier detectives… Conan, Amuro Tooru, Akai Shuichi…
Life was really tough.
He had to once again thank Brother Kaito for the disguise gear. His double identity plan finally had its last puzzle piece. Once the plan was set into motion, he wouldn't have to be tailed non-stop anymore. Thank goodness.
"Strange figure?" Amuro Tooru frowned as he recalled the two people who had escaped earlier. "What exactly did it look like?"
Completely ignored by Amuro Tooru, Conan stood beside Kazawa's leg. When he heard this, he also looked up attentively.
"About this tall." Kazawa gestured his own height. "Should be a man, wearing a tailcoat, kind of like a butler uniform. He ran down the corridor from the direction of the deck." Then he dropped a key term: "White hair."
Both big and small listeners instantly stiffened. Amuro Tooru narrowed his eyes sharply:
"You saw a suspicious white-haired man, and you just chased after him… Why didn't you inform the police?"
Kazawa looked up at the sky.
Conan looked down at the floor.
Kazawa was only pretending to be guilty—it was all acting, no emotion. But Conan was actually guilty. After all, when he realized that Kaito had disguised himself as Ran, his first instinct was also to drag him somewhere hard to escape from and fight one-on-one like a real man.
Amuro Tooru also caught on. That dangerous look shifted to the small Conan.
Conan had just said in the engine room that he had caught Kaito, so he too had failed to report what he knew—another detective-spirited brat.
Amuro Tooru inhaled deeply, exhaled slowly, and showed a gentle smile.
Before Amuro Tooru could start with the sarcasm, Kazawa pulled a card from his pocket and handed it over.
"Hm?" Amuro Tooru first frowned at the red color, then realizing it was a notice letter from Joker, reached out and took it.
"I picked it up while chasing him." Kazawa lied smoothly without pressure.
It's just a notice letter—he could make as many as needed. If not enough, he could print more. The key now was to pacify Amuro Tooru.
Amuro Tooru looked at the writing on the card, the corners of his mouth twitching.
"Have you ever heard of cognitive maltheory?"
He looked up at Kazawa, who turned his head away.
Before Conan could jump up and snatch it, Amuro Tooru rolled the card and stuffed it into his pocket.
"Let's go." Amuro Tooru grabbed Kazawa's collar again.
"For the next few days, stay put in the café. No running around."
"Wow, such a big space in the paper." Suzuki Sonoko raised the newspaper high.
"You've become a big hero, Conan."
Conan looked at the picture of himself with a very speechless expression on the paper and turned his head awkwardly.
"I just had some good luck…"
Sonoko looked at Conan, then at the spiritless Mouri Ran, and said enviously:
"You two have both seen Kaito already… I'm the only one who hasn't run into him even once. What does Kaito look like?"
Mouri Ran didn't respond at all. Sonoko nudged her with her elbow, and only then did she snap out of it.
"Ah, what?"
"That phantom thief's appearance—Kaito. Did you get a look at him?" Sonoko leaned in curiously.
"Ah… I suddenly fainted, didn't see anything at all…" Mouri Ran rubbed her face awkwardly.
"But more than that, I feel like I saw… a white-haired Shinichi… It's so strange, why would I dream something like that?"
Conan's eye twitched. He harshly criticized in his heart a certain phantom thief who used someone else's face without permission, and quickly redirected the topic:
"I did get a glimpse, though…"
"Oh? What kind of guy? Is he handsome?" As expected, Sonoko was no longer interested in the white-haired Shinichi dream.
"Looked to be in his twenties at most. Pretty young. Wore a monocle. Couldn't really see his face clearly…"
"Achoo!" Two sneezes, one from the left and one from the right.
The three of them looked up.
At the left corner, a high school boy in a black uniform was holding his nose and coughing.
At the right corner, a brown-haired boy in Teitan High's uniform sneezed, looked around confused, and then continued walking forward.
"Isn't that Kazawa?" Sonoko recognized him at once, then pointed at the boy in black.
"And that guy over there… looks kind of like Shinichi, doesn't he?"
"Ah…" Mouri Ran perked up at the mention of Shinichi and looked closely at the guy's face.
The sick Kuroba Kaito was currently bickering with his childhood friend Nakamori Aoko.
"Are you an idiot? You went on a cruise, how did you fall into the ocean?" Nakamori Aoko rolled her eyes while swinging her schoolbag at him.
"Mind your own business!" Kaito shot back with forced bravado.
"I didn't mean to, I was pushed off!"
Sonoko stared at Kaito, then at Aoko.
Not only did this boy look like Kudou Shinichi, even the girl beside him looked kind of like Ran…
"Could the ones you saw in Shibuya that day be them?" Sonoko whispered to her best friend.
"Oh, ah!" Ran suddenly understood and slapped her palm. Her expression brightened all at once.
"So that's how it was!"
Conan, not knowing why she was suddenly happy, looked at her in confusion.
"By the way, where's Kazawa going?" Sonoko, seeing Ran cheer up, also stopped looking at Kaito. That guy looked too much like Shinichi, kind of annoying. Her attention shifted to the little hottie again.
"That's not the way to your home, right?"
Conan knew where Kazawa was headed, but he couldn't say it out loud.
Kazawa was probably going to the police station to check in and hand in his current report to his supervising officer…
"Ah, maybe he's going to the subway station for dessert again." Conan chuckled.
"Amuro-san won't let him eat too much ice cream, but Kazawa-oniichan always likes to sneak off to that dessert shop in Shibuya..."
"Haha, he sounds like a little kid. So cute." In Sonoko's eyes, every handsome guy had a 2-meter-thick filter.
"Haha… hahaha…" Conan could only laugh awkwardly.
But…
As he turned toward the detective agency, Conan looked back at the direction Kazawa was walking in and blinked in confusion.
Was that really the direction of the police station?
He could've sworn… wasn't that the way to the National Diet Building?
Wasn't the police station supposed to be on the other side of the street?