Chapter 229
"The more I look, the more you resemble Shinichi..."
Usuha Izuki pinched Edogawa Conan's face, looking at his cold sweat, and couldn't help complaining internally.
[With acting skills like this, how did he manage to fool Mouri Ran for so long? I'm better than him!]
The system disapproved of Usuha Izuki's habit of putting everyone down: [He's quite reliable at other times, just a bit... that way when it comes to his own identity.]
Usuha Izuki ignored the system and stared at Edogawa Conan for a while longer, then suddenly clapped his hands: "Ah, I get it!"
Edogawa Conan: "G-get what?"
He figured it out already?! Not only was Usuha-nii's observational skills strong, but his acceptance ability was this good too?! He had become younger after all!
"It's Shinichi and Mouri-san's child, right? No wonder Mouri-san is taking care of him..."
"...It's not that! Ran—I mean, Ran-neesan and Shinichi-niisan are only how old!" Edogawa Conan was exasperated and quickly brought out the identity Dr. Agasa had helped him create. "I'm a child from Dr. Agasa's distant relative's family."
Usuha Izuki stood up: "Dr. Agasa... Then I understand."
Edogawa Conan looked at him suspiciously: "What do you understand now?"
Usuha Izuki took out his phone: "Yukiko-nee, I met a child who looks a lot like Shinichi. Could it be Yusaku-oji's illegitimate child, registered under Dr. Agasa's name..."
"Ahhhh wait!" Edogawa Conan immediately went crazy, lunging forward to hug Usuha Izuki's leg. "Don't send it!"
How could Usuha-nii keep spreading rumors! If this email was sent, his parents would definitely return to Japan!!!
Usuha Izuki chuckled and ruffled his hair: "Alright, just kidding. It's normal for there to be people who look alike in this world. Look."
Saying this, he pulled out a photo of Kuroba Kaito that he had specially gone to take, showing it to Edogawa Conan: "Very similar to your Shinichi-niisan, right?"
Edogawa Conan was quite surprised. If not for the somewhat different hairstyle and expression, he would have thought it was himself.
"I originally wanted to show Shinichi, but he's been not only skipping school these past few days, but not even going home... Do you have any clues?"
"Uh... Shinichi-niisan might have gone far away to solve a case..."
Speaking of this, Edogawa Conan finally remembered something important and said urgently: "Wait, this isn't the time to talk about this, Usuha-nii... niisan. Something's wrong! There's a bomb on the shinkansen!"
"Hm?" Usuha Izuki smiled and said, "You wouldn't be trying to say that those two men in black planted a bomb before getting off to get revenge on me, would you?"
Edogawa Conan was speechless for a moment: "...Half right, half wrong. It really is those two men in black. They really are bad people. I heard them talking about some transaction, then a bomb, and... thirty minutes! The bomb will explode in thirty minutes!"
Usuha-nii was really something, randomly guessing and still getting the culprit right... Though it felt more like holding a grudge...
Since he'd been brushed off by the crew earlier for being treated like a child making things up, Edogawa Conan stared worriedly at Usuha Izuki, trying to judge from his expression whether he believed him.
If even Usuha-nii didn't believe him and forcibly took him back to Ran, then he really had no way to escape and could only try to prove his true identity to continue investigating.
After all, he couldn't just watch a bomb explode!
Under Edogawa Conan's tense gaze, Usuha Izuki slowly furrowed his brow.
Edogawa Conan thought despairingly, It's over, Usuha-nii is also going to treat me like a kid seeking attention...
Then he heard Usuha Izuki say in a tone of "I've been waiting for this":
"I knew those two guys didn't look like good people. Sure enough, they're up to no good! What exactly happened? Tell me!"
Edogawa Conan: "......???"
How come instead of believing him, Usuha-nii's tone sounded more like he was taking the opportunity to retaliate? It must be his imagination.
So Edogawa Conan quickly spilled everything he knew: "...I've already narrowed it down to one car, but there are four people in that car all carrying black briefcases. I was about to investigate."
Usuha Izuki was straightforward: "Alright, I'll go take a look."
So Edogawa Conan led Usuha Izuki into that car and quietly pointed out the four people.
A salaryman-looking man, a fierce-looking middle-aged man, an elegantly dressed woman, and an old gentleman.
"Since I can't just run over and ask people to show me their briefcases, and asking directly might alert them and make them lie..." Edogawa Conan was troubled.
Usuha Izuki thought for a moment, then suddenly pushed Edogawa Conan outward.
Edogawa Conan: "...?"
"I'll handle this. Taking you along is too inappropriate and affects my performance." Usuha Izuki said matter-of-factly.
Edogawa Conan: "............"
Would Edogawa Conan obediently wait in place just because Usuha Izuki didn't bring him? That was impossible. He took advantage of his small stature to quietly follow behind, pretending to be just an ordinary child passing through this car.
Usuha Izuki, as if he really didn't know him, walked straight toward the only woman among the four, then said casually under her confused gaze: "Move over a bit."
"...???"
The woman was somewhat bewildered, but Japan's education and various complex reasons made her unwilling to cause conflict at this time. She didn't even dare call the crew, and could only silently pick up the black briefcase that was on the seat beside her, move over herself, and free up the aisle seat.
Usuha Izuki sat down unceremoniously, then turned his head and smiled, whispering: "Do you know you're about to be silenced?"
Woman: "...?!?!?!"
Edogawa Conan, secretly hiding in the back row: "...???"
No, Usuha-nii! This is your method of finding people?! Threatening them one by one?!
Could you have a bit more technical skill?! Aren't you afraid they'll call the police and have you arrested?!
Forget it, thinking carefully, last time when solving a case with Usuha-nii, he also directly told the fake boss kidnapper "I'm the boss, what are you here for? Go release the boss!"...
Today he also wildly confronted those two men in black.
Usuha-nii's personality was too straightforward.
The woman was stunned for a moment, then smiled reluctantly: "I don't know what you're talking about..."
"I'm guessing they'll say that at a certain time, they'll have you make a phone call, and they'll tell you how to open the lock on this case through the phone." Usuha Izuki blinked. "But have you considered that if there's a bomb in this case that's connected to a phone, and you call that phone, the phone vibrates and detonates the bomb?"
Although the woman was wary of Usuha Izuki, following his reasoning, her face grew increasingly pale: "Who are you exactly? Why are you telling me this?"
"I'm a detective." Usuha Izuki said shamelessly. "I don't like the look of them, and if the bomb inside is too effective, it might blow up the whole shinkansen, which is also for our safety... How about this: I'll open this lock in front of you, and you can decide what to do after seeing what's inside?"
The woman hesitated for a long time, warily looked around, then nodded: "Where?"
"Right here." Usuha Izuki directly removed a hair clip from his head, stuck it into the lock, and fiddled around for a few seconds before opening it.
Woman: "...!!!"
The system also: [...!!! Isn't the lockpicking skill on Samukawa Shinryu?!]
Usuha Izuki: [Skills indeed don't transfer, but brains do, thank you. Isn't this something anyone with hands can learn?]
System suspiciously: [Why do I feel like you're lying to me?]
Even if he had a lot of lockpicking experience as Samukawa Shinryu, if he could really learn it just like that, there wouldn't be so many people opening alternate identities and having to exchange for various skills twice.
...It couldn't be that Usuha Izuki was particularly talented at lockpicking, could it?
[Believe it or not.]
Usuha Izuki activated "Universal Navigation" to scan for risks, confirming that the bomb in this briefcase wouldn't explode just from opening it, before returning it to the woman.
The woman hesitantly opened the briefcase and indeed found a bomb conspicuously placed among the documents.
Her face turned ashen: "Those two bastards...!"
"Do you know anything about those two people?"
The woman said hatefully: "I don't know anything!"
Usuha Izuki said decisively: "Then call the police."
The woman thought about it and felt it made sense.
She was just buying information—wasn't that normal business practice? Yet they wanted to kill her! What a joke! She paid money! This was basically fraud!
Calling the police was perfectly justified!
So she decisively called the police.
And Usuha Izuki leisurely stood up and left this car.
Edogawa Conan followed him out in stunned disbelief, unable to believe the matter was resolved this way: "...How did you know that woman was the problem? What about the other three?"
"It's like this." Usuha Izuki said. "With four choices, if there are three long and one short, pick the short one; three short and one long, pick the long one, and so on. Three men and one woman—I started testing the woman first. Very logical, right?"
Edogawa Conan: "............"
Did he look that gullible? Having deduced even the detonation method through phone calls from the information he provided, and immediately selecting the right person—how could it possibly be random guessing!
Sigh... forget it. When he was in middle school, Usuha-nii treated him like a child and brushed him off. Now that he'd become a genuine child, it was normal for Usuha-nii not to take him seriously and be too lazy to explain.
"Alright, hurry back to find Mouri-san. I'm getting off at this station." Usuha Izuki shooed Edogawa Conan away with dismissive gestures and leisurely got off the train by himself.
About half an hour later, Usuha Izuki received a call from Vodka.
Mm, calculating the timing, the call should be coming about now.
"Botanist! Did you do something?"
Vodka's tone was accusatory, but his heart was wildly joyful.
Previously when missions failed, it wasn't really related to Usuha Izuki—at least they couldn't find a direct connection, much less evidence to complain to the Boss.
But this time was different. According to intelligence from the police, no matter how you looked at it, Usuha Izuki had acted on his own and caused their silencing to fail... This was basically shoving evidence into their hands!
The Boss might tolerate Usuha Izuki talking nonsense, but might not tolerate Usuha Izuki deliberately sabotaging organization missions! These were completely different concepts!
Therefore, after receiving the news, Vodka was ecstatic as he organized his talking points. Now, suppressing his inner joy, he frantically questioned, trying to finish off Usuha Izuki in one go.
"Why didn't our bomb explode? Why did that person call the police instead, saying it was some detective's suggestion? Was that detective you?! You like calling the police yourself, and now you're instigating others to call the police... Acting on your own to interfere with organization missions, causing me and Big Brother to fail... This time it's not about whether you seem like an undercover agent or whether we think you're an undercover agent—this behavior is betrayal. I'm going to report to the Boss!"
Usuha Izuki patiently listened to Vodka's rapid-fire speech, then snorted coldly: "You still have the nerve to complain to the Boss? I want to complain too! Explain this—you and Gin secretly investigated my itinerary and used the mission as an excuse to try to blow me up and silence me. How do you plan to explain that?"
Vodka: "...Hah???"
—What the hell?! Weren't you the one sabotaging the organization's mission? How did it become me trying to kill you and silence you?! I'm so wronged!!!