Chapter 234
Although there were children present, the group eventually discussed the previous village chief's death, since tonight there would be a memorial service for the second anniversary of the previous village chief's death—a topic they couldn't avoid.
"...Actually, the previous village chief was also involved in drug trafficking, but the secretary only knew about the previous village chief, and the previous village chief was already dead, so the investigation ended with just these two people. By the way, the rumor about Aso Keiji's ghost was spread by the secretary to keep people away from the transaction site."
Unlike Usuha Izuki, who would forget about cases immediately after finishing them, Hagiwara Kenji would seriously follow up on the aftermath of cases he handled, even if he was just helping out.
"Since the previous village chief was already dead at the time, and his family members were unaware and innocent, still having to live on Tsukikage Island, based on humanitarian considerations, this matter wasn't made public. Most people should only know that the secretary committed a crime, which is why this second anniversary memorial for the previous village chief's death can be held."
"I see." Mouri Kogorou pondered. "Thank you for the information, but it doesn't seem to have much to do with the commission I received, since the case has already been solved—they just both borrowed Aso Keiji's name."
Hagiwara Kenji sighed: "I hope so. I always feel that compared to the previous village chief, this Mr. Aso needs memorial services and such for people to pay respects to. How does it feel like even after death he's still being used by people..."
Previously his ghost was rumored to be playing piano, and now his ghost is sending letters. In two years, will his ghost be resurrected?
After their exchange, Mouri Kogorou and his group decided to visit the current village chief to ask if they had any clues about the invitation letter, so they temporarily parted ways with Hagiwara Kenji and the others.
Edogawa Conan had a belly full of questions but no opportunity to ask them. The moment he opened his mouth, Mouri Kogorou would punch him, so he could only follow along resentfully.
Since the current village chief put on airs and they also visited the room where the previous village chief died, they spent quite a bit of time. By the time they finished, it was already evening, so they simply waited together to attend that second anniversary memorial.
Edogawa Conan liked wandering around everywhere. While Mouri Ran and the others weren't paying attention, he secretly slipped away to eavesdrop on gossip, trying to distinguish useful intelligence from it.
Just as he was busy with this, Dr. Asai Narimi, who had parted from them not long ago, walked into the activity center with a heavy heart.
Edogawa Conan couldn't help but become suspicious.
When they met earlier, this Dr. Asai Narimi's behavior was somewhat strange upon seeing Officer Hagiwara—hard to say whether it was happiness or resistance, but definitely subtle.
This heavy-hearted appearance now... even if he was attending a second anniversary memorial, this reaction seemed excessive. After all, when the previous village chief died two years ago, this Dr. Asai had just arrived on Tsukikage Island and had no emotional connection to the previous village chief whatsoever. It could only be due to other reasons.
Could it be related to that invitation letter...
Just as Edogawa Conan was about to theorize about Asai Narimi, someone walked in right behind him.
In that instant, Edogawa Conan felt he suddenly understood why Asai Narimi's melancholy and heaviness seemed so genuine.
Although the sun hadn't set yet, the moment that person walked into the activity center, it was as if both the sky outside and the bright interior had inexplicably darkened several degrees.
Deep blue hair colored as profound as the night sky, dark red eyes like a blood moon hanging in the night sky.
He simply walked quietly into the room without any unnecessary movements besides walking, yet the atmosphere around him was like the deep sea at night—dangerous, serene, as if dark currents were surging.
The young man's upright figure was wrapped in a black long coat, as if emerging from shadows and darkness, carrying an inescapable chill, taking elegant and light steps so quiet they made no sound as he slowly followed behind Asai Narimi.
A black coat...!
Edogawa Conan, who happened to be in a nearby room watching this scene through the half-closed door, suddenly had his pupils contract.
This dangerous aura, this habit of deliberately controlling footsteps to avoid exposure even when walking normally—definitely from special training...
Could this person be a member of that Black Organization?!
Why would he come here?
Right, the previous village chief seemed to be involved in drug trafficking. If it was an illegal organization, participating in such activities would be normal. Maybe the previous village chief left some traces, and the organization sent someone to this second anniversary memorial to observe the situation.
The previous village chief's family members had all been investigated and weren't involved in drug trafficking—they were completely unaware—but friends and acquaintances were another matter. This was a perfect opportunity, since normally the previous village chief's associates couldn't all gather like this.
That invitation letter might have been sent by someone who noticed this point but was afraid of being discovered by the organization, so they could only take a roundabout approach by bringing in an outside detective—former police officer Mouri Kogorou—to muddy the waters and make the organization's people more cautious...
In that instant, over ten thousand words of deduction flashed through Edogawa Conan's mind. Although there was no evidence yet and it was just suspicion that arose from seeing the other party, this feeling of inspiration bursting forth was truly exhilarating. In all his years of life, he had never encountered someone who could make him generate so many thoughts just from a first meeting.
...Edogawa Conan now felt that Dr. Asai's strange expression when he entered was completely explainable. After all, anyone with such a terrifying person following behind them wouldn't be able to smile.
That dark-haired, red-eyed young man was about to pass by the door of the room where Edogawa Conan was located.
Edogawa Conan stared intently at him, trying to gather more intelligence from him. If possible, he even wanted to plant some listening devices on him.
But this person clearly looked like someone very sensitive to such small actions, so after struggling for a few seconds, Edogawa Conan abandoned this idea, hoping this guy would stay at this memorial service for a while so he could see if there were safer ways to gather intelligence.
However, just as the young man was about to pass by the doorway, he suddenly glanced into the door crack. Those dark red eyes, like dried blood, met Edogawa Conan's gaze directly for one second.
Just one look brought Edogawa Conan an irresistible sense of suffocation and crisis, like the originally calm sea surface suddenly surging with tides that instantly engulfed him.
His entire being was pinned in place. Even if the other party suddenly drew a gun and pointed it at him, he probably couldn't take a step.
Fortunately, the next second, the other party looked away, as if he was just sensitive to being watched and instinctively glanced over, but didn't care after discovering it was a child.
Only then did Edogawa Conan gasp heavily, realizing his forehead had broken out in sweat.
...This person coming to Tsukikage Island definitely had some unspeakable purpose!
This kind of guy whose danger could be seen at a glance would probably be stopped by police for questioning just walking down the street, right? How dare he appear so brazenly? Edogawa Conan couldn't figure out the reason and could only speculate that the police could never find evidence of his activities, so his record was clean.
Or perhaps he only did behind-the-scenes directing work. His hands were clean, but those he commanded had caused countless families to be shattered...
—Simply like Moriarty.
Holmes's nemesis, Professor Moriarty, might have felt like this when unmasked.
From a disguise perspective, this guy couldn't compare to Professor Moriarty. At least Professor Moriarty wouldn't be seen as suspicious at first glance, making people wary from the start.
Disguise was also a skill! That guy just now wasn't good at it!
Good, worthy of being Holmes's nemesis—Holmes won.
Edogawa Conan's thoughts couldn't help but drift a bit.
Just then, two more people walked in through the doorway—the two police officers Hagiwara Kenji and Matsuda Jinpei.
The cold feeling left by that young man was immediately dispelled by more than half. Edogawa Conan also ran out of the room and urgently said to the two police officers:
"Hagiwara-san, Matsuda-san, a very scary and strange person just came in..."
Matsuda Jinpei raised an eyebrow: "What person? What did he look like?"
Edogawa Conan paused.
It was fine until he asked, but once asked, Edogawa Conan realized he actually hadn't seen clearly what the other party specifically looked like—only retaining an impression that he seemed quite handsome.
No helping it. When he wanted to carefully observe the person's features, the other party suddenly looked over, and instantly his retinas were filled only with those terrifying dark red eyes... then there was the overwhelmingly strong aura, and he hadn't noticed much else.
But it didn't matter. The person was right here. Although he didn't know the purpose, the other party definitely wouldn't leave before achieving their goal. He could find the person and observe again later.
So Edogawa Conan confidently reported the limited intelligence he currently had.
"Dark red eyes, deep blue hair, wearing a black coat, looking very dangerous..."
Hagiwara Kenji: "............"
Matsuda Jinpei: "............"
Both men's hearts were calm as still water.
Oh... this answer, why didn't it sound surprising at all?