Chapter 247
Usuha Izuki had entered the Kudo house openly with a key, so he wasn't afraid of anyone coming to the door. Even if it was organization people, he could act righteous.
Therefore, after hearing the doorbell, he didn't hide anything and went directly to open the door.
He opened the house door, while the visitor stood outside the iron gate of the yard pressing the doorbell. Hearing movement inside, they craned their neck to look into the yard.
Then the person made a shocked sound: "Ah!!!"
Usuha Izuki: "Ah..."
"It's you, right! It must be you?!"
The dark-skinned high school detective who had known him for so many years without knowing Usuha Izuki's name grabbed the iron gate bars like someone visiting prison, trying hard to look inside. "Don't hide! That outfit of yours is too recognizable!!!"
That messy combination and that white hair—even if he hadn't seen him for two years, he'd still recognize him!
"I'm not hiding. I'm just changing shoes."
"What shoes! Won't you invite me in to sit?"
Usuha Izuki said dismissively: "This isn't my house, so it's inconvenient to let outsiders in..."
Hattori Heiji, who was so surprised at catching the elusive "Detective Conan" that he almost forgot his purpose, suddenly realized: "...Right, this is clearly the Kudo house! Why are you here?!"
"I know Shinichi's parents and occasionally come to borrow books." Usuha Izuki changed his shoes and came out, then asked knowingly: "What's your situation?"
Hattori Heiji, probably having been defeated by Usuha Izuki too many times, answered obediently: "I heard Kudo Shinichi disappeared and hasn't been going to school recently. I don't know if he's dead or got involved in some trouble, so I came to check... Since you know his family, do you know what's going on?"
Usuha Izuki was absent-mindedly thinking about what to eat later: "What does his situation have to do with you?"
Hattori Heiji lifted his chin: "Because newspapers always mention me and him together. I came to see if he's qualified!"
"Then good luck. I still need to eat, so I'll..."
"Wait! Don't try to slip away!" Hattori Heiji decisively grabbed Usuha Izuki's arm. "You haven't answered me yet. Where is Kudo?"
Usuha Izuki said irresponsibly: "Who knows? Go ask his girlfriend. If he doesn't contact me, he'd definitely contact his girlfriend, since Miss Mouri is raising a child."
Hattori Heiji immediately stuttered: "Ch-child!?"
"Sigh, from this perspective, your progress is really too slow. You completely lost to Kudo Shinichi..."
"Who lost! No, nobody wanted to compete in this anyway!"
Hattori Heiji was greatly shocked and couldn't be bothered with Usuha Izuki anymore. Seeing that Usuha Izuki refused to go to the Mouri Detective Agency with him, he could only hurriedly leave alone.
Soon he reached the bottom of the Mouri Detective Agency building. Halfway up the stairs, he happened to see a child opening a door.
Looking closely, this child really did look somewhat like Kudo Shinichi from the newspapers.
Hattori Heiji couldn't help murmuring: "Kudo... actually..."
Edogawa Conan: "...?!?!?!"
What was this! This person came up and called him Kudo—didn't he follow basic rules at all?!
He wanted to speak, but couldn't help sneezing, which brought Hattori Heiji back to his senses.
Hattori Heiji strode forward, crouched down, and looked at him with some hesitation: "You... could you be..."
"I'm not!!!" Edogawa Conan quickly protested.
"Not what?" Mouri Ran, who had been talking with Mouri Kogorou, heard the strange commotion at the door and came to check the situation. She looked puzzledly at Hattori Heiji, who was a stranger to her. "Huh, are you a client?"
Hattori Heiji removed his cap: "I came looking for Kudo. You're Kudo's girlfriend, right?"
"I'm not!" Mouri Ran's face turned red with embarrassment.
Hattori Heiji breathed a big sigh of relief: "I knew Kudo Shinichi couldn't move that fast. That guy lied to me again..."
Although he was shocked at the time, on the way he thought about it and suddenly realized that pregnancy and childbirth would definitely require taking leave, which couldn't be hidden.
And that guy said "Miss Mouri is raising a child"—he didn't say the child was hers and Kudo Shinichi's... Always playing with such word games, dealing with that guy required more caution than interrogating suspects.
Mouri Ran was very embarrassed, and Mouri Kogorou exploded: "Who's spreading rumors?"
"Uh..." Hattori Heiji was silent for a moment, but still had to report the name the other party had always used: "Conan."
Edogawa Conan: "...Ah???"
Wait, what did this have to do with him again?!
Mouri Kogorou and Mouri Ran's gazes fell on Edogawa Conan, both looking unfavorably, clearly meaning "so you're the one talking nonsense."
"Wait! I didn't say that! Achoo... cough cough..." Edogawa Conan was anxious to defend himself, but he had a cold, his throat was uncomfortable, and being anxious made it even harder to speak.
Hattori Heiji looked at these people's reactions and was silent for a moment: "This child is called Conan?"
Mouri Ran was startled: "Eh? You didn't know? Then the Conan you mentioned was..."
"...A guy with bad taste. Conan is just his fake name... or maybe not." Hattori Heiji looked uncertainly at Edogawa Conan. "What's this child's name?"
Mouri Ran said: "Edogawa Conan."
Hattori Heiji: "...So there really are people with this name!"
Could that guy really be named Conan too... No no no, with that guy's bad taste, it's definitely fake!
Mouri Ran said somewhat helplessly: "Even if you say that, he really is called Conan."
Edogawa Conan was coughing so hard he was nearly dying. Hearing Hattori Heiji's increasingly strange words, he quickly tried to change the subject: "You, you cough cough... the person you mentioned... achoo!"
Mouri Ran said worriedly: "How come both Conan and Shinichi caught colds?"
Hattori Heiji looked up sharply: "How do you know Kudo has a cold? You must be in contact with him!"
In a chaotic mess of deduction, suspicion, and explanation, Edogawa Conan confusedly drank what was supposedly a special cold medicine—white liquor—and followed the client who came to the door to her house.
Then a locked-room murder occurred, and he happened to drop out midway due to feeling unwell. When he came to his senses, he had returned to his original body.
Kudo Shinichi quickly went to stop Hattori Heiji's incorrect deduction and finally restored the truth.
Hattori Heiji sighed and walked up to Kudo Shinichi: "I lost this time."
Kudo Shinichi leaned weakly against the heater, correcting Hattori Heiji's viewpoint: "No, there's no winning or losing in deduction, because there's only one truth."
Hattori Heiji was shocked by this statement.
He felt he should say something at this moment, but worried that his words wouldn't match the occasion. While he was struggling, he heard Kudo Shinichi continue:
"More than that, don't you know a guy who likes to dress garishly?"
No matter how he thought about it, this style of talking nonsense really seemed like a certain someone.
This question instantly brought Hattori Heiji back to reality: "I do know someone. That guy claims to be called Detective Conan. I met him in Osaka before—he's very good at solving cases..."
Kudo Shinichi immediately showed a pained expression.
—It's you! Usuha-nii! The detective who called himself Conan years before me!
Although he knew Usuha Izuki liked to trick people, Kudo Shinichi never imagined he'd be tricked in a place like this.
Hattori Heiji, seeing Kudo Shinichi's expression, realized something: "That guy really isn't named Conan! Ah! Speaking of which, he came out of your house today. Do you know what he's actually called?"
"...He's called Usuha Izuki." Kudo Shinichi said weakly. "He likes to joke around. If you see him next time, be careful not to get fooled."
Hattori Heiji couldn't help complaining: "After knowing him for so many years, I don't even know his name. You could just say he has a bad personality instead of being so diplomatic."
Kudo Shinichi: "I'm sorry, how many years have you known each other?"
Hattori Heiji: "About six years."
Kudo Shinichi: ".................."
Knowing each other for six years and not telling the other person his name... Usuha-nii! Isn't this a bit too cruel? Six years ago he was just an elementary student! You won't even spare elementary students?!
"Speaking of which, I suddenly realized something." Hattori Heiji pondered. "About three years ago, my school organized an activity to go skiing, and then someone from a film crew died..."
Kudo Shinichi, finding this increasingly familiar, raised an eyebrow in surprise: "Could you be the one who went to the police with deductions?"
Hattori Heiji reflected: "You must be the one who happened to be giving deductions to the police over the phone while I was deducing, right? I see, so many years ago, that guy... Usuha-san already said you were better than me. I was still wondering what I lost at, but now I see I lost right here..."
Kudo Shinichi listened with a head full of question marks: "Wait? Usuha-nii praised me to you?"
"Not just praised."
Hattori Heiji said expressionlessly: "When he asked me to share information, his reason was that you had already shared information with him, and if I didn't agree, wouldn't I seem petty and lose at the starting line? Then when I told him I lost, he said you also had someone helping you. I asked if that meant it was a draw? He said the winner was the police, but if he had to compare us, you were still a bit better. I had already admitted defeat, but he still gave me that treatment..."
Kudo Shinichi: "............"
After three years, this resentment was still so deep. Just imagining it, he could feel how uncomfortable Hattori Heiji's heart must have been at the time.
He suddenly felt that Usuha-nii had actually been quite good to him. Look at Hattori Heiji's treatment—that was truly miserable.
Kudo Shinichi was about to complain about something when suddenly his heart clenched with sharp pain surging up again.
Could it be that he was about to turn back into a child...
Hattori Heiji saw Kudo Shinichi's face was so pale yet he still wanted to go outside, and quickly followed to support him: "Are you okay? Kudo?"
Kudo Shinichi gritted his teeth and finally said the commission he'd been hesitating about: "Help me investigate something. It's not convenient for me right now..."
Hattori Heiji, who now shared not only the bond of worthy opponents with Kudo Shinichi but also the camaraderie of being toyed with by the same terrible big brother, cared about his affairs: "Investigate what?"
"[Consultant]... a criminal consultant..."