Chapter 252
Upon hearing the key phrase [Consultant Moriarty], Edogawa Conan felt... a bit excited, though not excessively so.
While he still somewhat suspected Samukawa Shinryu might be connected to that organization, since Tequila's death was just an accident, he had completely ruled out any connection between Samukawa Shinryu and this murder case.
No matter how loudly Mr. Takeshita shouted now, it was useless.
After all, thinking about it calmly, if Samukawa Shinryu had really given this Mr. Takeshita some criminal plan, Samukawa Shinryu would never allow a situation that exposed himself to occur—such a mistake was far too elementary, completely incompatible with Samukawa Shinryu's caliber.
...Though it was also possible he was brazenly showing off, confident that the other party had no evidence. After all, Samukawa Shinryu's personality seemed quite malicious... But he couldn't treat all the police as fools either!
If something substantial really came out, an investigation would be unavoidable. After multiple incidents, even if they couldn't arrest him, his credibility would certainly not be what it once was, which should be counterproductive for Samukawa Shinryu.
So the little bit of excitement Edogawa Conan had left was mainly because he had finally heard intelligence about [the Consultant] again.
Although he had previously asked Hattori Heiji, who got along well with him, to investigate [the Consultant], he had now turned back into a child and couldn't easily contact Hattori Heiji again. Even if there was intelligence, communication would be difficult. Moreover, his habit was never to just wait around—he always had to investigate on his own first.
He expectantly waited for the police to question Mr. Takeshita about that [Consultant].
Instead, Inspector Megure turned to complain to Samukawa Shinryu: "Another one of that guy's criminal plans, another case of mistaking you for him. Seriously, couldn't that guy consider changing his codename? If he switched to something like Holmes, people probably wouldn't mistake you for him anymore."
Edogawa Conan: "..........."
Don't arbitrarily decide to give Holmes as a codename to criminals!!!
Samukawa Shinryu also looked speechless for a moment: "...Why not just catch him sooner."
"That guy's case isn't my responsibility... or you could go help them out." Inspector Megure hinted that Samukawa Shinryu could work overtime to permanently solve this problem of being mistaken for someone else.
Samukawa Shinryu pretended not to see.
System: [If you're farming hate points, that Moriarty's hatred toward you is already off the charts. Why don't you just arrest him and stop tormenting the guy.]
Usuha Izuki: [I'm doing everything—what are the police for? Besides, when I occasionally encounter criminals who bought that 'Moriarty's' plan books, they give me much more suspicion values than ordinary criminals. It's actually beneficial for me.]
Moreover... it had to be said that 'Moriarty's' criminal plans were full of holes. Combined with most people's tendency to be penny-wise, only buying simplified versions and such, it often resulted in their basic objectives not being achieved while they were directly caught, contributing to police performance statistics.
Under these circumstances, the police in charge still hadn't caught that instigator. Usuha Izuki couldn't be bothered to help—in his view, the responsible officers desperately needed training, so he wouldn't deprive them of their training opportunities.
System: [You just like the feeling of having things fall from the sky... fall suspicion values, don't you!]
Usuha Izuki: [No, it's also because his existence makes my entrapment operations more convenient. He's made the waters muddier, which is good for me.]
Edogawa Conan was very skilled at extracting intelligence from conversations. After hearing these few sentences, he immediately realized—that [Consultant Moriarty] indeed wasn't committing crimes for the first time, and criminals weren't pointing fingers at Samukawa Shinryu for the first time either... uh, this was understandable...
Inspector Megure and the other officers nearby all knew of that person's existence, they just hadn't caught him yet. They were also used to Samukawa Shinryu being falsely accused, which meant Samukawa Shinryu had definitely been investigated many times. That's why everyone could be so relaxed around the dangerous-seeming Samukawa Shinryu.
This could be considered indirect proof that Samukawa Shinryu and the "criminal consultant" were two different people.
Edogawa Conan felt somewhat disappointed, yet also somewhat relieved as he accepted this conclusion.
From the first time he met Samukawa Shinryu, Edogawa Conan couldn't help but suspect him. Even when various evidence was presented before him, he felt he couldn't completely clear Samukawa Shinryu of suspicion. Now, based on the new intelligence obtained, he could finally completely rule out any connection between Samukawa Shinryu and [the Criminal Consultant].
However, considering the intelligence that Tequila mentioned bumping into someone called "Botanist" at the venue, and how Samukawa Shinryu—who looked just as dangerous and ominous as that Gin—coincidentally appeared here... whether Samukawa Shinryu was connected to the organization remained questionable.
To divert the attention of several outsiders present from "Samukawa Shinryu being accused," Hagiwara Kenji casually brought up a topic: "Speaking of which, Mr. Nakajima, who exactly was your transaction partner? What do you know?"
Mr. Nakajima looked ashen, and after realizing he had nearly been the one blown up today, he was in a daze: "I don't know much either... but aside from today, every time we met, it was at that cocktail bar on the top floor of the Big Black Building on Beika Street..."
Inspector Megure immediately dispatched people to check that address.
Hearing this, Usuha Izuki finally coughed: "If there's nothing else here, I'll head out first."
"Oh, alright then." Inspector Megure was also used to Samukawa Shinryu's habit of leaving once business was finished. "How are you getting back?"
Matsuda Jinpei said: "I'll drive him."
Hagiwara Kenji sighed: "Hai~ hai, understood. I'll write the report. You two hurry back, and try not to run into any cases on the way."
Edogawa Conan: "..........."
Wow, that level of proficiency... How many reports had Officer Hagiwara helped write?
Mouri Kogoro also didn't intend to stay any longer. After all, with the explosion, this launch event definitely couldn't continue. So after bidding farewell to Inspector Megure, the group followed Matsuda Jinpei and Usuha Izuki toward the parking garage.
Usuha Izuki, completely unaffected by the incident, asked Matsuda Jinpei: "How was the gaming?"
"Not bad... ah." Matsuda Jinpei suddenly remembered something. "Today I met a..."
He was about to say, "met a guy who looks quite similar to you," and had already prepared his next line in his head: "could he be a relative?" or something like that.
Then he suddenly realized that Samukawa Shinryu was an orphan.
Even if he had relatives who resembled him, Samukawa Shinryu wouldn't know about them.
Besides, there were quite a few people in the world who looked alike. That guy Takagi Wataru from Investigation Division One had been told by several people that he looked like him... though he couldn't really see it himself.
This topic might not be very friendly to Samukawa Shinryu... Although Matsuda Jinpei knew Samukawa Shinryu didn't really care about this, usually he wouldn't mind mentioning it accidentally, but since he had already become aware of it, there was no need to continue.
Usuha Izuki knew perfectly well what he had encountered, and from Matsuda Jinpei's sudden silence, he deduced that the other was struggling with the fact that he was an orphan.
But he still deliberately asked: "A what?"
Matsuda Jinpei paused, then continued: "...A guy who was pretty terrible at games."
"Hmm, was there something worth mentioning specifically?" Usuha Izuki continued pressing.
"..." Matsuda Jinpei, who was trying hard to be considerate, got a bit irritated, but since he had brought up the topic himself, stopping suddenly would be strange. Fortunately, he quickly thought of an excuse: "That guy's name sounded familiar, but I can't remember where I heard it."
Usuha Izuki noticed that Edogawa Conan, walking ahead of them, had unconsciously slowed his pace slightly, indicating that Edogawa Conan was paying attention to the conversation between him and Matsuda Jinpei.
His mood became cheerful, though his expression remained bland as he continued asking: "So, what was that guy called?"
Matsuda Jinpei: "Hattori Heiji. He said his name was Hattori Heiji. Have you heard of him?"
Edogawa Conan: "...?!?!?!"
Hattori was there too?!
No, impossible, absolutely impossible!
Although he wasn't very close to Hattori Heiji, when it came to solving cases, he was quite confident in his assessment. If it had been Hattori Heiji, with such a major case happening just now, he definitely would have emerged to join the investigation. There was no way the police had arrived and he still hadn't appeared...
Considering the timing, it shouldn't have reached the point where he'd played enough and left either.
Then, there was only one truth—someone was impersonating Hattori Heiji!
Who would do such a thing?! Such a strange prank... uh...
He suddenly remembered what Hattori Heiji had mentioned about someone who had once claimed to be the famous detective Conan.
...It's you! Usuha-nii! It's definitely you!
His deductive abilities weren't bad at all, but he just didn't like encountering police, so even when he saw them and cases, he wouldn't come forward... Could Usuha-nii possibly...
A trace of suspicion flashed through Edogawa Conan's mind.
But at this moment, what emerged in his thoughts was the scene of Usuha Izuki speaking up for justice on the shinkansen, declaring in front of Gin and Vodka that he would call the police.
Edogawa Conan: "................"
Hmm... even if Usuha-nii had some little secrets, he probably wasn't connected to the organization... After all, Usuha-nii seemed to radiate an aura of "carefree and unencumbered" from head to toe, completely unlike what someone who had joined that kind of organization should feel like...