Chapter 278
Kazuto Kyosuke was frozen in place by Samukawa Shinryu's gaze, his body almost instinctively stiffening, his brain taking a long time to react.
It wasn't until Samukawa Shinryu suddenly frowned and said "The light's green" that he surfaced like a drowning man, suddenly snapping back to reality and hurriedly starting the car.
After that, no one spoke for the rest of the drive.
Kazuto Kyosuke was driving purely on instinct. If there hadn't been few cars on the road at night, with police cars leading the way ahead, he would have ended up in an accident sooner or later.
He couldn't help it—his mind was completely occupied with Samukawa Shinryu's words: "If he had come to me, he wouldn't have been caught"...
You're not even pretending anymore, are you?!
But I still have to pretend!!!
Kazuto Kyosuke was in agony now, not knowing what he should do to be correct.
He felt that Samukawa Shinryu's meaning in telling him this was either hinting that he could come to him for consultation, or threatening him that if he didn't cooperate, he'd end up in jail.
The trip to the hospital was very short—rather, it was precisely because the hospital closest to the hotel was the one where Kazuto Kyosuke worked that she had been taken to his hospital.
Seeing the car already entering the parking lot, Kazuto Kyosuke, who hadn't dared to confirm whether his guess was correct and thus hadn't given an answer all this time, became increasingly nervous as he backed into the parking space.
What should he do? If he didn't say something, not only would he waste this rare opportunity for communication, but if Samukawa Shinryu misunderstood and decided to do something to him, that would be truly unlucky...
After parking and turning off the engine, Kazuto Kyosuke hesitantly turned to look at Samukawa Shinryu, wanting to speak but stopping himself.
What should he say...
Fortunately, Samukawa Shinryu didn't seem to plan on wasting time here confronting him.
His hand pressed the car door switch, making a clear click sound.
"You still have a chance, but including today, I can only tolerate three days. Don't make me think I misjudged you."
After saying this, Samukawa Shinryu got out of the car, slammed the door shut without looking back, and walked toward Hagiwara Kenji who was getting out of another vehicle.
Kazuto Kyosuke sat in the car, processing what Samukawa Shinryu meant.
Well... although it was just one sentence, he once again understood two different meanings from it.
The first was that he thought his previous methods were too childish—Samukawa Shinryu had casually interfered and he had failed, which disappointed Samukawa Shinryu who had originally thought he could find a clever "kindred spirit."
This disappointment was linked to Samukawa Shinryu's evaluation of him, making Samukawa Shinryu feel he had actually misjudged him. If he continued to be unable to deal with Sato Miwako, Samukawa Shinryu might turn on him to eliminate this "mistake"... No, he might hand him directly over to the police.
After all, he had no evidence that Samukawa Shinryu had also broken the law, and given how well Samukawa Shinryu got along with the police, the officers probably wouldn't take it seriously if he tried to accuse Samukawa Shinryu.
The second interpretation required considering Samukawa Shinryu's earlier words together—Samukawa Shinryu might be hinting that if he was smart, when he found himself unable to solve a problem, he should come to him for consultation.
...So troublesome! He just wanted to kill someone! Why did he have to get involved with such a strange guy!!!
Was this the price of murder?! No one had told him it would turn out like this!
Kazuto Kyosuke felt anguished.
Although the person he wanted to kill was in his own hospital, this didn't mean it would be easier for him to act, because the police would definitely be guarding her, and as a psychiatrist, he had no reason to appear in front of Officer Sato's hospital room.
If he were still a surgeon... No, if he were still a surgeon, why would he need to kill Officer Sato? It was because that bastard Jinno had prevented him from being a surgeon that he killed Jinno for revenge! And then he had no choice but to kill the police investigating Jinno's case!
It's all Jinno's fault!
While Kazuto Kyosuke was in distress, Samukawa Shinryu had already joined up with Hagiwara Kenji.
Inspector Megure had called the doctor watching over Sato Miwako at the hospital while on the road, learning about Sato Miwako's condition.
"Miss Sato has woken up. It's just a minor injury. Her head was examined and there are no aftereffects like internal bleeding. She just needs to recover from her physical injuries."
Hagiwara Kenji said: "Then Inspector Megure also gave her instructions according to plan... Conan-kun said he would handle investigating the grudge between Dr. Kazuto and Dr. Jinno, because no one would suspect a child, and even if Dr. Kazuto saw him chatting with the nurses, he wouldn't think anything of it... Uh, Inspector Megure agreed."
Samukawa Shinryu: "...He agreed?"
Hagiwara Kenji hesitated: "How should I put it? This kid has been an assistant to Mr. Mouri before, and he does seem smarter than kids his age. Inspector Megure also said that Conan-kun had even voluntarily acted as a hostage before to help solve hostage situations, and just now he seemed able to follow the reasoning. I think... it's not that inappropriate? What do you think?"
Edogawa Conan had also come to the hospital with the Mouri family, since Mouri Ran had been protected by Sato Miwako, so they should at least visit the hospital.
He saw Hagiwara Kenji and Samukawa Shinryu walking and talking behind them, so he pretended to tie his shoelaces at a corner, staying a bit longer, curious to hear what they were discussing.
He had obtained a lot of useful information using this trick before. This time it wasn't because he suspected anything, but simply thought Samukawa Shinryu might tell Hagiwara Kenji what he had discussed during his alone time with the suspect, and he was curious about that.
But then he heard Samukawa Shinryu say: "I think he doesn't seem like a child at all."
Edogawa Conan: "...!!!"
His breathing stopped for a moment, and he quickly focused intently on listening to what came next.
Hagiwara Kenji said: "Hmm... if you put it that way, indeed, sometimes his demeanor really doesn't seem like an elementary school student... I was pretty mature for my age too, but when I was in elementary school I wasn't like Conan-kun with such... But it's not like he's actually an adult who returned to childhood, right?"
Edogawa Conan had deliberately untied his shoelaces to put on an act, but now his mind was somewhat chaotic and his hands were making a mess, but he couldn't care about how he was tying his shoelaces. He could only wait for Samukawa Shinryu's response.
Because he remembered that Officer Samukawa seemed to actually believe that returning to childhood was possible. If he heard Officer Hagiwara say this and recalled something, then speculated something—
"He really does seem like someone who returned to childhood."
Edogawa Conan: "...!!!"
Unfortunately, by this point, Hagiwara Kenji and Samukawa Shinryu had already turned the corner and happened to see Edogawa Conan crouching there tying his shoelaces, so this topic couldn't continue.
Hagiwara Kenji came over considerately to take a look: "Oh my, that's not how you tie shoelaces. Let me help you."
As he helped Edogawa Conan tie his shoelaces, he laughed and said: "You usually seem so mature, but you can't even tie your shoelaces?"
Edogawa Conan could only laugh dryly: "Ah ha ha, I can tie shoelaces! I was just trying a new shoelace-tying method I learned recently, but I kind of forgot how to do it... Thank you, Officer Hagiwara."
While Hagiwara Kenji was looking down, Edogawa Conan pretended to be casually looking around and sneakily glanced toward Samukawa Shinryu.
With this glance, he discovered that Samukawa Shinryu had been watching him, and accidentally made eye contact with Samukawa Shinryu.
Edogawa Conan used all his acting skills to smile naturally at Samukawa Shinryu.
"No need to thank me." Hagiwara Kenji, unaware of the confrontation between the other two, had already quickly tied the shoelaces and stood up. "Let's go, your Ran-neesan is still waiting for you."
"Ah, yes!" Edogawa Conan quickly started running, but after just a couple of steps, he was suddenly called to a stop by Samukawa Shinryu.
"Wait, you can't run in hospitals."
Edogawa Conan had to resume normal walking speed and waved to Mouri Ran, who had noticed he was missing and was turning back to look for him, indicating he hadn't disappeared.
Seeing Edogawa Conan with familiar people, Mouri Ran felt relieved and turned back to mediate between her parents who were inexplicably about to argue again.
Edogawa Conan followed beside Samukawa Shinryu and Hagiwara Kenji, listening to their continued conversation.
However, they didn't continue the previous topic but started a new one.
"Speaking of which, where's Matsuda?" Samukawa Shinryu asked.
Although Matsuda Jinpei wasn't from Criminal Investigation Division One, because bombs were often related to murder cases or kidnapping cases, he was quite familiar with Shiratori Ninzaburo. Plus with Hagiwara Kenji's connection, it was strange that Shiratori Ninzaburo had invited even him but not Matsuda Jinpei.
Hagiwara Kenji answered: "He's been pretty busy lately, going around to high schools doing safety drill activities... After all, just last month there were two cases of people bringing bombs to schools for revenge. Such obviously problematic packages and people still touched them... Sigh, anyway, the higher-ups suggested using fire drill opportunities to emphasize identifying dangerous objects to these students. It's Matsuda's turn this week."
"High schools..." Samukawa Shinryu said thoughtfully, "Speaking of which, that high school detective, Mr. Kudo's son, hasn't appeared for a long time, has he?"
Edogawa Conan: "...!!!"