"As for why Genta saw two different faces in such a short span of time, I have a few theories of my own." Conan nodded, his gaze shifting toward the mouth of the alley.
The sound of scuffling grew louder. A moment later, Tsuneo emerged from the shadows. In one hand, he loosely gripped his heavy silver wrench; with the other, he was dragging a blonde young man by the collar of his shirt as if he were hauling a bag of scrap metal.
"Genta, is this the guy?"
The mechanic tossed the so-called 'blonde older brother' onto the pavement in front of the children.
A small folding knife skittered across the ground—Tsuneo must have disarmed him. Between the weapon and the fact that he'd been lurking in the shadows, there was no doubt this man was trouble.
"Y-yes, that's him!" Genta stammered, nodding quickly.
The man was a mess. It was clear he had received a swift, decisive lesson from Tsuneo. His expensive blonde hair was a bird's nest of tangles, his face was bruised, and a thin trickle of blood ran from his nose.
"He uses his right hand, not his left," Tsuneo noted, glancing at the young detective. "He pulled the knife with his right."
"Then it's definitely him." A sharp smile played on Conan's lips. He looked satisfied that the final piece of the puzzle had clicked into place.
"Conan, quit talking in riddles!" Mitsuhiko cried, looking back and forth between the two. "Explain it to us!"
"Think about the clues," Conan began, ticking them off on his fingers. "A place so boring you'd fall asleep while sitting down. A place where smoking is allowed. A place where your dominant hand appears reversed, and where someone's appearance could change drastically between the time you fall asleep and the time you wake up."
Conan nodded as he spoke, the logic now seamless. "Every thread leads to the same point."
"A barber shop," Ai said softly. She looked at the man's bright blonde hair. It looked freshly dyed; not a hint of black root was showing yet.
"A… a barber shop!" Genta's eyes widened as the fog in his mind finally cleared. "That's it! It was the barber shop!"
He remembered now. There had been a line, so he'd sat in the waiting chair and drifted off. The owner had even told him later that he looked so peaceful they didn't want to wake him, so they just worked on the other customers first.
"I get it now! The reason the robber didn't care that Genta was staring at him was because Genta wasn't looking at him directly—he was watching him through the mirror!" Mitsuhiko clapped his hands together.
The man hadn't just been hiding; he'd been undergoing a total transformation. Before Genta fell asleep, he saw a black-haired man in a mask and glasses—the image from the police sketch. But by the time Genta woke up, the man had finished his appointment. The mask was off, the glasses were tucked away, and his hair had been bleached blonde. He had walked out as a completely different person.
"So that means everything that happened to Genta these last few days was because…" Ayumi's voice trailed off as she realized the danger.
Five days ago, a new robbery had occurred. Genta had spotted the 'blonde guy' in the crowd and, thinking he was a fellow witness from a week prior, had tried to get him to talk to the police. By doing so, Genta had inadvertently told the killer: I recognize you despite your new hair.
"Exactly. And five days ago, this culprit left a very specific piece of evidence at the new crime scene," Conan said, looking at Ayumi and Mitsuhiko with a prideful nod. At this rate, these two might actually become decent detectives.
As for Genta… well, he was seven. One couldn't expect miracles.
"That was amazing! Tsuneo-niisan, when did you spot him?" Genta scrambled over to the mechanic's side, his face beaming with relief.
He wasn't going to die! The realization hit him like a wave, followed immediately by a pang of regret. Dammit, I was so scared I didn't even stop to savor that eel rice!
"Genta, what is that face for…?" Tsuneo asked, looking down at the boy's chubby face, which was currently a chaotic mix of joy and culinary mourning.
Tsuneo's senses were honed far beyond that of a normal person. To him, spotting a clumsy tail wasn't magic; it was basic observation. Shadowing someone is an art form, and this blonde amateur was painting with a sledgehammer.
The blonde man glared at the group of children. His eyes landed on Ayumi, who looked the most vulnerable. He seemed to be calculating his chances for one last desperate move, but then his gaze flicked to the silver wrench glinting in Tsuneo's hand. He slumped back down.
When he'd been in the alley, he realized the man in the grey coveralls had spotted him. He'd turned to bolt, but the mechanic had moved like a ghost—no, faster.
In his opinion, Tsuneo's sprinting speed was borderline superhuman. He'd tried to resist, thinking the wrench was just for show and his own knife would give him the edge. He was wrong. A few seconds of blurred violence later, he'd been dragged by his hair for thirty meters back to the main street. His scalp still felt like it was being peeled off.
"Hey, he's staring at Ayumi."
Ai stood off to the side, her arms crossed, her voice dropping an octave into a cold, warning tone.
Ayumi gasped, recoiling three or four steps and grabbing onto the fabric of Tsuneo's work pants. "H-he's scary!"
"You've got a lot of nerve!" Mitsuhiko and Genta immediately stepped in front of Ayumi, shielding her.
Tsuneo's expression shifted. He reached down, hoisted the man up by his collar until they were eye-to-eye, and slowly raised the heavy wrench.
If the kids hadn't been standing right there, he would have likely broken the man's legs on the spot. He had no patience for pond scum who targeted the elderly and women. And he knew exactly how kind Ayumi's mother was.
"I—I wasn't! I didn't!" The blonde man was consumed by pure, unadulterated terror. He shook his head violently, then turned a pleading, desperate look toward the strawberry-blonde girl who had spoken.
You're ruining me! he screamed internally. Can't you see this guy could lift me with one hand? Look at his eyes—he's looking at me like I'm already a corpse! You evil little girl!
"He's doing it again. He's looking at me now," Ai added helpfully.
"I guess I really should just break your limbs, shouldn't I?" Tsuneo asked with a terrifyingly polite tone.
"Oi, oi, oi… people are starting to stare…"
Conan sighed, already holding his phone to his ear to call the police. It seemed he was the only one interested in following proper procedure.
The evidence was ironclad. The victim from five days ago had the culprit's fingerprints on her purse. Between that and the testimony from the barber shop, this man was going away for a long time.
Ten minutes later, a familiar red Mazda pulled up to the curb. Officers Takagi and Sato stepped out.
As the handcuffs were clicked onto the robber's wrists and the crowd began to disperse, Takagi pulled Tsuneo aside, his expression uncharacteristically secretive.
"What's up, Takagi? I thought we agreed I'd save up my witness statements for a few days and do them all at once…" Tsuneo muttered, casting a sideways glance at Conan. Thanks to the boy, he always seemed to have a mountain of paperwork waiting for him at the station.
Tsuneo gave the lingering Conan a light, playful kick as the boy tried to eavesdrop.
"Actually, there's something quite strange going on," Takagi said, lowering his voice. He looked at Conan, then back to Tsuneo.
"We recently discovered that several case reports involving your assistance, Tsuneo-san, have vanished from the archives."
"And it's not just yours. A large portion of Mr. Mouri's files are missing as well."
Conan's brow furrowed instantly. This didn't sound like a simple filing error. This sounded like someone was studying them.
Tsuneo, however, just let out a long, pained groan. "Tell me you're not making me rewrite all of those from memory…"
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