Chapter 17: A Tangled Mess
Monday!
Finally, it was Monday.
Five days had passed since the Shikishima case, and Monday had finally arrived.
God only knew how Natsukawa had spent this time, with the date constantly fluctuating between Saturday and the weekend.
Conan and Kogoro Mouri had also taken on several cases over the past few days.
There was no way around it—the news of finding the billion-yen gold bars on Shikishima had spread, and Kogoro Mouri's fame had skyrocketed. How could he not be famous?
Cases were pouring in.
Because of this, Kogoro Mouri invited Natsukawa to his office for drinks every night.
However, Natsukawa suspected that Uncle Mouri just wanted to drink but was afraid of being scolded by Ran, so he was using him as an excuse.
Of course, Ran didn't see through this, so he couldn't say anything. It was also a good opportunity to strengthen the relationship between the two families, so he didn't stand on ceremony.
To put it simply, Kogoro Mouri's fame had indeed been boosted once again.
However, one point was worth mentioning: the day after the group left Shikishima...
The billion-yen gold stored at Village Chief Mikami Takeo's home on Shikishima Island was stolen.
It seemed more than one group had infiltrated Shikishima. However, it was certain that the gold was ultimately stolen by an organization operating an armed helicopter.
Shikishima became a war zone that night.
After the roar of gunfire in the early hours, many unidentified bodies littered the streets. Later, police investigations revealed that some of the deceased were wanted criminals, some were ordinary employees, some were illegal immigrants, and some couldn't even be identified.
In short, this incident caused a sharp decline in the credibility of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, prompting several emergency meetings among its high-ranking officials.
The culprit, Natsukawa, didn't care about any of this—he was only concerned with whether he could obtain information about the Organization.
The result was satisfying.
Frank had indeed discovered leads about the Organization and confirmed that they were the ones who ultimately took the gold.
"Hey, Uncle Mouri, where are you going?"
Natsukawa headed downstairs to get his car to meet Frank for more details, but as soon as he came down, he saw Kogoro Mouri rushing down the stairs.
"Oh, nothing. I just thought the weather was nice today, so I'm going out for a walk." Kogoro Mouri pulled his right hand back, completely concealing the camera that had been sticking out. "Alright, go ahead and enjoy yourself. I'm off."
Natsukawa smiled, not minding it.
He probably had a case to investigate—surveillance work, most likely.
As for whether it was about infidelity, Natsukawa didn't know.
Recently, many cases like that had come to Uncle Mouri, but he hadn't taken any of them. In his words, "My value has increased now—why would I investigate adultery?"
But Natsukawa just took it as a joke. Mainly, the clients weren't offering enough money.
When he arrived at Frank's house, Frank was on the phone.
He was using the flip phone he had shown Natsukawa before. In this era when brick-sized mobile phones were still popular and public telephones were everywhere, this thing was still extremely conspicuous.
There were three flip phones in total. Natsukawa took one, gave one to Anya, and Frank kept one for himself.
The reason he gave one to Anya was because of the alarm function. While the alarm was useful, it couldn't provide real-time communication—a flip phone was much more convenient. Natsukawa had even installed a tracking device in her phone.
After finishing his call, Frank plopped down on the sofa across from Natsukawa.
Natsukawa immediately asked, "Tell me, what did you find out about the Organization?"
Several photos were neatly arranged on the table in front of him.
Natsukawa examined them carefully. Each photo was taken at night, and although not very clear, some outlines were still visible.
"Is that a helicopter?"
Frank nodded. "Yes, this helicopter should be the one from Shikishima."
"Where was this taken? If we can find out, we might be able to locate an Organization base."
Natsukawa had expected Frank to find something, but he hadn't expected him to track down the armed helicopter.
After all, the Shikishima incident happened at night, when visibility was poor. Once a helicopter flew at a certain altitude, it would be virtually invisible and silent.
"Chiba Prefecture!" Frank pulled out a printed map of Chiba and pointed to the edge of Kamogawa City. "Right here."
"Heh, you didn't expect that, did you? Neither did I."
Frank seemed to have thought of something amusing and continued, "We've been in Japan for a while now, and we've been getting a bit restless lately. I've been looking for some interesting things online. This is something a contact sent to our chat group. The model matches what the Metropolitan Police Department found."
"Black Hawk 56—a very common helicopter internationally. These helicopters are quite common. Too many people in Japan buy them. With a little modification, they can become armed combat helicopters. It just costs more money. There's not much point in investigating the helicopter itself."
Natsukawa nodded.
Chiba Prefecture?
Natsukawa searched through his memories but found nothing.
No recollection.
"I checked it out. There's a biopharmaceutical company where the helicopter landed. According to a former employee, they're developing cold medicine, but we need to investigate further."
Frank, clearly well-prepared, continued, "But I suspect they're manufacturing drugs!"
Natsukawa raised an eyebrow. "How so?"
In the series, Gin was either conducting trades or on his way to one, so he wasn't surprised if they were involved in drug trafficking.
What he was curious about was how Frank discovered they were manufacturing drugs rather than pharmaceuticals—like developing APTX4869.
Is Sherry here?
No!
Sherry should be at some secret drug research facility in Tokyo.
If she were in Chiba, it would be impossible for her to have shrunk and escaped to reach the Kudo residence—that was unrealistic, as it took an hour or two to drive from Tokyo to Chiba.
"I personally went through their medical waste."
Natsukawa: "..."
"Frank, your efforts will definitely pay off. All the profits from the Shikishima intelligence on the dark web are yours."
Going through garbage was one thing, but going through medical waste carried a certain degree of danger.
"I searched the place while wearing a hazmat suit. They detected residues of multiple drug-manufacturing raw materials in their medical waste. And I found the company's architectural plans—they clearly didn't have underground parking garages or warehouses, yet they dug three underground levels. There's definitely something wrong here."
"Good work. Let's give this intelligence to the CIA today and let them handle it."
Frank paused, his brow furrowing slightly. "I think that cocktail bar is actually more valuable. If we give the CIA too much intel at the beginning, they won't appreciate future information as much."
Natsukawa shook his head.
It was unavoidable.
He still had plans for the cocktail bar—Tequila was related to his upcoming strategy, so he couldn't let them touch the bar the Organization had recently been using.
But he couldn't refuse to give the CIA intel either. Although the mission had just begun and it wouldn't matter if he didn't give them intelligence right away, relationships didn't work that way. You had to feed the horse if you wanted it to run.
He would definitely need to contact the FBI later, so for now, he needed to make a good impression on the CIA. Maybe they could provide him with information about Shuichi Akai later. Besides, it was easier for the CIA to provide weapons than for them to acquire them through other means. Who knew—one day he might be doing parkour with Gin in an armed helicopter.
Of course, they couldn't rely entirely on the CIA. Equipment for operations still needed to be purchased through the dark web, like these flip phones.
"Alright, you're the field operative—I'll follow your lead."
Frank nodded, then seemed to remember something, rubbing his chin for a moment, his expression somewhat uncertain.
Natsukawa asked in confusion, "What's wrong?"
What's with that expression?
It was like he wanted to say something but couldn't bring himself to say it.
"Um... well..."
"Speak."
Natsukawa hated this kind of hesitation, and he suddenly had a bad feeling.
"Wasn't the meeting with the CIA supposed to be next Monday?"
Natsukawa: "!!??"
"Natsukawa, tell me honestly—are you sick? Some kind of time-memory disorder? You were like this last time too."
Natsukawa's fingers trembled slightly. He had checked the digital clock this morning! Today was definitely Monday!
How had the meeting date changed again?
"What about the Mantendo press conference? Is it this week or next week?"
"This week!"
Natsukawa slumped completely onto the sofa.
Last week they had said the CIA meeting would be this Monday, and the Mantendo press conference was also this Friday.
But why did the meeting change to next Monday while the Mantendo press conference was still this Friday?
His brain couldn't keep up.
Seeing Natsukawa's head starting to smoke—clearly his mental circuits were overloading—Frank added insult to injury.
"Time disorder syndrome?"
Natsukawa weakly raised his hand. "Just assume I have that condition. From now on, if anything happens, remember to notify me on the morning of the same day. I'm afraid I won't remember."
He completely gave up. There was no hope.
This world's timeline wasn't just chaotic—it was a tangled ball of yarn. When you tried to untangle it, you found there were hundreds of loose threads.
It was impossible to cut through or untangle. What a unique experience!
He'd let Frank be his reminder.
As for Anya, she couldn't even read a clock properly yet, so being a reminder was out of the question.
[End of Chapter 17]
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