Chapter 28: Anya Also Wants to Grow Taller
"Since that's the case, then I'll handle the explanation for everyone!"
Hattori was far more interested in solving the case than worrying about where Conan had wandered off to. What really bothered him was why Shinichi Kudo still hadn't shown up.
After spending half the day observing, he was certain that Kogoro Mouri wasn't nearly as brilliant as the newspapers made him out to be. If anything, the man seemed more like a bumbling mediator than a master detective.
Which meant Shinichi Kudo had to be somewhere nearby, pulling the strings.
"Hey! Kid, stop looking at me like that! How many times do I have to tell you?!" Kogoro snapped, deeply unsettled by Hattori's persistent stare.
The young detective kept scrutinizing him with that weird look. What was his problem? What did he mean by staring like that?
Could the son of the Osaka Prefectural Police Chief possibly be... into guys?
Hattori crossed his arms and lifted his chin. "Fine, fine. I get it."
Natsukawa had zero interest in listening to Hattori's case explanation. The culprit was Tsujimura Kimie—that much was indisputable. As for the specific details, he was a complete newcomer and didn't know the background anyway. Rather than getting involved, it was better to let Hattori, who actually understood the case, handle the explanation.
Right now, the important thing was Conan's situation. He should be shrinking back down any moment now, right?
"Ran-chan, why don't you check the rooms downstairs? There are more rooms up here—I'll search this floor," Natsukawa said, setting Anya down. "Go on, go with Ran-chan and help look for Conan."
"But..."
Anya glanced toward the room next door.
If her papa's thoughts were accurate, Conan was in that room right now.
So why was he lying to Ran-neechan?
From Natsukawa's thoughts, Anya not only knew which room Conan was in, but she'd also glimpsed an image of a 1.75-meter-tall version of Conan, which had shocked her immensely.
Is this how kids grow up? So tall!
Anya wants to grow tall too!
If drinking that strong liquor could turn her into a seventeen-year-old beauty...!
Wait, no. The real question was why her papa was hiding Conan in the first place.
Natsukawa obviously had no idea what was going through Anya's mind, but he had plenty of ways to handle her. He randomly selected one from his arsenal: "I'll take you to the hot springs this weekend. Now go stick close to Ran-chan!"
Perfect. That hot spring travel voucher would finally come in handy.
"Yay!" ヾ(≧▽≦*)o
Forget about Conan! Forget about the strong liquor! Forget about being seventeen!
All other thoughts were instantly abandoned. Anya bounced excitedly and hurried to catch up with Ran, who was heading downstairs. "Ran-neechan, wait for me!"
Natsukawa breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, she was gone. Now he could quietly observe Kudo Shinichi's transformation back into Conan.
However, this absolutely had to be done in secret. He couldn't let Conan discover his presence.
Fortunately, his flip phone came equipped with a miniature surveillance camera. As long as the distance was under one kilometer, it could wirelessly receive real-time video signals.
Conan-brand flip phone—truly excellent technology.
Natsukawa quietly slipped into the room, opened the window, and leaped out, landing gracefully on an ornamental tree in the courtyard. He tested the angle and quickly installed the surveillance device.
At this distance, Conan definitely wouldn't discover it. He still had to be extremely careful when dealing with that little detective.
If he ever needed to send the video to Conan someday and the perspective was from inside the room, he'd inevitably become a suspect. But if it was filmed from outside the window? That concern should be eliminated entirely.
Ten minutes passed.
Downstairs, both Ran and Anya's expressions had changed.
Ran's pale face was due to worry about Conan's worsening cold.
Anya's pale face was because she was fantasizing about turning into a seventeen-year-old beauty while drinking strong liquor at a hot spring inn.
Upstairs, Natsukawa pretended to search the rooms, occasionally glancing at the screen on his flip phone.
Still not awake? That karate chop shouldn't have knocked him out for very long, right?
Just as he was about to head back into the room to check on Shinichi personally, Natsukawa saw movement on the screen.
Kudo Shinichi, who had been lying motionless on the bed, suddenly grimaced, his face contorting in pain.
In the video feed, he abruptly opened his eyes, sat up with a jolt, and gasped for breath.
His hand pressed against his chest, looking exactly like someone suffering a heart attack.
However, Natsukawa wasn't worried. This was the normal procedure for the transformation—not an actual medical emergency.
Cold sweat began pouring down Shinichi's back. He clearly knew where he was and gritted his teeth to stay silent, doing his absolute best to suppress the pain.
Another minute passed.
"Still no change?" Natsukawa muttered, finishing his meticulous "search" of the last room on the second floor. He glanced helplessly toward the staircase.
If Shinichi didn't transform soon, Ran would be coming upstairs any moment now.
No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than a series of loud, thumping footsteps echoed from the first floor, racing up the stairs and finally reaching him.
Ran, now completely frantic, had abandoned all traces of her usual ladylike demeanor. She was making such a commotion that even the forensics personnel working in the study couldn't help but peek out to see what was happening.
"Sorry, it's nothing! Please continue your work," Natsukawa called out apologetically, waving them off.
After confirming everything was fine, the forensics team nodded and retreated back inside.
"Natsukawa-san, did you find him?"
Ran asked breathlessly. Behind her, Anya followed with perfectly steady breathing. The little girl hadn't actually been searching properly—she was just there for show.
She'd finished her cocoa downstairs and was now tilting her head back to catch the very last drop.
Natsukawa glanced at Ran, feeling a pang of sympathy, but then he looked at his phone screen and—
"Holy crap!"
The exclamation slipped out before he could stop it.
Just as Ran had called out to him, the image of Shinichi Kudo on his phone screen had already transformed into Conan.
That... that was way too fast!
But at least the device had a recording function. He could review it later in detail.
"What's wrong, Natsukawa-san?" Ran asked worriedly.
She didn't catch what he'd said, but from his shocked expression, something must have happened.
Was there something important on that flip phone?
Thinking this, she started to move forward to check.
Natsukawa, of course, couldn't let Ran see the video. He quickly snapped the phone shut and slipped it into his pocket.
"Haha! It's nothing. You were asking about Conan, right? I've searched all the rooms on the second floor except for the study. There's only this one left."
He pointed to the room next door where Conan was hidden. Now that Kudo Shinichi had shrunk back to his original child-size, there was no longer any need to keep Conan concealed.
Click.
The door he'd indicated suddenly opened from the inside.
"Ran-neechan..."
Conan's soft, nasal voice emerged. He was wearing an oversized adult shirt draped over his small shoulders, the long sleeves trailing on the ground. His expression was utterly exhausted, as if he were carrying the weight of the world.
"Conan! What are you doing in there?!"
Ran was simultaneously angry and worried, though her anger was difficult to maintain after seeing how pitiful Conan looked.
"I needed to use the bathroom, so I came out to find one, but I couldn't find it anywhere and then I started feeling really dizzy, so I just... slept in this room."
Although Conan himself was thoroughly confused about what had happened, he still managed to produce a believable excuse to appease Ran.
My neck hurts. My head hurts. My legs feel weak and sore.
Did I really recover? Did I actually grow bigger? That was real, wasn't it?
Conan asked himself these three questions in rapid succession, feeling utterly bewildered.
Was it because of the fever that he'd been hallucinating?
These questions remained unanswered. No one could help him figure it out. All he knew for certain was that his temperature had to be at least 39 degrees Celsius.
Anya pursed her lips. Conan wasn't telling the truth.
She glanced at her papa again.
There seemed to be a smile playing at his lips.
She listened to his inner thoughts.
A loud mental laugh made her eardrums ring.
"This isn't the time to worry about that! Has the murderer been found? Who was it? Did Hattori-niichan figure it out?"
Conan recovered his focus and finally remembered the case.
If Hattori Heiji's deduction was correct, then they'd fallen right into the murderer's trap. The killer couldn't possibly be the victim's father—it had to be the victim's wife.
Before Ran had carried him to another room, he'd seen Hattori discover the fishing line that Tsujimura Kimie had used to frame Tsujimura Toshimitsu. If Hattori continued his deduction along those lines, he'd definitely be led astray and end up accusing an innocent person.
No! There can only be one truth!
Ran was completely oblivious to the case details—she'd been too busy searching for Conan.
Although Natsukawa knew the outcome, he didn't speak up at this moment.
Seeing that neither of them knew what had happened, Conan realized something was terribly wrong. He started to head toward the study, planning to aim his tranquilizer watch at his personal megaphone—Uncle Kogoro.
"Hey! Conan, you can't run around anymore! The doctor's here!"
Ran didn't care about anything else. She grabbed Conan by the back of his collar and headed for the stairs.
"The culprit! The real culprit is—"
Conan struggled to break free, but he was powerless against Ran's grip.
Before he could finish his sentence, the combination of his cold and overworking his feverish brain caused his mental circuits to overload. He felt dizzy again, his vision went white, and he gradually faded into darkness.
(End of Chapter 28)
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