Chapter 58: Kudou Shinichi is a Phantom Thief!

"Has the review notice been issued yet?" Toru Amuro asked the next day, arriving at work on time.

Karasawa's footsteps paused as he walked down the stairs.

Here we go again. Toru Amuro had definitely seen the report long before Karasawa himself, and there was a good chance he was the one who had stamped it.

When Karasawa walked into the office yesterday and was greeted by the sight of Yuya Kazami's distinctive eyebrows, he had genuinely almost broken his composure.

How on earth had he managed to squeeze that man into the police precinct to take charge of his protective observation review? The Black Organization was practically building walls around Karasawa on all sides; how had there been such a glaring oversight right here?

You really are something else, Furuya Rei.

Though his mind was flooded with inward complaints, Karasawa maintained a smile on his face. "Not yet... I hope everything is fine. I'm still hoping to apply for a trip home."

"Home?" Toru Amuro gave him a strange look. "But your house has already..."

Burned down to ashes, Karasawa knew.

However, the point wasn't really about going home. He had heard from Ran Mouri that Kogoro Mouri might be going to Kyoto next month to attend a classmate's wedding, taking the JR from the Shinkansen.

Doing a quick mental calculation, it was about time for Gin, that massive walking bomb, to make his move.

The timeline of this world was bizarre; Tequila was practically blown to dust, yet the Shinkansen was still doing fine.

Regardless, Karasawa still wanted to take the opportunity to see this former childhood nightmare who was now a notable comedian, and by the way, keep an eye on reckless Conan to prevent his talented wings from getting accidentally blown off.

"Ah, there's nothing left of it anyway," Karasawa gave a wry smile. "But I still want to go back and take a look."

Toru Amuro calmly glanced at his phone, tapped it a few times, recalled the email he had just sent, and composed a new one.

[Revise the notice. Continue to strictly restrict Karasawa Akira's scope of movement. If he submits an application to leave Tokyo, for whatever reason, do not approve it.]

[Huh? Wasn't the notice already drafted yesterday?]

Toru Amuro's fingertips moved as he ruthlessly piled more work onto his subordinate.

[Rewrite it. As someone about to fake his own death and slip away, he should just stay put and behave.]

He strongly suspected that Karasawa had come up with some strange new idea or discovered something new left behind by his parents, and was planning to sneak off to retrieve it alone without telling him.

Disobedient minors should just obediently stay right here.

Unaware that his plan had just been mercilessly sentenced to death by Toru Amuro, Karasawa kept up his good-natured act. "I ran into an acquaintance from the past yesterday, and it suddenly brought back some memories. I hope the reviewer will approve it."

Did you get that, Furuya Rei? Remember to approve it, okay?

He understood, but he wasn't going to approve it. Without a shred of guilt, Toru Amuro shifted the blame onto Yuya Kazami. "That depends on your performance and the reviewer's thoughts. Don't think too much about it. Once I find an opportunity to send you away, you'll have plenty of chances to go."

This isn't looking good. Judging by Toru Amuro's tone, he didn't look like he wanted him to go at all.

While Karasawa was secretly plotting and pondering how to make Toru Amuro change his mind, Amuro smoothly shifted the topic. "You're in the same class as Miss Mouri upstairs, right?"

"Huh? Yes, and Miss Suzuki too. You've met her as well," Karasawa said, nodding though he didn't quite catch where this was leading.

"Then you must have seen that famous high school detective, right?"

"Ah, you mean Shinichi Kudo?" Karasawa grew alert. Why was he suddenly asking about him? Toru Amuro was certainly perceptive, but surely he wouldn't have figured out Conan's true identity this early.

Toru Amuro nodded and asked the question that made Karasawa break his composure.

"Do you think it's possible that he is the phantom thief Joker?"

"Pfft—" Karasawa spat out a mouthful of iced Americano.

***

"Huh?!"

"Keep your voice down!" Karasawa moved the receiver away from his ear, which had been subjected to a massive burst of volume. "You're going to deafen me!"

Conan completely ignored Karasawa's protest, utterly immersed in shock at the absurd hypothesis. "Why would anyone think I'm Joker?!"

"You can't really blame others for suspecting you..." Karasawa thought about it and let out a helpless chuckle. "Look, not long after you disappeared, Mr. Mouri started solving murder cases, and then Joker appeared, targeting Mr. Mouri's clients and people connected to him..."

"There's no connection at all, what are you talking nonsense for?" Conan snapped, exasperated.

"You should just be grateful that nobody noticed when Joker escaped last time. Didn't you say he disguised himself as you?" Karasawa imagined the scene and inexplicably felt a sense of anticipation. "If anyone had seen that, you wouldn't be able to wash yourself clean even if you jumped into Tokyo Bay."

"Ah, damn it—" Conan, trailing behind the group of troublesome kids, gritted his teeth. "He was clearly seen by Ran, and yesterday Ran kept muttering about 'white-haired Shinichi'..."

"Pfft—" Karasawa couldn't hold it in again and burst out laughing.

"Damn it, Karasawa, you've just been laughing the whole time, you haven't stopped!" Conan accused.

"Conan!" Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya crossed his arms in dissatisfaction. "Why are you always on the phone? We have to find the treasure properly!"

"Coming, coming!" Conan covered the microphone to reply, preparing to hang up. "I'll talk to you when I get back. I have to go play with the kids first."

"You guys are... looking for treasure?" Catching the faint sound from the other end, Karasawa's eyes lit up.

Every time the Detective Boys got up to their adventures, they managed to stir up a lot of trouble. Memories of various plotlines flashed through his mind in an instant, prompting him to ask, "What treasure?"

"There is no treasure. They just picked up a piece of paper with a code on it and insist it's a treasure map... I gotta go, they're calling me."

The call disconnected. Karasawa softly muttered "treasure map" and "coded paper," quickly locating the corresponding case from his memories.

"Gold coins... fifteen thousand of them." Karasawa clicked his tongue twice, thinking it might be fun to get mixed up in this.

Although Karasawa was quite wealthy—if he ran out of money, he only needed to stretch out his hand and trigger some chaos in the Shibuya subway, operating essentially as a human printing press capable of driving up Japan's hyperinflation through sheer grinding effort—you can never have too much money, right?

According to Karasawa's plans, once his scheme succeeded, he would at least need a base of his own to house the Miyano sisters if he managed to rescue them. If he wanted to buy a big house, the money he currently had wouldn't be quite enough.

He might as well stick a foot in. After all, the only real use of the gold coins for those brats was to knock out kidnappers, and Karasawa could easily handle such a minor task for them.

With that thought in mind, he pulled out his phone and sent an email to an address not saved in his contacts.

[Come over, and bring the stuff.]

The reply came very quickly.

[Coming. I must state in advance, my acting skills are not very good.]

[I can tell. But it's fine. You know how to do high school homework, right? Second year.]

[???]