The Beika Death-Seeking Squad

"Everything had happened all at once."

Fujino stood on the balcony, watching Mieko Shibasaki's retreating figure, and could not help sighing.

If he remembered correctly, Mieko Shibasaki should have been involved in another Karaoke Murder Case.

And the victim was Tatsuya Kimura, the man Mieko had hired him to investigate.

However, the killer was not Mieko, but Mari Terahara, the band's manager.

The person Tatsuya Kimura had told Mieko he liked was actually Mari Terahara.

Yet because of a few misunderstandings, neither of them had ever confessed their feelings.

In the end, because of those misunderstandings, Mari Terahara's love turned to hatred, and after their final performance, she poisoned Tatsuya Kimura...

It could be said that the whole tragedy had been caused by a misunderstanding...

"What a hassle."

Fujino scratched the back of his head, feeling a headache coming on.

Why had the cases he ran into lately been getting more and more frequent?

Could it be that he had also picked up some unspeakable Grim Reaper aura?

Fortunately, before a case occurred, there was still room to make things right...

As for the friend who had introduced Mieko Shibasaki to him, Fujino had not managed to get the name out of her.

She had merely said vaguely, "She's a popular idol who's been making quite a name for herself lately."

Given that clue, the first person Fujino thought of was Yoko Okino.

After all, among the commissions he had taken so far, Yoko Okino was the only currently popular female idol.

As for Yuko Ikezawa... he ruled her out immediately.

Impossible. Absolutely impossible!

It would already be a miracle if that woman he had extorted did not want to kill him.

How could she possibly turn around and send business his way?

Had her head been caught in a door or something?!

Fujino shook his head and tossed those thoughts aside.

As long as there was business, it did not matter who had referred it.

He turned around and looked over his somewhat messy bedroom, muttering, "Looks like I should put setting up a reception room on the agenda soon. It really isn't appropriate to keep receiving clients in my bedroom..."

Meanwhile, in a lounge at a television station somewhere in Tokyo.

"Just my luck... Getting my head caught in a door while filming a show."

Yuko Ikezawa placed an ice pack on her head and sighed. "I hope it won't affect the upcoming filming."

As she spoke, she took off the ice pack. A wave of pain struck her instantly, making her let out a series of miserable cries.

The next day.

After accepting Mieko Shibasaki's commission, Fujino did not immediately begin investigating. Instead, he headed to a furniture store to buy furniture for his detective agency.

As a detective, he definitely could not keep receiving clients in his bedroom...

As the sun set.

"Goddamn it!"

After leaving a bank near Tokyo Tower, Fujino, dressed in a black trench coat, wore a dead-eyed expression as he complained, "What the hell do they mean, saying they won't process a POS terminal application because I'm a minor?"

He had originally planned to go to the bank he knew and apply for a mobile POS terminal.

But those people had actually said they would not process it because he was underage!

Damn it!

Back when he had been the eldest son of the Fujino Zaibatsu, why had they been so enthusiastic about helping him get a bank card?

Now that his family had fallen on hard times, they were discriminating against him for being an eighteen-year-old minor, huh?

"Banks really are the worst."

Fujino sighed.

Before he had gone very far, the system's notification sounded beside his ear:

Detective Profession Mission: Italian Robbery Case

Mission Objective: Capture the Italian robbery gang

Mission Location: Marked on the host's heads-up display

Time Limit: Ten hours

Mission Reward: One million yen bounty, fifty Detective Reputation points

"Italian robbers?"

Looking at the system's one-million-yen bounty, Fujino could not help sounding surprised.

He had just spent one million yen on furniture at the furniture store, leaving him with only 1.3 million yen in cash.

It was not a small amount, but given how the damn system's Profession Ball cost 900,000 yen for ten pulls, it was clearly not enough.

Without a second thought, Fujino accepted the mission to replenish his funds a little.

"Fujino? What are you doing here?"

At that moment, a child's voice came from beside him.

Fujino turned around and saw Conan in his classic outfit...

Along with several elementary school students of all shapes and sizes following behind him.

Conan was holding an unremarkable piece of paper covered in all sorts of symbols.

"Big brother, are you the famous High School Detective Fujino?"

At that moment, a little girl jumped out from behind Conan and looked up at Fujino admiringly.

The girl's name was Ayumi, and she was currently the only girl in the Beika Death-Seeking Squad.

She was practically the group's darling.

"I wouldn't call myself famous."

"I'm just a passing High School Detective."

"So you really are a detective!"

Ayumi snatched the paper from Conan's hand and said excitedly to Fujino, "Since you're a detective, Big Brother Fujino, your deductive skills must be amazing! Could you help us take a look at the treas—"

Before she could finish, the other two elementary school students dragged her aside.

"No way!"

"We found this Treasure Map. If that detective sees it, he'll definitely steal our credit!"

"By then, he might even make us split the treasure with him!"

"How could that be..."

Conan looked at the children around him, speechless for a moment, before suggesting in a childish tone, "I think we should let him take a look. Maybe he'll be able to figure something out."

Before he could finish, the children gave him looks as though he were an idiot.

"Hehe."

Watching Conan get dragged away like a Shiba Inu, Fujino's lips curled faintly.

That kid Conan really did not have it easy...

Although that sheet of paper looked like it had been made up at random, it really was a Treasure Map.

At the end of the Treasure Map were Maple Leaf Gold Coins worth six hundred million yen, stolen in Italy by a robbery gang.

Six hundred million yen... To be honest, Fujino was tempted.

But after thinking it over, he gave up on the idea.

Even if he managed to get those coins, fencing them would be a huge problem.

Trying to sell them at a gold shop would probably get him arrested by the police that very day... The black market was an option, but Fujino did not know where to find one.

As for the system's money conversion function... when he had first obtained the system, he had tried converting items into money of equivalent value, but it had failed.

Even other countries' currencies could not be turned into system balance.

Without any way to fence them, those coins would become a hot potato...

"What a pity."

Fujino gathered his thoughts and sighed. "Since I can't get the big prize, I'll settle for the one million yen right in front of me first."

He then turned and looked toward a figure hidden in a dark alley, a glint of coldness gradually appearing in his eyes. "Capturing robbers wanted by an international organization... Maybe the police will give me some kind of reward too?"