The Man Who Played Everyone Like a Fiddle

"It's Tokyo National Stadium again..."

Fujino held a glass of juice, idly surveying the surrounding soccer field.

He remembered the incident involving 56,000 hostages at the arena, which took place right here.

At the time, two armed thugs threatened to shoot indiscriminately, and incidentally gave him a handgun.

Of course.

What Fujino remembers most vividly is the High School Girl Sato.

Thinking about it now still gives me the creeps.

Fujino snapped out of his thoughts and turned his gaze to the green field.

On the green field, players wearing blue and white stripes were running fast, while the stands on both sides of the field were filled with the roar of voices.

At a glance, he spotted two familiar faces.

Kamimura Naoki and Akagi Hideo.

This was a request he received shortly after arriving. It was about how Kamimura Naoki's leg was broken by Akagi Hideo, and then Naoki kidnapped Akagi Hideo's younger brother.

However, at that time, Akagi Hideo had just joined the team and didn't have much money, so he only received 100,000 yen.

Now, in the blink of an eye, he's become a star player for the Tokyo Soul Team.

"It's still 0-0."

"I really don't know if the Soul Team can beat the Nova Team."

"Could it go into overtime and end in a tie?"

The little ones were sitting next to Fujino, watching the players' movements on the field and chattering amongst themselves about the current situation.

"Will the Grim Reaper's Power be triggered this time too?"

Fujino glanced sideways at the people sitting next to him and muttered to himself.

Although it wasn't the same time, it was the same place, with the same group of people.

With the Death Boy present, it's hard for him not to suspect that someone might suddenly die at the scene, leading to some bizarre and mysterious murder case involving "he loves her but doesn't love her, yet she falls in love with him."

"Fujino- kun, what are you looking at?"

At that moment, Professor Agasa, who was sitting behind them looking bored, noticed Fujino and asked in confusion.

"It's nothing, I just remembered some things."

Fujino shook his head slightly and turned his gaze to the green football field.

He's not actually interested in football; he came here purely because he likes watching games, but unfortunately, there aren't any games he likes to watch here...

Compared to the football players on the field, he felt that he could do it too.

From any perspective, his physique is stronger.

If he were to take the field, he could probably single-handedly dominate the entire match. With his fighting prowess, even the goalkeeper would be pissed off by a powerful shot.

However, given the physical condition of the people in the Conan World, they shouldn't die on the spot. After all, Naoki and Hero were able to return to the field even with broken bones, so their recovery ability is just too much like something out of Detective Conan.

"Could it be the same case as last time?"

Ai Haibara, sitting beside him, glanced at Fujino's thoughtful expression and said, "I remember there was a hostage-taking and shooting threat incident here before, and we were there at the time."

"I remember too!"

Ayumi: "It must be the incident that happened at the last Emperor's Cup!"

Upon hearing this, Professor Agasa immediately understood. "Oh, so that's what it was about!"

"Ah?"

Genta asked in confusion, holding the popcorn bucket, grabbing a handful of popcorn and swallowing it, looking bewildered. "What's going on?"

"Genta, have you forgotten?"

Ayumi looked at Genta with a puzzled expression. "It was that armed thug. In the end, it was Brother Fujino and Officer Sato who worked together to catch him."

"Uh... an armed robber..."

Genta touched his chubby chin, which was as round as a ball, clearly still not remembering. "How could I possibly remember something from so long ago?"

"Genta should eat less!"

Ayumi laughed and remarked, "Being too fat can affect your memory!"

"Yoshida -kun is right."

Ai Haibara nodded in agreement. "Abnormal obesity during development can indeed affect brain development, leading to intellectual disability."

"Hmm..."

Genta fell silent for a moment, looked down at his chubby belly, and realized he needed to lose weight.

"..."

Fujino glanced at Genta and guessed what he was thinking.

He thought for a moment, silently imagining what might have happened:

The chubby boy's first day of determined dieting!

Then there's a whole bunch of "Day 1 +1" and "Day 1 +1" notes.

How did Genta obsessed with dieting that he developed a morbid obsession with weight loss?

I estimate that my eyes will be full of eels in less than two days.

"But now that I think about it, Brother Fujino is really amazing."

Mitsuhiko changed the subject, exclaiming, "They actually found the culprit so quickly, from so many surveillance videos, at a speed that would make a normal person dizzy!"

"Yeah, that's really amazing."

Ayumi nodded in agreement. "Don't you think so, Conan?"

"Conan?"

"Ah?"

Are you still saddened by what happened to Mr. Sherlock Holmes?

"Where would I find it?"

Conan then came to his senses and pursed his lips.

He's just grown up, why is he sad?

No, he's actually a high school student!

At this moment, Conan was resting his chin on his hand, silently watching the game, clearly looking absent-minded, mature and melancholic like an adult.

If he were to smoke a cigarette, he'd probably have the world-weary, disillusioned air of an older, unemployed middle-aged man.

"..."

Ai Haibara, standing beside him, glanced sideways, momentarily speechless.

Has this guy still not recovered from what Fujino tricked him into doing?

It seems you're still upset about this?

That's outrageous...

Hey, you used to be a Great Detective, you can't possibly not understand something this simple, can you?

Ai Haibara silently made a mental remark.

On second thought, it didn't seem strange at all.

It's not that my teammates are incompetent, it's just that Fujino is too good at bluffing!

She even felt that if she hadn't discovered it, Fujino would probably have kept everyone in the dark.

"A man who manipulates everyone like a puppet," was how Ai Haibara thought to herself.

"The hero arrives at the goal, creating a one-on-one opportunity."

Wuhu!

He suddenly kicked the ball to the left.

"It's Naoki!"

"Score!"

"The final whistle blew just as the game ended!"

At this moment, the commentator on the field suddenly became excited, "Delayed scoring! Tokyo Soul Team defeats Tokyo Nova Team and wins the Tokyo Tournament!"

"Very good!"

"The Soul Team won!"

"This is the first time the Soul Team has won a match in the Tokyo Tournament!"

Following the enthusiastic celebrations of the Soul Team fans in the stadium, the little ones also stood up and joined in the excitement.

"Yay!"

Conan couldn't help but stand up, excitedly pumping his fist, his expression suddenly improving considerably.

"..."

Ai Haibara didn't have anything to celebrate. She didn't like watching ball games and just sat quietly in her seat, glancing at the detective who had suddenly become cheerful, and then fell silent.

Just a moment ago, he seemed to be on the verge of death.

That face changed way too fast!

So she really couldn't understand detectives.