Outlaw in the World of Conan, Tokisaki Kurumi

The door to the piano room was roughly pushed open from the outside. Mouri Kogoro, at the forefront, widened his eyes in shock at the scene inside.

Behind him, Inspector Megure, wheezing from exertion due to his considerable weight after running only a few dozen meters, also came puffing into the room.

Noticing the back door of the room was open and that the two police officers who should have been on duty there had fallen to the ground, Mouri Kogoro ignored the extra gift box that had appeared on the piano. He quickly ran over to the fallen officers by the door and crouched down to check on them.

"Inspector Megure, they've only fainted," Mouri Kogoro said, his brows furrowed, a surge of anger rising within him.

This was a provocation!

Whether as a detective or as a former criminal investigator, Mouri Kogoro could not tolerate such audacious behavior from criminals.

Beside him, upon hearing that his subordinates had only fainted, Inspector Megure breathed a sigh of relief but also felt a twinge of annoyance.

43 Aso Narumi: "I also hope the culprit can be apprehended as soon as possible."

The perpetrators of such lawless crimes were undoubtedly a slap in the face to the police officers of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department.

"You all, carry them into the room." After having his other subordinates carry the two unconscious police officers from the doorway into the room and settle them, Inspector Megure turned to the crowd that had gathered at the sound of the commotion. "By the way, I recall there was a doctor among you, right? Could I trouble her to come and check on them?"

Looking at the crowd, Inspector Megure vaguely remembered that one of the women who had attended the memorial service there last night was a doctor.

"I'm here!"

As Inspector Megure finished speaking, Aso Narumi, standing at the back of the crowd, raised her hand high and pushed her way forward.

"Then I'll trouble you," Inspector Megure said, his expression softening slightly from his previous anger as he looked at Narumi.

"Leave it to me," Aso Narumi replied, nodding to Inspector Megure. Looking at the two unconscious police officers on the floor, she inwardly guessed that Kurumi was definitely responsible for this!

Although surprised by Kurumi's audacity and how she managed to pull this off, Aso Narumi outwardly maintained her professional ethics as a doctor. She knelt between the two police officers and leaned down to examine their condition.

After a short while, Aso Narumi said with a smile, "They were just knocked unconscious. Besides some bruising on the back of their necks, they don't seem to have any other injuries."

In reality, when people suddenly lose consciousness, they usually fall straight down. However, these two police officers, apart from the obvious marks on the back of their necks, had no signs of hitting their heads on the ground.

It seems Kurumi was careful not to harm innocent people~ Aso Narumi thought, feeling a little pleased, and her evaluation of Kurumi rose another notch.

Beside them, having confirmed that his subordinates were unharmed after the doctor's examination, Inspector Megure decided to put this matter aside for the moment.

"Alright, let's not talk about the attacker for now." Walking over to the piano, Inspector Megure picked up the gift box on it. "I believe his purpose was to leave this box here and lure us here by playing the piano."

Hearing Inspector Megure's words, a clamor of arguments erupted from the crowd.

"Then, that means none of us are suspects!"

"Can we go back now?"

"Honestly, wasting our time!"

With the cacophony of men and women's voices filling his ears, Inspector Megure's lips twitched.

However, before he could speak, Mouri Kogoro interjected, "The person who attacked the police and left this box here is indeed not among you, but that doesn't mean there isn't someone among you who is connected to the perpetrator."

Mouri Kogoro, with a serious expression, knew that his words would definitely provoke complaints and arguments from these people. Therefore, to avoid an uproar, Mouri Kogoro decided to first have them return to the memorial hall. Then, they, who remained, would open the box to see what was inside.

With the backing of the police, even though they had complaints, they were ultimately ushered back to the memorial hall by the officers who, fueled by their colleague's injury, had displayed their authority.

As the crowd dispersed, only Inspector Megure, the Mouri family, and Aso Narumi, who was tending to the officers, remained in the piano room.

Something's not right...

Edogawa Conan, standing behind Aso Narumi, looked suspiciously at the back of the beautiful doctor.

This doctor is a bit too calm. Although Conan knew that doctors were accustomed to seeing injuries and blood, for some reason, he felt a sense of familiarity and incongruity from Doctor Asai Narumi.

While Conan was observing Aso Narumi, Mouri Kogoro and Inspector Megure had already opened the gift box.

Looking at the severed hand, a piece of paper, and a tape inside the box, Mouri Kogoro said with a serious expression, "It seems the culprit deliberately left these two items."

The appearance of the severed hand did not exceed Mouri Kogoro's expectations.

"This is... sheet music?" Inspector Megure opened the folded paper and looked at the staff lines and notes on it, utterly bewildered.

Leaning closer to Inspector Megure, Mouri Kogoro poked his head out and a thought struck him, "I wonder if this could be some kind of code?"

A code?

Conan, who had been observing Aso Narumi, immediately perked up upon hearing the word "code."

Running on his short legs to the feet of the two adults, Conan stood on tiptoe, trying to get a clear look at the sheet music in Inspector Megure's hand.

"Brother Mouri, do you understand music?" the completely clueless Inspector Megure asked.

"No," Mouri Kogoro replied, surprisingly shaking his head and admitting it outright.

Just then, as the two adults were at a loss, Mouri Ran and Conan simultaneously raised their hands and said, "I do!"

Upon hearing that both Conan and Mouri Ran understood sheet music, Inspector Megure and Mouri Kogoro exchanged a glance and decided to hand the music to Mouri Ran, who seemed more reliable, rather than Conan, who was just a child.

... Conan rolled his eyes and shook his head dejectedly.

Taking the sheet music from Inspector Megure and handing it to his daughter, Mouri Kogoro said, "Then, Ran, see if you can play it according to this music."

"No problem, Dad!" Mouri Ran replied confidently.

The two adults made space by the piano for Mouri Ran. Inspector Megure looked at the severed hand and the tape in the box, feeling a headache coming on.

The tape is one thing; if they wanted to know what was recorded, they just needed to find a tape recorder.

As for the identification of this severed hand.

Inspector Megure, who hadn't brought a forensic examiner with him on this trip, was stumped.

"Um... if you need my help..."

Seeming to notice the difficulty on Inspector Megure's face, Aso Narumi volunteered, "I'm a doctor with a formal license, after all. If you, Officer, want any clues from this... uh... this hand, I can help."

To make her words more credible, Aso Narumi continued, "After all, I'm a resident of this island, and I want the police to catch the culprit as soon as possible."

Hearing Aso Narumi say this, Inspector Megure was still a bit hesitant, but Narumi was the only doctor available. If they wanted any clues from this hand, she was their only hope.

"Then, I'll have to trouble you, Doctor." Inspector Megure handed the box to Aso Narumi.

"Of course, it's my undeniable duty!"

Narumi said gently with a smile.

44 You must be careful of Conan

"Judging by the stiffness of this hand and the time it took for the blood to coagulate, I believe it was severed not long after the previous one," Narumi analyzed, carefully observing the stiffened severed hand with a flashlight borrowed from the police. "Furthermore, from the muscle tissue at the cut, I believe the weapon used was a very sharp machete or something similar. Otherwise, if an ordinary knife were used for such an operation, the wrist would show..." After thinking for a moment about her wording, Narumi continued, "obvious signs of a second or even third cut."

"However, due to my limited skills, I can't determine more information from this hand. I can only say that this hand belongs to the same person as the previous one."

Placing the severed hand back in the box, Narumi's expression was a bit pained.

After listening to Doctor Aso Narumi's analysis, Inspector Megure nodded. He knew it was already difficult enough to ask a doctor to perform the duties of a forensic examiner.

Although they knew both severed hands belonged to the same person, if they wanted to determine if this hand belonged to the missing Mr. Kawashima, a professional DNA test would be necessary.

And currently, they obviously didn't have the means for that.

While Mouri Kogoro and Inspector Megure were staring at Aso Narumi, Mouri Ran, sitting at the piano, was playing the notes from the sheet music.

As discordant sounds emanated from the piano along with her playing, Conan, standing beside Mouri Ran, was already certain that these seemingly chaotic notes were definitely some kind of code.

"Ran-neechan, can I see the sheet music?" Conan asked Mouri Ran, tilting his small face up.

"Well..." Mouri Ran appeared hesitant. Her gaze flickered to her father, then to Conan, her unspoken meaning clear.

What a pain... Clearly understanding that Mouri Ran wanted him to ask the clueless Uncle Mouri Kogoro and Inspector Megure, Conan let out a silent sigh. With the resolve that he was about to be scolded again, he walked over to Mouri Kogoro.

"Inspector Megure, Uncle, may I see the sheet music?"

Without waiting for Conan to finish speaking, Mouri Kogoro, his mind in a mess, retorted irritably, "Go away! Kids shouldn't touch these pieces of evidence!" Waving his fist, Mouri Kogoro added, "If you damage such important evidence, we won't be able to bear the responsibility."

The situation unfolded exactly as Conan had predicted. He was certain that if he insisted on seeing the sheet music, Mouri Kogoro's iron fist would be his next reception.

However, while Mouri Kogoro hadn't agreed to his request, Inspector Megure, standing nearby, said kindly, "It's not that serious. Besides, there are too many mysteries right now. If Conan-kun can really decipher a code from this sheet music, it might be of great help to us!"

Inspector Megure's words instantly made Conan beam with joy.

"Alright, since Inspector Megure said so." Mouri Kogoro couldn't argue further, having already compromised. He still sternly instructed Conan, "You can take the sheet music to look at, but absolutely do not damage it! Do you understand?"

Seeing Mouri Kogoro finally relent, Conan grinned and nodded. After thanking Inspector Megure, he took the sheet music from Mouri Ran and began to analyze it carefully.

"By the way, Doctor Asai, do you have a tape recorder here? The one from last night?" Mouri Kogoro suddenly remembered the tape in the box and looked at Aso Narumi, who was idle.

"That tape recorder seems to be in the storage room. I can look for it if you need it," Aso Narumi said, rubbing her hands. "Also, I'd like to wash my hands."

The two naturally wouldn't refuse Aso Narumi's request. After all, she was a woman, and they were already grateful that she had the courage to help them examine the severed hand.

Thus, with their permission, Aso Narumi quickly left the room. After washing her hands thoroughly in the washroom, she headed towards the storage room, whose lock hadn't been repaired yet.

As the lights in the room were turned on, the incandescent bulbs illuminated the cluttered space.

"Sister Seijitsu, did those people react?"

Just as Aso Narumi was searching for the tape recorder that others had placed in the storage room, the door behind her was suddenly closed.

Startled by the bang, Aso Narumi then heard Kurumi's voice from behind her.

Turning around, she glared indignantly at the grinning Kurumi. Feeling her heart pounding, Aso Narumi instinctively covered her chest with her hand.

"You scared me to death!"

Her tone, more like a playful rebuke than anger, made Aso Narumi look even cuter.

"Sorry, sorry~" Kurumi, showing no remorse, comforted Aso Narumi, who had been startled by her.

"By the way, how is Detective Mouri doing?" To avoid their conversation being overheard, Kurumi leaned against the wooden door, placing King Crimson on watch outside the corridor, and asked in a low voice.

Kurumi felt a bit regretful that she couldn't participate directly, but on the other hand, it gave her the opportunity to cause as much trouble as she wanted.

"Currently, the child from Detective Mouri's house is deciphering a code, but I don't know if that child can actually do it."

Conan's adult-like demeanor always felt strangely out of place to Aso Narumi.

She always had the illusion that Conan was an adult disguised as a child.

Kurumi knew that Aso Narumi was doubting Conan's abilities. To remind Aso Narumi not to slip up and be discovered by that little brat in their future actions, Kurumi warned, "Sister Seijitsu, you can't judge that kid by his appearance alone." Recalling Vermouth's assessment of Conan as a Silver Bullet capable of destroying the organization, Conan, or rather Kudo Shinichi, posed a greater threat to them than any undercover agents planted within the organization.

Hearing Kurumi's rare serious tone of warning, Aso Narumi, who had long trusted Kurumi, chose to keep her words firmly in mind.

"I understand. I'll be careful later."

"Sister Seijitsu, if you're looking for the tape recorder, it's on that shelf over there." Although not present at the scene, Kurumi had already guessed that Aso Narumi had come to get the tape recorder to play the tape containing Kawashima's testimony, which she had prepared, based on her analysis.

45 Played Tapes

Kurumi frankly admitted that her intelligence couldn't compare to Conan's.

However, in contrast, Conan was far from matching Kurumi's life experience, having been guided by Vermouth and endured various brutal struggles within the Organization.

Especially when it came to life's hardships, Conan wasn't much better than a naive youngster.

And most importantly, he, who considered himself a great detective, was solely focused on solving cases and tracking down the Black Organization members responsible for transforming him from Kudo Shinichi into Edogawa Conan. To some extent, Conan lacked a certain human emotion.

Empathy.

This was both a strength and, obviously, a significant weakness.

Looking at the entire plot, if Conan didn't have the protagonist's halo protecting him, he would have long ago fallen into a trap due to his blind pursuit, even losing his life because of it.

And those brats!

In the warehouse, Aso Narumi, holding a tape recorder, was stunned when Kurumi handed her a small, black object, slightly thicker than a button.

"What is this?"

Leaning closer to examine the small item in Kurumi's fair, tender palm, Aso Narumi was puzzled.

Judging by its appearance, the object seemed to be made of rubber, with a flat design resembling a rubber pad.

"This is a listening device. Sister Seijitsu, you wear it, and I can receive the sounds from your location with my earpiece," Kurumi explained. "Although it's a shame I can't be at the scene, with this, I can still hear what's happening at Mouri Detective's place even if I'm not there."

After hearing Kurumi's explanation, Aso Narumi was somewhat surprised. "Is it that amazing? But I recall that the listening devices on the market aren't this powerful, are they?"

Aso Narumi had done some research on such items.