Outlaw Maniac in Conan's World, Tokisaki Kurumi

The front doors were pushed open by a slightly burly man in a gray suit.

"What is it? Why are you panicking?"

Pretending to know nothing, Director Ochiai was not angry at being disturbed. On the contrary, he looked kindly at the man whose face was dripping with sweat.

"B-Boss Manaka was murdered in the exhibition hall!!!" the man said excitedly as he panted heavily and wiped his sweat with his sleeve.

Conan, About to Get Shut Down

Boss Manaka's body had been discovered by a father, daughter, and child.

Since a murder had taken place in the museum under his charge, Director Ochiai wore an "astonished" expression and "hurriedly" followed the employee to the Hell Chamber where the crime had occurred after hearing the news from the staff.

Seeing Director Ochiai's superb acting, Kurumi, sitting in her chair, nodded in satisfaction.

"Then, let me enjoy watching how you detectives 'solve' this case~" Draining the tea in her cup in one gulp, Kurumi could not wait to see how Kudo Shinichi would solve a case with no evidence or clues whatsoever.

Black women's shoes clicked crisply against the tiled floor. Her cheerful steps made it clear that the owner of those beautiful feet did not care in the slightest that a murder had just taken place here.

Following a crowd of nervous spectators and curious onlookers to the Hell Chamber, Kurumi saw Mouri Kogoro, the self-proclaimed Great Detective, standing at the entrance and having the staff stop tourists from entering the Hell Chamber.

Outside the museum, under the quiet night sky, the sirens of several speeding police cars drew closer and closer.

As the door of the lead police car opened, a round, plump man in a beige trench coat stepped out.

Inside the lobby, the officers who had just arrived from the Metropolitan Police Department rushed in, immediately sealed off the building's entrances and exits, and put up police tape.

Noticing that the lead officer was dressed differently from the other uniformed policemen, along with his distinctive mustache and hat, Kurumi immediately recognized the fat man as Inspector Megure, the possessor of the Brother Fruit ability.

As Kurumi spotted Inspector Megure, the approaching inspector also noticed his former subordinate and the first person to discover the body and report the crime—Mouri Kogoro.

Looking speechlessly at "Brother Mouri," who always seemed to be involved in cases, Megure restrained his urge to complain and began seriously questioning the people present.

Looking at the corridor blocked by the officers, Kurumi, who had just been persuaded to leave by the police, clicked her tongue.

Seriously, if I don't go in, what am I supposed to watch? Kurumi summoned King Crimson in irritation and directly activated its Time Erasure ability.

This special ability of the stand King Crimson could erase more than ten seconds from the world. Other than the stand's user, everyone else would directly skip over that span of time and remember nothing that had happened during it.

It was an incredibly powerful ability, just like the stand of a certain ridiculously overpowered blond vampire. It was completely bug-level.

The instant King Crimson's ability activated, the world before Kurumi changed.

The scenery around her fragmented and collapsed, while the people nearby remained frozen in the expressions and motions they had held before time stopped.

At this moment, in the entire world, Kurumi alone could move freely.

Passing through the police blockade and entering the exhibition hall, Kurumi found a corner and canceled Time Erasure.

The officers were examining the body, while Inspector Megure led others in questioning the people inside the hall.

Including Director Ochiai, all the staff had hurried over as soon as the body was discovered.

However, the figure of a child had appeared among the adults.

Hm? Strange, was this girl here just now? Having finished questioning the last person, Inspector Megure suddenly noticed a girl in a black dress standing in the corner.

Was she dressed all in black, so I didn't notice her? He frowned in confusion. Although Inspector Megure did not think the girl in front of him, with her petite figure...

So huge!

Noticing the astonishingly ample chest on the petite girl, Inspector Megure's eyes widened in surprise.

Damn it, what am I thinking?! Realizing how rude his thoughts were toward a young girl, Inspector Megure hurriedly shook his head, then approached Kurumi and asked gently, "Miss, are you a visitor here?"

Facing Inspector Megure's question, Kurumi nodded and replied softly, "Yes, in a sense..."

"In a sense?"

Hearing the girl's ambiguous answer, Inspector Megure pressed further.

"It's like this. I really like the painting Divine Punishment in this museum, so I came this time to ask Director Ochiai if I could buy it for my collection."

"Divine Punishment?" Megure asked in confusion.

Just then, Director Ochiai, who had noticed Inspector Megure questioning Kurumi, walked over and explained for her. "Yes, Inspector. This young lady came specifically to ask me about that painting today."

Hearing the director's explanation, Megure nodded.

"Did you see anyone suspicious? Or notice anything suspicious?"

Having formed a first impression, Megure had already ruled out the possibility of the girl being a suspect.

In his estimation, the girl was at most one meter sixty tall. With her petite build, even if she stood on a stool, there was no way she could use a sword to nail a large fat man suspended in midair to a wall.

Hearing Inspector Megure's question, Kurumi thought for a moment, then shook her head to indicate that she knew nothing.

"I see..." Just as Inspector Megure was about to have someone escort Kurumi out, the girl before him seemed to suddenly notice something and looked at the body in surprise.

Eh? Did she remember something? Megure was instantly delighted.

However, when he followed Kurumi's gaze toward the body, he saw the little boy named Conan standing there, looking all around the corpse.

"Officer, what is that little boy's name?" Kurumi's excellent acting made her look as though she had run into an acquaintance.

Although Inspector Megure was more concerned about the murder case, he still thought for a moment before answering honestly, "I believe his name is Conan."

After saying that, Inspector Megure quickly walked over to Mouri Kogoro and said, "Brother Mouri, please keep an eye on your little one!"

Inspector Megure's voice was not loud, but in the room filled with oppression and the smell of blood, it was enough for everyone to hear.

Naturally, that included Conan.

I'm done for. I'm getting smacked... Conan knew he was in trouble the moment he heard it.

Almost as soon as the thought crossed his mind, Conan felt a large hand grab his ear and twist it painfully.

"You little brat, why do you always like poking your nose into places like this when there's nothing wrong?!"

Dragging Conan out of the room by his ear, Mouri Kogoro left him clutching his ear in pain, waved a fist at him, and entered the crime scene again.

"Seriously, that uncle hits way too hard!"

Without even looking, Conan knew his ear had to be bright red.

Come On! Serve Up the Turtle!

Outside the lobby, because the murder had been discovered close to the museum's closing time, there were only a few visitors who had been about to leave when the police arrived.

After the murder occurred, those tourists were temporarily kept in the lobby by the police, who planned to question them in detail later.

However, Kurumi did not care about any of them.

Walking up behind Conan, who was still grimacing as he held his ear, Kurumi bent down with a smile and asked in her already irresistibly seductive voice, "Ara~ Isn't this the little boy from the amusement park last time? What, did you come here today with your sister and father?"

Hearing a voice behind him, Conan was somewhat surprised.

What had happened at the amusement park that night had become an indelible shadow in his heart.

Although his body had become that of a child, Conan's mind remained sharp. The female voice behind him sounded vaguely familiar, and after she mentioned the amusement park, the breathtakingly beautiful face of a girl appeared in his mind.

Putting on a childlike tone, Conan turned around and feigned delight while marveling at the coincidence internally. "Ah! It's the big sister who helped me last time!"

The fragrance of the girl's body, so close behind him, drifted into his nose, and Conan's little face flushed slightly.

The girl before him was undoubtedly the most beautiful girl Kudo Shinichi had ever seen in all his years of traveling around. Especially the devilish allure she constantly radiated. Kudo Shinichi was certain that this girl before him... uh... Tokisaki Kurumi, perhaps, would definitely drive the boys at school wild with pursuit.

However, he already had someone he liked.

Shifting his gaze slightly away from the astonishingly eye-catching part of the girl's body that naturally hung down before her as she bent over, Conan sighed. "It really is quite a coincidence, um... Big Sister Tokisaki!"

Though he said that, Conan inwardly felt that he would rather do without this coincidence of meeting at a murder scene.

Moreover, based on what the girl had just said, Conan explained, "But you were mistaken, Big Sister. I didn't come with my sister and father. It's just that my parents went abroad, so I'm temporarily staying at Uncle Mouri's house!"

Because Kurumi had helped him before, Conan thought of her as nothing more than a kind girl.

"Uncle Mouri?" Kurumi "confusedly" thought for a moment, then suddenly realized. "Do you mean Mr. Mouri Kogoro, the one who runs a detective agency in Beika Town?"

"Then that girl must be Mr. Mouri's daughter, Mouri Ran?"

Hearing that Kurumi seemed quite familiar with the Mouri family, Conan became curious as well. "Do you know Big Sister Ran, Big Sister Tokisaki?"

In his words, he very consciously filtered out that uncle who liked drinking and was a little lecherous.

Conan looked "curiously" at the girl's wine-red left eye.

From his memories as Kudo Shinichi, he had never heard of a girl named Tokisaki Kurumi at school.

With her astonishing beauty, if she attended his school, then the boys there certainly would not have ignored such a topic.

If that was the case, then since he did not know Kurumi, yet Kurumi knew his childhood friend Mouri Ran, they must have met somewhere outside school.

But Conan had no idea where exactly.

After all, he had never heard Ran mention the name Tokisaki Kurumi.

"Yes~" Kurumi said, then suddenly shook her head and corrected herself. "That is not quite right. I know Mouri Ran, but she probably does not know me."

Recalling a karate competition she had gone to watch on a whim more than a year ago, Kurumi spoke without hiding anything.

"After all, I was just a spectator at the time. Seeing a girl my age possess such astonishing strength, of course I had to learn more about her~"

Hearing Kurumi's explanation, Conan nodded in understanding.

He knew perfectly well just how formidable Mouri Ran's karate was.

Seemingly recalling a certain scene, Conan suddenly felt a chill run down his back.

Seeing the topic drift farther and farther away, Kurumi proactively steered it back to the murder case so Conan, this oversized child, could get shut down sooner. "By the way, Conan, since Mouri Ran's father is a detective, does that mean this murder case will be solved very quickly?"

Putting just a trace of emphasis on the word "little," Kurumi frowned worriedly and revealed a pitiful expression that inspired sympathy. "After all, it is already so late outside, and I live alone now. If I go home too late, I will be a little scared~"

Kurumi worked hard to portray herself as an ordinary, fragile girl.

Hearing Kurumi place all her expectations on the detective Mouri Kogoro, Conan instinctively rolled his eyes and muttered, "That Uncle Mouri..."

"?"

"Ah, no, I mean Uncle Mouri!" Realizing his slip of the tongue at once, Conan hurriedly said something even he did not believe. "Yes, of course. Uncle Mouri is a Great Detective, after all!"

Glancing at the Hell Chamber, which was blocked off by police, Conan did not feel confident.

He knew exactly how unreliable Mouri Kogoro usually was, and he had also vaguely sensed something unusual about this case.

Yet, because there were too few clues and he could not investigate the crime scene, he could only remain at the speculation stage.

Because of his identity as a child, this was Conan's greatest headache right now.

Frowning in distress, Conan suddenly came up with a good idea.

He looked at Kurumi with an utterly "innocent" smile. Although she put on a puzzled expression, she had already guessed what Conan was thinking.

"Oh, right! Since Big Sister Tokisaki knows Big Sister Ran, that works out perfectly. Big Sister Ran is inside. How about I take you in to find her?" The innocent tone of a child came from Conan's mouth, making Kurumi feel waves of disgust in her heart.

Even so, in order to watch Conan get shut down properly, Kurumi still put on an extremely happy expression and agreed to his suggestion.

Kurumi followed Conan toward the passageway blocked by the police, but as soon as they reached the entrance, the officer standing guard there diligently stopped them.

"Sorry, unauthorized personnel are not allowed inside."

"..."

"..."

The officer's words made Kurumi and Conan look at each other in perfect sync.

Then what are we supposed to do?

Kurumi Being Questioned

Faced with the police officer's obstruction, Kurumi did not want to use King Crimson's ability under these circumstances.

After all, Kudo Shinichi was ridiculously smart. Although ordinary people supposedly could neither see nor sense stands, Kurumi knew perfectly well that the most unscientific things in this world were these people.

Mouri Kogoro, who could endure being hit with countless anesthetic needles and be perfectly fine.

Conan, who could kick a soccer ball hard enough to bring down a satellite.

Mouri Ran, who could crack utility poles with her bare hands.

And Kyogoku Makoto, the Saiyan standing at the pinnacle of martial arts.