He's a Detective Just Like You / Conan Gives In

Jiang Hang glanced at the curiosity-filled Conan.

"I found something interesting, so I just wanted to see whether my deduction was right." Jiang Hang looked at Conan. "If you call me 'big bro' or 'boss' from now on, I'll tell you what I found. Otherwise, figure it out yourself."

Conan's expression immediately turned particularly ugly.

Calling this guy big bro before had been unavoidable. Now that the other party knew his identity, he still wanted Conan to keep calling him big bro? This man had truly awful tastes.

Conan still had some backbone when it came to this.

Since Jiang Hang refused to tell him, he would uncover the truth himself.

However, Jiang Hang suddenly added, "You'd better figure it out before we get to their house. Otherwise, it might be too late."

Conan gritted his teeth. Though he did not know what Jiang Hang meant by "too late," his mind began racing.

Kogoro Mouri was carefully asking Ikemura Kimie about her husband and son, and he had not noticed Jiang Hang's side at all. Heiji Hattori, who was walking in the middle, did notice Jiang Hang and Conan at the back.

He quietly slowed down and asked Jiang Hang, "Are you the 'Eagle Eye Detective' who's recently made a name for himself in Tokyo?"

It seemed Heiji Hattori paid quite a bit of attention to Tokyo's detectives. At the very least, he was better than Conan, who cared about nothing but cases.

But before Jiang Hang could answer, the guy began muttering to himself. "Actually, I haven't heard anything about Kudo for the past month, so I deliberately paid more attention to this sort of thing. And over the past month, two 'great detectives' have risen in Tokyo. One is Uncle Mori, and the other is you."

So in the end, he had only noticed Jiang Hang because of Shinichi Kudo?

Jiang Hang thumped Conan on the head beside him.

Heiji Hattori continued, stroking his chin as he analyzed, "Tokyo lost a famous high school detective, yet two new 'great detectives' appeared at almost the exact same time he vanished. A coincidence like that feels wrong. After I learned about the relationship between Shinichi Kudo and Ran Mori, I came up with an idea..."

"Could it be that Kudo had to hide because of something, and then secretly guided his girlfriend's father in solving cases? But I didn't expect you to show up at this time too. It really is suspicious... I'll ask you directly. Do you know Shinichi Kudo's whereabouts?"

Conan, who had still been pondering what was wrong with that woman, was startled by the sudden question.

This guy was all the way in Osaka, yet he had inferred such a possibility from newspaper reports alone?

Only then did Conan realize that he really had been too reckless over the past month. Aside from Jiang Hang, there was now a second person paying attention to Kogoro Mouri!

Though this suddenly appearing young man was still some distance from the truth, there was no denying that he seemed quite capable!

Thankfully, the Black Organization had not noticed this. Otherwise... Conan shuddered at the thought.

He looked nervously at Jiang Hang, wanting to know how he would respond.

He Is a Detective of the Same Type as You

Conan looked at Jiang Hang, while Jiang Hang looked at Heiji Hattori.

"I came to Japan a month ago. I haven't actually met Shinichi Kudo yet, but I was fortunate enough to meet his father, the world-class mystery novelist, a few days ago. Unfortunately, I didn't get to speak with him much before he left Japan."

He paused, then continued, "If you really want to know about Shinichi Kudo, there's someone who can tell you."

After saying that, Jiang Hang directly pushed Conan in front of Heiji Hattori.

"This is my newly accepted disciple, Conan Edogawa. He's Shinichi Kudo's distant cousin and Shinichi Kudo's number one supporter. If you want to know about Shinichi Kudo, just ask him."

Conan immediately looked at Jiang Hang in disbelief. He had never expected Jiang Hang to throw him out there so casually.

When did I become your disciple? And why are you pushing me in front of him? What if this guy was sent by the Black Organization to test me?

After the play within a play from the day before yesterday, along with Jiang Hang's "careful education," Conan finally seemed to have learned a little. At least when faced with someone who suddenly appeared like Heiji Hattori, he first considered whether that person might be connected to the Black Organization.

"Shinichi Kudo's number one supporter?" Heiji Hattori carefully looked Conan over in his childlike form, then twitched the corner of his mouth and looked back at Jiang Hang. "How could a child possibly know Shinichi Kudo's whereabouts? Of course, it's fine if you don't want to say. With my abilities, I'll soon find out where Kudo is!"

After Jiang Hang's little maneuver, Heiji Hattori completely shifted his attention away from him and Conan.

Once Heiji Hattori returned to the front of the group with a determined expression, Jiang Hang lowered his voice and said to Conan, "Conan, that guy is the same type of detective as you. You can fool him with just a few little tricks, right?"

Conan only wanted to roll his eyes at him.

What do you mean, the same type of detective as me? I wouldn't be fooled by such boring tricks.

He muttered that to himself, completely failing to realize that Jiang Hang was fooling him too.

By the time he came back to his senses, Ikemura Kimie had already led Kogoro Mouri and the others to stop before a villa.

Looking at the imposing villa before him, Conan froze for a moment. Only then did he remember that Heiji Hattori had interrupted his train of thought, and he still had not figured out what exactly was wrong with Ikemura Kimie!

But it was already too late, because Jiang Hang had swiftly caught up with the others, seemingly having no intention of answering his questions.

Conan gritted his teeth and hurried after him. Since he could not spot the problem yet, he would stay by Jiang Hang's side and see what he intended to do.

The Ikemura family truly counted as a prestigious household. When their group entered the house, a butler even came to greet them.

Mrs. Ikemura briefly explained to the butler that Kogoro Mouri and the others were friends invited by her husband, naturally without revealing that they were detectives.

Just as she was preparing to lead everyone upstairs to the study where her husband was, a woman's voice suddenly came from the corridor.

"Mom, you're back?"

Upon hearing that voice, Ikemura Kimie swayed slightly and looked at the woman speaking to her.

At almost a single glance, everyone recognized the young woman as Katsuragi Sachiko, the girlfriend of Ikemura Kimie's son and the person she wanted investigated.

When she saw that the woman had actually come to her home, Ikemura Kimie's face immediately darkened.

"Why are you here..." After saying that, her expression grew even uglier. "And you have no reason to call me Mom. Our family hasn't accepted you yet!"

After that, she did not say another word to the woman and directly called for Kogoro Mouri's group to head upstairs.

Watching this, Conan frowned slightly. He did not like Ikemura Kimie's attitude. According to what she had said at the agency, her son's girlfriend was an outstanding woman. She and her husband merely had some concerns, so they wanted to investigate her.

Yet she should not have known Katsuragi Sachiko well at that point. If so, why was she acting like this now?

Conan looked again at Jiang Hang, whose expression had not changed.

Could what Jiang Hang had discovered be related to this?

Conan vaguely felt that he had noticed where the problem lay, yet it was as though a veil still separated him from the final answer.

Ikemura Kimie then led everyone to the study door.

The faint sound of opera could be heard from inside.

She first went up and knocked on the door, but after waiting for a while, received no response. She tried the doorknob and found it locked.

She looked apologetically at the others behind her.

"I'm sorry. Perhaps my husband isn't in the study, or perhaps he's fallen asleep. I'll use the key to open the door and check."

She took out a ring of keys from her bag and opened the locked door.

The moment the door opened, the opera that had only been faintly audible outside suddenly became clear to everyone.

They saw the famous diplomat Ikemura Isao, supporting his chin with one hand, most of his face hidden behind a tall stack of books on the desk.

He looked as though he had fallen asleep while listening to the opera.

Ikemura Kimie could not help complaining.

"Honestly, how could he fall asleep with the stereo turned up so loud... Sorry you had to see that."

The group entered the room, and naturally, the thing that drew the most attention was the stereo playing the opera.

Conan glanced at Ikemura Kimie. She seemed to be preparing to wake her husband, but he did not pay much attention. He followed Heiji Hattori and Kogoro Mouri over to the stereo, wanting to hear exactly which opera was playing.

While their gazes and attention were all drawn to the opera, Ikemura Kimie walked to her husband's side.

"There are guests here. You should wake up now," she urged, slowly extending her hand as though she intended to wake her husband from his sleep.

However, in the next instant, a deliberately lowered voice came from behind her.

"Are you sure you want to do that? Hell lies ahead."

Hearing someone speak behind her so suddenly, her right hand trembled slightly. Then, a tiny needle slipped from her fingertips.

Conan Gives In

Ikemura Kimie looked at him in a daze. Jiang Hang said nothing, merely took a small bag from his pocket, picked up the poison-coated needle from the floor, and put it inside.

With only a rough assessment, he had already identified the poison she had used.

As expected, it was the classic cyanide.

After obtaining Poison Mastery, this was Jiang Hang's first time encountering a "cyanide" poison in reality.

It was toxic enough and acted quickly enough. If swallowed, it could cause nerve damage and death by suffocation within three minutes. Stabbing someone directly in the back of the neck with a fine needle like this could also kill them swiftly.

At the same time, perhaps because it was difficult to detect, cyanide had somehow become the poison that appeared most frequently in mystery novels.

"This isn't a good thing. You should dispose of it as soon as possible. Of course, I wouldn't recommend throwing it straight into the trash." Jiang Hang handed the bag containing the poisoned needle to Ikemura Kimie, who was still shaken.

Looking at Ikemura Kimie's disbelieving expression, Jiang Hang turned to the diplomat Ikemura Isao, who did not yet know that he had just taken a stroll along death's edge.

If Jiang Hang was not mistaken, Ikemura Kimie had already given him sleeping pills. She had then deliberately arranged the study like this so that she could act after bringing their group into the room.

At that point, no normal person would suspect that she, the woman who had entered the room with everyone else, was the real murderer.

Her plan had to be said to be quite good.

Unfortunately, after Jiang Hang saw her true intentions on the bulletin board, there was no way she could succeed.

Conan had noticed that Ikemura Kimie and Jiang Hang seemed to be talking about something, but since she had her back to him, he could not see her expression.

He merely instinctively felt that Jiang Hang was telling her something important and wanted to sneak over to eavesdrop. Before he could get close, however, Jiang Hang slightly shook his head and gave him a warning look.

What exactly was this guy doing?

Jiang Hang had practically given Conan obsessive compulsions by now. He was unbearably curious, yet he had no way of figuring out what had happened.

As Conan looked at Jiang Hang with a resentful gaze, Jiang Hang turned his attention back to Ikemura Kimie.

"I don't know what conflict arose between you and your husband that made you want to kill him. But I don't think you'd do something like this for several hundred million yen in insurance money, would you?"

He could tell that she was not some cold-blooded beast like Abe Yutaka, who could harm his own friend for money.

He had found the evidence of her attempted murder, but he wanted to know her motive.

Ikemura Kimie remained silent.

Seeing that she refused to yield, Jiang Hang took out his phone.

"I want to prevent tragedy from happening, but if you refuse to say anything, I can only let the police handle this case."

Ikemura Kimie seemed surprised by his words. She had thought that once this detective discovered what she had done, the only thing awaiting her would be arrest by the police. Yet from what he said, he did not seem prepared to notify the police immediately.

After hesitating for a moment, Ikemura Kimie spoke to Jiang Hang in a faintly trembling voice. "Can we talk alone? I don't want too many people to know about this..."

Seeing her finally relent, Jiang Hang nodded and put his phone away.

Then he raised his voice so that Kogoro Mouri and the others nearby could hear him.

"Since Mr. Ikemura is so exhausted, it really wouldn't be good to disturb him. Why don't we wait downstairs for now? Once Mr. Ikemura wakes up, we can discuss the investigation with him."

Ikemura Kimie forced a smile.

"Mr. Jiang Hang is right. It looks like my husband won't wake up until evening. I'll have the butler prepare dinner for everyone, and we can discuss this matter properly after dinner."

Her expression seemed a little off, but Kogoro Mouri was completely unsuspecting. He was even happy about getting a free dinner there.

"In that case, we'll gladly accept!"

Heiji Hattori seemed to sense that something was wrong, but the sleeping diplomat Ikemura Isao was breathing steadily and did not appear to be in trouble. After observing him for a while and deciding that he really had fallen asleep from overwork, Heiji nodded as well.

Conan was the only one who had noticed that something was wrong, but since he could not figure out the answer, Ran Mori eventually pulled him outside.

Ikemura Kimie locked the door again. She first led everyone to the living room, then had the butler bring out some expensive pastries.

By then, her expression had finally returned to normal.

She glanced at Jiang Hang, who appeared perfectly composed, whispered a few words to her butler, and left the living room.

Not long afterward, the butler quietly whispered a few words into Jiang Hang's ear. Jiang Hang then stood and walked out of the living room.

Naturally, after leaving the living room, Jiang Hang grabbed Conan, who was trying to follow him from behind.

"Your stalking is a little too obvious, isn't it, little Conan?"

Conan knew he could not fool Jiang Hang, so he immediately gave in.

"I just want to know what you said to Mrs. Ikemura. You're definitely going to talk to her now, so it shouldn't be a problem if you bring me along... Jiang Hang, big bro!"

By the end, Conan practically shouted "big bro" at Jiang Hang one syllable at a time.

He had already sensed that there were many problems with Ikemura Kimie. He believed that if he continued investigating, he would definitely find the crucial clues.