Kogoro Sleeps Soundly

"Mori, why'd you stop talking?" Inspector Megure asked, puzzled, as he approached Kogoro Mouri.

He placed a hand on Kogoro Mouri's shoulder, and Kogoro Mouri promptly toppled to the ground, bubbles frothing from his nose, his snores filling the entire room.

"Ah, what the!" Inspector Megure exclaimed, looking at Kogoro Mouri sprawled on the floor, utterly bewildered.

"How embarrassing, Dad."

Ran's face was flushed crimson as she helped Kogoro Mouri onto the sofa.

Conan wore a sheepish, clueless grin.

"I'd heard news reports about 'Sleeping Kogoro' before and always thought it was just fake news from irresponsible media, but I can't believe they were telling the truth!" Guchuan exclaimed, a look of surprise on his face.

Little Ai tugged at Guchuan's clothes.

That's enough, stop pretending.

Ran looked at Guchuan awkwardly, unsure what to say.

Everyone in the large room watched the soundly sleeping Kogoro Mouri, and the entire room fell silent.

"Um, are we supposed to wait here until Mr. Mouri wakes up?" Kanako asked, her expression odd.

"Why don't we just close the case as a suicide?" Tajima said, pursing his lips.

"What nonsense are you spouting? How can we just gloss over a case like this? You're slandering our Japanese Police! I have a reasonable suspicion that you are the murderer!" Inspector Megure roared at Tajima.

Tajima, having been yelled at, quieted down for a moment.

"Honestly, it's not like Japan has a shortage of suicide cases," Tajima muttered under his breath, barely audible to himself.

Seeing the case reach a stalemate, Little Ai yawned boredly.

"Without a detective, can't the Japanese Police even solve cases anymore?" Little Ai sneered softly.

Inspector Megure, having been hit where it hurt by a child, was furious but dared not speak out. After all, he knew his own true capabilities and couldn't really argue back, so he just comforted himself by thinking it wasn't worth arguing with a child.

Who said there's no detective?

Conan glanced at Guchuan. He clearly found the culprit long ago, so why isn't he stepping forward to present his deductions?

Conan removed the Anesthetic Needle from Kogoro Mouri's neck, put it back into his Kid's Watch, and aimed it at Guchuan from a hidden corner.

Since you won't step forward voluntarily, let me help you.

Guchuan seemed to sense something and looked down to see Conan aiming his watch at him. Before he could stop him, he saw a tranquilizer dart shoot out, hitting Little Ai squarely in the neck.

???

Guchuan stared at Conan in shock, and Conan stared back at Guchuan in shock.

Little Ai felt a sharp pain in the back of her neck, then collapsed into Guchuan's arms.

"Brother Guchuan, I actually… actually…" Conan was flustered, flailing his arms as he looked at Guchuan.

"You don't need to say anything!" Guchuan punched Conan on the head. Conan clutched his head, not daring to speak.

At this moment, everyone in the room had their eyes on Kogoro Mouri, and no one noticed the interaction between Guchuan and Conan.

Guchuan held Little Ai with one arm and dragged Conan out of the room with the other.

"Give me the watch."

He threw Conan to the ground and snatched the watch from his arm.

"Brother Guchuan, it's just a tranquilizer dart. It has no side effects on the body. Your sister will be fine after a nap," Conan said, dusting off his backside, then stood up and looked at Guchuan sheepishly.

"Heh."

Guchuan's cold, ambiguous chuckle made Conan very uneasy.

"Your aim is pretty good," Guchuan complimented Conan.

"I learned it in Hawaii," Conan said, embarrassed, as he rubbed his head.

Guchuan continued to fiddle with Conan's watch, in a very bad mood.

He actually got ambushed by a little kid, how humiliating. This time it was just a tranquilizer dart, but next time, if it's a gun, Little Ai could lose her life.

"Conan, you know, my aim is pretty good too."

"Is that so?"

Conan continued to rub his head, not understanding what Guchuan meant by that.

Does he want me to praise him?

"Brother Guchuan is so amazing!" Conan showed a simple, adoring smile.

Guchuan forced down his disgust and gave Conan a smile, then pulled the Anesthetic Needle from Little Ai's neck and injected it into Conan's arm.

"You did…"

Conan swayed for two steps, then collapsed to the ground.

Fearing that repeated use of the anesthetic might not be effective, and just to be safe, Guchuan chopped Conan on the back of the neck again. He shook Conan's head and, seeing no signs of him waking up, finally relaxed.

Guchuan found a quiet room, placed Little Ai inside, then removed Conan's bowtie and dragged Conan into the room where the argument was still ongoing.

Entering the room, Guchuan looked at the pile of police officers and curled his lip.

All this time had passed, and instead of going to the scene to look for more clues, they were waiting in the room for Kogoro Mouri to wake up. Truly, they were the perfect foils for a detective.

"Mr. Guchuan, where did you and Conan go just now? Is Conan asleep?"

Ran stepped out of the agitated atmosphere and came over to Guchuan, reaching out to take Conan back, but Guchuan didn't hand Conan over.

"Little Conan and I were just outside discussing this case."

"Oh, thank you for your trouble, Mr. Guchuan. Conan's always been a detective fan," Ran said with an embarrassed smile.

Guchuan smiled back.

"Conan has already deduced the true culprit. To pay tribute to his most esteemed great detective, Mr. Mouri, he's decided to reveal the culprit in Mr. Mouri's style."

Guchuan placed Conan on the chair Kogoro Mouri had been sitting on earlier.

"Conan deduced the culprit?" Ran was somewhat incredulous.

Although Conan was indeed very smart, for a case that had stumped all the police officers, a grade-schooler like him shouldn't have any clues, right?

So, it must have been Mr. Guchuan who figured it out, right?

"What? A grade-schooler deduced the culprit? What kind of joke is that?" Tajima stood up indignantly.

Letting a grade-schooler deduce the culprit? What an absolute joke. At that age, it was better for him to be in school learning 1+1.

"Exactly, little Conan, even though you're smart, you shouldn't be messing around at a police crime scene," Inspector Megure also spoke up.

The Japanese Police were already heavily criticized by the media for needing detectives to solve cases. If they now stooped to relying on a grade-schooler, then they might as well all commit seppuku.

Moreover, Inspector Megure truly didn't believe a grade-schooler could deduce the culprit.

"How can you say that!"

Ran placed her hands on her hips, looking at everyone, displeased with how they were talking about Conan.

Guchuan quietly slipped out of the room, took out the Voice-Changing Bowtie, and put it to his mouth.

"Since you can't find the real culprit anyway, why not listen to my deduction?"

A voice came from the small speaker on Conan's clothes. As Conan's voice rang out, everyone's attention was drawn to him.

"I've been learning from Uncle Mori for so long, and I've picked up a few things."