Sleeping Kogoro

"Brother Mori, why aren't you saying anything?" Inspector Megure asked in confusion as he walked over to Kogoro Mouri.

When he placed a hand on Kogoro Mouri's shoulder, Kogoro Mouri toppled straight to the floor, bubbles coming from his nose while his snores echoed clearly throughout the room.

"Ah, this..." Inspector Megure looked helplessly at Kogoro lying on the floor.

"You're so embarrassing, Dad."

Ran blushed furiously as she helped Kogoro Mouri onto the sofa.

Conan wore an awkward, foolish grin.

"I'd seen reports before about Sleeping Kogoro and always thought it was just false advertising from unscrupulous media. I never expected it to be true," Guchuan said, looking astonished.

Little Ai tugged at Guchuan's clothes.

That's enough. Stop pretending.

Ran looked awkwardly at Guchuan, not knowing what to say.

Everyone in the room stared at the soundly sleeping Kogoro Mouri. The entire room fell silent.

"Um, are we supposed to wait here for Mr. Mouri to wake up?" Kanako asked with an odd expression.

"How about we close the case as a suicide?" Tajima said with a curl of his lip.

"What nonsense are you talking about? How can we let a case end so carelessly? That's an insult to the Japanese Police! I have reasonable grounds to suspect that you're the murderer!" Inspector Megure roared at Tajima.

After being shouted at, Tajima fell quiet for a moment.

"Honestly, aren't there plenty of suicides in Japan?" Tajima muttered under his breath, too quietly for anyone else to hear.

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

"Without detectives, can't the Japanese Police even solve a case?" Little Ai mocked softly.

Inspector Megure had been struck where it hurt by a child, yet he dared not get angry or speak up. Knowing his own actual abilities, he had no grounds to refute her and could only console himself by telling himself not to argue with a child.

Who said there's no detective?

Conan glanced at Guchuan. He had clearly found the murderer already, so why wasn't he stepping forward to explain his deduction?

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

If you won't step forward yourself, then I'll help you.

Guchuan seemed to notice something. Looking down, he saw Conan aiming his watch at him. Before he could stop him, a Hypnotic Needle shot out and struck 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 at the back of her neck, then collapsed into Guchuan's arms.

"Brother Guchuan, I... I..." Conan flailed helplessly as he looked at Guchuan.

"You don't need to say anything!" Guchuan punched Conan on the head. Conan clutched his head and did not dare say another word.

At that moment, everyone in the room had their attention fixed on Kogoro Mouri, so no one noticed the exchange between Guchuan and Conan.

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

"Give me the watch."

He tossed Conan onto the ground and snatched the watch from his wrist.

"Brother Guchuan, it's only a Hypnotic Needle. It doesn't have any side effects. Your sister just needs to sleep for a while," Conan said awkwardly as he dusted off his pants and got to his feet.

"Heh."

Guchuan's inscrutable sneer made Conan uneasy.

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

"I learned it in Hawaii," Conan said, scratching his head sheepishly.

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

He'd actually been ambushed by a little brat. How humiliating. This time it was only a Hypnotic Needle. If it were a gun next time, Little Ai would be dead.

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

"Really?"

Conan kept scratching his head, not understanding what Guchuan meant.

Does he want me to praise him?

"Brother Guchuan, you're amazing," Conan said with a simple, admiring smile.

Suppressing his disgust, Guchuan smiled at Conan. Then he pulled the Anesthetic Needle from the back of Little Ai's neck and jabbed it into Conan's arm.

"What are you—"

Conan staggered two steps before collapsing to the ground.

Afraid that repeated anesthesia might not work as well, Guchuan chopped Conan on the back of the neck for good measure. Only after shaking Conan's head and seeing no sign of him waking up did he relax.

Guchuan found a quiet room and placed Little Ai inside. Then he removed Conan's tie and carried Conan into the room where the argument was still going on.

Entering the room, Guchuan curled his lip at the group of police officers.

It had been so long, yet instead of searching the scene for more clues, they were sitting in the room waiting for Kogoro Mouri to wake up. Truly the perfect props for making detectives look good.

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

Ran stepped out of the frustrating commotion and approached Guchuan, holding out her arms to take Conan back. However, Guchuan did not hand Conan over to her.

"Conan went outside with me just now to discuss this case."

"Sorry for troubling you, Mr. Guchuan. Conan has always been a detective fan," Ran said with an embarrassed smile.

Guchuan smiled as well.

"Conan has already deduced who the real murderer is. To pay tribute to the great detective Mr. Mouri, whom he admires most, he decided to reveal the culprit in Mr. Mouri's own way."

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

"Conan figured out the murderer?" Ran found it hard to believe.

Conan was certainly smart, but even all those police officers had no leads. How could an elementary school student possibly have figured it out?

So Mr. Guchuan must have deduced it, right?

"What? An elementary school student deduced the murderer? What kind of joke is that?" Tajima stood up indignantly.

Letting an elementary school student deduce the murderer? What an international joke. At his age, he ought to be in school learning what one plus one was.

"That's right, Conan. You may be smart, but don't make trouble at a police investigation scene," Inspector Megure said as well.

The Japanese Police had already been heavily criticized by the media for needing detectives to solve cases. If they had fallen so low as to rely on an elementary school student, every one of them might as well commit seppuku.

Besides, Inspector Megure truly did not believe an elementary school student could deduce the murderer.

"How can you say that?"

Ran put her hands on her hips and glared at everyone, deeply dissatisfied with how they spoke about Conan.

Guchuan quietly left the room, took out the Bow Tie, and held it to his mouth.

"Since none of you can find the real murderer anyway, you might as well listen to my deduction."

The voice came from the small speaker on Conan's clothes. Conan's voice rang out, drawing everyone's attention.

"I've studied beside Uncle Mori for so long that I've picked up a little of his skill."