No matter how Conan might marvel at it, President Shifui of the Shifui Group, standing amid the applause, was clearly in high spirits.
He surveyed the guests around him, his gaze briefly pausing on Tangze before quickly shifting to Mori Kogoro, who had already stationed himself by the table and started eating. He decisively raised a hand in Mori's direction. "Before the banquet officially begins, please allow me to introduce today's special guest. This gentleman has solved many exceptionally difficult cases, and even among so many outstanding detectives, his newspaper appearance rate still ranks among the very best..."
Realizing that he was about to introduce Mori Kogoro, Conan's eyes involuntarily drifted toward Akechi Goro, who stood closer to the edge of the crowd.
The reason he had left himself some room was probably because someone with an even higher newspaper appearance rate than Mori Kogoro still existed.
Akechi Goro, hidden among the crowd, still wore that signature smile. His applause was exceptionally restrained.
"What's wrong? Did seeing Akechi-kun here give you some thoughts?" Noticing that Conan's attention was nowhere near the center of the banquet and that he was not even looking at Mori Kogoro, Ran Mouri bent down slightly and asked in a low voice.
Honestly, Conan's impression of Akechi had become extremely complicated.
On one hand, based on the few encounters he had had while crossing paths with Kumeru, Kumeru, who possessed a codename, was a fairly dangerous figure. Violent crimes, planned assassinations—he had his own methods for all of them. And if his and Hattori's judgment was correct, then Kumeru, with the disguise of a detective, would only be an even more useful weapon in the Black Organization's hands, one that could better conceal the organization's traces in all manner of incidents.
On the other hand, the