Tangze was in a good mood after showing off, and he sipped his coffee while watching Conan's grave expression.
Wonderful. I finally got to drink coffee.
He was practically living in a café, yet after staying here for so many days, he had not gotten a single cup of coffee. Was that really reasonable? Tooru Amuro would only make him hot cocoa, using "kids shouldn't drink coffee; they should sleep properly" as an excuse.
Hmph. Whatever. If Tooru Amuro would not make it for him, he could come out and drink it himself!
To Conan, Tangze's cheerful coffee drinking looked like the composed leisure of a villain. Conan's brow furrowed tightly, and he wore an expression even less suited to his current age. "No one would believe something that absurd if you said it out loud."
"True, everything I said was just my personal speculation. I have no evidence. But I imagine someone would be interested in that speculation, wouldn't they?" Tangze delivered those sinister lines like a villain threatening and tempting the righteous protagonist, while reaching for the untouched Black Forest cake in front of Conan. "You're not eating it? Then give it to me."
Conan gritted his teeth inwardly. From what Tangze meant, he was talking about Ran...
Damn it. I'll call Professor Agasa the moment I get back and sternly condemn his poor quality control!
Naturally, the blame did not belong to Professor Agasa, the inventor of black technology. Tangze was not randomly pinning things on people; he had come prepared. After rummaging through his Fourth-Dimensional Pocket for quite some time, he found several leather armbands—perhaps gear belonging to senior Makoto Niijima. At that moment, beneath the sleeve of his school uniform jacket, Tangze wore six armbands in a tight row around his right upper arm, forming a veritable piece of leather armor.
He could not help it. Tangze truly did not want to test the ever-reliable anesthetic needle. In all of Conan, only that silver-haired executive could take a shot of anesthetic and stay standing. He did not think he had such formidable stats, so he had better stack up armor honestly.
The anesthetic needle aimed at the exposed back of his neck had indeed failed to pierce his armor. Tangze had never been unconscious from the very beginning.
"Who said I wasn't eating it?" Somewhat petulantly, Conan pressed a hand over the cake in front of him, picked up his fork, scooped off a corner, and stuffed it into his mouth. "...So what do you mean? Let me say this first: what happened to me was an accident too."
"It wasn't hard to figure out." Tangze propped his chin on his hand with a smile. "Shinichi Kudo, you're an excellent detective, aren't you? Then let's make a deal."
"What do you want?" Conan returned Tangze's gaze with sharp, bright eyes, staring into those blue eyes that seemed to gleam with reflected light. He had the distinct feeling there was a trap somewhere.
...And Ran said Tangze was gentle and easy to get along with. He's obviously a terrible person!
"I'll help you keep your identity secret, and I can help you conceal it in the future as well. You clearly don't want to be a child, and I can also do my best to help you find a way to change back. In exchange..." Tangze's smile faded, and he spoke solemnly. "You must accept my commission. Help me investigate the truth of a case and find everyone connected to it."
With his mouth full of soft cake, Conan chewed twice. That was certainly a tempting offer. As he swallowed the food in his mouth, he asked indistinctly, "What case?"
"Eat slowly. If you like it, you can order another." Seeing Conan's cheeks puffed up with cake, Tangze pushed the juice toward him before pointing at himself. "My case."
"Huh?" It took Conan several seconds to react before his eyes widened in shock, understanding Tangze's implication.
Tangze pulled out a sheet of paper from his commuter bag and pushed it before Conan. "I'll compile all the information I know and give it to you. For me, this is already a dead end, but Shinichi Kudo might be able to find a breakthrough and prove my innocence."
Conan looked at the document.
It was Tangze's "Protection Supervision Disposition."
"Oh, right, Ran said you're from Kyoto." Tangze's accentless speech had nearly made Conan forget that he was from Kansai. "You didn't transfer here. You were..."
"I came here to serve probation." Tangze took over, slowly putting on a melancholy expression. "I have a prior conviction for aggravated assault."
Conan frowned reflexively.
Tangze might indeed have a somewhat nasty personality and a sly streak, but no matter how he looked at him, he did not seem like someone who would commit a violent felony. On the contrary, Tangze was even timid and cowardly around certain people, such as Tooru Amuro, the café employee.
...Come to think of it, maybe he isn't afraid of Tooru Amuro. Maybe he's afraid of someone supervising juvenile offenders. It all connects. It all connects now.
Having sorted out the logic, Conan suddenly understood. He reached out, took the disposition again, and read through it carefully. "It is very strange. This notice doesn't even state the general nature of the case, and it doesn't have the issuing prosecutor's personal signature..."
"I was falsely accused, but there's nothing I can do. The entire case was handled in Kyoto, and without the permission of the supervising official, I can't leave Tokyo at all. It's laughable, really. Even now, I don't know the plaintiff's name, so there's no way to overturn the case." Tangze put the document back into his bag and looked earnestly at Conan. "But the Savior of the Japanese Police will have a way, right?"
Conan's brow did not relax. He stared sharply at Tangze. "Are you saying that the police, even the prosecutors, are involved?"
"That's why I have no one I can trust anymore." Tangze began radiating that gloomy, unstable air again, as though he were about to turn evil. In a soft, ghostly voice, he said, "I'm the victim of this hopeless system. All I can do is pray that someone outside this system can save me."
"...You said you'd help cover for me, right?" Conan turned his head away so Tangze would not see the worry on his face. Tangze was right—his acting was terrible, and he could not hide his emotions at all. "Thinking about it carefully, having a helper living downstairs isn't bad. Being an elementary schooler who can't do anything is too troublesome."
Tangze had clearly lost faith in the legal system. He was already in a dangerous state, pushed to the edge. A detective who pursued justice could not simply watch someone like him fall before his eyes.
"So, will you accept my commission?" Tangze drew back some of that darkness that made him seem ready to take revenge on society. If this were described like a manga panel, it would probably be called the light returning to his eyes.
"...Order another chiffon cake." Conan bit down on his fork and pretended to be displeased. "This one's too sweet."
Tangze smiled and extended his hand toward the little detective. "Then it's a deal."
"I am thou... Thou art I..."
"Here, thou shalt obtain a new bond."
"The bond is known as..."
"The wings of freedom that shatter shackles."
"I, who was first born as the Mask of the Grim Reaper, have received the blessing wind..."
"To lend further aid in soaring toward the final outcome..."
W-wait! Does the Death tarot card really mean Death?!
Tangze trembled as he tried to hold out a hand in protest.
Unfortunately, Lavenza completely ignored his pupils shaking in shock. With a cracking sound, the interface slapped down before him.
Cooperation: Edogawa Conan/Shinichi Kudo Arcana: Death Rank 1 Though his body had shrunk, his mind remained sharp. The all-knowing Great Detective—there was always only one truth! The long-awaited opening line had finally arrived! ...You ask about him himself? If you need a special explanation to understand the legendary aura of this world's protagonist, then I suggest you get remade early. You won't survive three episodes. Learned Ability: "Aura of Concealment Lv. 1"
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