Fatherly Love, Filial Piety

Yukiko Kudo's current biggest worry was whether her son, who wasn't exactly a powerhouse even before shrinking, had gotten into trouble while running around recklessly.

The brash kid who loved playing the hero probably wouldn't ask for help even if he encountered danger. They just wanted to play a prank on their son and warn him that facing a massive Black Organization alone was incredibly dangerous, urging him to leave Japan as soon as possible. If something were to actually happen...

She waited for her husband on the other end of the phone to come up with a new plan, impatiently rubbing her hair and looking up to survey the street again.

As she looked up, she saw the shrunken Shinichi Kudo, who had been missing for a while, fall out of their second-floor balcony. He got up, reached for the railing, and looked like he was trying to climb over and jump from the second floor to escape.

Just as his small hands gripped the railing, a black figure emerged from the dark interior. With a casual reach, the figure grabbed the boy's slender neck.

"!" Yukiko Kudo flinched in shock. The figure was dressed in black, with a hood obscuring most of his face. He held her son by the neck, dragging the small boy back into the darkness without a sound.

She immediately forgot about any plans and screamed into the phone, "Hurry over here! Something's happened! Yusaku, there's a man in black at the house, and he's got Shinichi!"

Remembering the organization that truly threatened her son's safety, Yukiko Kudo's hands began to tremble with anxiety as she ran towards her house. Thus, this conversation, which exposed her identity, only transmitted a faint sound to the two people eavesdropping.

The man in black was, of course, Tang Ze.

After dragging Conan back, he went downstairs with his "hostage" and set up a simple trap at the door.

This somewhat devious fishing plan was half Conan's idea and half Tang Ze's.

Tang Ze knew exactly what kind of situation would truly make the prank-loving couple anxious. Among the several plans Conan proposed, such as "call the police in advance," "turn their plan against them," and "counter-ambush," he added the current one, which was:

"Since they need to disguise their identity to take you away reasonably, rather than just killing you directly, it means you have value to them and are not a target for immediate elimination. How about we pretend someone got to you before them? That would disrupt their plan, forcing them to find out who this third party is and what their objective is. This way, we can control them in turn."

Tang Ze's suggestion was righteous and very persuasive, sounding highly feasible. After consideration, Conan, who was full of a desire to take a gamble, adopted this plan.

Yukiko Kudo desperately wanted to open the door and rush in to check on her son, but she knew she wasn't a powerful fighter herself. Rushing in alone would likely result in her becoming a "buy one, get one free" situation. She could only stomp her feet outside the door, waiting for her husband to come and help.

Yusaku Kudo, dressed in a black cloak and wearing a creepy, exaggerated smiling mask, fully cosplaying as the "Night Baron," hadn't gone far. After Conan escaped from Yukiko's car, he drove towards their home to meet his wife, who was about to knock their son unconscious. After all, she looked too much like a child trafficker, and he was afraid his wife would be handcuffed by the police before they could even take their son away, which would be too embarrassing.

He didn't expect a bigger surprise to happen.

He frowned and stepped on the accelerator, thinking rapidly. It was too strange. That organization shouldn't have targeted Shinichi yet. Why would he encounter an attacker? Could it be that they came to the house to confirm if their son was dead and happened to run into their son hiding at home?

Yusaku Kudo was extremely anxious. He couldn't bother finding a suitable place to park, so he parked his car across the entrance to their house and rushed out, opening the front door with his sweaty wife.

The Kudo family's detached house had small yards in both the front and back. At this moment, the house was silent. Yusaku Kudo cautiously observed the situation and quickly concluded that someone had indeed broken into the house from the backyard.

The intruder entered through a side window. There weren't many of them, at most one or two, and they didn't leave many traces.

After a quick assessment, Yusaku Kudo nodded to his wife. Yukiko Kudo took out the house key and opened the main door.

The entire first floor was dark, with all the curtains drawn. Yusaku Kudo didn't dare to turn on the lights rashly. The attacker might not have realized someone had entered, and he couldn't alert them.

With this thought, Yusaku Kudo carefully stepped into the house.

After walking through the entryway, just as he was about to step into the living room, his ankle suddenly hurt.

"Not good, it's piano wire!" The mystery novelist, who had solved many cases related to such things, reacted instantly. However, his physical strength was only slightly better than Conan's. His mind raced, but he couldn't maintain his balance, tripping over the trap and falling to the ground.

"Tang Ze!" Seeing that the trap had worked, Conan shouted, raising his charged high-tech shoes and kicking a prepared soccer ball.

The soccer ball flew out from a tricky angle, hit the wall in the entryway, and bounced back, hitting Yukiko, who was walking behind Yusaku Kudo, in the back. She screamed and fell down right after her husband.

The moment Conan shouted, Tang Ze leaped up from behind the sofa, grabbed the off-balance Yusaku Kudo, and flipped him to the ground.

He leaned down, pressing his knee into Yusaku Kudo's back, and twisted his arms behind him. Yusaku Kudo, who had been hunched over a desk for years and rarely exercised, had never experienced such a situation. He let out a yelp and couldn't move.

"I've got this one, Conan! Tranquilizer dart!" Tang Ze shouted, playing his part, and tightened his grip without applying too much force.

"Stop! Stop! It's me, it's Dad! Stop it, Shinichi!" Yusaku Kudo, who had immediately realized what was happening, saw his son flash out from behind the table and press the dial on his watch, shouting with all his might.

Conan, whose adrenaline was pumping and who was excited about his successful strike, paused.

Tang Ze also stopped applying pressure and looked up at a bewildered Conan.

"Snap." Yukiko Kudo, who had been knocked to the ground and was rubbing her waist as she got back up, managed to turn on the light.

The two people wrestling on the floor fell silent for a few seconds. Conan strode over and yanked off the smiling mask from the cloaked man's face.

Underneath the mask was indeed Yusaku Kudo's face. He was grimacing in pain from Tang Ze's hold, sweat beading on his forehead.

"Ah! Dad! How could you..." Conan slapped his forehead in disbelief.

So that woman... Conan looked at the woman holding her waist. She pulled off the hood, and her fluffy, wavy long hair cascaded down, revealing Yukiko Kudo's beautiful face.

"Ah, you two!" Conan pressed his temples with a headache, looking at Yusaku Kudo, who was still on the floor and couldn't get up for a while, with half-moon eyes. "It was Dad's idea again, wasn't it!"

Conan thought for a moment and realized that his parents knew he had shrunk and had come back specifically to mess with him.

Tang Ze pulled off the hood covering his face and blinked innocently with a confused expression.

Conan looked furiously at his parents, who were still recovering from the painful blow, and didn't know how to explain to Tang Ze, who had purely offered his help with good intentions. He clenched and unclenched his fists, rolling his eyes and saying:

"It's hopeless, Tang Ze. Just call the police and have them arrested."

(òó) Thank you all for the monthly tickets! This child has tickets now, I'm touched!