This Time, He Really Burst Out the Door

"I'm not going."

"Why not?! Tangze, help me out!"

"How many times has this been now?" Tangze switched the phone to his other ear, pinning it with his shoulder as he picked up his textbook again. "Who was it that made me only get two lines of homework done?"

"Ahahaha..." Conan's awkward childish laugh came through the receiver.

Teitan High School was not the typical college-prep school, and the homework load was actually manageable. Unfortunately, Tangze had barely written a few words yesterday before the Kudo family came over to stir up trouble. He had burst out the door without even clearing his desk, prompting the two shop clerks to call him one after another to ask what had happened.

"Besides, aren't you relying on me a little too much?" Tangze spun his pen and narrowed his eyes. "Why do I get the feeling you're not the type to bring friends along when you take action? Don't tell me you're using this to stake your claim..."

The two times Conan had proactively asked Tangze for help had both been after his identity was exposed, when something threatened the relationship between Ran Mouri and Shinichi Kudo.

Conan was known for being stubbornly reckless. If he had not been so hardheaded and run off alone to meddle in things, this manga would never have had a chance to begin. It was truly unusual for him to keep asking Tangze for help.

Tangze judged that Conan probably did have some intention of emphasizing that a friend's girlfriend was off-limits. After all, Tangze was both Ran Mouri's neighbor and classmate. He was likely to be one of the handsome guys she would interact with most in the future. But if Tangze was conscious of his good friend's feelings for Ran Mouri, there naturally would be no chance for those feelings to change.

"How could that be?! You're overthinking it!" Conan was glad they were talking over the phone. Otherwise, with Tangze's sharp eyes, his guilty conscience would have been exposed in a second. "You just happen to live nearby, so it's convenient..."

Tangze decisively named his price. He could not let Conan keep freeloading off him. "How about this? You do two of my assignments, and I'll help you tail her."

Conan was so stunned by the absurdity that he blurted out, "Huh? You want me, an elementary schooler, to do homework for you, a high schooler?!"

"Only your body got smaller, not your brain. This would have been your homework anyway, wouldn't it? Now you're emphasizing that you're an elementary schooler? Since when did elementary schoolers concern themselves with which high schoolers other people are dating?" Tangze showed no embarrassment whatsoever as he added, "Who was it that made it so I could only start writing today, and now clearly won't be able to finish again?"

"I haven't finished my homework either..."

"Then I can help you write yours too." Tangze felt no psychological burden at all.

Could the amount of high school homework and elementary school homework even be compared?! When Conan imagined high schoolers and elementary schoolers swapping assignments, his temples began to throb. It was too bizarre.

But he had no room to negotiate. This was a complete seller's market.

"...I'm not doing English." He made one last struggle.

"It's fine, I've finished English." Tangze spoke briskly as he gathered the books on his desk. "Wait at the intersection. I'll be there soon."

"Ran is dressed rather formally today." Tangze followed far behind Ran Mouri with Conan and offered his assessment.

Ran Mouri had deliberately put on a full dress-and-coat outfit today. She looked elegant and far more mature than usual, completely unlike her normal style.

Conan nodded mournfully. "She said she was 'going out to see Shinichi,' too. Hmph. She never dresses up specially when she goes out with me."

Tangze patted Conan and offered an insincere consolation. "Investigating affairs and mistresses is an essential skill for every private detective. Think of it as professional training."

"Who wants to train in that kind of thing?!" Conan slapped his hand away. "I-I'm just worried she might meet someone unreliable, okay?!"

Tangze did not expose his stubborn denial and merely grinned in delight at his misfortune.

The moment Tangze heard Conan's call, he knew which part this was. Ran Mouri had said she was going to see someone "very important" and told Conan she was going on a date with Shinichi Kudo. Shinichi Kudo himself, now shrunk into a child, was struck as if by lightning and insisted on following her.

But Ran Mouri was actually going out to meet her mother, Eri Kisaki. Since Kogoro Mouri and Eri Kisaki had been separated for a long time, Ran Mouri could not bring herself to say it outright and found an excuse to slip out of the house.

Still, that did not stop Tangze from enjoying Conan's predicament.

"If Ran spots us later, say you wanted to get coffee. Don't let anything slip," Conan muttered as he laid out the plan. "It'd be best if you could stick a listening device on her table..."

"Are Professor Agasa's little detective gadgets meant to be used for invading people's privacy like this?" Tangze wanted to say more, but under Conan's stare, he surrendered and raised his hands. "Fine, fine, fine. I'll put one there for you."

Like Ran Mouri when she saw "Shinichi's girlfriend," Conan was utterly unreasonable whenever his rival radar was triggered. Tangze had no desire to argue with jealous people. If Conan said it was necessary, then it was necessary.

Tangze and Conan waited for a while before entering the café Ran Mouri had gone into. While Ran Mouri lowered her head to look over the menu, they passed by her table. With a turn of his wrist, Tangze lightly tossed a listening device into the decorative flowers on the table. Then, as though nothing had happened, he pulled Conan to a seat diagonally across from her, where they could watch both Ran Mouri's table and anyone entering the café.

Conan had his radar fully activated, vigilantly scanning the area. Whenever the door opened and the bell jingled, he immediately turned to inspect whoever came in.

An ordinary young man, clumsy-looking and unattractive. Ran could never be interested in someone at that level.

A scruffy middle-aged man was impossible too. Skip.

This young long-haired man looked decent enough, but he was way too greasy and seemed frivolous. Ah, he was walking toward Ran! Could he be...?! Oh, it seemed he was only hitting on her. No, hitting on her was unacceptable too!

Invisible flames burned behind Conan. Tangze ordered himself a latte. He had little interest in an elementary schooler's romantic troubles, and remembering that this incident also came with a murder case, he stood up and said, "I'm going to the restroom. Good luck."

Conan's attention was nowhere near Tangze. It was unclear whether he had even heard him, as he continued watching Ran Mouri's movements without turning his head.

The café's restroom consisted of fully enclosed private stalls, with no separation between men's and women's facilities.

Tangze still remembered the method behind this case. The victim was stabbed to death outside first, then thrown through the gap between the door and the ceiling into one of the stalls.

So as long as the murder had not yet happened, lingering around outside the restroom should prevent the case from occurring.

Tangze entered and found no blood seeping out from beneath any of the doors, which eased him slightly.

Then he reconsidered. That was not necessarily safe either. It would take time for blood to flow outside, so he should try pushing each stall door.

When he reached the third door, Tangze noticed that the indicator beside the lock was not set to occupied, yet the door would not budge, as though something heavy was bracing it from behind. He could not help sighing.

The Grim Reaper aura seemed to have grown stronger. Or perhaps, in some unseen way, detective manga possessed a dignity of its own and could not let Tangze interrupt murder cases again and again. He thought he had arrived in time, but the person was still stone dead...

Fine. He would at least give the door a symbolic push. If no blood came out, calling the police directly would make people think he was insane.

"Is anyone in there?" Tangze knocked politely, grasped the handle, then politely pushed and pulled twice with some force.

Whether Tangze's strength had suddenly increased so much that he failed to control it, or the door had simply been on the verge of falling apart, unable to endure any further abuse, its hinges came straight off the frame after that push and pull.

A female corpse with wide-open eyes and a face frozen in terror fell out of the stall, crashing directly into Tangze's shin.

The stall walls were covered in sprayed blood. The victim's freely flowing blood had not yet clotted, and as the body fell backward, blood spattered onto Tangze's chin. A small, bloodstained dagger also dropped beside his feet.

Tangze, holding the entire door in his hands: "..."

"Ahhh—!!" Before Tangze could react, a shrill scream came from the entrance. The long-haired man who had entered to use the restroom was so horrified by the bloody scene that he collapsed onto the floor, his legs trembling. "Murder! There's been a murder!!!"

Tangze looked at the door he was holding, then at the corpse leaning against his leg in a distinctly unrestful state.

What was this supposed to mean? Did he really have to be a suspect for once?