"Why do you keep turning to stare at me…?"
After school, Conan eyed the new transfer student walking ahead, puzzled.
During class, he'd noticed she barely paid attention to the teacher, didn't take notes, but glanced at him every so often.
What's her deal…?
"Haibara-san!"
Ayumi called out to Ai. "Wanna walk home together?"
"No need. Someone's picking me up," Ai said, glancing at her with a blank expression before continuing on her own.
"Don't bother with her. What's with that attitude?"
Sure, the new girl was cute, but Genta couldn't stand her icy demeanor.
"But…" Ayumi hesitated, then hurried to Ai's side.
"You just moved to Beika Town, right?"
"We can walk home together from now on, so you won't need to trouble anyone to pick you up."
Ayumi and Mitsuhiko kept trying.
"The ride's already paid for. Wouldn't it be a waste not to use it?" Ai said, turning to a certain detective with a faint smile.
Seeing the cold little miss smile at him after brushing off the others, Conan felt his face flush.
Kids these days are way too mature…
The five reached the shoe lockers to swap into outdoor shoes.
"Junior Detective League?"
"That's you guys?" Ai asked, pulling out a slightly childish pair of shoes, sighing inwardly, and glancing at the trio.
"Yeah! We work day and night solving cases people ask us to handle," Mitsuhiko said with a grin, puffing himself up.
"Wanna join us, Haibara-san?" Ayumi offered.
"Is Edogawa-kun part of it?" Ai asked, looking at Conan.
"Yup, but this guy's basically my underling," Genta, the self-proclaimed leader, said, ruffling Conan's hair.
"Genta's shoe locker is our mailbox!" Ayumi pointed at a shabby handwritten note on the locker.
Genta found a request letter inside his shoe, and with Conan and Mitsuhiko, he excitedly rushed back toward the classroom.
"It's come to this, huh…" Ai muttered, watching a certain someone's back, frowning.
All day, she'd seen no cracks in this high school detective's act.
He really seemed like a first-grader.
Even forming a little gang with his classmates.
Ai was starting to get why her sister said he should've been an actor, not a detective.
"Get along with your classmates, Ai~"
Recalling her sister's words at the school gate, Ai felt a headache coming on.
She wanted to keep her distance from everyone, avoid any attachments.
But…
"Haibara-san, come on!"
"The client's waiting in Class 1-A!" Ayumi called, waving to the pensive Ai.
…
"Why aren't they out yet???" Tsuneo muttered, parked in his red pickup not far from Teitan Elementary, watching kids stream out of the school.
Akemi had prepared a feast as "fare" for the ride, so he had no choice but to play driver.
Ring, ring!
His phone buzzed.
Tsuneo fished it out of his tool bag and answered.
"Hey, Tsuneo, old pal?"
"Officer Megure?" Tsuneo recognized the voice and nickname.
"It's me. We've got a situation. You need to come to the scene immediately," Megure said, his voice low.
"Me?" Tsuneo blinked, confused.
He wasn't the hotshot Sleeping Kogoro or some high school detective. Sure, he'd been involved in a few cases, but he wasn't exactly backup material.
"That's right. Because you're a suspect in this case!" Megure said, glancing at the female corpse on the study floor.
"…"
Tsuneo hung up, still reeling.
How'd an honest, hardworking repairman like him end up a suspect?
…
"Mr. Asakawa, where were you around 10 a.m. today?" Officer Miwako Sato, in a sharp suit and white gloves, asked, jotting notes.
True to her reputation as the flower of the Tokyo PD, her short hair did nothing to dim her charm.
The disheveled middle-aged man on the couch adjusted his glasses, his face heavy with grief. "I was at the company all night working, crashed in the office, and wasn't even awake at 10."
Sato nodded, planning to have colleagues verify, and continued, "Besides the repairman, do you know who else was scheduled to come to the house today?"
"Keiko's health wasn't great, so cleaning the house was tough for her. Besides the repairman for the gas stove, a cleaning service was probably coming too."
Mr. Asakawa, reeling from his wife's death, looked utterly drained, wiping tears from his eyes.
Sato scanned the room and stepped away to report to Officer Megure.
…
Yoichi Asakawa returned home from work at 3 p.m. and found his wife in the second-floor study, dead from a head injury.
After he called the police, they arrived and quickly found a certain repairman's business card by the phone…
…
Tsuneo, tool bag slung over his shoulder, frowned as he identified himself and entered the Asakawa residence.
Such a kind woman, gone just like that.
Mr. Asakawa was always busy with work, and with Mrs. Asakawa's lung condition, she relied on Tsuneo to fix anything broken. She was a regular client.
One of the few normal ones, at that.
Beika Town really was cursed…
"What time did you arrive here today?" Officer Sato asked, sizing up the repairman she'd heard about from Takagi and Chiba, pulling out her notebook.
First time meeting him, and he's a suspect.
"I got the call around 8 a.m., arrived about 8:30, fixed the gas stove in maybe twenty minutes, and left," Tsuneo said, glancing at the forensic team bustling upstairs.
"Anyone who can confirm that?" Sato asked.
"Yeah, my schedule was packed this morning," Tsuneo said, nodding, and laid out his movements honestly.
"Got it. Please wait here," Sato said, nodding before stepping away.
Though the estimated time of death was around 10 a.m., and a passerby reported hearing noises from the Asakawa's second floor, routine checks were still necessary.
Tsuneo thought for a moment and called Conan.
"I'm caught up in a case."
"Huh?" Conan, at a classmate's house investigating their brother's disappearance, was thrown by Tsuneo's out-of-the-blue comment.
(End of Chapter)
---------------------------------------------------------
🚀 Want more?
📖 On Patreon you can read 10+ chapters ahead, plus there will be exclusive stories available only there.
💖 If you'd like to support me, check it out: patreon.com/DaoistRoeoNQ
🔓 Patreon will always stay ahead of the public release — and some stories won't be published anywhere else.
✨ All support is completely optional — even if you don't join, I'm still grateful to have you here reading!