10 PM.
Beika Town.
A small alley a few dozen meters from the Mouri Detective Agency.
Kurosawa Hoshino was taking this shortcut, carrying a bag of groceries.
"Today is the day Shinichi Kudo goes to the amusement park. He's probably shrunk by now."
"Finally, I've finally waited for this day."
Thinking to himself, Kurosawa Hoshino quickened his pace.
Just as he was about to exit the alley.
Suddenly.
A scene flashed in his mind.
It was a scene of him exiting the alley, being brutally struck on the back of the head with an iron rod. When he fell to the ground, the attacker hit him a few more times, and then he completely died.
"Hiss~"
"What kind of hatred, what kind of grudge is this?"
"Three times! I've been attacked three times in one month. Each time they were aiming to kill. As expected of the great stage of Beika, come if you have a tough life. If it weren't for my cheat, I would have been dead a month ago."
Kurosawa Hoshino complained inwardly, the scene kept replaying in his mind, but his steps did not stop. Subtly, he pulled out the collapsible baton he carried with him.
And so.
As usual, he boldly walked out of the alley and headed towards the Mouri Detective Agency not far away.
The next second.
"Whoosh~"
The sound of air being cut came from behind his head.
Kurosawa Hoshino was not flustered at all. As if rehearsed, he shifted his foot to the side, and the iron rod that was swung down missed its target.
"What?"
A startled sound rang out. Kurosawa Hoshino had no intention of stopping his movements. While dodging, he spun around abruptly, and the collapsible baton in his hand slammed hard into the person's face, making a dull thud.
"Ah—!"
Immediately, a scream echoed.
The man fell to the ground.
"You feel pain too, huh?"
Kurosawa Hoshino stepped forward, gave him another hard kick to the stomach, and used the momentum to kick the iron rod that had fallen to the ground far away. Then he stepped on the man's bleeding face, while pulling out his phone to dial the police, and asked coldly:
"What's the reason for attacking me?"
"You..."
"Never mind, no need to say it. The call went through."
Kurosawa Hoshino pressed down with his foot, making the other person let out another scream, and shouted into the phone:
"Officer Miwako, hurry up, I've been attacked again! I'm so scared!"
"..."
Miwako Sato on the other end of the phone was silent, and after a while, she said:
"Hoshino, are you really scared? You didn't beat someone half to death again, did you? Tell me the address, and don't lay a hand on the culprit again. Wait for me to handle it."
"Don't worry, Officer Miwako, I know what I'm doing."
Kurosawa Hoshino pressed down harder with his foot; the man's face was almost deformed from the pressure, and there were a few teeth on the ground beside him... Ten minutes later.
A red Mazda RX-7 sped up, skidded to a stop in front of Kurosawa Hoshino.
Miwako Sato got out of the car, and her good friend Yumi Miyamoto also got out.
"Hiss~" x2
The two looked at the scene, gasped, and faced with an innocent-looking Kurosawa Hoshino, they didn't know what to say.
They had been having a late-night snack, but as soon as they received Kurosawa Hoshino's call, they rushed over. After all, this wasn't the first time it had happened; counting this time, it was already the third time this month.
"Sigh..."
Miwako Sato sighed, glared at Kurosawa Hoshino, and walked over to the man tied up by the roadside. Looking at his blood-soaked face and terrified eyes, she asked helplessly:
"Tell me, why did you attack Hoshino?"
"Off... Officer... I didn't..."
"Hey, there's a camera over there." Kurosawa Hoshino pointed to the camera mounted on the utility pole not far away: "Whether you attacked me or not, whether it was self-defense on my part, will be clear at a glance."
The man fell silent, raised his head, stared fixedly at Kurosawa Hoshino, and said through gritted teeth:
"It's all you, it's all because of you that Kazumi rejected my confession, so I'm going to kill you."
"Wow, super juicy gossip!"
Yumi Miyamoto's eyes lit up, full of interest, waiting for the rest of the story.
Miwako Sato gently nudged her best friend, signaling her not to speak carelessly.
"What nonsense are you talking about? I don't even know you."
Kurosawa Hoshino looked at the blood-stained face in front of him, recalling the name "Kazumi" in his mind.
Suddenly, a thought flashed in his mind. He raised an eyebrow and asked:
"The Kazumi you're talking about, wouldn't it be Tsukamoto Kazumi, a third-year female student at Teitan High School? So you're the senior who confessed to her last week and got rejected? What's your name... what's your name..."
"Nitta Takeya. Bastard, you don't even remember my name." Nitta Takeya was trembling with anger.
"Wait."
Kurosawa Hoshino stroked his chin: "I'm not familiar with Senior Tsukamoto at all, how could I have affected your confession?"
"Because on the day I confessed, when you passed by on the sports field, Kazumi looked at you once, and then she rejected me. If you weren't there, she would definitely have said yes to me. I've been in the same class as her for three years, and we have a very good relationship. There's no way she would reject me. It's all because of you."
"..."
Kurosawa Hoshino thought of his previous two experiences and asked faintly: "So, just because Senior Tsukamoto looked at me, a passerby, you thought your failed confession was my fault, and so you wanted to kill me?"
"That's right."
"Well~"
Kurosawa Hoshino shrugged at the two female police officers, who already looked speechless.
The two women exchanged glances, not knowing what to say.
Miwako Sato rubbed her temples, stared at Kurosawa Hoshino, and said weakly:
"Hoshino, it's been three times now. The first time we met, you were attacked by an old lady because you blocked her way, causing her to miss out on discounted groceries at the supermarket, so she wanted to kill you for revenge."
"Yes."
"The second time, you met a drunk on the road. You moved aside for him, and he thought you looked down on him, so he also wanted to kill you."
"Mhm."
"Now this time, I'm wondering, do you have a knack for attracting hatred?"
"..."
Kurosawa Hoshino looked up at the night sky and said softly: "Officer Miwako, do you think there's a possibility that this city's style is just like this?"
"Impossible, absolutely impossible." Miwako Sato used a double negative.
"Hehe~"
Kurosawa Hoshino laughed, a laugh full of hidden meaning.
In this Conan world, there are all sorts of reasons for murder. He wasn't surprised at all. He had been attacked three times in one month; if he didn't have his cheat, he would have died three times already.
Just then.
A taxi drove over.
It stopped in front of them, and three people got out.
Kogoro Mouri, Ran, and a small boy wearing glasses.
"You brat, you were attacked again?" Kogoro Mouri came over, looked at the scene, and offered a deduction.
"Alright, you all chat. I'll take the person back first." Miwako Sato stopped talking nonsense, picked up Nitta Takeya from the ground, put him in her car, and went back to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department with her best friend.