Chapter 87: This is Outrageous!
The night stretched on endlessly, and apart from Ran sleeping peacefully, no one else could rest.
Anya struggled desperately to pry open the stubborn door bolt.
Conan secretly interrogated the elderly police officer at the village station about the circumstances surrounding Keiji Aso's death twelve years ago.
The officer, clearly suffering from chronic insomnia, was wide awake despite the late hour. He revealed considerable information to Conan, who was skillfully impersonating Kogoro Mouri's voice over the phone.
Meanwhile, Kogoro Mouri and Inspector Megure had just returned to the community center from their mountain investigation. The body had been too severely mangled for proper examination. Even Dr. Asai Narumi couldn't definitively confirm whether there were any other significant wounds besides the decapitation. A professional forensic autopsy would be absolutely necessary to draw any meaningful conclusions.
And Natsukawa was still perched motionlessly in a treetop, essentially cosplaying as an extremely patient owl.
Five full minutes had passed since the Thorn Princess had entered the Kawashima residence.
Natsukawa was growing increasingly restless, genuinely wanting to slip inside and investigate the situation himself.
However, he hadn't brought any proper disguises with him tonight. Appearing before the legendary Thorn Princess in his current state would undoubtedly expose his true identity.
Another five agonizing minutes crawled by.
Suddenly, the lights blazing in the second-floor study dimmed completely, plunging the entire house into absolute darkness.
Has she made her move?
Natsukawa silently cocked his pistol, carefully attached the suppressor, and released the safety—just in case the situation escalated.
As expected, the Thorn Princess soon emerged gracefully from behind the estate wall.
She'd entered carrying her distinctive golden stiletto weapons, but now reappeared hauling an enormous suitcase.
"Hmm?"
Natsukawa stared intently at the suspicious luggage.
What could possibly be inside that requires such a massive suitcase?
Could it be Kawashima Hideo's corpse?
If so, then the Thorn Princess must have dealt with Kuroiwa Tatsuji earlier too, right?
Thinking back carefully, it was absolutely possible.
The Thorn Princess was legendarily cruel toward the most heinous criminals. Kuroiwa Tatsuji's horrific death—the excessive bleeding, the brutal dismemberment—perfectly fit her documented methodology for dealing with extreme offenders.
Strange... who hired her for this job?
Asai Narumi? That seems highly unlikely.
She'd already entrusted the matter to Uncle Mouri's investigation and seemed prepared to handle revenge personally. There was absolutely no logical reason to simultaneously hire the Thorn Princess. It didn't make any sense.
So the assassinations of Kuroiwa Tatsuji and Kawashima Hideo were commissioned by someone else entirely!
But who?
After considerable thought, Natsukawa could only think of one viable candidate: Shimizu Masato.
Although this guy was actively campaigning for village chief, his poll numbers were pathetically low. Without substantial financial backing, not only would nobody work for him, but even vengeful spirits wouldn't bother helping.
Now that both leading candidates were conveniently dead, he was undeniably the primary beneficiary.
The Thorn Princess was moving further and further away. After a moment's hesitation, Natsukawa decided to follow her.
He quickly tore a strip of fabric from his sleeve and tied it across his face to conceal his features, then retrieved sunglasses from his pocket and put them on.
This should be sufficient disguise, right?
Thinking about it logically, even Kaitou Kid's own father-in-law couldn't recognize him after he simply put on a hat and monocle. This should definitely be enough for me, right?
The Thorn Princess, despite being a woman, displayed absolutely remarkable stamina—carrying that enormous suitcase through dense forest terrain while somehow maintaining incredible speed.
Natsukawa followed at a careful distance, using the scattered moonlight and thick tree cover to remain concealed.
"This direction?"
If he wasn't completely mistaken, this was the exact route leading to the cliff face. Earlier during the day, Foreman Nakamasa had led them along this precise path.
Is this assassin planning to dump another body off the cliff?
Damn, no wonder governments worldwide despise her. Isn't this blatantly provoking law enforcement?
Where did she go?
After navigating around a massive boulder, Natsukawa completely lost sight of the Thorn Princess.
Has she discovered I'm tailing her?
Natsukawa frowned deeply, raising his pistol halfway, and slowly advanced forward with extreme caution.
A sudden gust of wind swept directly across his face. Natsukawa narrowly dodged the vicious attack, stumbling several steps backward before carefully examining the area ahead.
I've definitely been discovered.
Natsukawa released a long sigh, straightened the slightly askew black cloth covering his face, and then asked directly, "Who hired you, Thorn Princess?"
His eyes were deadly serious as he carefully studied her appearance.
In all the classified intelligence records, the Thorn Princess was only ever described in terms of distinctive clothing and body measurements. Her actual facial features remained completely blank. Supposedly, no one had ever seen her face and lived to report it.
And now, he was seeing it clearly.
A delicate, almost aristocratic face. Gorgeous, elegant attire. Bright crimson lips. And those distinctive dark red eyes—exactly like Yor's.
Wait, why did I immediately think of Yor?
Uh...
Now that I think about it more carefully, the Thorn Princess and Yor actually seem—somewhat similar in appearance.
But their personalities are absolutely worlds apart.
Yor was somewhat naturally airheaded, adorably cute and innocent. Aside from her catastrophically terrible cooking, her voice was incredibly gentle and soothing.
The Thorn Princess radiated nothing but cold, lethal aloofness. To describe her more accurately—utterly cold-blooded and merciless.
One was a respected tactical combat instructor for the Metropolitan Police Department. The other was a feared killer operating in the criminal underworld. Their professional styles were completely incompatible.
Physical resemblance isn't particularly strange in this world anyway.
There were far too many similar-looking characters throughout Gosho Aoyama's manga universe. It seemed to have become a defining characteristic of Detective Conan's art style, so it wasn't particularly unbelievable.
Therefore, Natsukawa didn't dwell on the coincidence any further.
However, it did serve as a helpful reminder to purchase some cold medicine for Yor when he returned to the guesthouse.
While Natsukawa was lost in these thoughts, the Thorn Princess remained completely silent, her cold, calculating eyes fixed unwaveringly upon him.
Her direct, unwavering gaze felt deeply unsettling.
The next moment, an overwhelming wave of pure killing intent crashed down upon Natsukawa like a crushing tidal wave.
The surging bloodlust stirred a gentle night breeze around them. The salty smell of the nearby ocean made Natsukawa's nose wrinkle slightly.
But it was merely a slight frown. Such intimidation tactics might work effectively on ordinary civilians, but they had virtually no psychological effect on him whatsoever.
The Thorn Princess clearly sensed that her killing intent was completely ineffective. She suddenly stomped her foot with tremendous force, creating a deep crater in the ground, and launched herself upward with explosive power.
At that precise moment, the moon finally broke free from the obscuring clouds and emerged brilliantly, perfectly backlit against the leaping Thorn Princess.
Beautiful and lethally aloof.
Without hesitation, Natsukawa raised his pistol and fired. Bullets flew from the suppressed barrel, aimed directly at the Thorn Princess's center mass.
Clang clang clang.
The metallic sounds rang out continuously. Natsukawa rolled away from his position just as a golden stiletto embedded itself three inches deep into the exact spot where he'd been standing.
Damn it!
Following in the legendary footsteps of Ishikawa Goemon splitting bullets with his sword and Kyogoku Makoto catching bullets bare-handed, yet another superhuman who could deflect gunfire had appeared.
Frank's supposedly comprehensive intelligence report never once mentioned that the Thorn Princess could slice bullets mid-flight. This was absolutely outrageous.
Natsukawa hastily pushed up his sunglasses, which had nearly fallen off during his evasive roll, and suddenly took another step backward—narrowly dodging a second golden stiletto.
What kind of material are those weapons made from? They clearly have no sharpened blade edge, yet they can slice through bullets like paper.
I should have brought my Desert Eagle. That hand cannon is considerably more powerful than this standard M9.
Natsukawa mentally cursed himself, frustrated by how many ridiculously overpowered hidden characters Aoyama had concealed throughout his manga universe.
But in a life-or-death fight, every single move was potentially lethal. He didn't have the luxury of cursing Aoyama any further.
The Thorn Princess, having retrieved her golden stilettos, charged directly toward him with her impossibly long legs covering ground at superhuman speed.
Damn it!
Natsukawa fired several more desperate shots. The only tangible effect was creating additional metallic clanging sounds that echoed through the otherwise silent forest.
Out of ammunition.
The relentless attack continued without pause. Natsukawa had absolutely no opportunity to reload his weapon.
Fine then. Close combat it is.
His now-useless pistol transformed into an improvised melee weapon. He swung it with tremendous force, generating a sharp whistling sound as it collided powerfully against the golden stiletto.
CRACK!
The pistol's frame bent and deformed catastrophically on impact. Its barrel twisted into a completely useless shape, leaving Natsukawa genuinely impressed despite the dire situation.
Holy shit, she's incredibly strong! What kind of man could possibly handle a woman with this kind of power? Her poor husband must live in constant terror.
Well, my close-quarters combat skills are clearly insufficient, and the weapon disparity is far too severe. I'd better rely on my brain instead.
A true gentleman uses eloquent words, not barbaric fists.
"I'm not a bad person! Why are you attacking me?" Natsukawa protested loudly.
"Good people wouldn't know my codename is 'Thorn Princess.' Good people wouldn't be carrying loaded firearms. And they certainly wouldn't be staying up all night following me through the forest," the Thorn Princess finally spoke, her voice surprisingly clear and melodious.
Such a lovely, elegant voice. What an absolute waste to give it to a professional assassin.
"I was merely passing through the area! Besides, I have a completely legitimate gun license. Isn't it perfectly normal for a licensed individual to carry a firearm? If you don't believe me, come back to my residence with me. I left my official license at home and forgot to bring it with me tonight. I'll gladly show it to you when we return."
Seeing the Thorn Princess remain completely silent and unconvinced, Natsukawa stared directly at her and continued desperately, "Actually, I came here tonight specifically to kill Kawashima myself. His illegal deal with Kuroiwa Tatsuji was absolutely inhuman—tearing countless innocent families apart for profit."
"I originally intended to be a righteous messenger of justice and eliminate them all personally, but you beat me to it."
"I feel like you're blatantly lying to me right now."
(End of Chapter 87)
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