Chapter 163: Be Careful
Mountain Villa - Chaos
Conan scrambled to his feet beside the sofa, shaking his head vigorously to clear it.
His vision, which had just returned to normal after being pressed down by Natsukawa, was blurring again.
His gaze swept over the pool of blood around Hamano Toshiya, and Conan, his face grim, ran toward the entrance. Tanaka Kikue is far too arrogant—actually killing someone right in front of me! This humiliation has completely ignited my competitive spirit.
Anya glanced at her father, then at Conan running away. She hesitated for two seconds before making a decision, stealthily following Conan.
Natsukawa's attention was entirely focused on the window and Hamano Toshiya. He didn't notice anything amiss until he heard the click of the front door opening. He suddenly realized his beloved daughter had run off.
The scene was chaotic—everyone was lying on the floor in confusion. Only Anya and Conan were missing.
Natsukawa took a deep breath, feeling the veins throbbing on his forehead. Combined with the sound of the door opening, it was obvious what Conan and Anya had gone to do.
That damned Conan! He actually took my daughter to chase after a murderer who has a crossbow!
Natsukawa jumped up and ran toward the door.
Kaito called after him, but Natsukawa didn't respond and disappeared in a flash.
Kaito glanced down at Hamano Toshiya in his arms again. Hamano's pupils were dilating, and his previously raised arm had fallen limply. It seems he can't be saved.
Kaito called over the just-recovering Aragoshi to take his place, then quickly chased after Natsukawa.
He'd witnessed Natsukawa's expression—the man had been clearly furious. Kaito feared that if he was too late, Sukama and Tanaka Kikue would be killed by Natsukawa.
Taking lives without legal trial goes against my principles. I have to stop him.
Natsukawa didn't hear Kaito's thoughts—otherwise, he would have sneered. What right does a notorious phantom thief constantly pursued by the police have to criticize me? We're both criminals in the eyes of the law.
Outside - The Snowy Forest
In the snow-covered landscape, several figures crossed the clearing in front of the villa and entered the forest.
Natsukawa followed the footprints in the snow, moving with incredible speed. He soon found Conan and Anya.
The two children's cheeks were red from the cold, but they continued their pursuit without stopping.
Without hesitation, Natsukawa scooped up both children, bringing their chase to an abrupt halt.
"Uncle Natsukawa, let me go! If we don't catch them now, they'll escape!"
Conan, like a sulking child, twisted and turned, but Natsukawa gave him no chance, holding both children securely in his arms.
"Papa..." Anya whispered, obediently remaining still.
Her father's angry expression was too obvious—she couldn't help but be afraid.
"You dare talk back!" Natsukawa snorted coldly and continued, "Don't run around. I'll go after them. The suspension bridge is burned down—there's no way off this mountain now. They can't escape."
Natsukawa pointed at Conan's nose and instructed firmly, "Take Anya back the way you came. Don't run around, or I'll tell Uncle Mouri, and you can forget about following Ran out in the future!"
His fierce expression immediately frightened Conan into compliance.
Conan nodded in agreement. Indeed, as Natsukawa said, with the suspension bridge burned down, Sukama and Tanaka Kikue had no escape route. Even if they ran, they couldn't leave this mountain.
Moreover, with Uncle Natsukawa's skills, those two shouldn't be a match for him.
"I understand." Conan nodded and watched as Natsukawa pursued the culprits.
After the two children stopped, they suddenly realized how cold it was outside and walked shivering back toward the villa.
Soon, a surprisingly agile fat man appeared before them.
The reason for the description was that Doi Takaki, despite weighing two hundred pounds, ran with the lightness of a feather. He seemed to glide over the fluffy snow with no resistance. His speed was clearly not much slower than Natsukawa's.
"Hey—"
Conan tried to greet him, but Kaito completely ignored him, simply rushing past.
Only a gust of cold wind stung Conan's face.
"So fast!" Conan muttered, watching Doi Takaki's departing figure. A strange feeling grew stronger in his heart. Something's wrong. This Doi Takaki is very strange.
A few seconds later, Conan suddenly frowned, looking down to examine the footprints left by Doi Takaki.
"Conan-kun, what are you doing? What's so interesting about footprints?"
Seeing that Conan ignored her, Anya also squatted down, and the two children stared at the footprints for a long moment.
"I see!"
After a long pause, Conan gathered his thoughts, and everything suddenly became clear.
He finally realized what was wrong with Doi Takaki.
His running speed was too fast. Despite weighing over 200 pounds, he seemed incredibly light. His footprints were similar to Natsukawa's—they didn't resemble the footprints of a 200-pound person at all.
The depth of the footprints is seriously inconsistent with his weight!
Then there was the name Doi Takaki itself.
This name was also very problematic.
He'd previously only thought it was an unusual name, but now he suddenly realized it might be a pseudonym—like Edogawa Conan.
For example, if you rearrange the katakana characters of "Doi Takaki" (怪盗キッド in Japanese), it becomes "Kaitou Kid"!
Conan turned and gave Anya a scrutinizing look.
Anya had been insisting on taking a picture with Doi Takaki from the very beginning. Did she already know?
But how did she know? Did Uncle Natsukawa tell her?
Perhaps Uncle Natsukawa had already discovered that Doi Takaki was suspicious through the chat room.
There's another possibility!
He'd seen Natsukawa and Doi Takaki together several times today. There was a chance that Natsukawa knew Kaitou Kid.
No...
Conan reconsidered and dismissed the idea. Back during the Black Star heist, Natsukawa had directly confronted Kaitou Kid. They probably didn't know each other, and even if they did, they shouldn't have been standing around talking casually.
Perhaps their conversations today were simply because they had things to discuss from the chat room.
"Anya-chan, why did you want to take a picture with Doi-san when we first arrived at the villa?"
Conan decided to ask Anya directly. This little girl looks so innocent and cute—it should be easy to get information out of her.
"Because I'm going to show the photo to Genta-kun. If he keeps eating eel rice bowls, he'll look like this in ten years."
Anya had already prepared an excuse. "You also think Takaki-niisan is chubby, right? Go back and help me convince Genta-kun. He'd definitely be a potential star if he lost weight!"
"..."
Conan rolled his eyes and shook his head speechlessly. It seems they just had things to discuss from the chat room, so they chatted when they met offline.
I wonder what Uncle Natsukawa would think if he knew that Doi Takaki was actually Kid.
It was amusing to think that he'd become online friends with the phantom thief who'd tried to rob him.
However, the thought of Kaitou Kid being here also made Conan pause in his steps back to the villa, his heart pounding with excitement.
I really want to expose Kaitou Kid's identity head-on.
Why would a phantom thief join a magic enthusiasts' chat room and know Harui Fuden? Maybe this detail could reveal Kid's true identity.
Conan pondered for a moment, considering that the phantom thief's methods were always related to magic performances. Could this mean Kid's public identity is that of a magician?
If so, perhaps he could get some information from Tanaka Kikue. Maybe Harui Fuden had left some clues about Kaitou Kid's true identity.
"Anya-chan, I'm a little worried about you going back to the villa alone. I'll escort you there." Conan pulled two palm-sized chocolate bars from his pocket, which he'd prepared in advance.
Knowing that Anya would be coming along, he'd prepared her favorite sweets.
This couldn't be more perfect.
Anya: ...
What do you take me for? You think you can bribe me with two palm-sized chocolate bars? I'm going with you. As the leader of the Detective Boys, I won't abandon any member.
Conan silently pulled a bag of shelled peanuts from another pocket.
"Be careful out there."
"..."
Anya happily accepted the bribe. It's too cold outside anyway, and I don't want to brave the wind. Besides, I've already taken a picture of Doi Takaki. As long as this case makes the news, I can show off both the newspaper and my photo with Kaitou Kid at school.
(End of Chapter)
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