Stay away from Conan.

I have to admit, I was a little too hasty...

Thus, Matsumoto Kiyonaga thought to himself, his desire to know whether Conan and Kudo Shinichi were the same person was growing impatient.

After all, as the person who broke into the Kudo residence, "Matsumoto Kiyonaga" knew very well how many surveillance devices were installed around the mansion.

Therefore, if Shinichi Kudo really did come back, he would definitely have been captured on the surveillance footage here.

While it might seem odd to directly ask Professor Agasa for surveillance footage so abruptly, ultimately, given the police's authority, requesting surveillance from relevant parties to solve a case is not inappropriate. Therefore, after careful consideration, "Matsumoto Kiyonaga" still spoke those words.

After all, time is running out for me. As for the case itself, it's certain that the last chance to solve it will be on Qixi Festival. That means if I want to do anything more, I have to do it before that time.

If, before that point, one cannot even be certain whether Shinichi Kudo and Conan are the same person, then it would be difficult to take targeted action.

If we can now conclude that Shinichi Kudo and Conan are not the same person, and that Shinichi Kudo is already investigating this incident, then I should temporarily focus my attention on Shinichi Kudo.

After all, once it's confirmed that Shinichi Kudo is still alive, it naturally proves that Gin made a serious mistake.

In this way, one can achieve one's original goal.

And so, after "Matsumoto Kiyonaga" finished speaking, Dr. Agasa clearly had no reason to refuse, so he immediately led Inspector Megure and "Matsumoto Kiyonaga" into the house, retrieved the nearby surveillance footage from the computer for them to see, and even asked them a question:
"If needed, the surveillance footage can be provided to you right now."

Inspector Megure nodded naturally and said:
"Then trouble you."

After saying that, Professor Agasa took out the disc containing the video recording and handed it to Inspector Megure. After that, the two of them took the video and left, leaving only Professor Agasa and Conan in the mansion.

And so, after Professor Agasa confirmed through the surveillance footage that Inspector Megure and the others had indeed left, he finally breathed a sigh of relief, slumped into his chair as if he had just experienced a terrifying ordeal. Then he turned to Conan beside him and asked:

"so……"

But before Professor Agasa could finish speaking, Conan beside him put a finger to his lips, signaling Professor Agasa to be quiet.

Then, he looked around and finally found a listening device under the table in the hall.

Upon seeing this thing, Professor Agasa was immediately shocked. He belatedly realized that his sudden outburst had been risky, and quickly covered his mouth as if to make amends.

However, Conan then spoke up:

"Alright, Doctor, what about those new games you mentioned? I haven't had enough of them yet!"

"Ah... okay! The new game only has some content completed, it's not completely finished yet! Since you want to play, then let you try it out first..." Professor Agasa agreed, seeing Conan walk over to him, gesturing for him to give up the computer, and then Conan started typing on the computer:
"It's obvious that the undercover agent within the police force is none other than Manager Matsumoto!"

After writing this, seeing Professor Agasa's utterly shocked and bewildered expression, Conan deleted the previous content and retyped:
"No need to make a fuss, everything is still within the plan."

……

Indeed, everything was within Gao Yuan's grand plan—

As the police report, delivered by Sato Miwako and her colleagues, revealed the presence of Shinichi Kudo and his investigation into the incident to their superiors, Matsumoto Kiyonaga learned of Shinichi Kudo's appearance. This was intended to shake Matsumoto's belief that Shinichi Kudo was actually Conan in his shrunken form.

After all, information from this internal police channel is highly credible, no matter what.

If the other party insists on their initial judgment, they will definitely need to verify Conan and Shinichi Kudo's identities. In that case, there will have to be a "Conan" to face the possible verification from "Kiyoshi Matsumoto".

In this way, having Ai Haibara impersonate "Conan" and stay at Professor Agasa's house beforehand was to prevent such a situation from happening. Moreover, Takato had also prepared a script for Professor Agasa in advance.

Once the police approach Conan under the pretext of investigating the situation, he can take the opportunity to shift the topic to the fact that Kudo's house has also been broken into, and eventually find a way to hand over the nearby surveillance footage to the police for inspection.

The purpose of doing this was not to find a way to help the police investigate the clues about the intrusion into the Kudo residence, but to let Ireland see the surveillance footage of Shinichi Kudo's return and the scene of Conan and Shinichi Kudo appearing together.

Therefore, once all this is done, and Ireland learns that Shinichi Kudo and Conan are not the same person, their actions will inevitably shift directly towards Shinichi Kudo.

After all, the core purpose of this operation in Ireland was to prove that Shinichi Kudo was still alive, thereby demonstrating Gin's mistake. Therefore, capturing Shinichi Kudo directly to prove that he was still alive was the most important thing. As for the rest, such as taking action against those around Shinichi Kudo, the other party was certainly not in a hurry.

However, it's hard to say for sure. But since the other party is still willing to wear the "Matsumoto Kiyonaga" persona, things aren't completely out of control yet. Once the other party chooses to directly tear off the mask, then Takato's side doesn't intend to continue playing along.

Once the kidnapping of the administrator and the replacement of his identity are exposed, it's hard to say what will ultimately happen to the forces involved.

Thus, a backup plan for a final, complete breakdown in relations has been prepared. Currently, everything is proceeding as planned by Takato. The remaining question is how things will unfold after Mizutani Kosuke appears on Tanabata Day…

……

Time flies. Although the details of the Kyoto fire filled in the gaps in the killer's motive and narrowed down the range of suspects, the prime suspect, Kosuke Mizutani, was not discovered by the police until Tanabata.

During this period, the police investigations made no real progress. They could only find that Shinichi Kudo was always one step ahead of the police in their investigations, but they didn't know why Shinichi Kudo hadn't contacted the police.

And so it went, until the day of Qixi Festival... (End of Chapter)