Daily Spy Life in the Detective Conan World

Chapter 286 A Music Box Bought for 10 Billion (5k)

It was sunny on March 8.

Osaka Station.

"Ugh, it's really crowded!" Kogoro Mouri said helplessly. If it weren't for the fact that the Metropolitan Police Department had sent out Ginzo Nakamori this time, he would have come with the Metropolitan Police Department.

“But riding in the car is really fun,” Anya said with a smile that revealed her crescent-shaped eyes.

Kogoro Mouri looked disgusted. "And why did you let those two brats come along? It's such a dangerous thing."

“The Phantom Thief Kid has never killed an ordinary person.”

"You brat, did I ask you to speak?" Kogoro Mouri immediately threw a punch.

Since Anya couldn't fight him, Conan had no more worries.

"Alright, Uncle Mori, Sonoko's still waiting." Natsukawa pointed to the extended luxury car in front of them.

When Suzuki picks people up, you don't need to look closely; just look at which car is the most luxurious.

The garden once again took on the role of greeter, warmly welcoming the group.

Whether it's Ran's father or Natsukawa-san, as long as they're there, I'll have a chance to meet Kaito Kid.

The group then got into the car.

"Father, where is Aunt Joel?!"

After getting on the bus, Anya asked curiously.

She asked her father to bring her along because Aunt Joel was also coming, so that the whole family could be on a trip together.

It was definitely not because he was worried that Ai Haibara would give him more homework.

As for Ai Haibara, this guy can only be considered an outsider staying at her house.

Thankfully, she didn't come along today.

Moreover, with Ai Haibara at home, Bond won't be left without anyone to walk him.

The driver explained, "Officer Joel is already inside the art museum. The children will be able to see him soon."

"And who is this?" Kogoro Mouri asked.

“This is my father’s secretary, Mr. Nishino.”

Nishino has short hair, wears thin-rimmed glasses, and is dressed in a suit, perfectly embodying the image of a business elite.

He smiled and nodded to the group.

Xia Chuan gently twitched his nose and smelled a slightly strong perfume scent, causing his brows to furrow slightly.

"Does Mr. Nishino have mysophobia?"

"Huh?" Nishino glanced at the rearview mirror, wondering what Natsukawa meant by that.

"It's nothing, I was just asking."

"No, I think Mr. Nishino has a feather allergy, but he doesn't seem to be a clean freak." Sonoko sniffed after saying that. "But Mr. Nishino seems to be wearing a little too much perfume today."

"Hehe, sorry, I was in a hurry when I left, so I might not have noticed. Sorry."

Nishino Masato shifted, feeling really uncomfortable being stared at like that by Natsukawa.

"Does Mr. Nishino have hemorrhoids? It's best not to move around while driving, or is there something wrong with the driver's seat of this luxury car?"

Xia Chuan teased, "If you're really feeling unwell, why don't you stop and go to the bathroom?"

"No, no need."

"Does Mr. Nishino have a driver's license?"

"Of course, I'm 29 years old, and I'll be the chairman's secretary, so I definitely need a driver's license."

"That's good." Xia Chuan said with a half-smile.

Have they been discovered again?

Kaito Kuroba, hiding behind the mask of Masato Nishino, gritted his teeth slightly. Yesterday he said he smelled of bird droppings, and today he specially sprayed perfume. How did he get caught?

Sure enough, I must have overlooked something.

There must be something wrong with the disguise!

After a half-hour drive, we finally arrived at the Suzuki Museum of Modern Art in Osaka City Park.

"What a gray and yellow art museum!"

Anya's eyes sparkled.

"It's glorious!" Conan corrected.

He turned to look around the area outside the art museum and found that there was a guard post every three steps and a sentry every five steps. Such security was indeed rare.

The Suzuki Museum of Modern Art covers a vast area and is located within Osaka's largest park. The environment was already beautiful, and the addition of this magnificent museum further elevates the park's prestige.

As everyone looked around, a helicopter flew overhead.

"The helicopters have been dispatched so early; it seems Inspector Nakamori is determined to get Kid!"

Just as Natsukawa finished his remark, Kogoro Mouri gave a disdainful "tui".

This isn't directed at Natsukawa, but at Inspector Nakamori.

"Kidd only appears at night, so sending helicopters to patrol at that time is ridiculous. Taxpayers' money is being spent on things like this."

After saying that, he curled his lip and said, "However, with this kind of security, I estimate that not even an ant could fly out."

That's the truth. Even if you're unhappy with Nakamori Ginzo, his setup is undeniably impressive.

"After all, the opponent is the elusive and unpredictable Phantom Thief Kid. If we don't go all out, it will be difficult to capture him successfully."

"what?"

That voice... it sounds so familiar!
Upon hearing this, Conan immediately turned to look.

Behind them, a conspicuous green Kawasaki KX450F motorcycle had just been turned off, and a casually dressed Osaka boy took off his heavy helmet.

"Long time no see, everyone!"

Finally, they stopped calling me Kudo.

Conan breathed a sigh of relief. Every time he saw Hattori, his biggest worry was being yelled at.

Heiji Hattori didn't come alone; a girl wearing a miniskirt was sitting in the back seat of him. It was none other than Kazuha Toyama, Heiji's childhood friend.

"Kudo didn't come. Hattori, why did you keep saying Kudo was coming so early in the morning? I thought the famous Kanto detective would be coming with Ran this time."

"Ok?"

Xiao Lan was taken aback and unconsciously turned her head to look around.

"Shinichi is coming too?"

"No, no." Hattori Heiji hurriedly waved his hand.

"Please!"

Conan nearly choked; Hattori really didn't take his words to heart.

"That was when you were brushing your teeth, you were speaking unclearly, you must have misheard! Kazuha, your hearing has always been a bit poor, hasn't it?"

"Hmph~ I clearly heard it."

"Looks like the famous detectives in Kansai are pretty good too." Sonoko suddenly realized that being a little dark-skinned could actually be quite handsome.

"Hattori and Kazuha are childhood friends, don't say things like that, it would be bad if they were misunderstood."

"Know it"

Sonoko waved her hand casually; she was just saying it.

Heiji Hattori's tone immediately brought Shinichi Kudo's presence to her ears. As expected of equally matched detectives, they were identical in their self-righteousness.

Such an arrogant genius is not the type that Miss Suzuki likes!

"You were also invited by Mr. Suzuki?" Natsukawa asked.

"This is Osaka after all. My dad asked me to come and see if I could help out."

After a brief chat, the group, led by Masato Nishino, arrived at the chairman's office inside the art museum.

The president's office is located at the end of the skybridge on the upper floor. As the automatic door opens, a classical and luxurious atmosphere washes over you.

"As expected of the Suzuki Group, this chairman's office is simply amazing!"

Kogoro Mouri was like Grandma Liu visiting the Grand View Garden, looking around with great interest.

"Auntie Joel~"

As soon as she entered, Anya spotted Yor precisely.

Then he ran over in two quick steps and hooked himself onto Joel's leg.

"I just can't do anything with you. Your Aunt Joel is still at work. Don't be like this."

Xia Chuan went up and picked Anya up.

“I want to be with Aunt Joel.” Anya’s eyes lit up with anticipation.

According to a rumor I heard from Joel yesterday, there might be another assassin who specializes in stealing from the Normanov dynasty, and this assassin is named Skobing.

She just wanted to hear Aunt Joel's thoughts up close and see if Aunt Joel had found the other person yet.

Like Aunt Joel, she was an assassin, but there was one difference—this assassin had no bottom line.

Killers without any moral compass are all bad guys.

Since he's a villain, she, as a righteous spy, has to help him get rid of him.

However, it seems that Aunt Joel hasn't found him yet.

Anya's gaze swept across the president's office. She had heard the name Scrooge not only from her aunt, but also from her father.

"According to my father, Scorpion is a woman."

Anya murmured something, her gaze sweeping over the president's office once more.

"It's absolutely impossible that it's Ran-neechan, Sonoko-neechan, and Aunt Yoel. The only ones left are Toyama Kazuha-neechan who just appeared with Hattori-nii-chan and the aunt in the cheongsam in the president's office."

Since Hattori-nii is a good person, we can infer that Kazuha-neechan must also be a good person. As for Scorpion, it must only be that auntie in the cheongsam!

"Wait!" Anya suddenly paused, looking down at herself.

“Ania is a girl too, so she counts, right?” She scratched her head. “Could Anya also be a Scorpion?”

After scratching her head and thinking for a moment, she realized that it wasn't impossible!

"Hey, what are you muttering about?"

Conan asked curiously.

Ever since Xia Chuan pulled her down, Anya had been talking to herself in a very soft voice, but he vaguely heard something about impossibility, something about Anya being one of them.

It's very strange and inexplicable.

"no!"

Anya stomped her foot and looked up at the ceiling, her face full of innocence.

"Believe in you to be a ghost!"

Conan rolled his eyes speechlessly, wondering what kind of trick Anya was up to now.

However, he didn't pay much attention to it and listened attentively as Suzuki Shiro introduced the identities of the other people in the room.

Besides Uncle Mori and Uncle Natsukawa, four other strange guys were also invited.

The tall and robust man was Sireokov Chinnikov, the first secretary of the Russian embassy. He had heard that the Egg of Memories, a treasure of the Romanov dynasty, had fallen into the hands of the Suzuki family, and had come to negotiate many times. This time, he was also here to buy the Egg of Memories.

However, Russia clearly cannot provide the 10 billion yen that the Suzuki Group paid to Natsukawa, and intends to use the name of the state to beg for it.

It's about playing the emotional card, offering a low buyback price, and then sending a banner or something similar.

The second guy looked shifty and suspicious; his suit couldn't hide his sleazy air. His name was Inui Shoichi, and he was also after the Egg of Memories. He was a professional art broker and seemed to have come to invite Suzuki Shiro to send the Egg of Memories abroad for exhibition.

The third man was named Han Chuanlong. He wasn't very polite and kept holding an action camera in his hand. He was supposedly a freelance photographer.

This guy doesn't look like a good person at all.

Whenever Conan sees the other person, he is reminded of the scene where Anya threatens him with a camera.

The last one was a woman named Pu Siqinglan, a Romanov dynasty scholar, who, according to her, came from a neighboring country.

He was the only one among these people who didn't seem so suspicious to him.

The reason I think this way is probably related to the place that Uncle Mori has been keeping a close eye on.

Yes, judging from his background, he does indeed have a long and white body, just as Uncle Mori said.

Of course, this doesn't prove anything.

It was only their first meeting. Although first impressions are important, they are not absolute. As a famous detective, he knew all too well that one cannot judge a person's character based on their appearance.

Moreover, Conan discovered...

When Suzuki Shiro introduced himself, he happened to mention the Egg of Memories. As soon as this was mentioned, everyone's gaze changed.

Become completely naked!

—Could Kidd be among these people?
Conan turned to look at Heiji Hattori and found that the other was also looking at him.

It's obvious they're thinking the same thing!
"Dad, can you be serious?"

Xiao Lan was both annoyed and amused when she discovered that her father was staring intently at the thighs of the historian named Pu Siqinglan.

Mom's legs are clearly longer and whiter, so why is Dad blind to it?

"Nonsense, I've always been serious!"

Kogoro Mouri coughed lightly, sat down on the sofa, and composed himself.

"Yes, Uncle Mori is very serious. I can see it clearly. Don't you think so, Nishino?"

Xia Chuan asked with a smile.

"Please, don't message me on QQ, okay?"

Kaito gave Natsukawa a look, then chuckled and said, "Yes, Mr. Mori is indeed very serious."

"By the way, I remember Mr. Mori mentioning in the car just now that he had deciphered the second paragraph of the notice."

"Hmph, of course!" Kogoro Mouri put his hands on his hips, ready to explain.

Suddenly, he glanced at the few outsiders sitting there.

The identities of these people are unclear, so Kogoro Mouri certainly wouldn't be foolish enough to reveal his deductions directly to them.

As Hattori said, Kaito Kid is skilled at disguise, and he might be hiding among these people.

Shiro Suzuki smiled slightly and said to the group who were almost fighting over the Egg of Memories, "How about this, we'll talk about the Egg of Memories later. In any case, we'll have to wait until after this exhibition. Why don't you all go back and rest first?"

All four were somewhat displeased, but since it was the host who had spoken, they could only nod and leave.

As he was leaving, Hanchuan Long bumped into Secretary Nishino, almost knocking over the Egg of Memories in his hand.

"Huh! That's strange."

Conan's gaze followed Ryuu Sakkaku's departure and landed on Masato Nishino.

"What's wrong?" Hattori asked.

"It's nothing, it's just that when Han Chuanlong looked at Secretary Nishino just now, his expression was a little strange, like he knew him."

Hattori frowned. "You must have seen it wrong, right?"

"Maybe"

"Alright, Mr. Mori, there's no need to rush to talk about the mystery. We can wait until Inspector Nakamori arrives. Let me show you the special features of the Egg of Memories first."

Shiro Suzuki was in a very calm mood, and there was no sign that he had just accepted an invitation from Kaito Kid.

They have big hearts!
Natsukawa noticed that the Suzuki family seemed to be like this all the time.

The most obvious one is Suzuki Jirokichi.

"The Nicola II family inside this Egg of Memories is not just as ordinary as it looks. With Miss Pu Siqinglan's guidance, we discovered that it can actually make sounds!"

Immediately afterwards, Shiro Suzuki took out an F-type key and showed it to the group.

"This key seems to be the one that opened the stone platform back then, right, Uncle Natsukawa?" Conan asked.

"Yes, that's right. I didn't even notice that the key could be inserted into the Egg of Memories. It's really interesting."

Actually, Natsukawa didn't study it much after getting his hands on it. Later, it was taken by the Metropolitan Police Department for appraisal. When it was finally traded with the Suzuki Foundation, the Egg of Memories was still at the Metropolitan Police Department.

In other words, Xia Chuan didn't actually have time to study this thing.

"However, the Suzuki family really has some talent to exchange 10 billion for a music box."

Hattori Heiji muttered to himself.

"That's not how it works. The emerald green color on the surface should be jadeite. The jadeite is hollowed out into an eggshell and then inlaid with gold edges. This kind of craftsmanship is extremely precise!"

Conan disagreed with Hattori's point of view; the Suzuki Foundation certainly wasn't stupid.

"It's really silly, isn't this just a music box?" Xia Chuan muttered to himself.

As someone who benefits from this situation, one certainly cannot say such things directly; on the contrary, one must praise Suzuki Shiro's wisdom.

Shiro Suzuki seemed to really like the Egg of Memories, and after introducing it for over ten minutes, he showed no intention of stopping.

He stopped talking when the door to the president's office opened again.

The people who entered were none other than Ginzo Nakamori from the Metropolitan Police Department and his superior, Shintaro Chaki.

Natsukawa noticed that Chaki Shintaro had been following Nakamori Ginzo the whole way.

Honestly, this was the worst leader he had ever met; his subordinates were completely arrogant and disrespectful.

"Oh—it's Officer Chaki and Officer Nakamori! Perfect timing, Mr. Mori seems to have a new interpretation of the code, why don't you two exchange information?"

"Hmm? This careless guy actually managed to see through Kidd's riddle."

Inspector Nakamori clearly didn't trust him.

"That guy will definitely appear at the castle tower sometime between tonight and tomorrow, there's no mistake about that!"

Inspector Chaki was a staunch supporter of his subordinates. "Does Mr. Mori think our Metropolitan Police Department's deduction is wrong? If so, why didn't you bring it up in yesterday's meeting?"

Kogoro Mouri used to be a policeman, yet he still holds back against the police?
"Uh, of course not." Kogoro Mouri, somewhat speechless, put his hands on his chest and pushed back Officer Chaki, whose face was shoving at him.

"I thought about it all night yesterday and finally solved the mystery of the exact time! The so-called twelfth, the twelfth what was it again?"

Kogoro Mouri was taken aback. After being teased by Shintaro Chaki, he had completely forgotten what the riddle was.

so awkward.

"The clock without a second hand has reached the twelfth mark," Xia Chuan whispered a reminder.

In the corner, Kaito's lips twitched.

Please, if it doesn't work, just let the kid do it. Don't waste the puzzle he worked so hard to come up with!

“Oh right, the clock without a second hand has reached the twelfth number!” Kogoro Mouri glanced at Ginzo Nakamori before continuing, “I’ve thought about it, this twelfth number should refer to the twelfth letter of the English alphabet, ‘L’.”

"L?"

Nakamori Ginzo muttered something, but what does that have to do with time?
"Put the letter 'L' on the clock, and it'll be exactly three o'clock!" Shiro Suzuki slammed his left fist into his right palm. "I understand, Phantom Thief Kid is planning to make his move at three in the morning!"

Chaki Shintaro rested his chin on his hand and thought for two seconds before nodding blankly: "Hmm, three in the morning is right before dawn, this time seems to be perfect!"

Nakamori Ginzo snorted twice in dissatisfaction, but what Mouri Kogoro said did make sense.

"Just you wait, Phantom Thief Kid! This time I will bring you to justice!"

Compared to Kogoro Mouri, Ginzo Nakamori disliked Kaito Kid more, so he decided to listen to Kogoro Mouri's reasoning.

The spirited Nakamori Ginzo left in a hurry.

Once Kidd's move is determined, the plan will need to be changed.

He needs to go back to the Osaka Prefectural Police Headquarters for another meeting.

Kaito smiled slightly after hearing the speculation. Wasn't this the result he wanted to see?
L was the trap he set for the police.

Unexpectedly, the police didn't guess it, but Kogoro Mouri fell for it.

It's okay, the result is the same.

(End of this chapter)