Conan: Above all force, there is truth!

"boom!"

"what!!!"

"Accidentally?! Kid, how did you end up on top of the train?! Do you even know what you've done?!"

Seeing that Uncle Mori's fist was about to touch his head again, Conan immediately begged for mercy: "Uncle, it's all Kaito Kid's fault! I was watching a stage play, and he forcibly kidnapped me and put me on the train!"

"Kaito Kid? Why would he..." Upon hearing this, Uncle Mori withdrew his fist that was about to be thrown and crossed his arms in confusion.

Seeing that his words had worked, Conan smiled to himself.

Just then, Ryuno put on a serious expression: "Uncle Mori, Conan is obviously lying~ If Kaito Kid really kidnapped Conan in public, so many viewers couldn't possibly not notice."

"Yes, Dad, we were in the hall too, and we didn't see Kaito Kid at all." Ran lowered her head and thought carefully for a moment before refuting Conan's "explanation."

After hearing their assessments, Kogoro Mouri lowered his crossed hands and patted Conan a few more times with his fist.

"Bang! Bang!"

"what!!!!"

……

The next afternoon

Haneda Airport

"—Next, we'll report on the weather around the airport. First up is Hakodate, Hokkaido. Tonight's weather is rainy, with some areas possibly experiencing heavy thunderstorms..."

As the airport announcement played, Kogoro Mouri nodded to the group in front of him, then chuckled and scratched the back of his head: "Ah~ I'm so sorry, you guys even invited us to the victory celebration, you're too kind!"

"Mr. Mori, thanks to you all, Sapphire was safe and sound this time. It's only right that we do this."

"Yes, please don't stand on ceremony with us. Let's go have a good time in Hakodate!"

"That's right! If possible, I'd also like to hear about the cases you've solved!"

"..."

Seeing the enthusiastic crowd, Longye and Xiaolan also expressed their gratitude to everyone.

After chatting for a while, the director looked around and calculated the boarding time: "What's going on? Why isn't Shuri here yet? She's so slow."

The female assistant, Ms. Yaguchi, immediately explained, "I'm sorry, Ms. Natsuki is currently applying makeup to her, and they are in their car in the parking lot right now."

Upon hearing this, Kogoro Mouri exclaimed, "Makeup? I never imagined being a big star was so tough..."

These words clearly ignited a lively discussion among the crowd.

Tajima Tenko, standing to the side, smiled and shook her head: "The one who really works hard is Natsuki."

The director closed his eyes and smiled, "That's right, Juri always asks her for everything, even a lot of miscellaneous tasks that don't belong to the 'makeup artist' category."

Upon hearing this, Longye narrowed his eyes, and the classic calculation formula appeared in his mind.

"Hated woman + Conan + Uncle Mori + airplane high in the sky = ?"

After a while, Maki and Sakai finally came over.

"Sorry to keep you all waiting~ It took me a little while to do my makeup... Looks like most of you have arrived!"

Xiao Lan looked around and asked in confusion, "Excuse me, aren't the other actors coming?"

Ran had heard that Maki was inviting the theater troupe to Hokkaido, and she assumed that all the dozens of actors who played Josephine would be invited. But now it seemed that only a few of them would be included.

Upon hearing Xiaolan's words, Maki laughed without hesitation, "Of course! What good would it do to bring those supporting characters here?"

Upon hearing this, the expressions on everyone's faces became somewhat subtle, and Xiaolan even subconsciously tugged at Longye's coat.

Longye: "..."

After hearing Maki Juri say those words with his own ears, Ryūno had only one thought: "This person's last words are so unique..."

He wasn't quite sure at first. But now it seems... Maki Juri has indeed boarded the "hell express."

Amen.

……

"Passengers on Flight 865, please proceed with check-in now..."

After boarding, everyone entered the first-class cabin. The spacious cabin had only four rows of seats. There were two adjacent seats on each side of the aisle.

"Longye, I originally wanted to take this opportunity..."

Upon hearing this, Ryūno patted Ran's head and pointed with his chin at Mōri Kōgor, who was fawning over Maki Jūri in front of him: "You know what will happen if your aunt sees this scene, right?"

"Sigh..." Ran looked at Kogoro Mouri's fawning face and helplessly covered her face.

Two minutes later, a series of hurried footsteps sounded.

A young man wearing sunglasses ran into the first-class cabin: "Sorry to keep you all waiting!"

Everyone was surprised when they saw the man.

"Mr. Shinjō? Weren't you feeling unwell and unable to come along?"

"I'm feeling much better now~ Anyway, I'm just killing time by myself, so why don't I go with everyone~"

After saying that, Mr. Shinjo walked straight to Maki-no-ri, knelt on one knee, took her right hand, and kissed the sapphire ring on her hand.

"Princess Josephine, I'm sorry I'm late~"

Chapter 232 Who invented the hand-kissing gesture?

Mr. Shinjo's arrival made Miss Maki frown.

Immediately, Mu Shuli leaned down and whispered in his ear, scolding, "Why don't you do as I say?"

"Don't worry, there's plenty of time to prepare once we get there." After saying that, Shinjo turned and walked back to his seat.

Halfway there, he glanced at Conan beside him and smiled to himself.

As expected, the "great detective" hasn't suspected his identity yet.

Next up is that guy...

Thinking of this, Shinjo Kou casually glanced at the back row to see Ryūno's reaction.

This guy can't possibly see through my disguise every time, can he?

The next moment, he saw Longye in his seat, and what was terrifying was that Longye was also looking at him with a big smile on his face.

Kaito Kuroba: "..."

Seeing the mocking smile on Long Ye's face, he knew perfectly well that his identity had been exposed once again.

For a moment, he was filled with a strong sense of frustration.

After glancing at Ryūno again, Kuroba Kaito quickly turned his face away and sat down in his seat with a face full of black lines.

Conan, sitting in his seat, glanced thoughtfully at the sapphire ring on Ms. Maki Juri's hand in the row in front of him.

"Could it be that the letters in Kaito Kid's advance notice refer to the communication codes used on airplanes? 'Amidst the flying and intertwining of the 26 letters' means he's going to commit a crime on this plane? Yes, that must be it! If that's the case, he's already disguised as one of the people here..."

After some deep thought, Conan revealed a confident smile.

Yesterday's appearance was probably a feint by Phantom Thief Kid to lower everyone's guard.

It doesn't matter, he's already deciphered everything in the warning letter, and Kaito Kid will definitely make his move on this plane!

Just wait, I'll catch you soon!

Soon after, the boarding process came to an end, and all preparations for takeoff were completed.

Maki closed her eyes, a look of discomfort on her face.

Kogoro Mouri, who had been stealing glances at her, immediately noticed something was wrong. He put down his newspaper and asked with concern, "What's wrong?"

"I'm not feeling well..."

Upon hearing this, Ms. Tajima Tenko, who was across the aisle, immediately took out a medicine bottle from her bag and reached out to Maki.

"Not feeling well? Here, stretch out your hand and have some vitamins."

Maki reached out and took a few pills, swallowing them directly into her mouth.

This scene was witnessed by Conan, who was examining the sapphire ring.

……

Ten minutes later, the plane took off.

Conan kept a close eye on Maki's movements, in case the ring on her hand was stolen by Kaito Kid.

Not long after, a flight attendant carrying two drinks and snacks walked to the cockpit door at the very front of the first-class cabin.

Upon seeing this, Ms. Maki immediately followed closely behind.

Seeing this, Conan quietly followed.

A few seconds later, the flight attendant reached for the electronic lock next to the cockpit door and pressed the communication button: "This is Misawa, the coffee is here."

"Please come in~"

After receiving permission, she entered a few digits of the code and opened the cockpit door.

"click"

Before she could even serve the drinks to the two captains, Maki walked straight into the cockpit and waved, "Hi~"

Seeing this, the flight attendant immediately reached out to stop her, saying anxiously, "Miss, you can't come in here!"

"It's alright, Miss Misawa. She's actually your senior." The captain turned around and smiled.

Amid the flight attendant's surprised expression, Maki stepped forward and began chatting amiably with the two captains.

"Long time no see, Captain!"

"Yes, it seems like it's been five years since you resigned."

"It should be seven years~"

"Really? It's been that long!"

Maki smiled, then turned to greet the co-pilot: "It's been a long time, Mr. Nakaya~"

"Hello, we went to see Josephine yesterday! The play was fantastic!"