Conan: I'm Really Not the Manipulator

They walked together towards 5th chome. When passing by a store, Mao Lilan suddenly stopped and said, "Oh no, I forgot to buy the ingredients for dinner tonight. Dad, you two should go back first."

The case happened last night. She had not been to the supermarket today because she had to take notes.

"Ah?" Mouri Kogoro stopped.

Edogawa Conan looked up, and the umbrella rose with his movements: "I want to go to the doctor's house once too! I forgot something there!"

Mouri Kogoro was more polite to his daughter, but he would not say to him: "It's time to have dinner soon, don't run around!"

"It's okay, Dad." Mao Lilan pulled him, "Okay, I'll take Conan to the doctor's house first, and then pick him back up after I finish shopping. Anyway, the distance is very close, so it won't take long. "

Mouri Kogoro muttered a few words, glanced at Edogawa Conan who was smiling, and waved his hands impatiently: "That's up to you, I'll leave first."

After Mouri Kogoro left, Maori Ran took Edogawa Conan to 2-chome.

Edogawa Conan... Shrinking Kudo Shinichi suppressed his smile and followed Maori Lan silently.

From last night to now, he was still thinking about the bank robbery, the details he missed, and the woman who died at the port.

Seeing a corpse and watching a person die are completely different feelings. The latter is a more real feeling of the loss of life.

Edogawa Conan listened to the sound of raindrops falling on the umbrella. It was a similar feeling to the past, but when he looked down, he could only see a pair of tender, childish hands.

Hirota Masami was shot in the abdomen and died of excessive blood loss. Even though he and Xiaolan both said that she did not hold the gun when she fell, and that the gun was dropped in the wrong position. If she was throwing it away, it should not be dropped in that place. Angle... The police still closed the case on the grounds that she committed suicide out of fear of crime.

Edogawa Conan clenched the handle of the umbrella. He looked at his small fist and felt a huge sense of powerlessness in his heart.

This feeling of powerlessness was even worse than when he was beaten by the prisoner who kidnapped the little girl.

If...if he was still Kudo Shinichi and not a first-year elementary school student, he could ask the police not to close the case easily and continue the investigation.

Go investigate those...

——"People in the organization like to wear black clothes. They are like a group..."

"quack……"

A shrill and ominous cry pierced his ears. Edogawa Conan suddenly looked up and saw a group of crows flapping their wings and flying up. From a distance, the black crows turned into a black shadow that was thicker than the dark clouds on the horizon.

A drop of rain happened to drip from the corner of the umbrella onto his face, and the coolness seemed to penetrate into his body.

He slowly widened his eyes, and an inexplicable and strong uneasiness gripped his heart at that moment.

At this time, Mao Lilan in front of him stopped again.

Edogawa Conan almost hit her leg, but luckily he reacted and stopped.

"Sister Xiaolan?"

He shouted in confusion, walked from behind her to her side, and looked forward subconsciously.

At this sight, Edogawa Conan froze instantly.

I saw a man in a black windbreaker standing at the door of Kudo's house, his left hand wearing a black glove retracting from the doorbell.

The black umbrella covered most of the other person's face. From his position, he could only see a few strands of long, crow-wing-like black hair hanging down to his shoulders... and a slight bulge at his waist!

Edogawa Conan felt like he was falling into an icy cave.

Chapter 251 Police Liaison Officer

Conan Edogawa was sitting on a specially elevated seat, with his head lowered, as if he was drinking the delicious mushroom soup with his whole face.

He hardly dared to look across.

"Hello, this is Italian mushroom risotto with steak. Who ordered this?" The waiter came over with a plate and served the dish with a professional smile.

"its mine!"

Kogoro Mouri, who was starving, had already become glistening with joy and quickly pointed in front of him.

Mao Lilan blushed slightly, and said to the fourth person sitting there in an embarrassed manner: "I'm sorry, Mr. Qingliu, I've made you spend money."

Aoyagi Akiko, dressed in black, calmly put down the non-alcoholic drink in his hand and looked at Edogawa Conan who was sitting opposite him and next to Mouri Ran.

He smiled gently: "It's nothing, just consider it as my apology for accidentally scaring this little boy."

Edogawa Conan buried his head even lower.

……

Half an hour ago.

When Edogawa Conan saw a man in black standing at the door of his house, he felt as if he had fallen into an icy cave.

"Hey, that seems to be..."

It wasn't until Mao Lilan muttered to herself that he finally came to his senses.

The reminders from Akemi Miyano before her death instantly turned into large bold fonts and swiped across the screen of his brain. The umbrella in his hand fell to the ground with a snap, and in the splashing water, he suddenly grabbed Ran Maoli's hand.

Edogawa Conan instinctively wanted to protect her behind his back, but now when he looked up, he found that he could only look up at her through the rain-soaked lenses. He didn't care about being stunned and immediately shouted:

"Xiaolan, hurry up and report--!!"

"…Ms. Maori?"

All words stopped abruptly.

Edogawa Conan was stunned. He turned around and found that the man in black was also looking at him, and under the umbrella was a face that he was very familiar with.

Aoyagi Akimitsu walked towards them, he glanced at the umbrella on the ground with a strange look in his eyes. Then he bowed slightly and tilted his umbrella towards Edogawa Conan.

The rain above his head was blocked again, and Edogawa Conan heard him ask:

"Are you ok?"

……

Because of the color of his clothes, I almost mistook Mr. Aoyagi for a member of the organization... Black is a very common color, for example, most of the formal suits for men are black...

Conan Edogawa was extremely embarrassed when he ended his memories.

The two adults in the Mori family did not notice his mood, and the dishes were served quickly. Mori Ran ordered an ordinary pasta, and she placed a plate of tiramisu cake in front of Edogawa Conan.

"Conan, this is what I ordered. This cake has very good reviews. You can try it first."

After feeding the child who had been drinking soup something to fill his stomach, Mao Lilan turned to Aoyagi Akiko and said, "Mr. Aoyagi, were you looking for Shinichi just now? Are you traveling to Japan this time?"

These two questions hit Conan Edogawa and finally ended his downtime.

Because of the great fear and social death that followed, he almost forgot these two key questions - why did Aoyagi Akimitsu go to the Kudo family? Why did he come to Japan?

After leaving New York a year ago, he and Aoyagi Akimitsu maintained email communication until two months ago, when the other party said he had an important mission and suddenly lost contact.

Due to the special nature of the FBI's work, they are not considered ordinary police officers, especially Aoyagi Akira, who is just an agent of the Counter-Terrorism Department. Edogawa Conan, who was still Kudo Shinichi at the time, did not bother them and only asked for information from his parents.

But when he asked, his parents also said they didn't know. They told him that there were no major cases in the United States, maybe it was just an internal adjustment or a special mission...

Edogawa Conan looked up at Aoyagi Akimitsu with confusion.

The appearance of the black-haired FBI man came clearly into his eyes. His long hair was partially wet, and there was a small wet spot on the back of his clothes. The two pieces of black weighed heavily on his shoulders.

"right."

Kogoro Mouri realized it belatedly. He had heard from Ran Mouri about some things that happened during her trip to the United States a year ago.

"You are FB... ahem, you are a special foreign personnel, right? You suddenly came to Japan, don't you need to report it?"

Aoyagi, who had not explained his purpose until now, put down his fork and became serious: "No, I came to Japan for work this time, and I will stay for a long time."

He looked at the three of them, especially at Conan Edogawa.

"I'm the new police liaison officer."

Former detective Maori Kogoro thought it sounded familiar. He put down his fork and said, "Liaison officer? I remember this was..."

Edogawa Conan suddenly spoke:

"—police diplomat."

……

The FBI and the CIA, two well-known American intelligence agencies, are responsible for catching spies and terrorists and combating domestic crimes; the other is responsible for sending spies and intelligence abroad and carrying out special operations.

It seems that one is for internal affairs and the other for external affairs, but in fact, due to the increase in transnational crimes and the surge in the phenomenon of domestic criminals running abroad, the FBI has overseas offices in many countries, and two to three agents are sent to each place.

"…The FBI likes to call these agents LEGATS, and their official title is police liaison officers."

"Those offices are basically set up in local embassies, so they are not just police officers, but an important link between law enforcement agencies of different countries, and they are burdened with diplomatic tasks."

Edogawa Conan speaks science at a very fast speed.

There are certain requirements to become such a foreign agent. There is no age limit, no complaint record, proficiency in the local language, and preferably having ancestry in the area where you are working. Even if you don't have that, you have to understand the culture there.

Their daily task is communication. If an American fugitive flees to a foreign country, they will communicate with the law enforcement agencies of that country, hand over the suspect's identity information, and ask the local police to help arrest him.

They can go to the scene and make requests, such as asking the police to check DNA to confirm identity, but they will not investigate or arrest on their own. They do not have overseas law enforcement powers.

…The above is the official statement. In fact, investigations beyond the authority have always existed. The extent to which they are beyond the authority depends on the country.

——In Japan, it’s a little more “free”.

Edogawa Conan remembered that a few months ago, there was a police liaison officer, who seemed to be from the United States? After drinking, he met a criminal and chased him in his car. As a result, he accidentally hit and killed a passing real estate president on the way to arrest him.

...Could it be that because of this incident, Mr. Qingliu was chosen to take over? He had been out of touch for a while before, was he going to participate in internal assessment and training?

Edogawa Conan pondered.

After listening to this long paragraph of popular science, Maori Kogoro sat up straight unconsciously and adjusted his tie seriously: "So Mr. Aoyagi is a diplomat? I was so rude just now."

Aoyagi Akimitsu said helplessly: "Just treat me as an ordinary person, Mr. Maori. Even if I have a diplomatic identity, I am just an attaché of the lowest level."

"Even if her rank is low, she is still a diplomat with diplomatic privileges. You..."

Mao Lilan listened to their conversation without intervening. She turned to Edogawa Conan who was still in deep thought.

"Conan, you know a lot."

Her tone was a little surprised and a little confused, which made her expression rather... subtle.

Edogawa Conan's body stiffened. He had just said everything subconsciously and began to make up excuses quickly.