Conan: "..."
Ichijō Mirai: "Huh?"
Conan continues: "..."
It's too, too much!
You've only met him twice, and you've already figured out what's wrong with him and who he really is? They've never known each other before!
It's normal to notice something wrong, Conan doesn't look like a normal kid, even if he tries his best, he can't pretend to be a normal kid, Ichijō Mirai is very perceptive, he must have noticed something wrong, but asking 'what's your real identity' is a little bit out of line.
Besides, he hasn't been living in Japan all his life, he's new to Japan and probably doesn't even know much about 'Kudō Shinichi'.
He just met a kid twice and realized that the kid is a bit smart and has the style of a detective when dealing with a murder case. Normally, he wouldn't think 'this kid is not a real kid, but a high school detective who accidentally turned into a kid', right? It's just that the kid is precocious and smart.
How did Ichijō Mirai figure out the key point?
It's crazy!
It was the first time that Conan's identity was directly recognized by someone, and by a strange detective that he had only met twice, he opened his mouth, and realized that he was almost covered in shocked hairs, and was sweating a little bit coldly.
Ichijō Mirai: "You're nervous."
It was the equivalent of saying 'Yes, I have an identity besides being a child'.
He slowed down, put on a bit of a smile, and repeated the question, "My dear little detective, what is your other identity that you need to keep hidden and can't tell anyone else?"
"Is it a minor outside expert for the Tokyo police?"
Or some other official force, like Japanese Public Security, US Police, FBI, CIA or NSA, MI6, FSB, BND, DGSE?
However, considering Conan's age and location, Ichijō Mirai would prefer to consider some Japanese power, such as Search Division 1 or Public Security.
He smiled, and without changing his color, he cajoled the child, "I went to the Tokyo Police Academy for a while, and I'm rounded up to be a police officer, so I'm extra keen on this."
"It's okay if you tell me."
...And so on. The Japanese Power represents more than just Japan.
A son's family is not just a son's family, there's a living father watching over it.
And Japan loves beauty, and has a deep love of beauty.
Under the influence of this prevailing culture, it was possible for a child to worship a lighthouse and be lured into becoming a little ear in Tokyo, and then, a few years later, when the other side realized the excellence of the little ear, they would immediately poach the lighthouse and ask him to do something more important than being an ear.
Ichijō Mirai immediately and fluidly up-weighted a few possible tendencies: the US Army stationed in Japan, the US Police, the US forces, the FBI, the CIA, and the DIA.
Without blinking, he spat out more fluidly the words a dog would have to freeze to hear, "If it's any of the other forces,"
"I've had some good dealings with the FBI, and I'm on good terms with them."
"Which side are you being fooled by..."
"Whose side are you on," Ichijō Mirai changed his tone without a change of color, "the small external expert?"
Conan: "..."
"..."
"..."
He was so close to dying, and then it all took a turn for the worse.
It was as if he'd been pushed into the water by someone holding his head down, suffocated, nearly died, and then suddenly been rescued just as he was about to die, and there was a little bit of ecstasy and a little bit of bewilderment that he'd actually survived.
Conan repeats his incredulity with hindsight: Without having followed 'Kudō Shinichi', without knowing the organization, without having met him twice, without knowing that he's a somewhat intelligent kid, of course, it's impossible to deduce that 'you're not a kid, you're a high school detective shrunken down to be a kid'.
The fact that he could deduce that means that Ichijō Mirai had some off-the-scene information.
What he deduced was that 'this kid is so smart and a happy little tree that someone must have come to nurture him with another identity, such as a little tree that is secretly nurtured by the authorities'.
...So the meaning of Ichijō Mirai is not 'What was your true identity before you shrunk? , but rather, 'What else were you besides a child?' .
Conan realized one more thing: if Ichijō Mirai had really deduced that Conan's true identity was not a child, then even the hardest part of the equation had been deduced, and without much effort, he could have smoothly deduced that 'Conan is Kudō Shinichi', and there was no need to ask 'what is your true identity'.
It's Conan's weakness and misunderstanding.
Conan: "..."
With all the ups and downs, his non-existent heart attack felt like it was coming on, "Ah, uh, you."
"Police Academy?!"
I couldn't answer, so I just seized on the key words and asked.
Conan was indeed asking what he was a bit shocked to know, "You went to the police academy in Tokyo?!"
"But."
But, didn't Ichijō Mirai just recently come to Japan, just arrived in Tokyo?
The best moment to hold a Frisbee is to rush out the moment it goes out and bite it without thinking.
Conan didn't get all giddy and blurt out which side he was on in the first place, but after that, his brain was on line, and so was his IQ.
Ichijō Mirai regretted it, and glanced at Conan a few more times, realizing that his skills at fooling and mesmerizing people were still not quite enough, and that he should work on strengthening them, such as gaining more proficiency in the game.
"Well, I went to the police academy in Tokyo for a while," He said without a change of color, "but I regretfully left Tokyo without graduating because of my status."
As for the reason for taking the time to go to the police academy from the lighthouse back in Tokyo, "I've always admired the police since I was a kid, after all, I'm a Japanese, and when I decided to become a police officer, the first thing that came to mind was to become a police officer in Japan."
"Unfortunately,"
"But later on, I got to know the FBI a little bit better, so I've dealt with them quite a bit, although in the end, I didn't become an FBI because I couldn't make up my mind not to go back to Neon at all, but,"
He smiled.
That was the downside of not having the target in a daze the first time: explanations and patches were needed.
If Conan had answered dizzily in the first place, then Ichijō Mirai would have smiled, put his finger against Conan's forehead, and kindly said something like, 'You don't want anyone else to find out who you really are, little detective,' and would have easily slipped away without having to deal with the aftermath.
Trouble, tsk.
Upstairs, Suzuki Ayako came down, holding the staircase as she descended, her face a bit worried, and seeing Ichijō Mirai and Conan in the hall turn their heads at the sound, she took the initiative to speak up, "Chikako's not in a very good mood,"
"I only heard her say at first that she was going to sleep, telling me to ignore her, and then she didn't answer the door no matter how much she knocked."
It's clear that she wasn't trying to sleep, she was angry.
So Suzuki Ayako tried to coax her through the door for a long time, but it didn't work, and she didn't hear a single response.
...It's actually a bit strange.
But Suzuki Ayako didn't hear any axes or screams, just silence, so it was basically impossible that she was attacked in her room.
She sighed, "Let's ask her to come down when it's time for dinner, which is almost ready anyway."
No answer?
Conan frowned suspiciously, and was about to speak when he heard the creak of a stepladder.
Takahashi Ryouichi, who had gone up to the roof to fix it, came down. "I fixed it."
"Is dinner ready? I just heard it, uh huh?!"
Before he could finish his sentence, he changed his tone, "Who?!"
"Someone at the window!"
Conan subconsciously turned his head to look at the window and saw the gray-black night sky of the forest and snowflakes drifting like fireflies.
But the next second, a figure suddenly flashed past the window.
More accurately, two figures.
One figure, clad in a black cloak with layers of white bandages wrapped around his face, held a slender figure in his arms, looking eerie and terrifying.
The second figure was a woman, Ikeda Chikako.
Her eyes were wide, as if she were dead, and she met the eyes of everyone on the first floor with rigidity.
They flickered away.
The living room on the first floor fell silent, all sounds disappeared, except for the gurgling sound of something cooking in the kitchen.
Ichijō Mirai put down his cup, covered his ears, and sighed calmly.
The next moment, a scream rose to the sky.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"