The footsteps of the fat man were very light, not matching his body size at all.
Fujino sized up the fat man and scratched his chin.
Based on his initial deduction, this guy should be none other than Kaito Kid in disguise.
That brat Kaito Kuroba, couldn't he at least disguise himself a bit more normally?
What's the deal with pretending to be a guy who looks like he weighs 400 pounds?
Kaito Kuroba was just as stunned when he saw the group downstairs.
Fujino!
It's him again!
And that soccer kid too!
Why do I keep running into this guy everywhere I go...?
Could it be that this guy is also part of the chat group?
And why are Suzuki's daughter and that girl who looks so much like Aoko here too?
Is this a family outing?
Why does it feel like I'm running into these people more and more lately?
Although Kaito was filled with surprise, along with a strange pain at the top of his head, he maintained a poker face. Pointing at himself, he gave Sonoko Suzuki a goofy smile: "Are you the magician's apprentice? I'm Doitake. You're a girl, that's great."
Fujino wanted to see Sonoko's reaction to this "Buddha."
When he turned around, he saw the smile on her face slowly freezing.
Suddenly, Fujino felt like he heard something shatter.
Her heart!
Sonoko's romantic ideals were shattered!
She's officially the first person to have their online dating dreams crushed!
...
After a brief chat, Fujino, Sonoko, and Ran went to their respective rooms.
Due to a shortage of rooms, Sonoko and Ran were assigned to share one.
Conan, of course, was given a room as well, staying with Fujino.
Fujino placed his travel bag on the bed and tossed the bedding onto the floor: "Little Conan, you're sleeping on the floor tonight."
"Why do I have to sleep on the floor?"
Conan looked at Fujino, speechless and a bit resistant.
Normally, wouldn't the adult sleep on the floor and let the child have the bed?
Why was Fujino kicking him out of bed instead?
Especially when he had a cold!
"Sleeping on the floor helps cure colds."
Fujino unzipped his travel bag, pulling out a wooden sword with a sharp tip, stroking it. "So, little Conan, do you have any objections?"
"N-no."
Conan stared at the wooden sword in Fujino's hand and gulped.
His expression looked like he had just been utterly defeated.
Damn it, why does Fujino carry a wooden sword everywhere he goes?
It's bad enough when he magically pulls one out during those weird performances, but he even brought one on a trip?
Does he have some sort of persecution complex?
Recalling the criminals Fujino had taken down with that wooden sword before, a sharp pain ran through Conan's head.
He definitely didn't want to get hit by that thing.
Not that he thought Fujino would, but Conan figured this was just the kind of thing Fujino was capable of.
"Alright, just lie down and rest for now."
Fujino casually pulled a bottle of cold medicine from his pocket and tossed it to Conan. "If your cold gets worse, you could die."
"Huh?"
Conan caught the cold medicine, looking at Fujino in surprise.
Was he imagining things?
Could it be that Fujino was actually a nice guy?
Without paying Conan any more attention, Fujino put the wooden sword back into his bag.
Then he turned and left the room, walking to the door of Doitake's room on the other side.
Hmm, if he remembered correctly…
Besides that one million yen, he should be able to get some more money from this.
After all, a wanted phantom thief is involved.
Might as well collect the reward.
*Knock knock knock!*
"Coming!"
The door quickly opened.
Kaito Kuroba, still pretending to be a big, goofy fat guy, smiled. "Detective Fujino, what brings you here?"
"I need to talk to you about something."
Fujino gave the fat man a meaningful glance. "Shall we chat?"
"Chat?"
Kaito was clearly taken aback. "Please, come in."
...
"You're Kaito Kid, aren't you?"
Fujino sat down and got straight to the point.
"You must be joking. How could I be Kaito Kid?"
Kaito forced himself to stay calm, though he was surprised inside.
"Is that so?"
Fujino smiled while tightening his fist like some iron-fisted saint. "Then you wouldn't mind if I punched you, right? Your face wouldn't collapse, would it?"
"Uh…"
Kaito glanced at Fujino's fist, gulping, and suddenly changed his tone. "I didn't think you'd figure it out... You really are something."
"I'm curious, how did you discover my identity?"
"Your name gave it away. 'Doitake'—if you think about it, it's just a scrambled version of 'Kaito Kid,' isn't it?"
Fujino chuckled. "Plus, when you walked downstairs, the sound of your footsteps didn't match your weight. A 400-pound man walking down wooden stairs would definitely make the floor creak, wouldn't you agree?"
"So that's how you knew."
Kaito nodded, looking at Fujino with admiration. "You really are terrifying."
"Terrifying is right. If I wasn't, I wouldn't be able to keep up with you, Phantom Thief."
Fujino relaxed his fist and glanced at Kaito's goofy face. "So, what's your objective this time?"
He smirked. "You didn't sneak in here just to see Sonoko, did you?"
Shaking his head, Fujino continued, "Sure, Sonoko's family is rich, but I doubt that's why you're here..."
"Of course not," Kaito quickly explained. "I'm here for something else—Ikasama Doji."
"Ikasama Doji, huh? That mature woman named Tanaka Kikue?"
Fujino feigned confusion before looking at Kaito in distaste. "Are you planning to become a 'flower thief' now?"
Kaito: "?"
"Sure, she's pretty attractive, but you wouldn't..."
Fujino patted Kaito on the shoulder.
"Hey, hey, what kind of person do you think I am?!"
Kaito instantly retorted, feeling speechless.
Come on, when did I become a 'flower thief'?
"A lawless thief who likes to mess with women."
Kaito: "?"
"Based on what I know and my impression of you, I wouldn't even be surprised if you sneaked into a women's changing room."
Kaito: "?!"
"I mean, you're really good at disguising as a woman, especially when you pretended to be Ran. If I hadn't been sharp-eyed, I might've fallen for it... To master a skill like that, you must have peeked into women's changing rooms a lot, huh?"
Kaito: "..."
Kaito was completely dumbfounded by Fujino.
He stayed silent for a long time, taking a deep breath.
He had to resist the urge to pull out his card gun and shoot this ridiculous guy in front of him.
Sighing, Kaito finally explained: "Ikasama Doji was actually an alias used by Murai Kazekaze a long time ago. I knew all along that he was Murai Kazekaze, but Murai's dead. I'm curious who's still using that name to communicate with us, so I came to check it out."
"I see."
---
Fujino nodded in sudden realization and then, with a serious expression, asked, "So, what do you think about Miss Tanaka Kikuie?"
"Of course nothing!" Kaito Kuroba shouted, feeling exasperated.
Why did this guy always think he had some feelings for that girl? Did he really look like some kind of playboy?
He admitted that he liked to tease women when he was stealing, but that was the extent of it. He was still a minor—how could he possibly do anything illegal? Even if something happened, it would be the other person breaking the law, not him!
"Alright, let's get serious now," Fujino said, returning to the main topic with a serious look. "What do you think of Tanaka Kikuie?"
"I already told you, I don't have any thoughts about her," Kaito Kuroba replied, waving his hand in boredom.
"What are you even thinking?" Fujino glanced at Kaito Kuroba with a hint of disdain. "You're really this kind of careless guy, huh?"
Kaito Kuroba silently pulled out his card gun.
"Shut it, Kid," Fujino said, throwing a punch.
The card gun shattered.
"Huh?" Kaito Kuroba's eyes went wide.
Ridiculous! His card gun! It broke again! It had just been fixed a few days ago! Damn it!
Now he'd have to spend another million yen to get Jii to ask a familiar professor to custom-make a new one.
Somewhere, a certain balding professor chuckled mischievously.
"Two million yen, collected."
"Now, can we have a proper conversation?" Fujino retracted his fist and spoke calmly.
No doubt about it, this guy was a student of *that* woman.
A true disciple of the Iron Fist Saint!
"Alright, ask away, as long as it's a normal question," Kaito Kuroba said, resigned.
"Have you noticed anything strange about her?" Fujino asked. "I mean, how she's been acting since she got here. I think she might be connected to a murder case."
"Strange? I haven't noticed anything," Kaito Kuroba frowned and thought for a moment. "But a murder case? Which one?"
"The one from this morning..." Fujino glanced at Kaito Kuroba's confused expression and suddenly remembered, "Oh, right. I nearly forgot, the police haven't made this public yet."
Recalling that it was his own request to keep the case under wraps, he explained, "This morning, a male body was found in an apartment in Beika Town. The victim's name was Tsutomu Nishiyama, and the police found a message left by the killer: 'This is only the first—Kagemusha.'"
"Kagemusha?" Kaito Kuroba recognized the name. "Could it be the Kagemusha from our chat group?"
"That's right, it's him."
"So..." Kaito Kuroba's face turned grim as he swallowed, asking in disbelief, "The victim... Could it be the Escape King, who hasn't shown up yet?"
"Correct. I logged into his account to confirm. He was the Escape King," Fujino said, with a look that seemed to say, "Ah, you're finally catching on."
"Are you suspecting that Tanaka Kikuie is the one who killed the Escape King?" Kaito Kuroba's expression grew serious.
"It's just a suspicion," Fujino rubbed his chin and continued, "Based on my deductions, Tanaka Kikuie is indeed my prime suspect, but she's not the only one. Her behavior just caught my attention... After all, you did mention that the account she took over belonged to someone who's already dead."
"This time, Kagemusha is the killer, and her account is 'Ikasama Douji.' If it's not her, then the culprit has to be one of the people present at the scene."
"Of course, we can't rule out the possibility that Kagemusha hasn't arrived yet, and if that's the case, things will get scary."
"Scary?" Kaito Kuroba looked puzzled.
Fujino nodded seriously. "If the person hasn't shown up yet, I think Kagemusha might be planning to wipe out everyone in the chatroom from the outside."
"Are all detectives this good at jumping to conclusions?" Kaito Kuroba gave Fujino a weird look.
"It's just what my reasoning suggests," Fujino explained.
"Why can't I reason like that?" Kaito Kuroba muttered, feeling helpless. "Where's the evidence? How did you come to that conclusion?"
"Evidence?" Fujino spread his hands. "There is none."
"Then how can you deduce anything?"
"By using my heart to reason, and my intuition to feel. I call it 'idealistic reasoning.'"
Kaito Kuroba stared at Fujino, speechless.
He had no idea what that was.
After all, even Fujino himself didn't know what kind of nonsense he was spouting. Using the language of his previous life, it could be called "I-think-I'm-right logic."
"Ahem." Fujino cleared his throat. "Kagemusha left a message saying this was only the first. So, apart from the Escape King, there will definitely be more victims..."
"More victims?" Kaito Kuroba frowned. Thinking back to what Fujino had said earlier, it actually started to make some sense.
This is what it's like being a detective?
Scary.
"Do you have any way to stop Kagemusha from killing again?" Kaito Kuroba asked seriously after a moment of thought.
"I do have some leads now... There's a good chance I can prevent another murder," Fujino said with satisfaction, seeing that Kaito Kuroba had taken the bait. "But I'll need a little help from you."
"Help?"
"Yes, I need you to give me some information," Fujino explained. "And besides that, I need you to pay me a 500,000 yen retainer."
"Information about Kagemusha is one thing... but what's this retainer about?" Kaito Kuroba looked at Fujino in confusion.
"Originally, I shouldn't be letting someone like you, a phantom thief, off the hook. The real reason I came here today was to catch you..." Fujino paused and then made a troubled expression. "But due to today's unique circumstances, I can't make a move on you right now. If I do, it'll mess up my plans. But not arresting you goes against my professional ethics. So I came up with a compromise: you hire me as your client. A protection contract costs 500,000 yen, and as my client, I can't make a move on you."
"So I lose and you win?" Kaito Kuroba's mouth twitched. "Why does it feel like you're extorting me?"
Recalling the last time this guy made him pay more, Kaito Kuroba suddenly felt like he had been trapped by him from the moment he walked through the door.
Fujino wasn't having any of that. What extortion? Did this phantom thief even know how many countries were after him?
Never mind. Since nice words didn't work, it was time to get serious.
Fujino sighed, his lips curving into a slight smile. "Phantom Thief, you wouldn't want..."
(End of chapter)