The next day.
The Hokutosei train departed from Tokyo.
In the Royal Suite, Chi Feichi flipped through the documents to be delivered to Hokkaido.
Contracts, termination agreements, appointment approvals, new project proposals... all requiring Chi Shinnosuke's handwritten signature, adding up to a thick stack.
Darcy sat upright nearby, staring at the backpack placed on the table.
He knew Young Master Feichi's pet snake was in the backpack, but ever since they boarded the train, the snake seemed to be rolling around inside, not staying still at all...
Chi Feichi skimmed through the documents roughly, put them into a document bag, and set it aside. Looking up, he noticed Darcy staring intently at the backpack. "What's wrong?"
Darcy asked directly, "Is your pet feeling unwell somewhere?"
"It's nothing," Chi Feichi replied perfunctorily. "Maybe he's just bored and finding ways to entertain himself. No need to mind him."
After buying mobile phones and computers for the two pets yesterday, they had become addicted to chatting, unable to extricate themselves.
Feimo planned to recruit a few more crow squads as informants and stayed in Tokyo instead of coming along. He even specifically created a chat room called [Fei] and added both his and Feichi's accounts.
Feichi had been hiding in the backpack since boarding the train. Without even thinking, Chi Feichi knew he was chatting with Feimo again...
Darcy nodded, not asking further. He stood up and said, "It's time for your medicine. I'll go get you a glass of warm water."
Chi Feichi tried to persuade Darcy. "Darcy, those drugs have side effects. Taking too much is bad for the body..."
"The boss asked me to supervise you taking your medicine. Please don't make it difficult for me." Darcy bowed to Chi Feichi, then turned and left the room.
Chi Feichi instantly got a headache.
During their sparring session yesterday afternoon, Darcy kept holding back and intentionally went easy on him, making it impossible to have a real fight.
Afterwards, Chi Feichi proposed that if he won the spar, Darcy should stop watching him take his medicine. This would both make Darcy get serious and motivate himself, and perhaps legitimately get him out of taking the meds. But Darcy directly rebutted with "I cannot use Mr. Shinnosuke's instructions as a wager."
This guy was definitely a rigid, by-the-book stubborn mule!
Darcy returned with a glass of warm water, placed it on the table, and stepped aside. "Young Master Feichi, the famous detective Mouri Kogoro seems to have boarded this train as well. When I went to get the water, I ran into him coming out of the smoking room. It seems he's staying in the room diagonally opposite ours."
Chi Feichi's gaze paused, but his movements didn't hesitate at all. He pretended to swallow the pill, actually using a coin-palming technique to hide it between his fingers, and took a sip of warm water from the glass. "Anyone else with him?"
Darcy didn't notice Chi Feichi's sleight of hand. "When he opened his room door, I heard the voice of a child speaking."
"Mn, we can go say hello later." Chi Feichi put down the water glass, slipping the pill into his pocket while reaching for his phone.
Sure enough, Feichi had sent him quite a few private messages.
[Master, is Conan here too?]
[Master, why don't we go say hello?]
[Master, staying here is so boring. Darcy isn't fun at all. Let's go find Conan and play!]
Chi Feichi didn't rush to reply. He checked the Bounty List.
There were quite a few train-related cases in Detective Conan. At first, he hadn't noticed anything wrong with the Hokutosei, but since the Grim Reaper elementary school student was here, an incident was bound to happen.
The early case involving a luxury train should be the one where the culprit commits crimes mimicking Kudo Yusaku's unpublished novel. He remembered there was a fairly valuable wanted criminal involved...
Darcy saw Chi Feichi looking down at his phone and stood straight by his side, eyes fixed forward.
Chi Feichi found the information on Asama Anji and sent it to Feichi: [Asama Anji is on the train.]
Asama Anji started robbing ten years ago and committed a crime every two or three years since. The most recent one was a week ago, and he had not been arrested yet. The bounty was 3.5 million yen. Like Numabuchi Kiichiro, this was already the highest official bounty.
Feichi read the information and immediately got excited, replying to Chi Feichi from inside the backpack: [Master, catch or not?]
Chi Feichi turned to look at the train window. Catching him wasn't the problem; the problem was how to deal with him afterwards.
This train went directly from Tokyo to Hokkaido without stopping at intermediate stations. The windows couldn't be opened, and the only way out was to break them, so he couldn't quietly send Asama Anji out midway.
He couldn't just keep the guy hidden in his room until they reached Hokkaido and then send him to the police station, right?
Darcy would be following him constantly, making it hard to hide someone in the room. And even if he hid him well, how would he get an unconscious person off the train?
Taking action on a non-stop train like this was very risky, especially with Conan watching closely nearby. One slip-up and he would expose himself.
However...
What if Asama Anji cooperated?
Whether it worked or not, he had to try. Not trying at all would be a waste of 3.5 million yen...
Feichi didn't get a response for a while and sent another message: [Master?]
Chi Feichi sent the operation plan to Feichi via phone, then replied to a message from Morizono Kikuhito. Estimating that Feichi had finished reading, he put the document bag into the backpack. "Darcy, let's go have dinner."
While Chi Feichi was putting away the documents, Feichi crawled along Chi Feichi's arm into his sleeve.
"When I went to get hot water, the dining car was already preparing dinner. But if we go now, we might have to wait a while."
"It doesn't matter."
After the two left the room, Feichi quietly slipped out from Chi Feichi's trouser leg, carrying a torn piece of paper and a pen in his mouth. Hiding in the shadows, he looked left and right, then began writing with the pen in his mouth.
Chi Feichi walked near the dining car, excused himself to go to the restroom, and entered a stall. He took out a capsule filled with ether from his lighter, wedged it into the ventilation vent, and used a mop and bucket to create a step up to the vent. He flushed the pill down the toilet and left.
At 6:30 PM, Mouri Kogoro opened his room door and turned back to Mouri Ran and Conan. "By the way, Miss Natsue seems to have ordered dinner for us. Let's go to the dining car together!"
Bump!
A man walking with his head down bumped into Mouri Kogoro.
The man pulled down his mask irritably. "Bastard! Where are your eyes looking?"
Around the corner at the end of the corridor, Feichi stared straight at the man.
Although the man was disguised, Master said that a guy wearing a trench coat, mask, and hat, all bundled up tight, yet still running to make his presence known in front of Conan, was definitely Asama Anji.
Asama Anji's expression changed slightly after seeing clearly who he had yelled at. "You..."
"Hm?" Mouri Kogoro was confused.
Asama Anji pointed at Mouri Kogoro. "Aren't you..."
"Huh?" Mouri Kogoro remained confused.
Asama Anji didn't continue. He pulled up his mask, turned around, and walked away.
"What happened?" Mouri Ran came out of the room.
"I don't know." Mouri Kogoro was also bewildered by Asama Anji's strange reaction. He turned to leave. "Forget it, let's go to the dining car for dinner. I heard today's dinner is French cuisine..."
Conan looked back suspiciously, sizing up the situation, but Asama Anji had already quickly entered his own room.
After Conan left, Feichi moved towards Asama Anji's room with the paper note in his mouth.
Inside the room, Asama Anji leaned back against the door, pulled down his mask, and let out a long sigh of relief. "Damn it! Mouri Kogoro is here too. Why didn't I hear about this..."
Knock knock knock.
The door was knocked. Asama Anji stepped back two paces vigilantly, not rushing to open it. "Who is it?"
There was no response from outside. A small slip of paper was slid under the door.
Asama Anji frowned, stepped forward to pick up the note, and looked at the messy handwriting on it.
[Asama Anji, your whereabouts have been exposed. If you don't want to face a police ambush at the terminal station, come alone to Restroom No. 04 in front of the dining car. Don't tell anyone else.]
"Damn it!" A fierce look appeared in Asama Anji's eyes. He pocketed the note, opened the door a crack to check for anyone outside, then left the room and walked quickly towards Restroom No. 04 with his head down.
If the other party were police, they would have just arrested him directly. acting so sneakily meant they definitely had other intentions.
He wanted to see what tricks the other party was playing!
Restroom No. 04 was relatively secluded. As it was dinner time, not many people were wandering around this area.
Asama Anji opened the restroom door with his left hand, his right hand gripping his gun tightly. He was surprised to find no one inside. Turning his head, he saw a piece of paper stuck to the mirror—
[Close the restroom door and wait for me inside.]
While Asama Anji's attention was drawn to the note, Feichi quickly slipped into the restroom, climbed up the mop and bucket to the ventilation vent, and found the capsule wedged there.
"What the hell!" Asama Anji frowned and closed the restroom door.
At the same time, Feichi pierced the ether-filled capsule with his tail, darted towards the door, whipped his tail against the lock, and clicked it shut.
"What..." Asama Anji had just turned his head. Before he could see clearly what had flown past, he fainted on the floor.