'How did I end up getting dragged into this?' Kaito thought as he followed the Detective Boys and Haibara.
As for the reason, it was simple. Kaito needed to talk to Haibara alone, but she said she was busy today. Of course, Kaito knew why. According to the original plot, after a case, Haibara would tell Conan about her identity.
From a logical point of view, it made sense for Haibara to focus more on matters related to the secret organization she had just fled from.
But from the perspective of someone who had been trapped in the body of a child for seven years, Kaito could not have been more frustrated at that moment.
"So, are you going to follow us?" Conan asked when he saw Kaito, who usually left on his own as soon as classes ended and paid attention to nothing beyond his console.
"I'm free today," Kaito replied.
"And you think you can follow us just like that?" Conan raised an eyebrow.
Kaito did not answer him. Instead, he looked at Ayumi.
"Ayumi, can I go with the Detective Boys just for today?"
"Of course!" Ayumi nodded excitedly, as expected from a small girl who saw a potential new friend.
"With Takayama and Haibara, we have two new members today. We need to get a good case and show them our skills," Mitsuhiko said.
"I hope there's a case," Ayumi nodded.
"There is one!" Genta said as he opened his locker and found a request for the Detective Boys.
"It's a request from Toshiya, from the other class. Let's go talk to him," Mitsuhiko said.
Somehow, the group split up. The three in front walked energetically, Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, and Genta. Behind them were the other three, who simply followed the group in silence.
Kaito did not know what Conan and Haibara were thinking. The former was probably thinking about how annoying it was to play detective with children, yet still following along. The latter, meanwhile, was observing all of Conan's movements.
As for Kaito, he tried to remember the case without success. Despite having seen many stories, he could not remember every detail, especially now that he did not have his enhanced body and his mind was completely normal.
Eventually, they arrived at Toshiya's classroom, and he told them his case.
When they heard that it was about finding his missing older brother, Conan and Haibara, who at first thought it was just a game, became more serious and paid attention.
Kaito simply followed in silence.
Toshiya took them to his house, more specifically to his missing older brother's room, to look for clues.
There, Kaito pretended to search as well while observing Conan and chuckled softly.
Despite finding his personality somewhat annoying, he had to admit it was quite entertaining to watch. Especially because he was not discreet at all. Every time he found a clue, he would fall silent, stare at it with narrowed eyes, and then go blank. Kaito assumed he was analyzing everything in his mind.
"What are you looking at?" a voice behind him asked, startling him.
"Conan, he's pretty entertaining," Kaito said.
"That's true. His methods don't seem like those of a child. Anyone would think he's a professional detective," Haibara said. However, despite speaking to Kaito, it seemed like she was really talking to herself, as if confirming her suspicions.
"What's this?" Ayumi asked after finding several handmade paintings.
"My brother is a painter. He likes copying famous works. They're very good, right?" Toshiya explained with some pride.
"I know this one. It was in an exhibition before, right?" Conan asked after recognizing a portrait of Natsume Soseki.
"Yes. Now that I remember, a woman approached my brother about this painting before.
She was pretty suspicious. She was dressed completely in black and wore a hat."
"Are you sure?!" Conan asked in shock after hearing the description, grabbing Toshiya by the shoulders.
"Y-yes, she was really strange."
While Conan thought they might be people from the Black Organization and Haibara observed his reaction, Kaito was also quite startled.
Thanks to that, he finally remembered the case.
In short, Toshiya's older brother was very good at creating portraits of Natsume Soseki, who is also the person on the thousand yen bill. Because of that, he was kidnapped to forge money.
Kaito, who had hoped to remember the case and finish it quickly, realized it was impossible.
In the original plot, they found one of the culprits purely by coincidence. Conan paid attention at the exact moment someone was paying, and by sheer chance it turned out to be not only someone using a fake bill, but also one of the people involved.
And exactly like in the plot, what followed was spending the entire afternoon asking around the city if anyone had seen Toshiya's older brother or the mysterious woman.
'How the hell did Conan find someone?' Kaito wondered.
He had even led them to search near different shops for a while, trying to force fate.
"Can I have some?" Genta asked, pointing at the chips Kaito was eating while sitting on a bench in front of a convenience store after searching all afternoon.
"Sure."
While Genta ate, Kaito looked at Conan.
Just like before, he was sitting on a bench, staring at a specific spot.
Kaito followed his gaze and saw a man dressed in black with a hat paying for a pack of cigarettes.
'Unbelievable. What kind of luck is this?' Kaito thought as he stood up.
As he kept watching, Conan somehow snatched the bill from the clerk and saw that it was fake.
After that, he started chasing the man in black, who was already walking away.
"Hey, your..."
"Keep them," Kaito interrupted Genta.
Genta quickly finished the pack and started following Kaito, who followed Conan, who had sprinted after the man as soon as he left the store.
The rest of the group saw this and also started running after them.
After about five minutes, the man entered another shop, and Conan finally stopped.
"Why are we following him?" Ayumi whispered.
"There's no need to whisper," Conan said. "The thousand yen bill was fake. He might be connected to Toshiya's older brother and the portrait he made."
"Then we should follow him," Genta said, even though he did not fully understand.
But Conan stopped them.
"No. If this is about counterfeiting, he can't be alone. It's probably a group, and one willing to kidnap people.
They might be the Black Organization. In that case, it could be even more dangerous..."
Conan noticed they were looking at him without understanding anything and realized he had started rambling, so he pretended ignorance. The only one who took his words seriously was Haibara.
After that, Conan used a rather poor excuse to run away, saying he had something to do and that they should continue tomorrow.
"He left," Ayumi murmured as she watched him run.
"We'll have to continue tomorrow when Conan is free," Mitsuhiko repeated.
"Not necessarily," Haibara said, drawing the group's attention. "We should follow Conan. He's probably continuing the investigation on his own."
"Why?" Ayumi asked, confused.
"Aaah! He wants to steal all the credit."
"That's right. Cheater Conan."
With those self convincing excuses, the group decided to follow Conan.
Kaito just laughed at the situation as he followed them, but he quickly stopped laughing.
For the children, it might not have been impressive, but for Kaito, it was.
Conan went to a vendor and asked about the man, what he had bought. Then a janitor told him what coin he had used to pay for a ticket and that he had three coins left over. With just that, Conan calculated where the man had traveled by train.
Finally, they went to a local corridor to ask about the surroundings.
"How did we get here?"
"By following Conan," Ayumi replied without understanding the question.
"Yeah, but... never mind. We've been discovered," Kaito sighed.
The group looked ahead, and sure enough, the corridor attendant was pointing at them, and Conan, following his indication, was looking at them.
The group gathered, and Toshiya started talking about his brother and something related to a phone call, but Kaito was no longer paying attention.
With Conan there, all that was left was to follow him, and the case would solve itself.
And indeed, within a few minutes, he connected the dots and found the place where they were printing money and where they were holding Toshiya's older brother, right next to a police station.
The group went to the police station and explained the situation, but of course, they were not believed.
"We're telling the truth!"
"Sure, kids. Stop watching so many movies," the officer said.
"They have weapons," Kaito interrupted, tired of waiting.
"What did you say?" The officer looked at him seriously.
"The criminals have firearms. They're a group of four. The leader is a woman. Their group is called Silver Fox."
In Japan, and in Asia in general, it is quite easy to make the police take a case seriously when weapons are involved. Combined with information that only the police knew about the counterfeiting gang, it was enough.
"I'll go check it out," the officer said as he stood up. "Stay here. If this turns out to be a lie, you'll be in a lot of trouble."
"Hey, is this okay? You just made up a lot of things," Conan whispered to Kaito.
"It'll be fine," Kaito said. 'After all, everything is true,' he added in his mind.
Conan shrugged and said nothing more. As long as the officer checked, he would see the counterfeiting machines, and that would be enough.
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(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)