"But where is my real dad?" Ran asked, looking out from the helicopter. The sight of the shimmering golden mansion under the sunrise was breathtaking, but her concern for her father far outweighed the spectacle.
Just when did he get swapped out?
"Oh, right. There's still that to consider," Hakuba Saguru, Mogi Harufumi, and Ikumi Kyosuke remarked, the realization hitting them simultaneously.
The famous "Sleeping Kogoro" was still missing in action.
"..." Conan shot Tsuneo a pointed look.
While his mind was racing with a thousand questions, the priority was finding the real Uncle Mouri.
The handyman, sensing the gaze, simply looked away and pretended he didn't see anything.
I am not Kid's accomplice or anything of the sort. This has nothing to do with me.
The group took the helicopter back and soon arrived at the Nagano Prefectural Police Headquarters. Using Young Master Hakuba's credentials to bypass the usual red tape, Tsuneo, Ran, and Conan were quickly dispatched in a police car back toward the gas station they had passed the day before.
"Honestly, Tsuneo-niisan, you knew all along, didn't you?" Ran asked, looking at the handyman.
She had nearly died of fright when "her father" jumped out of the helicopter, only for it to be revealed as a fraud.
"It was all just a deduction. I was busy buying snacks; I wasn't really paying attention to what was happening," Tsuneo said, shaking his head and refusing to admit a thing from the passenger seat.
"Heh..." Conan let out a weak, dry laugh and lowered his head, his mind returning to his theories.
Not only did he know, but he practically covered for Kid while the tires were being changed.
The officer driving the car glanced at the three of them, his face full of curiosity.
Is this Kaito Kid really that legendary? He had heard stories, but he never imagined the thief could fool a man's own family so completely.
"Help! Get me out of here!"
As soon as the car pulled into the gas station, a desperate muffled shouting reached their ears.
"Dad?!" Ran pushed open the door to the employee breakroom. She found her father sitting there in a tank top, tied back-to-back with a gas station employee.
"Where on earth have you all been?!" Kogoro Mouri yelled, his eyes lighting up as if he'd seen his savior.
Being tied up all night was agonizing. The man behind him—likely the owner of the station—had been fast asleep the entire time and still hadn't woken up.
"We went to the Sunset Mansion. Kaito Kid disguised himself as you..." Ran explained the night's events as she untied the ropes.
Uncle Mouri's temper remained relatively stable during the first half of the story. However, the second he heard the rental car had been blown up, he turned to Tsuneo and Conan with an expression of pure, unadulterated shock.
Please, tell me you're joking. Tell me it isn't true!
"Unfortunately, it's true. There isn't enough left of that car to fill a shoebox," Tsuneo said, shaking his head with a sigh.
The rental agency was going to make a killing on this. The compensation for even a minor scratch was steep, so for a total loss like this? They were going to pay out more than the cost of a brand-new car.
"My car..." Kogoro was still scratching his head in despair even after they got back into the police car.
It was a total disaster. He hadn't even seen the mansion, yet he ended up tied up and carless.
"Uncle, don't worry. This is for you," Conan said with a smile, pulling a slip of paper from his pocket.
It was something Kid had handed to the boy detective earlier—a "gesture of apology" for kidnapping the Mouri detective.
Kogoro nearly used the paper to wipe his tears, but as soon as his eyes caught the numbers written on it, his face instantly brightened into a grin.
The accompanying officer took a brief statement from the gas station owner, and then drove the group back toward the city.
"By the way... I was lying there semi-conscious behind the counter. Are you telling me you really didn't see me?" Kogoro asked, his eyes full of suspicion.
The two of them had entered the station together, after all.
"Didn't see a thing," Tsuneo replied, happily munching on two plum onigiri he had just bought.
It was a shame about the meal Ogami Shukuzen had prepared the night before. It was that gourmet detective's swan song...
Evening.
Beika-cho, Tokyo.
"What's going on?" Professor Agasa asked, looking at Conan with bewilderment.
Shinichi looked unusually grim today.
"Sunset Mansion. Renya Karasuma. The Mastermind. The Crow Crest. Are you going to talk or not?!" Conan turned his gaze toward the handyman.
We're home now. Are you still going to hide the truth?
"Pfft!"
Before anyone else could react, Ai Haibara, who had been quietly sipping tea, spat it out across the table.
It was rare to see the "evil scientist" lose her composure so thoroughly.
Tsuneo looked up at the ceiling, seemingly lost in thought.
"Don't worry, Mr. Tsuneo. The Professor and I check for wiretaps every day," Akemi Miyano said, guessing what was on his mind.
Since Tsuneo had first warned them, they had made sweeping for bugs a part of their daily routine.
"Wire... wiretaps?!" Conan's pupils shrunk. Is the Professor's house being targeted by someone?
"It's nothing. If they were going to plant bugs, they'd put them in the Detective Agency first," Tsuneo remarked. He felt the chances of Vermouth coming here to bug the place were slim.
Ai and Akemi had changed their hair colors and styles; even face-to-face, they were hard to recognize. The real trouble would be if his own identity were compromised.
Conan looked at the three of them, feeling a gnawing sense that he was being kept in the dark about something major.
"What's this about the annex?" Haibara asked, setting her teacup down with a trembling hand.
Renya Karasuma. She knew that name all too well.
"It was formerly a Karasuma villa. The entire interior of the walls turned out to be solid gold. It's worth a fortune," Tsuneo explained.
While the entire structure couldn't possibly be gold, even a thick surface plating was worth an astronomical sum.
"That's... that's absurd," Professor Agasa stammered.
From their description, the annex was massive. To have that kind of wealth?
"It's not absurd at all," Haibara said, standing by the window with a grave expression.
The sheer power of the Karasuma Group was terrifyingly vast.
"Is it finally time someone told me the whole story?" Conan asked, his eyes darting between them.
"Actually... our parents were originally hired by the Karasuma Group to conduct their research," Akemi said after a pause.
And the Black Organization she and her sister had been part of was entirely owned by the Karasuma family.
"Is that really true?"
"Then, who is currently managing the organization?" Conan asked, resting his chin on his hand.
Is it a descendant of Renya Karasuma? APTX 4869... a drug that can regress age...
"I don't think that old man ever actually died," Tsuneo said. He grabbed a carton of milk from the fridge and chugged it down before offering his opinion.
Dying at ninety-nine, forty years ago? He didn't buy it for a second.
Furthermore, as he'd suspected before, the bloodbath at the auction forty years ago was likely the work of two "bottles of wine" sent by the organization.
"He's... still alive?"
Conan found the idea hard to swallow. Given his wealth and status, it wasn't impossible, but to still be alive today would make him roughly one hundred and forty years old. It was beyond belief...
(End of Chapter)
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