"I'd pay good money to see the look on that old man's face right now," Tsuneo chuckled, his voice devoid of any real sympathy. "Sorry, but I've always been a bit cruel like that."
"Can we go back now?" Ikumi Kyosuke asked, stifling a yawn as she leaned her head against the repairman's shoulder. Solving a case was exhilarating, sure, but the late hour was finally catching up to her.
"Ah, Mr. Tsuneo, if you could spare a moment? We still have a few details to confirm." Inspector Otaki poked his head out from a nearby office, gesturing for him to come inside.
Ran and Kazuha looked on with confused expressions. "Why is Brother Tsuneo being questioned for so much longer than everyone else?" Ran wondered aloud. They had both been at the abandoned factory with Kogoro, whereas Tsuneo hadn't even been at the primary scene.
"Word just came back from the hospital," Hattori said, resting his chin in his hand. "One of those thugs he took down is dead. Though, technically, he was shot by his own man during the scuffle."
Hattori shook his head in disbelief. The guy is genuinely fearless. Who charges into a group of seven or eight people holding handguns?
Ran frowned as she listened. Is that what 'real combat' looks like? She knew that with her training, she could likely dodge a single shot if she was fully focused, but would she actually have the courage to face a firing squad like that? Without being in that life-or-death situation herself, she didn't have an answer.
It was nearly midnight by the time the group finally emerged from the police station.
"Now that the adrenaline's gone, I'm starving," Kogoro Mouri grunted, glancing around at his companions. "Anyone up for a drink?"
He looked at the faces around him and sighed. None of them were drinkers. The only other adults were Tsuneo and Ikumi, and asking them felt like a lost cause. On a rainy night after a successful case, a cold beer was supposed to be the ultimate reward.
"Master Mouri, I can join you for a meal," Tsuneo offered. He was still hungry himself; those burgers he'd grabbed on the way to find Conan hadn't even come close to filling him up.
"No, I think we'll just eat at the hotel..." Kogoro replied with a wry smile. Letting Tsuneo "accompany" him usually ended up costing him more than he bargained for.
Hattori looked back at the police headquarters, a smug grin spreading across his face. "Whatever anyone says, I'm the one who won this round!" He declared. Even if his father had tried to bench him, he'd still dragged the truth into the light.
Exactly. Even if Dad hadn't shown up with his squad at the end, between me and Kudo's gadgets, handling Kasuya would have been a piece of cake!
"Heh... what a moron," Conan muttered, watching the others walk ahead. He decided it was time to pop Heiji's balloon.
"What exactly did you win?" the little detective asked, tilting his head back with a mischievous glint in his eyes.
"We found the culprit first and tracked him all the way there, didn't we?" Hattori replied, hands on his hips.
"And why do you think the police were able to move so fast? How did they manage to surround the scene so silently?" Conan asked, his voice dripping with playful skepticism. "Think about it, Hattori."
"Brother Tsuneo and the others probably called them, right?" Hattori shrugged. "Seeing that many armed men in an alley... it's only natural to call it in."
"It seems someone still hasn't realized he was the bait!"
Conan let out a sharp laugh. He squinted his eyes, perfectly mimicking the stern, narrow-eyed expression of Hattori Heizo, and even affected a thick Osaka accent as he dropped the bombshell.
"What?!" Hattori's face transformed instantly. His eyes bugged out. "You're saying he already knew who killed Mr. Kato?!"
"Yep. He figured it out the moment he heard about the hand gesture Kato made before he died," Conan said, looking thoroughly pleased with himself.
"So that punch he gave me in front of everyone... and all that talk about me being off the case... it was all a ruse? He deliberately used me as a lure to make the culprit jump into a pre-set trap?!"
Hattori's voice rose an octave with every word. His complexion seemed to darken with rage, his expression almost unreadable in the shadows of the night.
"Well, that's almost certainly how it went," Conan said, clasping his hands behind his head as he looked back at the brightly lit station. It's going to be a long night for the officers in there.
"That damn fox-eyed old man! If he ever pulls a stunt like that again, I'm going to shove my fingers into his ears and scream the truth until his head spins!!" Hattori was practically fuming, a literal aura of irritation radiating from him.
Conan took a cautious step back. The mental image of Heiji shoving his fingers into the Superintendent General's ears was... disturbing, to say the least.
"You're about ready to tell me the truth about that little detective, aren't you?"
Ikumi Kyosuke emerged from the bathroom, drying her hair with a towel. She was wearing a silk bathrobe that shimmered under the hotel lights.
"The truth about what?" Tsuneo replied. He had finished eating and was currently engaged in his favorite pastime: playing dumb. He turned his attention back to the TV. "Man, these late-night programs are something else. Why haven't I noticed them before?"
"You actually have a hobby of watching stuff like this?" Ikumi sat down beside him, eyeing the repairman with a look of genuine shock.
Tsuneo silently reached for the remote and clicked the TV off. Right. Better to watch these alone.
"If you tell me the truth..." Ikumi reached into her luggage and pulled out a black packaging bag. Inside was a collection of fabric pieces with strange, intricate shapes. To the uninitiated, it was impossible to tell how they were even supposed to be worn.
"Huh?" Tsuneo blinked. "Isn't that the stuff we bought at the mall last time? You figured out how it works?"
He hesitated. The black patterns on the fabric were both mysterious and bold—a combination that piqued his curiosity more than he cared to admit. Should I just come clean about Conan?
"Didn't you say you knew how to put it on?" Ikumi gave him a sidelong glance. "You haven't forgotten the reason you bought it, have you?"
"I... I think I need to study the blueprints carefully first!"
"Hey! Even I know it doesn't go there!"
"I know, I know! Shh, don't talk, you're distracting me."
"..."
The next morning.
Tsuneo glanced at Ikumi, who was still buried under the covers, fast asleep. He decided not to wake her and headed downstairs to the hotel dining room for breakfast alone.
Best to let the defeated enemy recover after losing the high ground, he thought with a grin.
Because the case had run so late, the training session he had planned with Hattori had to be canceled. Master Mouri had effectively dodged a bullet—though not entirely.
"Why do you need me? You've got that Osaka kid and Ran to spar with..." Kogoro grumbled, shoveling a spoonful of rice into his mouth. "My old bones are better off just watching from the sidelines."
"But Uncle, you're the one who kept insisting you were Brother Tsuneo's teacher," Conan chirped from the side, a bright, innocent smile on his face.
"Everyone else seems to accept that as fact now, too," Ran added with a nod.
"A teacher has an obligation to guide his student," Tsuneo said, ordering a second helping of breakfast. "Otherwise, I might have to leak the truth to the media—that the Great Detective Mouri is neglecting his pupils."
"..."
Kogoro sat with a dark, brooding expression, clutching his bowl. I really made a massive mistake with that one.
Still, it wasn't without its perks. Many clients who went looking for the "brilliant young detective Tsuneo" ended up at his door instead, seeking the wisdom of the master. After all, in the eyes of the public, the teacher was almost always more reliable than the student!
"What is he smirking about?" Tsuneo whispered.
"No... no idea," Conan whispered back.
"Dad's probably just imagining something happy..." Ran sighed.
The three of them shared a look of utter confusion as they watched Kogoro chuckle to himself.
(End of Chapter)
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