Chapter 77: Just Asking If Your Fever Is Better!
Natsukawa and Anya returned home, and not long afterward, Yor called.
She clearly remained deeply concerned about her stew's effects.
"How is it, Mr. Natsukawa? Conan's alright, isn't he? It's not my stew that's the problem, is it?"
Natsukawa: "Uh, well..."
Natsukawa stammered for an extended period, unable to form coherent words. He desperately wanted to say it wasn't Yor's fault, but if he did, she would absolutely insist on making another batch of stew specifically for him to test.
"Could it really be... that there's something fundamentally wrong with my cooking?" Yor's voice trembled with barely restrained emotion, finding the possibility almost impossible to accept.
Yuri was completely fine after eating it.
Could it be that only Yuri would be okay consuming her cooking?
That wasn't entirely impossible. After all, she'd only ever cooked regularly for her younger brother throughout her life.
Natsukawa couldn't see Yor's face through the phone, but he could already vividly picture her expression—as if she'd lost all faith in herself and her abilities.
Natsukawa spent considerable time explaining and reassuring her, finally managing to convince Yor to release her obsessive fixation on the stew's quality.
After hanging up, Natsukawa sat pondering for a long while, staring at the earthenware pot that had been brought back home.
There was still quite a substantial amount of stew remaining inside.
Meanwhile, Anya was in her room watching the video footage on endless repeat, laughing hysterically each time. She'd completely forgotten the traumatic experience of temporarily losing her superpowers because of that very same stew.
"This is absolutely amazing! I have to share this with the other three members of the Detective Boys immediately!"
The perspective shifts back to Natsukawa, who lifted the pot and sniffed its contents again cautiously.
Maybe I should send this stuff to Frank for proper laboratory testing. It's all normal, edible food, so why does this bizarre problem occur? Instant unconsciousness after consumption—it's functionally comparable to Professor Agasa's wristwatch-shaped tranquilizer gun in effectiveness.
He wondered if there were any lingering aftereffects or side effects.
But Miss Yor claimed her brother was perfectly fine after regularly eating her cooking. How was that even remotely possible?
Does Miss Yor's brother possess some kind of miraculous antidote constitution or superhuman digestive system?
Never mind all that.
Natsukawa located several small glass bottles and carefully poured portions of the stew's broth into them. This substance could potentially serve as emergency-use ether or a makeshift anesthetic in certain situations.
As for concerns about it expiring or spoiling after a while—that wasn't even worth considering.
I'm already making people instantly unconscious. And they're worried about expiration dates? That's absolutely ridiculous.
The Morning Interrogation
The following morning, insistent knocking rattled Natsukawa's front door.
After groggily stumbling to answer it, Natsukawa discovered two thoroughly miserable-looking individuals standing in his doorway.
"Uncle Mouri and Conan... what brings you both here so incredibly early?"
Glancing at the wall clock, it wasn't even eight o'clock yet. As a proudly unemployed person, this was the absolute prime time for comfortable sleep. Being awakened like this was genuinely annoying.
However, the two visitors at his door looked decidedly strange—their faces pale and distinctly unwell.
Uh... looks like they spent considerable quality time in the bathroom yesterday.
Could they possibly be here to confront me about that?
Natsukawa forced a cheerful smile and invited them inside anyway.
After settling onto the sofa, both remained ominously silent, staring at Natsukawa with expressions that bordered on outright hostility.
"What's wrong?" Natsukawa licked his lips nervously, forcing an uncomfortable dry laugh to change the subject quickly. "By the way, Conan's fever has completely subsided now, right?"
"Yeah."
Conan nodded with complete indifference, gritted his teeth audibly, and snorted coldly through his nose.
"Hey, Natsukawa! Why didn't you physically stop me from eating that stew yesterday?!"
Kogoro Mouri radiated righteous indignation. Last night, he'd been trapped on the toilet for nearly an hour straight. When he'd finally pulled up his pants afterward, he could barely stand upright on his trembling legs.
Just thinking about the experience sent involuntary chills down his spine. His legs still felt slightly numb even now.
"Uh..." Natsukawa shrugged helplessly. "It's simply that Uncle Mouri moved far too quickly. I genuinely wanted to stop you, but I couldn't physically keep up with your speed."
So they're here to interrogate me about yesterday's incident?
He readily admitted Conan's digestive distress was partially his responsibility, but Uncle Mouri's situation... that was clearly Uncle Mouri's own fault for insisting on sampling it despite warnings.
Really, it genuinely wasn't that he hadn't tried stopping him on purpose. Uncle Mouri had simply been impossibly fast with those chopsticks.
"Cough cough." Uncle Mouri experienced a brief alcohol-induced memory gap from yesterday's drinking. He'd somehow convinced himself that Natsukawa had personally fed him the stew, which made him feel somewhat embarrassed about his accusations.
"What about me, then? Uncle Natsukawa didn't mention beforehand that this folk remedy would cause such severe digestive distress that there'd literally be nothing left to purge from one's system!"
"I was only acting in your best medical interests! I'm simply asking—isn't your fever significantly better now?"
"But—"
"Conan, a common cold doesn't magically disappear in a single day. If it weren't for this traditional folk remedy, you'd be suffering through at least two more days of fever, followed by a painful sore throat and complete body weakness. Didn't Dr. Ogawa schedule an investigation appointment with Uncle Mouri for today? How could you possibly serve as Uncle Mouri's assistant while running a high fever?"
Natsukawa's seemingly well-intentioned and logical words left Conan completely speechless.
Indeed, without that medicinal stew, a typical cold would normally persist for three to seven days minimum. During that entire period, Uncle Mouri definitely wouldn't permit him to accompany any investigations.
But this folk remedy was far too archaic and brutal in its methodology. If this situation ever occurred again, he'd much rather take conventional cold medicine and suffer through the extended illness.
Seeing that Conan's hostile expression had relaxed considerably, Natsukawa breathed an internal sigh of relief. He'd finally managed to successfully talk his way out of trouble.
"By the way, Uncle Mouri, what actually brought you here this morning?"
Uncle Mouri's demeanor softened dramatically at this question. "Hehe, it's regarding Dr. Ogawa's case. I came to inquire if you'd like to participate in the investigation with me."
Since this case had been directly referred by Natsukawa, it seemed appropriate to extend the invitation.
Natsukawa considered the offer thoughtfully before shaking his head. He had other obligations and matters to attend to today.
However, he could certainly provide Uncle Mouri with some preliminary intelligence he'd already gathered. After all, this case involved a human life—a child's life at that. It was absolutely best to apprehend the culprit as quickly as possible, just in case they acted on their threats.
Strangely enough, ever since Anya had entered his life, he'd suddenly become significantly more attentive and protective toward children in general.
"By the way, Uncle Mouri, if you're going to investigate this case thoroughly, you should probably start by examining Dr. Ogawa's patient records."
Natsukawa relayed all the intelligence information he'd previously gathered from Frank's investigation.
"I heard some of this from a nurse when Anya was hospitalized yesterday. Dr. Ogawa is genuinely a good person with excellent bedside manner. He doesn't appear to have any deep-seated grudges or conflicts with anyone at the hospital. I don't know much about his personal life outside work, but since the mysterious packages were sent directly to the hospital, they're almost certainly related to his medical practice."
"The only realistic possibility involves that child who died two years ago. Apparently, the child's father repeatedly accused Dr. Ogawa of being a quack doctor and blamed him for the death."
Kogoro Mouri looked genuinely surprised that Natsukawa had already provided him with such a solid investigative lead before the actual investigation had even begun. He nodded repeatedly with approval, thinking that Natsukawa's deductive reasoning skills were remarkably impressive. This visit definitely hadn't been wasted.
"So Uncle Natsukawa suspects this entire matter is connected to the child who died two years ago? That the child's parent is planning some form of revenge against Dr. Ogawa?"
Conan asked thoughtfully, stroking his chin in his characteristic detective pose. "But isn't that theory somewhat far-fetched? The child was clearly already critically and terminally ill when he first arrived at the hospital for emergency treatment."
Natsukawa shrugged noncommittally.
He couldn't possibly understand the peculiar thinking patterns of Beika District residents, let alone comprehend the mindset of a grief-stricken Beika father who'd lost his child. He sincerely hoped Conan wouldn't rely on conventional common sense and would instead utilize his imagination.
"It's highly probable, but that's purely my personal speculation based on limited information. We'll have to wait for Uncle Mouri—the famous detective—to conduct his thorough investigation. By the way, I heard Dr. Ogawa has a five-year-old son. That child might potentially be the intended target."
"Understood." Kogoro Mouri nodded with solemn determination. "I'll investigate this matter thoroughly and professionally."
"After all, I'm the world-famous detective Kogoro Mouri!~"
There he went again, becoming insufferably smug and self-congratulatory.
It's always me doing all the actual work.
Conan silently scoffed from his position on the sideline.
What "famous detective"? Just a sake-loving drunkard who happens to fall asleep at crime scenes. If it weren't for Ran providing a stable home base, I wouldn't...
Ugh... okay, fine. It's actually a mutually beneficial win-win arrangement.
Uncle Mouri needed to solve cases to maintain his reputation, and Conan needed to use Uncle Mouri as cover to conceal his own true identity. It was a symbiotic relationship where nobody actually lost out.
Since this investigation involved preserving human life, Kogoro Mouri didn't linger long at Natsukawa's residence. Once he'd confirmed Natsukawa wasn't available to join them, he departed promptly with his elementary school-aged burden, Conan, in tow.
The Impossible Weather
After successfully seeing off the two harbingers of death and destruction, Natsukawa glanced outside his window with an expression of utter bewilderment.
What the hell?!
Such brilliantly bright sunshine!
Just yesterday it had been the dead of winter—complete with heavy snowfall and biting winds that cut straight through clothing.
But this sudden change was actually beneficial. With the weather returned to normal seasonal patterns, they could finally proceed with cherry blossom viewing plans.
He remembered making arrangements with Yor for the day after tomorrow.
Uh... I'll have to confirm those details with Frank sometime soon.
Natsukawa walked to the window, marveling at the impossible sight unfolding before his eyes. Bare tree branches that had been completely dormant were now sprouting fresh new buds. Willow trees swayed their impossibly tender new branches in the spring breeze.
The leaves had visibly grown from tiny buds to fully mature foliage in less than half a day's time.
By noon, all of Tokyo had completely transformed back into pristine springtime conditions.
This is absolutely Conan's bizarre worldview logic at work. Doesn't ANYONE find this meteorologically impossible situation strange?!
(End of Chapter 77)
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