Phantom Thief of Heart!but conan

Chapter 1277 Hoshikawa Teru: Your purity is not high enough

"Ah, so this is typical of legends from different places." Kawauchi Fukasato adjusted his glasses, summarizing the tragic story with nonchalant ease. "I've heard that the drowned girl's name was Tada Tamago, right?"

“Yada?” Hattori Heiji frowned. “That surname…”

"Yes, she's Makoto's sister." Hikawa Moe pouted. "You probably already knew, right?"

"So, the father who went into the forest at night and then disappeared..."

“Yes. Makoto lost his family after that incident.” Hikawa Moe lowered his head. “His father has never been found, so he can only be registered as missing. This forest is far too complex; even we locals dare not venture deep into it. Therefore, Makoto’s father may have also been killed by the God of Death…”

"But this could very well be just a simple accident, right?" Kogoro Mouri waved his hand speechlessly. "Why are you so sure it was done by some kind of ghost or spirit from a story or legend?"

“…I didn’t believe it before either.” Bingchuan Mengsheng looked away. “But I saw it, I really saw it. In the forest dyed red by the setting sun, there was a white-haired monster crouching on a tree branch, grinning at me with its teeth showing—!”

"Huh?" Ran Mouri and Kazuha Toyama, who were hugging each other, both uttered a trembling question.

"You're exaggerating too much." Kogoro Mouri was increasingly speechless. "It's perfectly normal to have animals in the forest. Are you sure you saw a monster, and not some monkey or baboon or something?"

According to their afternoon inspection, the forest in Higashi-Oku Village was very little developed.

There are only two or three paths leading up the mountain, none of which go deep into the forest. It is not hard to see that the legend of the god of death has indeed influenced the local area for many years, and the villagers dare not explore it in depth.

Without human disturbance, it's normal for the ecosystem to be complex in such a near-primeval forest. It's not surprising that rare wild animals live there, and it's not surprising that ignorant villagers regard them as ghosts.

"It's not like I'm the only one who saw it!" Bingchuan Mengsheng glared back. "The people from the village office said they saw it last week too. Many people in the village believe in Lord Death God because they witnessed it!"

"...Alright, let's just assume what you saw was true." Hattori Heiji slapped his forehead in exasperation, not wanting to continue this absurd conversation. "Then why did this Death God kill the village chief and his wife? Did they also enter the forest at night?"

"It seems to be a village redevelopment issue." Having watched the scene unfold for a while, Kawauchi Fukasato cleared his throat and picked up the conversation. "Apparently, the village chief of Nihara believes that if they want to further develop the village, they can't just leave the forest unattended. He plans to do some development in the forest, even building tourist and recreational facilities, like zip lines..."

"So the villagers think that this behavior angered that Death God?" Kogoro Mori finally turned his head and glanced at Fukasato Kawachi a few times.

Despite his unlikable appearance, this reporter is indeed skilled at intelligence gathering.

She seemed to have thoroughly investigated all the rumors and gossip surrounding Higashio Village, and appeared to know everything.

"Yes, so once he passed away, those plans became nothing but empty talk. It was originally a plan devised by the village chief of Nihara to improve the village's economic situation and retain the young people who were constantly leaving. He truly deserves to be called a hero of the village." Kawauchi Fukasato's tone was relaxed, with a hint of pride, showing that she was quite satisfied with her intelligence-gathering abilities.

"Hero?" Hattori Heiji asked, catching the word. "He's famous in the village, and it sounds like it's not just because of his character?"

"Oh, I forgot to ask what the specific project was, but he won quite a few medals. Do you want to go take a look? There are some in the collection room on the second floor."

A group of people followed the reporter from Hanoi Shinri, who had obviously come sneakily more than once, carefully bypassing the blackened bloodstains on the steps, and found the collection room on the second floor.

Like the living room downstairs, this place was severely damaged, with things smashed all over the floor and many exhibits scattered haphazardly on the tables.

"Wow, so many medals!" Ran Mouri leaned closer to examine them closely, looking at the engraved medals. "They look like they won in many competitions. But, they don't say which events they're in..."

These medals were probably originally fixed in a frame and hung on the wall, but now the glass of the frame is shattered and scattered all over the floor, so the medals have naturally fallen onto the table.

"Hey, a statue of Niou." Ran Mouri quickly spotted another recognizable item as she walked along. "This looks so exquisite, the details are so beautiful. It must be very expensive, right?"

Kogoro Mouri bent down to examine it, thought for a moment, took out a handkerchief to cushion it, and tried to pick up the statue. He quickly shook his head and put it down: "This is very heavy. It should be a solid metal statue. Is it an antique?"

"Why is there only one?" Hattori Heiji looked around and asked another question. "Shouldn't Niou have a pair of Vajra Warriors? Where's the other one?"

"If it's an antique, maybe they only bought one originally," Kogoro Mouri said dismissively.

“No, there was indeed another one originally,” Shiroyama Kazuma added, “but the other statue disappeared along with his wife’s jewels after the murder and has never been found.”

"Is this very expensive?" Hattori Heiji asked, turning his head as he examined the fallen bronze statue.

"Ah, it's a work by a famous sculptor from the Edo period. Village Chief Hihara once proudly told us that he had a good eye and bought it for two or three million yen. Now, a single piece could sell for at least five million..."

"So expensive?!" Kogoro Mouri, who was about to pick up the statue to weigh it, suddenly stepped back.

“No, that’s really strange,” Hattori Heiji immediately questioned. “If the culprit really took it, why didn’t they take both of these valuable items? What kind of logic is it to take only one?”

"This thing is so heavy, I guess the prisoner can only move one of them," Kogoro Mouri guessed.

"No, he's already killed the village chief and his wife. If he wanted to take something valuable, he could just make a few more trips, right?" Hattori Heiji scoffed. "Besides, it's even less likely that a monster would do that. What kind of monster would steal treasure?"

As he finished speaking, Hattori Heiji glanced at Hikawa Moe, who was timidly following behind and hadn't dared to go any further.

Unexpectedly, Bingchuan's logic was quite self-consistent, and he directly retorted, "It's precisely because he doesn't resemble an ordinary thief that he's most likely the work of Lord Death God! The village chief didn't just enter the forest; his actions could very well have destroyed it. Death God punished him by taking his treasure—isn't that divine punishment?"

"...You guys are truly invincible..." Feeling utterly powerless, Hattori Heiji could only roll his eyes helplessly.

After so much time and effort, these villagers must each have their own logical framework. In short, the reason Shinichi Kudo gave—that the village chief chose to commit suicide due to cancer—is untenable. Once this conclusion is denied, any conspiracy theory can be established, and convincing them won't be easy.

Kazuha Toyama, who had no interest in the collection, had already circled the second floor. At this moment, she ran to the door and excitedly called out to Ran Mouri: "Ran, come over here, look at this room, you'll be amazed!"

Ran Mouri, who had stopped participating in the case discussion, was puzzled for a moment, but still followed Kazuha Toyama to the room on the other side of the corridor.

Ran Mouri was taken aback as soon as she stepped through the door.

"Shinichi's photo?"

On the wall right next to the door, there was a huge poster, about the size of A2, showing Shinichi Kudo slapping the back of his head with a shy and smug smile.

"Such a big one?!" Hattori Heiji, who had followed, was so surprised that his eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

“This was taken during Shinichi’s first magazine interview. Because it took up a whole page, it’s naturally very clear,” Ran Mouri explained. “Other photos would be blurry if displayed this size. Hmm, looking at it now brings back a bit of nostalgia…”

She looked around, thought for a moment, and then took out her phone to take a picture.

Since Shinichi was there, he must have seen it, so there's no need for him to share it.

However, coming to solve a case and finding such a large poster of yourself on the client's wall must be quite a novel experience.

With that thought in mind, Ran Mouri carefully examined the other things in the room and soon discovered more traces.

"Wow, there are even organized files here." She leaned closer to the bookshelf to examine the annotations on the spines. "These are all cases that Shinichi has solved. Wow, there's so much collected..."

"The owner of this room must be a fan of Kudo-kun." After only a few glances, Hoshikawa Teru immediately concluded, "He's totally in the state of a fanboy."

Upon hearing this, Tang Ze, who had also taken out his phone to take pictures, turned his head and gave him a subtle look.

After they moved to the Phantom Thieves' hideout, Tang Ze never bothered to check how the members of the group arranged their rooms.

Noah could see all the rooms, but considering the issue of personal privacy, everyone tacitly agreed not to ask each other, and generally wouldn't go into someone else's bedroom unless invited.

Judging from Hoshikawa Teru's nonchalant tone, could it be that his room...

As Hoshikawa Teru suspiciously avoided Tang Ze's gaze, Hikawa Moe followed them, pursed her lips as she looked at them, and said, "This is Makoto's room. He's not a strange person, you know; he just idolizes this guy."

As Bingchuan Mengsheng finished speaking, he cast a dissatisfied glance at "Shinichi Kudo," who was quietly following in the group.

"He was so happy when he invited Kudo to join the investigation! He even said, 'If it's Kudo, he can definitely catch the robbers who killed them quickly!'" Hikawa Moe recounted Makoto Yata's words, becoming sad as he spoke, and glaring angrily at the person behind him. "In the end, the detective he admired came to the conclusion that it wasn't robbery and murder, but that the village chief was forcing his family to commit suicide with him. Makoto was very frustrated!"

“What’s there to be discouraged about?” Hoshikawa Teru shook his head and denied it. “He admires Kudo-kun so much, which means he has unwavering faith in his idol’s detective abilities. If that’s the case, does that mean he can’t accept the conclusion that the other party reached? Then his admiration is just lip service and can’t be called ‘deep admiration’.”

“No, Chengren didn’t!” Bingchuan Mengsheng immediately denied. “Although he couldn’t accept it at first, he kept telling himself to accept the fact! He was just in a lot of pain! His mother died when he was very young, and nine years ago, he lost his father and sister at the same time. Alone, he was adopted by the village chief. The village chief’s family are very kind and gentle people, and he is very happy living here. He has said more than once that he is very lucky to have met them… How can you expect him to accept all of a sudden that his adoptive father is a paranoid man who would kill his wife?”

“So you could say his idol’s worship is a bit unfounded.” Hoshikawa Teru tilted his head. “Even if he wanted to question or deny his idol’s answer, he would need to do thorough verification and consideration. Just because he heard the doctor say that the village chief’s condition wasn’t actually serious, he, like everyone else in the village, started questioning Kudo-kun’s reasoning skills? That’s really ridiculous.”

A person who truly trusts their idol would rather be wrong than have the idol be wrong. A truly devoted fan would never waver because of such a situation.

Not to mention, based on what we've observed so far, the few truly talented detectives present are all inclined to believe that Shinichi Kudo didn't make a mistake in the case.

When it comes to the dark side of human nature, the truth is often hard to accept. Not to mention bystanders or the victim's family, many cruel realities are unacceptable even to the perpetrators themselves.

Just because the truth doesn't meet your expectations, you arbitrarily question your idol's judgment? That's a far too frivolous way to be a fan.

Tang Ze raised his foot and secretly kicked his heel.

Hey, Yan Zhiming, can you tone down your attitude of being about to unleash a full-on affirmation bot?

After being kicked by Tang Ze, Hoshikawa Teru managed to adjust his expression, revealing the kind of smile that Akechi Goro had at first glance—a smile that, upon closer inspection, held a hint of ill intent.

"I don't know what you think, or what the villagers think, but based on the current situation, I personally believe that Kudo-kun's judgment is not fundamentally wrong."

"But the village chief's cancer is fundamentally—"

"Does the reason matter?" Hoshikawa Teru turned his gaze and stared straight back at them. "Does it matter what he did to commit suicide, or whether he can convince you?"

Makoto Yata, standing at the back of the line, twitched at the corner of his eye. He wanted to take two steps forward, but Tang Ze had already secretly blocked the doorway.

Hoshikawa Teru finished speaking slowly and deliberately.

“A detective like Kudo cannot lie about evidence. Why he committed suicide is not the point of this case; the evidence proving that he committed suicide is the more important thing. You have been blinded by common sense and emotions, and that is not Kudo Shinichi’s fault.”

(End of this chapter)