The Phantom Thief of Heart! But Conan.

Karasawa's former home was located in Pontocho, and as he said, it was right next to the Kamogawa River.

Leaving Gojo Bridge and walking into the street on the other side of the river, Tang Ze soon felt an indescribable sense of familiarity.

Tram stations, shops, intersections... Although there were no flashbacks, the instinctive inertia made him relax a lot.

It seems that my memory about this part is indeed correct.

Due to his cautious and low-key lifestyle in the past, Tang Ze never left the path between home and school, never participated in entertainment activities, and maintained a daily mechanical commute like a ghost.

He wasn't really familiar with the city of Kyoto, but these streets were where he had lived for many years.

Following behind Tang Ze, Conan observed the surrounding houses and buildings, and his eyes gradually widened.

The dark wooden facades and sloping roofs on both sides of the road slowly made him realize that in the past, Tangze should have had no shortage of material conditions.

"Pontocho is a very famous ancient building district in Kyoto. Although Karasawa's house is not a traditional townhouse, but a newer villa..." Hattori Heiji noticed his expression and explained in a low voice, "But anyway, houses here are very expensive."

The ancient building district means that the houses here cannot be bought and sold as easily as plots of land in the suburbs. The newer buildings are almost all converted from century-old townhouses, and most of them have commercial properties.

The cost of living here is not low at all.

"...Could it be that this is the reason why the compensation for the Tangze family has not been received yet?" After a moment's reaction, Conan's mouth twitched.

In order to match the style of the surrounding traditional townhouses, even new buildings here cannot avoid using wooden facades. Once a fire occurs, it will definitely be burned to the ground.

Since the official investigation could not conclude that the fire was arson, the heavy compensation bill will undoubtedly fall on the shoulders of insurance companies and the public sector.

The problem is, if we consider the market price, even if we don't have to bear all the economic losses, this figure is really too high to pay...

"It's hard to say. There's almost no reference price for houses here. The Karasawa family's house is right next to the Kamogawa River, and Gion is not far away. Houses here aren't just about price anymore. Even transaction records are hard to reference..."

"Hiss, so this is where Tang Ze's parents originally lived?"

"Oh, I asked before, and Tang Ze said it was a house left by his father. So, maybe it's an old house handed down from generation to generation?"

"Then his family is very rich..."

"I've already said that his parents participated in those experiments in order to find a research institute willing to let them test their theories..."

Tang Ze didn't pay attention to the three people whispering behind him. Even if he did, he probably wouldn't have any thoughts on the topic they were discussing.

Tang Ze's father, Tang Ze Ichikawa, has never been a poor person. After all, children from poor families do not have the conditions to go to medical school and leave clinical practice to engage in academic theory.

Considering that the brooch they gave to Tang Ze was originally an auction item purchased by Tang Ze and his wife with their own assets, it is indeed impossible to say that they are poor.

All I can say is that taking full-time care of autistic children and constantly spending money on cutting-edge research is indeed a huge expense that no family can afford, so it is no surprise that the organization took advantage of it in the end.

Walking around the street corner, around the alley, and passing the noodle shop with a long line, Tang Ze's footsteps finally stopped in front of a nearly ruined ruin.

The three people who were discussing Tang Ze Yichuan's family background fell silent at the same time.

The photos that Hattori Heiji brought back from Kyoto were indeed not exaggerated at all.

This area covers a large area, and you can vaguely see some broken walls of the house structure. This was Tang Ze's former home.

The charred, carbonized ground and debris collapsed between the buildings on both sides, as if a piece of them had been dug out, leaving only a dim shadow.

It seems that for the convenience of investigation, or it is possible that someone with ulterior motives wants to find what they need in the ruins, this area is surrounded by blue building partition boards. If you don’t go closer and take a closer look, it is difficult to notice that this was once a residential area. You will only think it is a construction site under renovation.

Tang Ze squatted down and wiped the blackened wooden surface in front of him, which was so dark that no color could be seen.

This was originally the first step he would take every day when he came back.

"...It's true, it was burned very cleanly." Tang Ze sighed as he couldn't find any trace of his memory.

Of course, Tang Ze couldn't just leave this place abandoned. One day in the future, when there was no more obstruction from the organization, he would definitely rebuild this place. But no matter how he restored it, the memories that accompanied the old things could no longer be recovered.

Due to the interference of the organization, he did not grow up happily and it was even more difficult for him to deceive himself about any sense of belonging here.

If Tang Ze were to say, his home is the bustling and somewhat annoying Polo Cafe, the Phantom Thieves' base filled with trustworthy comrades. In short, it is not this ruin that has been lost in time.

Tang Ze, feeling a little emotional, wiped the half-remaining wooden step, stood up, and was about to seriously recall where he could find some reliable neighbors when he heard a distinct gasp behind him.

He turned his head and found that the three people behind him were looking at him with the same heavy and sad eyes.

"What's with that look on your face?" Tang Ze was amused by their appearance. "After all, this is where I've lived for a long time. It's a shame to see it become like this. But I'm not very sad."

"Really? But before, you hardly stayed in school for long. You wanted to stay at home whenever you had some free time..." Okita Souji said with a pout.

Quanxin High School is not a bad school. In fact, it has a lot of social activities.

In addition to some regular charity activities, there will be more than one trip per semester. After the second year of high school, there will be school trips, sports clubs, and professional athletes such as Souji Okita will also have other activities to carry out.

But Tang Ze did not participate in any of the above.

Logically speaking, this wasn't very legal, but Tang Ze always used "health reasons" as an excuse to take leave, so much so that even in his second year of high school, he hardly ever appeared in class photos.

——This is also why many people in their class tacitly assumed that Tang Ze hadn't come for so long, and that he might have just passed away. Because many people's most direct impression of him was that Chimian classmate who was always absent due to poor health...

"It's not like I like staying at home." Tang Ze replied with a tone of disgust as he recalled, "As soon as I leave home, I feel like I'm being watched all the time. Staying at home, at least it's quiet."

Not to mention that once you participate in these activities, you may easily come into more contact with certain classmates if you are not careful.

Although this will not change Tang Ze's social strategy, it will make it easy for the organization to include the other party in his network of relationships, and the end result will be to cause disaster to others.

He did this to protect himself as well as others.

Ordinary people, even those with a decent family background, couldn't withstand the turmoil of the organization...

Souji Okita sighed slightly and was about to comfort Tang Ze a few more words, but the hand he stretched out grabbed nothing.

Tang Ze quickened his pace slightly, walked past the nearest houses, crossed the alley, and even passed a traffic light before finally stopping in front of a door.

"Huh? This is the 'neighbor' you mentioned?" Okita Souji pointed at the house number in front of him in a strange tone.

"Yeah." Tang Ze's reaction was quite calm. "On the street where I live, I estimate that more than half of the people are controlled by the organization. Otherwise, how can they keep an eye on my movements at all times?"

This matter has not been verified, but Tang Ze believes it in his heart.

When he finally got into trouble, Okita Souji's testimony indirectly proved his guess.

If it weren't for the problems with his neighbors, or in other words, most of the people on the street, how could it be so easy to break into his house without disturbing anyone and take him under control?

As long as all the witnesses are on their side, it is almost the same as there are no witnesses.

"So, you simply don't communicate with the neighbors around you?"

"I can't help it. I don't want to open the door to a familiar neighbor without any precautions and have my death appear in the newspaper the next day."

It is indeed unlikely that the organization's monitors would touch him without orders, but the problem is that it is not only the organization that is targeting Tang Ze.

Moreover, there are many different voices in the organization. If another genius appears, and suddenly people think of killing him to save surveillance costs, there will be no way to reason with him.

Before the three people could ask more questions, the wooden door of the house in front of them had already opened.

Tang Ze quickly put on the gentle and well-behaved expression of a standard good student, smiled and bowed slightly to the kind-looking old woman inside the door.

"Mrs. Akiyama, long time no see."

"Hey, Tang Ze-kun? It's been a while since I last saw you. Are you busy with your studies?"

"No, I transferred to Tokyo a few months ago."

"I see! No wonder you haven't come to the store to buy anything in a long time."

"Well, sorry, I left in a hurry and didn't remember to tell you."

"You're so kind. It would be great to go to school in Tokyo. There are a lot of great high schools there, right?"

"No, I just transferred to an ordinary high school to cooperate with my family..."

"It seems like your parents' jobs have changed quite a bit. That's good, too. It's been hard for you to live alone for so long. It's good to have family to take care of you."

"You're right. Um, I came here today to trouble you..."

Tang Ze communicated with her in a familiar but not close manner, and soon turned the topic to the purpose of his visit today, to borrow a motorcycle.

But the three people standing behind him couldn't help but exchange subtle glances.

I know Tang Ze and see him often, but I have only a vague idea of ​​his true situation. I didn't even know that his house had been burned down to the ground by a fire...

This situation, as well as the content of their communication, seemed to indirectly prove the correctness of Tang Ze's previous words.

Only "neighbors" at this distance are safe.

----

"This is Gojo Tenjin Shrine..."

After successfully borrowing a second motorcycle, the four of them finally set out on the road of decryption as planned.

After parking the car and holding the helmet in his hand, Hattori Heiji felt a lack of energy.

After experiencing Tang Ze's past life up close, the urgency and excitement of solving the murder case disappeared a lot. He began to think about how to settle these things as soon as possible, and then take Tang Ze to apply for a retrial.

If you don't do this, you will always feel like your friends are suffering while you are singing and dancing beside them, which is very awkward.

"In the version of the story in the Yoshitsune Ki, Minamoto no Yoshitsune and Benkei didn't first meet at Gojo-ohashi, but here." Clearing his mind of all thoughts, he led Conan inside and explained the situation. "This is also a very famous pilgrimage site in Yoshitsune's history. It's very important. How about it, do you think there are any clues?"

Conan raised the copy in his hand, frowned and looked around carefully, but finally shook his head.

"It seems not. I can't find any relevant elements. However, I can still take a few photos as a backup..."

If you finally discover a pattern and can use it somewhere else, it will be convenient to recall it.

"Then you two, once you're done filming, go to the next location." Okita Souji stretched, looking uninterested in their activities. "Honestly, there are so many places in Kyoto related to Minamoto no Yoshitsune. It's not an easy task to cover them all in one day."

"What's wrong? Are you tired of riding the motorcycle?" Tang Ze raised his eyebrows and asked, "Then you sit in the back seat and I'll drive?"

"That's not the case. This level of exercise intensity isn't even as strong as normal training." Okita Souji waved his hand casually, then revealed a sly smile as he leaned over and hooked his arm around Tang Ze's shoulder. "You're quite considerate, you weren't like this before..."

"...You were too noisy before." Tang Ze rolled his eyes and pushed his head away a little.

Although in the world of science, lack of childhood friendship can easily make you feel inferior, but that's not something you, a guy I've only known for two years, can just come in and make up the numbers! What's with that familiar, childhood friend tone? Are you trying to force your way into this niche?

Hattori Heiji glanced at the two of them, turned back, looked at Conan who kept pressing the shutter, and put his hands on his hips in dissatisfaction.

"Come to think of it, why would the people at Sannoji think of looking for that old man instead of me? In Kansai, I'm more famous, right? And it's closer to Kyoto, too."

What's the point of looking for a Buddha statue and calling a detective from Tokyo over here!

"It's hard to say." Conan browsed through the album and put away his phone. "Maybe he doesn't want the police to know about the theft of the Buddha statue, for fear of it getting on the news. Or maybe... it's because you don't want the money."

"what?"

"After all, free things just don't sound that high-end. Plus, it's not convenient to get invoiced for reimbursement."

"..."