The Phantom Thief of Heart! But Conan.

"So, it's just about investigating some cases that kid the detective worked on before, why are so many people here..."

As Kogoro Mouri steered the car forward, he caught a glimpse of another car following behind them and couldn't help but mutter a comment.

Having heard about this from Conan, Heiji Hattori naturally couldn't stay idle, so he immediately traveled from Osaka to Tokyo, arriving by car.

With his arrival, Toyama Kazuha followed, and together with Akechi Goro and Koshimizu Nanatsuki, who were originally scheduled to come along, as well as Karasawa who was brought along like a pendant, their group grew to an unprecedented size, and one car was indeed no longer enough to accommodate them.

So Goro Akechi volunteered to bring their own vehicle and drove another car to follow behind them.

"Isn't everyone just concerned about Kudo's situation?" Hattori Heiji joked with a grin. "Kudo might have made a mistake, and everyone wants to come and see for themselves, just to learn from his experience."

"I think you guys just wanted to watch him make a fool of himself while he was away," Kazuha Toyama said, sitting next to Ran Mouri in the back row. "He said he only wanted to meet in person and talk later, so you all just came."

“That’s the only way to be safe. In his letter, he said he hoped that other detectives could re-examine the case and correct any mistakes. We’re here to meet his expectations, right?” Hattori Heiji said, putting on a very eloquent speech.

Clearly, he won't give up until he sees this spectacle unfold.

Kazuha Toyama, who felt that such words were only suitable for being said behind someone's back, patted Ran Mouri reassuringly and immediately said, "Hey, everyone who wrote the letter said they wanted to see Kudo, but so many people came and didn't bring Kudo with them. Won't he be very disappointed?"

"I've tried my best. I've made phone calls and sent emails. Whether Kudo comes or not is beyond my control," Hattori Heiji replied nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders. "There's a good chance he'll come. That guy has an incredibly strong sense of pride."

"We all know that they have a strong sense of self-respect, yet you all still followed along."

Kazuha Toyama muttered something else, then patted Ran Mouri on the back as a gesture of comfort.

Who knows, Ran might finally be able to see Kudo again after being missing for so long, which could be a good thing, right?

Ran Mouri glanced at Conan beside her, accepted Kazuha Toyama's thoughtful kindness, but didn't respond.

If Shinichi really comes, this case will be a real headache...

"Compared to this, the scenery here is quite nice, it's all green." Ran Mouri stroked the lush forest outside the car window and changed the subject, "It's definitely a place that can help you relax."

"It looks like the air will be really fresh." Toyama Kazuha nodded in agreement. "If these detectives get really busy later, we can just wander around and relax."

“It’s practically the countryside now,” Hattori Heiji shook his head. “I never imagined there was a place like this in Tokyo.”

Although it is far from the city center, Okusui-cho, to which Higashi-Okusui Village belongs, is indeed within the Tokyo Metropolitan Area, which is why Karasawa was included in the area.

Conan, who had been silent and intensely reviewing the case in his mind, finally looked up and glanced out the window.

The road signs for Higashio Village flashed past the car window, and a familiar scene came into view.

Compared to the rapidly urbanizing Tokyo, this place is indeed almost exactly the same as what he saw a year ago, as if time has frozen here as he leaves the city's embrace.

It's been a year since I last visited this place. I wonder how those residents I met back then are doing now?

"Huh? Makoto Uta has disappeared?"

Soon, they received an unexpected answer at the office.

A yakusho is an administrative office in Japan that directly handles public affairs for residents, such as household registration certificates, marriage applications, tax payments, and social security contributions. It is roughly equivalent to a city hall office.

Since Shinichi Kudo himself was not there, and those who knew he was there could not say so, the group could only follow the procedure for arriving in an unfamiliar place: first, they went to the yamen (government office) to inquire and contact the corresponding person, and finally found the person who wrote the letter, Makoto Yata.

However, the answer given by the office staff was completely different from what they expected.

"Yes, he's been missing for quite a while. We submitted a search request to the police station about six months ago, but after investigating, the police gave up searching the mountain." Pushing up his glasses, the bald staff member sitting behind his desk answered, "It doesn't seem like he suddenly disappeared or encountered an accident. Besides, Chengren longs for big cities, and everyone says he might have left the village to work in the city."

Hattori Heiji frowned, about to speak about the letter, when a hand reached out from behind him and stopped him.

Wearing the same suit, but with a scarf added because of the weather, Goro Akechi stepped forward and stood in front of the staff. He said in a gentle tone, "This is quite strange. Generally, once a formal search request has been submitted, the police would at least do a cursory search of the nearby villages and towns. Why would they make such a judgment?"

“Because Chengren didn’t disappear suddenly. Before he vanished, many villagers saw him packing and tidying up his belongings, it seemed more like he was going on a long trip.” Since they had come as a group, the staff didn’t mind the change in interviewees and answered his question, “Plus, something happened to Chengren’s family, and he lives alone. Even if he planned to go to the city, he really wouldn’t need to report to anyone…”

Conan, standing next to Heiji Hattori, listened while pondering to himself.

Living alone and not interacting with outsiders—this description does fit Makoto Yata's life after that case.

Makoto Yata was the adopted son of the couple who died in that case. After that, only Makoto Yata and another younger child remained in the family. It was quite normal for Makoto Yata to live alone, as he was unable to support his younger brother.

However, it was quite unusual that he left the village without telling anyone.

Based on his impression of Makoto Uta, even without explaining to the adults in the village, he valued his younger brother very much and had several good friends of the same age in the village. There was no reason for him to leave the village alone to the point that people thought he had disappeared.

This is so strange...

“That’s strange. We received a letter from him, inviting us to investigate a case.” Goro Akechi nodded in understanding, then stroked his chin with a troubled expression. “Now that we can’t find him, where do we even begin to ask? Has anything happened here recently that requires a detective to investigate?”

"detective?"

"Can't you tell?" Goro Akechi smiled, his finger immediately pointing to Kogoro Mouri. "This is Mr. Kogoro Mouri, a very famous detective in Tokyo. He used to be an elite police officer with a wealth of experience. Mr. Makoto Yata requested in his letter that we reinvestigate a case, believing that the previous conclusions might be wrong, and earnestly asked us to correct them. His attitude is very sincere, which is why so many of us are here..."

"Kogoro Mouri?!" The staff member sitting in front of him suddenly became excited. "Oh, I've heard of him. He seems to be a very capable detective..."

The residents who had been observing them for quite some time finally couldn't sit still any longer and started speaking much louder.

"As expected, Makoto still hasn't let go of that matter..."

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it. Who could accept that kind of answer?"

"So he didn't go to school to study and take the college entrance exam, but went to work to save money to hire a detective?"

"Oh my god, what a poor child..."

A little boy sitting nearby jumped off his chair, grabbed Goro Akechi's sleeve, and exclaimed excitedly, "You guys are really great detectives, right? You're not the kind of liars who frame people. You'll definitely be able to expose his lies, won't you?!"

Goro Akechi lowered his gaze, looking at the child's hand clenching his sleeve. His brow furrowed slightly, but he quickly regained his gentle and kind smile.

"A scammer? Who are you referring to? Who got scammed?"

"Needless to say, it's Shinichi Kudo!"

As soon as Shinichi Kudo's name was mentioned, the residents present subconsciously showed expressions of anger or dissatisfaction.

This name is clearly not a popular word here.

Conan, who had been distracted by Goro Akechi, turned around and saw the reactions of these people, and could only sigh inwardly.

He understood that the truth wasn't always welcome.

That's why he handled the letter so carefully, even bringing along the pills Haibara had given him, just in case.

If Makoto Uta misunderstood him because of this, then he must clarify the matter; otherwise, this young man might get stuck on this and something extreme might happen...

Kogoro Mouri and his group looked around. Even though they didn't quite understand what was going on, they realized that Shinichi Kudo's reasoning was probably not something the local residents could accept.

It would be inappropriate to reveal at this point that they were actually on Shinichi Kudo's side, as it could very well hinder their investigation.

So everyone changed their tune and started asking the onlookers about the case that Makoto Yata had mentioned.

With Kogoro Mori as the target, Hoshikawa Teru finally managed to escape from the child's grasp and breathed a sigh of relief, retreating to the side of Karasawa.

"Not bad." Tang Ze glanced at his expression out of the corner of his eye and teased, "You realized so quickly that you can't just casually mention Shinichi Kudo's name here."

Because of the detective's suspicion on his head, which seemed to indicate that Conan was always watching him, Tang Ze did not dare to rashly hand over his identity to Xingchuan to take over. Both of them were currently using their own faces without disguise.

Compared to Conan's familiarity with Karasawa, Goro Akechi was much more unfamiliar with him. Karasawa wouldn't dare risk using Conan as a test to see how well Hoshikawa Teru performed.

If the disguise is exposed, the problem will be much bigger than if Tang Ze is the Joker. He needs to find a way to get Kazeto Kyosuke's camera and make them forget everything one by one.

To prevent unforeseen circumstances, Tang Ze chose to reveal some information to Hoshikawa Teru, telling him about the details of the case from years ago, so that he could better play the role of a detective who always seemed to know the truth.

Judging from the results now, regardless of what Hoshikawa was thinking about during this period, his proficiency with the identity of Akechi Goro has increased significantly, and he seems to be learning very hard.

This entire process of guiding the conversation, observing reactions, and confirming how to express oneself was entirely Hoshikawa Teru's own doing; Tang Ze did not offer any guidance.

“That’s easy to guess, isn’t it? Just think about it. They couldn’t possibly like ‘detective’ and ‘Shinichi Kudo’.” Hoshikawa Teru glanced at the leader who had inexplicably shown a kind smile, and controlled the urge to roll his eyes by reminding himself that Goro Akechi couldn’t break his composure. “The things Shinichi Kudo did in the past weren’t likable. I’m not stupid.”

The deceased in the case were Makoto Yata's adoptive parents, who were also the village chiefs of Higashi-Oku Village at the time. They had a certain prestige in the village and were good people with a strong altruistic nature.

When Shinichi Kudo investigated and concluded that he was the one who orchestrated the family tragedy and forced his wife to commit suicide with him, it was a conclusion that many people would find unacceptable.

Especially Makoto Yata himself, since it was Makoto Yata who invited Shinichi Kudo to investigate, hoping that he could find the truth.

So when Hattori Heiji, caught off guard, was about to reveal that Yata Makoto was sending a letter to Kudo Shinichi, and that they were Kudo Shinichi's friends who were checking on him because of his disappearance, Hoshikawa Teru immediately realized the risk of doing so and stepped forward to stop him.

Offending the villagers before even starting the investigation is something you absolutely cannot do, especially in small places like this. They will be isolated by everyone, making it even more difficult to obtain information.

In a case that happened a year ago and has long been closed, obtaining information is already more difficult than participating in a firsthand on-site investigation. Adding this additional factor, the possibility that witnesses may be lying or concealing parts of the truth, will only make the case more perplexing.

Hoshikawa Teru doesn't think he's done a good job as a detective. He's naturally at odds with these luminous beings. But having followed Tang Ze for so long, he's become all too familiar with how to wear a mask and be a cunning schemer.

Fortunately, Goro Akechi has always been that kind of character.

"Haven't you grown a lot? Keep it up. After all, this is your own face, and you'll have to use it yourself sooner or later," Tang Ze teased.

Hoshikawa slapped away Tang Ze's hand, which was resting on his shoulder in a gesture of relief, and this time did not respond.

You said it yourself, sooner or later I'll have to use it myself.

When the day comes that you need to cast aside the dark side that has been with you without looking back, you'd better keep your word, leader.