Conan: I'm Really Not Tokyo Ghost Story

Kogoro Mouri led the charge, while Ran Mouri and Sonoko Suzuki continued to serve as sword-wielding bodyguards on either side of Sano, and the two fake children trailed at the back of the group.

"By the way, which office does your doctor work in?"

Looking at the several rooms with signs for the Department of Psychiatry hanging in front of him, Sano was naturally completely unaware of what was going on.

"How would I know?"

"Come on, this is your therapist! How could you not know? How long has it been since you last came?"

Kogoro Mouri made a comment.

...Although Sano still didn't know how long it had been since "he" had last visited.

"Do you still remember your doctor's name? I saw that the doctor's name is written on the doorplate."

Ai Haibara crossed her arms and offered her opinion in a spoiled, aristocratic manner.

"I remember that, Feng, Fengdu, I think."

"This is it."

Kogoro Mouri pushed open the door to one of the offices, and the others followed closely behind, filing in one after another.

Sano followed behind the group, and looking at the group in front of him, he suddenly had a strange sense of déjà vu.

This is like a plague army has come knocking on our door!

Is my therapist going to be out of commission today?

...So Sano sincerely prayed that the other person would die before the follow-up appointment started, so as to save himself the trouble.

"Ah, Sano, you've come! I've finally been waiting for you."

In the office, there was a middle-aged man in a white lab coat, probably in his thirties. His appearance, like his voice, gave people a sense of humility and gentleness.

This also aligns with most people's first impression of the profession of "psychologist".

"Ah hello."

"sit down."

Kyosuke Kazato first nodded to the medical team as a greeting, then sat down opposite Sano and handed him a form.

"Let's do a test first."

Sano took the test sheet and glanced at Kazato Kyosuke—could this thing really tell you if someone is sick just from a test sheet?

To be honest, in Sano's previous life, mental health issues were becoming increasingly apparent, which led some rebellious teenagers who sought novelty and individuality to start making a fuss about it.

Chapter 202, page 201: What day of the week is the date?

This situation, ironically, makes this already serious problem seem even more resistant to and ignored.

Although Sano has never suffered from a mental illness, nor has he undergone any examinations or treatments, based on what he knows, most cases of this illness, except for a very few caused by physiological reasons, cannot be definitively diagnosed in a real sense.

A test form with some utterly boring questions—as long as you're willing to control your choices, the final result, whether you're sick or not, is entirely up to you.

Of course, there is also the factor of the doctor's subjective judgment.

Of course, it's inevitable that people will encounter some unpleasant things in life, and it's normal for such things to have an impact on one's mental health if they happen to them too often.

As someone said, who doesn't have some kind of mental illness these days?

Some people are only mildly ill and it won't have a big impact, while others are severely ill and may even start to show physical symptoms.

Modern people are especially different from the previous generation.

With the rapid development of modern technology and the improvement of living standards, it is rare... at least in several major countries, as long as people are not too lazy to breed maggots, there are very few people who are not well-fed or clothed.

As the saying goes, "When people are well-fed and warm, they think of lust."

In Sano's view, this "lust" doesn't mean that kind of thing, but rather a spiritual need.

People spend more time thinking, and teenagers are prone to developing a kind of "artsy" mentality, trying to find some meaning in life.

If you think too much, you're more likely to become anxious and insecure.

So when Kyosuke Kazato gave Sano a test that showed "moderate depression," it was both unexpected and reasonable.

...Although to this extent, it is still somewhat beyond my expectations.

Sano looked at the result with some frustration.

To avoid appearing too fake and to avoid unnecessary trouble, Sano did not deliberately control his choices. In addition, he was somewhat inclined towards realism and pessimism, so it was inevitable that the result would not be good.

But Sano didn't think there was anything seriously wrong with the answers he filled in, so how did he become moderately depressed?

Could this guy be a heartless doctor trying to trick me into continuing treatment to boost his sales figures?

Sano looked at Kazato Kyosuke with suspicion.

If Sano remembers correctly, psychotherapy can be quite expensive, so this guess isn't entirely impossible.

Surprisingly, after looking at the watch, Kyosuke Kazato actually said, "Hmm, the situation is stable, and the recovery is going well."

It doesn't seem like they deliberately exaggerated for the sake of performance.

So, actually, it's really just me who has a problem?

Sano looked at the other people's forms with a bit of self-doubt—perhaps out of curiosity, the accompanying medical team members also took a test form with him.

If these people also end up like this, then perhaps it's just that extent of the situation, not as serious as they imagined.

However, after reviewing all the results, apart from Ai Haibara's result showing mild depression, everyone else's results were surprisingly normal.

Sano: "..."

This is absolutely outrageous!

Sano, still unwilling to believe it, carefully examined the answers to other people's questions, wanting to see exactly where the problem lay.

Then, the difference becomes apparent on the first question.

Question 1: Have you ever had suicidal thoughts?

Sano replied: Yes.

Ai Haibara replied: Yes.

The other four people answered: No.

"How the hell could it not be there?!"

Sano looked at the other four in disbelief: "Life is so full of hardships, have you really never thought about not wanting to live? Or have you actually thought about it but are just pretending not to?"

"How is that possible?"

Sonoko Suzuki said with a serious face, "It's so good to be alive! Who would want to die for no reason? I haven't even been able to date yet!"

...Then it will probably be difficult for you to die in this lifetime.

After giving Conan a deadpan look, Conan asked Sano, "Sano-nii, do you think it's strange that someone has never thought about dying?"

"That's obvious."

Sano still suspected that the group was faking it: "It's like when you encounter something particularly painful or unfair in your daily lives, you always think about not wanting to live anymore, right?"

"No."

The group shook their heads vigorously.

This shouldn't be happening.

Sano frowned, and Kazato Kyosuke, sitting opposite him, immediately smiled and said, "That's normal. When people consider other people's thoughts, they often like to put themselves in their shoes. You are pessimistic, so you naturally assume that other people are pessimistic. Therefore, you will be very surprised when you find out that others have not thought about suicide."

"Furthermore, according to statistics, the number of people in our country who have thought about suicide this year is less than 10 percent of the total population. Although this data is not comprehensive, the base number is still over seven figures, which is still very convincing."

Only 10%?

Isn't Japan supposed to be one of the most stressful places in the world? How can this be?

After a moment of stunned silence, Sano suddenly realized what was going on.

This isn't the real world. Isn't it normal for people to have a slightly more positive mindset in order to spread positive values? If it were a previous life, it certainly wouldn't be like this.

That's right, it's not my fault, it's the world's fault!

Having figured out the answer, Sano stopped doubting himself.

However, Sonoko Suzuki looked at Ai Haibara with curiosity: "You little girl, you've actually thought about taking your own life?"

Ai Haibara glanced at Sonoko Suzuki, but remained silent.

It's not surprising that this fake loli thought about suicide, after all, she was controlled by the organization for so long, and even her older sister "died" later.

Otherwise, it wouldn't have become smaller now.

Before Conan could speak up to defuse the situation, Sano casually remarked, "She probably got a spanking from her mother, or maybe she dropped the ice cream she bought."

Ai Haibara's face darkened, and she looked at Sano with displeasure. Did this guy have a toothache if he didn't wash himself?

"Hahaha."

Sonoko Suzuki and Ran Mouri couldn't help but laugh when they heard this. The former laughed so hard that her tongue was sticking out, while the latter just covered her mouth and chuckled.

...Speaking of which, the more I look at Sonoko Suzuki's smile, the more familiar it seems?

Sano suddenly looked at Kogoro Mouri: "Uncle, when you were holding the baby at the hospital, did you accidentally switch the baby with the Suzuki family's?"

"What's the matter?"

Kogoro Mouri, who had been dozing off, became slightly more awake, but still looked confused.

"nothing."

Sano stopped teasing and turned to Kyosuke Kazato: "Since everything is normal, this follow-up appointment should be over, right? Let's go..."

"Wait a minute, Sano."

But at that moment, Kyosuke Kazato suddenly called out to Sano again.

Sano turned around, his brows furrowing involuntarily. This unusual development gave him a bad feeling.

"Perhaps you remember that you have visited me a few times before?"

Faced with Kyosuke Kazato's question, Sano narrowed his eyes and shook his head, saying, "I can't remember."