Conan: I'm Really Not the Manipulator

Hojo Toika subconsciously wanted to click to agree, but her reason made her cautious.

She had been a fan before she traveled through time, so she was quite experienced in dealing with the behaviors of fans and haters. Some haters would pretend to be fans and sneak into group chats, then destroy the entire group.

We have to test him first, ask him a few questions from today's forum, and let him in if he answers all of them correctly...

Hojo Toika thought so and clicked on private chat.

She did not become extremely defensive when meeting strangers because of the cyberbullying. According to her own experience, while the black fans were partying, it was also the time when her original fans were abused and became more loyal.

She likes to chase stars, and now that she has become a "star", she doesn't want to let her fans down.

[84 Passerby: Are you really my fan? ]

[Artemis: Yes, Miss Hojo! I just started reading Kyoko's work two weeks ago. I really like this story. It's really interesting. From your words, I can see that you are an excellent, knowledgeable, kind and enthusiastic writer. I hope to have more opportunities to communicate and discuss with you! ]

Hojo Toika had just said one sentence when the other party sent a bunch of text to her.

After seeing the content clearly, she blushed a little and felt a little proud at the same time.

Those who admire her so much are definitely not trolls who have sneaked in, but enthusiastic fans who truly want to discuss her works and characters with her.

Hojo Toika was about to click to agree, when another chat box popped up.

【'Casval' applied to join the chat room. 】

Seeing this unfamiliar online name, Hojo Toika was stunned again.

Caspar?

...Who is this?

----

At the same time, inside a certain house.

Shuichi Akai is drinking.

He was indoors without a knitted hat, with his long hair hanging down straight, and he was quietly looking at the application that had not received a response yet.

"...Didn't they say that the mission had been taken over by someone else? Why haven't you come back yet?"

The voice of Miyano Akemi came from his cell phone.

Akai Shuichi put down his wine glass, but his eyes were still on the screen, never moving away.

"There's something else I need to confirm."

Chapter 67 The Beginning of a Kidnapping Case

Thursday morning.

No. 3, Acupido 4-chome 21, Kawajiri's house.

The current Mrs. Kawajiri opened her eyes on the large double bed. She yawned, sat up, stretched, and saw the bright sunlight coming through the window and falling all over the floor.

"What a nice day."

She patted the only pillow on the bed happily, got out of bed and went to the bathroom in the bedroom to wash up, then opened the closet and thought about what to wear today - this was the first thing she thought about after getting up every day.

There is a vase and a photo frame on the wardrobe shelf, with a group photo in the exquisite and fancy frame.

In the picture above, she is standing next to her son who has just entered kindergarten. The mother and son are smiling at the camera together, and no other people are included in the picture.

Mrs. Kawajiri picked out a high-end women's dress that she had just customized not long ago and planned to go downstairs for dinner. As soon as she opened the door, she saw that another bedroom door not far away was also opened.

A boy in a high school uniform walked out with a schoolbag. The two looked at each other, and the boy looked away in disgust, without even a basic greeting, and walked towards the stairs.

"Tsk..."

Mrs. Kawajiri snorted in dissatisfaction at his back.

……

When she married the old man, he already had a child with his previous wife.

She never cared about his original surname, she only knew that he married into the Kawajiri family. The former Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kawajiri Tadashi had only two daughters, and he married the eldest daughter, and changed his surname to Kawajiri from then on.

Japan has a system of adopting sons as sons-in-law. After the death of a daughter, the son-in-law can remarry, and the woman who marries in later will take the husband's surname, that is, the original wife.

Mrs. Kawajiri doesn't care about last names, what she cares about is property.

Congressman Kawajiri was arrested for corruption and his family paid a large fine, but they still had a lot of property left over from the previous generation of the Kawajiri family.

However, due to pressure from the former Mrs. Kawajiri's sister, another unmarried Miss Kawajiri, the heir to the property was her own nephew, and she only had a little treasure.

No one likes a burden left behind by their spouse's ex, especially when that burden gets so much - which makes the current Mrs. Kawajiri furious every second she sees him.

Mrs. Kawajiri had evil thoughts in her mind more than once, and even actually hired a killer, but she never had the courage to actually do it.

She came to the dining room and the annoying burden had already started eating. She chose a seat far away from him and the servant brought her breakfast as usual.

The news was playing on TV. Mrs. Kawajiri listened and heard about the school bombing and the disappearance of two teenagers that occurred in Minato-ku, Tokyo the day before yesterday.

She put down the red teacup, looked up and asked the servant who was serving beside her: "Where is Tanaka?"

Mrs. Kawajiri doesn't like this housekeeper who has worked for the Kawajiri family for thirty years. He is more loyal to his predecessor and usually protects the burden more, both openly and secretly.

"Butler Tanaka won't be back until tomorrow at noon." The servant answered truthfully.

"Oh……"

Mrs. Kawajiri responded and continued to watch the news. After the two cases that were solved peacefully, the next ones were some murder cases.

So many people die in Japan every day, how great would it be if her stepson became one of them?

She sighed and prayed in her heart, and at this moment, she heard a familiar sound of footsteps, and along with it a small figure rushed into the dining room.

"Mom, I'm hungry!"

Mrs. Kawajiri's expression softened instantly.

She hugged her baby son, kissed him twice on the face, and asked the servants to quickly serve her son's favorite breakfast.

"Gala——"

There was a sharp sound of a chair being dragged, and the burden in the distance stood up, without even looking at them, and directly picked up the schoolbag next to him.

"I'm going to school."

Mrs. Kawajiri was upset when she heard his cold tone. The ignorant baby in her arms shouted, "Brother, please be careful on the road!"

The burden looked back at them, said nothing, and left quickly.

Seeing him walk away, Mrs. Kawajiri spanked her son hard on the buttocks, and taught him with a stern face: "There's no need to be so close to him."

After breakfast, her son also had to go to school.

In order to get more money from the Kawajiri family, she sent her son to the best private school nearby, with a special bus to pick him up every morning.

At eight o'clock, the shuttle bus arrived on time. Mrs. Kawajiri watched her son happily get on the bus with a small backpack on his back, and returned to the huge mansion in a happy mood.

As she passed the corridor, she saw the chef coming back from taking out the trash, and she said, "Prepare a French feast for lunch today. I want to eat the foie gras from last time."

"Ok."

Mrs. Kawajiri was about to turn around and leave when she heard the chef's voice behind her: "Um, madam..."

"What's wrong?" She turned around curiously.

"Recently, several of our servants seemed to be followed by someone when we went out..."

"?!"

Mrs. Kawajiri was stunned by the chef's words, and a chill suddenly exploded on her scalp.

"...I had this feeling myself, but only once. When I went out the next day, I was especially careful and asked another person to follow me from a distance. I didn't see any stalkers."

After hearing what he said, Mrs. Kawajiri calmed down and tried to put on a serious expression: "I understand, you go back to work first and be careful recently."

"Okay." The chef nodded and left.

Mrs. Kawajiri watched his back as he walked away, but the inexplicable uneasiness in her heart did not dissipate at all.

She quickly sent all the servants to the first floor, and then went alone into the study on the second floor - the room where her husband worked before he was arrested.

The study has remained the same as it was before he left. Only the servants clean it regularly, and the books, computers, and documents that were not taken away by the Special Investigation Department are all left in their original places.

Old husbands and young wives usually want money and sex, that's how they are. He usually doesn't talk to her about work, and she just wants to be a delicate vase-like wife.

But even so, she lives here, and spends every day with a man who is tainted with something, so she will still accidentally see some... scenes that should not be shown in public.

Thinking of the man in black who appeared at home that day and his eyes, Mrs. Kawajiri's body trembled uncontrollably.

"Ring-ling——"

At this moment, the phone in the study suddenly rang.

Mrs. Kawajiri, who was already frightened, screamed in fright. After she finished screaming, she realized that it was just the phone ringing.

"Ma'am! What happened?!"

Outside, the servant heard the shouting and ran up to knock on the door. Mrs. Kawajiri took a deep breath and tried to speak in a normal voice: "It's okay, you guys go back to work."

Only when she heard the servants outside disperse did she walk towards the still ringing phone.

She mustered up her courage and finally picked up the phone: "...Hello, this is the Kawajiri family, may I ask who you are..."

"Your son is in my hands."

The voice on the other side was rough, male, with a Kansai accent.

"?!!"

Mrs. Kawajiri's eyes widened, boundless fear growing in her heart. She screamed, "What? What did you say?! I saw him get on the stroller at the kindergarten with my own eyes. How could it be possible that—"

"It's the big one."

Big one...?

...was it her stepson who was kidnapped?

"Before 12 noon tomorrow, prepare 10 billion yen and put all the money in a woven travel bag. As for where to pay the money, I will tell you tomorrow."

"Don't call the police. I have tied him up in a warehouse and placed a bomb next to him. If you don't pay or secretly call the police, he will be blown to pieces."