Sawada Tsunayoshi was stunned; he was almost so frightened by this strange encounter that he wouldn't dare go outside, he didn't even want to spend his vacation; he just wanted to hunker down safely inside the Police Academy.
Why? This whole thing is quite troublesome, isn't it? As long as he is around, one can't have any fun, as all sorts of things keep happening. Seeing a corpse isn't an easy thing to deal with; it takes time to process.
The smell of blood, screams, the authority of the police, the irritability of being locked in one place—all of these can destroy a person's patience.
"Hmph, what kind of monsters or demons? If gods truly existed in this world, those wicked people would have died long ago; how could they still be out there causing chaos?" Matsuda Jinpei said with utter disdain.
Hara Kenji narrowed his eyes: "Sawada Tsunayoshi, you just tend to overthink things. When you encounter something like this, the first thing you should do is curse out those scumbags and heaven itself, rather than looking for the cause within yourself."
Sawada Tsunayoshi lowered his head, clutching the corner of his clothes, said softly, "I'm afraid you guys won't have a good time."
He was afraid of his friends drifting away from him, afraid of the strange looks from others.
Date Wataru gave his back a heavy pat, causing Sawada Tsunayoshi to straighten up instantly. "Hey, hey, hey, we're friends! You're going to make me sad by saying things like that!"
Furuya Rei curled his lips, full of vigor: "I never believed in fate or gods; I only know that you are my friend."
Hiromitsu Morofushi rubbed Sawada Tsunayoshi's hair: "Let's face whatever happens together; don't keep it bottled up inside."
Sawada Tsunayoshi sniffled, his nose stinging and his chest feeling heavy. Was this friendship? Was this what it felt like to be moved?
If there is a chance, I want to introduce my tutor and my family to you. Even though they are all quite strange, they are all very good people.
They said with a laugh, "I look forward to that day."
Kudo Shinichi..
Why did they suddenly start talking about friendship, love, trust, their eyes welling up with tears, while a barrier radiated from them that made it hard for others to approach?
What a strange group of people.
Kudo Shinichi broke his train of thought, telling himself that this must be explainable through science; perhaps it was caused by a person's aura or a magnetic field, or maybe the good weather today had simply triggered people's malicious desires. Regardless, it definitely had nothing to do with ghosts or gods.
Since something like this happened at the amusement park, it had to close for the day. The manager came over feeling very apologetic, refunded everyone's fees for the day, gave Sawada Tsunayoshi and those who had been in close contact a yearly pass, allowing them to come and play any day within a year without paying for admission.
Mori Kogoro accepted it readily, told the manager to remember him; if something like this were to happen again, he, the great detective Mori Kogoro, would certainly resolve it as quickly as possible.
Sawada Tsunayoshi felt that the manager's expression did not look good; he looked as if he wanted to scold Mr. Mori.
Ran Mori pulled at Mr. Mori's arm: "Dad, who would want something like this to happen again? Let's go, quickly."
Then, he apologized to the manager with practiced familiarity.
Mori Kogoro said tactlessly, "I'm saying what if! Unexpected things happen in life, don't they? If that day ever actually comes, the thing I'd want most is for someone to be able to resolve the matter. I'm not in the wrong!"
Ran Mori: "Yes, yes, yes, you're not wrong. So let's get going. Once you have your annual pass, remember to invite Mom to come play with us; it won't even cost you any money anyway."
If I find out you didn't invite Mom, I'm dead.
Hey, hey, hey, you little girl, am I the dad or are you the dad?
They walked away, bickering loudly.
Hara Kenji held a yearly pass between his fingers, his eyes slightly closed, as his tone rose: "It's a blessing in disguise."
Where should we go next?
Date Wataru suggested, "Let's go to a haunted house. When you're in a bad mood, going to a haunted house can help you release it. Oh, I mean, don't go punching the staff members thinking they're evil villains."
Matsuda Jinpei: "Hmph, you're looking down on me too much, you mere haunted house class president. Don't worry, I won't make a single sound from beginning to end."
Furuya Rei nodded: "It's a good choice."
Hiromitsu Morofushi: "As expected of the class president."
Date Wataru said sheepishly, "I played this with Natalie."
The group shared an ambiguous laugh, nudging him in the chest with their elbows. "We single people are far too much for you to handle. When are you going to introduce us to your wife?"
Date Wataru: "When Natalie is on holiday."
Everyone burst into kind-hearted laughter, no one noticed that Sawada Tsunayoshi's face had turned pale, his pupils trembling.
No way, a haunted house!
Terrifying!
Why go to a haunted house? There might actually be ghosts inside. Have you heard of the legendary Romeo? Probably not.
Once upon a time, Sawada Tsunayoshi didn't believe in ghosts either; being afraid of haunted houses was one thing, but actually believing that ghosts didn't exist was another.
But, with the arrival of Reborn, his worldview collapsed and was rebuilt more than once—there was the courage test one time, with the ghost Romeo, then there were the ancestors inside his ring.
Terrifying! In short, it was absolutely terrifying!
But, Sawada Tsunayoshi still held onto a sense of wishful thinking, thinking that things might be different in another world; no matter how he looked at it, the other world seemed to lack any supernatural powers.
The young men in their college years had inexhaustible energy, they ran to a very famous haunted house to have some fun.
The haunted house was huge, with seven or eight entrances. The young men decided on the spot to set off separately to see who could arrive first; the last person to arrive would have to wash a week's worth of socks for the first person to arrive.
Once this bet was made, even the gentle Hiromitsu Morofushi and the fearful Sawada Tsunayoshi felt a surge of fighting spirit. No one wanted to wash anyone else's socks, they all began rubbing their hands together in anticipation.
As soon as Sawada Tsunayoshi entered, he felt a gust of cold air brush past his cheek; he shuddered and rubbed his arms.
To avoid washing anyone's dirty socks, he searched diligently for information within, keeping his head down as he moved forward. This haunted house contained certain maze and puzzle-solving elements, so it was quite time-consuming and exhausting.
He hadn't walked for long before he encountered a checkpoint, requiring him to solve a riddle to proceed to the next area. Solving riddles happened to be his weakness, so Sawada Tsunayoshi stayed behind to ponder.
It took him several minutes to guess correctly. Thinking that the others might already be far ahead, he stopped looking at the road ahead and continued charging forward, encountering skulls falling from the sky, skeletal claws emerging from the ground, white ribbons poking out from the sides that let out several screams.
He seemed to be able to hear the laughter of others; ah, it was Matsuda Jinpei's voice.
As he walked, he encountered a man and a woman with two children. Sawada Tsunayoshi chased after them as if he had found a savior, while the woman hid behind the man, looking very frightened.
The two children kept their heads lowered and didn't dare to speak.
Suddenly, the woman screamed, "You useless piece of trash! You're afraid of everything, even a haunted house! We're breaking up! We're breaking up right now! I can find a man who's better than you anywhere!"
The man was also angry, waving his hand dismissively as he began to roar, "Then go! Go ahead! I'll see who can actually put up with a tigress like you!"
Wow, they are arguing. Should he even be here?
Sawada Tsunayoshi wanted to leave, so he spoke up cautiously, "Um, you two, I need to get through. Could you please step aside first?"
Actually, what he wanted to say was whether they could stop arguing.
As soon as he spoke, the woman seemed to have found her target and walked straight toward him: "See, there's one right here. From now on, I'm his girlfriend. Get lost, as far away as you can."
The woman reached out her hand, wanting to cling to Sawada Tsunayoshi, but Tsunayoshi ducked to avoid her hand, protecting himself: "No, no, no, you can argue all you want, but don't break up!"
And don't come looking for me either! Who cares what's going on? This is just unmerited trouble!
The woman had a bright and beautiful face, she let out a little giggle. "You're so cute."
Let's go, little boy, let's walk together. Don't pay attention to that waste. I believe you are definitely stronger than him. How about giving your big sister a hand?
She insisted on dragging Sawada Tsunayoshi along, but Sawada Tsunayoshi was extremely resistant and wouldn't let her touch him, having no choice but to walk side by side with her.
The man walked behind with the two children, seemingly still sulking.
The woman had always wanted to get close to Sawada Tsunayoshi and hold his hand, but she had never succeeded.
On the road, she talked about how men had treated her poorly; she only wanted to find a good man who would treat her with sincerity. It didn't matter if he were a little younger; she was very wealthy.
She even said that as soon as she saw Sawada Tsunayoshi, she felt he was extraordinarily heroic and very manly, much better than her useless boyfriend; if only Sawada Tsunayoshi were her boyfriend.
As she spoke, she looked at Sawada Tsunayoshi with a pair of affectionate eyes, as if saying that he was her salvation.
What was Sawada Tsunayoshi's reaction?
It was chilling; the beauties around him taught her a truth: the more beautiful a woman, the more dangerous she is, the more proactive a woman, the more devilish she becomes.
Devil No. 1 is Belphegor, who appeared with the intention of killing him, proactively offering him a drink.
Devil No. 2 is Lalmirchi; he is very unkind to him in the future and possesses immense combat power.
So the more pleasant the woman's words were, the further he kept his distance.
Suddenly, the woman let out a soft cry of pain and collapsed to the ground, tears welling in her eyes. She looked up at Sawada Tsunayoshi with tearful eyes: "I can't get up. Won't you help me up?"
This was a situation where she truly needed help. Sawada Tsunayoshi walked over, said, "Excuse me," and reached out his hand to pull her up.
The woman smiled joyfully and reached out her hand to touch him.
Sawada Tsunayoshi withdrew his hand, suddenly tilted his head, grabbed the hand of the person attempting to ambush him from behind, throwing them away.
Then he kicked toward the woman's wrist. With a clatter, a silver dagger fell to the ground, he followed up by kicking her shoulder, sending her flying backward.
That young couple, who were said to have had a falling out, both collapsed to the ground, looking bewildered. "How did you find out!"
How could he explain how he found out? How could Sawada Tsunayoshi put that? Should he say your disguise was clumsy? Should he say a man's footsteps sounded like a cow kicking right next to his ear? He couldn't even ignore it if he wanted to.
Sawada Tsunayoshi didn't say any of this; he quickly pulled the two children close, shielding them beneath him. They obediently allowed him to act, staring at him with calm eyes as he pressed them for answers: "Who are you, what are you doing?"
Chapter 61: Conan Live Day 22
The case is solved. Both the man and the woman are human traffickers; they are transporters and suppliers of human body parts. Both children have been controlled by drugs, which is why they are lying motionless and silent.
They had a hideout inside the haunted house, they suddenly grew greedy again upon seeing a young boy with a tearful face; after all, one more organ meant one more pile of money.
So they used their signature move: they would argue, then the female would use her beauty to shower other boys with sweet words. This way, the boys, completely defenseless, would either be knocked unconscious by the drug hidden on her fingertips or be knocked out by the male's club.
Conversely, if they encountered a girl, the men would step in. The two of them were quite famous on the streets, a veritable golden duo who had committed numerous crimes without being caught. They never expected to have run into a hard nut this time.
The woman was caught by the police and could not move, her hair disheveled and no longer as radiant and charming as before. Her eyes stared at Sawada Tsunayoshi, bloodshot and wild, as she screamed frantically, "Why? You're a man, aren't you? A beautiful woman like me is standing right in front of you, you show no mercy? You're not human!"
The man was cursing the woman: "How could you strike like that? You can't even handle a boy who hasn't even grown his hair in all the right places. It's all your fault!"
The two began to curse at each other, one being more foul-mouthed than the other, daring to say absolutely anything.
The police officers expressionlessly covered their mouths, taping them shut.
Inspector Megure shook Sawada Tsunayoshi's hand up and down, looking at him with more affection than if he were his own brother. "Thank you so much, little brother Sawada. Otherwise, you wouldn't even be going to school; you'd just be out wandering. I'll apply to the higher-ups to allocate a large sum of funds for you; you've basically secured a job this way."
I won't ask you to do anything else; just help us root out all the unstable elements in society.
Listen to yourself, is that even human speech?
Is that even something a human would say?
What are you doing? You're telling a child to stop studying and go catch criminals instead; the police department should listen to you and then fire you.
Ahem, I was just joking.