[Conan Doujin] The Mystery of Theseus

Puzzle10□□Unforgivable.

Meeting a familiar friend head-on on a crowded street is an event that is not so common enough to be called "accidental".This was a lucky coincidence enough to make people smile knowingly, but when the other party walked past without looking away, the depression and dissatisfaction that could be gained at the moment of rubbing shoulders was almost equivalent to the previous joy.

Why did he look away?Did you not see me?Or am I changing too much?Maybe it's because we didn't see each other... But we clearly saw each other just today, no matter how many things happened in between, it's not enough for old friends to meet on the street without saying hello.

But what if he did see it?

Perhaps the other party did have something hard to hide... But even if he had all the trust in this friend who turned a blind eye to him, the suspicion would still continue.Even if the person involved is thoughtful enough to pretend to mention the situation inadvertently, and ask "Didn't you see me?" and get an affirmative answer, the depressed mood will not be reduced.

I can easily recognize you in the crowd, but you can't see me.

Ahaha, naturally, the friendship that people talk about is not that fragile, and it is definitely not a bond that can be formed in a day or two, and it will not be easily cut off just because of a passing pass.

But bad moods always come easily and quickly, and linger.

After learning the truth about the Kaitou, Edogawa was in a bad mood for quite a while.It wasn't because the other party's concealment made him feel bad, nor was it because he was depressed because he met a powerful opponent who had no position to arrest anyway.All in all, this kind of inexplicable gray mood lasted for several days, like a rain that has been building up momentum for a long time but can never fall.

Kuroba Kaito didn't know what he should do to qualify as an apology, not to mention that he fundamentally believed that he had done nothing wrong.But within a few days, he also discovered some problems, which were really hard to talk about.

For example, when he inquired about a new target situation, he always wanted to discuss with others as soon as possible whether there was a need for action.Normally, it was enough to contact Grandpa Terai, but now there is one more reliable insider, and sharing information with him seems to be human nature and the beauty of adults.

Wait, wait... Before dialing the number with "Detective" specially noted for the purpose of falsifying his identity, Kuroba stopped his hands and resumed his calm thinking.

That guy is a detective?

Telling the detective about the monster thief's information is a self-inflicted trap, right?

What's more, as a detective, he wouldn't be willing to participate in the negotiation, would he?Besides, that elementary school student can't do much... Thinking of this, Kuroba once again concealed all the information about the operation, and issued a notice letter without Edogawa's knowledge.Unsurprisingly, within an hour after the notice was sent out, his mobile phone received a bombardment from an angry detective.

"You made a decision on your own without contacting me?!"

"Well, don't you know..."

"There are other channels to verify if it's Pandora. Are you in such a hurry to send out the announcement letter because you missed the deadline or are you too busy to meet Onozuka Komachi?"

"...But even if I told the detective in advance," Hei Yu held the phone on one shoulder, tilted his head and looked at the information about the gemstone in his hand, "You can't help, can you?"

"..."

Edogawa did not speak again.

What Hei Yu said was not wrong, he really couldn't help much.Assisting in the planning is certainly not possible, that would be a coordinated crime.Even if he knows all about Hei Yu's character, and knows that the other party really can't do anything harmful to the world, and can't do any earth-shattering disasters, the behavior of the Kaitou is indeed "incorrect".

He also couldn't rely on an easy leak of information to quickly arrest this fledgling young monster thief. That would be too unfair to Kuroba, who still doesn't know the truth about what he is looking for.

Although it is not impossible to cooperate to find out the truth of the year... But Hei Yu chose such a "public" method to be active outside, and if this continues, the army will only be divided into two groups.

The investigation should have been a matter of low publicity.

Back and forth, whenever the day of operation of the Phantom Thief is approaching, the daily conversation between the two is somewhat awkward.After experiencing so many times that he had to turn off electronic devices and block messages from certain people in order to survive the preview day of Kaitou, Edogawa finally couldn't bear it.

"Let me ask you," so one day, he asked this question, "There are so many ways to find out the truth, why did you choose to become a phantom thief?"

"I'm also in a hurry..." Kuroba leaned back a little dejectedly, "Well, this way we can find Pandora more efficiently, right?"

"Where is this method efficient?" It is necessary to issue a notice letter and carry out action planning.The corners of Edogawa's mouth twitched unavoidably when he thought of the excited Metropolitan Police Department uncle every time he received the notice. "There are so many ways to access gemstones without risk."

"Then ask a detective to enlighten me." Sincere request.

"I will not cooperate with the crime." He resolutely refused.

"...didn't you say 'no risk'?"

"So is your goal to find out the truth, or to destroy Pandora?"

"……"pause.

"If you don't even have a clear goal for yourself, I can't help you at all."

"……I see."

It was rare for the two of them to bring up the contradictory nature of the premise of the Phantom Thief's operation, but they avoided talking about it for quite a while after that.

I always feel... After trying to speak clearly, it became even more embarrassing.

Whether it was necessary for the detective to assist the Kaitou was quickly shelved.Fortunately, Edogawa's Grim Reaper physique subsided for a few days, and Kuroba didn't encounter a few targets worthy of being stolen for a while, so the rare overlapping rest days of elementary school students and high school students were free.That day, at the request of Edogawa, Kuroba came to Kudo House with the key he had obtained from the other party in advance.

"I said..." It was daytime, but the interior was too dark to see the details of the entrance of Kudo's house, Kuroba stepped back a few steps timidly to see the "ghost house" that had been uninhabited for a while. The whole picture, "Do you really want to clean?"

"If you don't clean it all the time, you won't have the sense of reality of 'I will come back once in a while'," Edogawa leaned against the door and waited for him to open it, "If Lan comes to help clean up next time, he will be in trouble. "

"You'd better tell her earlier."

"Who said 'you're going to get spanked'?"

Choking, Kuroba rolled his eyes, and simply took out the key and opened the front door.The air in the room was no longer fresh, so he subconsciously covered his mouth and nose.

"Go in quickly," Edogawa urged behind him, "Don't block the door."

"Detective," walked a few steps into the entrance with some disgust, and Kuroba turned around in the room with insufficient light, "For those who made you smaller, you are now... you should be in a missing state, right? "

"I don't think so." Edogawa, who closed the door casually, patted the dust on his sleeves, "It should be said that the ideal state for those in the way who need to be killed is not 'disappeared' but It's 'death'."

"Death?" The temperature in the room that has not been ventilated for a long time is lower than the outside, and Kuroba shivered involuntarily, "Hey, you really messed with someone..." He walked to the locker and looked around Look, he took the broom on the side and looked at Edogawa. "Wouldn't it be bad to let them know that Kudo Shinichi is still alive?"

"God knows if they care if I'm still alive or not..." With some subtle discomfort in his heart, Edogawa tapped the football he randomly threw in the living room with his toes, "Using unreliable medicine casually Taking high school students as experiments, in my opinion, this is indiscriminate killing."

"Indiscriminate...Kill?"

"That is to say, they don't care who they kill." Putting one hand flat across his neck, Edogawa made a "beheading" gesture. "When you see someone in the way, you have to kill it. It's that simple."

"Hey, you said it so lightly, I'm scared..."

"Afraid? Work first. If you go fast, you can go back before they find us here."

"……Whoa whoa."

Because "primary school students' bodies are too limited" and "can't help at all", the cleaning work that day was basically done by Kuroba.After more than an hour of high-intensity fighting, he was already sweating all over his body, and even his short hair, which was always a little messy, was wet with sweat, making him a lot more docile than usual.

"I know... if there are people around, no matter how you tidy up the house, it will be easy to mess up..." In the living room, Kuroba collapsed at the table and fanned the wind with the "Monthly Reasoning" that he could get at hand, "...why is there no one living there? Still need cleaning."

"Thank you." Edogawa, who was flipping through another "Monthly Reasoning", raised his head to hide his smirk, "I know there is a good fast food restaurant nearby, let's settle lunch there."

"Really?" Hei Yu seemed to come to life immediately, "You pay?"

"Of course."

"You are a great person!"

"...Can you stop talking politely at a time like this?"

When two figures, one large and one small, left Kudo House, the sunlight was cutting everyone's patience with a sharp angle that could hardly find any figures.

In the bright field of vision, the world is hot and noisy.

"Ah, it's really hot." Kuroba began to complain as he put his satchel over his head to avoid the too harsh sunlight, "I said, can we order takeaway......"

As if sweat was flowing down and blurring his vision, Kuroba squinted his eyes and complained all the way away from Kudo House.Edogawa was walking on the other side of him, complaining in the same way.

"Your shadow, even a primary school student can't stop it." The words were full of self-willedness at the level of a primary school student, "Can't you grow taller?"

"...It's noon, hello!"

Not long after they walked out of the front door in such a noisy way, a strange female voice suddenly came from behind.

"You are... Kudo Shinichi?" There was a trace of uncertainty in the cold voice that had never been heard before.

Kuroba and Edogawa stopped at the same time, and turned around with some doubts.

Where they had just walked, stood a young woman they had never seen before.The face is very raw, and the hair color is also an unusual type. At least Edogawa, no, Kudo Shinichi has no impression of being in contact with him.The moment they met their gazes, the other party's expression even showed some astonishment as if they had seen a ghost.

What, no matter where you go, you will be mistaken.Kuroba slumped her shoulders in displeasure.However, since he was standing near the Kudo house at this moment, and he had undoubtedly just left the Kudo house, he denied that he was Kudo Shinichi, which was really not convincing in the eyes of outsiders.

How should I answer this?

Completely confused about the current situation, Kuroba lowered his gaze and asked Edogawa for his opinion.

Frowning tightly, Edogawa, who was also unclear about the situation, shook his head.

"I'm sorry," Kuroba smiled apologetically at the other party, and hesitantly opened his mouth.

"……You got the wrong person."

The other party seemed to have reacted immediately, and he clearly smiled a smile that could not be regarded as a smile at all. "That's it." She tilted her head slightly, "I'm sorry, I misidentified the person."

The next second, without any stopping place, the lady left where she was standing and quickly left the block.The sound of the car engine starting can be heard faintly.

"What?" Black Feather continued to walk forward inexplicably.He asked the back of Xiang Edogawa who was leading the way, "What, someone you know?"

"How is it possible?" Edogawa was also at a loss.Recalling the suspicious white coat that the other party wore that seemed to come from some dark research institute, he shook his head deliberately ignoring a certain terrifying possibility that flashed in his heart. "At least among the people I know, there is no such kind of science student who seems to be easy to mess with."

"...It's such an embarrassing remark again, Detective," Kuroba shrugged as he wiped his sweat in the sun, "It's impolite to comment on women like this."

"I want you to manage."

The experimental subject who should have died, but somehow lived openly and aboveboard... How should this kind of individual anomaly, which obviously constitutes an error, be made clear in the report.

Well, forget it.

She was typing on the keyboard, the light of the screen was printed in her eyes.

What is the difference between the suspected abnormal individuals that appear during the observation process, whether the value is 1 or 0?

There was a slight smile on the corner of her mouth.

However, after having a beginning, there will be 1, then 2, and 3, 4... and even more.

0, is just the beginning.