Conan: I'm Really Not Tokyo Ghost Story

Page 160

Of course, this is not Shinichi Kudo, but Kaito Kuroba.

After tearing off the suffocating human skin mask, Kaito Kuroba, covered in cold sweat, finally let out a long breath: "Who exactly are you? Who are those guys? Who is this woman? What do you want?"

Sano looked at Kuroba Kaito without saying a word, but silently picked up the body of "Miyano Akemi" from the ground, carried it all the way to the dock, and threw it into the sea.

A corpse is no different from a small stone in the vast ocean; it can't even make a splash.

Kaito Kuroba continued to follow behind Sano: "You'd better give me an explanation. Although Kokushi did ask me to help you, I've never heard of anyone dying. Does Kokushi even know about this? If you don't explain clearly, even if it means exposing my true identity, I might not keep this a secret for you!"

Sano turned around and stared intently at Kaito Kuroba.

To be honest, Sano was quite surprised when he saw the face under the human skin mask on that ship, the one called "Meatballs".

She was surprised that the other person looked just like Shinichi Kudo, and even more surprised that she had actually met the other person before.

It's true what they say, nothing is more coincidental than a story.

Sano still remembers how resistant Kuroba Kaito was when he heard that he had to know his true identity.

...Although in the end there was no other way but to tear off the mask and reveal his true appearance, he also gave Sano his address and phone number.

To put it bluntly, even if Kaito Kuroba is unwilling to reveal his true identity, Sano can forcefully dig it out for him.

Chapter 185, Section 184: I am Black Death, He is Kidd

More importantly, Sano revealed Kaito Kuroba's real name right from the beginning.

Therefore, in Kaito Kuroba's view, whether his true identity is hidden or not seems to make no difference...

The reason Sano chose to let Kuroba Kaito go and instead seized his weakness... cough cough, was naturally to turn him into his human skin mask manufacturing machine.

If you add in Kaito Kuroba's acting skills and disguise abilities, he could even be used as a stand-in in special situations.

And as it turns out, Sano did the right thing.

Now this is exactly where it comes in handy!

According to the first "deal" between Sano and Kaito Kuroba, after Kaito Kuroba revealed his true identity, Sano could make a second "deal" with him, which was to help him leave, but in return, Kaito Kuroba would owe him a favor.

...Having Kaito Kuroba come over to help disguise himself as someone else is probably considered using up that favor.

Of course, Sano doesn't believe that the two sides are now completely unrelated.

Even if Kaito Kuroba thought that way, Sano would never agree.

After all, how could we let go of such a useful tool?

If you want to turn the other person into a permanent human skin mask manufacturing machine, then it has to be permanent, not even a day less.

Sano always keeps his word!

As for the "dead person" that Kaito Kuroba was resentful about, it was not actually Akemi Miyano, but a fake Akemi Miyano created by Sano himself using his alias.

The gist of tonight's whole affair is that Kaito Kuroba disguises himself as Sano's rye vest to create "proof of presence" for Sano, while Sano himself disguises himself as Akemi Miyano to die in her place.

So, Miyano Akemi was saved, the mission was completed, and she got both rewards.

Trading a vest slot for 300 enhancement points is a 200-point profit, so it's a good deal. And if you add the second reward, it's double the joy.

...Although Sano wasn't entirely confident at the beginning about whether having him impersonate Miyano Akemi's death would ensure the smooth execution of Gin's mission.

Sano's intuition told him it was feasible, so he gave it a try.

Sano wasn't worried about making mistakes, losing an account or a mission.

After all, everything has risks; you might get hit and killed while crossing the road, or choke to death while eating.

What was that idiom again?

Should we throw the baby out with the bathwater?

Do the best thing you can think of; that's the best choice.

Caution is a good thing, but excessive caution is no different from being a paranoid person like Gin.

Sano would never do something as stupid as trying to outwit someone who's just out of thin air.

In addition, Sano had considered faking even the scapegoat to save himself a place as a substitute.

However, considering Gin's paranoid personality, Sano felt that if even DNA testing was not possible, the other party would probably not easily accept the result.

In any case, it seems that Gin's mission has indeed been completed.

...It was this bomb that hit the back of my neck, and it really hurt like hell.

Sano subconsciously touched the back of his neck.

...No wonder Amuro Tooru and the others reacted that way just now.

"Black Death is on its way to your house. You'll find out when you get back."

After regaining his senses, Sano casually uttered a sentence and turned to leave.

"...Blackie, came to my house?"

Kaito Kuroba stared at Sano's retreating figure for a moment, then quickly turned and ran home.

Although Kaito Kuroba considers himself no match for those detectives bursting with curiosity and a thirst for knowledge, tonight's events are truly too bizarre, and he has to figure them out!

Meanwhile, Sano had already gotten into a car by the roadside, his gaze sweeping across the alley across the street.

...After Sano disguised himself as Miyano Akemi, killed the remaining teammate for her, and obtained 1 billion yen, he happened to meet Conan at the hotel entrance, along with his three extra followers who for some reason.

At the time, Conan didn't recognize that Sano was Miyano Akemi disguised as Hirota Masami, but he quickly realized it and chased after her again.

Sano certainly didn't think that this detective Conan couldn't see the "truth," so to prevent Conan from getting in the way, he deliberately squatted outside for a while.

Then, when Conan caught up, Sano knocked him unconscious without saying a word and then casually tossed him into an alley at the other end.

Sano got into the car, switched into his black cloak, fastened his seatbelt, glanced at Miyano Akemi, who was still unconscious with her hands and feet bound and her mouth gagged, and at the several large boxes beside her, turned the key, and sped towards Kuroba Kaito's house.

Although the task of ensuring Gin's mission is completed has been accomplished, the task of rescuing Akemi Miyano is not yet complete.

Next comes the crucial part of this mission.

That's right, it's not enough to just rescue Miyano Akemi from Gin's men; we also need to rescue her from the "Blacksmith's" men.

If today's events had unfolded according to the same logic as before the second mission, Sano would probably have chosen to directly transform into Black Mask and intervene to save the day.

However, when the second task came up, this approach didn't work, and while trying to come up with a new approach, Sano also discovered a flaw in the previous one.

That is—why did I insist on saving Miyano Akemi only when she was actually facing a gun?

Facing five at the same time... if Sano wants to prevent being discovered as an imposter, he will have to face attacks from six people.

Trying to keep someone from leaving this group of people is naturally quite difficult.

If that's the case, why doesn't Sano simply knock Miyano Akemi unconscious beforehand, preventing her from facing danger and delaying until the mission deadline passes?

This also saves the trouble of having Kaito Kuroba impersonate him, killing two birds with one stone.

...Of course, this approach becomes useless when considering the second task.

Then, after Sano followed the second line of reasoning and faked Miyano Akemi's murder, he suddenly discovered a new blind spot.

Logically speaking, by this point, all the dangerous factors that could have affected Miyano Akemi's life should have been eliminated. Why hasn't the mission been completed yet?

Sano could only think of one answer: even if he had already died for Miyano Akemi, she might still be killed by the brewery.

Sano quickly recalled the mission he had previously undertaken to rescue Asai Narumi on Tsukikage Island.

Saving them on the surface isn't enough; we also need to stop them from courting death.

To put it bluntly, Sano is going to have to go and deceive people again—no, I mean, he's going to become a psychologist.

The only difference between Miyano Akemi and Asai Narumi is that Miyano Akemi did not intend to commit suicide. Therefore, there is only one reason why she would seek death—that is, her purpose in robbing the 1 billion yen and making a deal with Gin.

Shiho Miyano.

The mission can only be considered complete if Miyano Akemi gives up on "rescuing" Miyano Shiho.

This is Sano's current thought.

To persuade Miyano Akemi to give up such a "big deal," Sano would need to do two things.

First, to let Akemi Miyano see the hope that she could live on.

Second, the one who tied the knot must untie it. Let Miyano Akemi see that Miyano Shiho can live... At the very least, make it clear to her that if she acts recklessly, Miyano Shiho will not survive.

Therefore, Kaito Kuroba has no choice but to continue playing the role of a tool.

Sano slammed on the brakes and drifted to a stop in front of Kaito Kuroba's house.

Just then, Kaito Kuroba arrived home and stood there dumbfounded as he watched Sano drag Akemi Miyano out of the car.

"She's not..."

Kaito Kuroba rubbed his eyes, looked at them three times to make sure he wasn't seeing things, and then grabbed Akemi Miyano's face, pulling until her fair skin turned bright red before confirming it wasn't a human skin mask.

Then Kaito Kuroba was even more dumbfounded.

"What's going on? Wasn't she dead??"

"Stop talking nonsense and open the door first."

Completely bewildered, Kaito Kuroba opened the door as instructed by Sano, watching as Sano tossed Akemi Miyano onto the sofa, gradually failing to realize that something was amiss.

This is my own home, and I've already repaid the favor I owed them. Why should I listen to them again?

Sano turned to look at Kaito Kuroba, raising an eyebrow behind his mask—why aren't you coming in?

Kaito Kuroba clicked his tongue, stepped into the house, and closed the door behind him.

"What exactly is going on? What are you trying to do?"

Sano glanced at Kuroba Kaito, considering that he would still need to persuade Miyano Akemi later, and that it would be troublesome if this kid kept getting in his way, so he decided to keep her calm for the time being.

"As you can see, a criminal organization planned to kill her, so in order to save her, we found her a scapegoat to cover it up."

"You don't need to say anything about how it's wrong to exchange someone else's life for hers. This woman has at least a dozen lives on her hands, while that scapegoat has killed hundreds of people. So, comparatively speaking, this life is more worth saving."

Upon hearing Sano's "explanation," Kaito Kuroba blinked in bewilderment.

Although based on tonight's experience, Kaito Kuroba already had a general idea in his mind, he simply wanted confirmation. However, when the confirmation was presented to him, he felt a bit overwhelmed by the amount of information.

So the scapegoat had so many lives on his hands, that's certainly enough to warrant his death... But what's with the person who was scapegoated also having so much blood on his hands?