LRAB Page 158
Page 158
This is completely different from the image of Sano I had in mind before. His persona has collapsed.
Inspector Megure, who had expected Sano to immediately change his expression and try to slip away after taking the money, remained silent for a moment before finally bringing out the pre-prepared explanation.
"Actually, Sano, the cases you solved before all had rewards, but if you want to get that money, you at least have to wrap things up... and resolve those statements, right?"
That's right. No matter who it is, as long as they help solve the case, the authorities will actually give them a certain reward.
But as I said before, most detectives are proud and arrogant, and look down on these bonuses. They either think the money is too little, or they feel that doing things for money is an insult to the reputation of detectives, and solving cases is considered as helping out voluntarily.
Therefore, Inspector Megure had not mentioned it before.
...So you just want me to give a statement, right?
Sano inwardly scoffed, his interest instantly waning considerably, but he still asked aloud, "So, how much is all this prize money in total?"
Inspector Megure raised his hand and made an eight.
"Only 800,000?"
Sano frowned: "Well then, I have some important things to take care of right now. I'll go by myself when I've finished them in a few days and have some free time..."
"It's eight million."
Inspector Megure interrupted Sano's monologue.
Sano paused, then grabbed Inspector Megure and headed downstairs without another word: "Come on, let's take a taxi. It'll be faster. By the way, is dinner included... I don't think I've had lunch yet."
……
Sano had lunch at the Metropolitan Police Department, then spent the afternoon having afternoon tea. After finally finishing his statement, he managed to get dinner and a ride home.
Inspector Megure is really something. If he had just said there was so much money to be made, Sano would have gone over and taken his statement long ago.
They don't even understand the principles of spending money to speed things up, and I don't know how they got to their current position.
Sano pulled a thick envelope from his pocket and couldn't help but hum a little tune.
Besides these material gains, Sano also gained something from his trip to the Metropolitan Police Department... I don't know if it can be considered a gain.
Sano is, after all, a famous detective who has helped the police many times, so of course they wouldn't hide some less important inside information from him.
...They would even show it to Sano, intentionally or unintentionally, to see if any chemical reaction would occur.
On the two whiteboards, there were some photos, portraits, and a few words of analysis.
On the first board, Sano's rye vest was the first thing to be seen.
...Of course, from the police's perspective, it should be No-Face.
This double-layered vest is undoubtedly the thing that the police are currently most concerned about, after all, as mentioned before, bombs are the thing that are most likely to attract the attention of the police.
Next to the photo of Sano earlier, taken when he provoked the police at the Metropolitan Police Department, are two portraits.
Sano glanced at it and it seemed to be him in the Shenlong mission, wearing the Black Death vest and Vermouth in disguise—he seemed to have used quite a few bombs in this mission, so it was only natural that he would attract attention.
On the other board, the first story is about yesterday's case where Sano transformed into Kamen Rider and went to that supposedly doomed department store to rescue Conan and his friends.
Because the suspects in this case were involved in multiple large-scale robberies and were also armed, the police took it very seriously.
Although the robbery gang members are now in jail, the "masked superhero" captured on surveillance footage has come to the attention of the police.
Black Mask.
This is what the police call Sano's third alias, but it seems that for convenience, they have another abbreviation - Black Ultrasound.
It actually means Black Masked Superman.
...Just to be honest, it sounds awful.
It's even worse than the cringeworthy nickname "Black Death".
Didn't I call myself a Kamen Rider back then? Why didn't I simplify it to Black Knight?
This makes it easier to accept.
However, it's quite strange that Tokyo Ghost Stories didn't immediately follow suit when it appeared with its new identity.
Tsk, the efficiency is terrible, I'll have to give it a bad review later.
After all, the reason Sano brought out the third alias was precisely to establish his image as quickly as possible.
They force it when they don't want it, and then they don't want it when they do. It's really...
What was that saying again?
You may plant flowers with care, but they may not bloom; you may plant willows without care, and they may thrive.
Of course, that's not important. What's important is that Sano saw several photos next to that black masked photo, which was probably taken from the surveillance footage.
One photo shows Sano riding a rampaging electric scooter during a mission on the Tokyo Loop Line—from the police's perspective, it's a ghost scooter.
Another photo, also from the Moriya Teiji incident, shows Sano wearing a casual hat, squatting in front of a bench petting a cat—actually, he was defusing a bomb, and it's unclear which surveillance camera the police pulled him from.
Next to this photo is a surveillance video from the earliest art museum incident, showing Sano disguised as Kokushi fighting against the museum director, Ochiai.
Good grief, what is this, a compilation of heroes of justice?
No, if we include the previous board... it should be a compilation of pseudonyms.
Sano was speechless for a moment, but when he turned his gaze to the last photo, he couldn't help but become surprised again.
Because what's in this photo is just an orange-yellow bullet casing.
That's right, there's a bullet casing lying on the floor tile, its significance is unknown.
Seemingly sensing Sano's confusion, Takagi Wataru, who was in charge of taking the statement, immediately explained to Sano that these were bullet casings found by the police during a routine search of the area after the assassin shot Kogoro Mouri was targeted by an assassin some time ago.
"According to our investigation, this bullet should most likely be an ordinary handgun bullet, but the place where the shell casing was found is nearly a hundred meters away from the warehouse where Miss Maya was located."
"At first we all thought it was a sniper, we never expected it to be like this..."
Sano understood the meaning behind Takagi Wataru's words—it was simply unbelievable that a pistol could accurately hit a target at a distance of 100 meters.
...Of course, this still has nothing to do with Sano.
Because Sano himself forgot about the issue of bullet casings being left behind when he fired a gun, it was just an accident, just like the Ghost Electric Motorcycle incident and being filmed while defusing a bomb.
Sano couldn't help but exclaim, "Wow, aside from Vermouth, all of these are really just my own disguises!"
Although they are not all different aliases.
However, looking at it this way, besides the three real aliases, there seem to be quite a few fake aliases that I've only shown myself once or twice, created by chance.
Like the earliest Mika Hammer Man, and that "Beast" from Tokyo Ghost Stories, although the former is now a well-known story.
In addition, there's the faceless man who can be temporarily worn under the rye vest, the newly introduced bomb disposal hat man, the ghost electric motorcycle that can be worn under the black death vest, or even the black sunglasses vest, and the unnamed "pistol sniper" that seems to be able to be worn anywhere.
...One layer of vests on top of another, it feels like a mille-feuille.
Oh, and there's also the "Bourbon" pseudonym.
Speaking of this… pseudonym, Sano is really a bit of a spitting image.
Chapter 184, page 183: Let me check the underwear.
This was because it was the name Sano casually mentioned at Maru Denjiro's house when he first received the passerby hat.
Unexpectedly, Conan actually took it to heart. Later, during the mission to intimidate the Kudo couple, when he revealed his identity to Sano, he brought it up along with Gin and Vodka.
That's even more outrageous than outrageous.
It's absolutely outrageous, like an outrageous mother opening a door for something outrageous. It's outrageous to the extreme.
It's the same as talking to that monster.
Sano shook his head and concluded that there were just too many and too messy aliases he had created, whether intentionally or unintentionally. Even he himself might have trouble distinguishing them without creating a diagram.
That is why it is almost impossible for Sano to find the root cause based on these things.
Not to mention that even if we find any clues, it's impossible to prove that this is Sano's pseudonym, so there's nothing to worry about.
I'd better get some sleep, because if nothing unexpected happens, something bad is likely to happen tomorrow...
……
The following afternoon, Gin called Sano.
"The deal is scheduled to take place tonight. You'll be in charge of the public side, while I, Vodka Bourbon, and Chianti's team will be keeping an eye on things from the shadows. Be careful."
...How could you let yourself conduct the transaction openly by yourself?
Sano stroked his chin with a rather strange expression. Should he be happy that Gin trusted his abilities, or should he be annoyed that he had been used as another bait and thrown out?
Never mind, none of that matters. The important thing is the mission.
Sano shook off unnecessary thoughts and focused on the present. The task he was referring to was not the one given by Gin, but a system task.
After returning home last night, Sano received a new mission, which is why he was certain that something unexpected would happen today.
【Please save Miyano Akemi. Completion will reward you with 300 enhancement points. Time remaining for the mission: 13:29:48】.
Yes, it's another mission for the messengers of justice.
This time, however, it's not Sano who's being asked to be a babysitter to save a child, but rather a chivalrous protector to rescue a damsel in distress!
Sano naturally wanted to complete this task, and he already had a plan on how to do it.
...In fact, Sano had anticipated that sooner or later a system mission would arise that would put him at odds with Gin or even the organization.
In addition to this, Sano also thinks that there will be more missions where he will clash with Conan in the future... although compared to Gin, Conan's butt is undoubtedly much easier to slap.
Sano's plan was actually quite simple: to have his third alias, Black Mask, appear and rescue Miyano Akemi from Gin's clutches.
Of Sano's current three, or rather four, aliases, aside from the third alias, Gin "recognizes" all of them, including the original alias, the Black Death alias, and the Rye alias, so it's not appropriate for him to confront them directly.
Therefore, Sano naturally needs to create a new, unknown persona to deal with Gin and any missions that might clash with the brewery.
What originally troubled Sano was that even if he created a new identity, in order not to arouse suspicion, he could not show off the enhancements he had, and his combat power would naturally be pitifully low.
So creating it wouldn't be of much use.
Of course, there's no need to worry now, because Sano has the Kamen Rider keychain.
A superhero character who specializes in dealing with criminals is perfectly suited to step in on this occasion, and this persona has only just been revealed, so it makes perfect sense for him to clash with a criminal organization like Blacksmith.
However, just as Sano had figured out the process, the system triggered another task notification, which immediately blocked his train of thought.