Inside the villa's living room.
Kurosawa Hoshino set Haibara down.
Two men were sitting there, chatting and drinking coffee. When they saw the group enter, they glanced at each other, then simultaneously stood up, staring at Kurosawa in shock. "Excuse me, are you Kurosawa-kun?"
The term "Kurosawa-kun" had been used by someone online, and now everyone called him that. More and more people knew that "Kurosawa-kun" referred to Kurosawa Hoshino.
"Yes, it's me," Kurosawa replied.
"As expected. I knew it was you. I can't forget Kurosawa-kun's face. Hello, I'm Doi Fumio, editor-in-chief of Horror Times, a monthly magazine published by Daigokan Publishing." Doi wiped his hand on his clothes before extending it.
"Mr. Doi, hello." Kurosawa shook his hand.
"Kurosawa-kun, it's an honor to meet you." The other man, wearing glasses, spoke up. "My name is Hamura Shuichi. I currently work in the folklore research lab at a university." He politely extended his hand.
Kurosawa shook hands with him as well.
Next, Kogorō Mouri and the others introduced themselves, and everyone got to know each other. When they heard that Torakura Daisuke had asked Kogorō for a case, Doi and Hamura both breathed a sigh of relief—as long as it wasn't Kurosawa. They had only heard of Kurosawa solving murder cases, so they had subconsciously assumed that someone close to Torakura had died, prompting them to hire Kurosawa to investigate. That had made them instinctively uneasy. After all, no normal person wanted to be associated with murder cases.
However, Kogorō and the others had never heard of this detective, so they couldn't help but be curious why Torakura had asked him to come.
"Huh? Didn't Mr. Torakura mention I was coming?" Kogorō glanced at the two men with a puzzled look. He had assumed they would have been notified that they were at Torakura's villa, but they hadn't. He couldn't help but look at Tadokoro Toshiya.
Tadokoro said, "Mr. Mouri, the teacher only told me about his visit."
"I see. So, may I ask where Mr. Torakura is?"
"The teacher is writing in the study across the way." Tadokoro pointed to the window of the reception room.
Kurosawa and the others looked in that direction and saw a small, tower-like building standing on the edge of the cliff opposite. A long corridor connected the study to the reception room. The corridor was flanked by cliffs on both sides, making the location of the study quite unique and precarious.
"Mr. Mouri, I'll take you there." Tadokoro began to lead the way.
"Okay." Kogorō nodded and followed him.
As soon as the two left, Doi and Hamura approached Kurosawa and began to chat with him. There wasn't much to talk about, really—just the hype surrounding his rapid case-solving skills. Everyone was incredibly curious about how he solved cases so accurately and quickly. Often, he didn't even look for evidence. He just relied on guesswork to force the culprit to confess, as if he'd read a script beforehand. It was quite unbelievable.
Many people online had wild theories. Some said he had superpowers—that he knew what would happen in the future. Others said he was a reincarnated person who remembered many past cases and had been reborn to become a detective. Of course, these were all jokes online. They were people who believed in science and didn't believe in superpowers or reincarnation.
"Hoshino's very popular," Ran said quietly to the others at another table.
Sonoko counted on her fingers. "Hoshino has already solved over twenty cases quickly in a row, and he's still maintaining this speed. It's normal for him to be popular. Look at other famous detectives—which one doesn't need to investigate the scene for a long time? Only Hoshino is different. His rapid case-solving is unique in the world. It's normal for him to be popular."
After she finished speaking, Sonoko looked at Ran. Their eyes met, and they both sighed, their faces filled with worry. They were thinking about the fact that Kurosawa harbored a "murderer" within him. They felt that the faster he solved cases, the greater the chance that the murderer in his mind would break free. So they were extremely worried—afraid that one day Kurosawa would actually commit murder himself.
"What's wrong?" Haibara asked, seeing their expressions. She couldn't bring herself to call them "older sister," so she simply omitted the title altogether.
Ran moved closer and muttered very softly, explaining the situation.
Conan, who had been eavesdropping, finally understood what was going on. He couldn't help but twitch his lips, feeling utterly speechless. Idiot Ran. Kurosawa is obviously lying. He's not schizophrenic. He wouldn't have a murderer in his mind.
Just as he was about to hear a similar answer from Haibara, her words left him dumbfounded.
"Hmm, I think Hoshino-nii's speed in solving cases is a bit off. His statement is actually quite possible."
Conan stared blankly at Haibara. As expected of a researcher—always stuck in the lab, unable to distinguish between truth and falsehood. Heh, it seems I overestimated her, being so wary and suspicious of her before.
Half an hour later, Kurosawa had stopped chatting with Doi and Hamura and came to Ran's table, drinking juice and eating with them.
Kogorō finally returned from the study.
"Dad, can you tell us now what the request was?" Ran leaned close to her father and asked softly.
Kogorō coughed twice, clenched his fist, and sat down next to Kurosawa. He said in a low voice, "Actually, he just wanted me to investigate who his wife's lover is. The fee is one million yen."
"See?" Sonoko was very happy. "Just as I guessed. The one who came to Uncle Mouri must be—ahem." Thinking that there were outsiders present, she stopped there, but everyone understood what she meant.
"Go away, you bunch of kids. You have no idea about my reputation in this line of work." Kogorō crossed his arms and said arrogantly, "Let's put it this way—in the eyes of those who need me, my reputation right now is about the same as that brat Hoshino's. Otherwise, why would anyone invite me?"
Sonoko suddenly realized. "Then in that case, Uncle Mouri, you're really something."
"Of course." Kogorō nodded, then added, "By the way, Mr. Torakura invited us to stay for dinner. He wants to treat us well. Looks like we'll have to stay here tonight."