Chapter 22: The Exploration of the Blue Castle Incident

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Descending the mountain by helicopter, Conan pretended to be a curious child and tugged at Ikeda’s sleeve, asking questions.

“Brother Ikeda, where is your family from?”

“Tokyo.”

“You’re really good at deduction. Are you a detective?”

“No.”

“Then what do you do?”

“Currently, I’m a student on leave from Tōto University.”

“So you joined the magic enthusiasts’ chatroom because you’re interested in magic?”

“It’s because my teacher likes it.”

“Do you want to be a magician or a detective in the future?”

“No, I want to be a veterinarian.”

“A vet? Why?”

“Because I study veterinary medicine.”

“…”

Studying veterinary medicine and planning to be a vet—what’s wrong with that?

Suzuki Sonoko, who overheard their conversation, silently nodded, as if to agree it made sense.

Conan remained speechless. He knew Ikeda was deliberately twisting the focus of his questions, but he didn’t quite know how to press further for now.

At the parking lot at the foot of the mountain, the car rented by Kogoro Mouri was also parked there.

Seeing this, Conan figured there was no chance to hitch a ride with Ikeda. He pretended to stumble and fall onto the snow in front of Ikeda, using the snowdrift as cover to swiftly stick a bug on the inside of Ikeda’s pant leg.

Originally, Nonaka had been clinging motionless to Ikeda’s arm, asleep, but now she sluggishly whispered, “That kid just put something inside your pant leg…”

No matter how fast and discreet Conan’s hands were, or how well the snow covered his movements, it couldn’t escape the snake’s dual visual systems—besides the human-visible eyes, it had a “thermal eye” between its eyes and nostrils…

An infrared detector, if you will.

Ikeda didn’t expect Conan to pull such a stunt. He pulled Conan up and warned, “Be more careful.”

Conan obediently thanked him, “Thanks, Brother Ikeda!”

“If you’re not a little girl, don’t play falling flat on the ground,” Ikeda said, patting Conan’s head before turning away.

Conan: “???”

What did that mean? How does falling relate to being a little girl?

Mouri Ran noticed what was happening and hurried over. “Really, Conan, be careful walking on the snow.”

“I will from now on!” Conan promised eagerly, though his eyes kept secretly watching Ikeda’s retreating figure as he got into the car.

Strangely, that silhouette looked vaguely familiar, as if he’d seen it somewhere before…

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But if the other person was part of that organization, their sudden departure this time might reveal some intel…

The car drove off. The next moment, something small was thrown out of the window and immediately crushed under the tires.

Conan froze on the spot: “…!”

He’d been found out!

Suzuki Sonoko approached and saw Conan staring blankly at Ikeda’s car as it left. She sighed, “That kid really seems to like Mr. Ikeda…”

“Yeah,” Mouri Ran smiled in agreement, “probably because Conan loves deduction, and Mr. Ikeda is so good at it. It’s normal for him to want to get close.”

“It’s really a pity,” Sonoko sighed wistfully. “Mr. Ikeda is a nice guy and great at deduction, but I think our personalities don’t match. I just can’t handle cold, aloof types…”

“Huh?” Mouri Ran was surprised. Had her best friend finally woken up to personality differences?

“But I’ve made up my mind…” Sonoko clenched her fist. “From today on, Kaito Kid is my favorite magician, and Mr. Ikeda is my favorite detective!”

“But Mr. Ikeda isn’t really a detective…”

“It’s all the same!”

“Not really the same…”

…

Two days later, at dusk.

A Volkswagen Beetle stopped outside the castle gates.

In the second-floor room, Ikeda glanced out the window, then turned and went downstairs.

He had wondered if Conan, after hearing from the residents that he and Kaito Kuroba left together on the day of the party, and considering that he had attended the party, might suspect Kaito Kuroba also went to the party—and thus suspect Kaito Kuroba was Kaito Kid.

However, on that day, Kaito Kuroba had told Mamiya he planned to go back, so it was also possible Ikeda had dropped off Kaito Kuroba before going to the party himself.

Besides, the Kaito Kid alias had been used by two generations over 18 years internationally, making it hard to imagine it was just a high school student—Kaito Kuroba wasn’t even born 18 years ago.

Moreover, whether in the chatroom or on the party day, Ikeda and Kaito Kuroba’s interactions were minimal; in the end, Ikeda even sold him out and never showed any sign of friendship.

Overall, the chance of Kaito Kuroba being exposed was quite low.

Outside the castle, Dr. Agasa led the entire Detective Boys group out of the car.

“Wow! It’s so big!” exclaimed Ayumi Yoshida and Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya in awe.

“It’s just like a Western castle!” they added.

“But how could a building like this be built in the woods?” Dr. Agasa wondered aloud, glancing at Conan.

But Conan seemed distracted, not paying attention to the group’s chatter.

Dr. Agasa sighed and leaned close to Conan’s ear, whispering, “Shinichi, you’re out to have fun, so don’t look so glum…”

“But I just can’t figure it out,” Conan frowned. “That guy clearly noticed the bug. With his observation and deduction skills, he should have suspected me. So why didn’t he pursue it? If he had gotten off and questioned me with the bug in hand…”

“Why do you think he’s connected to the organization?” Ai Haibara spoke softly, calm and composed. “In the past, a scarecrow was placed in fields to drive away crows—it was the field’s guardian.”

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“That’s just the name of a chatroom,” Conan replied exasperatedly. “If you analyze someone by that name, then the scarecrow could also refer to the man-eating yokai ‘Hitotsume Kozō,’ which legend says was originally a mountain god who transformed into a scarecrow standing in the fields.”

“Or it could refer to the ‘Kakashi’ from the Kojiki,” Dr. Agasa chimed in with a smile, joining the discussion. “Though it can’t walk properly on one leg, it stands in the fields for a long time, observing the world’s changes and thus knows all that happens… Maybe whoever named the chatroom ‘Scarecrow’ has exceptional deduction skills and wants to convey that sense of insight!”

Conan nodded. Dr. Agasa’s analysis made some sense, but then he scratched his head in frustration. “I say, why he named it ‘Scarecrow’ isn’t the main point!”

“But since the other party hasn’t taken any action, there’s not much we can rush,” Dr. Agasa reassured him in a positive tone. “Besides, Ai has always felt he’s not a bad person…”

“Not being a bad person doesn’t mean he’s not part of the organization, right?” Conan stroked his chin. “From both my observation and Ai’s description, he doesn’t seem like the type to record videos or take pictures of kids. At least, he didn’t photograph Ai, who was meeting him for the first time, but he recorded two videos of me that day. I feel it’s just his twisted sense of humor, but maybe he’s gathering information on me. He must know something, and I keep feeling like I’ve seen him somewhere…”

Ai Haibara didn’t argue this time. Recording Conan’s videos and noticing the bug but not pursuing it were indeed suspicious. She saw Conan freeze and asked in confusion, “What’s wrong?”

“Osaka!” Conan’s expression turned serious. “I just remembered—at the Tsutenkaku Tower in Osaka, I kept feeling like someone was watching me. When I turned to look, I think I saw his back!”

“Are you sure?” Dr. Agasa pressed.

Conan hesitated, then admitted honestly, “Not really. I didn’t see his face, only his back. But he did go to Osaka around that time, and the silhouette really looked similar…”

Ai Haibara narrowed her eyes. “Maybe you’re just being paranoid lately. If the body shape is similar and the clothes are about the same color and style, it’s easy to mistake one person’s back for another’s.”

Conan recalled and still couldn’t figure out why he felt the back looked familiar. Maybe he really was overthinking.

“If he knew you were going to the party with the Suzuki family heiress, he couldn’t have known in advance. His tone waiting there was better than showing up around you,” Ai continued in a measured voice. “If he was really investigating you, he’d have appeared by your side. You haven’t seen him since returning from the mountain villa, right?”

“That’s true…” Conan nodded, feeling lighter, reflecting, “I have been a bit too impatient lately, always thinking about how to get information on the organization…”

“Where did you come from, you little brat?!”

A roar drew their attention.

While the three were whispering, Genta Kojima had climbed in through the gate. As soon as he landed, gardener Shigeko Tazumi grabbed him.

Tazumi angrily shouted, holding Genta by the hand, “You barged in without saying a word! Are you trying to cause trouble, you little brat?!”

He was tired these days.

Those few days Ikeda had been jumping on the chess sculpture, making him clean it every day. As for that high school student, even more frustrating—chased by the snake all over, the flowers and plants he meticulously nurtured had been damaged countless times.

Now that the high school student had left, restoring the plants would take months.

Moreover, the snake still lived here. Maybe it had developed an obsession with chasing things. For the past two days without the high school student to chase, the snake let the hamsters out at dusk and chased them all over the castle.

Apparently, the lord had mentioned this to young master Ikeda, and the snake had calmed down a bit, no longer scaring people by running out.

But last night, after working until dark, Tazumi heard rustling behind him. When he turned, the sound stopped—but a large patch of flowers had fallen again…

Sometimes, not knowing where the snake is is scarier than seeing it!

He used to think the proud, arrogant young master was the hardest to serve. Now it seemed that compared to a young master with strange pets and an abnormal nature, that was just a little brother!

Yet, seeing the lord driving back and forth in the city looking exhausted, he didn’t dare mention buying flower seeds or anything like that…

Tired body, tired heart…