Chapter 30: You Are Sick Too, Aren't You?

Conan’s eyes lit up. The connection between "memories" and an "album" was indeed much stronger than that of a book.

"Indeed, when it comes to memories, looking at an album makes far more sense than reading a book," Heiji Hattori said. He had initially dismissed Chi Feichi as just a rich young master tagging along for the fun of it, attributing his subtle aura of authority to a sheltered upbringing. Now, however, he looked at the quiet young man with newfound respect and nodded in agreement. "Your deduction is much more reliable than Uncle Mouri’s theory!"

"Whether it’s an album or a book, it’s all the same, isn't it? We can't see it anyway..." Kogoro Mouri muttered under his breath.

"Um... is that sparkling thing inside the egg a gemstone?" Ran Mouri asked.

Shiro Suzuki explained, "No, no, that’s just glass."

"It’s a gift from an emperor to an empress," Conan said, slipping back into his curious child persona. "Doesn't that seem strange?"

Shiro Suzuki nodded and thought for a moment. "But it is said that when the 51st egg was being crafted, Russia was facing financial difficulties."

"What's even stranger is Kid's notice," Heiji said, rubbing his chin. "The 'sky-high tower of light'... why would Osaka Castle be glowing?"

Shortly after, two police officers entered and, along with Kogoro Mouri, misinterpreted Kid’s code as meaning he would appear at the castle keep at 3:00 AM.

Leaving the rest to the police, Sonoko Suzuki invited the group to go shopping, relying on the local knowledge of Heiji and Kazuha Toyama to lead the way.

At the shrine’s fortune-telling stand, the three girls gathered together. Chi Feichi, Heiji, and Conan wisely kept their distance.

Conan finally couldn't help but tug on the hem of Chi Feichi's jacket, then immediately froze. Ever since he had become a child, he was used to grabbing adults by their clothes, always forgetting that Chi Feichi carried a snake on his person.

"What is it?" Chi Feichi turned his head. Seeing Conan gesture for a whisper, he crouched down.

"I say..." Conan leaned into Chi Feichi’s ear, "Can you delete that video?"

"No." Chi Feichi’s refusal was decisive, and he stood up just as firmly.

Conan: "..."

*...Seriously?!* Could you at least consider it? But it seemed that being direct wasn't going to work...

Seeing the two whispering, Heiji’s intuition told him there was gossip afoot. Eager to join in, he leaned over. "What kind of secrets are you two sharing? Include me!"

"Nothing," Conan denied firmly, then looked at Chi Feichi. "We were just talking about the code. Something feels off about it, doesn't it, Brother Chi?"

Chi Feichi, keeping in mind that he wanted to "get rich following Conan," nodded in cooperation. "It’s a bit of a stretch. Just as an album and memories have a subtle synergy, this way of interpreting the code lacks that same connection."

*Huh?*

Conan was surprised. He had indeed felt that way but couldn't put it into words; he hadn't expected Chi Feichi to articulate it so clearly. *Doesn't this guy know how to decode ciphers?* If Chi Feichi could decode them, the ones in the old castle wouldn't have been left for him to solve—after all, Chi Feichi had lived in that castle for a while and had seen those codes days before he had...

Heiji didn't believe they were just talking about that, but his attention was successfully diverted. He nodded. "I have that feeling too. Should we go take a look? Let the girls go shopping..."

With that, he turned to the others. "Kazuha, could you please take care of the two of them?"

Kazuha turned back, surprised. "What about you?"

"I’m in charge of hosting them," Heiji said, gesturing toward Chi Feichi and Conan.

"Why?" Ran asked, puzzled. "Come with us."

"It’s better for the guys to stick together," Heiji said, not bothering to ask Conan, and turned to Chi Feichi. "Right?"

Chi Feichi nodded, though the "forever alone" implications of that statement made him less than enthusiastic about agreeing...

"You want to come with us too, kid, right?" Heiji asked Conan with a grin.

"Yeah~" Conan nodded, playing the part of a cute child.

And then, they were promptly shooed away by the three girls.

Heiji didn't take it to heart. Once they were out of the shrine, he said, "If the 12th character refers to 'L', then interpreting it as 3 o'clock is correct, but there are other possibilities..."

"Well, the Russian letter 'L' is pronounced 'ka', which is the English 'K'," Conan noted.

"If it’s 'K'..." Heiji mused, "I can't see what time that would be."

"And besides, Kaito Kid usually only targets gemstones. Why steal that egg this time?" Conan asked. "And the signature 'Magician of the End of the Century' is something he has never used before..."

"In any case, we should check the castle keep. We might find a detail we missed," Heiji said. Finding the walk a bit dull, he asked, "By the way, what fortunes did you two draw? Care to share?"

"Great Blessing," Chi Feichi said, pulling the slip from his fingers. "Apply yourself with diligence, and you shall achieve both fame and fortune."

Though Conan thought Heiji was just being bored, he felt embarrassed not to share since Chi Feichi had already revealed his. He pulled out his own slip. "Let's see... Small Blessing..."

Heiji leaned in to look. The text read: *Travel; secrets will be revealed; do not go.*

Conan instinctively looked up at Chi Feichi. If a secret were to be revealed, he felt the possibility of it being Chi Feichi was high... No, wait. He had asked for a fortune regarding his love life. That would mean the person revealing his secret would be Ran? That result was even worse!

"Hey... it’s not strange for a secret to be revealed," Heiji said.

"W-what?" Conan was dazed.

Heiji didn't know Conan had asked for a love fortune. Thinking that it was better to take the initiative than to be suspected, he turned to Chi Feichi. "You think this kid is suspicious too, right?"

*Wait!* Conan stared at Heiji, stunned. *What are you trying to do?*

"He's clearly just a kid, but he’s so smart, and he even knows the Russian pronunciation of letters and their English translations," Heiji said, staring intently at Chi Feichi. "But you weren't surprised at all just now..."

Conan calmed down. It was true—perhaps because he had never felt surprised by Chi Feichi, he had let his guard down in front of him so many times. He had gotten used to it. Like just now, Heiji had remembered to observe Chi Feichi’s reaction, while he had completely forgotten to hide his own or check if Chi Feichi was surprised.

*Is this guy just uninterested and doesn't want to think about it? Or did he know something from the start?*

Heiji actually wanted to get to the bottom of it, but he had never found the right opportunity. Taking advantage of the question he’d just raised to probe Chi Feichi’s thoughts wasn't a bad idea... But he couldn't let Heiji just blurt out the truth!

"Yeah, it is weird," Conan said in his child voice, stopping Heiji from continuing. "Brother Chi treats me differently than other kids, too..."

Heiji was speechless. *There’s no need to insult my intelligence.* This was just a mutual game of bluffing to see who could glean more clues; he wasn't going to fold just because of a little pushback.

Conan waited tensely for Chi Feichi’s answer.

Chi Feichi ran through his options quickly. To him, whether or not this secret was revealed didn't matter much. Even if Conan asked him how he knew, he could simply refuse to answer. At worst, Conan would start investigating him again, but since Conan had already used a wiretap once, a few more wouldn't make a difference.

However, if he couldn't communicate clearly, it might be difficult to tag along for bounties in the future. In this chaotic timeline, he sometimes didn't know where Conan would run off to, and he might miss a big payday.

Besides... Conan’s serious, struggling attempt to hide his anxiety was quite entertaining—a nice spice to life. A couple more bluffs, followed by a "natural discovery," would be the best outcome.

"You also have a mental disorder, right?"

"Huh?" Conan was stunned.

"You likely have split personality disorder. Your primary personality is a normal child," Chi Feichi said, looking at Conan. "Your secondary personality is mature and intelligent, unlike a child. This suggests that subconsciously, you don't want to be treated like a child. Perhaps you suffered some unacceptable grievance as a child, which led to the birth of a secondary personality to protect or prove yourself. Judging by the situation, the alternation between your two personalities is harmonious and natural. The two personalities have likely reached an understanding, which proves your secondary personality is a protective one."

Non-Red couldn't help but chime in, "Master, I’ve noticed a pattern: when you’re bullshitting people, you go on at length, but when you’re telling the truth, you’re usually brief and blunt. You’re bullshitting him, right? Even I can see that this kid isn't mentally ill; his 'child' act is just a performance!"

Chi Feichi: "..." *Why must you speak such inconvenient truths...*

Conan was left in a daze. To keep Chi Feichi from guessing the secret he wanted to hide, did he have to admit he was a lunatic? Still, this excuse wasn't bad; he could use it later if he was ever really backed into a corner.

"W-wait!" Heiji’s expression was even more confused. "What do you mean by 'also'?"

"I also suffered from split personality disorder," Chi Feichi said nonchalantly. "I just got out of the hospital."

Heiji stared at Chi Feichi blankly for a moment, then turned to look at Conan in silence. *What kind of people does this kid know these days...*

Conan scratched his head and gave a dry laugh. "Brother Chi’s deductions are very impressive!"

"Hmph..." Heiji raised his eyes, observing Chi Feichi with interest. It wasn't often that someone was called impressive by the high school detective Shinichi Kudo; at the very least, he had to be on the same level. "Then let's have a contest! Let's see which of the three of us finds Kaito Kid first!"

Conan intervened, "But Brother Chi isn't good at decoding..."

"Are we splitting up?" Chi Feichi asked.

"Of course!" Heiji said, full of fighting spirit.

Conan was speechless. Could these two listen to him for a second? "Hey, I said..."

"But the sun is setting," Chi Feichi said, glancing at the horizon and checking the time on his phone. It was time to speed up the process and meet Kid; he needed to get some small gadgets from him. "6:33 PM. We have less than an hour..."

"What are you talking about?" Heiji frowned.

" 'From the lion of twilight to the maiden of dawn, the clock without a second hand moves to the 12th character, descending from the sky-high tower of light, to claim the Egg of Memories.' The Magician of the End of the Century, Kaito Kid... that is the content of the notice Kid left," Chi Feichi said calmly. " 'From the lion of twilight to the maiden of dawn'—counting from left to right, the 12th character is 'he'..."

Heiji and Conan froze, a flash of realization crossing their minds.