"Let's end today's meeting here. Thanks for your hard work, everyone."
"Thanks."
Kazawa sat in the dark, listening quietly as others packed up their documents. He heard footsteps leave the meeting room one after another, and only then did Kazami Yuya turn on the lights.
Kazawa's team had gathered more cases than he had expected. Throughout the entire meeting, Kazawa never once relaxed his furrowed brow.
"This guy called Joker has a wider activity range than we previously guessed." Looking at the Tokyo map on the whiteboard, Kazami Yuya felt a little dizzy.
After serious discussion by the team, everyone basically agreed that the "advance notice" was not an absolutely necessary condition for Joker to act. Unlike Kaito Kid, who always flamboyantly announced his moves to the world, Joker acted secretly far more often than he sent warnings.
"Kazami, I think we shouldn't, like scared birds, treat every sudden personality change targeting criminals as Joker's doing," Kazawa stood and removed some magnets from the whiteboard, clearing some of the broader, vague conditions. "Let's think from another angle. Suppose Joker has some way to make anyone he chooses experience a fundamental change in thinking within a short time... If you had that power, would you dream of being a hero like him?"
Kazami Yuya crossed his arms, staring at the heavily circled map. Slowly, he said, "Honestly, some cases the police can't stop. We can only respond after harm happens; it's hard to warn beforehand. After investigating all this, I even find myself agreeing with Joker's idea of 'cutting off the cycle of crime'… If I had that power, maybe I would do the same."
Kazawa's eyes scanned the names "Suwa Yuji," "Abe Yutaka," and "Hagino Ichiro," then he nodded slowly.
If Joker hadn't intervened, these people might have become murderers.
"This shows that Joker's identity in society is probably quite ordinary — a company employee, a manual laborer, or maybe even a student."
He pointed to the three names clearly connected to Mouri Kogoro and said, "He watches Mouri Kogoro, and it's likely not because he's targeting some detective, but because Mouri Kogoro is his only channel to access crime cases."
Kazami Yuya understood and nodded approvingly: "If I were Joker, I would definitely choose targets connected to unsolved cases I can reach, or criminals police can't interfere with."
"Yes. In today's meeting, we also confirmed that either Joker has some moral standard preventing him from using his power for personal gain, or this power only influences people to become better," Kazawa pointed to the collection of advance notices pinned on the board. "As for those cases we don't know whether to include or not, I think we can open a separate investigation path."
Kazami Yuya was surprised but quickly grabbed a notebook, ready for new orders.
"Besides the personal message left to Karasawa on the Elizabeth Queen ship, all advance notices emphasize that the Phantom Thief Heart is probably more than just Joker," Kazawa picked up a pen and quickly wrote "Phantom Thief Group" on the whiteboard. "So, we should try to classify these cases to see if there really is a group, how many people it includes, and profile them one by one."
Kazami Yuya nodded quickly and started writing down the new tasks.
Actually, if you asked Karasawa about this, the answer would be simple.
"Although I'm just one person, Phantom Thief Group sounds cooler, doesn't it? Replicating the original is also a kind of ritual!"
Kazawa crossed his arms, seriously examining the words written in the center of the whiteboard:
"Male, single
Age 15-25
Good educational background
Has a moral standard higher than society's (?)
Distinct style, confident and strong speech
Certain degree of control desire
…"
He had been spending a lot of time outside Mouri Detective Agency recently, so he knew something about this increasingly famous neighbor.
After a quick mental elimination of people related to him, Kazawa raised an eyebrow and said a name:
"…Kudou Shinichi?"
But Shinichi Kudou was a famous detective already, even more so than Mouri Kogoro. If it was him, why would he need to use Mouri Kogoro to filter targets?
Unless… remembering Shinichi Kudou's disappearance, Kazawa stroked his chin.
Could it be that for some reason, he cannot appear in public now?
—
Meanwhile, Conan, unaware that his friends had seriously tricked him, was walking cheerfully into the Poirot café.
Since Karasawa arrived, Conan often came down to hang out. When he, as an elementary school student, had no good excuse to go out, Karasawa, a high school student, was a perfect cover. Over time, the whole routine became natural, like coming home.
"Eh? Karasawa hasn't returned yet?" Conan heard Azusa Enomoto's words and was a little surprised. "Did Amuro-san take a day off, too?"
Azusa sighed. "Yeah… Without Amuro-san, I'm a bit overwhelmed."
Karasawa had gone to the police station right after school and had been gone for two or three hours already. Does it really take this long to file a report?
The bell on the door jingled softly. Azusa looked up from the quietly thinking child with a warm, gentle smile: "Welcome!"
The newcomer smiled back and sat at the counter.
"You're here for the first time, right?" Poirot wasn't very famous; only locals came often, so Azusa easily recognized new faces. "You should try the sandwiches. Today's special chicken sandwich is very popular."
"I heard your sandwiches are very good, too," the boy replied with a warm voice and smiled. "I'll have one of those."
Azusa turned to prepare the sandwich. Conan's eyes instinctively shifted to the newcomer and he slightly froze.
The boy's hair color was similar to Karasawa's but a bit longer, softer, and neatly falling to his collar. His handsome face would make Sonoko scream.
Wearing a khaki double-breasted coat, black leather gloves, and holding a metallic briefcase, he was a very stylish youth who would definitely turn heads on the street.
The reason Conan was stunned was because the boy was looking at him with great interest.
He had a pair of pale amber eyes that, when staring motionlessly, gave people the uneasy feeling of being watched by a cold-blooded animal.
"Little brother, you're that young hero who stopped Kid's theft, right?" The boy's smile was gentle and warm, his tone soft and easy to like.
Conan blinked, still holding the "cold-blooded animal" image in his mind.
He deliberately returned a big smile and asked in an innocent voice: "That's me! Brother, what's your name?"
"My name's Akechi, Akechi Gorou." Akechi gently tilted his head, his chestnut hair smoothly falling down. "I'm a detective."