Conan angrily tried to charge at me, but I lightly blocked him with one hand, pretended to think, and said,
"I see... I clearly told you to be careful about the black clothes and the pill, but you ignored me. On top of that, you abandoned the name Shinichi and started living as Conan, so my prediction said you were dead. Now I finally understand."
Hearing that, Conan stopped charging and made an excuse.
"Argh! My first impression of you back then wasn't good. I had no choice."
"Let's talk later. I'm working right now. While I'm away, the Black Star might get stolen β"
Just then, a shout came from inside the cruise ship: "Catch him!"
"Damn it!"
I scooped up Conan and moved quickly, but the police tried to catch me.
"There he is! Kaito Kid!"
"Huh? What is this β"
I stopped and faced the police. I looked down at Conan and said,
"Great. Looks like that Kaito Kid disguised himself as me and stole the Black Star. What a nuisance!"
Conan shot back sarcastically, "Sorry to be such a nuisance!"
As the standoff with the police continued, Inspector Nakamori stepped forward and shouted,
"Kaito Kid, it's over. Put down the hostage and surrender peacefully!"
"Inspector Nakamori, you're making a mistake. Kaito Kid has probably already fled."
"Shut up! I won't be fooled again!"
"This is insane... Fine, I'll surrender. Check my skin β see if it's a disguise or not."
I put Conan down and raised both hands. The police came and grabbed my arms, restraining me. Then Inspector Nakamori approached and tried to peel off a mask from my face.
"Finally caught you, Kaito β huh? That's real skin!"
Inspector Nakamori kept touching my face, unable to believe it. Naturally, nothing came off. It's my real face.
"Come on! I told you."
Inspector Nakamori threw his radio to the ground in frustration.
Thud!
"Damn, I've been had! What were you doing that made you show up just now? You're supposed to be guarding the Black Star!"
I pointed at Conan and made an excuse.
"This kid suddenly ran off, so I came out to look for him."
"Even so, you should have left that to someone else. Aren't you being paid to do a job? This is crazy... Have some professional pride!"
He was taking out his frustration on me for the police's failure to catch the thief. It was absurd, but since what he said was somewhat valid, I didn't argue further. Just then, Ran and Sonoko came over. Ran hugged me, crying.
"Sob... I'm sorry... Because of me, the Black Star got stolen, and Jin had to go through this humiliation..."
Pat, pat.
I gently patted Ran's back to comfort her. Conan, perhaps realizing it was his fault too, said nothing and only watched with a bitter expression.
Seeing this, Inspector Nakamori finally calmed down and apologized to me.
"Sigh... I apologize too. I went too far. I shouldn't be blaming others for the police's incompetence..."
"Not at all."
I said to Ran, who was still crying,
"Don't worry. I'll definitely get the Black Star back."
Hearing that, Inspector Nakamori asked me, "Do you have a way?"
"I do. Just give me a moment of space."
Truth be told, I had already located the thief using [Observation Haki]. But with so many eyes watching, I couldn't just go there directly. So I sat on the floor, drew a plausible-looking onmyodo circle, and pretended to divine.
"Found him."
I immediately stood up and ran toward the rear of the cruise ship. Seeing that, the police followed in a crowd.
Naturally, Ran, Sonoko, and Conan came along too. When we reached the back of the ship, Kaito Kid was standing on the railing, smiling.
"Hahaha, Onmyoji, I won this time, didn't I? Still, it was unexpected. I didn't think you'd prioritize your girlfriend's request over work."
"I'm a romantic, you see."
As I slowly put my hand on my cane sword, Kaito Kid raised one hand, showed the Black Star in his palm, and said,
"Whoa, whoa~ Calm down. It's been fun today, so I'll return this."
Kaito Kid tossed the Black Star to me. Then he unfolded a small hang glider.
"See you next time, Onmyoji. Hahaha~"
With those words, he flew off into the dark sea. Seeing that, Inspector Nakamori quickly ordered his men.
"Hurry up and tell the helicopters to chase Kaito Kid!!"
"Uh... well, Inspector, you threw the radio that could contact the helicopters..."
"Ah... damn it!!!!"
The police were incompetent to the very end.
Truthfully, I could have caught him using my abilities, but there were too many eyes watching, and since he returned the Black Star, I let him go.
We went back to the party hall, where I returned the Black Star to Tomoko. Then I heard from Ran what had happened in the party hall.
Kaito Kid, disguised as me, showed up at the party and joined Ran's group. Sensing something strange, Ran asked, "Did you find Conan?"
Kaito Kid, as me, said Conan was in the bathroom and not to worry, then suddenly went toward Tomoko. Ran quickly grabbed him and asked the code word, "Arthur." Kaito Kid, disguised as me, answered, "Conan."
That's how Ran realized he was Kaito Kid and tried to alert everyone. But then the lights suddenly went out, a fake Black Star exploded, and chaos ensued. In the confusion, Kaito Kid stole the real Black Star from Tomoko and fled.
"I see. Still, it's a relief the Black Star is safe."
"I'm sorry, Jin... I should have gone to look for Conan myself, but I asked you while you were working, and this happened..."
"No, don't worry about it."
Kogoro, who had been listening, smacked Conan on the head.
Thwack!
"Ouch!"
"This kid! I knew you'd cause trouble someday."
"Conan! Do you know how worried I was? This is a ship β one wrong move and you could fall into the ocean!"
Ran also scolded Conan. Though she probably didn't intend for the scolding to last an hour.
Anyway, we recovered the Black Star safely, enjoyed a delicious dinner, and returned home.
The next day after school, I went to the Mouri Detective Agency with Ran to hang out. I needed to talk with Conan. Even though I saw Kogoro and Conan often, it had been a while since I'd visited the office, so I bought some gifts.
Ran kept saying it was too much, so I just bought simple snacks and dinner items for Kogoro, plus some sweets for Conan.
"Come in, son-in-law!"
Kogoro always welcomed me with a smile whenever I visited. I guess I'd grown fond of him without realizing it.
"Hello, Detective Mouri."
After chatting pleasantly with Kogoro and Ran for a while, Conan started giving me looks, so I said to Ran,
"I promised to buy Conan something. I'll be right back."
"Yeah, big bro said he'd buy me the new game."
'This guy!'
I glared at Conan, as if to say, "When did I say that?" He stuck out his tongue and teased me. Hearing that, Ran put on an apron and said,
"Alright then, I'll have dinner ready, so come back soon~"
"Okay, I'll be quick."
Conan and I went outside, rode my bike together, and headed to a game store.
Vroom vroom~
"So you got caught by those men in black, took the pill, and ended up like this?"
"Yeah. Seems like some big criminal organization."
"If that kind of pill existed, plenty of people would buy it for a hundred million yen each... and they gave it to you."
"They don't seem to know much about the effects either. I think they used me as a test subject."
"I see. Anyone else know besides me?"
"My parents, Professor Agasa, and Hattori Heiji."
"Hattori Heiji β that's the Osaka high school detective."
"Yeah. He just happened to figure it out."
"Didn't you get yourself into this because you were showing off your detective skills?"
"W-well... yeah..."
Conan tried to make an excuse but ended up admitting it.
"So why are you telling me all this?"
Without hesitation, Conan said, "Give up on Ran."
"I don't want to. Why should I?"
"I've known Ran since we were kids. I've known her longer. So give up."
"Let me ask you something. What are you to Ran?"
"Th-that's..."
Conan couldn't answer.
"I'm already dating Ran. Both of her parents approve and support us. And according to my onmyodo, we're fated to be married in the future. You're just her childhood friend, aren't you? Shouldn't you be the one giving up? Am I wrong?"
"..."
Conan and Ran were nothing more than childhood friends.
'You should have treated her better when you had the chance.'
Until we arrived at the game store, Conan didn't say a word. Since he kept quiet, I picked out a few fun games, paid for them, and came back.
I drove Conan back to the Mouri Detective Agency.
"I picked out some fun ones. These have good reviews."
"I can't give up."
"..."
Conan said it as if he'd made up his mind. In a way, I was the one twisting their fate.
"Alright, do your best. Then should I use onmyodo to bring our marriage fate forward a bit? That'd be fine, right?"
"What kind of β that's cheating!!!"
Conan grabbed my clothes and shook me.
"Hey, hey! You're going to cause an accident!"
"Answer me! Say you won't do it!!! Or else we die right here!!!"
Conan shook me like a madman.
"Fine, fine, I get it!"
"For real?"
"Yeah."
Hearing that, Conan stopped shaking. Honestly, even if he tried something crazy, an accident wouldn't happen. And even if one did, only Conan would get hurt β not me. It was just fun to mess with him.
We arrived at the Mouri Detective Agency.
"You're back early. But why did you buy so many games?"
"Hahaha, I want to borrow some and play too."
"Really? Well, that's fine... Anyway, let's eat. I put extra effort into dinner this time."
Ran placed a lot of food on the table. Kogoro admired it and said,
"Oh~ I wish you'd cook like this more often..."
"Half of it is thanks to Jin for buying it. And I felt bad about last time too..."
"Tsk... They say raising daughters is useless... She's already taking care of her future husband."
"Dad! We're not even married yet!"
I laughed and said to Kogoro, "Hahaha, I'll buy plenty of delicious food next time."
"See? That's why sons-in-law are the best!"
Everyone started eating. I took a bite of Ran's cooking.
"Oh~ This is delicious!"
Hearing that, Ran's face brightened.
"Yay~ What a relief. You're good at cooking too, so I was worried it wouldn't suit your taste."
"How could that be? It's food made with love."
At that, Ran blushed.
"Oh, you~"
Hahaha~ Hohoho~
Watching this happy scene, Conan looked like he'd just bitten into a lemon again today.