International Supermarket.
Gao Mo and Amuro followed Takagi to the scene. A crowd of yesterday's employees had already gathered outside the temporarily closed supermarket.
The atmosphere at the scene was restless.
"What?"
"The manager's dead?"
"He was found dead in a nearby hotel early this morning," Megure's gaze was sharp. "The time of death was approximately between 9 and 10 AM yesterday... Don't tell me none of you noticed anything?"
The manager was dead, yet the supermarket managed to operate normally for a whole day. It was quite ironic.
"Well... we all worked according to the schedule as usual."
"Yeah, and the manager also said he was going out for something..."
"When was the last time you saw the manager? Speak one by one." Megure interrupted the clamoring crowd.
As a seasoned inspector from the First Investigation Division, cases like these happening close together were a small matter for him.
Back when Mouri Kogoro was still under his command, that was a disaster. Cases always went into a labyrinth, and it was difficult to solve even one case a month.
Hmm.
Now Kogoro seemed a bit smarter, having solved several major cases as a detective.
But he didn't know if it was a clash of personalities with him.
It felt like when Kogoro was around, his and his subordinates' brains were particularly sluggish.
"The last time I saw the manager..."
The group of employees looked at each other, then all turned to the female colleague who was also a cashier with Gao Mo.
"It seems Saiko was the last one to see the manager."
"Right, right, it was Saiko who told us the manager went out."
"Hmm?" Megure's suspicious gaze fixed on the delicate female colleague. "So you were the only one who saw the manager?"
"It seems so..."
Saiko timidly hid beside Gao Mo.
"Because the manager was very angry and said he was going to fire Mr. Kido, so I went over to see... After Mr. Kido hung up on him, the manager angrily said he was going out, but he didn't come back by evening."
"It's you again."
Megure's eyelids drooped as he turned to Gao Mo.
Getting involved in two cases in one day, and being a key figure in both, was rather exasperating.
Was he unlucky or lucky?
He heard that he was even attacked by the murderer last night.
"The manager did indeed call me," Gao Mo looked at his female colleague, feeling an inexplicable sense of disconnect. "My phone happened to run out of battery and hung up automatically... I left immediately after that and then ran into you officers."
"That was at 9:30," Megure frowned. "Which means the manager was still alive at 9:30..."
He felt the murderer was among these supermarket employees, but now everyone had an alibi.
From 9:30 until 11:00, all employees were in the supermarket and did not leave.
"An alibi, huh..."
Amuro had insisted on coming along. After observing the surroundings, he took a long look at the frightened woman beside Gao Mo.
Her testimony sounded fine, but she was still the only one who had seen the victim.
"Was it really that manager who called you?" Amuro pulled Gao Mo aside and asked in a low voice.
"I think so..."
Gao Mo wearily rubbed his eyes, recalling the phone call from yesterday morning.
He hadn't paid much attention.
"Is something wrong?"
"No... I just find you very interesting," Amuro's golden bangs drooped, obscuring a faint glint in his eyes. "You have a lot of potential to be a police officer."
"Become a police officer?" Gao Mo subconsciously glanced at Inspector Megure and Takagi Wataru.
He heard that to become a police officer in Japan, one had to take a unified exam and undergo training at a police academy.
He was already this old... what potential could he have?
Besides, many police officers had died in Conan. If he was assigned to be an undercover agent, it would be even worse. With the Death God's mark on him, going there would be purely suicidal.
"This case seems quite troublesome, you..."
Gao Mo turned back, intending to ask more, but found that Amuro had already left the supermarket area and was talking to a short-haired man in a trench coat at the intersection.
The man was tall and thin, wore glasses, and had a stern face. He looked slightly older than Amuro, but he lowered his posture when facing Amuro, giving off a sycophantic vibe.
A husky?
An image automatically appeared in Gao Mo's mind. He shook his head repeatedly to get rid of the strange thought.
Now was not the time to think about other things.
In the time it took for those few sentences, that strange faint glow had appeared above the heads of the people around him again.
After trying to concentrate, mission texts appeared above the heads of several people he had spoken to or had contact with.
Above Amuro's head was [Sanction Akai Shuichi]. As expected, he was the future Amuro Tooru, the master of disguise.
He shook his head and retracted his gaze.
Above Megure's head, it had changed to [Find a Clue]. Takagi, on the other hand, still had [Let me date Officer Sato]... No, there was an additional one—[Earn lots and lots of money].
Very simple missions. Rather than missions, they were more like wishes.
Unfortunately, he himself had no money. Not counting the house, he was less wealthy than this Takagi fellow.
Skipping Takagi, Gao Mo thoughtfully observed his female colleague.
[Hide or transfer guilt, avoid arrest] and [All men deserve to die].
(⊙o⊙)
Huh?
This... this woman is the murderer?
Is the mission information this direct?
This woman...
Gao Mo stiffened, his eyes widening for a moment before quickly looking away.
He knew why he felt a sense of disconnect. Although his actor level was currently only lv0, he had, after all, come from the entertainment industry.
After reading The Acting Career of a Has-Been Idol, related memories had deepened further.
Coupled with the passive enhancement of Eagle Eye Vision...
Without a doubt.
This woman had been acting from beginning to end, including deliberately approaching him earlier.
Which means... there was a problem with that phone call yesterday morning? The manager was actually already dead at that time?
Hiss!
In just two short days, Gao Mo felt like he had truly been taught a lesson by the Conan world.
Anything was truly possible.
As the person involved, he had been preconceived and hadn't even considered that his gentle, kind, and cute female colleague could be the murderer.
She had even specifically plotted against him.
So the concern she showed wasn't because of his idol face, but also an act? All of it was an act?
The legendary green tea bitch?
He hadn't noticed at all before...
Gao Mo's feelings were complicated, and he found it even harder to choose from the many missions before him.
However, the glowing text didn't give him a headache; it only popped up a [Draw] option.
The First Order Defier of Fate Bronze Badge had one chance to redraw... a total of two chances.
"Random draw?"
Gao Mo didn't rush to confirm. Instead, he walked among the crowd, talking to everyone, trying to light up all the mission points.
Two chances were still too few; he was worried he might draw Takagi's.
...
"Mr. Furuya, all the information on Kido Takamori is here."
The short-haired man, Kazami Yuya, avoided the crowd and saw Gao Mo's strange behavior, frowning deeply.
"But what are you doing here? Is there a problem with Kido Takamori? If he was just caught up in the case..."
"I only met him yesterday. Strictly speaking, we've only spent a few hours together.
No one has ever given me that kind of indescribable, strange feeling."
Furuya Rei said as he carefully reviewed the documents.
"I'm a little concerned."
It was the first time he had such a strong intuition. From the moment he saw Gao Mo kill the murderer in self-defense, something seemed to be attracting him...
It was as if he had met another Gin—the organization's most famous and most valued assassin by the boss.
And just now... that didn't seem to be an illusion.
That's why he had specifically asked his subordinate Kazami to retrieve the files.
But the information... was this really Kido Takamori?
"A has-been idol?" Kazami Yuya warily pushed up his glasses.
He really couldn't see anything special about Gao Mo.
Was Mr. Furuya implying something? Was he dissatisfied with his work?
That couldn't be right. They had drinks together before, and he had praised his performance as perfect, a rare right-hand man.
Or was it... because he had secretly ordered a glass of rye whiskey?
(Note: Akai Shuichi's codename is Rye Whiskey. Furuya Rei is extremely sensitive due to a personal grudge.)
Kazami Yuya's heart skipped a beat.
Oh no, he seemed to recall being glared at fiercely at that time. Could it be...
Mr. Furuya doesn't like rye whiskey? It's clearly very delicious...
"Kazami?" Furuya Rei called out to his subordinate in confusion. "My situation is special right now. Try not to meet with me for the time being... Also, I am now Amuro Tooru."
"Ah... Understood!"
Kazami Yuya stood at attention solemnly.
He must have been overthinking. As Mr. Furuya's right-hand man, the only thing he needed to do was work harder and be more outstanding.
He wouldn't drink rye whiskey anymore.
"Mr. Furuya, no matter what, please be careful. To be involved in two cases at the same time, that Kido Takamori might have some kind of legendary death god constitution."
Kazami Yuya still reminded him, feeling uneasy.
"It's said to be especially dangerous around such people."
Furuya Rei waved his hand dismissively. "Watch less TV."
This subordinate was good at everything, except he was particularly superstitious.
Kazami Yuya: "But... is there anything else I need to do?"
"No, you don't need to do anything."
"Uh..."
Kazami Yuya felt inexplicably flustered.