Conan: I'm Really Not Tokyo Ghost Story

Page 156

Someone who can deliver that astonishing kick and easily dodge more than a dozen pistol bullets is one of a kind in the entire world; such a person is definitely not just a typical chuunibyou (middle school syndrome) sufferer.

...After all, how can an imitator be better than the one being imitated?

Could it be that the writers of Kamen Rider met this guy by chance, which gave them the idea to create a pirated Kamen Rider?

More importantly, the appearance of this black mask inevitably reminded Conan of the ghost electric motorcycle from a few days ago, as well as No-Face, Bourbon, and the group of extraordinary individuals who suddenly appeared.

As mentioned above, such extraordinary individuals, unless they have always lived in the shadows, would certainly not be unknown in their daily lives. Therefore, it is difficult to say exactly when they started doing such things.

Conan also wanted to know the other party's purpose in doing such a thing, and whether they could be recruited as allies to fight against the Black Organization...

To put it bluntly, it's really just an overflowing curiosity and an increased desire to explore.

Of course, if Sano were to give his opinion, he would only say that he was simply courting death.

In response to Conan's question, Sano turned his head slightly and replied calmly, "I already said, I'm just a Kamen Rider who's passing by."

"As for why I did this..."

With his back to Conan, Sano pondered for a second, a picture flashing in his mind. He then slowly raised his left index finger and pointed upwards: "Following the Way of Heaven, I will govern everything."

"What the heck??"

Before Conan could react, Sano suddenly appeared.

Conan wanted to catch up and ask more questions, but the other person disappeared after quickly turning a corner.

……

"Beep, system task has been triggered."

[Please go to the mission objective location and stay there for one hour. Completion will earn you 20 enhancement points. Mission time remaining: 2:59:59].

The next morning, Sano looked at the mission interface in front of him with a calm expression, seemingly lost in thought.

Actually, Sano had some ideas about the regularity of the system tasks, which was simply to involve him in the "main plot" of this world.

The types of missions are nothing more than asking Sano to do something or go somewhere, with the aim of getting him to have indirect or direct contact with Conan.

However, in most cases, there would be a pretext to make Sano "do something". It seems that the situation like today, where he was just given a mission location and asked to go there and stay, has only happened twice.

Such a task undoubtedly offers a high degree of freedom.

It's like telling Sano—just show your face, whether you want to get involved more or not is up to you.

However, there is another point that Sano can't figure out: the system doesn't trigger a mission every time Conan encounters something, and Sano, limited by his own memory, can't figure out whether his mission is related to Conan.

...Forget it, trying to figure out the dog system's programming isn't that easy.

Sano shook his head, tidied himself up, and headed out to the mission objective.

After all, even if the North and South Poles warm up and the sun smiles, it won't change the fact that I earn 3,000 a month, right?

But as soon as Sano went downstairs, he bumped into that little girl named Hana again.

Just like the first time we met, the little girl was barefoot again—probably because she wore white socks last time and got them too dirty and got scolded.

The little girl had a lollipop in her mouth and was dragging a rope of unknown purpose in her hand, staring blankly at the ground.

...Are you watching ants moving house?

This is terrible... Should I go home and get some hot water?

The little girl seemed to notice Sano, and immediately turned around and bowed deeply to greet him: "Hello Uncle, we meet again. My mom told me that you took me out of the rain, helped me call the police, and even ate your instant noodles. I should thank you!"

Sano raised an eyebrow: "...Why didn't you say hello the previous two times we met?"

I had known the little girl for quite some time when I first met her, so it's impossible that her mother only told her to thank her in the last couple of days.

The two times Sano referred to were, of course, the two times he encountered the little girl downstairs and the two times she forgot to close the door.

The little girl blinked her eyes: "Because I forgot!"

Sano: "..."

This answer is quite reasonable and expected.

After shaking his head, Sano pointed to the rope in the little girl's hand and asked, "What are you doing with that?"

The little girl looked at the string in her hand following Sano's finger, grinned, and replied, "This is a balloon my mom bought for me!"

"gas……"

Sano blinked: "Then where's your ball?"

"ball……?"

The little girl paused for a moment, then started pulling back along the rope in her hand until she had pulled the whole rope. She then looked at the other end of the rope on the ground and confirmed that both ends were empty.

"...The balloon is gone."

After a brief moment of distraction, the little girl's big eyes quickly turned red, and her lower lip almost touched her nose.

Seeing that the little girl was about to start whimpering, Sano was speechless but couldn't help but want to laugh.

Goodness, he was wondering what was so fun about grabbing a rope for no reason. Turns out it was an air balloon that had flown away without him even realizing it.

However, the little girl's current appearance reminded Sano of his own childhood.

...After relentlessly pestering her father, she got him to spend tens of yuan on a pirated Ultraman toy, only to have him lose a hand while playing a "fighting game" with someone.

I was both heartbroken and scared. I held onto the remains of Ultraman and hid outside until midnight, not even daring to go home for dinner.

When the old man and woman found him, he was hiding in a bridge archway, insisting that they swear they wouldn't hit him before he would come out.

And then... he really made the vow, but he also really didn't keep it, and he still got a mixed doubles beating.

Looking back now, I feel that if I hadn't insisted on hiding outside and forced the old folks to swear an oath, I might not have gotten that beating.

...The old folks back then probably felt the same way I feel about this little girl now.

After regaining his senses, Sano turned his gaze back to the little girl.

Although Sano thinks that this little girl might have some kind of mascot attribute—first, she triggered a mission when she was present, then she provided him with the inspiration for the candy bomb, and finally, the enhancement of the Kamen Rider keychain might have been influenced by her in a tiny way.

...Well, actually, this little girl is really funny, and she poked Sano.

But right now Sano is busy with a mission and can't possibly go and buy balloons for this little girl.

After thinking for two seconds, Sano took a lollipop out of his pocket and tossed it to the little girl.

"Trading a balloon for a lollipop, you're not losing out."

The little girl caught the lollipop a bit clumsily, still looking a little aggrieved: "But, Mom bought it for me..."

"There's no difference. Anyway, you can't eat that stuff, and it'll deflate sooner or later. What you can eat is the best."

"But……"

Seeing that the little girl was about to say "but," Sano simply took out a second lollipop and threw it at her.

When the little girl received her second lollipop, the tears in her eyes seemed to finally stop flowing.

Before the little girl could speak, Sano threw out a third lollipop, and the little girl immediately showed a silly smile.

Ha, look how worthless this is.

"gone."

Sano waved his hand, and amidst the little girl's bow and "Arigato," he headed towards the mission's objective, eventually arriving at... a racetrack?

Perhaps it would be better to call it a horse racing track.

Of course, that's not important. What's important is that Sano did see Conan, that jinx, here, with Ran Mouri and her father by his side. He wondered which unlucky guy they were here to torment today.

Sano neither changed his identity to avoid unnecessary trouble, nor did he take the initiative to greet the Conan trio; he simply stood by the horse farm and watched.

And Conan, being the shrewd one he was, naturally discovered Sano.

"senior!"

The Mori family gathered around, and Kogoro Mori, while surprised, gave Sano a rare friendly look: "I didn't expect you to be interested in horse racing too. It seems that heroes do have something in common."

Sano glanced at Kogoro Mouri, lit a cigarette, and chose to deny it outright: "No, I have no interest in horse racing. I came here simply because I have something to do."

Upon hearing this, Ran Mouri, whose face had been slightly troubled, immediately breathed a sigh of relief—she knew it! How could her senior have fallen into such a slump like her father and become interested in horse racing? It turned out he was just here to do business.

Hmm, he's really career-minded, unlike his own father... Oh, it seems Kogoro Mouri is here on business this time too.

While Ran Mouri was lost in thought, Kogoro Mouri curled his lip at Sano's answer: "Tch, he's still just a greenhorn."

"Na na na".

Conan reached out and tugged at Sano's sleeve: "So, Sano-nii, what brings you here? Do you have a request?"

Entrustment?

...Oh, Sano has almost forgotten that he also has a part-time job as a detective. No, it's not that he's forgotten the job, but rather that he's been slacking off too much and has forgotten that detectives also need to take on cases.

Of course, Sano can't be entirely blamed for this, since Amuro Tooru's agency didn't even have a client.

There's nowhere to put my efforts into it.

Sano looked down at Conan and asked, "Then what are you here for?"

That's right.

After regaining her senses, Ran Mouri took the initiative to explain the situation.

It turns out that the Mori family came here not for anything else, but for Miyano Akemi's request—which she had made in front of them under the alias Hirota Masami.

In Akemi Miyano's description of her father, Kenzo Hirota, it is mentioned that this uncle kept four cats named "Kai," "Tei," "Gou," and "Ou."

Then Conan accidentally discovered a news report on TV about a horse race called "Gokai Teiō" and realized that the so-called Hirota Kenzo was likely a horse racing enthusiast.

So the plague god came here with two henchmen.

Sano listened to the conversation briefly, wondering whether this incident would be related to Miyano Akemi, or if a lucky passerby would be randomly selected as an interlude.

"Look, that horse is the magnificent Emperor."

Kogoro Mori pointed excitedly at a black horse on the field, muttering, "That's a living legend, the undefeated and indomitable emperor who broke his leg four times but could still keep playing!"

Ok?

Upon hearing this, Sano's brows furrowed slightly involuntarily.

This setting sounds familiar... Isn't this the Emperor of the East Sea??