Chapter 21: A Band of Unruly Rogues

“He…” Chi Feichi was just thinking about whether to cover for Kaito Kid when he caught a glimpse of Conan’s expression shifting. Before Conan could say anything, Chi Feichi beat him to the punch and exposed Kaito Kid, “He is the Phantom Thief Kid. If you rearrange the katakana in the name Doi Takaki, it spells Phantom Thief Kid.”

Conan, who was about to comment, was left speechless.

Kaito Kid, who had been quietly listening to the deductions with some admiration, was also stunned by this revelation.

Damn it, was it really necessary to sell me out just to break the ice?

At the very least, a little warning would have been appreciated!

However, Kaito Kid’s reflexes were top-notch. While still a bit dazed, he threw a smoke bomb at his feet, swiftly transformed from the round, plump man into the familiar figure clad entirely in white—the Phantom Thief Kid—and adopting a courteous pose said, “I also think Mr. Harui Kazeden is a charming old gentleman, but this gathering isn’t exactly delightful. Now that the matter is settled, I shall take my leave. Farewell, everyone!”

Conan rushed over, but the smoke around Kaito Kid grew thicker instead of dispersing, soon filling the entire living room.

Chi Feichi yawned on the sofa. That guy really wasn’t afraid that the culprit might make a run for it…

However, the only rope bridge down the mountain had been burned, and even if Takahisa Tanaka still had the energy to flee, escaping this snowy mountaintop was impossible.

Unfortunately, Tanaka still wasn’t wanted, so there was no bounty—no financial incentive to catch him.

Having trained late last night and woken early this morning, Chi Feichi was feeling quite sleepy at this late hour…

On the second-floor balcony, Conan caught up with Kaito Kid. “Wait!”

“What is it, little detective?” Kaito Kid stood on the windowsill, his cloak flapping dramatically in the wind, teasing, “Still want to catch me?”

“No, this time I only want to ask you one question,” Conan said seriously. “Do you know who that man is? The one called Chi Feichi…”

Kaito Kid almost thought Conan had seen through his cover with Chi Feichi, but he remained composed. “Isn’t he a member of your detective team? That deduction was quite impressive. I was also going to ask if you know where this guy came from.”

“You don’t know either?” Conan pondered. “Red herrings and straw man arguments are famous logical fallacies. Red herrings distract attention, while straw man twists things into something incorrect. The two are very similar, and many people confuse them. I thought you’d recognize him…”

“Who knows what the straw man refers to,” Kaito Kid replied. “This guy only joined the chat room recently. I’ve only chatted casually with him a couple of times.” He felt relieved that Chi Feichi had been cautious before.

Conan was remarkably perceptive.

Still, the lazy chat handle was Chi Feichi’s own fault—he had to take responsibility for that.

Conan nodded thoughtfully; straw man could have many meanings, not necessarily just a logical fallacy.

Kaito Kid was also curious about Chi Feichi. Aside from knowing he’d been discharged from a psychiatric hospital, he didn’t know much. He asked casually, “Why are you so interested in him? Does he have some secret?”

Conan, mostly convinced they didn’t know each other, replied seriously, “I don’t really know. I just met him today…”

“Is it just because you’re detectives and you hate losing to others? You detectives are really strange…” Kaito Kid lost interest immediately, unfolded his glider wings, and flew away.

“Hey!” Conan stepped forward but could only watch the white figure disappear, leaving behind a parting line:

“When the final bell of the century tolls, we shall meet again!”

“What the…” Conan narrowed his eyes. What did he mean by detectives being strange?

He was a bit unwilling to admit defeat, but he respected that guy’s reasoning skills.

He had considered that Chi Feichi might solve cases quickly because he had spent time in that chat room, holding clues unknown to him and understanding the people there.

But Chi Feichi’s speed in uncovering the modus operandi, his insight that the bathroom connected to the second-floor window, his careful observation of Tanaka’s sudden disappearance, plus his investigative and deductive abilities—

All of these proved that the man’s reasoning skills were formidable.

Although he didn’t seem like a dangerous figure taking action, he was definitely not someone to underestimate!

That organization might not be full of villains; conversely, those less villainous might still be part of it, perhaps even undercover…

—

Unable to contact the outside world, with no sign of Conan leaving and returning midway, and unaware of any danger, Kogoro Mouri drove home and had a good sleep. Only when he came to pick up his daughter did he realize the rope bridge had been burned down.

Fortunately, Kaito Kid had called the police on his way back.

By the time Mouri arrived, Inspector Megure and his team had already flown up by helicopter, preparing to test whether the crime method was feasible.

Conan pouted and begged, “Ran-neechan, can we stay and watch? I’m really curious how Mr. Hamano’s body was moved.”

“Ah?” Ran Mouri hesitated. “But you have a cold. You should go back and rest…”

“I’m fine now, much better!” Conan insisted.

“Let’s all watch together. It’ll feel like a pity to leave now!” Sonoko Suzuki chimed in, leaning close to Ran. “Besides, I think Mr. Chi is pretty great. Maybe even better than your crazy detective at home…”

Ran gave an exasperated smile. Didn’t Sonoko just say they came here to see Mr. Doi Takaki?

“He’s already gone,” Sonoko replied, still buzzing from seeing Kaito Kid. “I never expected he was the Phantom Thief Kid. I got to see my white knight and a handsome genius detective with amazing reasoning skills. This trip was totally worth it!”

Ran could only laugh dryly. Who was the one who looked disappointed seeing Doi Takaki’s plump figure earlier…

“Ah… it’s really hard to choose,” Sonoko murmured, still enchanted, then glanced again at Chi Feichi, suddenly puzzled. “Hmm? I feel like I’ve seen Mr. Chi somewhere before…”

Ran just thought Sonoko was overthinking and wiped the sweat off her forehead.

“Where was it?!” Conan asked sharply.

“Con-Conan?” Ran was startled by his seriousness.

Meanwhile, Inspector Megure, communicating with the chat group, turned his head in confusion.

Chi Feichi also looked over. Seeing Conan’s innocent smile, his intuition told him there was something worth recording. He pulled out his phone, switched on the camera, slipped it back into his pocket with the lens exposed, pointing at Conan.

“Speaking of where, I know!” Conan forced an explanation, then sang a nursery rhyme in a childish voice:

“Red dragonfly in the sunset glow, where are you now? We met in childhood, but on what day? Bringing the little basket mountainward, mulberry leaves green as shade, picking mulberries to fill the basket…”

Sonoko and Ran were utterly bewildered by Conan suddenly singing a nursery rhyme.

They truly could not comprehend a child’s mind!

Chi Feichi, expressionless as ever, twitched at the corner of his mouth. Seeing the famous detective turn into a child made his days quite entertaining…

However…

Listening to a tone-deaf person sing—even a simple nursery rhyme—off-key and accompanied by the cold wind in the snowy field, made the temperature feel even colder.

Inspector Megure shivered, clenched his fist over his mouth, and coughed dryly, “Ahem!”

Ran snapped back to reality and quickly covered Conan’s mouth. “Alright, Conan, don’t distract the police from their work!”

—

Conan’s face fell again, growing more determined never to let Ran find out he was Shinichi Kudo.

And then he noticed…

Chi Feichi had slightly pulled his phone out of his pocket, the camera still pointed at him.

That guy was definitely investigating him!

Though the direction of the investigation seemed a bit off…

Chi Feichi ignored Conan’s thoughts, glanced at his phone to confirm the recording, and slipped it back into his pocket.

“Inspector! We’ve found the rope!” a policeman ran over with a bag.

“Good,” Megure said gravely, looking at Chi Feichi. Having heard about Chi’s case-solving process from others, he could tell his detective skills rivaled Shinichi Kudo’s. “Chi, why don’t you demonstrate Miss Tanaka’s method?”

“This is the step-by-step diagram.” Chi Feichi handed Megure the drawing he had prepared last night.

Megure took it instinctively, lowered his eyes to examine it, sensing something was off.

Usually, Chi Feichi would have taken the rope from the police and started explaining the demonstration. What was the point of just handing over a diagram?

But the diagram was really detailed, showing exactly how to thread the rope and where the crossbow arrows would be shot, all clearly marked.

It reminded him of an instruction manual for assembling furniture…

“Let the officers carry out the demonstration,” Chi added.

Megure thought Chi might feel a bit reserved, and sighed. Detectives with such a reserved personality were rare. Shinichi was usually running around recklessly at crime scenes.

“It’s fine if you want to demonstrate yourself. We just want to confirm the feasibility of the method to close the case…”

“Demonstrations are troublesome. I want to go back now,” Chi said.

Megure looked at Chi’s calm, unapologetic expression and groaned silently.

He had been too naive—detectives really were a bunch of willful people!

No choice. Since Chi refused to demonstrate, Megure couldn’t force him. He assigned an officer to study the diagram and left Chi’s contact info, arranging for him to take the helicopter down the mountain first.

Conan felt anxious inside. He planned to interact more with Chi to see if he could find anything. “Um… Ran-neechan…”

“What is it, Conan?” Ran asked curiously.

Conan pouted and suggested, “I suddenly feel a bit cold. Maybe we should head down the mountain too~”

“You little rascal, you’ve been causing a lot of trouble lately!” Sonoko teased.

Conan: “…”

What could he do? That guy played by no rules, even coming up with step-by-step diagrams…

But since he was in such a hurry to leave, there had to be an important reason!