Chapter 34 This Damn Tenderness
Chapter 34
"Kuro... What are you talking about, Mr. Kurokawa?"
The moment she saw Kurokawa Kaoru, Tanaka Kikue reacted. Her eyes widened, a flicker of panic in them. But otherwise, her expression and tone remained unchanged. "I just saw something in this tree, so I thought I'd come over to take a look."
Noticing others heading their way, Tanaka Kikue took a deep breath and continued, "My eyesight is excellent; I can see clearly even on a cloudy day like this. Just now, on my way here, I saw something strange in the trees and worried it might be related to the Shadow Mage, but then I discovered a crossbow arrow."
Being able to remain calm in such a situation and knowing whether to say something or not, Tanaka Kikue's psychological endurance is still very high.
Unfortunately...she met Kurokawa Kaoru.
"Even if I told you there were your fingerprints on the arrow, you would say you had touched it just now, so it's normal for your fingerprints to be on it, right?"
Giving the other person a half-smile, Kurokawa Kaoru turned around and his gaze fell on Edogawa Conan who was walking towards him: "What should I do? It seems that there really is Ms. Tanaka's fingerprint on the arrow."
"What do you two mean?"
Kurokawa Kaoru's expression made Tanaka Kikue feel instinctively uneasy. Seeing the smile on his face, she clenched her fists and held the arrow tightly in her hand.
"The arrow I found had my fingerprints on it. Isn't that normal?"
Hearing what Tanaka Kikue said, Edogawa Conan blinked and tilted his head to look at her: "Is it true that there are Miss Tanaka's fingerprints on the arrow found in that tree?"
"So what if there is?"
"That's strange..."
Walking slowly to the side of Kurokawa Kaoru, Edogawa Conan tilted his head and thought for a while, then took out from his pocket with hesitation... an arrow?
"When I was searching for clues in the woods with Kurokawa-san, it was too dark and I accidentally tripped. Kurokawa-san asked me to put away my arrows, saying he was worried about others getting tripped."
"Because Kurokawa-nii said it might be the criminal's weapon, I carefully preserved it. Since Miss Tanaka said her fingerprints were on the arrow..."
Seeing the paleness on Tanaka Kikue's face, Edogawa Conan scratched his head, smiled and exchanged glances with Kurokawa Kaoru: "Doesn't this mean that Miss Tanaka had already touched this arrow before I tripped?"
Got cheated!
Kikue Tanaka thought to herself.
At this point, how could she not understand that this had been a scam from the very beginning, designed to make her let down her guard? Looking at the two people in front of her, one big and one small, with the same curves on their lips, Tanaka Kikue lowered her eyes and said in a deep voice, "Even if there are my fingerprints on it, what does it matter?"
"I stayed in the cottage the entire time. Except for the time I took a shower, I stayed with everyone. Everyone present can attest to that."
"Ms. Tanaka is right."
Araki Yoshi said, "And you also saw that beside Mr. Hamano's body, there were no other footprints except Mr. Doi's."
"If you want me to recreate your criminal methods, I can certainly satisfy you."
"Mr. Kurokawa?"
Everyone looked over at once.
"To be honest, I only thought of Ms. Tanaka's criminal methods after Conan reminded me of them."
Kurokawa Kaoru, who was almost driven crazy by the detective game, took a deep breath, suppressed the urge to complain in his heart, and forced himself to smile: "Because I need a helper to help me reconstruct the crime scene... Miyaji, can you help me?"
He comes to help?
Miyaji pointed at himself, and after two seconds of silence, he nodded resignedly: "What do I need to do?"
"Let me think..."
Kurokawa Kaoru's eyes narrowed, and just when everyone thought he was going to continue, Doi Takeki, who was still at the back, suddenly stepped forward and grabbed Tanaka Kikue's hands.
Startled by his action, the others froze for a moment before realizing they were holding a disassembled crossbow. It turned out Kurokawa Kaoru had already guessed that Tanaka Kikue would drop the tools of her crime while everyone was distracted. So, he asked Doi Takeshu to keep a close eye on her and capture her the moment she made a move.
"You don't really think I'm going to waste my time explaining the methods of crime to you?"
Smiling, he took the crossbow from Doi Takeki, also known as Kuroba Kaito, and carefully touched the scratches on the crossbow. Kurokawa Kaoru sighed and handed the crossbow back to the other party: "Such an important thing has become a tool for crime. If the person who gave it to you knew, he would probably be sad, right?"
Kikue Tanaka was stunned.
"It's made of fine agarwood, and you can tell it's been carefully sanded and even waxed. Judging by the wear and tear on the crossbow's exterior, it must have been handled frequently, proving how much it means to you."
Kurokawa Kaoru said this because he remembered the Chiappa Rhinoceros in his father's hand.
My mother told me that it was given to my father by my grandfather when they got married, as a token of their love. When Kurokawa Kaoru became the head of the family, the Chiappa Rhinoceros was passed down to him. He had carefully kept it in every past life, and no one else knew where it was except him.
In this life... I probably won't be able to get it. Kurokawa Kaoru laughed. He had already told his father that, so he thought the Kurokawa family wouldn't let him down, and naturally wouldn't give him such an important Chiappa rhino.
Thinking of this, Kurokawa Kaoru yawned, hiding the emotions in his eyes: "If you care so much about it, why would you use it for something like this?"
“…”
"Because I want to use the crossbow my grandfather gave me to kill these two scumbags who instigated my grandfather and mocked him on the forum after he suffered misfortune."
"Grandpa?"
Kuroda Naoko was stunned. When she came to her senses, she looked at her in disbelief: "Could it be that your grandfather is..."
"That's right."
At this point, there was no need for Tanaka Kikue to defend herself any further. A look of sorrow appeared on her face. "It's normal for you to think that Shadow Master is my grandfather. After all, I occasionally use my pen name to talk to everyone, and of course, I also use my pen name to deceive the boy."
"Cheating Boy" is the pen name that Kikue Tanaka used when attending the party. She admitted that she committed this series of crimes because Nishiyama Mu and Hamano Toshiya mocked her grandfather on the forum after his death, which is why she said nothing can be forgiven.
"If it's possible... Mr. Kurokawa, could you please thank Miss Kobayashi for me?"
Perhaps accepting that she would spend her future in prison, Tanaka Kikue let out a long sigh and turned to look at Kurokawa Kaoru. "At that time, Miss Kobayashi defended my grandfather in front of Mr. Hamano. At the time, I couldn't admit that I was Harui Fuden's granddaughter, so I wasn't able to thank him."
Kurokawa Xun lowered his eyes: "I will help you convey it."
After all, it was a criminal tool. This crossbow was very important to Tanaka Kikue. When the police arrived, they would probably take it away as important evidence. Seeing the sadness on Tanaka Kikue's face, Kurokawa Kaoru was silent for a moment, then took two steps forward and took the crossbow from her hand.
"Ms. Tanaka's criminal tools have been reduced to ashes by fire."
Facing the man's incredulous gaze, Kurokawa Kaoru's expression remained calm, his words clearly heard by the other party: "Death is the most insignificant thing in this world, and the thing least worth grieving about. Harui Fuden, as a magician, has brought countless wonderful performances to the world. The two who mocked him have received the punishment they deserve. All you need to do is live a good life in prison, and when you get out, come to me and get your crossbow back."
"Mr. Kurokawa..."
Staring blankly at Kurokawa Kaoru, Tanaka Kikue knelt on the ground with her mouth covered, trembling and crying.
“…”
The next morning, the police took Tanaka Kikue away. After a night of recuperation, she didn't resist at all when she was taken away, but instead had a look of relief on her face. Before getting into the police car, Tanaka Kikue suddenly turned around and her eyes fell on Kurokawa Kaoru.
"Thank you, Mr. Kurokawa."
Just as Heichuan Xu was about to speak, he saw the smile in the other person's eyes.
"You seem to have something else to tell me."
"Although I am a magic enthusiast, I was more influenced by my grandfather. Compared to those wonderful magic tricks, I am more interested in disguise."
As if she had guessed what the other person was thinking, Tanaka Kikue chuckled softly, pointed to her throat, and then continued, "Thank you for protecting Grandpa. In return, I want to remind you... next time if you need makeup done, remember to find a more professional person."
"Timeline puncher."
Watching Tanaka Kikue being taken into the police car, Kurokawa Kaoru's expression remained silent. After a while, he laughed, and there was a hint of helplessness in his words: "After all, it was my own makeup. It's not easy to achieve this level, okay?"
"It looks like he's been discovered."
Miyaji on the side spoke up.
Not wanting to be recognized by some detective kid, Kuroba Kaito left on a hang glider before daybreak. As for the others, they all returned in the same direction they came from, leaving only Kurokawa Kaoru and Miyaji.
"At that time, I didn't expect you to say that to Ms. Tanaka."
After buying two subway tickets back to Hyogo Prefecture at the ticket machine and handing one to Kurokawa Kaoru, Miyaji let out a long sigh and said with some emotion, "This is the first time I've experienced this. I always feel that... the adult world is much more complicated than I imagined."
"Adults and children are the same; the only difference is their hearts."
As the subway was about to arrive at the station, Kurokawa Kaoru stretched and said softly, but Gong Zhi could just hear it: "If possible, I hope you can not tell Gong You about what happened yesterday."
"Ayou?"
Miyaji was a little surprised: "I don't think he would be scared by such a thing?"
Kurokawa Kaoru rolled his eyes: "It's not a question of being afraid."
Compared to Miyaji, Miya Yu was much more sentimental about this sort of thing. If he knew about Tanaka Kikue's situation, he'd probably start overthinking it all over again. While thinking about this, Kurokawa Kaoru didn't realize that subconsciously, he was already thinking about Miya Yu, and no one before Miya Yu had ever received this kind of treatment.
Thinking about all this mess in his mind, Kurokawa Kaoru let out a long sigh, and the words in his mouth were picked up by the wind and eventually blew away into the distance: "If you must give a specific reason, just consider it as a request from me."
His expression was calm, but when he mentioned Gong You, a smile flashed in his eyes. Not missing Kurokawa Kaoru's expression, Gong Zhi opened his mouth and finally laughed after who knows how long.
TBC.
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