Chapter 20 Hidden Attributes
When Shinichi got home that evening, he immediately saw a car parked in front of the professor's house.
The car model is exactly the same as the one Officer Hagiwara had before, both are black Mazdas, only the license plate number is different.
"Could it be Officer Matsuda's car?"
This conjecture suddenly cheered Shinichi up, and he quickly ran to the professor's house.
As soon as I opened the door, it was him!
"Officer Matsuda, what brings you here?"
Shinichi ran over excitedly, only to find the other person repairing something.
The object looked familiar, and after a moment's thought, Shinichi remembered it:
This is an alarm clock box.
Every hour on the hour, the top of the box opens, and a frisbee is thrown out. Then, a golden puppy barks and pops out to catch the frisbee before returning to the box.
This cycle repeats 24 times a day.
Shinichi can't remember when or why the Doctor made this useless little gadget, nor can he remember when or why it broke down.
Now, Matsuda has unearthed this long-dusted alarm clock box and is diligently repairing it.
"Why is Officer Matsuda interested in this?" Shinichi asked curiously, leaning over the table.
"Ha! This thing is pretty interesting, isn't it?"
Shinichi laughed awkwardly, realizing that sometimes his aesthetic sense was not on the same wavelength as the other person's.
"Does Officer Matsuda like dogs?" Shinichi asked, pointing to the ugly-cute little creature.
“No, I hate dogs,” Matsuda replied decisively.
As expected, he heard a "tch—" in his earphones.
Matsuda frowned and casually turned down the volume of his headphones.
"What is Officer Matsuda listening to?" the curious little detective asked again.
"A football match." Matsuda, focused on repairing his things, answered concisely and succinctly.
Shinichi, a football fan, tilted his head and asked, "But there's no match today?"
"It was yesterday; I was on duty and didn't have time to check it."
"I see! I didn't know Officer Matsuda liked soccer too! I love playing soccer too."
Shinichi was happy to have found another shared hobby with the other person. But Matsuda poured cold water on his enthusiasm: "I just look at it occasionally, I don't play it."
"Oh..." Shinichi was a little disappointed.
"I'll come watch your match when I have time," Matsuda added, offering words of comfort.
"Great!" The boy's smile brightened again. "Hey, by the way, why didn't Officer Hagiwara come along?"
"Hagi went to see his sister."
"Actually, they're staying at home and don't want to come."
As for why Hagi refused to come, Matsuda, as her childhood friend, could understand quite well:
If Hagi comes today, she'll have to deliver almost 90% of the lines. Matsuda will just have to fix things and provide some mumbled responses.
"Kudo, I made some sweets for the professor, you can try some too." Matsuda began reciting his lines, the script of which was naturally written by the "football commentator".
"Huh? What is this?" Shinichi exclaimed in surprise as he leaned closer to take a look. "Officer Matsuda can even make hawthorn cake!"
Shinichi couldn't help but smile as he imagined the two police officers making snacks in that secret base.
Matsuda nodded slightly and said, "Try it, Doctor. I think it tastes good."
Of course, Matsuda wouldn't tell the other party that the snack was sent by the screenwriter; how could he possibly make hawthorn cake?
Whether the screenwriter wrote it himself remains to be seen.
Because in Matsuda's memory, that blond bastard always ate the most, but never cooked.
The chef is someone else, and presumably this time as well.
Wow! It's so delicious!
Xin Zhiyi took a small bite and his taste buds were completely won over.
He had a poor appetite for the past few days, but today he unexpectedly had an appetite.
"Just eat a few pieces, save them for later. We still need to eat dinner later! The professor is cooking in the kitchen."
"Huh? I'm not very hungry, and I ate snacks at school."
“How can you just eat snacks? The professor told me you haven’t been eating much lately. You need to eat properly, understand?” Matsuda said sternly, his face hardening.
Shinichi swallowed his snack, inwardly cursing the professor for being so talkative. He thought that perhaps Inspector Matsuda had come by a couple of days ago and heard about this, which was why he brought hawthorn cake this time.
Being cared for by someone who seemed a bit indifferent made Shinichi feel a bit better, and his mind and body, which had been tormented by the case for days, seemed to relax a lot.
"Officer Matsuda, thank you. I'm really alright!"
"No matter what, you must eat on time!" Matsuda solemnly reiterated the line the screenwriter emphasized, and since he also agreed with it, he spoke even more emphatically, "Especially since you're only 15 years old, you're still growing. You not only need to eat your fill, but you also need to eat nutritious food!"
Shinichi was both amused and exasperated, repeatedly promising that he would eat on time from now on.
Just then, the professor brought the curry to the table: "Dinner's ready!"
Shinichi smelled the aroma and exclaimed, "Doctor, your cooking skills have improved a lot!"
"Haha, I learned this from that popular food blogger, Uncle Meow, and Officer Matsuda recommended it to me!" the professor said proudly. "Although it's my first time trying this method, it seems quite easy to follow!"
"Uncle Meow? Is it Inuya Meow?" Shinichi thought to himself: This food blogger really has a strong presence! It seems that the hawthorn cake he just made was something Officer Matsuda learned to make from him.
Shinichi discreetly moved some of the food away, but Matsuda noticed.
Shinichi explained, "Officer Matsuda, I can't eat that much."
"This is nothing! When I was your age, I could eat double! Eat it all!"
Shinichi retorted defiantly, "Officer Matsuda, you're making things difficult for me!"
But Matsuda adopted a domineering stance: "I'm going to watch you eat today, and you're not leaving until you finish!"
"Officer Matsuda, are you serious?" Shinichi asked in shock.
Through the sunglasses, Shinichi couldn't see the other person's eyes clearly. But he could still decipher the unmistakable meaning:
If you don't eat properly, the other person might use force to shove food into your mouth.
"Okay, okay, I'll eat it all..." Shinichi said helplessly.
The curry wasn't bad, and the hawthorn cake from earlier was quite appetizing, so he initially enjoyed the meal.
But this is only the beginning.
"What's wrong?" Matsuda asked, noticing that Shinichi had slowed down his eating.
"N-nothing..." Shinichi replied absentmindedly.
"You can tell me if there's anything wrong." Matsuda was engrossed in repairing the alarm clock and didn't look up, but this attitude made Shinichi feel more at ease.
"I...I keep thinking I have paranoia..." Shinichi hesitated and said softly, "I always feel like someone's watching me, like I might be the next target of the criminals..."
"What prisoner?" Matsuda asked.
This part was not in the screenwriter's plan, so he had to improvise.
“I don’t know who the culprit is, or even if there is one. At first, I was very confident in my reasoning, but later I didn’t know what I was doing anymore. Everyone thought I was wrong, and the people around me said I’ve been acting strangely lately. But, but I feel that things shouldn’t be like this. How could there be so many coincidences?” Shinichi lowered his head, his voice growing softer and softer until Matsuda could barely hear him.
Matsuda put down the screwdriver, patted the other person on the shoulder, and asked, "Do you still suspect that the fire was arson?"
"Not only that, I also suspect that the subsequent body disposal was done by the same group of people!"
"Dispose of the body?" Matsuda was taken aback.
The football commentator then launched into a rapid explanation, which annoyed Matsuda, so he simply turned the volume down further.
Shinichi suddenly realized that the other person might not know about the case, so he said, "Last Friday, a homeless man's body was found in that building. The police searched for two days but couldn't identify him. In the end, I found a clue."
"Then aren't you very good?" Matsuda praised.
Shinichi sighed and said, "But it was purely coincidental that I was able to confirm the deceased's identity. This Monday after school, I noticed a suspicious man following me. Although I managed to shake him off, he caught up with me again not long after."
"Huh? So you still haven't shaken them off?"
“I don’t know what happened. I originally wanted to handle it by myself, but I was afraid that Officer Ida would worry about me, so I secretly contacted him.”
"I didn't expect the class monitor to be here too."
This surprised Matsuda even more.
Shinichi continued, "While Inspector Date was questioning the man, I secretly slipped into his car and found an internet cafe flyer. So I followed the trail and found out that the internet cafe owner's son said he knew the deceased and that the bell the deceased was wearing originally belonged to his dog."
"So the person who was following you is the criminal?"
"Officer Date found the man suspicious and took him back to the Metropolitan Police Department for questioning. But the next day, they said the man wasn't the criminal, so they released him."
"You think this coincidence is too suspicious, don't you?"
"Moreover, there are many suspicious points in the case itself. According to the forensic examination, the deceased died from wound infection, not murder. Therefore, the police unanimously believe that this is not a criminal case. However, according to the description of the internet cafe owner's son, the deceased often wandered around that area before his death. He had broken his leg in an accident more than a month ago and had not been seen since. But the location where the body was found was far away from the internet cafe. How could a homeless man with a broken leg travel such a long distance to a burning, dangerous building?"
So what's your opinion?
"Someone must have done something to it! They moved the body there. It's even possible that this was an elaborate murder, and the forensic doctor couldn't determine the real cause of death."
"But if the victim was a homeless person, what was the killer's motive?"
“Inspector Date thinks so too. He believes that the homeless man had no grudge against anyone and had no reason to be harmed. But I think that if we connect this case with the fire and the kidnapping case a year ago, it might be a conspiracy with ulterior motives against the Sakai family,” Shinichi said seriously.
"Kidnapping?" Matsuda was even more confused.
"Good grief! You dragged me into this but aren't planning to tell me anything, huh?"
So Shinichi then told Matsuda about last year's kidnapping case in detail.
"Officer Matsuda, do you think my guess is reasonable?" Shinichi asked, looking at the other person expectantly.
"You're linking the fire and the kidnapping just because of that blond man who appeared once driving the white RX-7?" Matsuda couldn't help but think that this was quite a wild idea.
"Not only that, the location where Sakai was kidnapped also coincides with the area where the deceased frequently appeared before his death! I think this is definitely not a mere coincidence."
"But you also said that the man who stalked you is innocent. Maybe it's just a coincidence? But why did that man stalk you in the first place?"
"According to Officer Ida, that man followed me because I looked a lot like his long-lost cousin. But I think he's lying! I could easily shake off most people, but that guy was clearly specially trained. Maybe he's one of that blond man's henchmen, sent to monitor me..."
"So that's why you're scared?"
“I’m not afraid! It’s just that this feeling of being watched and being unable to shake off is too uncomfortable. I’m in the open, and the enemy is in the dark. Although I haven’t seen that person these past two days, I feel like someone is still watching me, maybe it’s the blond man himself. Sometimes I feel like I’ve already made eye contact with him, but I can’t see him…” Shinichi said with a bitter smile, “Officer Matsuda, do you know? I even feel like that blond man is right here right now.”
"Where? Here?"
Matsuda raised his hand, and the golden puppy in the alarm clock box popped out; he was almost done fixing it.
Shinichi was amused by the other person, and that smile made people realize that he was only 15 years old.
"Don't overthink it! Eat, the food's getting cold." Matsuda patted the boy's head to comfort him. "Even if that person really is a criminal, he's just a clown who only dares to hide in the shadows. There's no need to waste your energy on someone like that."
Matsuda is now completely free to improvise and has completely forgotten about the script.
"But if my reasoning is correct, the culprit may very well be planning another crime!"
"Shouldn't this be something the police should be concerned with?"
“I cannot stand idly by; I must find out the truth! The real culprit who killed the kidnapper a year ago is still at large. If we cannot catch him, more people may be harmed.”
Shinichi said firmly, his eyes resolute and bright.
Matsuda smiled wryly, exasperated: "What motivates you to pursue the truth with all your might? If the truth is not what you want, will you still persist?"
"Of course! There's only one truth, and it has nothing to do with what I think. Mysteries always need to be solved, and if I happen to be there, then I should be the one to uncover the truth. That's what a detective does!"
"Even if it's difficult, you have to persevere?" Matsuda gave the other person a deep look.
"I am willing to fight with all my might for the truth, even at the cost of my life!"
"Truly, a newborn calf is not afraid of a tiger!"
Matsuda nodded silently, saying gently but firmly, "I won't let that happen."
"Huh?" Shinichi was taken aback for a moment, then quickly realized, "Is Officer Matsuda going to protect me?"
“Isn’t protecting people’s lives and property their duty?” Matsuda replied without looking up.
"Thank you, Inspector Matsuda. You're the first person in days who's been willing to listen to me properly!" Shinichi grinned, regaining his composure. "I just went over the case again, and I think my reasoning is still on the right track. As long as I can find that blond man, everything will fall into place!"
"I just think your reasoning sounds interesting, but I don't encourage you to do that! Remember to protect yourself and eat on time!" Matsuda gently tapped Shinichi's head with the alarm clock box. "Here you go! It's yours."
"Huh? This is for me?"
"What? You don't like dogs either?"
"No, I like it very much!"
Shinichi accepted the rather useless gift with a wry smile and then saw Matsuda off.
As soon as he stepped outside, Matsuda lit a cigarette and took several deep drags, like a drowning person who had finally climbed ashore.
"Officer Matsuda has a really strong smoking habit."
Shinichi thought to himself silently.
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