Chapter 127 Twenty-One Cats

When the explosion happened, Akae Nazuki and Fūya were chatting happily on the terrace. Both of them were not interested in the painting and Kid. Only Fūya showed a subtle expression when the monster Kid appeared.

This expression was too familiar to Akae Nazuki. It meant that at that moment, Furuya had the urge to handcuff and lock up the monster thief Kid. This was how this guy looked at him when he was in the organization. However, Akae Nazuki knew at that time that Furuya Zero would not attack him... Kid did not receive such treatment.

He then lit the wax for the fast-fighting kid with a happy look on his face.

What is coming will come. At least being arrested by the police as a dangerous person is more impressive than being caught as a thief. The first generation of thief Kidd has an international criminal police chasing him, so the next generation can't fall behind, right? After all, Kaito-kun also called him teacher!

"Do you care about Kidd?" the store manager asked curiously.

Fūya kept smiling, but his tone and words became sharper: "Not really, but I'm curious about when the police can catch that pretentious thief."

Emotionally, Furuya knew that the store manager had little knowledge of the existence of the Phantom Thief Kid, and he wanted to shake the store manager's shoulders and explain to him how many Japanese laws Kid had violated, and then tie up the thief and bring him to justice.

Intellectually, Furuya is playing the fake character of 'Toru Amuro' in front of the store manager. Vermouth is still here, and he doesn't intend to relax too much in front of the store manager, or else he will be caught and ruined.

"Is that so?" The store manager nodded thoughtfully, as if he didn't notice that Jyoutani was grinding his back teeth as he spoke, or that he didn't seem to care about these things. He looked a little indifferent as he leaned against the balcony railing with his head down.

Soon he raised his head and spoke softly with a smile, as if his indifference just now was just an illusion: "This is the first time I've come into contact with these things. The world outside is really interesting."

Jōgō was stunned, remembering what the store manager had mentioned to them on the first floor.

Yes, the store manager's memory started more than two months ago. This world is strange to him. Perhaps that is why the store manager took Hagiwara Matsuda and Morobushi home without any discrimination. It is always easier to get along with the cats he raised than to actively accept the strange world outside.

...something is wrong.

As he was thinking, Fūya suddenly realized something.

The store manager's attitude towards him was too natural, so he didn't react at all. Now he began to feel strange... Is the store manager the kind of person who would tell such a thing to a guy he just met for the first time?

It was the same before. Hagiwara and the others stayed in the store for two months, and the manager never even revealed his name. However, he confessed his amnesia to Conan, whom he had only met twice. Now he nonchalantly revealed this information to a stranger, "Amuro Toru".

Does this mean that the store manager has recognized him? No, even if an ordinary person thinks that a stranger looks like their cat, they would not think that the stranger is a transformed cat.

Although he had considered this possibility before coming here, he became a little nervous after it actually happened.

I hope this is just his illusion, Furuya thought.

It's not that he was worrying unnecessarily, but undercover agents must think quickly and consider all possibilities to ensure that nothing goes wrong - their work cannot withstand failure, so even if it turns out that they were overthinking, it is better than what they thought actually happened.

Kougu is not worried about the store manager discovering his identity. He is more worried that the other party will be dragged into the organization's affairs. After all, the store manager is just an ordinary person.

"It sounds like you're more interested in Kidd?" The undercover police officer calmly directed the conversation back to the previous one, pretending that he didn't hear anything wrong with what the store manager said.

At the same time, he was also curious in his heart. The store manager didn't show any special expression after hearing Conan complain about Kid that day, so why did his attitude seem special today?

The store manager's next words made Fūya wish he hadn't heard anything.

"Sorry." The blond young man smiled stiffly, "What did you say?"

The store manager patiently repeated, "I asked him if he wanted to go home with me."

"Why, why do you ask that?" The corner of Furuya's mouth twitched, still trying hard to maintain the character of 'Toru Amuro'.

"Because it's beautiful." The store manager confidently repeated what he had said to Shirley before, "My store is in need of a beautiful little bird."

He said it, he really said it!

"I think it might not be convenient to keep a bird in a cat cafe?" Fūya tried to deliberately misinterpret the store manager's words. "Although some newspapers have described him as a big white bird, Kidd is still a person..."

"Big? I don't think so." The store manager sighed, "Didn't he fly out just now? It seems that Mr. Suzuki didn't close the window of the exhibition hall properly."

Fly out.

When Fūya thought of the group of white pigeons, he suddenly realized that Kid was actually hiding among them. He didn't expect that the thief was also of the same kind as them.

He turned his head and covered his face: The manager's words clearly show that he knows Kidd can turn into a bird. Even Kidd, whom he met for the first time, was stripped of his identity, so what about him?

All in all, as long as the store manager doesn't say it directly, Jiang Gu feels that he can still fight back.

A few minutes ago, he was thinking a lot, thinking that the store manager took the cat home to comfort his soul. As a result, the store manager really kidnapped them just because he liked them. Now he wants to kidnap a bird! Store manager, kidnapping everything home will only make them angry!

Wait, could Kidd be the one the store manager secretly raised outside?

Akae Nayue looked at Fūya who was lost in serious thought with a smile, as if all this had nothing to do with herself, the culprit. He even hummed a song leisurely in his head.

Relax, relax, he is here on vacation, of course he should have fun!

He guessed that Fūya's and Vermouth's mission was related to himself, but Fūya seemed to be completely unaware of it, which meant that Vermouth had not told Fūya yet. So the manager's ordinary personality could be maintained in front of Fūya for a while.

As if to help him prolong the time he spent playing with his friend, just as he had gathered his thoughts and was about to say something seriously to the store manager, they both heard a muffled and loud explosion, and the floor beneath their feet shook.

It's a bomb! They all obviously thought of this, and they all became serious and turned around and rushed back to the banquet hall.

—

After returning to the Metropolitan Police Department, Hagiwara and Matsuda spent only a little time explaining their whereabouts to their superiors, and then immediately followed the team to the location of the criminal known to the police.

No one could be sure how many bombs the criminal had in his hands, so it was the wisest choice to bring along two skilled bomb disposal officers who had close contact with the criminals. Therefore, the two followed without any resistance.

This was one of the reasons why they came back.

Two months ago, the criminal placed bombs in many busy areas such as Shinjuku, Ikebukuro, and Asakusa. Fortunately, they were all successfully dismantled in the end, but Hagiwara almost stayed in the building forever because the bombs exploded prematurely.

If he and Matsuda had not transformed into their original forms and escaped through the vent after everyone left, they would have merged with the wall dust.

In a sense, it was because of this incident that they were kidnapped by the store manager, so...

"Of course I have to go and thank that person in person." Jinpei Matsuda rubbed his hands together, smiling as slyly as a gangster.

Hagiwara next to him adjusted his explosion-proof suit and said soothingly: "Okay, Xiao Zhenping, just catch him first. There will be other opportunities later. After we are done, will you accompany me to pick out some gifts for the store manager?"

The two of them then started a serious conversation about the topic of "What gift would be best to give as an atonement?", instantly forgetting about the criminal. The other people in the carriage broke out in cold sweat and dared not complain.

That's not soothing at all, you are clearly provoking me, Hagiwara-senpai! !

This cannot be blamed on Hagiwara. He had originally planned to sneak out today and go back to the Metropolitan Police Department with his childhood friend to catch a criminal, then take two days off and go back to directly use the dolls to fight the store manager.

Unlike the cautious Fūya, Hagiwara and the others had already anticipated that the store manager might know everything, but he just didn't show any interest so he didn't say anything.

They couldn't work there in their original form forever, so they all preferred to get to know the store manager in human form.

However, the police still came back empty-handed at their destination. The criminal was no longer there, and there was only a room of evidence that had not been collected yet - the criminal must have heard something from somewhere and escaped before they arrived.

"Damn it." Matsuda stood in the middle of the room with a gloomy face, in front of him was a bomb that had just been dismantled. He quickly lowered his head and asked his friend on the other side of the intercom, "Hagi, how many did you find there?"

Although the criminals escaped in a hurry, they also left a "little surprise" for the police. These bombs were not difficult to defuse, but three of them were scattered throughout the apartment building, and it took much longer to find them than to defuse them.

"Two." Hagiwara breathed a sigh of relief, his voice muffled by the explosion-proof suit. "That should be it... Did you have any accidents?"

Hagiwara noticed that Matsuda's tone was wrong.

"The number is wrong." Matsuda picked up the blueprint in front of him, looking gloomy. "The amount stolen from the gunpowder depot doesn't match the number of bombs he made that we have found so far."

In other words, the escaped prisoner had planted bombs somewhere else!

Matsuda stood up, walked to the photo wall in the prisoner's room, and placed his palm on the landmark name circled in red pen on the map.

That is a newly opened hotel under the name of Suzuki Foundation.

Matsuda and Hagiwara both remembered clearly that before the store manager left in the morning, he had told them that the banquet they were going to attend would be held in this hotel!

…

"So the criminal's idea is very simple. Not all the guests at the banquet are rich or noble, but one third of them are celebrities. By using these guests as hostages, the hidden criminal can successfully escape the police's pursuit again."

Furuya lowered his voice and spoke to the store manager.

"I've never been a hostage before." The store manager's tone was inexplicably excited.

Furuya Fu'e: "There's no need to experience this, Mr. Manager."

He had just received a call from Hiro, and learned that the ambushers lurking near the hotel had met Hagiwara who had hurried over. They therefore learned that Furuya was in the banquet hall at the moment, so they simply sent the drawings they found to Furuya, and asked this magical public security friend to stabilize the situation for the time being.

When Furuya told these things to the store manager, he used the excuse that "I'm a private detective so it's normal for me to have informants." The store manager didn't know whether he believed it or not, but he didn't expose him anyway.

Well, the explosion not long ago destroyed the power plant room and the basement lobby of the building. The police need to clean up the collapsed area before they can enter the building smoothly. Hagiwara and Matsuda can only try this method.

"But the criminal is actually here too..." Furiya frowned, "Why did he escape here?"

Since we already have hostages, and the bomb can be detonated remotely, why take such a big risk to hide in the most dangerous place at the moment? Wouldn't it be better for the criminal to escape while the police are being held?

"Either he's confident that he won't be caught by the police, so he wants to get up close and see how the hostages are immersed in the fear he has brought upon them," the store manager said calmly, turning his head to look at Furuya. "Or, he has a reason to stay."

For example, identity.

The security of hotels owned by the Suzuki Foundation is extremely strict for various reasons. Especially with Kidd's intervention today, the police sent so many people to keep an eye on Kid. How did the criminal sneak into the hotel's power plant room and install the bomb under such circumstances?

"The criminal is a hotel employee!" Fūya blurted out.