Chapter 207 A Gachapon

"Kudo-kun, thank you for your help this time."

Inspector Megure smiled kindly and gently patted the boy in front of him on the back.

Not long ago, a murder occurred in the Beika Aquarium, but fortunately, the murder was solved by the famous detective Kudo Shinichi who happened to be there. The Metropolitan Police Department has been quite busy recently, and it is no wonder that Inspector Megure is very happy that Kudo Shinichi has helped to reduce their workload.

"Ah, I'm a detective after all." The black-haired, blue-eyed boy pointed at himself and smiled. Suddenly, he seemed to remember something and waved his hand to run away. "By the way, I have something else to do, so I'll leave first. If there's anything else, please let Officer Megure message me directly on Line!"

As soon as Inspector Megure stretched out his hand and said nothing, the young detective ran away.

"He's really full of energy." The curly-haired police officer next to him was leaning against the glass wall, typing on his phone with one hand. Seeing this, he lazily joked, "He must be buying a gift for his childhood sweetheart."

"Huh?"

"Because Hagi has been telling me about this recently, I remembered it... The sea cucumber man pendant at the Beihua Aquarium is very popular among girls." Matsuda Jinpei yawned and said casually, "Come to think of it, this is the third time I've seen him solve a case in a place suitable for a date. Does the detective have any luck in choosing a date location?"

Inspector Megure agrees: "Well, because Kudo-kun is a detective, he rushes to the front when encountering a case... That's why we always run into him. However, he does run into too many cases."

"You can remove some of it."

Matsuda Jinpei turned off the screen of his phone and said in a subtle tone, adjusting his sunglasses: "I was transferred to the Investigation Division to help out only three times, and I ran into him every time..."

Officer Megure's mouth twitched: "No, you should reflect on why you were transferred here three times, Captain Matsuda of the Explosion Squad."

Matsuda Jinpei, who was repeatedly dragged to the Investigation Division by his superiors for his explosive temper, remained calm and decisively chose to shift his gaze: "Ah, I also want to bring that pendant for Hagi, so I won't go back with you guys--"

Meanwhile, Detective Kudo, who had no idea that he had been pitied by the familiar police officers, got lost in the aquarium.

It was unbelievable, how could he get lost? Kudo Shinichi himself was shocked.

He originally just wanted to buy the Sea Cucumber Man, and he clearly remembered that the escalator in front should lead to that floor, but no matter how he turned around here, he couldn't find the souvenir shop, instead...

What was supposed to be a store has now become a game city with dazzling lights, and there is no one in the game city.

It was strange, very strange, and the detective was completely unable to resist it.

After a little mental preparation, Kudo Shinichi went in excitedly but cautiously. The moment he passed through the gate of the game city, it was as if he had passed through a layer of water film... It was a very strange feeling, just as strange as this game city that he was sure did not exist originally.

After checking around with a frown on his face, he was frustrated to find that all the facilities here were functioning normally, except for the absence of service staff and tourists. It was completely different from what he had originally imagined as "just an empty shell", and it seemed like it could be opened for business in the next second.

The detective stood in the center of the game city with his chin in his hand, lost in thought.

At this moment, Kudo Shinichi accidentally caught a glimpse of the poster on the wall, and the content on it made him inexplicably concerned.

[500 yen per Brother Gachapon Machine ~ Come and bring your favorite Gachapon Brother home! 】

…

What is this, a gashapon doll? He actually calls the doll "brother"... He is obviously a young man, why can't he understand this operation?

What caught Kudo Shinichi's attention was a half-face photo on the poster. The black-haired man in the photo had his eyes tightly closed, and half of his face was immersed in the darkness and could not be seen clearly. What was certain was that the half of the face that was exposed was very delicate, like a drawn anime character.

The poster even specifically states [The chance of getting an S-rank Gachapon brother is extremely low!]... This game city can't possibly be engaged in human trafficking, right? The 500 yen might just be a code or something.

Kudo Shinichi's curiosity was completely aroused by the so-called brother's gashapon machine. He looked around, trying to find the location of the gashapon machine, but he soon found that he was doing useless work because the gashapon machine was placed on the most conspicuous central stage in the game hall.

He hadn’t noticed it before because the stage was a bit high, and he couldn’t see the whole picture of what was on it without going up there.

After just a moment's hesitation and another look at the poster, Kudo Shinichi immediately turned his hesitation into excitement and carefully climbed onto the high stage.

The gashapon machine in the middle of the stage was quietly waiting for him. Through the clean glass on all sides, Kudo Shinichi could clearly see the gashapon toys neatly arranged inside. The outer shell of each one was different in color, but they all had a frosted texture, making it impossible to see what was inside the gashapon.

Perhaps this was the time and place for human trafficking transactions—the detective thought so, and then without hesitation, he followed the instructions on the side of the capsule machine, took out a 500 yen coin and put it in.

Click.

He pressed the handle.

Clack, clack.

A capsule toy fell out of the shipping port.

Kudo Shinichi rubbed the goose bumps that appeared inexplicably on his arms, bent down and took out his newly twisted capsule toy... It was a rare light red color, and it looked pretty good.

He made a brief comment in his mind, then tried to open the capsule, examining it carefully as he did so.

This is what it says on the capsule shell.

The detective who failed to remove the capsule ruffled his hair and resigned himself to the fact that he was probably "cheated out of 500 yen by a strange capsule machine."

In fact, it is possible that this capsule toy is made of special material and will crack after being soaked for 24 hours?

While Kudo Shinichi was still thinking seriously, his cell phone rang. As soon as he picked it up, he heard his childhood sweetheart's angry voice: "Shinichi! Where have you been again!"

"Sorry, sorry, I'll be out right now. You're at the door now, right?" Kudo Shinichi put the capsule into his pocket and walked out of the game city while talking to Ome. "Wait a moment, I--"

He was just about to take a few photos of the game city and then asked a policeman he knew to check it out. But when he turned around, he found that... the game city was gone.

Kudo Shin suddenly retracted his hand in his pocket and touched the cold capsule toy.

—

After returning home that night, Kudo Shinichi was still thinking about the incident at the game city. He was distracted all the way because of this. If it weren't for the accidental drop of Mouri Ran's phone that woke him up a little, his distracted state would probably have continued until he bumped into a telephone pole.

What was going on in that game city? Magic? Projection? Impossible. He had checked it when he entered, and it was all operational.

After leaving, Kudo Shinichi went to the surveillance room of the aquarium and found an excuse to ask them to let him check the surveillance video. However, he found that he disappeared from the screen before he went up to that floor. It was almost twenty minutes later that he reappeared at the door of the souvenir shop, which was where he came out of the game city.

It was as if the part where he entered the game city was just an illusion... However, the capsule toy still safely in his pocket proved that those were real things that happened.

Kudo Shinichi sighed, scooped up a handful of water and splashed it on his face to wake himself up.

Forget it, let’s just soak it and see.

Thinking of this, before leaving the bathroom after taking a shower, he half-doubtedly placed the aqua-red capsule toy into the bathtub full of water, watching it float up and down in the water, and finally slowly falling to the bottom of the bathtub.

I seemed to hear a click, like the sound when the capsule fell out of the machine before, but it must be an auditory hallucination.

The black-haired boy turned and left the bathroom, yawning and walking towards the bedroom.

He has to get up early tomorrow to accompany Lan to the tropical park, so it would be better for him to go to bed early tonight. Anyway, if what is written above is true, then he will know what Gachapon Brother is tomorrow.

...We will know tomorrow.

When this thought came to him, Kudo Shinichi had no idea that he would happen to have an accident in a tropical park!

He was just following a shady deal, but he didn't expect the deal to be bigger than he imagined. Not only did he fail to record any evidence, he also got himself involved.

Of course, he didn't die.

On the street in the heavy rain, Kudo Shinichi, hiding under the eaves, looked down at his young hands and fell into deep thought.

So the function of that drug is to make people rejuvenate? It obviously sounds like poison.

The detective ruffled his hair in annoyance. "Damn it... Now I can only go home or discuss with the doctor what to do..."

The impact of being shrunk was so great that Kudo Shinichi completely forgot about the gashapon and had no intention of thinking about it anymore. For him now, it was more important to deal with his own situation.

After making the decision with this in mind, the little boy who was forced to rejuvenate gritted his teeth and rushed all the way back to Beika-cho 2-chome in the heavy rain, and then he discovered something that made him break down again tonight.

At the main entrance of the Kudo residence, a little boy with black hair and blue eyes was standing on tiptoe trying to reach the lock of the carved iron gate, but he failed again. He couldn't even reach it when he jumped up!

The high school student, who was at least 1.70 meters tall, stepped out in anger and childishly kicked his own door: "Damn it!"

However, he forgot that he was still a little kid. Not only did this kick fail to shake the door at all, the reaction force pushed him backwards and he was about to fall on his head to the ground.

A pair of hands caught him.

Kudo Shinichi opened his eyes in confusion and met the gaze of the person standing behind him. The boy with a pair of red eyes... a young man? He propped him up on the creaky bed and observed him for a long time. Finally, he made some very confusing remarks to Kudo Shinichi.

"…What the hell, is the new owner a kid who can't even hit my knees when he jumps up?"

Kudo Shinichi became even angrier.

"You can still hit him if you jump!... No, who are you?!"

The other person blinked, skillfully held him in one hand, and pushed open the door of his house with the other hand.

"Oh." The familiar-looking stranger answered confidently, "I'm your brother, Shinichi-kun."