Chapter 64: The Cointreau Arc, Beginning

'Yeah... I moved to Osaka after I got married, but I still come to visit my parents on weekends. I haven't been back since my parents passed away... It's been thirteen years now. '

I was only four years old thirteen years ago, and my memory is a bit fuzzy, but even so I can vaguely remember that Beika-cho hasn't changed at all in the past ten years!

Damn! Why didn't I think of that just now.

And that guy is not from Osaka at all. There is no trace of an Osaka person in his actions and words. How can he live in a city for more than ten years without leaving any traces!

Edogawa Conan ran out in a sweat, because he was just here to buy books today, and he didn't bring a skateboard. No matter how fast the boy ran, he would be restricted by his short legs. He ran out a minute or two earlier than Tsukiyama Asari, and was caught up by the man behind him in less than thirty seconds.

"Conan, I'll go find him, you go back to the bookstore first!"

The baseball jacket that had keys and snacks in the pocket became a burden at this moment. The black-haired man ran two steps and then left the jacket and the restrained clothes at the door of the bookstore with a light "tsk". He was only wearing a thin white hoodie, holding his mobile phone tightly in his hand, and pressing the voice button while running. I don't know who he was sending a message to.

"About two hours! An old man, a light red shawl scarf, a gray-brown skirt and..."

Edogawa Conan was about to refute Tsukiyama Asari's order to go back, but he saw that the other party was delivering the case information, so he could only swallow the "no" that almost came out of his mouth back into his throat, and followed closely to express his determination to participate in this case.

As if he knew what kind of little detective the other party was, Tsukiyama Asari simply picked up Edogawa Conan, who was one or two meters behind him, and held him in his arms, and continued to move forward, his hands and mouth moving non-stop, "Are there any surveillance cameras on these roads? He should be hidden somewhere. The purpose of the kidnappers is to make a profit, and they should not hurt... for the time being."

The man suddenly lost his confidence halfway through the last sentence. He turned abruptly, and his thin eyebrows locked together tightly, squeezing out a heart-wrenching arc, "No, don't be so optimistic."

"Let's go to that store first--" The boy held in Tsukiyama Asari's arms did not resist, but only lowered his head and frowned, using his newly upgraded glasses to observe the suspicious people around him. Human life is the first priority. He temporarily put aside the question of "what if Asari finds out that I'm abnormal" and devoted himself to rescuing the girl.

The two of them were panting when they pushed the door open. The owner of the Japanese confectionery shop was a middle-aged woman in her thirties or forties, who was eating a box lunch in front of an old desktop computer in front of the counter. The sound system came with screams with electronic music, which seemed to be a family tragedy from a long time ago.

"Welcome..."

The female boss put down the half-eaten meal in her hand, her eyes still glued to the TV screen, and seemed not ready to pay attention to the guests who disturbed her lunch. Then, her casual welcome was interrupted by the man who rushed to the counter panting.

"Auntie!"

Before the man opened his mouth, Edogawa Conan, who was held in his arms, shouted first, "Do you know where the old man who came before went?!"

"Ah? What old man..." Shocked by the nervous expressions of the two, the female boss even forgot to ask about the cause and effect, and subconsciously recalled it carefully.

The shop is remote and a traditional shop that only sells Japanese confectionery. Nowadays, in order to attract customers, most of those snack shops will decorate the shop beautifully, or work hard on the shape, making cute little animals or flowers and fruits, and make the fillings with the flavors that young people like now.

But here, almost all the boxes are wrapped in ordinary kraft paper with the three words "Japanese confectionery" written on them. When they are opened for display, they are all ordinary red bean filling prototype cakes. The shop is not beautiful either. It is estimated that there are few customers in the morning. The female boss quickly recalled the old lady mentioned by the two people.

"Are you talking about the one wearing a red cape and a yellow top?" The woman's eyes unconsciously looked to the upper left, "She walked around the store a few times and then left in a hurry. I was watching a TV show at the time and didn't notice which direction she went."

"Is that all?!"

No matter how much the two asked, the female boss could only think of this. Tsukiyama Asari and Edogawa Conan had to give up this direction and explore the surroundings.

"Thank you--"

The boy and the man's overlapping thanks disappeared outside the door. Tsukiyama Asari once again picked up the boy and prepared to look for clues in the more remote places around.

At this time, the bell rang.

"Tsukiyama..." The voice of Inspector Megure came over the moment he answered the phone, with a serious tone, "Regarding this missing child case, the missing girl's father said..."

"That old lady is most likely a habitual offender!" After quickly recounting his experience in the morning, he panted slightly because of the non-stop running, but his speech was not slow at all, "... I guess she did it again after we left. I checked that store, but the owner didn't have any impression. There is no surveillance in this area, and there are many alleys. If we have enough manpower, we can search one by one. Taking such a big child away by force will not leave no clues, unless... No, it is very likely a gang!"

Confused by the opponent's continuous bombardment, Officer Megure responded hesitantly, turned around and ordered the detectives of the Investigation Section 1 who were not on a mission to quickly split into several pairs and go to various corners to search for clues, "Keep in touch at all times."

"Hmm!"

Tsukiyama hung up the phone and opened the forum before rushing to the next place, trying to find some clues from it.

[I was so shocked when I took off my clothes... Why are there so many things in my pockets, is it the Doraemon treasure bag of the male mother? Hehe...]

[I laughed so hard, Conan's short legs]

[Hehe, I was sweating profusely in a hurry, it was really embarrassing... This speech directly confused Inspector Megure, who is the police officer? ]

[Hehe Inspector Tsukiyama... Which lady should I draw...]

Why are you talking about this when it's a matter of life and death? !

Tsukiyama Asari felt as if a breath was stuck in his throat, and he flipped through the updated comics and took a quick look. There was nothing particularly outstanding, mostly Edogawa Conan analyzing the cases in his mind, and his thoughts were similar to his own.

The usually gentle man wanted to rush to the forum and shout, "Give me some analysis posts, don't just focus on the pornographic content." This idea, which was obviously impossible to achieve, just popped up and was thrown behind the man's mind. He held Conan's hand tightly and sped up his movements again.

"Brother Asari?" The young detective was frightened by the sudden increase in speed, and hugged the man's shoulders and neck, "You--"

He really doubted whether the other party had the physical strength to keep running at this speed. After all, the words associated with Tsukiyama Asari had nothing to do with sports, and the sense of security that person brought was not reflected in physical strength.

"Do you have a misunderstanding of me, little detective?"

The man could still laugh and joke while running wildly with a first-grader in his arms. It didn't look like he was forcing himself. Edogawa Conan withdrew his gaze with a little relief, but in his heart he still had the label of the other party as a physical loser. After

checking two alleys in a row without finding any clues, the two people's hearts became heavier, until they entered the next alley, Tsukiyama Asari saw...

[This alley is in close-up!! It's so dark in there! ]

[Is there a rule that you always have to find the right answer the third time? ]

The man with a look of "spoiler" on his face quickly ran into the alley, and the little boy jumped out of his arms.

The alley was shabby, with a thin layer of dust covering the corners of the wall. There were also several food packaging bags, which seemed to have been thrown on the ground and blown by the wind.

Among the dusty photos, there was a transparent candy wrapper that was obviously newly discarded and hidden behind a popsicle bag. The orange-yellow candy inside rolled to the side and was covered in dust.

Tsukiyama Asari wanted to pick up the candy wrapper, but was afraid that touching it directly would destroy the fingerprint evidence. He took out a clean handkerchief from the front pocket of his hoodie, picked up the shiny, glass-like transparent plastic paper, and handed it to the little detective.

"Is it the same?"

"Hmm..." Edogawa Conan took out the candy he had kept in his pocket, compared it carefully, and replied in a heavy voice.

Is it just candy?

Tsukiyama Asari carefully checked the area, but still found no clues. Because they were afraid of damaging the traces left on the dust, they both carefully stood on the clean ground outside the dust.

Then, he saw a very shallow mark on the edge of the dust, a long strip, with...

"Ouch——"

Tsukiyama Asari was frightened by the scream and subconsciously took a defensive posture. He looked up and saw that the detective who was about to walk towards him stepped on something and fell hard. He sat on the dirty ground and was rubbing his palm that had just been propped up on the ground, making a slight inhalation sound.

"Are you okay? Is your hand..."

The two people cast their eyes on the hand at the same time and were stunned at the same time.

The dust was slightly rubbed away by Conan Edogawa's hand, revealing the dark marks inside. The young detective quickly ignored the pain of the fall and reached out to wipe away the layer of dust that was thicker than other places...

blood words.

The dried blood stains, with trembling outlines, were smeared on the rough ground and then covered by dust. After the criminal saw the handwriting written by the girl on the ground, he wiped it off with dust, but he didn't expect that the child's delicate skin was worn by the rough road surface, and the blood made a cry for help under the dust that would not be buried.

The author has something to say:

Tsukiyama Asari:...Is this the protagonist? He can find clues by falling down. Why don't I have this treatment? !