Chapter 368: Suspicious Tooru Amuro

Double Chapter

Jiangxia walked past Vermouth and out of the classroom, tossing out a casual order: "You handle whoever's hiding here. I'll check on Conan."

Vermouth felt the natural way Ouzo issued orders to "Amuro Tooru" and couldn't help but question Bourbon's actual position at the detective agency. Did he seriously take commands like this every day?

She squinted slightly. Ouzo's social standing felt… strange. But since she didn't want to blow her cover just yet—and didn't know how the real Bourbon normally treated his colleagues—she swallowed the thought, slapped on a "this is perfectly normal" expression, and obediently walked toward the podium.

But after just two steps, she heard light footsteps behind her.

She turned, only to find Conan's two classmates following her instead of Jiangxia.

"…?"

Vermouth blinked. Subconsciously, she touched her face. Did the kids prefer "Bourbon's" face that much? Had she somehow out-charmed Ouzo in under five minutes?

…But Jiangxia looked much friendlier. What weird taste these kids had. Hm. Maybe it was the exotic appeal of mixed-race features? Or maybe they just hadn't seen enough foreigners up close before.

Shrugging it off, she turned back and continued toward the podium.

…

Elsewhere, after Conan finished screaming, he stomped his feet in a progressively lighter rhythm, mimicking the sound of someone fleeing down the corridor.

Then he pulled Genta aside, and the two of them crouched nearby, hiding.

A few minutes later, a slightly hunched figure appeared, cloth in hand, carefully wiping along the stair railing—scaring people had its price. The fake blood he'd used was drying fast, and it would be a nightmare to clean later.

Once he scrubbed off the last smudge, the dean of students let out a sigh of relief and wiped the sweat from his brow. He was about to resume his late-night wig hunt when he turned and jumped in surprise at the sight of two kids.

"What are you doing here?!"

Conan blinked, his gaze rising to the top of the dean's head. "Your hair…"

In an instant, everything clicked.

The dean's mysterious disappearance, Teacher Ohata's awkwardness when questioned, the figure sneaking through the halls late at night, the so-called ghost who fled from kids—suddenly, it all made sense.

The dean must have lost his wig and snuck into school to search for it under the cover of darkness.

Earlier, when Ayumi rang the dean's doorbell with no reply, it wasn't because he'd been silenced by some killer. He'd just refused to face students while bald. And he lived alone—no family to answer the door.

…Still, if he was that concerned about his bald head, couldn't he just wear a hat?

Conan met the dean's awkward stare and kindly chose not to voice that complaint.

Instead, he shifted gears, asking the thing that most intrigued him: "How did you make that mouth appear on the plaster statue?" Then another thought hit him. "Wait, where are Ayumi and Mitsuhiko?"

"…?" The dean's expression slid from embarrassment to confusion. He didn't seem to understand the first question at all.

But the second one registered. "The kids are missing?!"

Conan watched him closely. The surprise seemed genuine.

He had assumed—after Mitsuhiko vanished mid-chase—that there were at least two suspicious figures in the school building.

Later, after contacting Jiangxia and realizing he might've entered the school too, Conan had thought maybe Ayumi and Mitsuhiko had just run into him instead of actual criminals. Which would've been lucky for them, even if Jiangxia's idea of comfort was… terrifying.

Anyway, Conan had mentally replaced the "mysterious shadow" with the dean + Jiangxia combo.

But now, both of his top concerns—"grinning plaster statue" and "disappeared children"—seemed unrelated to the dean.

Sure, maybe Jiangxia had grabbed the kids. But the creepy mouth on the statue? That was baffling.

According to his earlier deduction, the mouth had to be made of some material that expanded under specific conditions.

Whoever set that up would have needed access to the school in advance, and the foresight to guess someone would go poking around the art room.

But Jiangxia hadn't planned to enter the building tonight at all—he'd come in only because the kids had messed with the duty schedule.

He didn't even know about the art room rumors. He wouldn't have had time to plan anything… and what motive would he even have?

Conclusion: there's a third person in the building.

Just when Conan had thought he'd cracked it, a new "shadow" emerged, fuzzier than before.

His scalp prickled.

But dropping the "two shadows" theory opened up other questions. For instance, the rumors about the "muscle mannequin sprinting late at night"—the dean clearly wasn't hauling mannequins around during his wig hunt.

Even if he'd used them to scare kids off, the plaster statues had moved multiple times across different nights. Who rummages through the same boxes again and again?

That sort of mischief sounded like the work of someone else entirely.

…I need to tell Jiangxia. If he hasn't realized it yet, he should.

Speaking of Jiangxia—wasn't he supposed to be the oriole tailing the mantis? But now that the dean had shown himself, Jiangxia was nowhere to be seen.

Had he already gone off to catch the real "shadow"? Was he ahead of the curve again?

Just then, soft footsteps echoed from deep in the corridor.

A small group emerged from the shadows.

Conan looked up quickly—and saw two kids. Ayumi and Mitsuhiko. He let out a breath.

Safe.

Trailing beside them were two adults.

He recognized them instantly—and froze. "Ms. Kobayashi? And… Mr. Amuro?!"

"Amuro Tooru" looked over, smiled warmly, and ruffled Conan's hair in passing.

Conan blinked.

…Why was Amuro Tooru acting so… nice today?

Usually, while polite, Amuro had this constant low-level judgmental vibe. Like he was always assessing him. Especially during car rides—he'd practically glare through the mirror.

But today, there was none of that. Just casual warmth. Suspiciously casual.

Conan squinted slightly. Something was off.

Then he looked behind the group. "Where's Brother Jiangxia?"

"I went to check the puppets in the tool shed."

Jiangxia's voice came from behind them.

He appeared a moment later, casting a slightly disappointed look at the dean.

The dean, feeling that glance, instinctively raised a hand to cover his scalp and shrank into the shadows so his head wouldn't reflect as much light.

Temporarily safe, he was about to step forward and assert his authority as the night-duty dean—planning to lecture the bear children wandering the school after hours and interrogate the two adults who'd popped up uninvited.

But the moment the dean remembered everything he'd done that night, his puffed-up confidence deflated like a leaky balloon. He quietly retreated into the shadows, doing his best impression of someone who didn't exist.

Conan looked from the cowering dean to Jiangxia, then to "Amuro Tooru," and finally to Ms. Kobayashi—his mind snapping into multiple-choice mode.

Ms. Kobayashi's current demeanor was nothing like her usual stern, stoic self. Pair that with the chaos in the art room, and things were starting to line up.

Conan first looked at Jiangxia and asked, "Were Ayumi and Mitsuhiko with you earlier?"

Jiangxia glanced at the two kids, who immediately tensed like guilty tool people waiting for sentencing. Since Conan was clearly going to pry it out of them anyway, Jiangxia just answered flatly, tossing in a perfunctory excuse: "It's a bit dangerous to let kids run around alone."

Conan nodded—this tracked with his earlier guesses. So that mystery was solved.

Now just one thing left.

He turned to Ms. Kobayashi, who was trying very hard to disappear into a corner. "The plaster statues and the mannequin in the infirmary—you moved them into the classroom to rehearse for the upcoming parent-teacher conference, right?"

Sumiko Kobayashi flushed and pressed her palms to her cheeks, nodding shyly.

Conan hesitated, then continued his deduction, tone tentative:

"Because of the two weird rumors spreading around school—'the moving statues' and 'the running mannequin'—you were worried that people might link them to the teacher setting up for the parent conference. Which would point to you, since you're new here. So you decided to lean into the rumors and turn them into absurd legends to throw people off."

He kept going:

"And the one that caught on the most was the 'grinning statue' in the art room. So you stuck on some heat-sensitive or light-reactive material that would warp and… shift…"

His words trailed off.

Ms. Kobayashi was staring at him in baffled silence. Her expression clearly read, "What are you even talking about?"

"…It wasn't you?"

Conan blinked. Wait. If it wasn't her…

Then who did it?

For a few seconds, even he couldn't follow his own train of deduction. Then, operating entirely on instinct, he turned toward Jiangxia.

The weird material on the statue's face—some kind of shape-shifting gadget? Naturally, his first thought was Professor Agasa.

And the professor loved showing off his inventions. If he had something new, and Haibara wasn't around, the next person he'd probably share it with… was Jiangxia.

Conan narrowed his eyes at Jiangxia. Suspicion level: rising.

What if… the professor still held a grudge about Conan never wanting to hear him ramble about tech? What if he gave the expanding material to Jiangxia and told him, "Use this to scare that smug detective brat for me"?

The professor did enjoy a good prank. And if he asked nicely, Jiangxia wouldn't refuse.

It was… a plausible theory.

But just as Conan locked eyes with Jiangxia, he realized—Jiangxia looked even more confused than Ms. Kobayashi.

After a moment, Jiangxia seemed to connect some dots and asked, with genuine curiosity, "So you screamed in the art room earlier because of that shape-shifting stuff? What did it turn into?"

"…It wasn't a scream. More of a loud shout," Conan muttered, mildly humiliated.

He briefly described the twisted grin that had appeared on the statue.

And just like that, Jiangxia was crossed off the suspect list.

Because if Jiangxia had been behind it, he wouldn't lie about it—he knew Agasa would definitely show up later asking Conan how scared he got. There was no point in hiding the prank if the follow-up reveal was part of the fun.

That was just how Agasa operated. And Jiangxia knew it.

So: not Jiangxia.

Next, Conan glanced at the three kids, still nervously sneaking peeks at Jiangxia. No way it was them—they didn't have the guts or the poker faces for this kind of setup.

Which left…

Conan slowly lifted his head, eyes narrowing.

His gaze landed on "Amuro Tooru," who was watching him with polite curiosity.

Their eyes met.

"Amuro Tooru" raised one eyebrow in mild surprise. Then, understanding the suspicion in Conan's stare, he gave him a mysterious, meaningful smile.

Didn't deny anything. Just… smiled.

Jiangxia, observing from the side: "…Wearing someone else's face really does let you do whatever you want."

Conan was caught off guard. That smile—was it a taunt?

Like, "Yes, I pranked you. What are you gonna do about it?"

But wait—Amuro, like Jiangxia, was technically an outsider. He shouldn't have been able to pull this off. And he didn't seem like the type to waste time on this kind of nonsense. What would his motive be?

So logically, the suspicious ones should still be the school staff—either the dean or Ms. Kobayashi.

…But both of them looked so bewildered, it was hard to imagine them pulling off something so elaborate.

Still, Conan reminded himself: the world is full of mysteries. Even an innocent-looking cadre might hide the soul of a seasoned shikigami.

He'd just have to investigate carefully.

*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 31 - 90 days by POWER STONES.

Progress: 20/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS

Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.

Progress:3/10*