Chapter 3: Kudou Shinichi’s Downfall

Teitan High School—at first glance, just a standard Japanese high school.

Of course, Kazawa didn't really understand much about Japanese high schools, but as long as a big-nosed PE teacher didn't jump out and slam into his face with some Persona 5–style plot twist, then in his eyes, it could be considered normal.

Today was a rest day. There were no students walking around the campus, and it was very quiet.

Kazawa took the black folder out of his bag and handed the documents inside one by one to Amuro Tooru, who led him office by office—writing application forms, bowing, writing more forms, getting stamps, bowing again, and so on.

Because Kazawa Shou's situation was special, it was even more troublesome than a normal transfer. After all, his previous academic record had been wiped clean after being expelled. The number of forms he had to fill out was endless—it took over an hour just to get through the paperwork.

The good news was, he now had a rough idea of the original body's family background, because some fields on the application had already been pre-filled.

Kazawa Shou's father was named Kazawa Ichikawa, and his mother was Kazawa Leona. As expected—he was a mixed-race child.

Their family lived in Kyoto—which he had sort of figured out already, since he found a JR ticket stub from Kyoto to Tokyo in his bag. He was 18 years old and originally attended Izumishin High School in Kyoto.

…That name sounded a little familiar, but whatever. He was already living right under Conan's apartment, and Amuro Tooru had become his legal guardian. What kind of weirder "buff" could even top that? Honestly, he was kind of curious to find out.

It wasn't until he saw the names of his parents that memories of their faces flashed through Kazawa's mind.

Even though he still had no memories of the original body's interactions with his parents, he recalled that the Kazawa couple were scholars living abroad. Kazawa Shou had been left in Japan to attend school, and because of the long distance, their relationship wasn't close.

Even when Kazawa Shou got involved in a criminal lawsuit, his parents didn't return to handle it. They simply found a lawyer to act as their proxy. The original body, trapped in a setup by a group of unfamiliar adults, was sentenced without any ability to resist.

…Absolutely absurd.

After signing the last form, Kazawa stared at the names of the parents on the thin sheet of paper, a mix of emotions in his heart.

From his current perspective, the entire process of framing the original Kazawa didn't involve any sophisticated scheming. It was just a blunt combination of coerced witness statements and forged evidence. Case closed.

There was no need for complex methods. His only ally—his guardian—never even showed up. A minor, with no way to speak out, no one to ask for help… even the juvenile privacy protection laws ended up becoming the perfect screen to block public scrutiny. Crushing and twisting a high school student was too easy.

And considering there might be ties to the Organization, the truth became even harder to trace. Who knows where the Kazawa couple are now… or if they're even alive?

"What's wrong? Having trouble filling it out?" Amuro Tooru asked as he stepped out of the principal's office, seeing Kazawa staring blankly at the paper.

"No, it's all done." Kazawa stayed in character professionally, wearing a "clearly something's wrong" expression while pretending to stay calm. "Really, thank you for all the running around you did for me today."

Amuro took the thick stack of forms from him and smiled casually. "Since I've agreed to take responsibility, this is what a guardian should do. No need to be so formal."

"A guardian should, huh…" Kazawa mumbled under his breath.

Of course Amuro heard him. He glanced at the top sheet of the stack and immediately saw the "family relation" field at the top.

Having already accepted the setting that Kazawa was "abandoned by family and society, now semi-reclusive and maybe even slightly blackened," Amuro properly understood the message Kazawa was sending.

How pitiful, Kazawa Shou. Amuro Tooru, knowing the backstory, sighed silently.

How pitiful, Kazawa Shou. Kazawa himself, not knowing the full backstory, also sighed.

Two nesting dolls reached an unspoken consensus, and the mood between them was oddly harmonious as they left the school.

—

"These are the café keys, and this one's for the attic. The café's open every day, so when you go out, make sure to lock the attic for safety." By the time they got back to the café, it was almost closing time. After tidying up and preparing to close, Amuro handed Kazawa two keys and gave him a quick rundown.

Kazawa was listening seriously at first… but slowly started zoning out.

Because walking toward them from the opposite direction were two figures—one tall, one short—casting long shadows in the twilight.

The tall one was a slender girl with a soft, beautiful face and waist-length black hair. The short one…

…was a little boy wearing a blue mini suit, a bowtie, and oversized round glasses.

Hand in hand, the two walked past Kazawa and Amuro, heading up the stairs next to Poirot Café.

…No mistake.

So, Kazawa corrected his earlier assumption.

It wasn't that Kudou Shinichi hadn't gotten ambushed by now, and the Organization first surfaced on his side.

It was that Kudou Shinichi was getting ambushed at the same time Kazawa's situation with the Organization was surfacing.

Turns out, today was the starting point of the Conan plotline. When Kazawa had woken up on the train earlier, Kudou Shinichi had probably just stepped into Tropical Land.

Using his peripheral vision, Kazawa watched the pair go upstairs before turning his attention back to the keys that Amuro was handing him.

"Go upstairs and get some rest. Take your time." Seeing Kazawa fiddling with the keys to find a way to link them, Amuro reached out again, wanting to pat his soft hair.

Kazawa dodged nimbly.

What the heck, Bourbon? You love to act, sure—but can you stop trying to pat people's heads all the time!?

Amuro blinked, slightly surprised at the dodge. He looked at Kazawa with interest. "Quick reflexes."

Kazawa wanted to say something cliché like, "You'll stunt my growth if you pat my head," but it didn't quite match the character he had built, so he held back, turned away, and walked into the café. "I'll go rest now."

"Get some good rest. See you tomorrow, Kazawa-kun." As he watched Kazawa slowly head upstairs, Amuro's smile faded.

He turned and walked to his car, took out his phone, and typed out a message:

[Target has been contacted as planned. No documents mentioned in the intel were found among his personal belongings. Proceed as scheduled?]

After sending it, he opened a second hidden encrypted message interface and began drafting a second email:

[Any update from Kyoto? How much of the Kazawa Shou case details have been investigated?]

He checked the car for bugs or transmitters and, after completing the routine inspection, finally opened the door to his Mazda RX-7 and got in.

Starting the engine, he watched Poirot Café in the dark while waiting for replies to both emails.

The café was pitch black, with only a faint warm glow leaking from the staircase behind the counter. Kazawa Shou had likely shut the upstairs door tightly—hard to see what he was doing.

Kazawa Shou, a special case—an underage criminal.

A juvenile offender charged with aggravated assault. Extremely rare. For such a serious charge to befall a minor, it had to be a particularly vicious and severe act of violence.

But despite the charge, he only received probation and protective observation. Even transferred from Kansai to Tokyo for the duration. Was the case truly handled by the book?

And yet the Organization had marked him as a target. Just how much of this outcome was due to their manipulation?

Damn it. Had the police and prosecution been infiltrated this deeply?

As he sorted through his thoughts and feelings, replies from both emails arrived.

[Plan unchanged. Maintain contact and observation. Gain target's trust as soon as possible. He may be the only one who knows where the documents went. Monitor his relationships carefully. Multiple parties are watching him—unless you can act without alerting the police, don't interrogate him directly.]

[No new information from Kyoto Prefectural Police. The officers listed on the records—Detective Ishiki Ichirou and Prosecutor Satou Ken—both deny involvement in the case. Furuya-san, the key breakthrough still lies with Kazawa Shou himself.]

After reading the two emails, Amuro shook his head and deleted them one by one.

"What a troublesome guy. Just a student… how did he get caught up in all this?"

Amuro tried to piece things together in his mind, but the more he thought about it, the less sense it made. "Why is the Organization after him?"

Still, this was an opportunity he couldn't miss.

Whatever the Organization wanted from Kazawa—and whatever that document was—this might be their best chance to find a weakness and uncover the Organization's true goals.

"Let's hope we both get lucky, Kazawa-kun," Amuro muttered as he hit the gas.

The man currently juggling three undercover jobs still had another late shift to get to.