Chapter 53: The Overthinkers Begin

When the smoke in the engine room cleared, only Amuro Tooru and Conan remained, along with a mess of skirts and underwear that Kaito Kid had thrown all over the place.

Amuro Tooru frowned and looked around cautiously before finally putting his gun back into the hidden holster at his waist.

He glanced at Conan, who was still coughing and rubbing his eyes. Knowing this was the elementary school kid who got along well with Kazawa, he casually asked, "You're Conan-kun, right? Did you see Kazawa?"

When the commotion in the banquet hall started, Amuro immediately remembered that Kazawa had been in the corridor outside, so he followed the crowd out.

Before he could find Kazawa, he first discovered Mouri Ran unconscious in a lifeboat.

He had no choice but to carry her to the police, and when he turned his head again, he found the maintenance passage to the engine room wide open. Upon entering, he witnessed the whole ridiculous scene caused by the phantom thief.

Conan was stunned and shook his head blankly. His mind was still processing the information he just heard. Instinctively, he slipped the paper he caught into his pocket. It took him a few seconds to realize that he hadn't seen Kazawa for a while.

Amuro sighed deeply.

Why does Kazawa keep slipping away even on someone else's cruise ship? Isn't he a bit too hard to keep track of?

The officers searching the area happened to reach the maintenance passage. Several policemen with flashlights came clattering down and stared in surprise at the little kid—Conan—holding the black pearl wrapped in a handkerchief.

"This is the Black Star, right?" Conan blinked with his innocent child voice.

"Ah! You ran into Kaito Kid!" the officers exclaimed in surprise.

Amuro Tooru stepped back a few steps. Whether as Bourbon or undercover Rei Furuya, he should avoid lingering around police officers in public.

Conan noticed his intentional avoidance in the corner of his eye and frowned.

Would a normal, law-abiding citizen instinctively try to avoid the police like that?

But the officers' attention was fully on the pearl in his hand, so Conan had no choice but to briefly explain how he intercepted Kid and secured the Black Star.

Soon, he had to go find Kazawa… and ask if he knew anything about this so-called guardian.

Conan hadn't forgotten that Kazawa was currently in a very precarious situation.

Was Amuro Tooru really just a guardian found by Kazawa's parents?

Amuro didn't notice the wary look the little detective gave him. He merely glanced at the thrilled officers holding the pearl, shook his head, and couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.

So young, and already running after international criminals by himself. Do all kids have detective dreams now? This little guy is like that, and even Kazawa seems to have been infected…

He quietly avoided the police coming from behind and lowered his head, heading toward the deck to continue searching for his missing ward.

Kazawa was currently standing at the side of the deck, smiling faintly as he used his "Third Eye" to observe Kaito Kid—now dressed in black—leaping off the ship.

Once Kid splash fell into the water, Kazawa retracted his x-ray-like vision and stood among the noisy crowd, quietly observing the floating tarot card in his hand—Wheel of Fortune.

After testing with several Co-ops, he had basically grasped the activation phrases for the Tarot. Back at the rooftop of the Beika Grand Hotel, he had subtly led Kid into agreeing to a duel.

Thank goodness—he really did get that disguise skill for free. Shouldn't he be thanking Brother Kid?

Such a reliable Co-op! How could Kazawa let his precious "wings" get caught? When he escaped using the grappling hook, he even took Kid along with him.

"Kazawa… Onii-chan!" The one who spotted Kazawa before Amuro was Conan, who had just finished being questioned by the police. He had only called Kazawa's name when he realized there were others nearby, so he quickly added "Onii-chan" as he turned the corner.

"Looks like you've made some new discoveries." Kazawa squatted down to meet him at eye level and asked in a low voice, "Did you run into Kid again?"

"It's not just running into—I caught him." Conan leaned closer with a serious expression. "And Joker showed up again, just like I thought."

At that, Conan stared at Kazawa, unsure where to begin.

What happened tonight was way more than just stopping a phantom thief from stealing something.

First, there was definitely some connection between Kaito Kid and Joker. On the surface, Joker appeared to be stopping Kid from escaping, like he was there to catch him, but judging from his actions, he didn't really target Kid aggressively. Not to mention, with Joker's obviously more agile moves, if he truly wanted to trap Kid, there was no need to only take a flash bomb. His appearance seemed more like he was deliberately observing Kid—like he was trying to verify something.

Second, Joker didn't deny Conan's comment about his calling card. From what he said, his actions were way more purposeful than anyone previously assumed. It was worth investigating the previous people targeted by Joker—maybe then they could find his pattern and outline his activity zone.

Lastly… and most difficult to tell Kazawa about, was Amuro Tooru. That man definitely wasn't just a regular waiter. Even if he had a legal permit to carry a gun, that kind of decisive shooting into smoke wasn't something an ordinary professional would do. Either he was a dangerous criminal—like a gangster—or someone with long-term gun training, someone with extreme confidence in their marksmanship.

Kazawa being under his full control… didn't feel good at all.

Kazawa, unaware that his brainy little detective friend had come up with another overly complex plot, simply nodded and asked, "So… what did you find?"

Looking at Kazawa's clueless and smiling face, Conan sighed with the weight of the world on his shoulders. In the end, it seemed like he had to carry everything alone. He'd better wait until he had more concrete evidence before telling his overly naive companion anything.

"You…" Conan said heavily, patting Kazawa's shoulder. "You better be more alert."

You've been hanging around such a dangerous person for so long—how come you haven't noticed anything? What happened to that incredible sensitivity of yours?

"Huh?" Kazawa was left totally confused by the pat.

"Ah, and that Joker… he might be monitoring the Mouri Detective Agency," Conan said uneasily, remembering the white-haired man who disguised himself as him. "He might've figured out my true identity."

Kazawa understood—this was because Conan had seen his disguise back then. He was laughing inside, but kept a naturally concerned expression on his face. "Are you sure? Could he be connected to the man in black who attacked you?"

"I don't know." Conan, with a heavy heart, pulled out that calling card and handed it to Kazawa.

Kazawa was very familiar with its contents, but still pretended to examine it closely.

"You seem quite interested in the hidden crows.

Let me give you a chance to grab one of their feathers."

Below those two lines, a clipping clearly cut from a newspaper ad was attached:

"Mantendo Game Launch Event"

"Achoo!" On a lifeboat, Kuroba Kaito sneezed hard, shivering under a blanket in the cold night wind.

Jii (Terai Kojirou) sighed and helped him wrap up tighter. "Didn't we prepare a glider? Why jump straight into the sea? You'll catch a cold, young master."

Kaito sniffled and muttered, "Something unexpected happened."

First, he got seen through by some brat, then a phantom thief even more agile than him messed with his mood, and he nearly got shot too—tonight had way too many ups and downs.

He scratched his dripping wet hair, didn't tell the overly worried Terai the thrilling details, and instead asked seriously, "Did my dad… have any other disciples I don't know about?"

Kaito remembered meeting his two senior sisters when he was little, but no matter how he tried to recall, none of them fit the profile of this Joker guy.

It couldn't be Yukiko Auntie's son, right? He remembered that guy being a detective, not a thief.

"As far as I know, the master only had two disciples besides you…" Terai frowned. "Did you run into someone?"

"Yeah… I think I met a troublesome opponent." Kaito looked at the corner of the paper soaked by seawater in his hand, staring at the words under the moonlight.

The red card had the same flamboyant writing as last time, tightening Kaito's throat as he read.

"A dove flying toward freedom

And a crow like me who dances only in the shadows—

What could we possibly have in common?

The answer is…?"

"Kuroba…" he read out his own surname and clenched the red card tightly.