The Phantom Thief of Heart! But Conan

“Beep-beep-beep”

As the sound from the receiver continued to lengthen, Araki Yoshizori, who had found the phone number of the “Escape King”, gradually became more serious with his relaxed expression.

A moment later, as the dialing time expired, the phone jumped to the answering machine.

Obviously, it was unlikely that he could contact the Escape King by phone.

“Ah, he’s probably on his way.” Hamano Toshiya didn’t care and waved his hand, “He’s definitely not at home if he goes out, so let’s wait for a while. Before that, let’s have some fun by ourselves.”

“Then everyone, you can go to your room and prepare the bed. I don’t come to this villa very often. Although the guest rooms have been cleaned, you still need to take the daily necessities and arrange them yourself.” Araki Yoshizori hung up the receiver, and the subtle uneasiness in his heart disappeared with the disappearance of the monotonous prompt tone, “I’ll go prepare dinner with Sukama, the helper.”

The road from Tokyo was indeed not easy to walk, and the weather today was average, so it was not a big problem and had little impact on the activities.

"Wouldn't it be hard for two people to prepare meals for so many people?" Ran Maoli blinked and considered whether she should go to the kitchen to help.

"No problem. Many of the ingredients have been prepared in advance. Just a simple cook and it will be ready soon." Araki waved his hand indifferently, "The chairman is not here, so I am the main organizer. Of course, I have to fulfill these obligations."

Ran Maoli was still hesitating, Suzuki Sonoko had already grabbed her hand and pulled it up without saying anything: "Okay, let's go, Xiaolan, we can live in the same room today..."

There are a total of 6 men in this house now. Except for Tang Ze and Amuro Toru, who are her acquaintances, the other few people make her feel very uncomfortable. She now wants to seize the time to escape from these people.

Amuro Toru untied the scarf around his neck, and noticed from the corner of his eye that Tang Ze began to chat with several other people who attended the party. He immediately adjusted his expression and put on a not-so-sincere smile.

Since the impersonation has not been clarified, he is now speaking as the disciple of the magician. It is necessary to learn more about this group of people before being exposed.

How to say it, even if today's party is indeed a sudden idea and a temporary notification by Suzuki Sonoko, and Tang Ze said that he went to the Metropolitan Police Department, but he just came back from another direction of Tokyo and it is impossible to predict the itinerary at this time, he still instinctively became alert and felt that there might be something wrong with this party.

This is not that he does not trust Tang Ze, on the contrary, it is that he trusts Tang Ze too much.

Tang Ze does not fight unprepared battles. Basically, any event he takes the trouble to participate in will have more or less problems, and there are only a few that do not cause casualties.

He himself, who knows nothing about this, should still be vigilant as an intelligence officer and pay attention to the situation of this group of people in this building.

Watching Toru Amuro walk away with high spirits, Tang Ze no longer pretended to join in the chat, but slowly moved his feet and slipped to the window on the first floor without leaving a trace, standing with Doi Takeki, who was scratching the window sill with a bored look on his face.

Seeing Tang Ze, who looked a bit like he deserved a beating, Kuroba Kaito wanted to roll his eyes, but in the end he also took a step closer and squeezed out a sentence from the corner of his mouth: "Why did you run over? Those two girls and that dark-skinned conspirator followed us... Aren't you tired?"

To this day, although Kuroba Kaito can't say that he knows the whereabouts of the Heart Phantom Thieves, he still has a rough idea of ​​their general movements.

Because when these Phantom Thieves were chatting and talking nonsense, they didn't mean to avoid him at all.

Kaito Line is a communication software specially developed by Noah's Ark for Kaito. The network used is a special cognitive enhancement version specially provided by Noah. Even if the mobile phone has no network, it can still work normally. After discovering this, Kuroba Kaito always couldn't help but pay attention to their group chat.

Theoretically, since there is a group where he, an outside member of the group, is in, they must also have their own internal group, but with the increasing number of their numbers, and the appearance of non-members like Yuga Kyosuke who can only be considered half, it is inevitable that the group where Kidd is naturally developed into a casual chat group.

Therefore, Kidd not only roughly knows that this group of people ran to a foreign mansion in the suburbs to commit a crime, oh no, to "correct the hidden sins", but also knows that after the incident, there was another new person in the group. I don't know if they picked him up again.

Who knew that when he prepared his disguise according to his heart and ran to the party with the mischievous mood of teasing a little girl to show off, he was caught off guard and saw Tang Ze's face, and couldn't help but feel liver pain instinctively.

Damn it, before he met the Phantom Thieves, X-alloy was obviously a very rare thing, and he never thought that one day things would turn into someone chasing him with gold bars all day, asking him to speed up the process and find out where his father went as soon as possible...

It's obvious that everyone is in a relationship of paying money and receiving goods, why do you act like you are the client...

"Why should I be tired? I'm very energetic. You know, I have a special physique." Tang Ze's face was also calm, as if it was natural to turn around and talk to Doi Takeki, but his tone was very playful.

Kuroba Kaito finally rolled his eyes after holding back for a long time.

He didn't know exactly what the Phantom Thieves of Heart were, but Tang Ze, who could distinguish X-alloy with the naked eye, was definitely not an ordinary person. Ordinary people couldn't do those shocking operations, so it was really hard for him to refute this statement of special physique.

"I just followed them around. You know, there are always many things around Detective that I can't refuse." Tang Ze shrugged, "But you, what are you doing in the magician enthusiast group, and you came to attend a party in disguise. How come there are treasures that you are interested in here?"

Hearing this question, Kuroba Kaito blinked twice quickly, quickly concealed the expression on his face, and said lightly: "Why else, I'm not interested in many things."

Tang Ze, who knew the tricks of the party in advance, sorted out the interpersonal relationships in his mind.

The original intention of this party was indeed an offline gathering of netizens, but some of them came with a different mind, for the sake of the elders who were magicians of the older generation who died during the performance.

The purpose of Kuroba Kaito's participation should be similar to this person. As the son of Kuroba Toichi, he also knows many seniors in the industry, but the closeness is slightly different.

But now that Kuroba Kaito said so, he came here not just to see why the online account of the deceased senior became active again, but...

Tang Ze, who was quick-witted, quickly came to a rather subtle conclusion.

"Are you trying to keep an eye on your father's news in these online groups? Or do you think your father's situation is related to the magic industry?" Tang Ze tilted his head. Although he used a question, he actually expected the answer to this question.

Kuroba Kaito chose to inherit his father's mantle and become a magician and a phantom thief. Although he looked cool and arrogant, active under the eyes of the police, playing everyone around, he was simply a carefree lawless maniac, but hidden under these appearances, he himself actually did not have an easy life.

He has many identities, but only as an ordinary high school student, Kuroba Kaito is his own life. Apart from that, he is confused by the mystery of his father's fake death and disappearance, chasing after the shadow that will never turn back.

Kaito Kid is far from being as free as he appears.

"After all, my father's public identity is a world-renowned magician, and he faked his death in a world-renowned performance. I will always pay attention to some things in the relevant circle. After leaving this circle, so many years have passed, and no one will continue to pay attention to his situation." Kuroba Kaito turned his head and looked at the thin frost on the grass outside the window, narrating calmly, "And, you know, some X alloys are indeed in the hands of magicians."

Although he has not come into contact with the famous magic master, the case of Jiujiu Motoyasu did give Kuroba Kaito a lot of inspiration, especially what Tang Ze reminded him at the time, that X alloy, as a metal with special radiation or force field, has an impact on human consciousness, and it is more effective to use it as a magic prop.

Later, he secretly tried to understand the theories of Tang Ze's parents. Combining his own experience, he felt that things might be the opposite.

It just so happened that he really needed more professional people to verify these things. Since he met Tang Ze who was still haunting him, he might as well ask him again.

Kuroba Kaito carefully chose his words and talked about what he had gained from X-alloy these days. Tang Ze held his chin, listened patiently without saying a word, and slowly thought about the possibilities.

"... So, what you mean is that you are more inclined to believe that X-alloy is actually a special metal made by humans." Tang Ze concluded, "It's not that the instruments made of this alloy are more likely to attract people's attention, but because magicians have used these props for many years and completed too many successful frauds with it, giving these instruments special characteristics in terms of concept?"

"Yes, that's what I think." Kuroba Kaito snapped his fingers and tapped Tang Ze's collar.

When Tang Ze was a joker, this was the location of the K brooch on his scarf.

"The piece in your hand may be a little special, but you know the origins of the others. Just like your parents' theories? Or concepts? In short, it's just like what those mysterious things describe. It may be closer to a 'crystallization of cognition' rather than an existing definite product."

"Well, it makes sense..." Tang Ze pondered this somewhat novel perspective and nodded slowly.

Others don't know, but Tang Ze knows very well that the world he lives in is different from the normal real world. In this world, the boundary between cognition and reality has been broken, and there may not be any secret treasures of collective subconsciousness at the bottom of the subway.

If X alloy and the Holy Grail are indeed products of the same nature, then since the Holy Grail may have been broken, then maybe the truth should be that the broken Holy Grail has long been integrated into this world, and with the changes in people's cognition and the surge of thoughts, it appears in this world in different forms.

If the cognitive fraud created by the magician also has a similar effect, then the famous magician Kuroba Toichi was targeted by a certain organization and then suddenly disappeared during the performance, there is an explanation.

"Maybe your father's 'disappearance' really has something to do with my father's research." Tang Ze thought thoughtfully.

"...Huh? You don't mean to say that my father's inexplicable disappearance was caused by your father, right?" Kuroba Kaito's mouth twitched twice, "Is this world really so bloody?"

"Of course not." Tang Ze responded with a particularly obvious eye roll, "What are you thinking about. My father is only the discoverer of cognitive science, not the inventor. The phenomenon came first, and then there was research and explanation. What I mean is that your father's situation may not be simply faking his death to avoid his enemies, or encountering some accident, so that there is no news until now. I think, he, maybe..."

Tang Ze hesitantly lowered his head and glanced at the program on his mobile phone.

There, the all-seeing eye logo of the different world navigation was eye-catching and shining.

"Maybe, he just really can't come back, not that he doesn't want to come back."

"...I also hope that what you said is true." Kuroba Kaito curled his lips, pushed the window open a crack, felt the chill coming from there, and whispered, "If my father really can't come back, I can forgive him a little. It's too much, in front of a child..."

Tang Ze paused, raised his hand, and patted Kuroba Kaito's shoulders, which had become much broader after the disguise, in a comforting way.

He could understand the other party's complicated feelings to some extent.

If Kuroba Toichi could actually move freely and contact his family and children, but avoided them for many years for some strange reasons, and there was no news at all, it would be a blow to Kuroba Kaito who had worked hard for so many years to investigate the truth of his disappearance.

Kuroba Kaito has not been active as Kaito Kid for a long time, but he actually has neither skills nor psychological qualities. He has long been a top thief far beyond the industry standard.

If there is anything that he is not mature enough, it is that his heart does not belong to the Phantom Thief. Although he is also playful and humorous, and also wants to play some fancy tricks, his heart is much softer and firmer than the previous generation of Phantom Thief Kid.

I am not here to be a thief, I am here to save my father...

Thinking of this, Tang Ze patted Kuroba Kaito's shoulder again.

"Anyway, you have made all kinds of preparations, right? Small things, the best way to eliminate fear is to face it, right, Red Herring?"

"Huh? Hey, I said that this is not what I meant by this name! How did you know me... and how did you learn English? Red Herring is a prop used to confuse the hound's sense of smell and escape, which is extended to divert focus and attention. In the magic world, this is a special technique and a type of prop name, okay?! What's your expression, hey, don't laugh, Tang Ze——!"