nycdaug Chapter 284 Conan, do you want some chocolate?
Chapter 284 Conan, do you want some chocolate?
"Brother Heimen, do you have some evidence to support your claim?"
Conan pushed up his reflective glasses, his detective instincts stirring.
Since Brother Heimen said so, he probably has clues but can't deduce anything. If he, with his superior reasoning ability, were to fully grasp the clues, he might be able to solve the case!
To his surprise, Yoruichi Kuromon shook his head and denied it outright.
“No.” He blinked and spread his empty hands to Conan: “This is even the first time I’ve met Yanase. The clues and evidence are just like these hands – nothing at all.”
"Huh?!" Conan exclaimed in disbelief. "But judging from your tone, it's like you've already confirmed he's the culprit!"
"That wasn't based on reasoning, but rather on the intuition of a crime-solving expert."
Picking up another glass of golden champagne, Haruya Kuromon raised her hand in a toasting gesture, submerging Ryuichi Yanase's figure among the rising bubbles, which, against the backdrop of the curtain, turned into a crimson hue.
“In his works, I can’t feel any compassion for tragedies caused by natural disasters and man-made calamities, or any awe and fear of death. There is only an arrogant and bloodthirsty excitement. Companies are burned to the ground, families are broken, and society is in turmoil. It seems that nothing is worth caring about.”
This is also why people didn't feel uncomfortable when viewing the photos; after all, artwork always reflects the artist's thoughts and feelings.
"What kind of crime-solving expert is this?" Conan questioned with his half-moon eyes. "This guy is clearly a photography expert!"
"...So that's how it is." Ran Mouri clutched her chest, suddenly realizing. No wonder she felt unbearable when looking at this series of photos, yet couldn't be moved much by the disaster.
"Well! That's all just speculation!"
Realizing that someone had noticed his actions, Kuromon Haruya raised his glass and drank down the sins reflected in it in one gulp, muttering an attempt to justify himself: "Maybe he's just gotten used to seeing too many fire scenes."
Then, he moved over, straightened his clothes, and stood next to Kogoro Mouri, looking humble and gentle.
"good evening."
Ryuichi Yanase approached the two of them, inadvertently revealing a gleaming gold wristwatch on his cuff.
"What an honor! I never expected to run into the legendary sleeping detective, Mr. Kogoro Mouri, here!"
After shaking hands with Uncle Mori, who gave him a meaningful look, Kogoro accepted the business card and immediately put it in his pocket, just missing Kuromon Haruya's outstretched right hand.
"And then there's the legendary Kuroba-sensei, who took those kinds of photos, yet he seems so well-behaved on the surface. Seeing is believing, it's true what they say."
"Well-behaved" is definitely not a positive word to describe a man in Japan!
Kogoro Mouri, who had been maintaining a semblance of politeness with a smile, immediately became serious upon hearing this. His attitude and tone clearly indicated hostility!
'Hmph!' Seeing his angry yet speechless expression, Yanase smiled coldly to himself. 'So what if he's the famous detective Kogoro Mouri! I'm the winner of this awards ceremony. Bringing useless losers to spoil the fun is pointless; no one here will speak up for you!'
On the other hand, he thought that so-called "Teacher Kuroba" was someone important, but he didn't even dare to glance at him. He was humiliated but still had a fawning and weak smile on his face.
Haruya Kuromon: ^_^
He withdrew his right hand without anger, but simply picked up another glass of champagne: "I feel the same way, Mr. Yanase."
'Ha!' Ryuichi Yanase almost burst out laughing.
'They actually admitted it. No wonder they were so weak that they didn't dare to appeal even after being eliminated.'
"You are so ordinary. So ordinary that I need the finest champagne to increase my patience in talking to you."
His tongue lightly licked the droplet of wine on the rim of the glass, his lips glistening with moisture. Kuromon Haruya sipped his champagne and smiled listlessly.
"Indeed, seeing is believing. I never expected that you and your works would be so consistent, so outrageously ordinary."
"W-What did you say?!" Yanase couldn't believe what he had just heard. How dare he say that!
Kuromon Haruya turned his head, swirled his wine glass, and repeated, "Ordinary means that a person or thing is commonplace, giving people a sense of being ordinary, similar to being mediocre and unproductive."
"You bastard!"
Yanase roared angrily and tried to grab Kuromon Haruya by the collar, but was easily dodged.
"That's right, photographing eagles from a tree at the height of the ninth floor (Kusou)!"
With a flick of his fingertips, he swept across the room, and under the watchful eyes of everyone, Kuromon Haruya smiled and shook Yanase's right hand, introducing him as an intimate friend: "If Mr. Yanase is interested, we can definitely collaborate in the future!"
"What? They just got excited while talking." "I thought there was going to be some drama." "Photographers are such a strange bunch."
A dense, stabbing pressure pressed down from his flesh to his bones. Kuromon Haruya gripped his hand as he tried to pull away, whispering in his ear, "Tsk tsk tsk, it's not good to lose your composure like this at an awards ceremony."
After saying that, seeing that no one was watching anymore, he finally released the other person's almost numb right hand.
"This isn't a retaliation for offending you, it's just the truth."
He stroked his chin, his sincere gaze unmistakable: "Aside from being at a good angle to shoot, the concept, meaning, emotion, and subject matter of the work are unremarkable. Any photographer with decent skills could have done it."
Why limit yourself to accidental fires when you could choose to film chemical plant explosions, spontaneous combustion of fireworks, etc.? Besides filming fires, do you have any other areas of expertise? Do you have any long-term collaborations with newspapers or corporations?
"Hahaha! That's a brilliant suggestion!"
A middle-aged man with a receding hairline and a mean-looking face put his arm around Yanase's shoulder and handed her his business card: Correspondent, Akira Nakai.
"Teacher Kuroba is absolutely right. Apart from the carefully fabricated 'chance encounter,' this guy has absolutely nothing else to offer!"
Yanase's expression changed drastically on the spot, and he didn't even bother to refute Kuromon Haruya's comments: "If you keep slandering me like this, I'll hire a lawyer!"
"Ah."
Akira Nakai raised an eyebrow dismissively at the pale threat, then suddenly pulled a handful of grayish-white powder from his pocket, 'whoosh,' and sprayed it all onto Yanase's face before turning away.
"Damn it, just wait for me."
Covered in unknown dust, Ryuichi Yanase covered his eyes and rushed towards the restroom, leaving the three onlookers looking at each other in bewilderment.
Kogoro Mouri: "Could it be... drugs?!"
Before he finished speaking, Conan had already enthusiastically stuck out his bouncy, milky-smelling bottom, knelt on the ground, dipped his fingertip into a small amount of powder, and put it in his mouth to savor it.
“This isn’t a drug,” he pushed up his reflective glasses, his tone as professional as a food show judge, “it’s just ordinary lime.”
silence.
Kuromon Haruya stared at the puddle of white powder on the ground, then glanced at Conan's mouth, hesitating to speak, before finally uttering a single sentence:
"...You mean, that reporter carried lime powder with him? And he even put it in his suit pocket?"
Conan was stunned: "Uh, based on the current evidence, yes."
A longer silence.
Haruya Kuromon's expression gradually became complicated, evolving from "What an outrageous act!" to "Should we call the police?"
"Hey, Kuromon," Conan said, feeling uneasy under his gaze, "Can't you just say what you want to say? Don't look at me like that, like you're ready to betray your own family!"
Seeing the child's frank attitude in turning himself in, Haruya Kuromon took a deep breath, slammed his hands heavily on Conan's shoulders, and spoke in a somber tone as if he were reading out a death sentence:
"Conan, I have a very serious question to ask you, a question that concerns the bottom line and is absolutely intolerable."
"W-What problem?"
"How exactly do you know the taste of drugs?" Kuromon Haruya closed his eyes, as if he were seeing his childhood bible turned into a cult, and was extremely heartbroken. "You've even mastered a professional skill like 'distinguishing by taste,' have you already tasted the entire drug world? Don't use Hawaii as an excuse, Hawaii is no excuse either!"
"Who's ever tasted all the poisonous foods?!" Conan instantly bristled, jumping higher than a cat whose tail had been stepped on. "It's food with similar flavors! My dad commissioned a chemist friend to develop candies with similar flavors to train our ability to distinguish them!"
...Wait, why am I explaining this?!
"Oh, that's how it is."
Relieved that he was not lying, Yoruichi Kuromon breathed a sigh of relief.
Feeling that Yusaku Kudo/Uncle Yusaku could indeed pull in connections, Kogoro Mouri and Ran Mouri silently retracted their judo/karate stances.
Thus, the problem shifted to another dilemma that Kuromon Haruya couldn't blurt out in order to maintain her persona:
"So, according to that logic, have you ever eaten chocolate that tastes like poop? It doesn't have to be chocolate, I'm just curious."