Phantom Thief of Heart!but conan

Chapter 900 Hattori Heiji: Feeling excluded

"Just changing into school uniform and saying that it meets Koshien's requirements is too ridiculous." Pulling his clothes, Hattori Heiji curled his lips, but still responded to the PD's call and walked out.

The identity of a student was not a plus for the detective. He had never liked wearing school uniforms, not to mention that his high school had very strict requirements on school uniforms and did not allow casual modifications.

"Since we're at Koshien, we should have some youthful vigor." Bai Ma, who was standing at the door of the dressing room, smiled and curved his eyes. "Isn't it good to dress like this?"

"...Why didn't you change your clothes?" Hattori Heiji looked at Hakuba Tantei, who was still wearing a suit and a striped shirt, and frowned. "You speak as if it were true."

"Ah, because I didn't go to high school in China. The school I studied abroad in didn't have any requirements for uniforms, and I usually wore casual clothes to school." Bai Ma spread his hands, "If you don't believe me, you can look at the photos of my interviews and crime scenes abroad. I always dress like this."

"But you've already transferred back. Doesn't your school have uniforms?" Hattori Heiji's thick black eyebrows kept jumping up and down, and he argued even more unconvinced, "Isn't the uniform of Ekoda High School similar to mine?"

"Oh? You're quite concerned about my movements, Hattori-kun." Hakubatan grinned, "I've just officially enrolled and haven't received my school uniform yet, so naturally I have nothing to wear."

Hattori Heiji really wanted to turn around, take out his spare school uniform and say, "Then you wear mine," but seeing Hakuba Tan's expression, he managed to hold back.

Perhaps it was because this guy looked like a combination of Kudo Shinichi and Akechi Goro. Not only did he have Kudo's arrogance of not taking anyone seriously, but he also had Akechi Goro's pretentiousness. It was a combination of his annoying characteristics that made him particularly disgusting...

"Instead of criticizing me, why don't you look over there first." Bai Matan raised his chin, signaling him to pay attention to the person coming out from the other side. "Although I can understand that this is because he is not in school now and naturally has no school uniform to wear, he is more excessive than me, right?"

At the other end of the corridor, Tang Ze, carrying his suitcase, walked over slowly. He smiled as several people looked at him, "What's wrong, everyone? Are you waiting for me to show up?"

"Stop being so narcissistic." Hattori Heiji crossed his arms unceremoniously, "Why did you go back to the dressing room when you don't even have a school uniform to wear?"

"Huh? I'm wearing a school uniform." Tang Ze pretended to be surprised and opened his eyes wide, turning half a circle on the spot, "Why, you can't see the difference? Maybe I'm just too lazy."

Hattori Heiji frowned and looked at him hard. After looking for a long time, he actually noticed a slight difference.

"Is this your school's badge? And the shirt underneath..."

"Yes, this is the school emblem of my alma mater." Tang Ze fiddled with the black and white emblem on his collar, then pulled the collar to reveal the white shirt underneath. "I went to a private high school that didn't recruit students from outside. They had strict dress code requirements, and I got used to it. I've been wearing this outfit since I graduated from high school... I didn't realize you paid attention to me, Hattori-kun. You recognized it right away."

"…That's because you've only worn this outfit all the time!" Hattori Heiji couldn't stand it any longer and shouted, "You guys are the ones who ...

Is he some kind of important judge or a girl of your dreams? Why do they like to talk about him and pay attention to him?!

"Wow, are you quarreling so soon? You're so energetic." Tokatsu Junya covered his ears and moved closer to them. "What? You guys all dress so handsomely. It makes me feel a little unconfident."

He was wearing a gray-blue suit similar to Kudo Shinichi's, which was also a common uniform style in Japanese high schools. In addition, his appearance was not outstanding among the handsome guys. Standing next to the two detectives who relied on their foreign backgrounds to talk nonsense, he was indeed a little inferior.

After saying this, Tokatsu Junya realized that what he had just said was a bit embarrassing, and his expression changed. He quickly changed the subject: "Speaking of which, isn't there another one? Where's the last person? You're so slow, is it because the school uniform is too complicated?"

"Aren't clothes in China all the same? At most some schools will use overalls or something like that, it's complicated..." Hattori Heiji shook his head, and with a glance, he saw someone walking out of the locker room on the other side, and his eyes bulged.

Wait, wait, this is the women's locker room, right...?
Nanatsuki Koshimizu was adjusting his scarf in a somewhat unfamiliar manner. When he saw everyone's gazes on him, he was stunned for a moment and instinctively checked the time: "Eh, did it take so long? Sorry, it was a bit too leisurely."

Tang Ze pressed the corner of his mouth with his fist and coughed to cover it up.

Although in order to distinguish the self-proclaimed names, Karasawa automatically translated Koshimizu Nanatsuki's current self-proclaimed name into "young student" in his mind, the self-proclaimed name boku used by Koshimizu Nanatsuki is actually a self-proclaimed name commonly used by men.

Boku is a relatively less rough and gentler male self-reference in the Japanese self-reference system, so it is translated as "younger man". In order to emphasize their individuality and that they are not weak girls in the traditional sense, some young women also use this self-reference.

Nanatsuki Koshimizu said this in order to create an image of herself as young and lively with a lively personality, and to be as close to the identity of a high school student as possible. After all, she is actually 20 years old and a college student.

But combined with her relatively neutral voice and appearance, guys like Hattori Heiji certainly didn't recognize that she was actually a girl at first glance.

Nanatsuki Koshimizu adjusted her scarf and tugged at the hem of her skirt, looking troubled: "There are so many rules in my high school. It's quite troublesome to dress exactly as required. The skirt must be 3-5 cm below the knee, the scarf must be tied symmetrically, and black socks must be worn. You are not allowed to perm or dye your hair, you can put on makeup but you can't trim your eyebrows... Alas, I was born with non-black hair, so I was warned by many teachers..."

She was trying to explain her uncomfortable and slow changing speed, but the shocked Hattori Heiji didn't care about that at all.

"You, you are..." You turned out to be a woman...

Realizing that the second half of the sentence was particularly rude, Hattori Heiji swallowed it down with difficulty and glanced at everyone present.

Kudo, he, and the guy named Tokitsu Junya all looked like they were unable to recover for a while. However, Akechi Goro and Hakuba Tan just smiled, as if they had expected this.

So Hattori Heiji immediately held his temper and changed the subject: "You are on a show now, not in school, it's okay to relax a little."

Nanatsuki Koshimizu brushed her bangs, feeling very worried: "It's hard to say. What if after the show is broadcast, they say that I have damaged the image of the school? Then I will have to write a self-criticism for them when I go on the show..."

"Ha, that's too exaggerated..."

"Who knows..." Koshimizu Nanatsuki shrugged, her eyes looking over the shoulders of several people and vaguely meeting Tang Ze's eyes.

This plan was originally planned by Nanatsuki Koshimizu herself, but after being handled by Goro Akechi and Rena Mizunashi, it was transformed into the work of Shinichi Kudo.

She didn't mind the issue of authorship, after all, according to her plan, this variety show was going to be a big success, and she was actually cheating Nichimi TV, making them pay but get nothing in return, which would also lower the real murderer's guard and make them mistakenly think that the puzzle that matched the case was an unintentional act by Kudo Shinichi. She was mainly worried that the TV station's presumptuous decision would affect her original plan.

She must make the real murderer reveal his ugly face in front of the camera, admit his incompetence and mistakes, and correct the previous direction of the criminal investigation, only then will she have hope of completely rescuing her friend.

At this time, nothing can go wrong...

Tang Ze gave her a calm look and tapped his watch.

He had already used his power to exaggerate the issue, making Rena Mizunashi mistakenly believe that he had some deeper purpose in doing this show, thus indirectly transferring control to himself.

Although there are many variables, the direction of the variety show will still be controlled by them.

Thinking of this, Tang Ze glanced back vaguely.

There, Jinpei Matsuda, dressed as an ordinary TV staff, was pretending to help Shimabukuro Kimie carry the props, and as he walked past them, he silently attached the prepared bug to the hem of Tokitsu Junya's clothes.

"Okay, according to the procedure, the next step is to wait for Miss Mizunashi Reina to come to us." After clicking his watch, Tang Ze pretended to recall the procedure, "But, it's already this time, why hasn't she come yet?"

"Ah, Miss Host? She should still be in her dressing room when I came out just now." Nanatsuki Koshimizu turned her head and looked at the women's dressing room behind her, "I'll go ask her."

She took the lead and went forward to knock on the door politely, but after three times, there was no response.

"Strange, I saw she was still inside before I came out..." As she said this, she pretended to grab the door handle, then frowned, lowered her head and looked at the palm of her hand.

Some reddish-brown moist liquid appeared on her palm and was flowing along her palm lines, with no sign of solidifying at all.

"There's blood on the door handle!" She frowned and turned to look at the person behind her. "This room is locked. Do you have a spare key or something?"

"There is no such thing. This is a dressing room and a women's locker room. Considering personal privacy, it can only be locked from the inside." The staff member next to him waved his hands quickly.

"That's troublesome. If the dressing room has the same structure as ours, it should only have two ventilation windows, right?" Bai Ma held up his chin. "It's directly connected to the ventilation duct, and it's at a high position in the corridor. It's hard to confirm the situation."

"It's hard to confirm, but we have to check the situation now. What if something really happened..." Tokatsu Junya's expression was serious, as if he had immediately entered the state of solving the case. "Let's find a ladder and check the size of the ventilation duct..."

Before he could continue speaking, he saw Hattori Heiji tuck his elbows under his clasped arms and, without saying a word, slammed into the door.

Even after seeing blood, these people were still able to discuss how to observe the internal situation so calmly. They really can sit still!

“Hey, hey, you...! What if Miss Mizuno is changing clothes...!” Koshimizu Nanatsuki shouted, but it was too late to stop her.

The door of the dressing room was open for everyone to see, and the door to the dressing room inside was also open.

With her back to them, a familiar figure was slumped in front of the makeup mirror. Her curly hair and high ponytail, as well as the clothes she was wearing that they had just seen, all proved that what Nanatsuki Koshimizu said was right. Rena Mizunashi was indeed sitting in the dressing room.

Behind her, a sharp blade with a flashing cold light was stuck in her back. Blood flowed down her clothes and stained the stool under her, forming a small pool of blood on the ground.

"Oh my God, Miss Mizuno! Hey, Mizuno..." Hattori Heiji opened his eyes wide, raised his foot and was about to rush inside, but was pulled back by the white horse behind him.

Another person who had a similarly relaxed attitude was Goro Akechi. He looked ahead at the scene that looked like a murder scene and smiled playfully.

"It's fake." Seeing Hattori Heiji's puzzled look, Tang Ze said softly, "I've already told you that I'm very sensitive to the smell of blood."

After saying that, Tang Ze turned his gaze and looked at Tokatsu Junya with interest.

Everyone was moving forward. Even the white-horse detective who had discovered something knew that this was probably a segment designed by the program crew. He observed his surroundings in a very natural manner, trying to obtain information.

Only this greasy-haired and powdered guy, who originally loved to show off his presence, turned pale and couldn't help but take two steps back.

Of course he had to retreat, because he must have recalled some familiar scenes.

This was the first step that Karasawa took against Junya Tokitsu after he revised the script for Rena Mizuno.

A year ago, in a seaside resort in Hokkaido, a woman was stabbed to death with a knife from behind while changing into her swimsuit in the locker room. The door was locked, and the last person to leave the room insisted that the deceased was still alive when he left.

There is no doubt that this is a suspenseful locked room murder case, and it is also the beginning of Tokatsu Junya's fame.

He became famous locally by solving this case...if he had really uncovered the truth at that time.

The murderer of the case was identified as the third-to-last girl who left the room, and who was also the victim's best friend who came on vacation with her. Although there were some flaws in the evidence, the prosecution accepted Tokatsu Junya's statement and has brought charges against the murderer.

And this is what Tang Ze believes to be the first wrongful case he has created.

(End of this chapter)