Chapter 137: Suspect Yor
Franky was extremely annoyed. He was dressed in a suit and tie, styling his favorite spiky hair, when he heard Natsukawa's request and immediately became displeased.
Today was Valentine's Day! Love was calling to him—who could resist a girl's charm? This guy asking him for a favor at a time like this was simply unreasonable.
Franky wouldn't object to official missions, but asking him to investigate Miss Yor's brother was unacceptable.
Was this official business? This was abuse of power! He absolutely couldn't tolerate it, otherwise Natsukawa would become even more demanding next time!
"Franky, Yuri works at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Don't you have official intelligence channels in Japan? The information shouldn't be hard to find.
I don't think you want others to know that your spiky hair makes you ten centimeters taller, right?"
"..."
This was too much!!
Franky vowed that he wouldn't let Natsukawa find any leverage on him again, or he would definitely get revenge!
Natsukawa softened his tone and continued, "It should be quick—half an hour at most. During that time, I can give you some dating tips. You probably haven't dated much, right? I have plenty of practical experience!"
"What dating tips? You don't know anything!" Franky retorted, though his expression relaxed slightly.
"Hey! I'm a dating expert who's won over mission targets and their families in numerous operations. Aren't you going to listen to my advice?"
"Tch, you scumbag!"
Half an hour later, Natsukawa sat on the sofa, reviewing the information Franky had sent him about Yuri.
Playing hard to get worked every time!
Franky always acted tough on the surface, but in the end, he'd obediently sit down, listen to advice, and look up the information.
Yuri's file wasn't particularly extensive.
According to the intel, Yuri was 25 years old. After graduating, he'd entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the merit exam and had been working there for almost two years now.
However, his background was somewhat unusual.
The more Natsukawa read, the deeper his frown became. This younger brother of Yor's seemed a bit suspicious!
He'd graduated from the police academy but hadn't entered the Public Security Bureau or police system. Instead, he'd gone to work for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The documents contained no details about Yuri's specific duties or work reports within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs?" Natsukawa crossed his legs, leaned back on the sofa, and stared up at the ceiling light. "Could Yuri be a spy trained by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?"
It was strange for a police academy graduate to work at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with virtually no work reports on file.
After all, regular work at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs required frequent documentation, yet Yuri's file contained very little.
Considering it was the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Natsukawa suspected that Yuri might be a Japanese intelligence operative trained by the Ministry.
This wasn't impossible. Many spies infiltrated other countries by working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, using the identity of an embassy staff member to conduct investigations.
This was common practice in many countries.
Of course, there were also those like Shuichi Akai who directly assumed false identities to infiltrate, but using embassy credentials facilitated participation in high-level gatherings in various countries, making intelligence gathering much easier.
From the documents alone, Natsukawa couldn't obtain any more concrete information. The only useful thing was the photograph.
No, it wasn't entirely useless—at least Natsukawa had developed some suspicions about Yuri, and he needed to be more cautious in future interactions.
Yuri looked quite young in the photo—you could easily mistake him for a fresh graduate. It was surprising how successful he was at such a young age. He seemed to be a high-caliber talent like Furuya Rei.
Although both were police academy graduates, they weren't from the same class. Yuri had only graduated two years ago, while Furuya was probably three or four years ahead of him.
Over the next few hours, Natsukawa went shopping for groceries and drinks. Since he was meeting his girlfriend's brother, the atmosphere couldn't be too shabby.
If Yuri hadn't insisted on eating at home, Natsukawa would have preferred taking him to a high-end restaurant. Although expensive, it would have been more impressive, and most importantly, it would have saved him the trouble of ingredient preparation and cleanup afterward.
It was four o'clock, and Natsukawa had finished preparing all the ingredients.
He'd arranged to meet Yuri at seven, so starting to cook around six would be perfect. Cooking too early would leave the food cold and unappetizing.
If all went well, he could simply relax on the sofa for a nap until six.
However, things didn't go as planned.
Natsukawa had barely lain down for ten minutes when the doorbell rang.
Thinking it was his brother-in-law arriving early, Natsukawa carefully adjusted his appearance, putting on a suit and tie, only to find it was Kogoro Mouri at the door.
"Uncle Mouri?" Natsukawa immediately deflated. This guy really had terrible timing.
"Natsukawa, quick! There's been a case!"
Kogoro rushed into the living room, grabbed Natsukawa's car keys, and practically shoved him into the GT-R's driver's seat before he could even ask what was wrong.
The car started and headed toward the location Kogoro specified. Natsukawa finally caught his breath. Before he could ask anything, Kogoro explained,
"Something happened at the Valentine's Day chocolate-making party that Ran and Yor attended. Apparently there was a murder, and all five of them are stuck at the scene."
"Five people?"
Kogoro nodded. "Ran, Yor, Conan, Anya, and Ran's classmate Sonoko Suzuki."
Natsukawa remained relatively calm. Encountering a murder while out with Conan was par for the course—he was used to it by now.
"Uncle Mouri, this isn't the first time we've dealt with a case. I've never seen you in such a hurry before."
"I heard Yor is a suspect."
VROOOOM—
The GT-R's engine roared to life, the hood vibrating as the car shot through the streets like a bullet.
Other things were negotiable, but if his girlfriend was being treated as a suspect, Natsukawa absolutely couldn't stand idly by.
Soon, the GT-R came to a smooth stop, and Kogoro shakily released his death grip on the passenger-side handle.
"There's no need to drive quite so... fast."
Kogoro's face had turned pale, his lips white. It was the first time he'd seen someone drive like that through city streets.
Didn't he see how many pedestrians were on the road? They were lucky no one got hit.
Natsukawa didn't answer, getting out of the car directly, a cold expression on his face. If it were Eri in trouble, Uncle Mouri might have driven even faster!
The Metropolitan Police Department officers didn't stop the two—they'd met many times before and were all acquaintances.
"What happened, Inspector Megure?" Natsukawa led Kogoro through the cordon and into the scene, running into Inspector Megure, who was making a phone call in the front yard.
After waiting a moment, Inspector Megure hung up the phone, rubbed his temples, and said somewhat helplessly, "Mouri, Natsukawa—you've finally arrived!"
"Inspector Megure, can you tell me about the case?" Natsukawa's expression was grave. It was absurd that Yor was being treated as a suspect!
Valentine's Day was a recurring theme in the Detective Conan world, often used as a plot device, so Natsukawa was somewhat familiar with cases that occurred on this holiday.
A Valentine's Day chocolate-making party—if he wasn't mistaken, this was the first Valentine's Day case in the original story, making it extremely memorable.
The culprit in this case should be the victim's aunt.
(End of Chapter)
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