"Alright, Director Tsugawa, sorry to have bothered you."
Having found no useful clues, Inspector Megure frowned, ended his questioning of Director Tsugawa, and routinely instructed him.
"If you remember any clues, or if there any news about Tamada-san, please notify the police immediately."
He waved his hand, signaling Takagi and Sato to pack up.
"Yes, yes, I will cooperate, I will cooperate!" Director Tsugawa bowed repeatedly, watching the three officers leave the adult reading area and head towards the library entrance.
Seeing this, Conan immediately chased after them with his short legs, lowering his voice and calling out, "Officer Takagi! Officer Takagi!"
Officer Takagi stopped, saw it was Conan, and crouched down. "Conan? What are you doing here?"
"I'm here with friends to read comics." Conan pointed to the three little ones in the children's section, "Officer Takagi, I just heard you were investigating Tamada-san disappearance? What exactly happened?"
Officer Takagi glanced at Inspector Megure and Sato, who were walking ahead, and whispered to Conan.
"Hmm, Tamada Kazuo-san is an employee here. He didn't go home after his night shift, which involved closing the library and taking inventory, the day before yesterday.
The strange thing is, his wife said he has an unshakeable habit of calling her to report he's safe before leaving work every day. But on the day he disappeared, he didn't make that call."
Takagi's expression became serious: "We, the police, suspect that Tamada-san was very likely murdered or kidnapped inside the library during the period after the library closed.
Considering that Tamada-san wife did not receive any ransom calls… the possibility of him being murdered is higher."
He sighed, "It's just that we've searched almost every corner of the library, but we haven't found the body. Next, we can only expand our search to the surrounding areas of the library."
"Murdered in the library?"
Conan recalled Director Tsugawa's frequent nervous sweating and the conveniently maintained surveillance cameras, and suspicion arose in his heart.
Perhaps Tamada-san body is still in this library after he was murdered, it's hard to say.
After watching Officer Takagi leave, Conan returned to the Detective Boys.
Genta was still reading comics, while Mitsuhiko and Ayumi looked at Conan curiously.
"Conan, we heard it! There's a body hidden in this library, right?" Ayumi said with some excitement, "Why don't we, the Detective Boys, find this body?"
"Exactly, exactly! The police—it seems they can't solve cases at all. If we help find the body, it would be a great achievement!" Mitsuhiko chimed in.
Conan reluctantly said, "It's too dangerous for children to do something like this, and it's almost dark and the library is closing soon. You should all go home first."
Genta raised his fist and looked at Conan with dissatisfaction. "Conan, aren't you a child yourself? I think you want to get rid of us and take all the credit, right?"
"That's not it." Conan gave an awkward laugh. He really couldn't handle these three mischievous kids.
Seeing that he couldn't persuade the three kids to leave, Conan simply made a division of labor and let them help in the search.
Thus, the four began a thorough search inside the library.
They checked under reading tables, in the gaps between bookshelves, and even the utility room and tea pantry, but found nothing.
"Let's go upstairs and look!" Mitsuhiko suggested.
The group then headed for the elevator.
The elevator doors opened, and several people were already inside.
After the four squeezed in, the elevator emitted a "beep, beep, beep" overload alarm.
The capacity was 7 people. the 4 of them plus the original 4 people made exactly 8.
"It's overweight." Genta grumbled.
Just as everyone was looking at each other, wondering who should get off, a girl wearing a black short skirt and long boots, with black hair and cat ear headband, gracefully stepped out from the crowd.
This was Nekomiya Mana's appearance in the eyes of ordinary people.
"I'll take the stairs, nya~." Nekomiya Mana tilted her head, "If I climb the stairs, I'll be faster."
After she finished speaking, without waiting for others to react, she turned and agilely disappeared around the corner of the stairwell.
"That older sister wears cat ears on her head and has a verbal tic, she's so cute." Ayumi blinked curiously.
"Is it Cosplay?" Mitsuhiko guessed.
After the elevator went up, the Detective Boys continued their search on the upper floors.
However, during the subsequent search, Conan was surprised to find that the girl with the cat ear headband also seemed to be looking for something.
She was acting suspiciously, constantly moving quickly between bookshelves, occasionally pulling out a book or two to quickly flip through the pages, and then putting them back.
After another chance encounter.
Conan couldn't help but walk up and strike up a conversation in an innocent tone. "We meet again, Cat Ear-neesan. Are you looking for an interesting book? I've seen you looking for things here all this time."
Nekomiya Mana paused, looked down at Conan: "Ah, it's you nya, big-headed elementary schooler. I am indeed looking for something."
She didn't stop her actions, continuing to pull out a thick, hardcover foreign book, skillfully opening the hardcover and the gap between the inner pages to check.
After finding nothing she was looking for, Nekomiya Mana closed the book, put it back on the shelf, tilted her head to look at Conan, her cat ears gently twitching.
"I'am Nekomiya Mana, an investigator from the Cunning Hares Detective Agency! I'm investigating the director of this library, how about that? Pretty amazing, right?."
"Cunning Hares Detective Agency?!"
Hearing the words Cunning Hares, Conan's heart suddenly leaped.
He had searched high and low for it, only to find it unexpectedly.
He suppressed his excitement and eagerly asked. "Nekomiya-neechan, is there another older sister in your agency with pink twin pigtails and a very good figure?"
Conan gestured with his hands to describe Nicole's features.
Nekomiya Mana nodded, licking her hand like a kitten licking its paw. "Such exaggerated dimensions nya~, you mean Boss Nicole, right? Do you know her?"
"I saw this Nicole-neechan once on the Shinkansen before." Conan replied sweetly, his heart blooming with joy.
It really was her! The Cunning Hares Detective Agency was the Cunning Hares Gin mentioned!
Since Nicole was a detective like himself, she must be full of a sense of justice, right?
Conan looked at Nekomiya Mana, who didn't seem very wary, and tentatively asked. "Nekomiya-neechan, if you're a detective, what exactly are you investigating about that library director?"
Nekomiya Mana said fiercely: "That Director Tsugawa is not a good person nya! He uses his position to hide drugs in the interlayers of those unpopular imported books, secretly trafficking them. I'm here to find conclusive evidence of his drug concealment nya."
Drug trafficking!
Conan's mind buzzed, and he instantly connected it to Tamada-san disappearance.
Perhaps Tamada-san was murdered to silence him because he discovered the library director's secret?
Thinking of this, Conan's impression of the Cunning Hares rose another notch.
Not only do they fight against underground organizations like the Black Organization, but they also secretly investigate Director Tsugawa's drug trafficking.
The Cunning Hares is simply a model of justice! an example of public-spiritedness! ( T/N: Yes yes, you are correct Conan, they are indeed a model of justice )