"Nekomiya-neechan, I'm really curious about your Cunning Hares detective agency. Could we exchange contact information?"
Conan took out his phone, attempting to use Nekomiya Mana as a breakthrough to get more information about the Cunning Hares.
"Contact information?" Nekomiya Mana lazily flicked her tail. "I don't have troublesome things like cell phones nya~. If you have a case you want us Cunning Hares to help with...
You can go to the Beika Town commercial street and find a video rental store called Random Play. There, rent a video called 'Starlight Knight' and then just don't return it, meow."
"Rent it... and don't return it?" Conan was stunned.
"That's right." Nekomiya Mana nodded. "As long as that 'Starlight Knight' video tape is overdue, the video store will issue a recovery request, and we at Cunning Hares will naturally come find you nya~."
Random Play?
Isn't that the name of the video store Rin-san runs?
So, She really isn't just an ordinary video store owner.
Conan couldn't help but press further. "I know that video store you're talking about, Rin-neechan Video store right?. Is she also a member of the Cunning Hares? She seems very smart."
Nekomiya Mana licked the back of her hand and shook her head. "Rin? She's not nya~. She's a good friend of our Cunning Hares, and also our long-term client nya~."
Conan still wanted to ask more questions.
But just then, the library's bell rang.
Immediately following, Director Tsugawa's voice came over the broadcast.
"Attention, dear readers, the library will be closing in fifteen minutes. Please take your personal belongings and exit in an orderly fashion. I Repeat, the library will be closing in fifteen minutes..."
"It's closing nya!" Nekomiya Mana's cat ears perked up alertly. "I haven't found what I'm looking for yet, I can't leave just like this nya!"
Nekomiya Mana agilely climbed onto the library's metal rafters and hid.
Conan also didn't want to leave just like that. His gaze quickly scanned the room, finally locking onto a row of large storage lockers for cleaning supplies in a corner of the reading area.
"We'll hide in the lockers and come out to find the body after everyone leaves." Conan signaled to his companions.
Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, and Genta followed closely, and the four quickly squeezed into a slightly larger locker.
The space inside the locker was cramped. The Detective Boys huddled together, not daring to breathe loudly.
Conan left the locker door ajar, creating a gap to observe outside.
Time passed minute by minute.
The footsteps and sounds of tidying up in the library gradually disappeared, and the main door emitted a heavy locking sound.
Just as Conan thought the library was empty, a faint sound of footsteps approached from a distance.
Director Tsugawa had returned.
He furtively looked around, and after confirming no one was present, he quickly walked towards the social science book section.
Through the door crack, Conan clearly saw Director Tsugawa stop in front of a bookshelf, skillfully move aside several thick social science books, and retrieve several foreign books with unusually thick covers from a hidden compartment in the bookshelf.
Director Tsugawa spread the books open on a nearby reading table and skillfully used a small knife to pry open the adhesive joint between the hardback cover and the inner pages.
White powder packaged in clear plastic bags was clearly revealed.
"Hmph, that busybody Tamada..."
Director Tsugawa transferred the drugs into the briefcase he had brought, while muttering curses. "He thought he could threaten me by discovering my secret? Just Dream! Wouldn't it have been better to just shut up? He had to force my hand to do it."
A triumphant smile appeared on his face. "Now it's good, the body is hidden in the most unexpected place in this library, no one will find it! Once the heat dies down and this batch of goods is sold, I'll fly far away, hahaha."
It was indeed murder to silence him! And the body was still hidden inside the library!
Listening to Director Tsugawa's monologue, Conan and the Detective Boys in the locker held their breath.
Drug dealers are among the most deranged criminals, and the children now felt a sense of dread.
Genta, squeezed next to Conan, had his leg go numb from maintaining one position for too long and couldn't help but shift his body.
As a result, he accidentally bumped his back against the metal inner wall of the locker.
Clang--
A muffled thud was exceptionally clear in the quiet library.
"Who? Who's there?!"
Director Tsugawa suddenly looked up, pulled a sharp folding knife from his pocket, and cautiously approached the locker step by step.
"Oh no!"
Conan's heart skipped a beat. Ayumi, Genta, and Mitsuhiko were terrified, clinging to Conan's arms like octopuses, making it impossible for Conan to even free his hand to use his tranquilizer watch.
"Meow~"
At this tense moment, a cat's meow came from the rafters.
Director Tsugawa's attention was diverted, and he also let out a sigh of relief.
"So a cat ran in. It's all that Tamada's fault, making me so jumpy now."
...After Director Tsugawa left.
Ayumi carefully crawled out of the locker. "That cat's meow must have come from Nekomiya-neechan, right? She helped us distract the Director."
"It definitely was." Mitsuhiko wiped sweat from his brow, relieved after their ordeal. "If it weren't for her, we would have been done for."
"We can't waste the time Nekomiya bought for us." Conan's eyes were firm. "While Director Tsugawa is temporarily gone, we need to quickly find Tamada-san body. That's the most crucial evidence!"
The four began searching again.
As they passed the elevator, seeing the sign for a seven-person capacity, a light bulb went off in Conan's mind.
The elevator's seven-person capacity referred to the weight of seven adults.
When they had taken the elevator earlier, although there were eight people, the children's weight would certainly not have caused the elevator to be overloaded.
There was only one truth, and that was—
Someone was hidden in the elevator, in a place they couldn't see!
Conan saw the elevator stopped on the first floor and not moving. He decisively found a crowbar and called his companions to help pry open the tightly shut elevator door.
Looking down the elevator shaft...
On top of the elevator car, a male corpse lay there.
Only, to Conan's surprise...
Nekomiya Mana was there too!
Seeing Conan pry open the elevator door above, Nekomiya Mana made a big jump and emerged from the elevator shaft.
"Nekomiya-neechan? how did you found the body before us? did you deduce it too?" Conan was both surprised and delighted, yet also a little disappointed.
Being beaten to the truth by Nekomiya Mana, who didn't seem very smart, was a bit hard for him to accept.
Nekomiya Mana scratched her ear. "Deduction? No. But it's close, I used physics nya~."
She pointed towards the stairwell.
There, Director Tsugawa, tied up like a dumpling, with his own sock stuffed in his mouth, wriggled his body incessantly like a maggot.
His swollen face was covered in tears.
"He told me voluntarily nya~" Nekomiya Mata added kindly.
T/N: Quick question: do you prefer I use "meow" or "nya" for Nekomata? or use both just in different situation.