In the touching reunion of a family, two out of the three couldn't get up.
Knowing that the couple opposite him were the Kudo husband and wife, Kazawa didn't go all out. Although, with his understanding of the Conan world, even if he did, it wouldn't be a problem—
The red side of the Conan world can be summed up as "guns of kindness." Haven't you seen the hundred-shot hundred-hit sniper Akai? The only way enemies die is by suicide. There's not even a single chance to kill someone on camera. In short, no matter how the red side makes a move, they just can't kill anyone. Look at a soccer ball that can knock a naval cannon 90 degrees—Kudo Yukiko took that hit and didn't die, did she?
But getting thrown around like that, it's not strange to be knocked out for half a day or even a whole day.
"I'm asking you two, are you really that free…?" Conan sat on the other side of the coffee table, staring angrily at the couple slumped over on the sofa. "Did Dr. Agasa snitch on me?"
If his globe-trotting parents had even a little bit of reliability, they wouldn't be so completely unreliable.
What the heck does "teaming up to teach the careless Shinichi a lesson" mean? They probably just wanted to scare him for fun and laugh at his reaction!
Rubbing his back and curled up in a pile of cushions, Kudo Yusaku struggled to sit upright. "Something this serious happened—how could he not inform us?"
"Yeah, Shinichi," Yukiko leaned on her husband and agreed. "You faced such great danger, and you still thought of handling it all by yourself. Where did you even inherit this strange hot-bloodedness from…"
Kudo Yusaku sighed, looking at Kazawa walking behind the sofa, diligently cleaning up all the mechanisms in the hall. He pouted in slight dissatisfaction. "The only reason you got through this today is luck—you had an information advantage. We didn't expect Kazawa-kun to be part of the equation. If it was just you, the situation would've been completely one-sided."
Their plan had been tightly designed, perfectly predicting the mindset of their own brat. If not for the high combat-power variable that was Kazawa, there was no way they would have lost so badly.
"I knew there was a big risk, so I was already hiding—"
"No! You totally didn't understand!" Yukiko glared angrily, "Do you know why your dad and I freaked out when we saw you got caught? You still don't understand what you're up against."
Kudo Yusaku pushed up his large glasses—exactly the same style Conan wears now—and spoke in a low tone, "If your identity really gets exposed, your mom and I, the Mouri family, Dr. Agasa, Kazawa-kun… Everyone you've come in contact with will face dangers like today's. Shinichi, come abroad with us. I'll ask my friends in Interpol to help investigate the drug that shrunk you. Until you recover, staying in Japan just isn't safe."
Conan lowered his head.
By now, the fear from being hunted and the thrill from turning the tables had both faded. He understood everything his parents said made sense. What he was facing was very likely a deeply rooted, massive organization. They weren't just a violent group either—a violent gang couldn't have developed a strange drug that shrinks people.
Emotionally and logically, this wasn't something a high school student could handle alone. His parents' wish for him to leave with them was totally reasonable.
But… leaving Japan…
In Conan's mind, he pictured Ran tossing and turning at night, worrying about Shinichi Kudo. Then he turned to Kazawa, crouched down, quietly cleaning up spilled thumbtacks, with an unreadable expression.
"No, I can't go." He shook his head firmly. "I have a reason I must stay."
He couldn't just leave. The fact that Kudo Shinichi's death hadn't made the news was already a huge red flag. If that organization really dug deeper into this missing person, Ran—who had been with him at the amusement park that day—would be the first suspect. And the tricky case that had started out as just an excuse had turned into a real situation. Unless there was absolutely no choice, Kazawa wouldn't have entrusted a life-changing case to someone who looked like a kid.
He couldn't abandon them. He couldn't abandon his responsibilities. He still had to protect Ran…
"Shinichi…" Yukiko easily saw that familiar stubbornness in his now childish face and sighed. Just who did this kid inherit his hard-headedness from? Neither she nor Yusaku were this inflexible!
The conversation fell into a stalemate.
"Here, black tea." The silence was broken by the only adult in the room still moving freely—Kazawa.
Yusaku reflexively took the cup and thanked him, then immediately stiffened up, realizing this was the guy who had thrown him around until he was still sore. He stared at the tea, unable to drink.
"Thank you, Kazawa-kun." Yukiko smiled, clearly having a good impression of the youthful and handsome Kazawa. She thanked him sincerely and, setting aside the argument with her son for the moment, took the initiative to ask about Kazawa. "Kazawa-kun, are you Shinichi's friend? I didn't think he'd have a friend he could share secrets with. This brat doesn't even take the initiative to contact us…" She glanced at Conan, a little sour.
Her child had grown up. He had new friends, new secrets, and he wouldn't even tell his parents.
Kazawa gave a mysterious smile, looked at Conan, raised an eyebrow with an expression full of mischief, as if asking, "Should I reveal your dark past?"
Conan held his forehead and once again regretted his stupid way of getting exposed.
"A guy like him would never tell on his own." Yusaku knew exactly what kind of son he had. He gave a cold snort. "I bet he acted like a kid too poorly and got found out, right?"
"He really didn't pull it off." Kazawa nodded.
Yukiko recalled her son's awkward performance whenever he tried to lie and couldn't help worrying, touching her cheek. "At your age, I was already nominated for Best Actress at a film festival. Why did you only inherit your dad's love for deduction, and not even a bit of my acting talent…"
"That's not true! I—" Conan gritted his teeth. But he couldn't bring himself to admit that he accidentally jabbed Kazawa with a syringe, and that it probably didn't work well on the arm, so the performance was cut off halfway. He could only dryly say, "It was an accident! Kazawa finding out was an accident!"
Yukiko clapped her hands suddenly, as if struck by inspiration. "I've got it! Since Shinichi insists on staying in Japan, then the genius, beautiful actress Yukiko will give you acting training! At the very least, you should be able to fool the Mouri family!"
"Hey!!"
"It's settled! First lesson: let's learn how kids should act spoiled!" Yukiko looked at Shinichi's little-kid face with nostalgia and patted Yusaku. "When Shinichi was this age, he'd cry in my arms and beg me to buy him a new soccer ball…"
"AHHH!!" Conan covered his ears in collapse. When he saw Kazawa sitting to the side, shaking with laughter so hard his teacup was trembling, he grew even more embarrassed. "Stop! Please stop!"
For a moment, the Kudo household was filled with cheerful air.