Reading settings
Chapter 824: What's With This Sudden Chaos?
Lark pressed Hissashi's head back into his collar and closed the box containing the keychain.
If Hissashi liked it, he could keep it, but before that, the keychain needed to go back to Police Headquarters for another round.
Hendata Takunori saw Lark press the snake's head back into his collar without changing expression, and started to wonder if it was a toy snake. Soon, his gaze lingered on the small box in Lark's hand again, "Mr. Ike..."
"Red Horse."
Lark said two words, 'Red Horse', not 'Red Hare Horse'.
Hendata Takunori wiped the sweat from his forehead again with a handkerchief, looking as if he had lost all his strength. He lowered his head, his shoulders slumped, "Yes, that should be the Red Horse from the fire scene. You don't need to keep it..."
"Ma..." Hissashi darted his head out of the collar with a 'whoosh', and was promptly pressed back in by Lark with quick hands.
"It will bring you disaster, no, no," Hendata Takunori raised both hands to cover his head, staring at the ground in front of his feet. He closed his eyes tightly and said, "That serial arsonist, perhaps it's... I... I originally planned to give the Lucky Cat keychain to someone else, but I don't know why, every time the keychain in the box would turn into the Red Horse I used before. I don't know, I really don't know... I have sleepwalking. Maybe that's what I did..."
Hissashi poked his head out again and said quickly, "Master, don't press me! I just want to see what's wrong with this guy."
Lark withdrew his hand.
Hendata Takunori's condition was indeed not good; he looked like he was having a breakdown.
"I'll turn myself in to the police, but before that, I want to..." Hendata Takunori lowered the hands covering his head. When he looked up at Lark, he saw the snake's head poking out from under Lark's collar again, and he froze, "Want... want..."
This snake could flick its tongue and its eyes were very lively. Was it actually real?!
Lark turned his head and looked at the open space in front of the fire scene, "The police are here."
The large fire had been extinguished, and firefighters were still checking and putting out embers. Not far behind the fire truck, a newly arrived police car was parked.
"Ah, yes..." Hendata Takunori looked up. Seeing Lark walking towards them, he no longer cared about being afraid of the snake and quickly followed, "I want to retrieve this keychain. You can't keep it anymore, otherwise..."
"This needs to be taken back by the police for investigation," Lark interrupted. He took out his phone, sent an email, cleared his outbox without checking the reply, and put his phone in his pocket, "To compare with the Red Horse from the previous fire scenes."
This person talked too slowly. How did he run an antique shop like this...
That shop definitely wouldn't rip people off. He could go check it out sometime.
"Y-you're right," Hendata Takunori breathed a sigh of relief, "It's good if the police take it."
"I don't plan to let you take this keychain back," Lark said, "If you gave it to me, it's mine. It will be returned to me after the police investigation is finished."
"Why?" Hendata Takunori couldn't understand.
"I like it," Lark said with a calm expression.
"O-okay," Hendata Takunori broke into a sweat, "But, I still can't let you keep the keychain..."
Hissashi said faintly, "Master, let me talk to him. I've never failed a negotiation with Kaitou."
Lark reached out and pressed Hissashi back under his collar, "If you are the arsonist, and you're already arrested and taken back to Police Headquarters, keeping the Red Horse won't cause me any problems, right?"
Hendata Takunori nodded blankly, as if this made sense, "Okay then, you keep it..."
"Hey, listen," A burly man with a buzz cut and a cigarette hanging from his mouth stood in front of the police car, talking to Mouri Kogoro, "Mouri, you shouldn't call your former superior 'Fire Dad'!"
"Former superior?" Hattori Heiji turned his head curiously to observe the man.
"He's Inspector Yumichou of the Investigation Division 1, Arson Investigation Team 1 at Police Headquarters," Mouri Kogoro introduced.
Lark walked closer, seeing the group chatting enthusiastically. He and Hendata Takunori waited aside, not stepping forward to interrupt, and not deliberately observing Yumichou.
This was an interesting person.
As Mouri Kogoro's former superior, Inspector Megure's past, wife, and love story were all revealed, while Yumichou, also a former superior of Mouri Kogoro, didn't even have his full name appear in the original plot.
If Yumichou had only appeared once, it would be understandable; a minor character probably doesn't deserve a full name. But Yumichou appeared more than once.
This meant that the story of this 'Fire Dad' was probably yet to come...
"Uncle, aren't you from the Homicide Unit?" Hattori Heiji asked.
"I used to be in the Arson Investigation Team as well," Mouri Kogoro explained.
"You caused me a lot of trouble back then, Mouri. Whenever there was a fire, you'd immediately determine it was arson, rush into the scene, and trample all over the remaining items," Inspector Yumichou reached out and put his hand on Mouri Kogoro's shoulder, staring at Mouri Kogoro, and suddenly laughed, "I was warned by the Fire Department several times because of that, right!"
Mouri Kogoro gave a dry laugh, muttering in a low voice, "You weren't any different..."
"However, this fire must be arson," Inspector Yumichou said, the cigarette still in his mouth, returning to the main topic, "The Red Horse that appeared several times before was also found at this fire scene. After identification, it's exactly the same as the Red Horse toys found at the previous three fire scenes..."
A distinctively jointed hand reached out in front of the group. A keychain was hooked between the slightly bent index and middle fingers. A red statue of a person riding a horse hung from the connecting ring, still swaying slightly.
A calm voice: "Is it this?"
Mouri Kogoro turned around and saw Lark beside him, breaking out in a sweat.
His apprentice suddenly appearing and saying something so eerily was truly frightening.
"This is..." Hattori Heiji instinctively looked at Inspector Yumichou.
Inspector Yumichou's mouth was wide open, and the cigarette he was holding dropped. Fortunately, he took a step back in time, avoiding getting the cigarette burn on his clothes. He then looked up at the keychain in Lark's hand, and turned to stare at Lark, "Although the Red Horse from the fire scene didn't have a person statue on it, it does look very similar. Where did you get it?"
Lark turned to look at Hendata Takunori, who was standing weakly beside him with little presence, "He gave it to me."
Inspector Yumichou looked at Hendata Takunori in surprise, "Hendata?"
"Sorry, Inspector Yumichou," Hendata Takunori lowered his head, saw the still-burning cigarette butt that Yumichou had dropped on the ground, and couldn't resist stepping on it to put it out for Yumichou, "I... I might be that arsonist..."
"Might?" Inspector Yumichou said speechlessly.
"Inspector Yumichou, do you know Mr. Hendata?" Hattori Heiji asked.
"You know him too?" Inspector Yumichou said, looking at Lark with suspicion, "Then, who are you?"
Lark: "..."
Only asking now?
Conan: "..."
What's with this sudden chaos?
Hattori Heiji: "..."
It's a mess, a mess.
Mouri Kogoro: "..."
Let's sort this out. This needs a good sorting out after talking.
Inspector Yumichou: "..."
He should first confirm who this young man with Hendata is. That couldn't be wrong, could it? Why did Mouri and the others suddenly fall silent?
Hendata Takunori: "..."
Hmm? What's wrong? The police officer and the others aren't talking. Should he also be silent?
"Ahem, well... let me introduce," Mouri Kogoro snapped back to attention, deciding to clarify one thing at a time, "He is my apprentice, Ike Hassashi. This is Hattori Heiji, a high school detective from Osaka. And this one is Conan, a kid temporarily staying at my place. Hassashi, this is Inspector Yumichou, my former superior in the Arson Investigation Team."
"So you're his apprentice. I almost forgot, you're a famous detective now too," Yumichou said with emotion. It wasn't easy; Mouri actually managed to find the key points so quickly. He was acting a bit like a teacher. "So, what exactly is going on?"
"Let me explain," Hattori Heiji said seriously, "I took on a case. The client was Mrs. Morokuzu, who died in this fire. She said she had seen sneaky figures nearby at night recently. So I called Uncle Mouri, Brother Hassashi, and Conan to come investigate. We arrived here at 4:30 PM and met Mr. Hendata delivering the antique shop catalog and keychains to the Morokuzu house. Mrs. Morokuzu refused to accept them, so Brother Hassashi asked Mr. Hendata for them, and Mr. Hendata left the Morokuzu house."
"Immediately after, the man with glasses who was accompanying Mr. Morokuzu over there came to the Morokuzu house. Mrs. Morokuzu called him 'teacher', and he seemed to be a Feng Shui practitioner," Mouri Kogoro took over, "And shortly after Mrs. Morokuzu invited that Feng Shui practitioner inside, her sister, Miss Gondou Ito, visited, but after they exchanged a few words, the fortune teller was blocked outside the door by Mrs. Morokuzu closing it."
"Miss Gondou Ito is a fortune teller," Conan said cutely in his child's voice, "When she saw Brother Hassashi, she seemed very frightened and immediately turned and ran away."
"Oh?" Yumichou looked at Lark, "Do you know that Miss Gondou Ito?"
"About six days ago, I met her at the entrance of my apartment," Lark explained, "She gave me a crystal ball and introduced herself by name and profession."
"After the fortune teller left, we stayed at the entrance, sitting in the car Brother Hassashi drove to monitor the surroundings," Hattori Heiji said, "Because Mrs. Morokuzu said she was probably being paranoid and seeing things, and suddenly refused to let us understand the situation."
"We waited for two hours and noticed that the Feng Shui practitioner hadn't come out after going in, so we entered the courtyard to check the situation," Mouri Kogoro glanced at the male homeowner of the Morokuzu family who was still near the stretcher over there. His expression was strange for a moment, then he lowered his voice, "And we saw something difficult to speak of behind the living room window..."
Seeing Mouri Kogoro hesitate, Inspector Yumichou was somewhat puzzled, "Difficult to speak of?"
Mouri Kogoro leaned closer to Yumichou, "We saw Mrs. Morokuzu having an affair with that Feng Shui practitioner!"
Yumichou was speechless, a line of black across his forehead, "Mouri, what have you been doing with children around all day?"
Compared to that, sneaking into someone's courtyard to peek at them having an affair seemed even more despicable...
Wait!
Yumichou widened his eyes and stared at Mouri Kogoro, "Those footprints in front of the living room window are yours?!"
"Shh... shh..." Mouri Kogoro motioned for Yumichou to keep his voice down. He looked left and right, saw that no one was paying attention to them, and then said with a dry laugh, "I was just about to tell you about this..."
Yumichou glanced at Mouri Kogoro speechlessly, "Someone will come to get your shoe prints later!"
"What?" Mouri Kogoro looked as if he had been insulted, staring at Yumichou, "You're not suspecting us, are you?"
"It's to differentiate them from the footprints left by the arsonist!" Yumichou shouted, then felt a headache coming on, "And then?"
End of Chapter
Chapter 898: You're Not Human?!
Munmei was grabbed by the throat and pressed against the wall. The moment Lark climbed over the wall, all four claws came out, scratching four or five long bloodstains on the back of Lark's left hand and wrist.
After steadying himself on the wall, Lark immediately switched to holding Munmei by the back of the neck with his right hand. Ignoring the thrashing Munmei, he jumped back down the wall.
As soon as he landed, Fei Mo, who had flown over, started pulling at Munmei's fur with his beak and claws, letting out angry meows, "You've gone too far! If you weren't like my master, I wouldn't bother with you!"
Munmei instantly felt hurt. Even while being held by Lark, his four claws frantically swiped at Fei Mo, "Fei Mo! What do you mean by that?"
Lark lowered his head and looked at the bleeding scratches on his left hand. He silently revealed his sharp claws and then silently extended them in front of Munmei.
"Are you saying our fri... friendship..." Munmei noticed Fei Mo suddenly backed away. He looked at the hand in front of him with blood flowing down the back and the sharp claws...
Wait? Claws?
Munmei's eyes instantly widened. He leaned closer to look at Lark's fingernails, and even reached out with his paw to touch them. After realizing they weren't fake props, his gaze moved along the hand all the way to the calm face of the hand's owner.
Lark reasoned with Munmei, "You can't scratch me to death, but if I scratch you once, you might die."
This was the truth.
With Munmei's small claws, even if he scratched his neck, Lark would likely be saved. But with the length and sharpness of his claws, one scratch could disembowel Munmei, and if he scratched the neck, one could start thinking about a nice urn for Munmei.
Munmei was stunned for a moment, his voice turning shrill with distortion as he cried out, "You're not human?!"
Lark: "..."
Who is he cursing?
After crying out, Munmei still looked at Lark with a terrified expression of 'WTF, I need to be alone', "What kind of monster are you?"
Lark didn't answer. He gestured on Munmei's abdomen with his claw, "If you don't go to the hospital, I can only scratch your abdomen once."
"Hmph! You think I..." Munmei's words stopped. He looked down at someone's claw that had drawn a line of blood on his abdomen, "I..."
Lark stared at Munmei's abdomen, pondering where would be a good place to make the incision.
Not in a hospital, tools weren't complete, and there was no anesthesia. It was very troublesome...
Munmei felt a chill from being stared at. He felt like Lark was seriously considering how to make a hole in his belly. He steadied himself, "Alright, considering how sincere you are, I'll go to the hospital with you."
If you ignored the fur standing on end all over his body, a certain cat still had a lot of backbone.
Lark retracted his claws, "Have you been vaccinated before?"
Munmei stared intently at Lark's hand, filled with curiosity, completely forgetting his frustration, "You mean getting shots at the hospital, right? I've been there several times. Why are you asking this?"
"Tell me the address of your previous owner. I need your vaccination certificate," Lark said.
Munmei was silent for a moment, "Let me down first."
Lark squatted down and put Munmei on the ground.
Worst case, he'd just catch him again.
Munmei walked into the container covered with plastic sheeting. After a while, he came out holding a white plastic bag in his mouth, placed it at Lark's feet, and nodded his chin towards the plastic bag, "No need for so much trouble, it's inside."
Lark untied the knot on the plastic bag.
The plastic bag had claw marks and bite marks. Looking at the location and marks, it seemed Munmei had tied the knot himself.
There weren't many things in the plastic bag: a small booklet, an old yarn ball that had been scratched, and two little mice made of hemp rope.
Lark opened the booklet.
Indeed, it was a pet information manual.
The first page had a photo of Munmei. The edges of the photo were decorated with pink tape with heart patterns. The columns for Name, Owner's Name, and Date of Birth had neatly written handwriting, while the Purchase Location and Initial Physical Examination were in someone else's handwriting.
The next few pages were vaccination records from the hospital. There were labels from the vaccine bottles, signatures and stamps from the doctors and hospital, and a small paw print inked onto each page.
The booklet was very dirty. The bottom corner had traces of spilled liquid and being soaked in water, while the toys in the bag were cleaner, though some dirt and residue could still be seen in the crevices of the hemp rope.
He could probably guess that Munmei had dug these things out of a trash pile and washed them somewhere. However, the crevices in the hemp rope were difficult to clean thoroughly, and the paper pages were prone to wrinkling and ink bleeding after getting wet.
Additionally, there were many scratches on the booklet. Perhaps afraid the booklet would be ruined by scratching, the marks were not deep, but there were many of them, a dense and scattered pattern of scratches, like the imprint of Munmei's past frustration, hatred, and conflict.
"That woman threw all this away in a trash bag, and I felt like I might use it in the future," Munmei lifted his chin slightly, pretending that his past perverted behavior of frantically digging through the girl's discarded trash and spying on her life had never happened, putting on an arrogant look of 'my decision was correct', "Now I'm using it after all."
Lark looked at Munmei, not speaking, verifying the vaccination status on the pages.
He might understand Munmei's feelings when leaving those claw marks on the booklet.
Common pets in human families are cats and dogs, two very intelligent animals. But cats have more 'self' than dogs. In their eyes, they are equal to humans, or even superior.
Many cats' feelings for humans are like family and like lovers. They get jealous when a person touches another cat, they act spoiled to seek affection or throw tantrums when they feel neglected, and they stare with extreme disdain when they see a person do something they think is stupid. Perhaps while being disdainful, they might still help the person.
Out of this sense of 'equality' and self-awareness, cats won't guard a person for life like dogs do. They might long for other lives, want to wander around for a while, and are highly unlikely to return after being abandoned or hurt.
Cats are sensitive creatures. Some people who own cats encounter cats abandoning them and leaving, cats that never become affectionate, or cats that are uncontrollable. Besides factors like individual personalities and past experiences, there is another important reason – the confirmation of status early on.
When a person joyfully brings a kitten home, the kitten has arrived in a strange environment with unfamiliar people, a period filled with anxiety that can be long or short. After that comes the kitten's exploration of the new environment, not just exploring the surroundings, but also exploring the new beings living with it.
They are secretly learning about the human's personality, and they also subconsciously begin to determine their place in the new environment.
Some cats think their owner is the boss, some think the owner is a subordinate, some think the owner is a servant, some think they are equal to the owner, and some feel uncomfortable due to a certain early action by the owner. Then, based on their personality and growth experiences, they develop their own attitude.
If we ignore the cat's personality and just talk about status:
If a cat thinks its owner is an enemy, the cat will avoid, distance itself, leave home, or retaliate.
If a cat thinks its owner is the boss, discipline will be easier later. As long as the owner doesn't make it feel disgusted, repelled, afraid, or hostile later on, and as long as its mood isn't very bad, it will be very willing to obey.
If a cat sees a person as a 'subordinate', as they spend time together, a strange emotion similar to 'lover' will also develop in the cat – 'Okay, I accept him/her now. From now on, he/she is my person. I'll protect him/her, and he/she must also be worthy of me, otherwise I'll get angry'. It's truly like being in a relationship.
And if a cat thinks the human they live with is just a servant, then it's very likely that one day, for some reason, it will abandon a servant it finds displeasing. Of course, this situation is rare. After spending time together, there will always be feelings, and the initial 'servant' concept will slowly develop into the stage where 'it thinks you are its subordinate'. Some cats run away completely due to personality or the wild urge to 'live a wandering life'.
Based on some small details in the pet manual, Munmei's original owner should have been a young girl with a girlish heart and a love for romance. Such a girl couldn't have controlled Munmei, but it's also unlikely that Munmei would have seen her as a 'servant' or 'enemy'. In Munmei's heart, she was probably a concept like 'little sister, my person'.
In this way, Munmei would have feelings similar to a 'lover' for his former owner. Although both human and cat were female and lacked the desire typical of romantic love, Munmei would still get angry and jealous when the other person touched other animals. After being abandoned by her, he would also suffer like a human going through a breakup.
That feeling of interwoven love and hate, wanting to leave but unable to bear it, wanting revenge but unable to bring himself to do it, and finally the relief of leaving decisively or choosing to cut everything off – Munmei understood, Jack the Ripper in the Cocoon Game understood, and he could also understand. It was just that the emotions from his previous life felt increasingly distant. Even if he wanted to relive the past now, to use it as a seasoning for life, it felt like an invisible thin film separated him from his inner self. No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't experience that complex and torturous feeling from back then.
Munmei jumped onto the wooden box. After waiting for a moment, he asked again, "Can it be used?"
"Yes."
Just as Lark was about to put away the booklet, Munmei called out to him.
"Wait!" Munmei reached out a paw and patted the first page of the booklet, then paused, and moved his paw to the name column next to the photo, "How do you pronounce this?"
"Illiterate," Fei Mo muttered in a low voice with disdain.
Munmei ignored Fei Mo and just stared at Lark.
Before, he couldn't hear. He could only see the girl's lips moving. Later, he saw the same words outside a shop, but he never understood exactly what the sound she called out was.
"Ice Cream," Lark said softly.
Munmei scoffed lightly, his clear, childish voice carrying disdain, "So it's a food sold in a shop. How unpleasant. It's not as good as the name I chose myself."
"Perhaps because you are white, like snow," Lark didn't agree. This was like a friend complaining to you about an ex who was a scumbag. Before you were sure of the other person's thoughts, no matter how they cursed, it was unwise to blindly join in.
"What about this one?" Munmei's paw moved to another column. He had seen the same words many times in the girl's books. That should be the girl's name, also a 'mark' humans leave on their belongings.
Lark looked at the words, "Endo Tomoko."
"That's alright too. I've heard quite a few pronunciations similar to her name," Munmei retracted his paw. After jumping off the wooden box, he used his paws and teeth to tie the knot on the plastic bag on the ground, "Let's go, to the hospital."
End of Chapter
Lark pressed Hissashi's head back into his collar and closed the box containing the keychain.
If Hissashi liked it, he could keep it, but before that, the keychain needed to go back to Police Headquarters for another round.
Hendata Takunori saw Lark press the snake's head back into his collar without changing expression, and started to wonder if it was a toy snake. Soon, his gaze lingered on the small box in Lark's hand again, "Mr. Ike..."
"Red Horse."
Lark said two words, 'Red Horse', not 'Red Hare Horse'.
Hendata Takunori wiped the sweat from his forehead again with a handkerchief, looking as if he had lost all his strength. He lowered his head, his shoulders slumped, "Yes, that should be the Red Horse from the fire scene. You don't need to keep it..."
"Ma..." Hissashi darted his head out of the collar with a 'whoosh', and was promptly pressed back in by Lark with quick hands.
"It will bring you disaster, no, no," Hendata Takunori raised both hands to cover his head, staring at the ground in front of his feet. He closed his eyes tightly and said, "That serial arsonist, perhaps it's... I... I originally planned to give the Lucky Cat keychain to someone else, but I don't know why, every time the keychain in the box would turn into the Red Horse I used before. I don't know, I really don't know... I have sleepwalking. Maybe that's what I did..."
Hissashi poked his head out again and said quickly, "Master, don't press me! I just want to see what's wrong with this guy."
Lark withdrew his hand.
Hendata Takunori's condition was indeed not good; he looked like he was having a breakdown.
"I'll turn myself in to the police, but before that, I want to..." Hendata Takunori lowered the hands covering his head. When he looked up at Lark, he saw the snake's head poking out from under Lark's collar again, and he froze, "Want... want..."
This snake could flick its tongue and its eyes were very lively. Was it actually real?!
Lark turned his head and looked at the open space in front of the fire scene, "The police are here."
The large fire had been extinguished, and firefighters were still checking and putting out embers. Not far behind the fire truck, a newly arrived police car was parked.
"Ah, yes..." Hendata Takunori looked up. Seeing Lark walking towards them, he no longer cared about being afraid of the snake and quickly followed, "I want to retrieve this keychain. You can't keep it anymore, otherwise..."
"This needs to be taken back by the police for investigation," Lark interrupted. He took out his phone, sent an email, cleared his outbox without checking the reply, and put his phone in his pocket, "To compare with the Red Horse from the previous fire scenes."
This person talked too slowly. How did he run an antique shop like this...
That shop definitely wouldn't rip people off. He could go check it out sometime.
"Y-you're right," Hendata Takunori breathed a sigh of relief, "It's good if the police take it."
"I don't plan to let you take this keychain back," Lark said, "If you gave it to me, it's mine. It will be returned to me after the police investigation is finished."
"Why?" Hendata Takunori couldn't understand.
"I like it," Lark said with a calm expression.
"O-okay," Hendata Takunori broke into a sweat, "But, I still can't let you keep the keychain..."
Hissashi said faintly, "Master, let me talk to him. I've never failed a negotiation with Kaitou."
Lark reached out and pressed Hissashi back under his collar, "If you are the arsonist, and you're already arrested and taken back to Police Headquarters, keeping the Red Horse won't cause me any problems, right?"
Hendata Takunori nodded blankly, as if this made sense, "Okay then, you keep it..."
"Hey, listen," A burly man with a buzz cut and a cigarette hanging from his mouth stood in front of the police car, talking to Mouri Kogoro, "Mouri, you shouldn't call your former superior 'Fire Dad'!"
"Former superior?" Hattori Heiji turned his head curiously to observe the man.
"He's Inspector Yumichou of the Investigation Division 1, Arson Investigation Team 1 at Police Headquarters," Mouri Kogoro introduced.
Lark walked closer, seeing the group chatting enthusiastically. He and Hendata Takunori waited aside, not stepping forward to interrupt, and not deliberately observing Yumichou.
This was an interesting person.
As Mouri Kogoro's former superior, Inspector Megure's past, wife, and love story were all revealed, while Yumichou, also a former superior of Mouri Kogoro, didn't even have his full name appear in the original plot.
If Yumichou had only appeared once, it would be understandable; a minor character probably doesn't deserve a full name. But Yumichou appeared more than once.
This meant that the story of this 'Fire Dad' was probably yet to come...
"Uncle, aren't you from the Homicide Unit?" Hattori Heiji asked.
"I used to be in the Arson Investigation Team as well," Mouri Kogoro explained.
"You caused me a lot of trouble back then, Mouri. Whenever there was a fire, you'd immediately determine it was arson, rush into the scene, and trample all over the remaining items," Inspector Yumichou reached out and put his hand on Mouri Kogoro's shoulder, staring at Mouri Kogoro, and suddenly laughed, "I was warned by the Fire Department several times because of that, right!"
Mouri Kogoro gave a dry laugh, muttering in a low voice, "You weren't any different..."
"However, this fire must be arson," Inspector Yumichou said, the cigarette still in his mouth, returning to the main topic, "The Red Horse that appeared several times before was also found at this fire scene. After identification, it's exactly the same as the Red Horse toys found at the previous three fire scenes..."
A distinctively jointed hand reached out in front of the group. A keychain was hooked between the slightly bent index and middle fingers. A red statue of a person riding a horse hung from the connecting ring, still swaying slightly.
A calm voice: "Is it this?"
Mouri Kogoro turned around and saw Lark beside him, breaking out in a sweat.
His apprentice suddenly appearing and saying something so eerily was truly frightening.
"This is..." Hattori Heiji instinctively looked at Inspector Yumichou.
Inspector Yumichou's mouth was wide open, and the cigarette he was holding dropped. Fortunately, he took a step back in time, avoiding getting the cigarette burn on his clothes. He then looked up at the keychain in Lark's hand, and turned to stare at Lark, "Although the Red Horse from the fire scene didn't have a person statue on it, it does look very similar. Where did you get it?"
Lark turned to look at Hendata Takunori, who was standing weakly beside him with little presence, "He gave it to me."
Inspector Yumichou looked at Hendata Takunori in surprise, "Hendata?"
"Sorry, Inspector Yumichou," Hendata Takunori lowered his head, saw the still-burning cigarette butt that Yumichou had dropped on the ground, and couldn't resist stepping on it to put it out for Yumichou, "I... I might be that arsonist..."
"Might?" Inspector Yumichou said speechlessly.
"Inspector Yumichou, do you know Mr. Hendata?" Hattori Heiji asked.
"You know him too?" Inspector Yumichou said, looking at Lark with suspicion, "Then, who are you?"
Lark: "..."
Only asking now?
Conan: "..."
What's with this sudden chaos?
Hattori Heiji: "..."
It's a mess, a mess.
Mouri Kogoro: "..."
Let's sort this out. This needs a good sorting out after talking.
Inspector Yumichou: "..."
He should first confirm who this young man with Hendata is. That couldn't be wrong, could it? Why did Mouri and the others suddenly fall silent?
Hendata Takunori: "..."
Hmm? What's wrong? The police officer and the others aren't talking. Should he also be silent?
"Ahem, well... let me introduce," Mouri Kogoro snapped back to attention, deciding to clarify one thing at a time, "He is my apprentice, Ike Hassashi. This is Hattori Heiji, a high school detective from Osaka. And this one is Conan, a kid temporarily staying at my place. Hassashi, this is Inspector Yumichou, my former superior in the Arson Investigation Team."
"So you're his apprentice. I almost forgot, you're a famous detective now too," Yumichou said with emotion. It wasn't easy; Mouri actually managed to find the key points so quickly. He was acting a bit like a teacher. "So, what exactly is going on?"
"Let me explain," Hattori Heiji said seriously, "I took on a case. The client was Mrs. Morokuzu, who died in this fire. She said she had seen sneaky figures nearby at night recently. So I called Uncle Mouri, Brother Hassashi, and Conan to come investigate. We arrived here at 4:30 PM and met Mr. Hendata delivering the antique shop catalog and keychains to the Morokuzu house. Mrs. Morokuzu refused to accept them, so Brother Hassashi asked Mr. Hendata for them, and Mr. Hendata left the Morokuzu house."
"Immediately after, the man with glasses who was accompanying Mr. Morokuzu over there came to the Morokuzu house. Mrs. Morokuzu called him 'teacher', and he seemed to be a Feng Shui practitioner," Mouri Kogoro took over, "And shortly after Mrs. Morokuzu invited that Feng Shui practitioner inside, her sister, Miss Gondou Ito, visited, but after they exchanged a few words, the fortune teller was blocked outside the door by Mrs. Morokuzu closing it."
"Miss Gondou Ito is a fortune teller," Conan said cutely in his child's voice, "When she saw Brother Hassashi, she seemed very frightened and immediately turned and ran away."
"Oh?" Yumichou looked at Lark, "Do you know that Miss Gondou Ito?"
"About six days ago, I met her at the entrance of my apartment," Lark explained, "She gave me a crystal ball and introduced herself by name and profession."
"After the fortune teller left, we stayed at the entrance, sitting in the car Brother Hassashi drove to monitor the surroundings," Hattori Heiji said, "Because Mrs. Morokuzu said she was probably being paranoid and seeing things, and suddenly refused to let us understand the situation."
"We waited for two hours and noticed that the Feng Shui practitioner hadn't come out after going in, so we entered the courtyard to check the situation," Mouri Kogoro glanced at the male homeowner of the Morokuzu family who was still near the stretcher over there. His expression was strange for a moment, then he lowered his voice, "And we saw something difficult to speak of behind the living room window..."
Seeing Mouri Kogoro hesitate, Inspector Yumichou was somewhat puzzled, "Difficult to speak of?"
Mouri Kogoro leaned closer to Yumichou, "We saw Mrs. Morokuzu having an affair with that Feng Shui practitioner!"
Yumichou was speechless, a line of black across his forehead, "Mouri, what have you been doing with children around all day?"
Compared to that, sneaking into someone's courtyard to peek at them having an affair seemed even more despicable...
Wait!
Yumichou widened his eyes and stared at Mouri Kogoro, "Those footprints in front of the living room window are yours?!"
"Shh... shh..." Mouri Kogoro motioned for Yumichou to keep his voice down. He looked left and right, saw that no one was paying attention to them, and then said with a dry laugh, "I was just about to tell you about this..."
Yumichou glanced at Mouri Kogoro speechlessly, "Someone will come to get your shoe prints later!"
"What?" Mouri Kogoro looked as if he had been insulted, staring at Yumichou, "You're not suspecting us, are you?"
"It's to differentiate them from the footprints left by the arsonist!" Yumichou shouted, then felt a headache coming on, "And then?"
End of Chapter
Chapter 898: You're Not Human?!
Munmei was grabbed by the throat and pressed against the wall. The moment Lark climbed over the wall, all four claws came out, scratching four or five long bloodstains on the back of Lark's left hand and wrist.
After steadying himself on the wall, Lark immediately switched to holding Munmei by the back of the neck with his right hand. Ignoring the thrashing Munmei, he jumped back down the wall.
As soon as he landed, Fei Mo, who had flown over, started pulling at Munmei's fur with his beak and claws, letting out angry meows, "You've gone too far! If you weren't like my master, I wouldn't bother with you!"
Munmei instantly felt hurt. Even while being held by Lark, his four claws frantically swiped at Fei Mo, "Fei Mo! What do you mean by that?"
Lark lowered his head and looked at the bleeding scratches on his left hand. He silently revealed his sharp claws and then silently extended them in front of Munmei.
"Are you saying our fri... friendship..." Munmei noticed Fei Mo suddenly backed away. He looked at the hand in front of him with blood flowing down the back and the sharp claws...
Wait? Claws?
Munmei's eyes instantly widened. He leaned closer to look at Lark's fingernails, and even reached out with his paw to touch them. After realizing they weren't fake props, his gaze moved along the hand all the way to the calm face of the hand's owner.
Lark reasoned with Munmei, "You can't scratch me to death, but if I scratch you once, you might die."
This was the truth.
With Munmei's small claws, even if he scratched his neck, Lark would likely be saved. But with the length and sharpness of his claws, one scratch could disembowel Munmei, and if he scratched the neck, one could start thinking about a nice urn for Munmei.
Munmei was stunned for a moment, his voice turning shrill with distortion as he cried out, "You're not human?!"
Lark: "..."
Who is he cursing?
After crying out, Munmei still looked at Lark with a terrified expression of 'WTF, I need to be alone', "What kind of monster are you?"
Lark didn't answer. He gestured on Munmei's abdomen with his claw, "If you don't go to the hospital, I can only scratch your abdomen once."
"Hmph! You think I..." Munmei's words stopped. He looked down at someone's claw that had drawn a line of blood on his abdomen, "I..."
Lark stared at Munmei's abdomen, pondering where would be a good place to make the incision.
Not in a hospital, tools weren't complete, and there was no anesthesia. It was very troublesome...
Munmei felt a chill from being stared at. He felt like Lark was seriously considering how to make a hole in his belly. He steadied himself, "Alright, considering how sincere you are, I'll go to the hospital with you."
If you ignored the fur standing on end all over his body, a certain cat still had a lot of backbone.
Lark retracted his claws, "Have you been vaccinated before?"
Munmei stared intently at Lark's hand, filled with curiosity, completely forgetting his frustration, "You mean getting shots at the hospital, right? I've been there several times. Why are you asking this?"
"Tell me the address of your previous owner. I need your vaccination certificate," Lark said.
Munmei was silent for a moment, "Let me down first."
Lark squatted down and put Munmei on the ground.
Worst case, he'd just catch him again.
Munmei walked into the container covered with plastic sheeting. After a while, he came out holding a white plastic bag in his mouth, placed it at Lark's feet, and nodded his chin towards the plastic bag, "No need for so much trouble, it's inside."
Lark untied the knot on the plastic bag.
The plastic bag had claw marks and bite marks. Looking at the location and marks, it seemed Munmei had tied the knot himself.
There weren't many things in the plastic bag: a small booklet, an old yarn ball that had been scratched, and two little mice made of hemp rope.
Lark opened the booklet.
Indeed, it was a pet information manual.
The first page had a photo of Munmei. The edges of the photo were decorated with pink tape with heart patterns. The columns for Name, Owner's Name, and Date of Birth had neatly written handwriting, while the Purchase Location and Initial Physical Examination were in someone else's handwriting.
The next few pages were vaccination records from the hospital. There were labels from the vaccine bottles, signatures and stamps from the doctors and hospital, and a small paw print inked onto each page.
The booklet was very dirty. The bottom corner had traces of spilled liquid and being soaked in water, while the toys in the bag were cleaner, though some dirt and residue could still be seen in the crevices of the hemp rope.
He could probably guess that Munmei had dug these things out of a trash pile and washed them somewhere. However, the crevices in the hemp rope were difficult to clean thoroughly, and the paper pages were prone to wrinkling and ink bleeding after getting wet.
Additionally, there were many scratches on the booklet. Perhaps afraid the booklet would be ruined by scratching, the marks were not deep, but there were many of them, a dense and scattered pattern of scratches, like the imprint of Munmei's past frustration, hatred, and conflict.
"That woman threw all this away in a trash bag, and I felt like I might use it in the future," Munmei lifted his chin slightly, pretending that his past perverted behavior of frantically digging through the girl's discarded trash and spying on her life had never happened, putting on an arrogant look of 'my decision was correct', "Now I'm using it after all."
Lark looked at Munmei, not speaking, verifying the vaccination status on the pages.
He might understand Munmei's feelings when leaving those claw marks on the booklet.
Common pets in human families are cats and dogs, two very intelligent animals. But cats have more 'self' than dogs. In their eyes, they are equal to humans, or even superior.
Many cats' feelings for humans are like family and like lovers. They get jealous when a person touches another cat, they act spoiled to seek affection or throw tantrums when they feel neglected, and they stare with extreme disdain when they see a person do something they think is stupid. Perhaps while being disdainful, they might still help the person.
Out of this sense of 'equality' and self-awareness, cats won't guard a person for life like dogs do. They might long for other lives, want to wander around for a while, and are highly unlikely to return after being abandoned or hurt.
Cats are sensitive creatures. Some people who own cats encounter cats abandoning them and leaving, cats that never become affectionate, or cats that are uncontrollable. Besides factors like individual personalities and past experiences, there is another important reason – the confirmation of status early on.
When a person joyfully brings a kitten home, the kitten has arrived in a strange environment with unfamiliar people, a period filled with anxiety that can be long or short. After that comes the kitten's exploration of the new environment, not just exploring the surroundings, but also exploring the new beings living with it.
They are secretly learning about the human's personality, and they also subconsciously begin to determine their place in the new environment.
Some cats think their owner is the boss, some think the owner is a subordinate, some think the owner is a servant, some think they are equal to the owner, and some feel uncomfortable due to a certain early action by the owner. Then, based on their personality and growth experiences, they develop their own attitude.
If we ignore the cat's personality and just talk about status:
If a cat thinks its owner is an enemy, the cat will avoid, distance itself, leave home, or retaliate.
If a cat thinks its owner is the boss, discipline will be easier later. As long as the owner doesn't make it feel disgusted, repelled, afraid, or hostile later on, and as long as its mood isn't very bad, it will be very willing to obey.
If a cat sees a person as a 'subordinate', as they spend time together, a strange emotion similar to 'lover' will also develop in the cat – 'Okay, I accept him/her now. From now on, he/she is my person. I'll protect him/her, and he/she must also be worthy of me, otherwise I'll get angry'. It's truly like being in a relationship.
And if a cat thinks the human they live with is just a servant, then it's very likely that one day, for some reason, it will abandon a servant it finds displeasing. Of course, this situation is rare. After spending time together, there will always be feelings, and the initial 'servant' concept will slowly develop into the stage where 'it thinks you are its subordinate'. Some cats run away completely due to personality or the wild urge to 'live a wandering life'.
Based on some small details in the pet manual, Munmei's original owner should have been a young girl with a girlish heart and a love for romance. Such a girl couldn't have controlled Munmei, but it's also unlikely that Munmei would have seen her as a 'servant' or 'enemy'. In Munmei's heart, she was probably a concept like 'little sister, my person'.
In this way, Munmei would have feelings similar to a 'lover' for his former owner. Although both human and cat were female and lacked the desire typical of romantic love, Munmei would still get angry and jealous when the other person touched other animals. After being abandoned by her, he would also suffer like a human going through a breakup.
That feeling of interwoven love and hate, wanting to leave but unable to bear it, wanting revenge but unable to bring himself to do it, and finally the relief of leaving decisively or choosing to cut everything off – Munmei understood, Jack the Ripper in the Cocoon Game understood, and he could also understand. It was just that the emotions from his previous life felt increasingly distant. Even if he wanted to relive the past now, to use it as a seasoning for life, it felt like an invisible thin film separated him from his inner self. No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't experience that complex and torturous feeling from back then.
Munmei jumped onto the wooden box. After waiting for a moment, he asked again, "Can it be used?"
"Yes."
Just as Lark was about to put away the booklet, Munmei called out to him.
"Wait!" Munmei reached out a paw and patted the first page of the booklet, then paused, and moved his paw to the name column next to the photo, "How do you pronounce this?"
"Illiterate," Fei Mo muttered in a low voice with disdain.
Munmei ignored Fei Mo and just stared at Lark.
Before, he couldn't hear. He could only see the girl's lips moving. Later, he saw the same words outside a shop, but he never understood exactly what the sound she called out was.
"Ice Cream," Lark said softly.
Munmei scoffed lightly, his clear, childish voice carrying disdain, "So it's a food sold in a shop. How unpleasant. It's not as good as the name I chose myself."
"Perhaps because you are white, like snow," Lark didn't agree. This was like a friend complaining to you about an ex who was a scumbag. Before you were sure of the other person's thoughts, no matter how they cursed, it was unwise to blindly join in.
"What about this one?" Munmei's paw moved to another column. He had seen the same words many times in the girl's books. That should be the girl's name, also a 'mark' humans leave on their belongings.
Lark looked at the words, "Endo Tomoko."
"That's alright too. I've heard quite a few pronunciations similar to her name," Munmei retracted his paw. After jumping off the wooden box, he used his paws and teeth to tie the knot on the plastic bag on the ground, "Let's go, to the hospital."
End of Chapter
