BWDC:SDDK Chapter 98: Saguru Hakuba, Always Watching
"Huh? Sonoko invited you to the exhibition hall to see the Pink Sapphire today?"
"Isn't that where Kaito Kid is supposed to strike tomorrow? I remember when Saguru Hakuba called yesterday, he mentioned they were still setting up traps this morning and wouldn't be able to check the security measures until the afternoon."
"How come Sonoko invited you over this morning..."
Awoken by the phone call, Conan sat up in bed, talking to Ren Ichimonji in a daze.
As he spoke, he suddenly froze.
—Oh, wait. Thinking about it carefully, this looks like a date.
The security measures at the exhibition hall were likely already finished. Was it closed to the police this morning solely to leave time for Ren Ichimonji and Suzuki Sonoko to be alone?
But Sonoko had never done something on such a grand scale before, had she?
Conan rubbed his chin.
He suddenly remembered Sonoko mentioning an uncle to him once.
That uncle was said to have been traveling all over the world and Sonoko hadn't seen him in ten years. The man who spent a fortune to buy the world's largest Pink Sapphire was named Jirokichi Suzuki, a member of the Suzuki Financial Group.
Someone capable of wielding such financial power would have to be high-ranking within the Suzuki Group. Could it be the uncle Sonoko hadn't seen in a decade?
"Well, that explains it..."
Conan muttered softly.
When Jirokichi Suzuki went public with Kaito Kid's notice, his words were incredibly boastful.
He claimed he didn't care about the Pink Sapphire at all; he only bought it to create the quickest opportunity to face off against Kaito Kid and take him down.
With such a flashy uncle, it would be perfectly normal for him to clear out the exhibition hall just so Sonoko could go on a date.
"Alright, alright, I get it. Have fun, you two."
Conan ended the call hurriedly.
He sighed.
Suzuki Sonoko was truly "bros before... well, boyfriends before bros!"
Although if he called now, Sonoko would definitely let them join, it felt a bit awkward to play the third wheel. Going in the afternoon wouldn't hurt... yeah, he'd go in the afternoon.
Even if it meant dealing with that incredibly arrogant Saguru Hakuba...
"Conan, breakfast is ready!"
Ran Mouri's voice drifted up from downstairs.
Instinctively, Conan pitched his voice higher to respond.
"Coming!"
After answering, Conan couldn't help but sigh again.
He walked down the stairs.
For now, he might as well eat.
Outside the Suzuki Financial Group Exhibition Hall.
Saguru Hakuba, sporting faint dark circles under his eyes, was currently standing by the window of a hotel room.
His gaze was fixed on the Suzuki Exhibition Hall not far away.
—The geographical location of this room was excellent.
From this vantage point, he could clearly see the main entrance of the hall and all the personnel nearby.
Precisely because of this, Hakuba felt something was off.
The workers who had been installing the security measures had clearly already left the building.
Why was the Suzuki Group still claiming to the police that the installation was ongoing and refusing them entry?
Did this consultant of the Suzuki Group have other ideas?
Hakuba didn't know.
However, seeing Suzuki Sonoko appear at the main entrance, he could faintly guess the reason.
Suzuki Sonoko.
The second daughter of Shiro Suzuki, Chairman of the Suzuki Financial Group, and currently the sole heir to the Suzuki empire.
If it was Sonoko's decision, it wasn't surprising.
But what was the purpose of Sonoko booking the entire place?
Information from his investigations flashed through Hakuba's mind.
He remembered that Sonoko didn't have many close friends.
The only ones who caught his attention were Ran Mouri and Shinichi Kudo.
Ran Mouri was the daughter of the famous detective Mouri Kogoro.
Shinichi Kudo was the "Sherlock Holmes of the Heisei Era" who had made a name for himself in Tokyo before Hakuba arrived.
Now that Shinichi Kudo hadn't appeared for a long time, was Sonoko waiting for Ran Mouri to arrive?
Hakuba pondered.
At that moment, a taxi pulled up outside the Suzuki Exhibition Hall.
He raised his monocular and looked at the person stepping out of the taxi.
—It was an unfamiliar face.
Hakuba didn't recall seeing this person in the data he had gathered.
He narrowed his eyes instantly.
Was this some newcomer who had recently surfaced that he had failed to investigate?
The monocular focused on the man exiting the car.
However, the moment Hakuba continued his observation, the man who had just stepped out seemed to sense something.
He abruptly turned his head toward the room where Hakuba was stationed.
Their gazes met across the distance.
A mysterious sense of danger instantly rose in Hakuba's heart.
Yet, in the next moment, as the hawk named Watson landed on Hakuba's shoulder, that sense of danger vanished.
The man stopped looking toward Hakuba's position.
He simply followed Suzuki Sonoko into the exhibition hall, disappearing from sight.
"Quite an overbearing aura," Hakuba whispered.
He lowered the monocular and toyed with the hawk on his shoulder.
That stranger had clearly noticed his presence and emitted a sense of malice.
But after Watson flew to his shoulder, the stranger stopped projecting that hostility.
This suggested the stranger could identify him through Watson and chose to cease the hostility because of his identity—
That was strange.
If it were Kaito Kid, how could he possibly give up on taking action just because he recognized him while being watched? If anything, that should have provoked him further.
Unless this person wasn't Kaito Kid.
"I never saw anyone like that during my time at Scotland Yard," Hakuba recalled his experience studying in London.
He had seen many criminals in London and helped local officers solve numerous cases.
Even the Metropolitan Police had invited him to become a special consultant, hoping he would stay and continue helping them crack cases.
But he had never met anyone who gave him this kind of feeling.
Neither black nor white, but a sort of refined gray.
"Why hasn't a character like this appeared in any news reports?"
"If he's active in Beika Town, the officers at the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department should have noticed his existence and taken statements from him... Did I miss something? Or did the officers leave it out of their case reports?"
He made a quiet decision.
It seemed that, besides Kaito Kid, another person worth investigating had appeared.
When he got back, he would pull another all-nighter to find out exactly who this person was.
—As the son of the Superintendent General of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, Hakuba possessed extensive connections and authority.
There was nothing in Tokyo he wanted to find that he couldn't!
"What's wrong? Is there something over there?"
After entering the exhibition hall, Suzuki Sonoko asked curiously.
To this, Ren Ichimonji simply replied calmly,
"It's nothing. I was just checking to see what that reflection over there was about."
He had originally thought it was an illusionist from the League of Assassins scouting the place; he hadn't expected it to be Saguru Hakuba watching.
He had almost snuck over there to use his Crowbar of Physics to crack the other guy's head open.
What a pity.
End of Chapter
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