Tokyo, Mihana Town, Teitan High School. After school, Shinichi Kudo and Ran walked out of the school gate together.
"Conan! Let's go buy some gifts!"
Ran suggested with a smile to Shinichi Kudo, who looked unwilling.
"Why do you think of buying gifts at this time?"
"Huh? Didn't you say since this morning that someone moved into the empty house next to your home yesterday? So, let's buy some gifts and visit them now!"
Ran said.
"According to etiquette, they should be visiting me. Do we really need to take the initiative?"
Shinichi Kudo said, somewhat disingenuously, but Ran seemed to see through Conan's little thoughts.
"Huh? Didn't you used to be curious about the rumors of that house being haunted, always wanting to go in and catch the ghost? Now that someone has moved in, isn't it just what you wanted?"
Ran said with a teasing tone.
"Idiot! Of course not! The rumors of a haunting must have been spread deliberately! There's no way ghosts exist in this world!"
Shinichi Kudo's thoughts were exposed, but he still loudly retorted on the surface.
"Hey! What secret whispers are you two, husband and wife, chatting about again!"
At this moment, a Female student with a hairband appeared from behind them, patting both their shoulders as she spoke.
"What do you mean! Sonoko! Husband and wife, what are you talking about!"
Ran saw Suzuki Sonoko appear behind her and immediately retorted the words she had just used.
Shinichi Kudo, seeing Suzuki Sonoko suddenly appear, looked helpless—the three of them had been old friends, classmates since kindergarten, and this kind of conversation was not the first time.
"By the way, Sonoko, do you know that a new neighbor has moved in next to Conan's house? We're planning to go visit them!"
Ran said to Suzuki Sonoko.
"What? Has that boring inventor next to Kudo's house moved out?"
Suzuki Sonoko asked, confused.
"No, it's the other side, the house that has always been empty."
Ran explained.
"Oh! You mean that big villa? Hasn't it been empty for several years? And recently, there have been widespread rumors of that villa being haunted. What, someone actually moved in?"
Suzuki Sonoko said, somewhat curious.
"Yes, so we plan to buy some gifts and visit Conan's new neighbor."
Ran said, and although Shinichi Kudo looked unwilling, he didn't object.
"Is that so? Then I'd like to go see it too."
Suzuki Sonoko agreed with Ran's suggestion.
At the same time, in the villa at 2 Chome 20, Mihana Town, Takato looked at the newly arranged furniture in the living room and sat down on a chair to rest, feeling exhausted.
Although he had obtained this property, there was no furniture in this villa except for the custom cabinets fixed to the walls during the renovation!
When he arrived here yesterday, there wasn't even a bed, forcing him to sleep another night in an outside hotel. Fortunately, the furniture he bought today had finally been delivered.
Just thinking about his one million yen reward, it seemed a bit difficult to fully furnish this villa, and he still had to buy home appliances; there was truly nothing here!
However, these minor matters could be taken care of slowly. Today, the basic furniture for the living room and bedroom had been acquired, which was at least sufficient for living—and now, he could legally own a villa in Tokyo. What more could he ask for?
Besides, after arriving here yesterday, he finally understood why this address felt familiar to him—this villa was right next to the home of Shinichi Kudo, the protagonist of "Detective Conan"!
This was killing two birds with one stone. He had been wondering how to get in touch with Shinichi Kudo, but now he had become his neighbor. There would be plenty of opportunities to meet him, especially since there was still some time before Shinichi Kudo shrinks!
Thinking about how he encountered the Black Organization in the previous promotion challenge mission, Takato felt a chill down his spine—he had actually come face to face with an Organization member! If it weren't for his identity being set up and the trench coat he was wearing providing cover, he might have truly been in danger!
Thinking this, Takato looked around the villa—speaking of which, had no one really lived here for several years?
He had only taken a quick glance yesterday before going out to buy furniture and stay at a hotel, so he hadn't thought much about it, but now that he had arranged all the furniture, he finally had time to properly consider this question.
At that time, Attorney Shimada Kaoru had told him that after Mr. Nishikawa purchased this villa, he signed a regular cleaning contract with a cleaning company. However, the contract had expired three years ago. And Mr. Nishikawa had long forgotten about the existence of this villa, so he did not renew the contract. It was only recently, when discussing his will with Lawyer Shimada, that he discovered he still owned this villa.
So, theoretically speaking, from three years ago until now, no one should have come to this villa, and certainly no one should have cleaned it! But from the situation he saw yesterday, it really didn't look like no one had been there for three years!
Although many rooms had indeed accumulated a lot of dust, the main hall and living room after entering looked as if someone had recently cleaned them.
Could it be that the cleaning company forgot the contract had expired and continued to come here?
But then they shouldn't have only cleaned these few areas, should they? Moreover, even if the cleaning company hadn't realized the contract had expired back then, three years have passed now; there's no reason they still wouldn't have noticed!
Thinking of this, Takato took out his newly bought slider phone and dialed the number for Shimada Law Office.
Soon, Takato got the answer he wanted:
According to Shimada Kaoru, the contract between Mr. Nishikawa and the cleaning company was handled by a lawyer under Lawyer Shimada in practice—that is, within the cleaning period specified in the contract, a lawyer under Shimada would first contact the cleaning company, and then the lawyer would take the key to Tokyo to supervise the cleaning company's work. After the contract expired, without Mr. Nishikawa's renewal, this work naturally did not continue.
In other words, the keys were always held by Shimada Law Office, and the lawyers handling this matter were all developing in Osaka, so there was no reason for an outsider to get the keys, and the cleaning company certainly had no access to them.
So, this matter seemed a bit strange—clearly, someone must have entered this villa recently!
As he was thinking this, suddenly, a doorbell ring interrupted Takato's thoughts.
Going to the door, he saw three high school students standing outside the iron gate of the fence.
"Hello, I'm Shinichi Kudo, living next door!"
The male student standing in the middle, Shinichi Kudo, introduced himself.