Chapter 151: Takagi... Miwako
It took Charlotte no small amount of effort to once again talk her editor-in-chief out of his insistent idea.
Mizunashi Rena waited until the conversation between Charlotte and Takeuchi had reached a natural pause before she leaned forward, her curiosity piqued. "Miss Charlotte, have you been encountering some trouble recently as well?"
Takeuchi Koichi, seeing no harm in it, briefly recounted the recent threatening letter incident.
"I never would have guessed Miss Natsume was such a capable detective, too." Mizunashi Rena's gaze finally shifted, settling on Natsume with a newfound interest.
Until now, she hadn't paid the other young woman much mind. At first glance, Natsume was simply a vision of gentle beauty, and Rena had assumed she was merely a friend of Ran and Charlotte's. But judging by Editor-in-Chief Takeuchi's words, she was a detective with considerable skill. It seemed you truly couldn't judge a book by its cover.
Although Natsume had solved her fair share of cases and garnered some fame, the credit often landed elsewhere—thanks to a certain someone's influence—so very few people connected the brilliant case-solver with the quiet young woman before them. Naturally, Mizunashi Rena was unaware of just how formidable a detective Natsume truly was.
Thus, while she now regarded Natsume with a flicker of attention, Rena's main focus remained on the man with the established reputation: the famous Kogoro Mouri.
While the adults were engrossed in their conversation with the popular announcer, Conan had already seized the opportunity. He slipped back to the apartment door, deftly using a piece of chewing gum to affix a tiny listening device to the exterior frame.
"Then, on the Tuesday after the October holidays ended, the doorbell rang again," Conan heard Mizunashi Rena say as he quietly rejoined the group in the living room. Her expression was clouded with unease as she detailed the recent events. "This time, an unmarked bottle of medicine was left on the doormat. I later had a doctor friend of mine look at it... he said they were sleeping pills."
The mention of sleeping pills sent a chill through the room, immediately conjuring the image of a stalker.
"So, it really is a stalker, then," Kogoro Mouri concluded, his brow furrowed.
Hearing Kogoro's guess, Takeuchi Koichi shot a worried glance at Charlotte. When she deliberately avoided his gaze, he knew she still had no intention of moving. He couldn't force the issue, so he could only resolve to check in on her more often, visiting whenever he had a spare moment.
"Miss Mizunashi," Charlotte began, "besides the sleeping pills, did anything else unusual happen?" Unaware that her own freedom was about to become far more restricted, she was still focused on the doorbell mystery plaguing the announcer.
"Ah!" At Charlotte's question, Mizunashi Rena lowered her eyes in thought for a moment. Her head then snapped up, her eyes wide with sudden recollection. "The night before last—that would be Tuesday—I'm almost certain I heard someone in the apartment next door, which should be completely empty."
"In that case," Kogoro mused with a serious expression, "it's highly likely the stalker has a key to the unit next door. That would explain how they can vanish the instant after ringing your bell."
To test Kogoro's hypothesis, the group moved into the hallway and approached the neighboring apartment. As expected, the door was securely locked. If they could just find a way inside, they might discover clues left behind by the stalker.
Suddenly, a soft click echoed from the door lock in front of them. It was followed by the distinct, metallic scrape of a deadbolt being turned—from the inside.
The entire group instinctively took a few steps back in shock.
"Miss Mizunashi, are you absolutely sure no one is living here?" Kogoro demanded, his eyes glued warily to the door, not even glancing back at her.
"Yes, I'm positive," she replied, her own voice laced with surprise. She was certain the apartment was still unoccupied.
Under their collective, astonished gaze, the door swung open. Standing in the threshold was the last person they ever expected to see.
"Natsume?!"
"Sister Natsume?!"
Ran and Conan cried out in perfect, bewildered unison.
"Yeah, Natsume, how in the world did you come out of there?" Kogoro asked, his jaw slack with surprise.
Seeing their startled expressions, Natsume couldn't help the amused smile that touched her lips. It was only there for a second; not wanting to make them feel awkward, she quickly suppressed it, offered a small shrug, and replied, "Well, I figured you wouldn't be able to get this door open. So I just climbed over from our balcony to this one and found a way in to unlock it for you."
Everyone was silent.
Kogoro Mouri stood frozen for a long moment before finally letting out a weary sigh. "Natsume... in the future, could you please give us a heads-up before you do something like that?" At this rate, the constant surprises from this girl were going to give him a heart attack.
Conan wasn't quite as shocked. In fact, when he saw the locked door, he'd had the exact same idea of climbing over from the balcony. He just hadn't been nearly as fast as Sister Natsume, who had acted without a shred of hesitation.
He watched, speechless, as Charlotte discreetly gave Natsume a thumbs-up, a clear sign of approval for her stunt. 'Of course,'Conan thought with a dry, internal sigh.'That explains why the two of them are such good friends.'
The group filed into the adjacent apartment. After a brief search, they indeed found traces that someone had been there recently.
"Ki... mi... wa..." Kogoro Mouri muttered, squinting at the faint characters someone had traced onto the dusty film of the balcony's glass door. "What does this mean?"
"Takagi... Miwako?" Natsume ventured, her tone laced with a hint of uncertainty.
She couldn't help it. The moment she saw the characters "Mi-wa," her mind immediately jumped to "Miwako." Connecting the "Ki" at the beginning, she instinctively thought of Officer Takagi and his not-so-secret crush on Officer Sato.
But to put the surname "Takagi" in front of the name "Miwako"... 'I never thought Officer Takagi, who seems so honest, would be so bold in his private fantasies,' Natsume mused, beginning to see the young officer in a completely new light.
Conan stared at the three characters, his expression strange as the corner of his mouth twitched. "Heh heh, yeah."
But Takagi... Miwako... If he and Ran were to get married someday, would she be called Kudo... Ran?
Natsume caught Conan snickering to himself over whatever was running through his head. She had a distinct feeling his smile was a little too lewd this time.
Her hands began to feel itchy. With no intention of restraining herself, she ignored Conan's squawk of protest, pressed a palm onto his head, and began rubbing vigorously, thoroughly scrambling his romantic daydreams.
A quick phone call to Officer Takagi confirmed it all. The person who had been staying next to Mizunashi Rena a few days ago was indeed him, and the characters he had written on the glass were, in fact, "Takagi Miwako."
Amidst Officer Takagi's mortified and flustered shouts upon learning that his secret was now public knowledge, Conan decisively ended the call.
"That kid Takagi is really something else, thinking about such nonsense during work hours," Kogoro Mouri grumbled with a look of disdain.
"It's not such a big deal, is it? A beautiful romance is always something to look forward to, right, Ran?" Natsume said, looking at Ran with a teasing glint in her eye.
"Y-Yeah," Ran replied, a faint blush coloring her cheeks. She quickly changed the subject, a little too flustered. "It's better than a certain someone who doesn't even pay attention to his own wife."
[Inorin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comment, or Power Stone means the world to me and keeps these daily updates flowing!
Want to read 50 chapters ahead or just want to help keep a shameless translator alive? (My livelihood actually depends on this, haha 😭). You can support me directly here:
(P.S. Just remove the brackets and replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters): patreon[.]com/InorinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/InorinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]