Chapter 5: My Father is a Lovely Mechanic
Third Floor - Beika Department Store
Conan sat motionless among the Detective Boys, his expression a mask of existential dread.
He was contemplating the cruel absurdity of his existence. Why was he—a seventeen-year-old high school detective—stuck babysitting a bunch of elementary schoolers at a Kamen Rider show?
"Catch all the bad guys! Kamen Rider!"
Genta's voice thundered across the floor like a foghorn, but Conan had long since developed immunity. He picked at his ear with practiced indifference, looking like the walking dead, his eyes completely vacant.
Then two figures—one tall, one small—caught his attention.
The pair walked past him toward the store entrance.
"Papa! Anya doesn't want to watch Kamen Rider!!"
Anya complained loudly. Liar Papa! He said they weren't watching Kamen Rider, so why did he bring her here? It's so noisy!
"Just passing through."
"You were walking straight toward the store, but then you deliberately walked in a circle!"
Anya huffed indignantly. ○(一︿一+)○
Natsukawa simply wanted to confirm up close whether it was actually Conan. If so, the case would definitely unfold as he remembered.
This particular episode had started a while ago in the original timeline, so his memory wasn't crystal clear. Plus, he'd been living in this world for several years now—naturally, some details had faded. But once he confirmed it was a Conan case, Natsukawa began digging deeper into his recollections.
He browsed the store displays while mentally reviewing the episode.
Anya, meanwhile, was completely shell-shocked.
She stared at Natsukawa, whose mind was racing with thoughts, her expression one of utter disbelief.
So many memories—and all of them were about that glasses-wearing kid in the suit and shorts she'd just passed!
What was going on? Had Papa taken a liking to someone else's child and was planning to abandon Anya?
"Anya will be good, Papa! Please don't leave me alone!"
She hugged her knees, looked up with enormous eyes, and squeezed out tears.
The entire performance was executed flawlessly.
Passersby shot them strange looks. Was this parent deliberately planning to abandon his adorable daughter in a place like this?
"Huh?"
Natsukawa was utterly bewildered. Did I say something wrong?
"Sir, where is your wife? If the child is crying, she probably can't see her mother, right?"
"Maybe they're divorced? It looks like he's going to abandon that child here. What a heartless father!"
"He might be a child trafficker. I've heard that recently, many people in Beika Town have been giving their children away because they can't afford to raise them."
"What a tragic story."
"Right? For some reason, Beika Town has seen a massive spike in crime lately, tearing families apart left and right."
The murmurs reached Natsukawa's ears, making his expression darken. What the hell is happening?!
The crowd ignored Natsukawa completely, simply surrounding him and gossiping among themselves. The voices grew louder and more people gathered until the area was completely mobbed.
Natsukawa couldn't leave with Anya without causing a scene.
This was bad—spies absolutely could not attract this kind of attention.
"Your daughter is so cute! How could you abandon her? What a terrible person!"
"Could he be a child trafficker? He doesn't look old enough to have a daughter that age."
Natsukawa looked down to find Kojima Genta and Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko staring up at him.
Genta looked absolutely furious, as if he'd personally witnessed Natsukawa trying to ditch his daughter.
Mitsuhiko, on the other hand, rested his chin on his hand in his signature "thinking hard" pose, looking like a miniature detective.
"Hey! Don't jump to conclusions!"
Conan squeezed through the crowd.
Being kid-sized definitely had its advantages—squeezing through crowds was way easier than when he'd been seventeen.
Conan consoled himself with this thought.
"Ah! It's you!"
Anya spotted Conan, her face filling with righteous anger! (へ╬)
It was this guy! Papa had been thinking about him the entire time. Did Papa want to adopt him instead?
"Wearing glasses at such a young age—he must be a bad kid who plays too many video games. Papa can't let his attention wander!"
Anya tugged at Natsukawa seriously, pointing directly at Conan's large black-rimmed glasses.
Conan blinked in confusion. He tried shifting position, but the little girl's enormous bright eyes followed his every move, her finger still pointing accusingly. So... was she really talking about him?
Conan scratched his head, genuinely puzzled.
No, this isn't the time to worry about that. I need to help this guy out of this situation first!
"Genta, Mitsuhiko, his daughter's probably just throwing a tantrum. Don't make assumptions."
"H-How could that be? I clearly heard her say not to abandon her!"
"Anya was just joking, right, Anya?"
Natsukawa looked at the culprit of this chaos, feeling utterly helpless.
"Um... yes! Anya was joking! Papa is a wonderful papa!"
Anya pinched her own leg again, then wriggled up Natsukawa's body like a caterpillar until she reached his shoulder, planting a kiss on his cheek. "See? Anya loves Papa the most!"
Papa?
Conan was slightly taken aback. What an old-fashioned term. Maybe only certain upper-class families still used it nowadays.
Looking at Natsukawa's clothes—wow, all designer brands. Definitely wealthy.
Wait.
Calluses on his hands, especially on the webbing between thumb and forefinger.
Conan's eyes narrowed. Having been shrunk by the Organization, he'd become hypersensitive to certain details. Seeing those calluses immediately made him think of firearms.
Was this guy a cop? Or someone dangerous?
"Mister, the calluses on your hands are so obvious! Are you a police officer?"
Conan asked in an innocent, childlike tone, his face radiating pure curiosity. His acting skills were definitely inherited from Yukiko Kudo.
Anya's mind raced. She'd heard Conan's thoughts perfectly clearly. No wonder this kid had attracted Papa's attention—his observation skills were incredible!
But this wasn't the time to be impressed. Papa was about to be exposed, and that absolutely couldn't happen!
What excuse could she give?
Suddenly, inspiration struck like lightning.
"Papa is a lovely mechanic! The calluses on his hands are from using wrenches to tighten screws!"
"..."
Conan's eyes widened in disbelief.
Natsukawa was equally amused. He'd been planning to use the classic "I learned shooting in Hawaii" excuse.
Anya's explanation was hilariously weak—Conan clearly wasn't buying it.
By this point, most of the crowd had dispersed. They'd only gathered for the drama, and were easily satisfied by Conan's simple explanation that the child was just being difficult.
Indeed, the world of Detective Conan was just that magical.
Conan's words carried inexplicable weight—these people believed him without question!
"Those are definitely calluses from handling firearms regularly. Police officers get them. See, you have them on your palm too!"
Conan forcibly grabbed his hand and pried it open, revealing some calluses on the lower part of his palm, though they weren't very noticeable.
"So you're a police officer, right?"
Genta and Mitsuhiko looked somewhat disappointed. In their minds, only police officers handled guns regularly. They hadn't been through many cases with Conan yet, and their imaginations were still fairly limited. They'd thought they'd caught a deadbeat dad trying to abandon his daughter. If he was a cop, he wouldn't do something like that—the girl was probably just throwing a fit.
Actually, many professions left such calluses: soldiers, assassins, licensed bodyguards, and more—but Conan didn't list them all.
"Not a police officer. Actually, I'm an assassin!"
Natsukawa's face twisted into a 'ruthless' expression, his features contorting into something genuinely menacing.
Conan was being incredibly rude, grabbing his hand without permission. He decided to teach the kid a lesson—to show him that the hands of Twilight the spy weren't to be casually manhandled.
"Since you all know my secret... I can't let any of you leave here alive!"
Natsukawa slowly approached the Detective Boys, crouching down close. A demonic phantom seemed to materialize behind him, its fearsome expression freezing all three Detective Boys members in their tracks.
"Mister, please stop joking around. Your posture gives everything away. Only police officers walk with that natural, measured pace—moderate stride length, straight forward-facing stance. And that deliberate unevenness in your crouch just now—these are all telltale signs of police training."
Conan crossed his arms, radiating absolute confidence.
Based on this man's movements and the walking pattern he'd observed during the Kamen Rider show, he was certain this was either a police officer or someone with military training.
Natsukawa smiled and patted Conan's head.
Heh, to outwit Conan, you have to start with subtle details and let him deduce the conclusion himself.
Conan might not believe what others told him directly, but he was supremely confident and somewhat arrogant—absolutely certain of his own deductive reasoning.
His actions just now had been deliberately staged. As a master spy, his combat skills might not be world-class, but his acting abilities certainly were.
He hadn't expressed his meaning with words, but used actions to replace verbal communication, which made everything far more convincing.
"Haha, you're a really smart kid!" Natsukawa patted Conan's head again.
Anya was completely dumbfounded.
Is this what adults are like? So calculating!
And this kid named Conan—he's about the same age as her, so how does he know so much?
Also, his thoughts are so weird! Why would a child keep thinking he's a seventeen-year-old high school student?
Natsukawa's encounter with the Detective Boys was purely coincidental. After saying goodbye to them, he continued shopping.
He had no intention of getting involved in the robbery case—Conan would handle it himself anyway. His purpose today was shopping. Running into Conan and the robbers was just a little spice added to his daily life, not something that would disrupt his mundane routine.
"Papa! I want that doll!"
Anya returned to her normal hyperactive self. Though she occasionally acted inexplicably strange, Natsukawa simply chalked it up to the unpredictable moods of children.
"Buy it!"
Natsukawa waved his hand magnanimously and purchased the tenth doll. These dolls were all as big as Anya herself. Though he had no idea where they'd put them all, it obviously didn't concern him. He could just throw them all into Anya's room!
"Actually, never mind. Anya doesn't want them."
The girl's face filled with horror!
Did she have to fit all these dolls in her room? But where would Anya sleep?
"Okay then!"
"Wait!" Anya suddenly remembered something crucial.
She still had Bond! If the dolls didn't fit in her room, she could give them to Bond. The living room was Bond's territory, so giving them to Bond would be a perfectly legitimate reason to keep them in the living room!
"Anya wants to... wants to give them to Bond!"
Natsukawa said nothing and placed the dolls back into the shopping cart.
At this point, the shopping cart was already stacked over three meters high. Fortunately, this was the Detective Conan world—otherwise, if dolls were piled up this high, they would definitely topple over, right?
[End of Chapter 5]
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