"Aoko! Don't be fooled by him!" Kaito was so anxious he almost roared, but as he looked into Kanjuro's deep, calm eyes that seemed to see through everything, all his warning words got stuck in his throat. He didn't dare speak too clearly; he was afraid that by exposing more, he would instead put Aoko in even greater danger. This stifling feeling of having much to say but being unable to speak, combined with immense fear, almost swallowed him whole.
Kanjuro looked at Kaito's extremely anxious yet helpless state, and the playfulness in his eyes deepened. He took a gentle step forward.
Just this one step made Kaito's muscles tense up as if facing a great enemy.
Kanjuro, however, simply said to Aoko gently, "Since your friend is so worried, it's better if I leave for now. Aoko, remember what I said—be careful. And..." His gaze seemed to inadvertently sweep over Kaito's pale face, his tone carrying a hint of meaningful "kindness," "be a little more patient with your friend. Perhaps he... is just too concerned about you."
"Look! See how nice Senior Kanjuro is? He even spoke up for you! And you? You're just acting crazy!" Aoko glared at Kaito huffily, then clutched her bag of cream puffs and Ran toward her home without looking back.
Kaito didn't chase after her, nor did he try to explain further.
He stood there alone, his solitary shadow lengthened by the setting sun. He watched Aoko's departing back and then looked toward the direction where Kanjuro had vanished. A cold sense of despair, like creeping vines, slowly coiled around his heart.
After speaking, he gave the two of them a slight nod, turned around, and walked away with a composed, unhurried pace. His silhouette stretched long under the sunset, as if carrying a shadow that controlled everything.
It wasn't until Kanjuro's figure had completely disappeared around the street corner that Kaito's tense nerves slightly relaxed, but what followed was an even deeper sense of helplessness and panic. He released his grip on Aoko's hand as if his strength had left him; his back was already drenched in cold sweat. Kaito Kuroba adopted the clumsiest, yet perhaps the only effective method—he practically became Aoko's shadow.
Starting from the next day, no matter where Aoko went—to school, coming home, during breaks, or even to the restroom (where he stood guard outside the ladies' room)—Kaito followed her closely, never leaving her side. His eyes remained highly alert at all times, like a startled hound scanning every corner where danger might be hidden.
"Kaito Kuroba! Have you had enough yet!" Aoko's patience finally reached its limit. On the way home from school, she suddenly stopped, turned around, and roared at Kaito behind her, "If you keep following me like this, I'm really going to call the police! You're... you're harassing me!"
Kaito's face remained pale, and the dark circles under his eyes showed he hadn't been sleeping well lately. He didn't bicker as he usually would; instead, he looked at Aoko with an unprecedented gaze that was a mix of exhaustion and gravity.
"Aoko," his voice was raspy, "I know you think I'm crazy. But I'm begging you, give me ten minutes, just ten minutes. After you listen, if you still think I'm being unreasonable, I... I won't bother you ever again."
The pain and earnestness in his eyes were so obvious that Aoko's surge of anger couldn't help but falter. She had never seen Kaito make such an expression.
After a moment of hesitation, Aoko bit her lip and nodded.
Kaito didn't take her anywhere else but straight to her home. Furthermore, he made a rare and solemn request to see Inspector Nakamori.
In the slightly cluttered living room of the Nakamori residence, the atmosphere was terrifyingly heavy. Inspector Nakamori Ginzo had taken off his police cap; his face no longer held the fighting spirit he usually had when chasing Kid, leaving only deep exhaustion and an... indescribable fear.
"Dad? Kaito? What on earth are you two doing?" Seeing their serious expressions, Aoko's heart began to drum with anxiety.
Kaito didn't speak; he simply handed a tablet to Aoko. On the screen were edited news clips and some blurry but horrifying photos:
News Headline: "Serial Massacre! Suzuki Family Suspected of Being Bathed in Blood, Assets Taken Over by Mysterious Force!"
Pixelated photos that still revealed a bloody scene: the mangled corpses of guards outside the Matsumoto Villa.
A blurry surveillance screenshot: showing Kanjuro holding Matsumoto Sayuri in her wedding dress, followed by a hollow-eyed Matsumoto Kiyochika.
Text report: mentioning multiple wealthy tycoons and underworld members who opposed Kanjuro mysteriously disappearing or dying gruesome, bizarre deaths.
Aoko's eyes widened more and more, her face gradually turning pale. She shook her head in disbelief: "This... this is impossible... This news might be fake... Senior Kanjuro, he..."
"Fake?!" Inspector Nakamori slammed his fist onto the table, his voice carrying uncontrollable anger and lingering fear, "Aoko! Do you have any idea?! That night, the colleagues we sent to cover Kid... I mean, sent on that mission, were right before my eyes! They didn't even let out a scream! They were... they were torn apart by something invisible! That's not a power a human can possess!"
His voice choked up, his eyes turning red. Those were subordinates he spent every day with.
Kaito took a deep breath and took over the conversation, deciding not to hide the most crucial part anymore: "Aoko, do you remember those women around Kanjuro in the live stream? Lawyer Eri Kisaki, Ran Mouri, Suzuki Sonoko... they didn't go willingly! They've all been controlled by Kanjuro using an incomprehensible power! And Teacher Matsumoto Sayuri—she... she 'died' once and was resurrected by Kanjuro in public! He's not human! He's a monster with dark powers!"
He threw almost every terrifying piece of information he knew at Aoko, no matter how inconceivable it sounded.
"His approach toward you was definitely no accident! The way he looks at you... is exactly the same as the way he looks at his other 'prey' that I've investigated!" Kaito's voice trembled with agitation, "He kills without blinking and treats law and morality as nothing! Whatever he wants, he will get by any means necessary! Aoko, I beg you, wake up! He gave you cream puffs and met you by chance, but all that tenderness is fake! It's a viper's disguise before the hunt!"
Inspector Nakamori also spoke heavily: "Aoko, what Kaito says... as unbelievable as it is, is all true. I guarantee you on my honor as a police officer that this man named Kanjuro is a presence classified by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department as being of the highest danger level, someone who absolutely cannot be dealt with through common sense. You must absolutely, positively stay away from him!"
A series of explosive pieces of information, like ice water mixed with sharp needles, poured into Aoko's mind all at once.
The bloody mosaics in the news, her father's bloodshot and fearful eyes, Kaito's near-desperate plea, and those descriptions of supernatural powers and mind control... all of it intertwined, completely shattering her previous perception of Kanjuro as a "gentle senior."
She remembered Kanjuro's deep eyes; recalling them now, beneath that calm and gentle exterior, there really seemed to be a hidden darkness that made one's skin crawl. She thought of his overly "perfect" chance encounter and explanation... "Ugh..." Aoko let out a short gasp, her body swaying. Her face was as pale as paper, and she instinctively grabbed the sofa to steady herself. A massive wave of hindsight and fear surged over her like a tide, leaving her hands and feet ice-cold.
She looked at Kaito, her eyes filled with shock, guilt, and bewilderment: "So... so the reason you were acting so strangely before... was because... you knew all along?"
Kaito nodded heavily, his blue eyes filled with unprecedented seriousness: "I'd rather have you scold me or blame me than have you suffer even a shred of harm. Aoko, trust me, stay away from him, okay?"
This time, Aoko didn't argue back. Looking at the unfathomable fear on the faces of her father and her childhood friend, she finally nodded, slowly and with difficulty. She finally understood that behind Kaito's seemingly "inexplicable" behavior lay a weight of worry and helplessness.
However, just as the Nakamori home was shrouded in this atmosphere of fear and gravity, the phone in Aoko's pocket suddenly lit up silently.
A new message from [Senior Kanjuro] lay quietly on the lock screen:
[Aoko-tongxue, are you free after school tomorrow? A very nice new dessert shop opened near the school, and I'd like to invite you to try it out.:)]
That message seemed to carry a cold touch, piercing through the fragile barrier of understanding she had just built.
Looking at that message, Aoko's face, which had just regained a hint of color, instantly turned deathly pale again. Her hand holding the phone began to tremble uncontrollably.
Kaito and Inspector Nakamori also saw the message, and the air in the living room instantly dropped to the freezing point.
They had just uncovered a corner of the demon, yet the demon seemed to have already seen through everything, still wearing that gentle and harmless mask to issue the next "invitation."
Fear did not dissipate because the truth was revealed; instead, it became more concrete, more imminent.
After sending that seemingly ordinary invitation, Kanjuro casually tossed his phone onto the sofa beside him. His face showed not the slightest tension about his plan potentially being exposed; instead, he wore a lazy smile of someone who had everything under control.
In the living room, the atmosphere among the women surrounding him was somewhat subtly uneasy. Especially for those with more meticulous minds like Tomoko Suzuki and Miyano Elena, worry was hidden between their brows.
"Lord Kanjuro..." Tomoko Suzuki spoke up after some deliberation, "Is it too... risky to contact Aoko directly like this? That boy Kaito and Inspector Nakamori have likely already... some of your situation..."
She didn't finish her sentence, but the meaning was clear: she was worried that Kanjuro's true face and terrifying methods were already known to Aoko, which would cause his perfect "senior" disguise to fail.
Hearing this, Kanjuro let out a soft laugh. He lazily raised his hand, his fingertips gently brushing the chin of Eri Kisaki, who was kneeling at his feet massaging his legs. The movement was intimate yet carried an unquestionable dominance.
"Exposed?" Kanjuro's tone held a hint of disdainful amusement, "So what if they know? Fear is sometimes a more effective catalyst than goodwill. Besides..."
His gaze slowly shifted, eventually landing on Ran Mouri, who was peeling an apple for him. Sensing his gaze, Ran's movements paused slightly. She looked up, her clear eyes holding a trace of indiscernible complexity—she had also seen that girl named Nakamori Aoko during the day, and that face, almost identical to her own, had been lingering in her mind.
Kanjuro's gaze lingered on Ran's face for a moment before turning to Eri Kisaki, whose face was slightly pale and whose eyes were darting away.
"Some secrets become boring if they're hidden for too long." Kanjuro's voice was low and magnetic, as if carrying a soul-bewitching power, "Eri, what do you think? Paper cannot wrap up fire."
Eri Kisaki's body trembled imperceptibly. She put down the fruit in her hand, the color draining from her beautiful face. Struggle, guilt, and a fear of a secret buried for many years finally being revealed intertwined in her eyes. She glanced at her daughter Ran beside her, who had also realized something and whose face was pale, then looked at Kanjuro, who seemed to have seen through everything long ago. Finally, as if all her strength had been drained, she closed her eyes dejectedly.
After a long while, she took a deep breath, as if using up all her courage, before slowly opening her eyes. She looked directly at Kanjuro, her voice trembling slightly yet exceptionally clear as she dropped a bombshell in this luxurious living room:
"Yes... paper cannot wrap up fire."
...Her gaze turned to Ran, who looked bewildered yet vaguely sensed something, her eyes filled with endless guilt and maternal love.
"Ran... and... Aoko. They... they are both my daughters."
She paused for a moment, as if the next words weighed a thousand pounds, before finally forcing them out with difficulty,
"They are also... your daughters, Kanjuro. They are... twin sisters."
!!!
The moment those words fell, the entire living room sank into a deathly silence.
The fruit knife in Ran Mouri's hand fell onto the exquisite carpet with a 'clatter'. She suddenly stood up, looking at her mother in disbelief, then looked at Kanjuro, her lips trembling but unable to make a sound. Those eyes, which were always clear and bright, were now filled with massive shock, confusion, and... a sense of bewilderment from a collapsing worldview.
Twins? Aoko? I'm Kanjuro's daughter?!
This realization was like a thunderclap exploding in her mind, causing her to instantly lose all ability to think.
The other women around them, such as Tomoko Suzuki, Miyano Elena, and Ai Haibara, all showed expressions of shock. They knew Kanjuro had a long life and a complex, unspeakable past, but they never expected that before them, Eri Kisaki had already... and even left behind a pair of twin daughters!
Kanjuro wasn't the least bit surprised by Eri Kisaki's confession; instead, a deeper, more meaningful smile appeared on his face. It was as if he had known all along and was simply waiting for the right moment for the person involved to reveal it herself.
He looked at Ran, who was completely stunned, and then seemed to look through her to see Aoko Nakamori, who was in the outside world and completely ignorant of all this.
"See," Kanjuro's tone carried a cruel calm, as if he were stating a fact that had nothing to do with him, "the bonds of blood, no matter how much one tries to escape them, will eventually find their way to your door."
He stood up and walked to the huge floor-to-ceiling window, overlooking the night view of Tokyo. His back cast a long shadow under the lights.
"Aoko... my... other daughter." He whispered the name, his eyes flashing with a more intense and distorted interest, "Truly... getting more and more interesting."
What was originally just a game targeting Kaitou Kid and collecting new 'collections' along the way had suddenly escalated, becoming entangled with the ethics of blood relations. For Kanjuro, who pursued ultimate control and twisted drama, this undoubtedly made the 'hunt' even more delicious and... impossible to miss.
As for Ran, the mystery regarding Kogoro Mouri's sense of distance that had always troubled her seemed to find a terrifying yet logical explanation at this moment. Looking at Kanjuro's powerful and dark silhouette, and thinking of her sister Aoko, who looked just like her and was about to be swept into this storm, a cold chill instantly spread from the soles of her feet to her entire body. Yet, she still couldn't change her deep affection and attachment to Kanjuro!!
The truth is often crueler than a lie. And Kanjuro was clearly the one best at using the truth to weave his dark web. From the moment she was born, Aoko's fate seemed to have been tightly bound to this demon named Kanjuro.
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