Chapter 87
An’an was an honest person.
When she said there was no rigging, there was no rigging. Everyone competed equally.
Even if the winner was a surprise to everyone, it was the arrangement of fate, the will of the gods.
However, before sending her beloved complete set of the “Beika Town Murderers’ Collaborative Publication” series to the winner, An’an had to attend a wedding first.
“Did they really invite me?” the dark-haired girl asked, flipping through the invitation, surprised. “Conan is here too?”
An’an: Are you guys really serious about having a proper wedding?
Takagi Wataru: “Well…”
Sato Miwako: “Um…”
The police don’t believe in feudal superstitions. The two of them really wanted to say that, but the iron-clad facts made it impossible for them to say it against their conscience.
“After all, it’s a wedding. We hope all our friends and family can come and witness it,” Sato explained.
Needless to say, Edogawa Conan was the real big shot of the Metropolitan Police Department. In a few years, the position of Superintendent General Hakuba might even have to be given to him.
An’an was also an old friend of the First Division. She had a dedicated police report file, a dedicated teacup, and a dedicated interrogation room at the Metropolitan Police Department. Even the cushion on her chair had been specially purchased for her by Inspector Megure with the department’s funds.
They were all so familiar. Of course An’an had to come to the wedding of Officer Takagi and Officer Sato.
Not only did she have to come, but she also had to bring a gift. Let her think about what to give…
Takagi: “Ahem, well, actually, a book would be fine.”
Sato: “Mhm, a book would be great. We both love to read.”
The two of them had both participated in the retweet lottery and had not won. To be a police officer in Beika and not have a set of the “Beika Town Murderers’ Collaborative Publication” series is to have a failed life.
Of course, a book was no problem. An’an had collected many sets. The problem was…
“Is this really a suitable wedding gift?” at the wedding, the dark-haired girl, dragging a suitcase full of hardcover books, asked Edogawa Conan, puzzled.
The wedding venue was beautifully decorated. On the top floor of the Shibuya Hikarie building, you could see the entire scenery of Shibuya.
The sound of a piano playing a blessing echoed through the venue. Sato, in a wedding dress, and Takagi, in a suit, stood opposite each other in front of the officiant, Inspector Megure.
There were many guests. An’an knew most of them. The majority were the newlyweds’ colleagues at the Metropolitan Police Department. The others were the Mouri family and the Junior Detective League. Everyone was watching the two people under the lights with blessings in their eyes.
Under the blessings, the guests were whispering to each other.
“It’s finally this day. They’ve finally made it.”
“It’s so touching. Although I knew this day would come sooner or later, it’s a little too fast.”
“Officer Sato is the flower of the Metropolitan Police Department. I thought Officer Takagi would have to go through more tests.”
“Yeah, this wedding is too sudden.”
Although everyone had received an invitation from the newlyweds and had come with a heart full of blessings, doesn’t it usually take at least half a year to prepare for a wedding? How could these two suddenly be getting married?
“I still think it’s very strange,” An’an said, rubbing her chin. “I can understand their longing for the “Beika Town Murderers’ Collaborative Publication” series. It’s human nature.”
Her: “But even for me, if I received a book that teaches people how to commit crimes at my wedding, I would definitely think someone was here to crash the party.”
Edogawa Conan gave her a half-lidded look. So you know.
But An’an had still come with a suitcase. She was a person of her word.
“Is Mr. Amuro not here?” Edogawa Conan asked, noticing that the girl was carrying the suitcase by herself. The size of the suitcase was just right to fit an adult male.
“He’s held up by work,” An’an said casually. She met the great detective’s suspicious gaze and opened the suitcase to show him.
Besides being packed with hardcover books, there was also a set of Damascus steel knives and a whetstone.
“My plan B,” An’an introduced. “Although the newlyweds personally said they wanted the crime textbook, just in case, I still prepared a presentable wedding gift for them.”
Edogawa Conan was even more horrified. In other words, not only did you plan on giving the newlyweds a full set of crime textbooks, but you even prepared the teaching aids for them to practice with?
Plus a suitcase that could fit an adult corpse. Heavens! She even had the body-dumping tools!
An’an: The more I try to explain, the darker it gets.jpg
It’s fine. She didn’t care. She was standing in a circle of police officers and detectives, and had already naturally occupied the suspect’s spot.
The Junior Detective League, who had been listening to these two, broke out in a cold sweat. Yoshida Ayumi asked, her question piercing straight to the soul, “Sister An’an, in your eyes, are knives a good wedding gift?”
“They are,” An’an, who had never for a single day forgotten her identity as a time-honored, eighteen-year-old pig butcher, nodded with certainty. “I would be very happy to receive knives at my wedding. The sharper, the better.”
Yoshida Ayumi: “Hiss, I’ve collected some amazing information.”
Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko: “Very important information. Quick, write it down.”
Kojima Genta: “Can it be a knife for killing eels? Is there eel rice at the wedding?”
Haibara Ai: “What a unique taste. I’ll choose carefully when the time comes.”
Edogawa Conan was drenched in sweat. “…Does Mr. Amuro know?”
An’an looked at him strangely. “Is the marriage of Officer Sato and Officer Takagi also under the jurisdiction of Public Security?”
Edogawa Conan gave a forced laugh. He put his hands behind his back and typed a message to Furuya Rei.
The great detective, so righteous! You’d better arrange for him to sit at the same table as Hiromitsu at the wedding banquet.
Edogawa Conan pushed up his glasses. A genius like him had already deduced that Hiromitsu was sitting at the elders’ table. He was going to raise his seniority along with Mentor Scotch.
The message was sent successfully. Inspector Megure had just finished his officiating words. “To be with him for the rest of your life, for better or for worse. Sato Miwako, do you?”
Sato, in her wedding dress, took a deep breath. “I…”
CRASH!
The door was kicked open.
“Miwako! How can you marry him?!”
Outside the door, a group of men holding sharp weapons shouted angrily and rushed into the hall, their killing intent soaring.
An’an: Eh?
Crashing a wedding?
Who was so brave as to crash a wedding when the bride and groom were both police officers, and their friends and family were either police officers or detectives?
The girl didn’t understand. She only knew that she had chosen the right wedding gift.
“I told you, knives are the most cost-effective wedding gift,” An’an said, pulling out a boning knife and weighing it in her palm with satisfaction. “Who dares to question it?”
She was about to join the battlefield.
However, someone was faster than her.
Mouri Kogoro was brave and extraordinary. He fought the thugs with his bare hands, full of heroic spirit. If Kyogoku Makoto were here, he would have had to cup his fist and call him “Master!”
Edogawa Conan: Wait a minute. Is he usually that active?
The thugs had knives and guns. Mouri Kogoro had rushed out without a care. It didn’t make sense.
“Stop fighting!” the dark-haired girl couldn’t help but shout. “You can’t kill anyone like this.”
“How about you make some room for me?” Suspect An revealed her true intentions. “At least let there be some blood to make everyone happy.”
The moment she finished speaking, all eyes were on An’an.
The thugs who had rushed in to crash the wedding hesitated. The leader of the wedding crashers took the initiative to walk towards An’an.
He took out—handcuffs from his pocket.
Suspect An: “Eh?”
“CUT—the drill is over!” Inspector Megure shouted.
The wedding crashing team stopped their actions. Someone who hadn’t been able to stop firing a gun shot a bullet at the ground. In an instant, it turned into a puddle of red paint, exuding a strong smell of paint.
The sharp weapons they were carrying had accidentally poked Mouri Kogoro. The tip of the knife had bent into a soft arc, not even wrinkling his clothes.
Mouri Ran was surprised. “Wait a minute. Was this wedding a drill?”
“Sorry for not telling you beforehand,” Sato said, taking off her veil. “This was indeed a drill.”
Inspector Megure’s classmate and good friend, the former Superintendent Muranaka Tsutomu, was about to get married. But on the eve of his wedding, he had received a threatening letter from an unknown person.
The former Superintendent Muranaka had been a police officer his whole life and had arrested countless criminals. It was difficult to determine who held a grudge and had sent him a threatening letter.
Inspector Megure had taken over the security work for the former Superintendent Muranaka’s wedding. To ensure that nothing went wrong, the First Division had decided to conduct a drill, with the well-known couple, Sato and Takagi, playing the bride and groom.
To make the act complete, they had also invited their friends and family to witness—protecting the wedding guests was also a part of the security work.
Because it was a drill, the sharp weapons and guns were all props and wouldn’t really hurt anyone.
Edogawa Conan immediately deduced the reason for Mouri Kogoro’s bravery: Inspector Megure must have tipped off his old friend Mouri beforehand.
The great detective silently turned his gaze to the pensive Suspect An.
The boning knife in her hand was shining with the brilliance of a real weapon.
The police officers who were playing the wedding crashers in the drill had a ghostly expression.
They were acting. You were really going to kill someone.
They had prepared for everything, but they hadn’t prepared for the wedding gift the guest had brought for the newlyweds—who in their right mind would bring a real knife to a wedding? Are you afraid that the crime of passion rate in Beika is too low?
Unjust! Suspect An, unjust!
She put the boning knife back on the knife rack and recounted her gift-giving thought process and the wedding gifts she would be happy to receive.
Inspector Megure gasped.
“Teacher An’an, let me confirm,” Inspector Megure said cautiously. “Have you considered hiring a security team for your own wedding?”
An’an shook her head in confusion.
Of course not. As long as she didn’t change her boyfriend, half of the people who came to her wedding would be Public Security, and the other half would be her relatives—the pitch-black Fan family with their black hair, black eyes, and black aura.
She didn’t need a security team. She just needed to know how many of her relatives had a criminal record before the wedding, to leave an emergency escape route for her family in case they were arrested on the spot by Public Security.
Inspector Megure said solemnly, “In that case, I will definitely come to your wedding, with the entire force of the First Division!”
It was hard to refuse such a kind offer. An’an was too embarrassed to tell him that it was all up in the air. Her boyfriend was still working overtime somewhere.
“After this drill, I’ve found a lot of problems,” Inspector Megure summarized. “In the future, the gifts carried by the guests will also have to be checked beforehand, especially suspicious people who come to a wedding with a half-man-high suitcase.”
The girl protested, “I was only dragging a suitcase to bring the books.”
Since Officer Sato and Officer Takagi weren’t really getting married, the wedding gift would naturally have to be taken back.
An’an didn’t want to drag the suitcase home again. She was planning on going directly to find the lucky fan who had won the lottery and give them a surprise.
“Can you help me find someone?” An’an asked Inspector Megure. “The winner gave me her personal information.”
She found a photo in her phone and, pointing to the blond woman in a photo of a man and a woman, said, “Here, she won my retweet lottery—the complete set of the “Beika Town Murderers’ Collaborative Publication” series, including 1000 episodes of the great detective Sleeping Kogoro’s case-solving stories.”
“I heard from the winner that she and her fiancé are both fans of Sleeping Kogoro. They’re just discussing their marriage. This classic masterpiece, which is known as the daily record of Sleeping Kogoro, can be considered my wedding gift.”
An’an patted the suitcase and said generously, “This suitcase, which can be used to dump a body, and the entire set of Damascus steel knives inside, are also a gift for the newlyweds. It’s a small token of my appreciation.”
Edogawa Conan: So you’re still going to give them a one-stop service for crime!
The great detective was about to advise the winner to call the police, but Inspector Megure, who had seen the photo, slapped his thigh.
“What a coincidence!” he said, pointing to the man in the photo. “He is the former Superintendent Muranaka Tsutomu.”
“The winner is his fiancée, Ms. Christine Richard.”