Chapter 292: Grand Narukami Shrine
"So here's my theory," Conan said. "Kiken Construction includes a building division, and since they had no way of getting involved in the construction of the finals venue, their profits took a massive hit. That would have bred resentment against the Kamisato family — and it's possible they're planning to get revenge by sabotaging the venue itself.
"Then there's the Takahashi Group. They're very likely connected to the yakuza, and their interest in partnering with the Kamisato family is probably a scheme to launder money through this event — to legitimize certain streams of income. When the Kamisato family turned down their little hints, burning down the finals venue would have been their way of sending Kamisato Ayato a warning."
At that point, Conan couldn't help shooting Hattori Heiji an odd look. "Setting Kiken Construction aside — didn't you say your father forbade you from investigating this case? So where exactly did you learn that the Takahashi Group plans to launder money? That's not the kind of thing you can just coax out of the venue staff, is it?"
"Ah, that's where you're out of your depth," Heiji said with a low chuckle, not bothering to hide his pride. "I snuck into the construction site for the finals venue and eavesdropped on the site manager — heard it right out of his own mouth while he was chatting with someone."
Then he let out a sigh of regret. "The real shame is that every time I've gone to pay a visit to the Kamisato estate, neither of the siblings has been home. Supposedly they went off to some shrine, though who knows if that's true. And without anyone to ask, I can't get my hands on anything more concrete."
"A shrine?" Conan frowned, puzzled. "At such a critical moment, the heads of the family aren't keeping a close eye on the finals venue — they're off visiting a shrine instead? They're seriously not worried the mastermind will strike again?"
"Beats me." Heiji shrugged. "Far as I know, neither of the Kamisato siblings has returned to the estate yet. This whole business of picking you all up and arranging lodging is being handled entirely by their housekeeper, some fellow named Thoma.
"In a way, your big sis Xia Xi carries quite a bit of weight with the head of the Kamisato clan, doesn't she? The man's actually willing to let this many people stay at the family estate while he's away."
Conan answered Heiji's discovery with a noncommittal chuckle, casting him a careless glance from half-lidded eyes.
"I figured that out ages ago. And it isn't just the Kamisato siblings — most of the Teyvat Syndicate members I know of treat Xia Xi remarkably well. That's one of the reasons I'm convinced she has deep ties to Teyvat, even without a Vision of her own."
"By the way, Heiji — do you know which shrine the Kamisato siblings went to?" Okiya Subaru steered the drifting conversation back on course. The priority right now was finding the culprit behind the wrecked venue as quickly as possible.
"We set out early today, so we have time to spare — we might even have a chance to pay them a visit in person. I'd say asking them directly would get us a lot further than anything else. And besides, we could probe a little and find out whether they've already identified the culprit themselves. That way, we can be prepared for whatever comes."
Hattori Heiji and Edogawa Conan exchanged a glance, mulled it over for a moment, then both nodded. They agreed to follow Okiya's suggestion.
No sooner thought than done. Heiji's decisiveness was startling — he lunged forward against the front seat so abruptly that Kazuha nearly jumped out of her skin.
He tossed off a half-hearted apology and got straight to the point, announcing his plan to slip away from the group with Conan. "Kazuha, me and this brat Conan have some business to take care of later, so you take Ran and the others and show them around Osaka, will ya? Last time they came, they never got the chance to see much of the city."
"Eh? Hold on a sec—" Kazuha stared at him, momentarily dumbfounded by this plan dropping out of nowhere, and was just recovering enough to put a stop to it—
Right at that moment, the car pulled up in front of the Kamisato Estate, and Heiji dragged Conan out of the vehicle.
The occupants of the other car, which had arrived ahead of them, were already out and waiting. Thoma was planning to let everyone rest a bit first once the full party had assembled, but noticing the unusual commotion around Heiji, he came over to ask what was going on.
Caught between inventing an excuse and simply stating his purpose, Heiji ultimately chose the truth — after all, the fact that he'd been trying to meet Kamisato Ayato for the past two weeks was hardly a secret anymore.
Before Thoma could even open his mouth to respond to Heiji's plan, Genta — who had just caught wind that Conan intended to go off acting separately from the Detective Boys yet again — cut in loudly.
Genta and the others all demanded to come along, and Ayumi went so far as to run straight to Conan's side and seize his arm, making absolutely sure he had no chance to sneak off.
Conan could only sigh helplessly at the children's antics. Then his eye twitched at the sight of Haibara and Heiji exchanging looks of pure, anticipatory amusement, and a headache came on fast.
Before he could even figure out how to talk the kids out of it, Thoma's voice rang out, readily agreeing.
"You'd like to visit Grand Narukami Shrine? The shrine is up on the mountain — it wouldn't be very convenient for you to get there on your own. As it happens, we still have plenty of time, and since the children want to come too, why don't I drive everyone up there for a proper visit?"