An Unexpected Man
Deep in the woods of a remote region, a car came rumbling through, shattering the silence of the forest.
"Unbelievable. What kind of 'shortcut' is this supposed to be? Damn it! If that gas station owner lied to me, I swear I'll never forgive him!" Mouri Kogoro gripped the steering wheel tightly, doing his best to keep the car steady on the muddy track winding through the trees.
In the back seat, Xia Xi listened to Kogoro's grumbling and couldn't help but admire the performance: *He's really good at this — way better than Conan, at least.* If she didn't have Elemental Sight as a cheat, she'd never have guessed that the man complaining about the gas station owner was the gas station owner himself.
Speaking of which, the person disguised as Mouri Kogoro using that masterful disguise art had to be Kaitou Kid. Xia Xi was honestly a little curious whether he really did look identical to Kudo Shinichi.
The reason Xia Xi was heading to the Twilight Mansion with Mouri Kogoro and the others was simple: she knew they were certain to have received invitations too, and she had no intention of going alone. She'd originally hoped to find someone to accompany her, but every single one of them was busy.
Busy, always busy. Well, good for them.
It just made her, the humble Traveler, look like she had nothing to do. Which was unfair — she had plenty on her plate! If not for her efforts, where would all those characters come from? How else could the Syndicate have so many helpers and expand so quickly?
Yet now, when she invited them along on a trip to the Twilight Mansion, every last one refused — either they had things to do, or they scoffed that even if the mansion was made of solid gold, there was no point going somewhere they wouldn't see a single coin.
Out of options, Xia Xi let Ran know that she too had received an invitation, making it easy to hitch a ride with the Mouris, and off they set together.
Though honestly, these forest roads were brutal. When would they reach a proper road? At this rate, Xia Xi felt her body might actually get carsick from all the jolting.
Thankfully, before long the car finally turned onto a real road, and nearly everyone in the vehicle breathed a sigh of relief.
Through the window, the outline of the Twilight Mansion could now be dimly made out in the distance.
"Ah—!"
The car slammed to a sudden stop, and Xia Xi, caught off guard, nearly pitched into the back of the front seat.
The cause was an old woman — also bound for the Twilight Mansion — whose car had broken down, standing in the road to flag them down.
Xia Xi decided that Mouri Kogoro — no, Kaitou Kid — had a remarkably good temper. If she'd been driving and someone planted themselves in the middle of the road without so much as a signal or a warning sign, she'd definitely have started cursing. Wasn't this old woman afraid someone might not brake in time and run her over?
Old Man Mouri agreed to the woman's request with great good grace, though the only option was to squeeze her into the back seat with Xia Xi and Conan — three across. Fortunately, Conan was a small child, so the back seat wasn't too cramped.
With everyone settled, the car set off for the Twilight Mansion once more.
Along the way, the old woman introduced herself as Chikage Fuyuyo... no — as Chidori Fuyuyo? — rather, her name was Chikako... — her name was Chishiba...
— her name was Senba Fuyuyo. And under the pretext that she couldn't stand the smell of tobacco, she confiscated the ashtray beside Mouri Kogoro for safekeeping.
At last they arrived at the Twilight Mansion, and Xia Xi let out a long breath. That drive had felt endless, with one mishap after another — but they'd made it, and that was what counted.
Umbrellas up, they stepped out of the car and entered the Twilight Mansion. Along the way they were introduced, in turn, to the maid Hara Akiko, and to the detectives Motegi Harufumi, Ozaki Shukuzen, Karuta Ikumi, and Hakuba Saguru, among others.
Then, thanks to a vial of luminol reagent Karuta Ikumi had brought along, the group learned that this mansion's history held not just one, but multiple murders.
Just now, everyone assumed the guest list was complete and were about to follow the maid to the game room to pass the time while waiting for Detective Ozaki Shukuzen — who had left earlier — to finish preparing dinner.
*Knock knock knock......*
Suddenly, another round of knocking sounded at the door.
Everyone turned toward the mansion's entrance, puzzled. The maid had just said the master of the house had invited exactly seven detectives, and all seven had already arrived — so who on earth could be outside?
Doubtful but curious, they went to open the front door.
Standing there was a young man, no older than twenty, with slightly long hair tied back at the nape of his neck. His eyes were clear and gentle, a smile playing at the corner of his mouth, and he gave the overall impression of someone warm and dependable.
He gave his name as Morikawa Shiro, explaining that he had been passing through the area on some errand when his car suddenly broke down. Spotting the lights of the mansion from a distance, he'd known someone must be inside and come over hoping to stay the night, planning to arrange for his car to be towed come morning.
It was the kind of story that sounded perfectly reasonable on first hearing — and fell apart the moment you actually thought about it.
First, this area was practically desolate; what possible errand required passing through here? Second, he claimed to have walked a very long way, yet he wasn't the least bit winded or flushed, and with the rain coming down outside, his clothes were barely damp — plainly inconsistent with his account. And finally, that face of his was fake. Xia Xi could tell he was wearing a disguise, same as "Mouri Kogoro."
She had no doubt the detectives present could see through his suspicious points even without spotting the disguise — the first two were more than enough.
But no one said a word about any of it. They let him in.
Xia Xi suspected they might believe this stranger was the very mastermind who had summoned them all here, which was why they held their tongues and let him through — to observe him up close.
But Xia Xi knew he wasn't. She remembered quite clearly that the ones behind the Twilight Mansion incident were Ozaki Shukuzen and Senba Fuyuyo. She had accepted the invitation this time out of sheer curiosity about a mansion built of gold — she simply needed to see with her own eyes what a golden mansion actually looked like.
Besides, she'd heard before that the boss of the Black Organization was Karasuma Renya — the original owner of this very mansion, the man who had slaughtered scholars by the dozen forty years ago in his hunt for treasure.
So Xia Xi had come here nursing a faint hope of stumbling across some clue to the Organization.
And now, a man from outside the story had appeared.
Xia Xi found him deeply suspicious, and guessed he might well be connected to the Black Organization.
And yet, for some reason, he also felt oddly familiar — as if she'd crossed paths with him before. She couldn't quite bring herself to feel properly on guard around him.
After introductions were exchanged all over again, the group set off once more, following the maid Hara Akiko toward the game room.
On the way there, Xia Xi noticed that sure enough, the detectives were all covertly sizing up the man who had materialized out of nowhere. She turned to study him as well — he seemed entirely oblivious to the furtive gazes around him, strolling along with a smile, eyes bright with curiosity as he admired the mansion's interior décor.
Perhaps he sensed her unsubtle staring, because he suddenly looked back at her — and smiled.
For some reason, Xia Xi's face flushed before she could stop it. Something about the way he looked at her felt strange.
Conan, meanwhile, was busy pondering the man's identity. He caught Morikawa Shiro's movement, followed his line of sight to Xia Xi — and was astonished to see her actually blushing over a single smile from this guy.
This was Xia Xi they were talking about. The Xia Xi who could kick a mugger flying across the street. And now she was going red over a smile from a man she'd met five minutes ago? Was this pretty-boy face really that devastating? Then wouldn't Ran also—
Xia Xi caught the incredulous look on Conan's face and shot him a warning glare, holding it until he grinned sheepishly and looked away.