Chapter 108: At Someone Else's Funeral
The weather was beautiful and sunny, with a perfectly clear blue sky.
Natsukawa leisurely enjoyed his morning tea on the balcony.
Three days had passed since the luxury cruise ship incident.
The Hatamoto family—a household of nine—was reduced to only two survivors after that single night of death.
The cruise ship sank permanently to the bottom of the sea after the explosion, and all the bodies received an impromptu burial at sea, sparing everyone the trouble of traditional funeral arrangements.
As for Hatamoto Ichiro, the would-be avenger who lost both parents, he was never found and was ultimately declared missing. Considering the extremely low probability of survival, his memorial tablet was placed on the Hatamoto family altar.
Hatamoto Natsue and Hatamoto Akie, meanwhile, successfully inherited the Hatamoto Group.
It's worth mentioning that Hatamoto Natsue inherited all the group's assets, while Hatamoto Akie received a three-bedroom apartment in Shinjuku.
Clearly, this couldn't be explained by simple favoritism.
When she learned of Hatamoto Gozo's will, Hatamoto Akie nearly fainted on the spot.
She was still drowning in debt—what use was this pittance? She caused scenes at the Hatamoto Group headquarters several times, only to be escorted out each time by security.
Hatamoto Natsue, feeling sorry for her sister, originally wanted to share a portion of her inheritance with Akie.
However, her lawyer informed her that doing so would result in forfeiting all her inheritance rights.
This was a special clause in Hatamoto Gozo's will.
Even from beyond the grave, that foul-mouthed patriarch taught his two granddaughters one final lesson.
Hatamoto Natsue passively learned the meaning of ruthlessness in business.
Hatamoto Akie passively learned the art of hostess work in Kabukicho, becoming a regular fixture at the entertainment district's clubs.
There was also news from the Organization.
The mission to acquire the Hatamoto Group had failed. Ireland had two fingers chopped off by Gin and was shot in the leg. He was now dragging his crippled body out of Japan to lick his wounds abroad.
Fortunately, Pisco still had some shareholders within the Hatamoto Group acting as informants, so the takeover wasn't a complete failure—just far more subtle and covert now.
The acquisition would continue, albeit at a much slower pace. This corporate war could take years to fully absorb the Hatamoto Group.
This was precisely why Ireland survived—otherwise, it wouldn't have been just two fingers and a bullet.
The assassination attempt still attracted police attention.
Because the Hatamoto Group was recently competing with foreign conglomerates for a major contract, the police focused their suspicions primarily on the Hatamoto Group's business rivals, never considering the Organization.
Even so, Karasuma Renya issued orders through Gin for the Organization's Japanese branch to consolidate and lay low, with all members entering a period of dormancy.
As for Hatamoto Akie, that woman was having a rough time.
Not only did she fail to inherit the estate, but because she knew about Pisco's plan, she was now under complete surveillance by the Organization.
If the police weren't still investigating and the Organization didn't want excessive exposure, this woman would probably already be chopped up and dumped in Tokyo Bay.
For now, she was just waiting for police attention to shift—then she'd be dealt with immediately.
The vibration of a phone on the table caught Natsukawa's attention.
"Natsukawa, are you home? Got some free time later?"
The voice belonged to the famous detective.
Natsukawa stood up and walked to the window, looking toward the Mouri Detective Agency.
"Uncle Mouri, we're only a few steps apart. Why call? Just yell if you need something."
"Hahaha, wouldn't yelling disturb the neighbors? Besides, with your fancy satellite phone, do you really care about a few yen in call charges?" Mouri Kogoro's voice was full of joy, as if some good fortune was about to come his way.
"What's up? You sound really happy, Uncle. Did you crack some big case?"
"Not exactly. Remember Hatamoto Natsue? Something good is related to her~" Mouri Kogoro drawled mysteriously.
"Her? What happened?"
"She just called, saying she wants to give us both a gift to thank us for saving her life."
Mouri Kogoro beamed. "A gift from a major conglomerate definitely won't be simple. You'd better get ready and come with me to the Hatamoto Group headquarters."
Natsukawa hummed in agreement.
Today, Anya was at school and Yor was at work, so he had nothing better to do anyway.
But what about this gift?
Just as the old man said, a gift from a large corporation was bound to be something substantial, so Natsukawa was genuinely looking forward to it.
After hanging up, Natsukawa turned to look at the three newspapers stacked on the table—editions from the past three days.
Mouri Kogoro never disappoints. He hasn't rested at all in the three days since returning, spending every day either solving cases or traveling to solve more cases, as if he's become addicted.
Conan is probably going insane.
During his recent travels, Conan encountered two professional assassins. Evidence and deductive reasoning were completely useless—these killers weren't afraid of being caught and simply chose direct confrontation.
Both were extremely vicious assassins: one provoking the police, the other blowing up a luxury cruise ship.
Conan never even saw Thorn Princess on Tsukikage Island. The police only knew of her existence, not her gender or codename!
Ireland, on the other hand, escaped right before their eyes, incidentally sinking the luxury cruise ship in the process.
Similarly, his identity remained a complete mystery. The police spent three consecutive days finding nothing about Ireland, only discovering Butler Suzuki's body at his residence.
Unable to identify either killer, this frustrating experience left Conan extremely depressed. He only recovered after solving three cases upon returning to Beika.
After much reflection, he still found the culprit brothers of Beika Town to be the most endearing.
The Hatamoto Group had an office building in Shinjuku, Tokyo—a magnificent structure nearly 100 meters tall.
When Natsukawa arrived in his GT-R, a parking attendant helped him find a spot.
"Welcome to the Hatamoto Group."
Hatamoto Natsue greeted them at the entrance.
She bowed deeply with utmost sincerity, her white business suit pristine and professional, offering no particular visual interest even as she bowed.
Her delicate, charming face held a hint of melancholy, her mood seemingly heavy.
A few strands of her styled hair fell across her forehead, giving her a unique charm—almost like a young widow.
Combined with her actual widowed status, this stirred inappropriate interest among the unmarried men in the Hatamoto Group.
As for the married men, their expressions and reactions were more subtle, at least not as blatant as their single colleagues.
On the way to the office, Natsue received at least dozens of lingering, predatory glances.
It seemed that without some serious backing, Natsue probably wouldn't survive three months in this corporate shark tank.
"Miss Natsue, what exactly is this gift you mentioned?"
Mouri Kogoro, true to his shameless nature, was utterly impolite, rubbing his hands together eagerly, his excitement barely contained.
Hatamoto Natsue suppressed her melancholy, smiled gently, and glanced at the woman beside her.
The person who'd been following them the entire way was probably Hatamoto Natsue's secretary.
"I understand."
The secretary smiled slightly, bowed, and departed.
Mouri Kogoro grinned lecherously, watching the busty, long-legged secretary walk away, his gaze lingering shamelessly.
It seemed he'd rather have received the gift from her instead.
Natsukawa witnessed this scene and clicked his tongue in amazement.
If he hadn't forgotten his camera, he would've loved to capture Kogoro's expression and send it to Attorney Kisaki Eri.
A young girl could never compete with a mature woman's appeal.
Well, although the secretary didn't look particularly old, she might not necessarily be that young either.
Inside the office, Hatamoto Natsue closed the door and let out a long sigh.
She was starting to suffocate from maintaining that composed demeanor throughout the building.
Natsukawa smiled and said, "Miss Natsue really had the aura of a CEO just now. I didn't expect you to mature so much in just a few days since taking office."
"Not at all," Natsue smiled bitterly. "Actually, Grandfather was already training me before he passed away. Originally, after the wedding on the cruise, I was supposed to start gradually taking over his responsibilities."
"It's truly regrettable about Mr. Hatamoto Gozo. I never expected Mr. Hatamoto Ichiro to actually..."
The fact that Hatamoto Ichiro killed Hatamoto Gozo and Hatamoto Tatsuo had already been solved by the Sleeping Kogoro.
It was the day after returning to Tokyo.
At someone else's funeral, no less.
Quite impolite.
It was almost like Conan lifted Hatamoto Ichiro's memorial tablet, pointed at the ceremonial robes that substituted for a body, and declared, 'This scheming bastard is the real culprit.'
Natsukawa admired Conan's efficiency. The kid nearly died, yet the very next day he was fully recovered and investigating cases as if nothing had happened.
He didn't know if it was incredible resilience or simply fearlessness.
And then there was Anya. She seemed to have caught Conan's bug—she hadn't panicked at all when the cruise ship was sinking, completely unlike a normal little girl.
If Natsukawa didn't clearly know that only Conan, Haibara Ai, and Mary Akai had been shrunk by APTX 4869, he'd definitely suspect Anya had taken it too.
End of Chapter 108