In the early morning, Ellen was not around, so Rin was alone in the video store, leaning on the counter, idly flipping through the newspaper on the table.
On the front page of the newspaper was a photo of Mouri Kogoro laughing heartily while scratching the back of his head, with the caption 'Great Detective Mouri Kogoro Solves Another Baffling Case, Hokkaido Snowfield Murder Case Cracked!'
"So Conan ran off to Hokkaido to cause trouble, no wonder I haven't seen him around lately..."
Rin yawned, feeling a bit bored.
Just then, the store door opened, and Sjal walked in with a stranger.
"Boss ~ Ohayou!" She waved, greeting him with full energy.
But Rin's gaze was completely drawn to the person following behind Sjal.
That was... a very peculiar person.
How should he be described?
The person seemed to be enveloped in a layer of black paint, with no discernible facial features, clothing, or any other details, he looked like a humanoid black blob walking into the store.
To put it simply, this person was a "black figure", aside from his eyes, it was impossible to tell who he was.
However, Sjal seemed completely oblivious to her companion's abnormality and led this little black figure to the counter.
"Rin, let me introduce you!" Sjal patted the little black figure's shoulder. "This is Hanzawa-san, who just arrived in Beika City from the countryside!"
Hanzawa?[1] What a perfectly fitting surname.
However, any surname can exist in Japan, there are names like Abiko, Hanage, and Oshiri[2], so 'Hanzawa' doesn't seem that strange by comparison.
Rin silently complained in his mind.
"Hello, Boss... My name is Hanzawa Makoto..."
Hanzawa-san greeted him in a voice with a slight accent.
His voice sounded quite ordinary, without any ominous feeling.
Sjal continued to chatter.
"Hanzawa-san is so pitiful! As soon as he got off the train, his wallet was stolen by a thief. Now he's penniless and even has nowhere to live.
I felt he had it too rough, so I brought him here for a part-time job to earn some money. I'll be responsible for teaching Hanzawa-san the work, and then I'll take a percentage of his income. Fair, right?"
She proudly puffed out her chest and continued:
"I've already taken Hanzawa-san to Uncle Chop Ramen Shop[3] and Tin Master coffee shop.
Unfortunately, Hanzawa-san only worked there once and didn't want to go back... So I brought him here to try!"
Hearing those two shop names, Hanzawa-san's shadow-like body couldn't help but tremble.
Of course, he couldn't go back to those shady places!
that uncle Chop at the ramen shop, I saw him secretly add a strange white powder to the finished soup, and he even chuckled sinisterly, telling me it was a 'secret weapon that makes customers unable to resist,' and forbade me from telling anyone... And Tin Master at that coffee shop! He also secretly added strange things to the coffee. When I saw him, he even threatened me, saying if I dared to leak it, he would make me shut up forever!
It was too terrifying! How could I dare to stay in such places any longer!
Hanzawa frantically complained in his heart, but on the surface, he was obsequious and dared not speak out.
He cautiously surveyed the video store.
Neat shelves, clearly categorized movie discs, bright lights, it didn't look like a shady business at all.
Especially the boss, Rin, who looked adorable and didn't seem like a bad person.
This put him a little more at ease.
With a hopeful tone, Hanzawa quietly asked, "Th-that, Boss... Has there been a murder in this shop?"
Rin heard this and chuckled, answering very naturally, "Murder? Of course not. We are a legitimate video store here, only renting out video tapes and DVDs. How could there be a murder?"
"Really?! That's great!"
Hanzawa was so excited he almost cried, and his shadow-like body seemed to brighten a few shades.
He finally found a normal place! There's still a pure land in Beika Town!
Recalling his miserable experience renting a room these past few days.
Hanzawa was on the verge of a complete breakdown.
Initially, he saw at the real estate agency that the rental prices in Beika Town were ridiculously cheap, even cheaper than his old home in the countryside.
He thought it was a windfall at the time, but after asking the agent carefully, he learned the truth.
It turned out that with the deteriorating public safety in Beika.
There were hardly any places in the entire Beika Town that weren't murder houses.
The original owners either died in the living room, or in the bedroom, or in the bathroom.
They might even have died everywhere.
The remaining innocent houses had ridiculously high prices, completely unaffordable for an ordinary worker like him.
Now, suddenly hearing that no murder had occurred in this video store, he was overjoyed for a moment, so happy that snot bubbles started to appear.
It's good that no murder has occurred at his workplace either.
However, his relief lasted less than three seconds.
Rin's next sentence followed. "No one dares to commit murder here, otherwise, he will regret being born. Whether in the police station or in prison, he will not have an easy time..."
Hanzawa: "???"
Why did the surrounding temperature suddenly drop? Was it an illusion?
How could the boss's cute face show such a twisted smile?
Just as he was feeling puzzled—
Boom!!!!
Suddenly, a deafening explosion came from outside, and even the video store's glass windows vibrated.
"Waaah!!"
Hanzawa jumped up in fright, curling into a ball.
"Ex-explosion! It's an explosion! Is it a terrorist attack?!"
He pointed frantically out the window, only to see thick smoke billowing and flames soaring from a building not far away.
However, Rin and Sjal in the store merely glanced lazily out the window.
"Oh, again." Rin yawned and continued flipping through the newspaper. "It's probably some unlucky soul who accidentally used the microwave as an oven again."
Sjal also nodded, echoing, "Relax, Hanzawa-san, this is very normal in Beika~ Look at the people on the street outside, is anyone running?"
Hanzawa-san heard this and subconsciously looked out at the street.
Indeed, the pedestrians on the road merely paused to glance at the smoking building, then continued with whatever they were doing.
Dog walkers walked their dogs, shoppers shopped, and some people were even commenting not far from the explosion site.
As if it wasn't an explosion, but just a small firecracker.
Hanzawa was completely petrified on the spot: "No-normal?"
As expected of the place with the highest crime rate in all of Japan.
After I kill that man, I'll go back to the countryside and never come here again.
No! I've already registered my household in Beika City!
Due to the scarcity of population from murder cases, registering in Beika only takes a few minutes, however, if you want to leave, even if you make a single stroke error on the application form, it will be rejected.
It's extremely easy to get in, but difficult to get out.
Will he really have a day when he can leave?
[1] Hanzawa is A Criminal i think? i forgot
[2] eh? there are really someone with this family name? that... was surprising, seriously
[3] w..wait... i kinda forgot what is the last time i translated General Chop ramen shop, is it Waterfall Ramen Shop, or is it Waterfall Soup just like in the game? ugh... taking too long to make it this far is kinda make me forgot many things. i forgot to create a memo just to keep some important things. Hmm... Well maybe i had to create a memo now, it's starting to get hard to remember what is the last translation after too many chapter and days.