Kurokawa Saki was really confused.
It couldn't be that the three children and Haibara Ai were infected by Conan's death reaper's aura, right?
Uh…
Wrong.
This didn't seem to be the normal murder case.
She faintly remembered that previously, Mouri Ran also encountered cases without Conan around and it was also a very simple thieving case in the convenience store.
This one seems to be even simpler.
The crowd gathered over and seemed to be concerned with the middle aged woman who was panicking.
"My wallet… it was just here." The middle aged woman was frantically searching her bag.
"Auntie, don't worry, think about where you put it before," a female student not far away comforted her.
"No, really no… there are important things inside and I don't have much money… what am I going to do?" The middle aged woman was anxious.
"Ma'am, if you're looking for your wallet, go over there and don't block our way. We need to finish shopping and get home quickly," a blond haired young man spoke impatiently.
"Hey! Can't you be a bit more patient? Have some compassion for her!" the female student roared in anger.
"It's not like I stole her wallet, so what's it to me? I just want to finish my business quickly. Should we sacrifice everyone's time just because we can't find the thief?" the blond haired young man retorted.
"You!"
However, the blond haired young man's words were indeed reasonable and some people who wanted to go home quickly started to make a fuss. The female employee at the cashier looked troubled and quickly asked a colleague to call the manager.
"This is…" Haibara Ai frowned.
Kurokawa Saki chuckled and then she looked at the three children. "It seems there's a case here, since you're the Junior Detective Group, do you want to try solving the case?"
"Really?"
The three children look energetic.
"But you can't run around, you can't disturb the scene, and you must action front of me. If you disobey my order… bad children have to be spanked," Kurokawa Saki said with a smile.
"Yes!"
The three children agreed and they wanted to help find the thief as quickly as possible.
Only Haibara Ai said helplessly, "Isn't it a bit unfair to let them do whatever they want?"
Kurokawa Saki smiled, "What's wrong with it? They can help too. And this is just a simple thief case, so it's perfect for them to start."
Looking at her smile, what could Haibara Ai say?
Her companions rushed forward happily and she could only follow.
Kurokawa Saki followed behind the four children who started to ask questions to the other people who were around the middle aged woman.
Some adults were unhappy to be questioned by the children while some others still answered.
"I didn't see anything." the customer in front of the middle aged woman shook his head. "She might have misplaced it somewhere. Why not check it out first."
"Tsk, if you don't want to queue, you should just go back to the back and don't stop us."
There were not many people.
And the children didn't know what else to ask but to ask whether they had seen the wallet or not. All of their answers are just simple 'no.'
Still, it was obvious that their investigation didn't yield much progress.
"Their answers are all the same." Ayumi was a bit depressed when another middle aged woman was almost getting impatient with her. It was Kurokawa Saki who gave a stern warning with her eyes to that middle aged woman, stopping her from lashing out at the children.
Haibara Ai glanced at Kurokawa Saki.
When she's protecting others… it was truly easy to find a sense of comfort and safety.
"If it's not possible, why not call the police?" Haibara Ai finally said.
"But we're the detective group…"
"Don't think that the detectives are omnipotent." Kurokawa Saki shook her head. "The one with the real power to enforce laws are the police officers and not detectives. Detectives are people who like to find out the truth through their deduction, but it doesn't mean that you have to solve the cases on your own. If you really can't find the answer, you can go to the police."
"Hikari Nee…"
"In fact, most people will go to the police when they encountered any cases." Hikari Yuki ruffled Ayumi's head. "And this is the most correct behaviour. Of course, if you're capable enough as a detective, then you can also try to solve the case. But before truly becoming a competent detective, you need to train your abilities so that you would not hinder the case solving."
The three children listened patiently, nodding in agreement.
Haibara Ai glanced at Hikari Yuki, feeling somewhat ironic that the organization's third in command was actually advising people to call the police.
"As for this case… hmm, do you find anything strange from the three people near the victim?" Hikari Yuki asked with a smile.
"The two people?"
"The female student is really kind and she seems to be genuinely angry."
"The man at the front said that he didn't know anything and seemed kind enough…" Genta was not sure.
"That blond haired man is really awful and he seems to be inciting people," Mitsuhiko added.
"Yes, you're right." Hikari Yuki smiled. "Why do you think he would do that?"
"Because he's the culprit?"
Hikari Yuki chuckled when she heard their uncertain tone.
"That's correct."
"You, what the hell are you talking about?" The blond haired young man shouted in anger towards Hikari Yuki when he heard what she said. "How could you accuse me of stealing? I didn't do it!"
Seeing him glare so fiercely, Hikari Yuki felt he was quite ridiculous. She looked at the blond haired young man with a faint smile on the corner of her lips, yet her eyes were a shade colder. "It's not an accusation."
"It's a slander! You have no evidence…"
"From what you said in the beginning, you seem to be absolutely certain that the auntie has her wallet stolen. But from what I heard, she only said that she couldn't find it and the female student is helping her to look for it. However, your tone is absolutely certain that it was stolen and not accidentally lost?"
"This…" the blond haired young man was stumped now.
"You came to the convenience store alone, wandering around the counter for at least half an hour but didn't buy anything. Then you saw that auntie lining up, so you grabbed a bottle of water and deliberately lined up behind her," Hikari Yuki continued calmly.
She knew how to do deduction even if she didn't really do it often.
It was a bit too troublesome and Hikari Yuki preferred to just take action directly without the need to explain.
But since she's explaining to the three children now, she chose to slow down.
"From the beginning, you're choosing targets and deliberately stand close to the front and back line. In this way, even if you make a small move, people in front of you wouldn't notice. Also, you're in a hurry to leave and try to incite the crowd to make a fuss, so the wallet is definitely still with you. If we ask the security to search you…"
"You b*stard!" the blond haired young man roared and tried to make a run to the front. Seeing so many people, he shouted, "Get out of the way!"
He also took out a folding knife from his pocket, brandishing it forward.
"Ahhh!"
The onlookers scattered in panic and Hikari Yuki directly ran forward.