Chapter 60
Jonah really doesn't understand.
"On the day Shinichi suddenly disappeared, Conan happened to be at Shinichi's house."
"At the time, Professor Agasa said that the child was a relative of his family, and I never doubted it. But now that I think about it, why would Professor Agasa bring a relative's child into the study of his new home?"
"And Conan without his glasses looks so much like Shinichi when he was a kid!"
Sitting in the chair, Ran Mouri sorted out her thoughts and talked about the issues that were bothering her one by one.
"Conan's intelligence is almost abnormal, and his obsession with deduction, his demeanor at crime scenes, and his deductive reasoning habits are exactly the same as Shinichi's!"
"But didn't Shinichi Kudo come to see Ran-neechan before?"
"Jonah, you have to call Shinichi 'brother,' you can't just call people by their names."
"..." Jonah blinked as he watched Ran Mouri, who was clearly angry but still didn't forget to correct her manners. He suddenly realized that Ran Mouri didn't seem to care much about whether Conan Edogawa was Shinichi Kudo.
"As for the time you mentioned, Jonah, I initially thought it was Shinichi, but after thinking about it carefully, I also felt there were some issues."
"I think that Shinichi might not be the real Shinichi, but rather Kaito Kid in disguise!"
"Think about it, after Shinichi left, the injured pigeon Conan found disappeared, didn't it? And I remember when I ran downstairs with my towel and clothes, Shinichi was already gone, and there were many pigeons flying away in the sky!"
"If you ask me, that Phantom Thief Kid might just be here to pick up his own pigeon!"
Jonah listened silently to Ran Mouri's story, maintaining his expression, though his mind was already starting to churn.
If Ran Mouri were to ask me later whether Conan Edogawa is Shinichi Kudo, how should I answer?
She had promised Conan Edogawa that she wouldn't tell Ran Mouri this news, but now it seems that Ran Mouri figured out this situation herself.
Unaware of Jonah's strange behavior, Ran Mouri was already engrossed in her reasoning, becoming more and more absorbed in her explanation.
"When I saw Shinichi again at the diplomat's house, I was so surprised that I forgot to look for Conan. As a result, Conan appeared an hour later, wearing ill-fitting clothes."
"And then there was yesterday! When Jonah suddenly ran out of the warehouse, it was Conan who was the first to stop everyone who wanted to go into the forest to look for you. He said that we were not familiar with how to move around in the forest and that we might cause trouble for Jonah. Instead, we should create some chaos at the Takeda residence to attract the attention of the people in the forest and give Jonah a chance to act."
"This is not a method a child could come up with in a short time! Even Heiji Hattori, that high school detective like Shinichi, and his father didn't think of this!"
"And the last time I had amnesia, Conan acted very strangely when he was protecting me, making me feel like Shinichi was right beside me!"
Ran Mouri slammed her right hand heavily into her left palm, her eyes filled with certainty as she said, word by word, "I'm almost certain that Conan is Shinichi!"
"...So, how did Shinichi... his older brother become Conan?"
After a moment of silence, Jonah tried to salvage the situation for Conan Edogawa by raising a crucial question.
"I think it's possible that Professor Agasa developed some new drug that Shinichi accidentally took, causing him to suddenly shrink! Since the professor hasn't been able to develop an antidote yet, Shinichi and the others lied to avoid worrying everyone!"
"..."
Jonah stared at Ran Mouri in shock. Although some details didn't match up, Ran Mouri's reasoning was actually correct in the most crucial aspect!
However, the drug that Conan Edogawa took was not researched by Professor Agasa, but by Ai Haibara.
"Then why doesn't Ran just ask Conan?"
"If I ask him directly, he won't admit it! I can only get a real answer if he decides to tell me himself."
Taking a deep breath, Ran Mouri looked at Jonah again with an expectant smile on her face.
"So, Jonah, could you do Lan-jie a favor?"
"What kind of help?"
"Jonah, you're a kid, and you spend a lot of time with Conan every day. Could you help me observe Conan closely and see if he does anything unusual? If you find anything that proves he's Shinichi, please tell me secretly, okay?"
"Inappropriate behavior?"
Jonah blinked blankly, then recalled Conan Edogawa's usual behavior and said somewhat uncertainly.
"Aren't you afraid of dead bodies? Running around crime scenes might lead you to find clues that can help solve the case and assist your uncle and the police in their deductions?"
"..." Ran Mouri paused for a moment, then suddenly realized that ever since she met Conan Edogawa, he had always acted this way, never showing any similarities to ordinary children.
In comparison, aside from his proficiency in using violence, Jonah seems more like a normal child than Conan Edogawa.
"Haha, that's true, Conan has never been ordinary."
Ran Mouri scratched her head and suddenly realized that she had been talking to Jonah in such a mysterious way for a while, and that it was a bit too far-fetched.
Even if you want to find out Conan Edogawa's flaws, you need your childhood friend to do it. If Conan Edogawa really is Shinichi Kudo, it would be too easy for him to fool a naive child like Jonah.
"I'm sorry, Jonah, Ran-neechan is overthinking it. You don't need to worry about it. Just talk to Conan normally from now on."
"...good."
Jonah was called over by Ran Mouri in a daze, and he ended the conversation nervously. He didn't understand what Ran Mouri was thinking.
Just like when Jonah had doubts about Conan Edogawa, his first reaction was to immediately take action to find out who Conan Edogawa really was, which is why he was able to discover the secret that Conan Edogawa was Shinichi Kudo.
But can someone like Ran Mouri, who doesn't speak up and just waits passively, really get a truthful answer from Conan Edogawa, who is very good at lying?
"Ran-neechan, what if that Shinichi isn't Conan, but actually encountered something very dangerous and was being targeted by a dangerous bad guy?"
"Of course I'll help!"
"But Shinichi might also be worried that Ran might be in danger, so he might not want to tell her."
"Shinichi would definitely do that, but even if he doesn't allow it, I'll still choose to help."
After a moment of silence, Ran Mouri smiled brightly at Jonah, who was standing at the door, and said gently but firmly.
"After all, Shinichi is the person I like. How can I watch him face danger alone?"