"Well, you can't really blame them for suspecting you…" Kazawa thought for a moment, then couldn't help but chuckle, "Think about it—right after you disappeared, Mouri-san suddenly started solving murder cases. Then Joker shows up and targets clients and people related to Mouri-san…"
"That's got nothing to do with anything! Quit spouting nonsense!" Conan was almost jumping in place.
"You better just be thankful that nobody saw Joker running away last time," Kazawa said with a smirk. "Didn't you say he disguised himself as you? If someone had seen that… even diving into Tokyo Bay wouldn't have washed you clean."
"Ugh, damn it—!" Conan, trailing behind the other kids, gritted his teeth. "Ran did see him, actually. She kept mumbling yesterday about 'white-haired Shinichi'..."
"Pffftt—" Kazawa burst out laughing again.
"Damn it, Kazawa! You've been laughing non-stop since the beginning!" Conan complained.
"Conan!" Mitsuhiko said unhappily with his hands on his hips. "Why are you on the phone for so long? We're supposed to be looking for the treasure!"
"Coming, coming!" Conan quickly covered the microphone and responded, then got ready to hang up. "I'll tell you more later. I need to go with the kids first."
"Wait—you guys are looking for treasure?" Kazawa's eyes lit up as he heard the faint voices on the other end.
Every time the Junior Detective League went on some kind of adventure, chaos followed. Kazawa's mind quickly recalled a number of related storylines, and he couldn't help but ask, "What treasure?"
"There's no treasure, okay? They just found a piece of paper with a code on it and are insisting it's a treasure map… I gotta go, they're calling me again."
The call ended.
Kazawa lightly muttered "treasure map" and "coded paper" to himself, and soon found a case in his memory that matched.
"Gold coins… fifteen thousand of them, huh." Kazawa clicked his tongue twice, thought for a moment, and decided maybe he should get involved a little.
Even though Kazawa was a rich guy—and if he ever ran out of money, he could just go stir up chaos in the Shibuya subway and become a one-man printing press to cause hyperinflation in Japan—still, who says no to more money?
In Kazawa's plan, once things succeed, he'd at least need a base of operations to take in the Miyano sisters if he managed to rescue them. If he was going to buy a big house, then the cash he had on hand would start getting tight.
Might as well get involved. The only use those gold coins would have for those kids was to knock out kidnappers anyway. Kazawa could totally handle that himself.
With that thought, he pulled out his phone and sent an email to an unsaved contact.
[Come over. Bring the stuff.]
The reply came quickly.
[On the way. Just saying—my acting's not great.]
[Yeah, I noticed. But that's okay. You know how to do high school homework, right? Second-year level.]
[???]