After seeing the hesitation in Kudo's speech, Hakuba understood that whatever case the other detective had worked on during his disappearance must be something high profile that was to be kept away from the public's knowledge. The blond detective could reflect those sentiments. His chase after an international assassin had similar circumstances, although his own case had yet to be closed. With Kudo as an ally, he might have an extra edge against Spider.

"I see. In that case, we should talk in a more private setting. I could call my housekeeper to pick us up and-"

Whatever words Hakuba wanted to say were forgotten as soon as he laid eyes on what was happening around a street corner. The alternating colours of red and blue were hard to ignore and mistake for anything else. Similarly, Kudo's focus had turned to the sight ahead. With a mutual nod, they both hurried forward.

Once they got closer, Hakuba could recognize a handful of rookie officers that were spread around. A couple of police cruisers were parked close by. He and Kudo were recognized by a few of the police workers and were allowed to enter the area.

The blond detective looked up at the establishment where they were gathered in front of.

Blue Parrot

The dimmed neon sign marked the place as a billiard parlor and bar. It wasn't somewhere he had frequented before.

"Hey, who let these two kids in here?!"

The two teen detectives turned to the angry voice. A man with flat eyes and a broad nose stepped towards them in a huff. Neither of them recognized the man.

Kudo eyed the stranger. "Judging from your comportment, you must be the inspector in charge."

The inspector glared at the pair. "And you are correct. Inspector Ikari. Now get out of here and go home. Mind your own business, kids."

After the rough introduction, Hakuba interjected. "We're actually detectives. I am H-"

"I don't remember the police allowing children to play detective. I'm giving you one minute to leave or else I'm arresting both of you for disrupting investigations." The inspector growled with gritted teeth as he made a shooing motion with a hand.

Hakuba and Kudo gave each a look of confusion. It was almost impossible for any officer of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department to not have heard of or seen Kudo Shinichi or Hakuba Saguru somewhere before. He must be new or a transfer then. Or was he intentionally claiming to not recognize them?

With a few blinks, Kudo pressed on. "We apologize for holding up your duty, but we were simply curious. You see, we used to stop by here quite often."

Hakuba glanced at the other teen detective, surprised by the sudden improvisation. Playing along, he looked back towards the irritated man and nodded.

Inspector Ikari's eyes narrowed before heaving out an exasperated sigh, giving in to Kudo's convincing earnestness. "Locals, huh? Fine. There was an accident. But!" He threw a pointing thumb over his shoulder. "This kid called us this morning and is insisting that it was not an accident, hence all this commotion going on. Waste of my damn time..." He muttered at the end.

Both detectives were so preoccupied by the unfriendly inspector that they barely had time to register the presence of another teenager. They craned their necks to see who the man was pointing accusingly at.

Shinichi was silently grateful for his skills of improvisation that he had honed during his time masquerading as an elementary school child. Still, the inspector was one of the most unpleasant officers he ever had the misfortune to encounter.

After the man lazily pointed behind him, Shinichi shifted his footing to see who the inspector was blaming for the seemingly pointless gathering of police investigators.

The teen has a messy head of dark brown and similarly coloured eyes. A pair of squarish glasses with black frames sat on his face along with a cold expression. He also wore what seemed like a running outfit along with a messenger bag slung across a shoulder. Nothing about the unnamed teen was noteworthy. To most onlookers at least.

Shinichi couldn't help but immediately take note of how strikingly similar the other boy looked to himself. His hairstyle and eye colour were obviously different from his own, but the shape of the face was almost an exact copy. The glasses did a solid job of distorting his features to untrained eyes. Shinichi thought about how they were reminiscent of his days as Conan, hiding behind a pair of oversized spectacles.

Hakuba had also noticed the bizarre lookalike appearance of the third teenager. Yet, Shinichi felt like the blond detective's eyes were more shocked than his own.

Before he could ask Hakuba, the inspector spat out. "Whatever. I'll let you kids have your lil' reunion party. Just. Don't. Step. Inside. Got it?" He stomped away, having mistaken the two detectives' stunned looks for recognition.

"I'm glad he's gone, for now." Shinichi mumbled. He had met a fair share of rude people when he was still under the effect of the APTX4869. This was reminding him of frustrating moments of being dismissed constantly because of his age.

Hakuba sighed. "Right, let's be quick before he comes back."

Strangely, the glass wearing teen's steel gaze followed the inspector as he walked back inside the Blue Parrot. He had remained silent and unacknowledging of the two newcomers.

Shinichi turned to Hakuba and asked in a low voice. "Do you know him?"

The other detective shook his head. "No, but I do remember seeing someone wearing those clothes earlier today."

Suddenly, they felt the unnamed teen's gaze fall on them as if he heard their words. The heavy scowl on his face deepened when his eyes landed on the two detectives. His stare was intense and Shinichi felt cold chills from it. It felt familiar for some reason…

Hakuba initiated. "May I ask who you are?"

The third teenager crossed his arms and eyed them suspiciously. A strange silence was hanging around before it was broken by his answer. "Kurokawa Haneji. Just call me by my name." It was an emotionless response.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance, Haneji-kun. I am Hakuba Saguru. And this is Kudo Shinichi. As you might have heard, we're both detectives." With a small court bow, Hakuba introduced himself and Shinichi.

Haneji simply nodded in response.

Shinichi followed up. "Can you tell us what happened?" From his experience with other cases, he could guess that Haneji was likely distressed from finding the body, thus unable to convey testimony calmly.

The glass wearing teen's gaze faltered and went to the ground at his feet, yet he spoke with a steady voice. "Jii, the owner, I mean, was found this morning. I passed by here to check the place and found him. He…had a head wound and wasn't breathing, so I called for help."

"And what is your relationship with the victim?"

"I work part time at the Blue Parrot. That's all."

Hakuba interjected with a raised brow. "You seem awfully upset for just being a part time employee."

The teen being interrogated looked back up with a frown still plastered on his face. "He was kind to me. We became friends." His dark brown eyes narrowed and stared coldly at Hakuba. "My relationship with the victim has nothing to do with anything. Shouldn't you be investigating the crime scene instead of asking pointless questions, Detective?"

Shinichi wanted to retort but realized that Haneji had a point. Still, something was bothering him. "Crime scene? Mind if you tell us why you think it was a murder, Hanejii-kun?" Plus, the two of them couldn't get in without permission from the inspector.

"…" Haneji looked away and remained silent for a moment, biting his lower lip. "It's just a gut feeling."

Neither of the teen detectives bought that answer. There was obviously more to what was going on. But before they could press further, Haneji turned around.

Without looking at the detectives, he spoke flatly. "Well, I'm leaving. I have other matters to attend to."

"Hold it, Haneji-kun." Hakuba nearly yelled.

The aforementioned teen turned his head to look back with an annoyed glare and spat out. "What?"

The blond detective held out his hand. "Before you leave, can we check the contents of your bag?"

Inside his mind, Shinichi agreed with Hakuba's thoroughness. Haneji was acting evasively, and yet he was pushing a homicide investigation to be done on an accident case. Definitely something fishy going on.

As if losing the energy to fight, Haneji sighed and lifted the strap of his bag over his head to remove it. He handed it over to Hakuba with an ungracious drop. "Search away, Detective." He muttered under his breath.

Shinichi watched over his companion's shoulders as he rummaged around inside the messenger bag, quickly memorizing its content.

A deck of playing cards. A wallet with Kurokawa Haneji's photo ID. A bottle of water. A spare shirt. A lighter. Some AA batteries. A set of keys. A black ink pen. Nothing of note.

"Happy now?" Haneji grumbled as he received his satchel back from Hakuba.

"My apologies." The blond detective hastily said.

Wordlessly, the other teen took his leave and disappeared around a corner a few blocks away with a brisk run.

Just before then, Shinichi caught sight of Haneji giving Inspector Ikari, who had just stepped back outside from the supposed crime scene, a fierce glare filled with animosity. The man himself seemed unaware of the dirty look he just received to the back of his head.

The inspector surveyed around, spotted the two teen detectives, and waltzed towards them. "Alright, the party is over. Now go home. We're also done here."

Hakuba gave the man a confused look. "You mean you solved the case?"

"Bah! What is there to solve? It was an accident. Plain and simple. That Kurokawa brat had the gall to demand a pointless investigation just because his employer died all of the sudden. Kids these days need to keep their egos in check. Hmph!"

"What was the victim's name?"

"The owner of this bar, his name was Jii Konosuke. What? You knew him too, for crying out loud?" The inspector looked at Hakuba with a side eye, accusing him of being an accomplice to Haneji.

Hakuba gave a thin polite smile. "No. By the way, how do you know it was an accident, Inspector Ikari?"

"Don't try to wriggle your way in. I won't give answers."

Shinichi backed his detective friend up with another inquiring statement. "Then, what is there to hide if it was an accidental death?"

The man's face was getting redder as he got more impatient. He finally snapped. "Like I said, the place is being treated as a crime scene right now. Which means police only. Now, get the hell out of here!"

The two detectives backed off, knowing they would only be wasting their breaths if they argued and they were not going to wait around for the investigators to wrap up and pick up their stuff.

Following Hakuba as he walked away, Shinichi clicked his tongue. "Tch. What a charming fellow."

"Can't say that Kurokawa Haneji was any more pleasant or helpful either." Hakuba added with a similar tone of dissatisfaction.

"So, what do you think?"

The blond teen looked back to where the incident took place, now a fair distance away. "Hard to say for sure. In all honesty, Kudo-kun, it feels like there are too many missing pieces to conclude if it's an accident or not. I'll look into the case reports some time later."

Shinichi agreed. Both sides of the case were vague. "I'm also curious about this case. The next time we meet, I'll bring in something about the trade documents from last night. Treat it as a fair information trade."

Both of them exchanged confident smirks, looking forward to the excitement of unraveling some mysteries. "Deal."

Before they split into separate ways, Shinichi wondered out loud. "Hm…there is still one last thing bugging me. I just find it strange how a random teenager could have asked for a murder investigation to happen and have it actually be done."