Detective Conan: Becoming a Tycoon in Tokyo! [10]

“Robbery! Someone’s robbing me!”

Shōichi stood there, dumbfounded, yelling at the top of his lungs at the sight of Conan running off with his briefcase.

He never imagined there’d come a day when Conan—of all people—would rob him.

He still hadn’t processed what had just happened.

Hotel security guards rushed over at his shout. They looked from Shōichi to the small child currently “fleeing” down the hall.

Seriously? Robbed by that kid?

While they hesitated, Shōichi barked, “What are you waiting for? Catch him! That brat stole my briefcase!”

“Ah!”

In no time, Conan was pinned to the ground by the guards.

Snatching his briefcase back, Shōichi glared down at him. “I’ve heard of robbers using kids to lower suspicion, but I didn’t think I’d run into one myself. Talk! Where are your accomplices?”

Conan struggled, shouting urgently, “Quick, throw that briefcase away! There’s a bomb inside—it’s going to explode any second! You have to get it somewhere empty!”

“A bomb?”

“Yes! The man who gave you that case never planned to pay you. He planted a bomb in it! He wants you dead!” Conan yelled, desperate.

Shōichi’s face darkened.

A bomb? Someone’s trying to kill me?

That bastard…

Not willing to risk it, he flipped open the briefcase—bundles of cash tumbled out.

The guards froze, eyes widening at the sight of neat stacks of yen.

It took several hard gulps for them to suppress the greedy thoughts rising in their minds.

Conan just stared, dumbstruck. Where’s the bomb?

The masked man had said there’d be a bomb. Was he bluffing?

“Where’s the bomb?”

Right—where was it? Conan was sure he’d heard correctly. The man had said he’d blow up the one involved in the deal. So why wasn’t there—

Shōichi rapped him smartly on the head. “You sneaky brat! Still lying, huh? Trying to trick me into tossing it so you could grab it again?”

All the commotion brought Kotani Jirou from Room 302 rushing out.

“Manager Shōichi, are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” Shōichi said, shaking his head. “The little robber’s already caught.”

Conan blinked in disbelief as he saw Kotani Jirou emerge. Wait—Room 302? Not 301?

That meant the real Organization guy was still inside Room 301.

“Ahem.” Conan coughed, lowering his voice. “MEarly the next morning.

After wriggling out of Shōichi’s arms, useless Haibara gave him a shove, inwardly cursing last night’s cowardice—willingly becoming his human pillow again.

She slipped out from under the covers and drew a hard line between them.

Last night was a stopgap.
Right now, I’m tough as nails.

Shōichi blinked sleepily and reached out to pat her head.

Haibara endured it in silence.

She didn’t push him away, but her expression screamed rebellion.

She hadn’t lost her fight.

Shōichi was pleased.

He stroked her hair a few more times, testing her obedience.

She didn’t snap, but she definitely wasn’t tamed.

...

After breakfast, feeling fresh and relaxed, Shōichi didn’t go to work. He headed instead to a gated villa community—to visit his biological father under “house arrest.”

Sumitomo Saburou was watching TV, unhurried. When Shōichi came in, he merely signaled the butler to pour his son a glass of juice.

“How’s the bank?” Saburou asked lightly.

“Mind-numbing. It’s either laundering someone’s money or lining up IPOs—utterly pointless.” Shōichi shook his head.

Bored out of his skull.

Saburou stroked the kitten in his arms, thoughtful.

Wasn’t this leisurely life exactly your thing before?

“I’ve decided—I’m starting my own company,” Shōichi said suddenly.

“Starting a business? Wonderful,” Saburou said with a smile.

The kitten gave Shōichi a lazy glance and went back to grooming itself in Saburou’s lap.

“I’m going to start a construction firm,” Shōichi went on.

“A construction company?” Saburou kept smiling and nodded. “Construction is… good.”

With real estate in the gutter, you’d have to be business-blind to pick construction.

Even if I’m rich, it doesn’t mean you can burn cash.

“You’re not planning to invest in me? Not even a little?” Shōichi asked, shameless.

“Investment is good, investment is good,” Saburou murmured, continuing to play senile.

Shōichi looked down his nose at him, fully aware his father had no intention of backing his “venture.”

He lifted his chin stubbornly. “I don’t need your money—just your support. A construction company needs tons of cement and steel. I want our family’s companies to sell to me cheap.”

“And it’d be great if the family’s construction equipment could be rented out to me on the cheap too.”

Saburou shot him a look. “All the family businesses are professionally run now, with clear divisions. I can’t just make those calls.”

I don’t hold any official post anymore. Asking me is useless.

“Besides, do you even have enough cash to set up a construction firm?”

“I’ve still got Sumitomo Bank, don’t I? I’ll borrow from there,” Shōichi said, confident.

“Don’t even think about it!” Saburou barked.

Starting from zero—on a suicide track, no less—have you lost your mind?

“Dad,” Shōichi said earnestly, “right now is the perfect time to buy at the bottom.”

“Real estate won’t recover for at least ten years,” Saburou said flatly.

If real estate won’t recover, construction is even worse.

He took out a bank card and handed it over, face stern. “If you want money, say it straight. Don’t use ‘starting a business’ as leverage.”

Does this old man think I care about that pocket change?

“I don’t want your money. I’ll have plenty of my own soon,” Shōichi said, curling his lip.

“You’ll have money soon?” Saburou narrowed his eyes, suspicious.

Setting the cat aside, he asked, serious now, “You haven’t teamed up with outsiders to short copper, have you?”

“How could I!” Shōichi protested. “I’d never do that. Uncle’s pushing copper prices up—I wouldn’t directly fight him.”

“Hard to say.” Saburou shook his head.

Everyone knows your uncle chewed you out last time when you warned him. You’ve never had a big heart—would you really let it go? And our families have other grudges.

“You really haven’t?”

“Really haven’t. I’m just shorting on my own,” Shōichi admitted in a whisper.

No outsiders involved.

But copper’s going to crash sooner or later—I’m just sneaking a little sip of soup.

Saburou nodded, satisfied.

Fine. As long as he isn’t colluding with outsiders, he’s not a disgrace.

“Why not change your business plan?” Saburou suggested carefully.

Better to keep him busy than let him blow up the family.
But construction is out of the question.

“Trust me!” Shōichi slapped the table, fired up. “I’m a once-in-a-century startup genius!”

...

In the end—

His father agreed to support him.

Since Shōichi claimed he had his own funds, the family wouldn’t invest directly, but the group’s construction-related companies would cooperate closely.

However, borrowing from Sumitomo Bank—forget it.

Until results showed up, not a single yen in loans.

Go harass your uncle if you want, but don’t endanger our own assets.

Just after Shōichi left, Saburou glanced at the TV and saw breaking news.

A former Sumitomo Corporation employee had revealed that Nakatao, head of the metals trading division, had engaged in massive unauthorized trading in international copper futures.

Leveraging Sumitomo Corp’s huge market sway, Nakatao had tried to rig copper prices for huge gains, piling up physical stockpiles and huge long futures positions, artificially pushing prices up.

It didn’t take a genius to see what was coming: copper would nosedive.

International short-selling syndicates would pile in.

Saburou’s mouth twitched.

That little brat.

...

With his uncle about to take a bath, Shōichi mournfully bought a party popper to celebrate at home.

Bang!

Haibara, bent over her homework, jolted like a startled cat.

Seeing the harmless popper in Shōichi’s hand, she exhaled, plucking the streamers from her hair one by one.

“Haibara, I’m so sad,” Shōichi declared, theatrically.

Haibara stared back in silence. The massive grin on your face doesn’t look sad at all.

“My uncle’s company ran into trouble. He’s going to lose a fortune.”

Wonderful news.

A zaibatsu heir tied to the Organization losing money—that’s sweeter than honey.

“I resigned. I won’t be working anymore.”

Good news really does come in waves—another delight.

Shōichi ruffled her hair and went on cheerfully, “But here’s the bad news—I’m going to make a lot of money off my uncle’s loss.”

Truly depressing.

“And another piece of bad news—I’m starting my own business.”

When it rains, it pours. Bad news always comes in bunches.

---

This is a fan translation of 柯南：我在东京当财阀 by 倒霉的菜狗. Rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!y mistake. Wrong person. Big misunderstanding.”

“Misunderstanding?” Shōichi’s expression hardened as he started repacking the money.

“The cameras caught everything. You just ran up, grabbed my briefcase, and bolted. Age doesn’t excuse that kind of stunt,” he said, dialing the police.

Conan, for daring to rob me—go reflect at the station.

...

“Why’s it so noisy outside?” Yukiko glanced toward the door.

Kudo Yūsaku stepped up to the peephole. “Maybe Shinichi’s here? With his impulsive nature, making a scene before finding us sounds about right.”

He peered through—and froze.

After Shinichi had shrunk thanks to the Organization’s drug, he and Yukiko had disguised themselves as members of the Organization to scare some sense into him. They wanted him to keep a lower profile. If the Organization learned he was alive, the people around him would be in danger.

“Why is Shinichi being taken away by the police?” Yūsaku blurted, stunned.

The plan hadn’t even properly started, and their son was already being arrested again.

“What’s going on?” Yukiko shoved him aside to look for herself.

Yūsaku rubbed his forehead. “I’ll call Inspector Megure and find out.”

At this rate, they might not even need to intervene—two arrests in twenty-four hours was educational enough.

...

After the call, Yūsaku sighed, half-smiling.

Seriously? Mistaken for a robber—and the victim wasn’t just anyone. The police couldn’t simply let him go.

Even if it was a misunderstanding, they needed the victim’s approval first.

“Luckily, I know Shōichi’s father,” Yūsaku muttered. “Otherwise this would’ve been messy.”

“Hello? This is Shōichi.”

“Kudo Yūsaku? Oh, the mystery novelist? Conan’s your relative? You were just playing a game? A misunderstanding? Got it.”

He hung up and gestured for the police to release Conan.

Shōichi’s father had been an avid fan of Yūsaku’s novels. Once, after inviting the author over, the old man refused to let him leave until he’d written a hundred thousand words. That was how Shōichi had met Yūsaku—and even stolen one of his pens.

Conan, now free, looked dazed. Dad’s back in Japan?

How did he even know about this?

None of it made sense.

“Come on,” Shōichi said, “I’ll take you to see Kudo Yūsaku. He wants to explain things to me himself.”

“Alright.” Conan nodded.

With all the chaos earlier, the Organization member in Room 301 had likely escaped anyway. Better to regroup with Dad and plan next steps.

When Conan spotted Shōichi’s car, he hesitated.

“This is my own car,” Shōichi said dryly. “I didn’t ‘borrow’ it.”

...

“Is it resolved?” Yukiko asked.

“Yeah. Shōichi’s reasonable. I’ll give him a proper explanation soon,” Yūsaku replied.

Yukiko rubbed her temples. “Then are we still continuing?”

Their son had already been arrested twice, and Yūsaku’s return to Japan was now exposed. Was there even a point?

“Of course,” Yūsaku said firmly. “We’re already at the final stage—ending it now would be anticlimactic.”

“We’ll just adjust the plot a little. Actually, revealing I’m back in Japan isn’t bad—it gives me a reason to enter the game myself.”

...

“Wait!”

Shōichi stopped the car, looking over as Inspector Megure jogged toward them, out of breath.

Catching his wind, Megure said, “Kudo-san just called—he’s at Professor Agasa’s house. Conan should head there to meet him.”

“Got it.”

Shōichi waved goodbye to the inspector and drove off.

---

This is a fan translation of 柯南：我在东京当财阀 by 倒霉的菜狗. Rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!