Conan: I'm really not the mastermind behind the scenes

Chapter 46 Dreamland and Unlucky Protagonist

8:40 a.m., Minato Middle School.

Before the bell rang, the head teacher of Class A, Grade [-], walked to the classroom with the textbook and roll call sheet.

He pushed up his glasses, revealing the dark blue under his eyes.He recalled the scene of meeting the Hojo couple yesterday, and sighed helplessly when he thought of Mr. Hojo's seriously injured jaw.

He really couldn't bear to say too many harsh words to Mr. Hojo, but...

The worried head teacher opened the classroom door and subconsciously looked towards Kudo Shinichi's position.

Seeing this, he was stunned.

That position is empty.

The chair was not pulled out, and there was no school bag hanging next to it.

"Where is Kudo?" He immediately turned to a girl sitting at the door and asked anxiously: "Isn't he here today?"

"No, I haven't seen him today."

The girl curled her hair hanging by her ears and turned to look at the back row.

"Not only Kudo, but Hojo doesn't seem to be here either."

----

Kudo Shin saw darkness in front of him.

The cold moisture enveloped him. After struggling for a moment, he opened his eyes.

Then he found himself standing in the middle of a fire.

The raging fire ignited everything around, and the wooden furniture was burned mercilessly, giving off an unpleasant musty smell.

The fire was clearly soaring into the sky, but it was not dazzling at all; the flames seemed to be about to float to the body in the next second, but there was no burning pain like a burn.

There was not even the suffocating feeling caused by smoke and dust that is common in fires. On the contrary, there was a biting cold feeling.

Kudo Shinichi didn't understand why he was here. He subconsciously turned around and looked behind him, and found a figure standing in front of a huge oil painting.

Oil paintings turn into colorful blacks under high temperatures.The man standing there was wearing a light-colored jacket. His long, slightly curly black hair was spread over his shoulders, with a touch of emerald shining in his hair. His light brown eyes looked like gray under the bright light.

Teacher Aoyagi?

Kudo Shinichi recognized the other person at a glance and was about to call someone, but no sound came out of his mouth.

"I told you, Shinichi, don't sympathize..."

He didn't make a sound, Qingliu Binguang still looked back at him, with no expression on his formerly calm and gentle face.

Kudo Shinichi had an inexplicable feeling, as if this kind of teacher Aoyagi was real, but those words made him confused.

No sympathy?

Don't sympathize with what?
"Remember, never sympathize—"

Kudo Shinichi still didn't hear the next words.

——He woke up with a start.

……

Kudo Shinichi looked at the unfamiliar and worn-out ceiling above. Light filtered through the gaps, and his back and legs were wet.

He stayed for a second, then reacted instantly, sat up suddenly, and looked around.

The sight in front of him stunned Kudo Shin.

This is not his bedroom, nor Kudo's house, but a place that is completely unfamiliar to him and has never been to before.

As he stood up sharply, the mobile phone originally placed on his chest slid down and fell into the water below with a thud.

There was serious water leakage in this room, and Kudo Shinichi could see water flowing down from the gaps above.The water level was about ankle level. If it had been higher, he might have been drowned just now.

He picked up his phone from the water. Even though it was early September, the water was bone-chillingly cold.After he fished it out, he pressed the switch. The screen lit up again, and the machine was not broken.

Kudo Shinichi, who took back his cell phone, looked at the room again, his mind filled with all kinds of questions.Whether it was because he didn't sleep well or for other reasons, he felt weak all over and his head was dizzy.

This is where?

How did he get here?

Kudo Shinichi shook his head and tried to recall what happened yesterday.

Yesterday, he was imprisoned in the cold storage by Hojo. It was Teacher Aoyagi and Teacher Amuro who rescued him, and Teacher Aoyagi sent him home. Then... Kudo Shinichi's eyes widened and he suddenly realized.

He remembered it all.

Yesterday, Mrs. Watanabe, the nanny hired by his family, came back. Because the food he had just cooked accidentally spilled, he asked her to make a new one and he went to take a shower first.

Just when he changed his clothes and came down to eat, he felt dizzy after only taking a few bites of food and soon fell unconscious.

"..."

Kudo Shinichi, who figured out the cause of his coma, was even more confused.

Did Mrs. Watanabe put something in the meal?

...Why did she do that?
Kudo Shinichi took a deep breath and wanted to stand up.His weak hands and feet made him almost fall back. Fortunately, there was a chair next to him, and he held on to it in time, and finally stood up.

The chair was made of low-quality wood. The back of the chair was covered with black spots and gave off a faint musty smell.

No wonder he was not warmed by fire in the dream, and smelled moldy things. It turned out that he was in this kind of environment...

Kudo Shinichi muttered in his mind and turned on his phone again.

It was now 9:15, and there was a cross on the signal bar. He tried to dial 110, but couldn't get through at all.

It's already the time for the first class. If he doesn't go to school, the class teacher will find out immediately.

But there is no signal at all here... Is it some kind of remote place?

Kudo Shinichi was skillfully recalling the remote area near Yoneka Town where corpses could be destroyed easily. At this moment, he suddenly heard two thumps coming from next door.

The sound sounded like someone stepping on the wall, and at the same time, there was a faint cry for help.

"Is there anyone...someone come and save me..."

Kudo Shin was taken aback for a moment.

He recognized that it was Hojo Shinji's voice.

Kudo Shinichi looked around, and soon his eyes fell on the only door in the room. He walked over and pushed it tentatively, and the door slowly opened outward.

It seemed that the kidnappers had no intention of trapping them in the room... Kudo Shinichi breathed a sigh of relief and carefully looked outside to make sure that no one was there before walking to the room where the noise came from.

He opened the door and looked inside. The sight in front of him stunned him again.

I saw Hojo Shinji being tied head down to a water pipe. His head was soaked in the pool. The faucet beside him was not closed tightly, and water was dripping down.

The water was already above his nose, and soon it would reach his mouth.

"help me……"

Kudo Shinichi came back to his senses, looked at the school bully who locked him in the cold storage yesterday, and made increasingly faint calls for help to him.

----

Minato Middle School, fifth floor of the teaching building.

A strange teacher came to the door of the music classroom of the International Department. Several students looked around curiously, and Rabbit recognized that it was Kudo Shinichi's class teacher.

"Excuse me, Teacher Aoyagi," he looked anxious, "Can you come out for a moment?"

Qingliu Binguang closed the piano cover, stood up and gave a few instructions to the students before leaving the classroom and closing the door behind him.

"What's up?"

"Have you seen Shinichi today?" the head teacher asked anxiously.

"No." After Qingliu Binguang finished speaking, he quickly frowned, "What happened to him again?"

"He didn't come to class today." The head teacher wiped the sweat from his forehead, "Yesterday... I would like to ask, are you sure you sent him home before leaving yesterday?"

"Zi...Zi..."

The radio speaker above the two people suddenly made a small chirp, and a few seconds later, a burst of music came out.

Aoyagi Binguang raised his head and looked at the speaker: "Yesterday, I dropped Kudo off at the door of my house before I left... The school changed the ringtone? What song is this?"

In the classroom across the door, the rabbit on the piano suddenly stood up and looked below him.

tick... tick...

The unknown sound was mixed with the strange music, coming from under the piano, like a piece of music played by the devil.

(End of this chapter)