Chapter 298: Targeted Genta

"Officer Senichi, over here~"

As Senichi entered a hamburger restaurant, he immediately heard the somewhat anxious voices of Mitsuhiko and Ayumi.

Senichi located the source of the voices and waved at the little ones before heading to their table.

"What's going on? You mentioned something important on the phone." After sitting down, Senichi turned to the side and asked Haibara.

Well, with Haibara also present, the situation was probably clear. Senichi had arrived early in this case because of Haibara, the little spy who had tipped him off.

Otherwise, waiting for the three kids and Conan... Well, that would be futile no matter how many times he lectured them.

After Haibara had called Senichi over, the trio seemed to realize that they had a friendly ally in their midst. They immediately informed Senichi of the details of the situation.

With Conan and Haibara's additions, Senichi roughly understood the current situation.

It seemed that during lunch, Genta's unusual lack of appetite had caught everyone's attention, considering he was a notorious foodie.

When school ended in the afternoon, Genta didn't walk home with his friends as usual but instead suspiciously climbed over a fence and ran away.

However, these actions didn't escape Conan's notice. So, after some pressing questions from everyone, they finally figured out the reason for Genta's unusual behavior.

There was an assassin after his life!

Upon hearing this, it immediately elicited laughter from Mitsuhiko and Ayumi, after all, they were just elementary school students. How could an assassin be after them?

Even Haibara was initially skeptical because Genta wasn't like them, he hadn't taken any shrinking medicine; he was just an ordinary elementary school student. Who would have a reason to target him?

But what happened next validated Genta's claim, prompting Haibara to contact Senichi on her own.

As they were passing by the department store, a lettered billboard on the rooftop, adorned with colorful lights, suddenly plummeted straight down.

Fortunately, when the billboard fell, a large screw fell first, which caught the attention of everyone. With the assistance of Conan and Haibara, they managed to escape this disaster smoothly.

Initially, Ayumi and the others thought it was just extremely bad luck, but Conan found evidence of foul play from a cut in the wires behind the billboard.

The wires did not snap naturally; they had been cut with a knife!

Furthermore, the location where the billboard fell happened to be the spot where Genta always stopped to watch the Kamen Rider claw machine.

When these two pieces of information were combined, Haibara was pretty certain that Genta wasn't just being paranoid; someone really wanted to harm him!

So, while Mitsuhiko and his friend were indignant and Conan pondered, considering solving the case with his own abilities, Haibara promptly called Senichi, leading to the current situation.

"I understand," after hearing the whole story, Senichi looked at Genta and said. "Aside from the billboard, have there been any other unusual occurrences?"

"Yes! Inside the tunnel on the tram, I felt like someone was following me," Genta said with a terrified expression. "Even though it's really dark inside the tunnel, I couldn't see the person's face clearly, but they were definitely following me! When I ran, they ran, and when I stopped, they stopped; their footsteps matched mine!"

"Have you experienced anything specific recently that might make someone do this?" Senichi asked in a calm tone. "Any leads?"

"Of course!" Genta replied with a serious expression. "I think I saw the face of the serial robber from the recent news!"

"You mean the one who's been targeting women and elderly people in this area?" Senichi frowned when he heard this.

As an Officer, he couldn't have been unaware of such news. Recently, Takagi and Sato had been investigating that case, and he hadn't expected to stumble upon a lead here.

"In that case, why didn't you call the police?" Conan propped his chin up and said, "You're being targeted by a criminal!"

"Because the robber called me..."

Genta's chubby face was now filled with gloom and fear. "He threatened me, saying that if I dared to tell the police about seeing his face, he would kill my entire family, and not spare even my friends!"

"So, you just obediently followed the robber's instructions and didn't report it to the police?" Haibara looked at Genta with disbelief. "That's not a wise choice at all. Besides, when you saw the news about the robber on TV, you should have reported it immediately!"

"I did report it, of course!"

Genta retorted urgently. "But when I saw the police's sketch of the robber on the news a week later, I had forgotten where I had encountered him, even though I remembered seeing him.

But... I found the big brother who saw the criminal's face with me..."

Perhaps it was because he had Officer Senichi, a reliable officer, with him, Genta gradually relaxed after his confession. Additionally, he had lost his appetite during lunch, so now he was ravenously devouring his hamburger, making his speech somewhat unclear.

However, this didn't hinder Senichi's judgment. After listening to Genta's words, he frowned, sensing that the situation was not simple.

Although there was no concrete evidence, it was an instinctive feeling. In the Detective Conan world, a passerby witness who is involved in the case together with important supporting characters like Genta will have problems in all likelihood..

Typically, such people fell into one of two categories: victims or culprits.

Don't ask why; it's just the Conan world logic.

"So, Genta, where did you see that big brother?" Conan noticed the inconsistency in Genta's story. "If you've found another eyewitness besides yourself, why hasn't the police taken action yet?"

"It was about five days ago, I think. There was another robbery near my house, and I went over to see what was happening... and I saw that big brother there among the onlookers."

Genta continued with a hint of frustration, "That blond big brother happened to be standing right next to me, so naturally, I called out to him. I wanted him to come with me to the police station to tell the police about it. At the time, we saw where the criminal was robbing someone, but who knew he would claim that he had never seen the criminal before!"

Senichi raised an eyebrow at the revelation. If the big brother had truly seen the criminal but denied it, then he might be the perpetrator himself.

Yes, this was the intuition that Conan logic had given him.

After all, in this world, Conan logic was the ultimate truth~

--------------------------------

🙏🙏Please consider supporting this translation project by becoming a P@treon member, if possible! 

Your support is greatly appreciated!

Available on my P@treon page for just $4!!

Early access to the following translations:-

⭐MCU: Druid's Adventures (MCUDA) - +54 advance chapters & 3 Chapters/Day

⭐Famous Police Detective in Detective World (FPDDW)- +138 advance chapters & 2 Chapters/Day

⭐Marvel: Little Genius (MLG) (⭐COMPLETE⭐) - Total Chapter 450

p@treon.com/Lightreaper457

--------------------------------