The Pirated Onmyoji of the Detective World

Page 153

The moment Terai Kinosuke saw Aragaki Yu, his eyes involuntarily narrowed slightly.

Although he didn't know the guest's identity, judging from his long-term experience following Master Kuroba Toichi's activities, he had a keen eye for such matters.

This young man is definitely not simple!

"N-nothing...it's nothing, Grandpa Terai." Kaito Kuroba awkwardly scratched his head, too embarrassed to admit that he had been humiliated by Yuu Aragaki.

Terai Kinosuke glanced at Kuroba Kaito and the boy beside him with some suspicion, and breathed a sigh of relief when he found that his young master was not in any danger.

Then, when he noticed the pistol lying on the ground and the one the guest was holding, as well as the fresh flowers that had clearly just been put in the vase in the entryway, combined with the strange expression on Kuroba Kaito's face, his sharp eyes immediately told him that his young master had probably suffered a loss at the hands of this boy.

However, since Kaito didn't say anything, the experienced Kaito naturally wouldn't bring it up intentionally.

"Young master, how can we let the guests keep waiting here?" Terai Kinosuke, showing great tact, spoke up to break the awkward atmosphere for Kuroba Kaito.

He then quickly greeted Aragaki Yu, saying, "Please come in, guest. I will prepare some tea and refreshments for you right away."

"No need to trouble you, sir." Shinjuku Yu naturally knew the identity of the old man in front of him.

Terai Kinosuke's apparent identity is the owner of a billiards hall, but his true identity is the official assistant of two generations of Phantom Thief Kid.

In order to lure out the mysterious organization that killed Kuroba Toichi, he once disguised himself as Kid to commit a crime.

Later, Kaito Kuroba saw through her scheme and explained her true intentions to him. After Kaito Kuroba took over as the second Phantom Thief Kid, Terai continued to assist him.

Of course, later on, at the request of Lady Chikage, Terai Kinosuke continued to take care of Kuroba Kaito's life, and could even be considered Kuroba Kaito's butler.

Terai Kinosuke didn't say anything more, but simply nodded slightly and then withdrew.

……

In a secret room of Kaito Kuroba's household.

Kaito Kuroba carefully took out a leather notebook that looked quite old and placed it in front of Yuu Aragaki.

“Since you sought me out to learn the art of disguise from the very beginning, it must be because you know my father’s identity.” Kuroba Kaito shifted his gaze from the notebook to Aragaki Yu, and said very seriously, “This is a notebook about the art of disguise left by my father. It contains a lot of basic knowledge and tips related to disguise. Take a look at it first, and once you understand what’s inside, I will give you a practical demonstration.”

"Hmm." Aragaki Yu nodded, then picked up the notebook and glanced through it. But soon, he couldn't help but frown.

Besides information on disguise techniques, this notebook also details many magic tricks and physical skills that may be used when disguising oneself.

After all, many times, disguising oneself as another person is not something that can be accomplished simply by applying makeup and changing clothes.

Often, those who need to disguise themselves also need to learn to control their facial muscles to achieve a certain degree of facial alteration, and may even need to use physical techniques similar to "bone shrinking" to achieve changes in height, arm length, and body proportions.

Simply put, the art of disguise is far more complex than Aragaki Yu initially imagined...

Kaito Kuroba, observing the subtle, undisguised changes in Yuu Aragaki's expression, guessed what he was thinking. He pulled out a chair and sat down beside him, explaining, "You can't learn overly advanced disguise techniques in a short time, and of course, I don't think you need to. I think for now, accurately mastering facial disguise is enough for you. As for other aspects, you can learn them slowly if you're really interested."

Yuu Aragaki nodded silently. He had to admit that what Kaito Kuroba said was indeed true.

After all, he doesn't need to disguise himself as someone like Kaito Kid to get close to his target.

Or perhaps, like Vermouth, they could disguise themselves as someone to extract information.

All he needed to do was change his appearance so that others couldn't detect his true identity.

"..."

Seeing that Aragaki Yu had already started flipping through his notebook, Kuroba Kaito, who was sitting idly in his chair, began to observe Aragaki Yu in front of him out of boredom.

You know what, looking at it closely now, putting aside all the despicable things this guy has done, he's actually someone everyone likes.

Moreover, he is very capable, and according to his various investigations, he has an excellent reputation with the police.

If I were a woman, I'd probably be very likely to be attracted to this guy in front of me!

Thinking of this, Kaito Kuroba couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief: "Luckily, I'm a man and I don't have any strange fetishes, otherwise..."

Suddenly, Kaito Kuroba stared intently at Yuu Aragaki, his heart leaping into his throat once more.

He suddenly thought of his childhood sweetheart—Nakamori Aoko!

If Aoko were to meet this guy, she would surely find it difficult to escape his clutches under his malicious seduction!

In an instant, in Kaito Kuroba's eyes, Yuu Aragaki transformed into an evil demon king.

Kaito Kuroba clenched his fists silently, vowing in his heart, "No! Damn it, I have to teach him the art of disguise as soon as possible, and then get rid of this dangerous and evil guy!"

Chapter 187 Fellow Disciples

"Alright, Aragaki-kun, you're fully ready to graduate now. At this point, I have nothing more to teach you."

After spending more than thirty hours in the secret room of Kaito Kuroba's house, Kaito, dressed in black with heavy dark circles under his eyes, spoke with satisfaction to Yuu Aragaki beside him.

Yesterday, after realizing the seriousness of the situation, Kaito Kuroba immediately abandoned his carefree attitude and became extremely enthusiastic, spending the entire night cramming all his knowledge of disguise techniques into Yuu Aragaki.

He even used himself as a model to personally demonstrate and teach Aragaki Yu the techniques of disguise.

They were determined to ensure that Aragaki Yu could complete his apprenticeship in the shortest possible time, and then send this dangerous guy away from their home to eliminate any chance that Aragaki Yu and Nakamori Aoko might meet.

If Aragaki Yu really wants to harm someone, let him harm that high school detective named Kudo Shinichi's love interest!

Kaito Kuroba clearly remembered that Yuu Aragaki seemed to have a very good relationship with a girl named Ran Mouri.

Come to think of it, that girl named Ran Mouri does look quite a bit like Aoko...

not good!

Could it be that Aoko is also the type that Aragaki Yu likes?

In an instant, alarm bells rang in Kaito Kuroba's mind.

Damn it, we absolutely mustn't let Aragaki Yu make a move on Aoko.

(Edogawa Conan, who is desperately searching for a way to turn back into Shinichi Kudo: Politeness, is that you?)

Yuu Aragaki, who was completely unaware of Kaito Kuroba's inner thoughts, genuinely believed that Kaito Kuroba's tireless teaching over the past thirty-odd hours stemmed solely from his positive and responsible attitude as a teacher.

I never imagined that I had been twisted and blackened into such a person in his mind.

Therefore, upon seeing Kuroba Kaito looking unusually haggard from staying up all night teaching him, Aragaki Yu was naturally filled with gratitude and completely abandoned the idea of ​​selling information about Kaito Kid to the police.

You should know that Kaito Kuroba hasn't even had time to drink a cup of tea these past two days.

Even while he was eating, drinking tea, or resting, Kaito Kuroba was forcing himself to swallow hard as he demonstrated the steps of facial disguise.

By the next day, Yuuto Aragaki, who had barely rested, was already relying on his spiritual power to support his body and mind.

He really couldn't understand how Kaito Kuroba managed to hold on.

Even Terai Kinosuke, who came to check on him from time to time, was terrified that his young master might die suddenly and advised him to rest, but Kuroba Kaito rejected his advice with a dark face.

"Rest? How can I rest! If I really go to rest, my childhood sweetheart might be gone!?"

……

"Kaito, thank you so much for your help this time!" Aragaki Yu sincerely nodded to Kuroba Kaito in gratitude.

"You're welcome."

Kaito Kuroba waved his hand dismissively and continued, "Since you've read my father's notebook and learned his disguise technique, you can be considered my father's disciple. There's no need to be so polite between fellow disciples."

Yuu Aragaki glanced at Kaito Kuroba with surprise, as if he had just said those words casually.

I never expected this guy to have such thoughts, binding himself to him on the same boat between the lines.

If he were simply learning disguise techniques from Kaito Kuroba, he could perhaps see it as a deal he made with Kaito as a way to keep Kaito Kid's identity a secret.

However, transactions are not a stable relationship, especially after he learned the art of disguise. It's understandable that Kaito Kuroba is worried about being discarded after using someone else's services.

However, Kaito Kuroba's act of taking on his father's apprentice and classifying himself as his fellow disciple changes the dynamic considerably.

Deviating from the norm is a very unpopular thing in this world.

As for Kaito Kuroba's scheming, Yuu Aragaki, who had benefited greatly from him, naturally wouldn't hold it against him.

After all, he never intended to reveal his identity as Phantom Thief Kid.

For him, helping the police deal with Phantom Thief Kid wouldn't bring much benefit. Aragaki Yu had already investigated and found that the reward offered by the police for Phantom Thief Kid's identity wasn't high enough to particularly tempt him.

Moreover, in his memory, following Kaito Kuroba seemed to allow him to get involved in quite a few incidents, and he couldn't possibly put all his hopes on Conan and Ran.

As for becoming a disciple of Kuroba Toichi, Aragaki Yu naturally accepted it gladly. After all, Kuroba Toichi's disciples were all formidable figures.

Aside from the current phantom thief Kaito Kuroba, there's also Yukiko Kudo from Teitan High School, whom he's met once before, and Vermouth Vermouth (whom he thinks) who hasn't shown up yet—all of them are characters who will play important roles in the future storyline.

Having a fellow disciple has some benefit to me, more or less.

Although with my current strength, I am not afraid of them, and I can even achieve a one-sided crushing victory.

However, compared to this, Aragaki Yuu hopes to use their identities to gain access to more storylines and cases in order to nurture his own shikigami.

Otherwise, Yuu Aragaki would have wanted to get rid of these unstable factors like Gin and vodka long ago.

In Aragaki Yu's eyes, the members of the Black Organization are of the same status as Conan and the others.

They are all true benefactors.

……

Seeing the ambiguous smile in Aragaki Yu's eyes as he looked at him, Kuroba Kaito naturally understood that Aragaki Yu had seen through his thoughts.

But his silence on the matter speaks volumes.

Only then did Kaito Kuroba finally put down the last burden in his heart.