"Mr. Phantom Thief, you wouldn't want someone to be killed by Kagemusha while I'm arresting you, would you?"
The corner of Fujino's lips curled slightly. He clenched his fist and presented it before Kuroba Kaito's eyes.

"..."
Kuroba Kaito glanced at Fujino's fist, which seemed as large as a sandbag, swallowed hard, and couldn't help but feel speechless.
Well damn, this guy was definitely extorting him, right?
No, not 'definitely', this absolutely was extortion!
Although he could see it was blatant extortion,
he still decided to pay the 500,000 yen.
He had no choice. Despite the risk of being a sucker, what the other party said made a lot of sense.
Every profession had its own code.
He had his own code as a magician.
One had to admit, this Fujino guy was a crafty old fox.
He had thoroughly pinched his psychological weak spot.

His purpose in coming this time was to comfort Murai Kazetsugu's family.
If he wasn't mistaken, then that woman named Tanaka Kikue should be Murai Kazetsugu's daughter or granddaughter.
Of course, the so-called comfort was just encouragement and the like.
Mhm, he didn't want to see anyone die at this gathering. It definitely wasn't because he was succumbing to the other party's... violence.

"I don't have 500,000 yen in cash on me right now..."

"No cash?"
Fujino's brow furrowed.
Mhm, although 500,000 yen wasn't too much, converting it to cash would require at least fifty 10,000 yen bills.
Most people indeed wouldn't carry that much cash.
Pausing, Fujino asked again, "Then do you have a bank card?"

"Bank card?"
Kuroba Kaito paused. "I do have a bank card."

"That's good."
Fujino took out a black mobile POS machine. "I support mobile payments here."

Kuroba Kaito: "..."
Good grief, good grief.
Do you always carry a mobile POS machine around?
No, wait, where did you even pull that mobile POS machine from?!
Watching Fujino pull out a mobile POS machine from somewhere, just like he himself would, Kuroba Kaito was speechless.
Speechless, he also pulled out a bank card from somewhere, swiped it on Fujino's mobile POS machine, and entered the PIN.
As a phantom thief, his bank card was naturally encrypted and not registered under his high school student identity, Kuroba Kaito. So he didn't think swiping the card would expose his identity.
Even if the other party traced it through the bank card information, they would only end up at an empty account number in a Swiss bank.

[System Balance Credited: 500,000 Yen]
A pleasant notification sound echoed in Fujino's ear.
The smile on Fujino's face gradually softened considerably. After putting away the mobile POS machine, he patted Kuroba Kaito's shoulder. "Pleasure doing business with you, client."

"Haha..."
That attitude changed really fast.
Kuroba Kaito asked Fujino, "So what information do you need me to provide?"

"You joined the group earlier. I think you might know something about Kagemusha."
Fujino began, "Did Kagemusha and Escape King have any conflicts before I joined the group?"

"Conflicts?"
Kuroba Kaito thought for a moment, then replied, "Conflict-wise, they did have a big argument before about Murai Kazetsugu. It was probably just before you joined this chat room. That Kagemusha suddenly said something like: 'This great magician died because of all of you'. I can understand that sentence. Ikasama Doji was Murai Kazetsugu. Half a year ago, we discussed escape magic. Later, perhaps due to the expectations of people in the chat room, Mr. Murai held his final magic show shortly after."

"Final magic show?"

"Yes. In that escape magic show, Mr. Murai passed away due to an accident..."
Saying this, Kuroba Kaito's brow suddenly furrowed.
Clearly, as a magician, he also deeply regretted the death of that magician.

"Judging by the current situation, the killer is very likely a magic enthusiast of Mr. Murai's. After learning that people in this chat room requested Mr. Murai to perform magic again, leading to his death, he sought revenge against everyone in the chat room."
Based on the current evidence, Fujino, discarding any spoilers, gave his current deduction.

"Knock knock!"
Just then, a knock came from outside the door. "Mr. Doi, we've prepared dinner."

"I know!"
Kuroba Kaito reverted to Doi Toukatsu's voice and responded.

"Alright, let's go eat."
Fujino turned around and opened the door.

"Are you still in the mood to eat?"
Kuroba Kaito stood up from the bed he was sitting on. "There's still a murderer lurking in the dark, planning to take our lives."

"Man is iron, rice is steel." (Idiom: Food is essential)
Fujino waved his hand nonchalantly. "In this situation where the enemy is in the light and we are in the dark, we can't actively attack. We can only wait for Kagemusha to expose himself. With you, the ever-changing phantom thief, and me, the pitch-black detective, Kagemusha will be exposed the moment he makes a move."

"True enough..."
Kuroba Kaito recalled the scene from that night, Fujino holding a bokken, leaping two or three meters, chasing and hacking at that Spider, and couldn't help but nod.
Hilarious. Who would be blind enough to make a move in front of this guy?

Time moved to the afternoon.
Since it was winter, the days were short and nights long. So before six o'clock, the sky had already begun to darken.
The group gathered at the dining table, except for Conan.
Because Fujino had fed Conan two magical little cold pills beforehand, he was now sleeping like a log under the medicine's effect.

At the dining table, the members of the magic chat room began discussing their favorite Japanese magicians.

"Magician-wise, Kuroba Touichi, I guess."
Fujino casually mentioned the magician he was most familiar with.

"I also prefer Kuroba Touichi."
Ara Yoshinori said likewise.
Kuroba Touichi had ostensibly died eight years ago.
Although deceased for many years, as a representative of a magic era, he still had a large fan base of magic enthusiasts.
Especially people of Ara Yoshinori's age.

Kuroba Kaito looked at Fujino with surprise, not expecting Fujino to be a fan of his old man.
Pausing, he chimed in, "Me too."

"I admire Kinoshita Kijiro, who achieved numerous titles by the age of twenty."
Hamano Toshiya stated.

"Why do you all like magicians who are already dead... I still prefer Sanada Ichizo, who's still alive."
Kuroda Naoko grumbled, then asked Ran and Sonoko, "Do you two have any favorite magicians?"

"If I had to name a favorite magician..."
Sonoko paused, a girlish blush appearing on her face. "Then it's Kaito Kid, of course!"

"But Kaito Kid is a thief..."
"And we can't even be sure he's Japanese."

"I've crossed paths with him twice."
Just then, Fujino suddenly said, "It can be confirmed, he is Japanese. Although his disguise is very good, my intuition confirms it..."
Pausing, Fujino continued, "And judging by his magic techniques, Kaito Kid's magic is indeed very impressive. As for whether he's a magician... I don't think only those who perform magic on stage are magicians."
Saying this, Fujino looked meaningfully at Kuroba Kaito. "Isn't that right, Mr. Doi?"

"Haha... I think so too. The stage for magic isn't singular."
Kuroba Kaito laughed awkwardly.

After dinner, once the dishes were cleared, everyone began discussing the arrangements for the evening's party and entertainment.
Originally, it should have been arranged by the organizer of this gathering, Escape King.
But Escape King was dead and hadn't arrived.
The phone line was also inexplicably disconnected.
So, under Hamano Toshiya's leadership, they decided to use a magic trick to determine things.
Sonoko was blindfolded and marked cards with names written on them, indicating who would be the acting party host.
Afterward, Hamano Toshiya performed a prediction magic trick.
Kuroda Naoko was the acting host – he guessed correctly.
Tanaka Kikue was in charge of heating the bathwater – also guessed correctly.
However, when guessing who was in charge of the entertainment, he guessed wrong.
His original guess was Doi Toukatsu, but it was actually himself.

After the decisions were made, everyone went to their respective tasks.
Ran and Sonoko went to check on Conan, who still had a cold and was sleeping. Hamano Toshiya went upstairs to prepare for the entertainment. Ara Yoshinori planned to fetch some red wine from the cellar. The university student hired for the occasion went to the kitchen to prepare snacks. Tanaka Kikue went to the outbuilding to heat water.

"You should have noticed something about that magic trick just now, right?"
Fujino walked slowly to Kuroba Kaito's side and asked.

"Mhm, a very simple trick."
Kuroba Kaito nodded. "If I wasn't mistaken just now, Tanaka Kikue, who performed that trick, should be the shill. Before Hamano prepared the trick, Tanaka Kikue had already fixed who would perform those tasks on those cards."

"Don't you find it strange?"
Fujino suddenly asked.

"Strange?"

"If the people were fixed beforehand, then why did Hamano Toshiya say you were in charge of the entertainment?"

Kuroba Kaito paused upon hearing this, looking at Fujino with surprise. "Are you saying..."

"If I'm not mistaken, then the person who was supposed to prepare the entertainment should have been you, but for some reason, it became him."
Pausing, Fujino continued, "And the only person who could make such a change is Tanaka Kikue, the shill who made preparations beforehand. But why would she change the person who was originally fixed? Was there some purpose that made it necessary?"

"Don't tell me you're saying?!"
Kuroba Kaito swallowed hard. "Tanaka Kikue is Kagemusha?"

"That's still unknown for now."
Fujino shook his head, then turned his gaze upstairs. "Let's go up and see."

Chapter 181