Conan: The Phantom Heart Thief

Kazawa sat in the passenger seat of the Porsche. The exaggerated neon lights reflected through the windshield, casting multicolored beams across his white hair—beautiful and dreamy, like oil floating on the surface of sewage: dazzling, yet mixed with filth.

This was the palace of Shigehiko Tsunkou. Kazawa had been here many times. When investigating the Tsunkou family, he had practically explored every corner of this place.

He looked up at the extravagant building and suddenly said, "Xingchuan."

"Hmm?" Sitting in the driver's seat, Xingchuan Hui responded with a hum, his gaze fixed on the massive sculpture of Tsunkou Shigehiko. He didn't look back.

Kazawa had no intention of getting out of the car.

He had tried to bring Xingchuan Hui into the hall before, but there was no sign of any awakening. No alternate-world navigation app appeared on Xingchuan's phone. Kazawa wasn't sure if this had to do with the absence of someone like Igor in this world. For now, Xingchuan Hui was just a normal person with decent combat ability.

"What do you think about the cognitive world... after going in so many times?" Kazawa turned to look at Xingchuan Hui with a calm expression.

"A very... magical place?" Xingchuan stopped staring at the statue and looked at Kazawa instead. "Why ask this all of a sudden? It's a bit late to regret it now."

Back when Xingchuan Hui chose to stay, Kazawa had dragged him into the cognitive world without warning and revealed twenty terrifying faces to him—confirming once again if he truly wanted to walk this dangerous road, and whether he was prepared for the possibility of dying.

That was meant to scare him. With Kazawa's strength and post-graduation Persona rank, if he let his teammates die in front of him, he might as well jump off a cliff out of shame. What he really wanted was to warn Xingchuan Hui: this path was hard, and without the resolve to die, it would be better not to step in at all.

Xingchuan Hui's answer back then had been obvious.

"Aren't you afraid? A world that reveals the truth in people's hearts, shatters their desires, and can erase someone from the soul level..." Kazawa leaned back in the spacious Porsche seat, arms folded behind his head. "I didn't do it—but it's not that I couldn't. For example, if I wanted to kill your father and walked into that building now, he could bleed to death within the hour, and no one would suspect me."

Xingchuan glanced at the gaudy, gold-and-silver encrusted nightclub entrance with disdain. "But you didn't, did you? Maybe you were scared at first, but you're slowly getting used to it. Is this what the organization was hoping you'd become? At least it didn't fall into their hands."

"Close enough." Kazawa thought of the "Kazawa Ichikawa" logo on the cognitive-space partition wall and added uncertainly, "Whatever the organization wants to do... it's way bigger than a guy like me using this power to play hero."

Xingchuan Hui laughed. "There's no point in asking me that. After coming here, I understood how you found me. I can't blame you. Without the cognitive world, I'd still be locked up in that prison of a home. I don't know if your plan is naïve, but you saved a lot of people, right? Like me."

Especially me, he thought silently.

"I actually wanted to ask..." Kazawa hesitated. "Would you be willing to help me with a very dangerous experiment?"

This was the real reason he'd dragged Xingchuan out to sit in front of the nightclub today.

The 1-billion-yen robbery had already happened. In a few days, "Hirota Masami" would likely show up at Mouri's office.

Kazawa had a plan. It was risky, but potentially perfect—yet one crucial element hadn't been tested.

"How dangerous?" Xingchuan Hui wasn't surprised. Kazawa wouldn't call him out for nothing.

"Well, if it fails, this will be your burial place." Kazawa pointed at the brightly lit nightclub entrance.

Xingchuan frowned and looked at the massive, tasteless statue of Tsunkou Shigehiko. "You're trying to piss me off so I won't die in a place like this, to stir up my survival instincts? Logical."

"Come on, how could I?" Kazawa laughed. "First, this place is where I first met you. Second... just think of it as a personal hobby."

It was a little funny, actually. To be brutally honest, didn't the traitor in the original story die on his father's cruise ship? Ahem...

Of course, Xingchuan didn't catch the joke. He just sighed. "Alright, I'll play along. What's the experiment?"

Kazawa's laughter stalled. He coughed and dropped his feet to the floor. "Wait—you're not even going to ask what the experiment is? No way. Are you one of those types who throws their life away after being rescued or something?"

"Of course not." Xingchuan gave him a big eye-roll and clenched his fist. "I'm a bit weaker than you, sure—but I'm part of the organization too, okay?"

Kazawa looked at him doubtfully.

Could it be that Xingchuan actually had serious mental health issues? Suicidal tendencies?

He'd heard his life had been in danger before, but this was a little too ready-to-die...

"Hey hey hey, you're the one who brought up the experiment, and now you're acting like I've got a death wish?" Xingchuan's eyes rolled almost completely back. "...But I guess you're only asking because you can't do the experiment on yourself. For something this risky, if you could do it alone, you'd never ask for help."

"...What are you talking about?" Kazawa turned his head, relying on the mask to hide his eyes. "You talk like you know me inside out. Makes me sound like some saint."

"Am I wrong?" Xingchuan shot back.

Kazawa exhaled, blowing his white hair away from his nose, and didn't respond.

It was true.

There was no point in Kazawa testing it himself—Xingchuan Hui was the only option.

"Alright then, let's go. Do you need me to go inside, or stand here at the door?" Xingchuan opened the car door.

Kazawa calmed himself and stepped out.

Click—the sound of a mechanical snap.

Xingchuan Hui, trained in firearms, instantly recognized it. He froze and turned around.

"Don't move." Kazawa pointed a black pistol at him.

"So it's that kind of experiment." Despite the muzzle aimed at him, Xingchuan remained calm. It reminded him of the night Kazawa first showed up in his room.

Thinking about it... he probably understood what Kazawa was trying to test.

He recalled Kazawa taking a bullet to the body and acting like it was nothing.

Xingchuan Hui took a deep breath. He was different from Kazawa. He was just a normal person. In both the real and cognitive worlds, getting shot meant getting hurt—or worse.

It wasn't like he hadn't been injured before. Even if Kazawa had mysterious healing methods, the pain and risk were real.

Still, he wanted to help Kazawa.

Compared to Kazawa's strength and skill, he was weak. If he stayed hidden in the safehouse, he'd just be a burden.

Thinking this, Xingchuan's eyes glowed with intensity. The nightclub lights danced across his face, giving him a wild and unhinged look—not unlike the crazed Goro Akechi that Karasawa once portrayed.

His amber eyes shimmered with a faint golden hue, as something chaotic and bright swirled in them.

"Go ahead. Think of it as paying you back for that shot I gave you." Xingchuan opened his arms. "Even if I die here, maybe I'll have helped you take one step forward."

Kazawa took a deep breath and stared at the faintly smiling Xingchuan.

"Don't act like you're dying for me. You're really twisted to act like one of those obsessive fans." Kazawa sighed.

"'Fanatic fan,' huh... I guess I am one," Xingchuan laughed. "If I didn't want to follow you, what would be the point of staying?"

"Whatever. Just focus on staying alive." Kazawa said with irritation.

With that, he steadied his grip, aimed, and pulled the trigger—straight at Xingchuan Hui's chest.

Bang—