Conan: The Phantom Heart Thief

"Resurrection" is a pipe dream in the normal world, but for Kazawa, who has a full interface system, it's just a game mechanic.

Gua Ge is simply unreasonable—Karasuma Renya would probably want to report him just hearing about this.

The act of resurrection itself is nothing unusual to Kazawa.

After all, Kazawa called himself the Phantom Thief of Hearts from the beginning because he was ready to fight every monster in Japan alone, with no teammates at all.

No matter how powerful the cheat is, this is still a real battle. So after experiencing the game's difficulty at Maruden Jiro's house, Kazawa spent several nights at the Velvet Bar tinkering with Indomitable Will, afraid that one day he'd die quietly and without warning in another world.

With this setup, even if his HP dropped to 0, as long as he was still in his Phantom Thief form wearing the mask, he could instantly revive at full health on the spot... though this situation has never actually happened. He has so many graduation Ps that it's hard for him to even die.

However, when it came to replicating this mechanic on others, things were completely different.

Right now, he was the only one truly using a Persona mask.

After working with Hoshikawa Teru multiple times in the subway, Kazawa became certain: the special powers of his mask don't work on ordinary people.

Just like in the real world, his mask's offensive skills can't hit anyone, and healing skills can't heal anyone either.

Normally, Hoshikawa Teru isn't some invincible NPC. When navigating the chaotic terrain of the Shibuya subway, it's inevitable he gets bumped around. Kazawa has always used items directly to heal him. As for resurrection...

Well, Hoshikawa Teru's driving skills aren't bad enough to get himself killed, and it's not like he'd accidentally kill a teammate in front of Kazawa. So, resurrection had never been tested.

More importantly, during his time at Marudenjiro's Hall, Kazawa confirmed the world's mechanics regarding this point:

As long as you haven't exited the cognitive world, the nonsensical effects brought by healing skills will still apply. But once you leave, all injuries and conditions become fixed. Even if you return later, those wounds won't disappear.

It's kind of like Schrödinger's cat—once something is observed, it collapses from possibility into reality.

Kazawa even used his amateur knowledge of quantum mechanics to explain this to himself.

A few days ago, when Kazawa found out about the billion-yen robbery and that Miyano Akemi's incident was about to unfold, his first rescue plan wasn't to use outside help to assist her escape—but rather, the plan he ultimately carried out:

Let Miyano Akemi be killed by Gin, or at least, make Gin believe she really died.

This was Kazawa's first instinctive reaction, born from his deep respect for Gin's characterization.

Because if Miyano Akemi were merely labeled as a defector or "missing", who could say whether Gin's drive to hunt her down would eventually kick in? But if he was convinced she was dead...

Well, for comparison, see Gin's infamous line: "Who is Kudo Shinichi?"

But as soon as Kazawa decided to go through with the plan, one crucial question stood in front of him:

Could he truly revive an ordinary teammate—even in the cognitive world?

Without being sure of this, Kazawa would never have taken such a risky gamble. That's why, before the plan began, he ran an experiment.

After confirming it worked, the logic behind the entire rescue operation was straightforward and simple.

First, Kazawa found a way to sneak into the task force and stood near Gin with a valid excuse.

Then, as they entered the port, he secretly activated world navigation, bringing Gin and Vodka into the cognitive world without them noticing.

Miyano Akemi's entire "death" took place within this space—so Gin could witness and confirm it himself.

Afterward, Hoshikawa Teru followed the plan and used navigation again to quietly send Gin and Vodka back to the real world. The seamless transition ensured they noticed nothing out of the ordinary.

Kazawa remained behind under the pretense of "cleaning up the scene" and resurrected Miyano Akemi on the spot, perfectly concealing the truth.

However, there was a critical prerequisite for this whole plan to work—Miyano Akemi first had to be registered as one of Kazawa's teammates, and be visible on his team list.

Who would be the best person to quickly reach her and trigger the cooperation link?

The only candidate with enough mystery and credibility was—the Joker.

And so, this complex, triple-bluff, high-intensity plan was launched. Running around Tokyo wearing disguises and handling alias coordination, Kazawa's inbox practically caught fire from all the emails. But in the end, no one except Kazawa suffered any real damage, which counted as a success.

…But Miyano Akemi did actually experience death.

That couldn't have been pleasant.

Kazawa lowered his gaze as she slowly woke up.

"I..." Miyano Akemi gradually regained strength, sat up, pressed her hand to the pain that still echoed in her chest, and looked up in disbelief at the two boys—one standing, one sitting—before her. "I... didn't die...?"

The searing pain of her heart being pierced still lingered in her nerves. Her breathing quickened. Her whole body trembled.

Blood had soaked her trousers, and her coat's fluffy trim was still matted. These details confirmed that what had just happened wasn't a dream.

But... she couldn't find any actual wounds.

She rolled up her pant legs again.

The sniper bullet that had blasted through her knee left only holes and stains on the fabric—her skin underneath was completely fine.

She turned to look at Joker again, seeking confirmation.

Is magic... real?

"What is all this?" She braced herself on the container beside her, stood up unsteadily, and looked around. Her eyes, now adapted to the light, finally saw Xingchuan Hui's face clearly—and she staggered back in fright, pointing at him. "You! You're the one who fired that shot—!"

Xingchuan, now facing a ruined reputation, pursed his lips helplessly and nudged Kazawa, who had started laughing, with his toe. "I saw you laugh, tsk. Go explain already."

"Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean it." Kazawa had done serious damage to her and behaved a bit antisocially. So when Miyano Akemi pointed at Hoshikawa Teru in shock, he couldn't help but find the whole scene amusing. "Well... it's a long story."

As he spoke, Kazawa waved his hand and dismissed the Phantom Thief form he had used during the resurrection. His black cloak and white hair faded, reverting back to his earlier disguise as Goro Akechi.

Before Miyano Akemi could turn her finger toward him, Kazawa reached out, tore off the disguise mask, and removed his colored contacts, revealing his true eye color—

A pair of light blue eyes, strikingly similar to Miyano Akemi's.

"I know it's a little late to say this," Kazawa smiled gently, eyes curved, gazing into her wide blue eyes, "but maybe I should call you Sister Akemi?"

"I am indeed the Phantom Thief Joker—but you can also call me Kazawa Zhao."