Conan: I'm Really Not Tokyo Ghost Story

Page 184

"Is it that you can't remember, or that you can't recall it?"

Kyosuke Kazato stood up: "You know, when people hear questions that require recall, they usually have a brief moment of reflection, but you didn't. You answered without hesitation."

“Last time I called you, you acted like you didn’t recognize me. It was the same during this test. Although nothing seemed wrong on the surface, your reaction was completely different from usual, like…”

"It's like the first time I did a diagnosis."

Sano looked calmly at Kazato Kyosuke, a rare sense of unease creeping into his heart.

This guy seems to be in some trouble.

She is thoughtful, knowledgeable in psychology, and has had unknown contact and understanding of the original owner of this body.

It's going to be difficult to fool them.

Of course, Sano wasn't the only one who heard Kyosuke Kazato's words; the other members of the medical team also heard them, though most of them looked completely bewildered.

Only Ai Haibara said thoughtfully, "Speaking of which, just now Sano... brother, it seems he didn't even know where Dr. Kazato's office was."

Sano glanced at Ai Haibara and said, "You think you have a good memory? You just had to say that."

Kyosuke Kazato nodded and continued, "Sano, has your memory been affected so severely? Why don't you tell me?"

...What the hell is this memory? I don't even have those memories.

Sano inwardly pursed his lips and casually replied, "I just got up too early, and I've been quite busy lately, so it's understandable that I'm a little dazed."

"This is beyond just being confused."

Ai Haibara spoke up again: "Doctor, perhaps you could ask him more details to see just how much his memory has been affected."

Tsk, why is this brat so talkative?

Sano clicked his tongue in amazement, while Kazato Kyosuke clearly agreed with Ai Haibara's statement, turning around and taking out another form for Sano.

"Let's write down what happened in the last few days first."

Sano took the form and felt a little relieved after hearing Kazato Kyosuke's request. Thankfully, he wasn't being pressed about the original owner's past experiences.

Then the problem shouldn't be too big.

After a flurry of activity, Sano wrote down all his experiences from the past week.

Of course, most of these were fabricated, especially those related to the organization, which Sano replaced with "sleeping at home".

Anyway, no one else knew when Sano was carrying out the organization's mission. This explanation is simple and straightforward, and even if questioned in detail, it wouldn't seem out of place.

Since Kyosuke Kazato didn't know much about Sano's daily life, he handed the form to the medical team and asked them to check if there was anything wrong with it.

Then Ran Mouri and Sonoko Suzuki hesitantly asked a question.

"Senior, something seems a little off..."

"what?"

Sano was surprised to be pointed out a problem and looked over at it with some disbelief—if there was anything wrong with this table, it was the part about the replaced organizational tasks.

But this is also a place that should absolutely never be pointed out.

Ran Mouri turned the form to Sano, pointed to the "make-up exam" column for Thursday, and said, "We had class the day before yesterday, how could it be a make-up exam?"

Sano frowned, took the form, and began to look at it.

The first column of the form is naturally today, which is Saturday. Yesterday was Friday. Sano wrote that he helped Conan solve the counterfeit money gang. The day before yesterday was a sniping mission. Apart from the makeup exam, he just wrote that he was sleeping at home.

Is there a problem with this?

The events of the past three days—yesterday, yesterday, and the day before—remain the same; where did things go wrong...?

Sano suddenly froze, silently flipping through the calendar on the table.

Today is November 3rd, Saturday. Yesterday was November 2nd, Friday. Everything was fine, but the day before yesterday was... June 8th, Saturday.

...Holy shit.

Sano seems to have found the problem.

The time sequence in this table is surprisingly arranged according to a normal pattern!

How could this possibly align with the development of the Conan timeline?

Before Sano could come up with an excuse, Kazato Kyosuke suddenly snatched the calendar from his hand and asked seriously, "Sano, answer me a question."

"The day before yesterday, which was the day before your makeup exam, what was the date and what day of the week was it?"

Chapter 203, page 202: Startled awake from a dying dream, I realized I was the one with the mental illness.

Looking at Kyosuke Kazato's stern face, Sano felt a pressure he had never experienced even when facing Gin.

Because Sano didn't know the answer at all, and without a calendar, he couldn't possibly know the answer.

...It's strange, though the timeline of this world is chaotic, there's also a strange sense of "order within chaos," at least the calendar is a result of that chaos.

Therefore, under normal circumstances, Sano would not have any major troubles in his life.

...But the problem now is not whether Sano himself feels troubled, but whether others feel that he is troubled.

It's like there's a kind of coldness in the world called "Grandma thinks you're cold," it's the same principle.

After a moment of silence, Sano let out a sigh of relief: "Doctor, I know that my memory has indeed declined quite severely, and it's even approaching the level of Alzheimer's disease and amnesia..."

"That's not how it works, is it?"

Ai Haibara interrupted Sano: "If it were something from the past, you could use your memory as an excuse, but what about the future?"

"For example, can you answer me now, what day of the week is tomorrow?"

Sano: "..."

Damn it, I'll sew that fake loli's mouth shut as soon as I get back!

"Distortion of time perception."

Conan suddenly raised a term with a serious expression, which drew a look of agreement from Kyosuke Kazato.

“Sano, although I’m reluctant to touch on your wounds, you should know that your father… was once suspected of having a mental illness.”

Sano looked at Kyosuke Kazato, blinked, and didn't say anything.

To prevent any accidents, Sano had previously gathered information about the original owner's parents, and he was naturally aware that his father was suspected of having a mental illness.

That's not surprising at all.

After all, it's impossible for someone who can do something like that not to have some kind of mental illness.

The problem now is that, given Sano's performance just now, coupled with this setting, it will cause a very troublesome chemical reaction.

Sonoko Suzuki asked疑惑地问道, "What does this have to do with your father, senpai?"

"Although there is no rigorous scientific evidence to prove it yet, most neuromedical scientists have put forward a concept."

Ai Haibara explained, "Mental illness might be hereditary."

The three people, excluding the fake child duo, were stunned and looked at Sano in disbelief, unable to utter the word "crazy".

"..."

Sano sat there expressionless, looking at Ai Haibara. Although his face remained calm, he was cursing her inwardly.

You're the one who's crazy, your whole family is crazy!

Sano really didn't expect that just coming for a follow-up appointment would not only fail to resolve his psychological problem, but would actually escalate it.

...Psychological disorders and mental disorders are extremely similar yet different.

If we had to examine it closely, the latter would certainly be more serious.

In cases like the former, only in extremely severe situations will patients experience noticeable physiological reactions.

The latter can easily have a huge impact on a patient's actions and thinking, and in terms of the degree of manifestation, they are two completely different levels.

The problem of "disordered time perception" that Conan mentioned could not possibly be caused by a psychological disorder.

This is the main reason why Sano would rather admit that his memory is getting worse than be seen as someone who "can't even tell the date apart".

But this is the fault of the timeline.

...In fact, Sano had done special research on the chaotic timeline of this world.

Putting aside whether there is any pattern to the jumping between the dates, the key question is how this timeline looks to other people, which Sano is naturally very curious about.

For example, if Sano took a makeup exam the day before yesterday, on Saturday, June 8th, would other people still consider it the day before yesterday?

The answer is—both yes and no.

This is similar to when Kaito Kuroba said on April Fool's Day that he would board a ship to steal the Dark Star in half a month, but the ship set sail the very next day.

The world's timeline revolves around Conan, and any logic within it is determined by the other character's experiences.

It's like Conan and Kogoro Mouri are putting on a show with Conan using tranquilizer darts, yet no one suspects anything.

The human brain automatically repairs all the bugs during the process and does not perceive anything unreasonable in the process.

Therefore, the answer is that it will become as chaotic as a timeline.

To put it bluntly, there's no pattern at all; it's all based on the term "Ke Xue" (柯学, meaning "Ke's philosophy").

As someone outside the world of Detective Conan, Sano would naturally never be able to adapt to these rules.

So even if someone is sick, it's the world that's sick, what does it have to do with you?

...If I had known, I would have just said from the beginning that I was hit by a car, had amnesia, and couldn't remember anything from before. Regardless of whether others believed me or not, it shouldn't have led to this current problem.

Sano gritted his teeth inwardly. Besides, even if mental illness really is hereditary, the one with the illness is the original owner, so what does it have to do with him, Sano...

Sano suddenly froze again.

If mental illness is indeed hereditary, then it is most likely related to genes—that is, there are actual physiological factors at play.

So now, the one who is sick shouldn't be referred to as the "original body," but rather... the body of the original body.

So even if Sano has replaced the original owner now, wouldn't that also...

Sano suddenly fell into self-doubt.

...Is I really sick??