"Here to cash in your bet?" As expected, after lunch, Kazawa ran into Hattori Heiji, who was waiting outside the store.
Ever since he revealed some of his cards to Amuro Tooru, Kazawa had gained a certain degree of freedom. Amuro knew Kazawa had secrets of his own, and he wasn't the kind of reckless person who'd bring trouble upon himself, so Amuro had stopped watching him so closely.
Kazawa had just returned from visiting Hoshikawa Teru. On one hand, he checked if anything was missing from his newly purchased house; on the other hand, he instructed Hoshikawa Teru to notify him immediately if any children showed up at the door, and to avoid being seen by Conan.
Once Conan recovered from his cold, he would definitely come to investigate. After all, Hoshikawa Teru's situation was just like that of Goro Akechi—it would be too troublesome to explain to Conan why Joker and Goro Akechi lived together.
"Want some coffee? Or something else?" Kazawa asked as he pulled out a stool and sat down under the parasol outside the door.
Hattori Heiji clenched his fists, uncomfortable with having his pace completely dictated by someone else, but still sat down opposite him.
"You knew all along the killer was Tsujimura Kimie," Hattori said, hands in the pockets of his baseball jacket. "To be precise, before you even arrived at the Tsujimura house, you already figured out what she was planning… but you didn't stop her."
Kazawa brushed a few stray strands of hair aside, turned to silently mouth something to Enomoto Azusa inside the store, then turned back and spoke as if to himself, "If you don't have a preference, I'll order you oolong tea..."
His calm tone didn't disrupt Hattori's rhythm at all. Kazawa remained emotionally neutral. Hattori Heiji pursed his lips.
"If you mean that I noticed Ms. Tsujimura's murderous intent early on… then yes, I did." Kazawa tucked his hands into the outer pockets of his windbreaker and spoke evenly. "She came to the office claiming she wanted Detective Mouri to investigate her son's girlfriend. I don't know if you noticed their conversation—but a mother who genuinely wants to investigate her future daughter-in-law wouldn't act like that. At the time, I suspected either she wasn't close with her son and was only investigating under her husband's instruction, or the investigation was a cover story."
"That was your only basis for judgment?"
"Add a little intuition." Kazawa tilted his head and smiled. "You may not have seen what someone on the verge of mental collapse looks like, but I have."
Is this guy showing off?
That was Hattori Heiji's first reaction upon seeing Kazawa's smile—and it irritated him.
He had already sensed something was off about Tsujimura Kimie. Worse, he had guessed she might do something extreme, but he did nothing.
Hattori glared at the smiling Kazawa.
Then he realized Kazawa's calm was genuine—there was no ridicule, no condescension.
Kazawa just smiled quietly, as if unaware of Hattori's frustration.
"Your drinks." Azusa Enomoto arrived with a tray, interrupting what Hattori had wanted to say.
She placed an iced oolong tea in front of Hattori and set down the coffee before Kazawa. She warned him, "Use fewer sugar cubes this time. If you overdo it again, I'm telling Mr. Amuro."
Kazawa gave her a pleading look and reached for a sugar cube from the tray. "Just four, okay? Four is the limit."
Azusa shook her head helplessly, turned to gesture at Hattori, as if saying "take care of your guest," and walked back inside with the tray.
"Why? You knew full well that if you'd warned us or stopped Ms. Tsujimura, the murder wouldn't have happened." Hattori still frowned.
Kazawa stirred his coffee. His response seemed unrelated: "Japan hasn't abolished the death penalty. If you kill someone here, you must be prepared to sacrifice your own life. But maybe you don't know—or don't care—that the vast majority of murder cases here only result in a 20-year sentence. Even in serious cases where the death penalty is handed down, many in the legal system work to abolish it or delay its execution indefinitely..."
Hattori curled his lips.
Kazawa's way of speaking reminded him of his father.
In fact, Kazawa was using the same conversational techniques that detectives often use in interrogations, placing full control of the conversation in his hands.
Hattori didn't like being suppressed like this. Just like he didn't like his father's tone.
"Ms. Tsujimura didn't kill out of rage," Kazawa continued, placing down his silver spoon and speaking with a calm but compassionate tone. "She had carefully planned everything. The moment she stood in front of the office and tried to rope the detective into her alibi, it was already too late. I tried to comfort her—she understood what I was implying. But she didn't flinch. She still chose to kill. So I believe the justice she sought was something the current legal system couldn't provide. She took action even knowing I'd probably figured her out… That means she was prepared to be caught. And in that case, I respected her decision."
Hattori opened his mouth, then shut it again. He clearly didn't agree with Kazawa's reasoning.
He couldn't figure out how to argue against this logic. Because Kazawa's judgment wasn't just emotional—it was based on a moral framework that, while different from Hattori's, was logically consistent.
Kazawa smiled at Hattori over the rim of his coffee cup, then took a sip of the overly sweetened drink.
This was the fishing strategy Kazawa had prepared specifically for Hattori Heiji.
He hadn't come here just to make idle chat with a top figure from the Red Team—he came prepared.
Hattori Heiji was a straightforward and devoted Red Team member. But the key difference between him and Conan was that while Conan lived next door to Karasawa, Hattori did not.
So the method Kazawa used to build a bond with Conan—repeated contact—wouldn't work on Hattori. Instead, he needed to make a powerful impression in a single meeting. One that was sharp, conflicting, and hard to forget. Otherwise, it would be impossible to keep the connection going.
After careful planning, Karasawa decided to position himself in Hattori's mind as a character who was just as intelligent, but darker, grayer—on the edge.
Put simply, an anti-hero.
For straight-arrow types like Hattori, such people were dangerous… but not without appeal. If they just tried a little harder, maybe they could "save" someone like that. It was a lure they couldn't resist.
Hattori's next question confirmed Kazawa's expectations.
"'The justice she seeks is something the system can't give her'... That doesn't sound like emotional speculation." Hattori raised an eyebrow. "You sound like you really distrust it. Did the system do something to you?"