Sneaking sleeping pills in with 目を盗む
Idiom Explanation: Sneaking something with 目を盗む
As Ran sleeps, she’s carried to a sink filled with water and almost drowned. After, Conan considers the coffee Ran drank earlier must have been drugged, or else Ran would have fought back.
Since Mrs. Yone, who prepared the coffee with Ran’s help, was with Kogoro at the time of the attack, Korogo narrows the list of suspects to four who were out of sight while the coffee was being prepared.
- 小五郎:
- 「という事は、あなた方の中の誰かが米さんと蘭の目を盗んで睡眠薬を入れたとも考えられますな？」
- “Considering that, isn't it possible one of you slipped pastMrs. Yone and Ran and put sleeping pills in?”
Key Points
- 目を盗んで = “while slipping past someone’s notice”
- Ⓐの 目を 盗んで Ⓑする means “to do Ⓑ without Ⓐ noticing” or “while Ⓐ is not paying attention”
- Here it means someone put in the sleeping pills while avoiding Mrs. Yone and Ran’s notice
- 米さんと蘭の目 = the people whose notice was evaded
- 米さんと蘭の 目 does not literally mean their physical eyes were stolen
- In this idiom, 目 means watch, attention, or notice
- Pattern: 人の 目を 盗んで 〜する → “do 〜 while escaping that person’s notice”
- Sentence core: あなた方の中の誰かが 睡眠薬を入れた
- The main claim is あなた方の中の 誰かが 睡眠薬を 入れた → “someone among you put in the sleeping pills”
- 米さんと 蘭の 目を 盗んで explains how they did it: by doing it while those two were not noticing
- という事は sets up an inference: “if that’s the case / that means…”
- とも考えられますな = cautious detective-style inference
- 〜とも 考えられる presents something as a plausible conclusion, not a flat accusation
- ます keeps the line polite, while な gives it a slightly old-fashioned, male detective tone
- The overall nuance is: “So it’s reasonable to think that…“