"The Dark Knight?"
"You mean that guy showed up again?"
Kogoro Mouri scratched his head, looking puzzled. Why would a vigilante like that suddenly drift all the way out to Nishitama City?
"Indeed," Inspector Megure nodded gravely. "Apparently, he pursued a gang of speed-hungry bikers right into the outskirts of the city."
He didn't elaborate further, but the grimace on his face suggested the aftermath hadn't been a pretty sight.
BOOM!
Before the conversation could go any further, the very ground beneath their feet groaned. A violent tremor rippled through the skyscraper, and in a heartbeat, the grand banquet hall was plunged into total darkness.
"Was that an earthquake?" Genta asked, craning his neck to look toward Tower B through the massive windows.
From what they could see, the other tower looked perfectly fine, its lights still twinkling against the night sky.
"What?!"
"An explosion? Where?" Toshihiko Kazama shouted into his phone, having just received a frantic call from security.
"It's the computer server room on the fortieth floor!" the security guard's voice crackled through the speaker, laced with panic.
"The computer room?"
Mio Tokiwa's brow furrowed. A cold realization washed over her—this wasn't just a random accident. The fortieth floor housed almost every scrap of critical data belonging to the Tokiwa Group.
"Curse you! Was this your doing?" Kogoro Mouri barked, turning a sharp gaze toward the handcuffed Hosui Kisaragi.
"No," a calm voice cut in. It was Tsuneo. "Given that he had poison prepared for his own exit, he wouldn't have bothered with explosives."
The repairman stood there, hands in his pockets, looking as unbothered as if they were discussing the weather.
"Furthermore," Tsuneo continued, "specifically targeting the data servers on the fortieth floor reeks of corporate sabotage or a targeted strike by a rival entity."
Conan shot a sideways glance at the repairman, his face a mask of silent exasperation. This guy...
"A consummate actor, isn't he?" Haibara whispered with a faint, knowing smile.
"Inspector, a fire has broken out on the fortieth floor. We need to evacuate immediately!" Kazama hung up the phone and turned to Megure.
"Inform the staff: activate the backup generators and start the evacuation procedures now!" Mio Tokiwa commanded. Despite the chaos, her voice was steady. As the head of a massive conglomerate, her crisis management skills were top-tier.
The Twin Towers were equipped with their own power supply; as long as they moved quickly, they could get everyone out safely. Checking the guest list and ensuring every staff member was accounted for became the immediate priority.
"Yes, ma'am! Understood!"
Miss Sawaguchi, the secretary, forced herself to stay calm. She rushed to the side of the stage, grabbed her clipboard, and began coordinating the headcount.
"Inspector, please let the elderly and the children take the elevators," Mio suggested. "The rest of us can head to the bridge on the sixtieth floor to seek refuge in Tower B."
Megure nodded in agreement. He ordered Officers Shiratori and Takagi to lead the other guests up the emergency stairs toward the bridge while he stayed behind to oversee the final sweep.
Two or three minutes after the initial blast, the backup lights flickered to life, bathing the hall in a dim, emergency glow.
"I say... why are you following me instead of getting on the elevator?" Tsuneo asked, looking down at the small boy trotting beside him.
"What's the matter? You're running slower than usual. Did you eat too much at the buffet?" Conan asked, looking up with a piercing gaze.
"Fine, fine. I get it. You saw through me a long time ago."
Tsuneo's voice shifted. The low, steady tone of the repairman vanished, replaced by the familiar, theatrical cadence of a certain world-class phantom thief.
He's doing this to completely distance himself from any suspicion, Conan thought, recalling how the real Tsuneo had once been interrogated for hours after a previous incident.
"Who knows what he's thinking..."
A short distance away from the Twin Towers.
The real Tsuneo, wearing a black face mask, sat atop his motorcycle. He looked up at the towering skyscrapers, his eyes cold.
As expected, Gin hadn't just come here for a scenic tour. Since Yoshiaki Hara had used the Tokiwa Group's servers to hack into the Black Organization's internal network, they were never going to let this place stand.
"It's alright. I've already scanned the area. There was no one on the fortieth floor," Hiroki's voice spoke through Tsuneo's earpiece.
"How's the situation in the banquet hall?" Tsuneo asked, curiosity piqued.
He had already tipped off the Great Detective about the real culprit behind the murders; he wondered if everything had gone according to plan.
"Hosui Kisaragi was stopped just in time. No casualties," Hiroki reported. "However, Mr. Mouri seems to have won the grand prize—a brand-new convertible."
Hiroki wasn't sure if that qualified as good or bad luck, considering Mouri's track record.
"Also... Kaito Kuroba has been recognized again."
"That idiot..." Tsuneo sighed.
"Gingin, it should be done now."
Vodka stood by the car, holding the remote detonator and reporting tentatively to the man inside. Lately, Gin's mood had been atrocious. He radiated a freezing aura that made even his loyal subordinate break into a cold sweat.
"You only set charges on the fortieth floor?" Gin asked, his head turning slowly. His arm was still heavily bandaged from the brutal injury he'd received during their last encounter.
"Yes. All of the Tokiwa Group's data was stored there," Vodka nodded.
In truth, Vodka felt the explosion was almost redundant. Yoshiaki Hara had escaped alive, and he had likely taken a copy of the data with him. But one did not question Gin's orders.
"That man... is it possible he's connected to these conglomerates?" Gin's brow furrowed. Just thinking about the Dark Knight made his arm throb with phantom pain.
The vigilante was getting stronger. That air of casual arrogance, that feeling that he was always three steps ahead... it was infuriating.
Why? the silver-haired assassin wondered. How can he act like he has the whole world in the palm of his hand?
You might be able to dodge a bullet, but could you dodge a missile?
"Boss, we've investigated every suspicious target, but we've come up empty. And the guest list you had me check for the Tokiwa party? Nothing there either," Vodka said, shaking his head.
He had just received word that the Dark Knight had been spotted causing chaos elsewhere tonight. The man was like a ghost. He could be any passerby on the street. Unless they started leveled the city with tanks, finding him was impossible.
"Let's go..."
Gin didn't feel like discussing it further. He flicked his cigarette butt out the window.
He was tired. The servers were destroyed; that was enough for now. The results didn't matter as much as the fact that Hara had slipped through their fingers...
"So, how do we handle this?"
Back at Professor Agasa's house, Kaito Kuroba ripped off his prosthetic mask. He reached into his oversized suit and pulled out a large, heavy bag, looking at the man in black who was already lounging on the sofa.
The bag was filled with all the food he had "eaten" during the party.
"You stuffed that much inside, and you still got caught?" the real Tsuneo asked, baffled.
It had been Tsuneo's idea: hide a waterproof bag inside the suit and shovel the food in there to maintain the "big eater" persona of the repairman without actually having to consume three gallons of cream soup.
"It's because he's messy," Haibara said, stepping into the room. Conan had gone to the police station with Kogoro, leaving her to break down the flaws in the disguise. "He used a plate that still had meat sauce on it to grab slices of cake."
"And more importantly," she added with a smirk, "this guy's conversation was way too normal."
"I couldn't actually eat the stuff! I wasn't paying attention to the plates!" Kaito protested, shaking his head vigorously. He had been so focused on dumping food into the bag while people weren't looking that he'd neglected the culinary etiquette.
Then, he paused, processing the second half of Haibara's critique.
"Wait... what do you mean I was 'too normal'?"
Tsuneo's eyes narrowed. "Are you saying that the way I usually talk is abnormal?"
"Precisely," the group replied in perfect, deadpan unison.
(End of Chapter)
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