Disclaimer: Detective Conan is not mine. This fanfic is a translation.
Enjoy Reading!
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Driving the pickup truck at high speed toward the abandoned building, this was also the most suitable location along the escape route that Ritsu had anticipated.
He had secretly drained the fuel tank before getting out of the car earlier. Everything was within his plan, including the likelihood that Glenfiddich would choose this abandoned building as their counterattack point.
What Glenfiddich didn't know was that Public Security officers disguised as CIA agents had already been lying in ambush outside the building. Capturing Glenfiddich was the true objective of this operation.
But things never go perfectly. Reality is rarely as ideal as imagined.
"Do you like fireworks?"
"What?"
Ritsu turned his head, only to see Glenfiddich pulling several fragmentation grenades out of his bag, grinning as he waved them. The next second, he tossed them out to the side.
"You—!"
The direction he threw them in… was toward a children's playground.
Kids were laughing and playing in the sandbox, some on swings, others on slides, while parents stood nearby chatting and smiling.
That peaceful, beautiful scene turned into a hell of flying flesh and blood in an instant.
Boom!!
The massive shockwave jolted the entire vehicle sideways. Sitting in the passenger seat, Glenfiddich clapped like an excited child, pressing himself against the window to admire the devastation he'd caused.
"Well? A fireworks gift pack for those CIA guys, pretty great, right?!"
A madman. This guy was a complete lunatic.
Steadying the steering wheel, Ritsu glanced in the rearview mirror at Hiro and the others stopping to rescue the victims. Gritting his teeth, he slammed the accelerator and sped toward the abandoned building.
He had made up his mind, he was changing the plan.
"Why did you kill them? They weren't on the list, and they weren't CIA!"
Leaning back in his seat, Glenfiddich reached into his pocket for gum, only to find it empty. He smirked at the reflection in the side mirror, those CIA agents must be furious now.
"What? You suddenly feeling sympathy?" he said, licking his lips. "They pissed me off, so I'm just returning the favor."
"Not at all. I think it's a waste of limited resources. By provoking the CIA like this, they won't let us go easily. Get ready for a hard fight."
Stoicly, Ritsu drove up to the abandoned building. After ditching the vehicle, he followed Glenfiddich inside. Taking the high ground would have been ideal, but without sniper rifles, it would put them at a disadvantage so they decided to set up an ambush on the third floor.
"The visibility here isn't bad, and there's plenty of cover. I'll go set up some traps—"
Before he could finish, Ritsu, who had been walking behind him, suddenly grabbed the back of Glenfiddich's neck with his left hand and slammed him to the ground. Without giving him any chance to react, he pinned him down, straddling his back and restraining him with overwhelming force.
"Ugh, Macallan, what are you doing? Have you lost your mind?!"
Ritsu pulled out a pair of handcuffs he had prepared in advance, locking Glenfiddich's hands together. Then he took the dagger Glenfiddich favored and stabbed it straight into his right hand.
"AAAGH!! You bastard!"
The right hand held the grenade, the left pulled the pin.
Thinking back to what had just happened, Ritsu could barely suppress his emotions. All he could think about was killing him.
A dangerous individual like this didn't deserve to exist. A lunatic like him would never be entrusted with real secrets by the organization anyway, there was no need for interrogation. Eliminating him was the only necessary course of action.
"Macallan, what the hell are you trying to do? Enough messing around. If you keep this up, I'm going to get mad!"
Standing up, Ritsu flipped him over and grabbed his collar, lifting him so his feet dangled off the ground. His pale blue eyes burned with anger, he rarely let his emotions show this much.
"So you can feel pain?"
Glenfiddich finally realized something was very wrong. Though he was an experimental subject enhanced by the organization, his improvements were limited to agility and reaction speed. He had weaknesses, his physical strength was inferior to that of an adult male. That was why his role was always assassination.
He relied on catching people off guard and striking quickly but now, pinned down like this, he had no way to fight back. He didn't even have the strength to break free from the handcuffs.
"Macallan… you…"
"I'll ask you again, do you feel pain?"
"You're mad because I killed those people on my own, right? I just wanted the CIA to taste some suffering. And what does it matter if a few insignificant people die—ugh!"
Ritsu's left hand tightened around Glenfiddich's slender neck, maintaining just enough pressure not to kill him. After he struggled desperately, Ritsu released him, only to slam him hard onto the ground. Without giving him time to recover, he grabbed his left leg and dragged him upstairs.
"Cough—cough—Maca—cough! You… you actually…"
Ignoring him completely, Ritsu walked at an unhurried pace, dragging Glenfiddich all the way up to the fifteenth floor, the rooftop.
His indifferent gaze swept over Glenfiddich's filthy body, his wrists bleeding where the handcuffs had dug in. That was Glenfiddich's blood… bright red, yet utterly filthy.
Crouching down, Ritsu grabbed the chain between the cuffs, kicked aside the rusted railing, and walked straight to the edge, leaving Glenfiddich hanging off the rooftop.
Realizing what Macallan intended, Glenfiddich's trembling hands clutched desperately at the hand gripping the chain, his last lifeline.
"Macallan… don't! I'll do whatever you say! Just don't let go!"
His once youthful voice had turned hoarse and rough. It was the kind of voice he had always wanted but now, he couldn't laugh about it. It was the result of nearly being strangled to death.
"Glenfiddich, how tall do you think a fifteen-story building is?"
"I—I don't know…"
"Thirty-five meters. Do you know what happens when someone falls from that height?"
His lips trembled uncontrollably as he swallowed. Not knowing how to answer, he only tightened his grip, his nails digging into Ritsu's wrist.
"Every bone in your body breaks. You end up like a pile of mush."
There was no warmth in Ritsu's cold eyes. With his left hand, he drew a dagger from his waist, flipping it skillfully, just like Glenfiddich would, before pressing it against the slender hands gripping him.
"Some people are rotten to the core even while they're still alive… wouldn't you agree?"
Seeing the blade against his wrist, Glenfiddich snarled, "Macallan! If you betray the organization, you won't end well!"
"You're wrong."
Raising his left hand high, Ritsu brought it down hard on Glenfiddich's right wrist. Blood splattered across his body, his face, his hair.
Locking eyes with Glenfiddich, whose pale face was on the verge of giving out, Ritsu tried to memorize that expression. A childish face filled with fear and anger… a contradictory mix.
"I was never betraying them," he said quietly. "Because I was never one of them to begin with."
Catching that flash of shock in his eyes, Ritsu yanked his hand free. The grip that had been clinging to him vanished.
Behind him came hurried footsteps and heavy breathing. He turned, meeting those clear eyes, the madness in his own gradually fading.
"Ritsu…"
"…Sorry. I let go."
A heavy crash echoed from below.
Hiro looked at Ritsu, his face covered in blood, but didn't stop walking.
He said nothing.
He simply pulled him into a silent embrace.