An invitation from Erguotou.
[Out-of-season Halloween Party. You are cordially invited. —Erguotou]
Conan knew what Erguotou was. After drinking Paikaru and briefly regaining his adult body, he had studied Chinese baijiu carefully. He knew Erguotou was another kind of Chinese liquor.
But who would use the name Erguotou to invite people to some Halloween party? Halloween was on October 31st, wasn't it? Now it was already winter. What kind of Halloween party was this?
Then again, the letter itself admitted it was an "out-of-season Halloween party." Fine, maybe it was just another costumed masquerade.
But who was this person really? Erguotou… could it be someone from the Organization? No way, using a codename like that would be way too tacky.
Maybe it was just some nickname made up on the spot, with nothing to do with the Organization. Still, the envelope was addressed to Kudo Shinichi, but the contents inside were for Edogawa Conan. That made Conan tense. Could his identity have been exposed again?
It shouldn't be Iris. Conan still trusted Kaitou Kid's character. And Iris wouldn't need to play such sneaky games by mailing an invitation. Whoever it was, Conan knew he had to treat it carefully.
Many others had also received invitations from Erguotou, including Mouri Kogorō. Along with Kogorō's invitation came a crime notice, which forced him to attend even though he hadn't planned to.
At the same time, the Organization's Vermouth , and the FBI's Jodie, both received invitations as well. Just like Conan's, the contents directly exposed their real identities.
"Erguotou?!" Vermouth frowned. It sounded like some kind of alcohol, but she had never heard of it. Could it be a newly recruited Organization member? But if this person knew her identity, then she couldn't take it lightly. "A masquerade ball? Interesting."
"Masquerade?" Ada blinked, not understanding what Liu A'dou was planning again. "How did you even come up with this?" Still, it was fine—she wouldn't mind going.
Yes, the whole thing was Liu A'dou's scheme. He had only paid a planning company to set it up, never showing his face. As for the crime notice in Kogorō's invitation, that was added in by someone inside the planning company, taking advantage of A'dou's event for their own crime.
Why the name Erguotou? Purely a joke—meant to confuse the Organization. After all, weren't they using names like Gin, Vodka, Iris, Vermouth? So A'dou would use "Erguotou" as his cover to host an event.
But just a masquerade wouldn't be exciting enough. Even if someone used the party as cover for a crime, that wouldn't satisfy A'dou. His true goal was to steal a certain passenger's item—a proper Kaitou Kid show, staged just for Haibara.
Because he had already promised her he'd pass on all his skills. But since Haibara hadn't given him an answer yet, A'dou decided he should impress her with a classic Kaitou theft. So he organized this masquerade, planning to appear at the ball as Kaitou Kid and steal something right in front of everyone. It wasn't for the others—they were just invited to witness Kid's flair. The best show always needed the best audience to witness it. That was a true thief's pursuit.
A performance always required cooperation between performer and audience.
"Professor, you look like you've gained weight." Conan hadn't visited Agasa's house for a while. Now he was studying his invitation carefully.
Agasa gave an awkward smile. Staying at Ada's place, eating well, sleeping well, and living without stress, he had naturally put on some weight. "Are you going to go?"
"Of course. This Erguotou might really be someone from the Organization."
"Speaking of which, last time you mentioned a memory card, right? What kind of data was on it?" the professor asked. He meant the one taken from that serial murder case—the card the killer had gotten from an Organization member, then was taken by the undercover Iris, and finally ended up in Conan's hands.
"Don't bring it up. That memory card was swapped out by Kaitou Kid, and it turned out to be completely empty," Conan said bitterly. "Damn Kid."
"Well, well, there'll be another chance," the professor comforted him.
"By the way, Haibara has a really powerful gadget. Professor, make one for me too," Conan said, referring to the colored light ring.
The professor quickly put his hands behind his back, hiding the green ring he was wearing. Liu A'dou had given it to him for self-defense and for protecting the Detective Boys. He had been warned not to use its power casually in front of ordinary people because the ring's energy had limits. Without recharging, it would eventually stop working.
And since Liu A'dou's version of the light rings were knock-offs, they lacked many functions. They couldn't last long and had to be recharged by A'dou's white ring after draining energy.
So the professor decided it was best not to use it unless absolutely necessary. "That gadget is way too advanced. I can't make something like that," he said with an awkward smile.
Conan hadn't expected there to be something even the professor couldn't build. But then again, Conan always assumed the professor could build just about anything.
"Right, Conan, since you're going to a masquerade, who are you planning to dress up as?"
"I haven't decided yet. But since the theme is Halloween, I guess it should be some kind of monster. My mom's makeup supplies are still at home. Once I decide, I can handle it myself," Conan replied.
The masquerade would be held at the docks. A luxury cruise ship had been rented at great expense, completely decorated inside and out to look like a ghost pirate ship, setting the mood. Of course, this was also groundwork for Kaitou Kid's grand entrance.
"Masquerade?" While Conan was discussing with the professor, the whole Detective Boys group overheard. "Sounds really fun. Can we come too?"
"No." Conan hadn't figured out the host's true motive yet. The person knew his identity and sent an invitation—there was no guarantee it was safe. Naturally, he couldn't let these kids get dragged into it.
"What? Conan, you're so stingy!" The kids launched into their usual whining and mischief. "It's such a fun event, of course we want to go."
"Since Haibara was adopted, we hardly ever meet up during holidays anymore. Why don't we ask Haibara to come too?" Mitsuhiko suggested.
"Yeah, yeah! Detective Boys holiday gathering, big action time!" Ayumi cheered in agreement.
"Professor, please help me talk them out of it." Conan was helpless against these kids.
"Actually, I think we should all go together. Sometimes it's good to join group activities." But this voice came from Haibara herself. She had come to visit the professor. Honestly, she still felt closest to him. As for her adoptive parents, Ada and Liu A'dou, it would take time to build that kind of trust. She could trust the professor unconditionally, but she couldn't yet give Ada and A'dou that same trust. Their marriage was full of secrets. Every time one was revealed, another came to light. That made it impossible for Haibara to give them her full faith.