After some pushing and shoving, it was Takashi Matsuo who raised the gun first.
"Ahh, I've been sitting here hosting this show every week for so long, and this is the first time I've left my seat," Matsuo Takashi said in full host spirit, patting the chair beside him with exaggerated affection. "Honestly, I'm a little reluctant to leave... Who came up with such an outrageous idea to separate us?"
He scanned the audience with a theatrical glare, clearly playing to the crowd.
The planning for today's episode was personally overseen by him, under the guise of proving his value to producer Michihiko Suwa, hoping to stop any host changes. But Suwa only saw it as Matsuo's desperate last stand.
In truth, however, everything had been carefully orchestrated to ensure the success of his murder plan.
This impromptu "marksmanship demonstration" was a deviation from the script. No one had informed him that they were short on staff. That alone made Matsuo feel both panicked and irritated.
If Suwa were to be killed as intended, wouldn't he, as one of the suspects known to be proficient with firearms, immediately attract suspicion?
"Hahaha, Mr. Matsuo, you're too scary." Nagai Ayako, completely unaware of his inner turmoil, played along with his antics, covering her cheeks with both hands. "It was Detective Akechi's suggestion! Don't take your anger out on us—defeat him and make him pay for his provocation!"
The camera cut to Akechi just in time, and Kazawa gave Matsuo a wide-eyed, innocent smile.
Matsuo glared at him fiercely, a flicker of real malice flashing in his eyes.
These detectives are such a pain. The two invited today weren't even supposed to be very capable. One's weird with a strange name, and the other's just a pretty boy internet celebrity. That's why he chose today… and yet things still got out of hand!
"Then get ready!" he shouted, picking up a model gun from the cart and aiming it at Goro Akechi. "The bullet of victory will pierce through all your tricks!"
Kazawa glanced at the gun pointed straight at him and smiled coolly, his eyes narrowing.
Even though his expression barely changed, Akemi Miyano, watching from the audience, couldn't help but reach down and press on her knee as if feeling a phantom pain.
Matsuo didn't catch any of that. He confidently aimed at the target dummy and announced, "I'll go first!"
He then recreated the exact scene from home where he had shot a person's image midair.
Snap! Snap! Snap!
White rubber bullets fired, each piercing through the bull's-eye.
Three BB bullets, three precise hits—each leaving a clean hole in the center ring of the target.
"Wow! Amazing! As expected of Matsuo-san!" After the camera showed a close-up of each hole, Nagai Ayako raised her arms and applauded enthusiastically. "Too awesome!"
"Lucky shots, that's all…" Matsuo smiled modestly, then turned to Kogoro Mori and bowed slightly. "Mr. Mori, would you like to give it a try?"
"Detective Mori, don't be shy—go for it!" Nagai Ayako clasped her hands together with an expectant look, edging closer to Kogoro. "Even if your results aren't as good as our host's, it doesn't change the fact that you're a brilliant detective. You've got this!"
"Mr. Mori, please show us the style of a true former detective, alright?" Kazawa added casually, with a slightly teasing tone.
The audience and hosts assumed he was poking fun at Mori's earlier comments that detectives don't need to be sharpshooters, and a ripple of chuckles passed through the room.
Kogoro Mori awkwardly reached for the model gun in the center, eyeing the target ahead of him.
This was, after all, a fun variety segment. The program team hadn't intended to embarrass them. The target was only ten meters away, and the model gun had no recoil. It was more like a carnival booth shooting game than real training.
Still, if he did badly at this, it would be a bit too humiliating.
Uncertain how seriously to take it, he glanced at Kazawa's calm smile, then turned to his daughter Ran in the audience. Gritting his teeth, he raised the gun, aimed for the center target—and fired three times.
Nagai Ayako walked over to inspect the target and found only a single extra hole in the bullseye.
Did the other two miss?
She looked puzzled but praised him nonetheless: "It hit the bull's-eye too! You've been retired for years, right? This is incredible accuracy!"
"More than that," Kazawa commented, stepping forward and pointing at the hole. "All three bullets hit the same spot."
"Huh?!" Nagai Ayako gasped, covering her mouth in genuine surprise.
The director, quick on the cue, switched to a close-up, and a slow-motion replay played on the big screen.
In the replay, the first pellet tore through the target. The second and third followed exactly in line, passing through the same spot and exiting cleanly out the back.
As Kazawa had said, it wasn't a lucky shot—it was precise. All three shots had followed the same trajectory and struck the exact point, creating only one hole.
"Wow! Mr. Mori!" Nagai Ayako screamed and bounced in place. "You call that bad aim?! Incredible!"
"No, no, it's just an air gun…" Kogoro Mori chuckled, scratching the back of his head. "I'm not exactly a 'great detective'—but I have held a real gun before. This isn't really a fair comparison."
The audience erupted in applause, and Mao Lilan looked equally stunned.
From what she knew of her father, he rarely spoke about his time as a criminal investigator. She had genuinely assumed he wasn't any good at shooting and had worried he'd embarrass himself on the show.
Seeing his daughter's surprised expression, Kogoro Mori relaxed and stepped aside with an easy smile: "Your turn, Akechi-kun. Don't shame the name of detective, kid."
Although his smile remained, Matsuo Takashi had been in the professional world long enough to sense things. He couldn't pinpoint it, but he felt a vague chill at the way Kazawa had spoken just now.
"Don't worry, Mr. Mori." Kazawa's tone was smooth as he picked up the final model gun. Mimicking Matsuo's earlier stance, he turned and pointed it back at him. "This is the end, Mr. Overconfident. No trick escapes the detective's eye."
The trash talk mirrored Matsuo's earlier boast, but with a strange undertone that made Matsuo feel a chill down his spine.
This punk… he's too young to be acting like that...
Kazawa's smile faded, and beneath his now-straight brows, his eyes turned sharp and deep. He turned the gun toward the targets.
Pah pah pah pah…
A rapid string of shots echoed through the studio. Kazawa emptied the entire magazine of the model gun in just a few seconds, spreading his fire across the three targets. After a short pause, he tilted his head at the targets, as if still not satisfied, and slowly lowered the gun.
"Ah…" Nagai Ayako had been startled by the sudden burst of shots. After a brief silence, she turned to the signs.
There were no new holes.
With Kogoro Mori's earlier feat in mind, no one questioned whether Kazawa had missed. The director cut to three separate camera angles in slow motion.
On screen, a series of white rubber pellets fired in perfect sequence, each bullet following the previous one precisely and disappearing into the holes Matsuo had left—without leaving a single new mark on the targets.
"Akechi-kun!" Nagai Ayako shrieked and clapped furiously. "So cool! You're amazing!"
When she called out "Ka Ku Yi" Kazawa thought regretfully that she hadn't said "Jiao Ka," or he could've delivered a classic line.
Watching the playback of himself on screen, Kazawa felt pretty satisfied.
Didn't he say it already?
If traditional American martial arts doesn't include emptying an entire magazine with pinpoint accuracy—can it really be called Iai?