šØ Note : Consider to Support this Story on Patreon.com/Flokixy to access +200 advance Chapters and To Support The Daily Update
Night fell.
Bank guard Kishii walked out of a small restaurant. Just then, a deep blue car pulled up beside him and stopped. He paused, watching the car window slowly roll down, revealing the black muzzle of a gun pointed at him.
Kishii's face instantly turned ashen. Before he could utter a word, "Bang! Bang! Bang!" Three gunshots rang out, and Kishii collapsed in a pool of blood.
In a dark room, eerie blue moonlight streamed through the window. The room was a mess, overturned. A young man lay half-reclined on the bed, his shirt largely stained with blood. He appeared to be dead. However, there was still someone else in the room. A hand tossed a pink lipstick onto the ground, and the sound of footsteps gradually faded away.
"What?! All the armored car robbers from last time were killed!" Yuu woke up early to hear Mouri talking about this news.
"Then how did the police know they were armored car robbers?" Conan asked Mouri.
"The police found sketches of the robbed bank in their homes, along with the armored car's timetable, and their notes on the escape route. Additionally, besides all of them being killed by the same person, another person was killed last night!" Mouri said, tidying his clothes.
"Another person was killed?" Yuu thought of that inside man, guard Kishii.
"That's right! It was Mr. Kishii, the guard!" Mouri took a sip of coffee and continued.
"So, Mr. Kishii was also a robber, then!" Ran asked in surprise.
"I think he must have been an accomplice!" Mouri leaned back in his chair. "He was usually a gambler and had borrowed a large sum of money. I think he was pretending to be threatened by the culprits that day, acting as their door-opener in the armored car! Because the armored car's door absolutely cannot be opened from the outside!"
"So, they were killed by the other person who robbed them, then!" Ran said.
"Possibly! The stolen money hasn't been recovered yet. Perhaps that person wanted to keep it all, so they killed the others to silence them!" Mouri said, looking at the ceiling. "Inspector Megure is currently investigating in that direction. I think it's only a matter of time before the culprit is caught!"
"Why?" Yuu asked.
"Inspector Megure found a pink lipstick in the robbers' house. After investigation, the color was the same as the one on the mask! And..."
"And it's the same one Ms. Hirota used at the bank counter, right?" Conan suddenly said.
"Conan?!" Ran looked at Conan in surprise.
Mouri tilted his head and looked at Conan for a moment, then said, "This lipstick is indeed the same one Ms. Hirota used. And her colleagues also said so. She left the bank under the pretext of having lunch, so she must have used that time to go to the back door of the bank and join the operation!"
"But why would a bank employee rob money?" Ran asked, confused.
"We don't know that yet!" Mouri said, taking a sip of coffee. "Ms. Hirota has already resigned from the bank. I heard her resignation was submitted this morning!"
"What?!" Conan was greatly startled.
"Ms. Hirota has been working at this bank for less than half a year..." Mouri mused.
"Does that have anything to do with it?" Ran asked Mouri.
"She went there to scout the situation before committing the crime! From that perspective, it shouldn't be wrong, right?!" Conan said affirmatively.
"It should be like that!" Mouri thought, holding his head in his hands.
"That's right, that's roughly the situation! But there are some questions here. Would a culprit really throw lipstick on the scene himself? She spent half a year observing; would she fail because of this one action? Also, the mark on the mask seems too low. It doesn't look like a mouth but rather the chin area!" Conan's mind conjured Hirota Yumi's face. "More importantly, if she wore that mask, it should have the smell of cosmetics, but there's none on the mask at all! If the culprit who committed this crime was someone else and wanted to frame her... Oh no!" Thinking of this, Conan rushed out the door without hesitation.
"Conan, where are you going?" He completely ignored Ran's shouts.
"It seems it's my turn to appear!" Yuu also left the house.
In a warehouse, Yuu looked at a small blue pill in his hand. "I hope my efforts these past few days weren't in vain." With that, Yuu swallowed the pill.
"Ah!!!" Yuu let out a painful sound.
After a while, a male, sixteen or seventeen years old, stood up. Looking at himself returned to his original form, Yuu was very relieved. "It seems my research direction was correct. This concentrated white wine pill really brought me back to my original form. However, it's only effective this one time. I wonder how long it will last? The real antidote can only be made when Ai Haibara appears."
Yuu put on his unique Batman suit, picked up his handgun, and walked out.
Of course, this suit was a scaled-down version, just for show, because Yuu didn't have enough money to make a full one. But after this case is over, he should be able to.
Ring ring ring...
Inspector Megure picked up the phone: "Oh, it's my dear friend Mouri. What? Hirota Yumi's address? We've already searched there!" But on the other end of the phone was Conan: "I just have a few more doubts and want to reconfirm!"
It turned out that Conan had thought of the possibility that someone wanted to frame Yumi. Deducting further, she might be in danger now. So, he borrowed Mouri's voice to ask Inspector Megure for Yumi's address.
"203! Here we are, this is it!" But the door was locked. A potted plant sat by the door. Conan's lips curved into a faint, imperceptible smile. He felt under the potted plant and, sure enough, found a key.
After entering, Conan didn't turn on the lights. He anxiously looked around.
"Thwack!" After a crisp sound, Conan felt stars in front of his eyes. The hand chop from behind made it difficult for him to even stand up.
The person picked up the key from the ground and was about to walk out. Conan struggled to stand up: "Hirota Yumi, you... don't go. If you... go, you'll be killed!"
Hirota Yumi, who had reached the door, turned around. A trace of glittering tears flashed in her eyes, but it vanished instantly. She softly said to Conan, "Thank you! I'm very sorry, Conan!" With that, Hirota Yumi left.
Conan stumbled out. The corridor was already empty. He walked out of the building and saw Hirota Yumi about to get into a car on the street.
Just then, Yuu, riding a motorcycle, stopped in front of Conan. "Shinichi, I'll take care of her. You go back and wait for news!"
"Yuu! You changed back!" Conan looked disbelieving.
"We'll talk about it later when we get back!" With that, Yuu started the motorcycle and chased after Hirota Yumi.
"..." Conan looked at Yuu's departing figure with a complex expression.