Beep.
After a successful iris scan, the security door unlocked automatically.
Stepping onto the soft carpet, Ritsu bent down, took off his boots, and slipped into a pair of clean indoor slippers.
The twenty-four hours were up, and the special colored contacts had faded away, revealing his original eye color once more. He pressed the master light switch in the entryway and looked at the empty house before saying the familiar words anyway.
"I'm home."
Even though he knew nobody would answer, perhaps out of habit or some sense of ritual, he still said it. If anything, it only made him seem a little lonely.
Wearing his slippers, Ritsu headed into the living room. There stood a massive wraparound aquarium resembling something from a public aquarium. It was currently the most expensive installation in the house, built at great expense solely to keep a lemon shark as company.
Watching the little lemon shark swimming freely through the water, he muttered to himself, "Having you around does make the place feel less empty."
Walking over to the refrigerator reserved for fish food, he grabbed several pieces and placed them into a bucket. Climbing a ladder, he reached the feeding hatch high above and pressed a button to open it.
Instead of dumping everything in at once, he tossed the food in piece by piece, watching the sixty-centimeter-long lemon shark happily devour its meal.
"You've got quite an appetite."
Setting the bucket aside, Ritsu jumped back down and watched the shark chew through a shrimp. It suddenly occurred to him that he still hadn't given it a name.
Kurotan was called Kurotan because he was black.
So what should he name a lemon shark?
It didn't even look lemon-colored.
He glanced at his watch. It was currently 5:25 AM Tokyo time. Christmas Eve had already passed, and Christmas Day had arrived.
"Since it's Christmas, I might as well name you after a holiday food."
After thinking it over, Ritsu ultimately decided to use the holiday food he disliked the most. He tapped lightly on the acrylic glass, and the surprisingly intelligent shark seemed to sense something, swimming over without the slightest fear.
"From now on, your name is Gingerbread. Because I hate eating it."
"..."
The lemon shark appeared less than pleased with the name. The moment it heard him, it flicked its tail and swam away.
If anyone had witnessed this, they would definitely have mocked Ritsu's bizarre naming sense. Naming a lemon shark after the food he hated most, Gingerbread, had to be one of the least dignified shark names imaginable.
He stopped teasing his pet and headed into the bathroom. After washing up, he changed into a dark-blue silk robe and curled up on the sofa while dialing the Kudo residence's landline.
"Hello, this is Kudo. I'm not home right now. Please leave a message after the tone."
'Not home, huh?'
But that alone wasn't enough to determine whether Shinichi was still in his original body or had already shrunk into a child.
Ritsu pulled a laptop from the coffee table drawer. After powering it on, he brought up every contact connected to Shinichi.
After something like this happened, Shinichi would undoubtedly reach out to the people closest to him. Excluding his parents, who were overseas and unable to arrive quickly, that left only his neighbor Professor Agasa and his childhood friend Ran.
As for why he hadn't contacted Ritsu, it was probably because he didn't want to drag him into the situation.
Or perhaps...
They hadn't even known each other for a year yet. Shinichi might not fully trust him.
"After something like this, he'd probably go home first. The first person he'd ask for help should be Professor Agasa."
Ritsu narrowed his eyes at Agasa's profile on the screen and said speechlessly,
"I thought 'Professor' was just a nickname. Turns out it's actually his name... Good thing he really does have a doctorate. Otherwise, that would be pretty awkward."
"Looks like I'll need to pay Professor Agasa a visit tonight. I need to confirm Shinichi's current condition."
"I honestly don't know if Gin's luck was terrible or Shinichi's luck was amazing. That survival rate was less than one in ten thousand."
Standing up, he headed toward the bedroom and decided not to think about it any further. He might as well catch a quick nap before reporting to the MPD.
Perhaps because he'd spent so long maintaining intense concentration, Ritsu actually fell asleep almost immediately after lying down.
Even though he only slept for an hour, he felt completely refreshed.
He was in such a good mood that while riding the elevator downstairs, he even sent an email to Vermouth in New York.
The contents were, naturally, childish provocation.
[Augier: I managed to sleep for an hour. Bet you didn't, huh?]
Naturally, Vermouth wouldn't reply to something like that.
Nor would she get angry over it.
Only by refusing to react could she avoid losing.
Sliding into the driver's seat of his Bugatti, the cheerful Ritsu hit every green light on the way to the MPD.
The moment he pushed open the office door, he noticed the heavy dark circles under Inspector Megure's eyes.
The man was flipping through documents while occasionally letting out exhausted yawns.
"Inspector Megure, were you all working through the night?"
Megure immediately looked as though he'd seen a savior. He practically stopped short of having stars in his eyes. Stuffing the documents into Ritsu's hands, he patted his shoulder twice and laughed.
"Onizawa-kun, you're finally here! Help me process these files. I'm heading home to get some sleep."
"...?"
Was that reasonable?
Actually, somehow it was.
Ritsu turned toward Takagi, who was quietly sipping coffee nearby. "Takagi, do you know what happened with the Megure squad?"
Takagi answered immediately.
"Their squad handled a kidnapping case last night. They didn't get home until after midnight. And during the investigation, a little boy got hurt, so the entire team got chewed out by upper management."
"The kidnapped boy got injured?" Ritsu asked while reviewing the files.
Hayasaka swallowed her breakfast and eagerly cut in.
"No, the kidnapping victim was the daughter of the Tani Group. The injured boy was from Mouri Kogoro's household, the one who helped solve the case."
Ritsu's hand paused.
"Kogoro? Doesn't he only have a daughter? Where did a little boy come from?"
'And honestly... Could that unreliable detective really solve a kidnapping case?'
Ritsu had his doubts.
"I think he's staying with them," Takagi said while scratching his head. "He's not their biological child. If I remember correctly, the kid's name was... something pretty unusual."
He looked upward, trying hard to recall.
The name was actually easy to remember. So why couldn't he think of it?
Hayasaka rolled her eyes. "Edogawa Conan. That's the boy's name!"
"Oh, right!"
Takagi smacked his fist into his palm.
"That's it! Edogawa Conan!"
"Haha, I never thought there'd actually be a Japanese kid with a name like that. His parents must be huge fans of Conan Doyle's detective novels."
'Edogawa Conan? And he was staying at Kogoro's house?'
If the boy had already been living with the Mouri family earlier, they would have brought him along during the cruise ship incident.
Which meant that this child called Edogawa Conan had only recently moved in.
Possibly even yesterday.
Ritsu made no effort to hide the delight in his eyes. One of his plans could finally be set in motion.
"Hey, that expression of yours is really weird all of a sudden."
Hayasaka noticed the change and frowned.
"Sorry. Talking about kids made me think about how I might have adorable children of my own someday, so I smiled without realizing it."
Ritsu cheerfully spouted complete nonsense. Lies came to him as naturally as breathing.
Taking the files, he sat down in his office chair. Beneath the stack of documents, his phone had already finished composing an email addressed to the collaborator best suited for this plan.
[Augier: Vermouth, before long I'll be giving you a magnificent gift. Please look forward to it.]
Vermouth was enjoying dinner. Reading the message, she narrowed her sea-green eyes and took a sip of Sherry.
'What kind of gift could it be?
Now you've made me curious, Handsome Guy.'
----
Fun Fact: In Japan, it's popular to eat KFC fried chicken on Christmas.
bonus chap every 20 PS
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