For Western countries, Christmas is much like the New Year in the East. Although it wasn't a native Japanese holiday, the Christmas atmosphere was still incredibly strong.
For example, many of Beika Town's shopping streets had silver fairy lights wrapped around the tree branches. Once evening arrived, the scenery was breathtaking.
Even inside the MPD, Christmas spirit was everywhere. Not in the decorations, but in the officers' conversations.
Perhaps because everyone was busy celebrating the holiday, not a single emergency call had come in today.
Which meant there hadn't been a murder case.
"Miwako~~ I'm here to see you! I'm already done with work on my side. When are you getting off?"
'Why does that voice sound familiar?'
Ritsu lowered the newspaper covering his face and saw a female officer in a Traffic Division uniform walking through the doorway.
She had long chestnut-brown hair reaching her waist, a few loose bangs hanging over her forehead, and droopy sea-blue eyes that naturally gave her an innocent, harmless appearance.
Of course, that innocence only lasted until she opened her mouth.
—"Hey! You on that motorcycle up ahead! Pull over right now!!!"
The image of her shouting through a loudspeaker flashed through his mind. Ritsu immediately raised the newspaper again to hide his handsome face.
'Why do I suddenly feel guilty? She probably doesn't remember my face, right?'
"Yumi? Did you need something?" Miwako poked her head out and asked curiously.
She always looked incredibly cool while arresting criminals, yet somehow became adorably airheaded in everyday life.
Yumi rolled her eyes and planted her hands on her hips. "Come on, Miwako, did you forget again?"
"Didn't we agree last night that we'd buy KFC fried chicken and go back to the apartment to drink beer and party all night?"
"Sorry, Yumi, I totally forgot..."
Miwako scratched her cheek sheepishly.
"But I still have about thirty minutes before I get off work. Why don't you sit here and wait for a bit?"
"Sure."
Yumi casually grabbed a bag of rice crackers and continued,
"Actually, I wanted to bring Naeko along too, but she got transferred to the Chiba Prefectural Police Headquarters. It'll probably be a few months before she's back at the MPD."
"Naeko? Oh! Your little sidekick from before."
The moment Miwako sat down, she noticed Hayasaka secretly observing the conversation. She immediately extended an invitation.
"Hayasaka, would you like to join us?"
"Huh? Is that really okay?"
Hayasaka didn't look particularly happy on the surface, but her dark gray almond-shaped eyes practically screamed,
—"I really want to spend the holiday with you guys!"
"Of course! The more people there are, the more fun it'll be."
Miwako smiled brightly.
"Inspector Onizawa and Takagi, do you want to come too?"
She completely failed to notice how strange the office atmosphere became the moment she said the second half of that sentence.
Even after doing his best to minimize his presence, Ritsu never expected to get dragged into this. He lowered the newspaper covering his face and straightened his messy bangs before declining.
"I'll pass. My girlfriend already told me to spend Christmas with her."
"You can bring your girlfriend along!"
Truly a straight woman through and through, Yumi immediately elbowed her best friend and laughed.
"Let Inspector Onizawa enjoy Christmas with his girlfriend. Take your time enjoying that private two-person world~~"
Then she turned toward Takagi.
"What about you?"
Takagi, who had been considering risking his life to join, immediately changed his mind when he realized Ritsu wasn't participating.
"I-I'm not going either! I still have reports to finish!"
"What a shame."
Miwako then looked toward Yumi.
"By the way, since there'll only be three of us, should we buy a Christmas cake too? I heard a popular cake shop just opened over in Okubo."
At that moment, Hayasaka raised her hand.
"I have the owner's contact information. Want me to place an order now? Then we can just pick it up after work."
"Great!"
"That'll save us a lot of time."
Ritsu crossed his legs and began thinking.
What should he do tonight?
The Organization hadn't assigned him any missions, and rare free time like this didn't come often.
Should he buy a cake and anonymously send it to Shiho? Come to think of it, he hadn't seen Akemi since returning to Tokyo.
Forget it.
It would be better to go back to the apartment and carefully examine the APTX-4869 formula that matched the successful test data from the laboratory mice.
He needed to confirm that a successful version of the drug existed among the samples.
Otherwise, his plan wouldn't work.
"Okay! Freedom at last!"
No cases appeared during the final thirty minutes before clocking out.
The members of the Onizawa Squad began heading home one after another. Naturally, some of the single officers were already organizing trips to izakayas for drinks.
"Then, Inspector Onizawa, we'll be headi—"
"Inspector, this is bad! A case just came in!"
"?!"
Takagi burst out of a nearby elevator and shouted,
"The president of the Maru Group is dead!!"
Ritsu never expected the overtime announcement to arrive right as he reached the entrance of the Metropolitan Police Department.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the disappointment on Hayasaka's face.
After clearing his throat, he said, "Ahem. Hayasaka, you don't need to come to the scene. Takagi and I will handle it."
"Huh? But that doesn't really follow proced—"
"It's fine. We won't have any problems without you. Takagi, let's go."
Hayasaka immediately stomped her foot in frustration. "What do you mean you won't have any problems without me?!"
"Hey, Onizawa, explain yourself!"
Having already seen through everything, no, not a great detective, but simply someone with high emotional intelligence, Yumi gently patted Hayasaka's head and smiled.
"Relax. Inspector Onizawa said that on purpose so you'd feel comfortable spending Christmas with us."
"Huh? Really?"
Hayasaka and Miwako spoke in perfect unison.
Yumi immediately rolled her eyes.
"Miwako, you didn't understand either? Sigh... You two seriously need to attend more matchmaking parties with me."
"Your emotional intelligence is painful to watch~~"
"Is it really that bad?" Miwako protested.
"Of course it is!"
Yumi threw up her hands dramatically. "I'm genuinely worried neither of you will ever find a boyfriend."
After saying that, she paused and corrected herself.
"Actually, I'm more worried you won't even realize who you like."
The moment she heard those words, Hayasaka's eyes dimmed. She already had someone she liked. The only problem was that the person she loved was no longer alive.
Sensing the sudden shift in atmosphere, Miwako glanced at Hayasaka's expression and immediately understood.
She quickly nudged Yumi's arm and changed the subject with a smile.
"Hayasaka, what flavor cake did you order?"
"Hm? Let me check."
Noticing Miwako's signal, Yumi realized she had accidentally stepped on a landmine. She quickly played along.
"I really like chocolate cream cake, by the way!"
...
While the women discussed cake flavors on one side, Ritsu had already climbed into his car.
Looking at Takagi in the passenger seat, he asked, "Takagi, do we have any details yet?"
"Not yet. But I heard the person who reported the case is a detective."
"A detective?"
The image of Shinichi immediately surfaced in Ritsu's mind. Just as quickly, he dismissed the possibility.
After all, Shinichi had already shrunk into a child's body.
Which meant the detective likely to appear at the scene was probably that unreliable old man from the Mouri Detective Agency.
"Looks like this case will be easy to solve."
"Huh?"
Of course, the reason the case would be easy wasn't because of Kogoro.
It was because of a little boy whose face he had yet to see,
Edogawa Conan.