It was exactly 7:00 p.m.
Night had completely fallen.
The final observation elevator reached the ground floor, safely bringing Conan and the others out of the building.
But instead of feeling relieved after escaping, Conan quickly realized he couldn't find the Detective Boys anywhere. Anxiety immediately replaced any sense of relief.
He hurriedly took out his Detective Badge, extended the tiny antenna, and shouted,
"Haibara! Ayumi! Genta! Mitsuhiko! Can you hear me? Where are you guys?"
The three children, who had remained where they were, too afraid to wander around, immediately heard Conan's voice coming through the badge.
"It's Conan!" Ayumi exclaimed excitedly.
The calmest among them, Mitsuhiko, looked toward the destroyed sky bridge and replied,
"We're in front of the sky bridge on the 60th floor, but the bridge has been blown up. We can only wait here..."
His voice became anxious.
"And... Haibara's gone too. Conan, what should we do?"
The adults nearby all stared in disbelief.
Looking up, they saw that the fire had already spread past the connecting bridge on the 45th floor and was continuing upward.
At this rate, it would reach the 60th floor in less than fifteen minutes.
Inspector Megure turned toward Miwako, who had been maintaining order below, and shouted,
"Sato-kun! Get a police helicopter to the rooftop immediately!"
Then he looked around.
"Conan, hurry and—Huh? Where did Conan go?"
Ran Mouri froze for a moment.
She looked around, only to discover Conan had already disappeared.
"Dad... Conan, he..."
"Don't worry."
Kogoro gently patted his daughter's shoulder.
"That kid's smart. He'll be fine."
By then, Conan had already retrieved his solar-powered turbo skateboard from the car.
Taking advantage of the security guards being distracted while assisting the firefighters, he slipped into the lobby of Building B and rode the elevator straight to the 60th floor.
He placed the skateboard on the ground and estimated the distance to the opposite tower.
'At its top speed of eighty kilometers per hour, I can make it. As long as I have enough runway to accelerate.'
"Huh? That's a skateboard!"
"It's Conan!"
"Conan's here to save us!"
Conan shot across the gap on his skateboard, soaring through the air where the sky bridge had once stood.
From the ground below, Hayasaka witnessed the entire scene through her binoculars. She was about to report what she'd seen when the skateboard suddenly fell from the sky.
Reacting instantly, she pulled Miwako, who had just returned after making a phone call, out of the way.
The skateboard crashed into the pavement right in front of them, splitting cleanly in half.
"Th-That's Conan's skateboard!"
Ran cried out.
Hayasaka's expression turned grave.
"I was watching the sky bridge on the 60th floor through my binoculars. I saw Conan ride his skateboard across the gap. That skateboard must have fallen during the jump."
"What?! That brat's completely out of his mind!"
Kogoro shouted in exasperation.
In truth, he sincerely hoped Shinichi would be able to bring the children still trapped inside back safely.
But more than that, he was worried. After all, Shinichi was only seventeen years old.
Thinking of that, Kogoro clenched his fists tightly.
He was an adult. Yet there was nothing he could do except stand safely outside and worry.
'Those damned criminals... They're unforgivable.'
...
Near the destroyed sky bridge on the 60th floor,
Conan staggered to his feet, dusted himself off, and frowned at the three children.
"Why is Haibara missing? Wasn't she with you?"
Ayumi handed him the illuminated wristwatch Haibara had left behind. Tears welled up in her eyes as her voice trembled.
"Conan-kun... you're finally here. Ai-chan suddenly disappeared, she only left this watch behind."
Conan had been about to call Agasa and have him track Haibara's Detective Badge.
But the instant he pulled out his phone, a familiar ringtone echoed through the dim, empty hallway.
The caller ID read,
[Onizawa-sensei]
The moment he answered, before Conan could explain the situation, Ritsu hurriedly spoke a single sentence before hanging up.
"Don't go to the seventy-fifth floor. It's covered with bombs. Head to the rooftop and leave by helicopter."
Conan's expression froze.
He hadn't expected the Organization to have planted so many bombs throughout the Twin Tower Skyscraper.
There wasn't even time to comfort the frightened children.
"Hurry! We're heading to the rooftop! The police helicopter is already waiting there!"
"But what about Ai-chan?"
Ayumi asked anxiously.
"Aren't we going to look for her?"
Conan forced a reassuring smile.
"Don't worry, someone much more capable is already looking for Haibara. She'll be okay."
'Sensei, you'll make it in time... right?'
...
Several dozen minutes earlier,
The moment Haibara realized someone from the Organization was following her, she deliberately ran downstairs alone.
She didn't want the others to be dragged into her nightmare.
She sprinted down the stairs with all her strength. Behind her, the sharp footsteps of leather shoes striking concrete grew faster and faster.
Being hunted felt awful.
If she weren't worried the others would come looking for her, she almost wanted to stop running and simply accept her fate.
Perhaps her pursuer had grown impatient or perhaps his stamina wasn't what it used to be.
Haibara could clearly hear the increasingly labored sound of his breathing echoing through the silent stairwell.
Then, a thick cloud of smoke poured into the emergency staircase.
She immediately realized she had reached a dead end. It was time to face her fate.
"My, my, you shouldn't be running downstairs, Ojou-chan. You've made Uncle work awfully hard to catch you."
Masuyama stood with both hands behind his back. His eyes narrowed into a warm, grandfatherly smile. Extending his left hand toward her, he said gently,
"Come now. Let's go back upstairs together. The fire will reach this floor very soon."
Haibara stared at the elderly man before her with unwavering vigilance.
If she was going to die anyway, she refused to lose in spirit. Her expression returned to the cold indifference of Sherry.
Crossing her arms over her chest, she replied arrogantly,
"Oh dear, you look more like a grandpa than an uncle. I never imagined someone from the Organization would have a fetish for pretending to be younger."
The smile instantly vanished from Masuyama's face. His false friendliness disappeared with it.
Without another word, he drew the suppressed pistol hidden behind his back. His voice turned ice cold.
"Sherry, if he hadn't ordered me not to kill you, I'd shoot you where you stand. Then deliver your corpse to those little friends who are so desperately looking for you."
'He? Does he mean... Gin?'
Haibara noticed the sweat beading on Masuyama's forehead.
If she remained in the body of a child, she might still have a chance to escape by running upstairs.
But if she returned to being Shiho, there was no way an old man with his stamina could carry a one-hundred-seventy-centimeter-tall woman up the stairs.
Her small hand quietly reached into her pocket. Hidden there was the temporary antidote to APTX4869.
It was the experimental medicine she'd developed after Shinichi temporarily regained his original body, a formula created by recreating the symptoms of a severe cold and combining them with certain ingredients from the Chinese liquor Baijiu.
If Haibara died, many people would carry that pain in their hearts. But if Shiho died... there wouldn't be many who cared.
—"Don't be afraid."
—"As long as I'm here, I won't let anything happen to you."
'What a liar... When I need you the most... Why aren't you here?'
Then again, perhaps this wasn't so bad.
Once she died, she would no longer have to live in hiding. No longer have to spend every day looking over her shoulder.
Perhaps... that would be a kind of freedom.
Haibara raised the antidote and was about to put it into her mouth when a familiar voice suddenly echoed down from the upper staircase.
Her ice-blue eyes widened in shock.
"We're not at that point yet, Sherry."
'That voice... How is that possible? Wasn't he already dead?'
---
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