Conan, who escaped from the car, had his brain spinning rapidly, trying to figure out where to run.
He couldn't go back to the Mouri Detective Agency. Ran and Uncle Mouri hadn't suspected his identity yet — that was a good thing. Maybe that organization wouldn't pay attention to the two of them.
Now that his identity was exposed, he had to go home once and find Dr. Agasa, figure out the organization's true goal. Anyone who had come into contact with him was in danger. He needed to warn everyone to be careful…
Just as he thought of that, a hand suddenly stretched out from the nearby alley and grabbed the small primary schooler around the waist, pulling him into the alley.
Conan shuddered in fear, only to find right in front of him were Kazawa's pair of blue-green eyes.
"Shh." Kazawa covered his mouth, pulling him to hide against the wall. Not long after, Edogawa Fumiyo rushed past, looking angry and out of breath — obviously chasing Conan all the way here.
Once she had run off in a hurry, Kazawa finally let go of Conan and said in a low voice, "Are you an idiot? An eight-year-old's legs can outrun an adult's? Seriously, why didn't you contact me?"
Conan looked at the plump woman's figure vanishing around the corner. His heart was pounding. If Kazawa hadn't appeared, once he crossed this street, the woman definitely would've caught up. Even worse, he might've unknowingly led the killer straight to Dr. Agasa's house. If that happened, even the professor…
Conan's throat was dry as he said, "I didn't want to drag you in, Kazawa."
This underground organization — its size, its goal, its methods — he hadn't figured out any of it yet. Dragging Kazawa, who had no backing in Tokyo, into this mess recklessly would be way too selfish. So even though he knew Kazawa had been following behind them, Conan didn't choose to regroup with him right away.
"What are you doing, playing the tragic hero, great detective?" Kazawa slapped his own forehead. "I don't know what the people who took you plan to do, but they're your enemies, right? You plan to go up against them with your body like this?"
Conan shook his head and gritted his teeth. "My enemy is very likely a large underground organization. I became a child because of a drug they made. I still know nothing about them. Dragging you in would be even more dangerous."
"The moment I found out your real identity, I was already dragged in, Kudo." Kazawa crouched down to look Conan straight in the eyes, his eyes shining with a bright gleam, like two blue flames burning in the dark alley. "Rather than sitting here scared, why not take the initiative? They exposed you, but now they're exposed to you, too. This is a rare opportunity…
"Just what kind of organization are they? How many people know your identity now? Is it still possible to stop the message from spreading… It's not time to give up yet. Pull yourself together."
In the narrow alleyway, only a few rays of sunlight shone down through the apartment windows onto them — but they were enough for Conan to clearly see Kazawa's fearless face. His own heart, which had been thumping violently from fear, slowly calmed down.
Yeah… it wasn't time to give up yet.
Conan's thoughts took a sharp turn as he started thinking about how to fight back. He slowly said, "Kazawa, I have a plan…"
Even though he was saying lines that sounded like something out of a shounen manga, the fire burning in Kazawa's eyes wasn't something like determination or willpower — it was a burning desire to stir up chaos and fan the flames.
Even if he helped Conan successfully throw a sack over Kudo Yusaku and Yukiko's heads, it was all out of a righteous heart as a comrade of justice — it didn't hurt his image at all, and it was super fun!
Could Kazawa really have any bad intentions? He just wanted to help out a justice-loving detective who was being hunted by an evil organization.
The Kudo couple wanted to teach their son a lesson, to let him understand how dangerous the organization was, to crush his hot-blooded enthusiasm a little, right? Then bring it on — let the storm blow even harder.
Edogawa Fumiyo — or rather, Kudo Yukiko — hadn't noticed her son had disappeared at all. She was heading straight for their home.
She knew her smug brat of a son very well. In a crisis like this, the only people he'd seek help from were those who knew his true identity. Instinctively, he'd also want to return to a familiar place that made him feel safe. So the runaway Shinichi could only be going home — and possibly stopping by to find Dr. Agasa for help.
As long as she searched nearby, it would be easy to lie in wait for that brat, knock him out with some anesthetic, and carry out the next phase.
Yukiko had no idea that in just a few short days, another person — Kazawa — had also learned her son's secret identity. Completely confident, she carried out her plan.
"She's here." Hiding on the second floor of the Kudo house, Kazawa put down his binoculars.
He had brought Conan over from another street, then directly climbed over the backyard wall into the Kudo house, avoiding detection.
"They really did investigate my situation," Conan said, mood heavy. He had originally planned to come home to seek help from Dr. Agasa. Their prediction of his movements was eerily accurate.
"Well, duh. Kudo Shinichi's not some no-name kid." Kazawa cracked his knuckles, looking ready to throw hands. "Now that their prediction fell through, the initiative is back in our hands. Can your bug pick up anything yet?"
Conan took out his phone and opened the surveillance app. From the bugs Kazawa had helped him stick near the door, they picked up the sharp sound of high heels.
The woman walking in circles outside seemed a bit anxious. She kept pacing in front of the Kudo home. After another ten minutes, just as Conan had guessed, she pulled out her phone and started calling someone.
"There's another accomplice."
"Didn't you already guess that earlier? If it was just her, why would she need to 'take you somewhere'?"
The two crouching boys whispered back and forth, ears pressed close to the program's output. The bug stuck near the telephone pole clearly picked up the dial tone — the woman seemed to be leaning against the pole to make the call.
"'Hello, it's me,'" the woman said once the line connected. "'Something went wrong. The brat ran off.'"
"'He's just a grade-schooler now — where could he even run to?'" came a deep, magnetic male voice from the other end. Conan felt a strange sense of familiarity, but before he could figure out where he'd heard it before, the next words grabbed his full attention. "'He couldn't have gone back to the Mouri place. Aside from his own home, he has nowhere else to hide. You lost him?'"
"'I couldn't find him here. Maybe something unexpected happened,'" the woman replied anxiously. The sound of her heels echoed again — she seemed to be pacing in place. "'Where else could he go?'"
"'Let me think.'"
Looking at Conan's calm and serious face, Kazawa realized that the people on the phone weren't some plotting criminals — they were just two worried parents who had lost track of their son. Both sides were playing mental chess with the air. Kazawa had to press his lips together to keep from laughing out loud.
The Kudou family was really something.
Conan elbowed Kazawa, who for some reason wasn't moving, and whispered, "Time for the next step."