"It seems like the fever is getting higher..." Mao Lilan touched Conan's hot forehead, visibly worried. "Should we send Conan to the hospital first?"
"This is common when children have a fever. Don't be nervous. You can try to cool him down physically first." Kazawa comforted her in a calm and reassuring tone. "Let me do it. Find a room for him to lie down and try rubbing his joints with alcohol. The case is still under investigation, so it's not a good idea to just leave..."
After saying that, Kazawa picked up the unconscious Conan. Considering Conan was a patient now, he didn't carry him in his usual style, but instead hoisted him carefully over his shoulders and carried him up.
Mao Lilan saw him take over so calmly and was slightly relieved. After a few months of knowing him, Kazawa's image as a "reliable, friendly, and caring classmate" had become deeply rooted in her heart, and she had complete confidence in him.
Conan, lying on Kazawa's shoulder, used the last bit of his strength to squint at Hattori Heiji standing in the middle of the study.
The technique... the locked-room technique... He had already figured it out...
Hattori Heiji watched Kazawa carrying Conan out with a displeased look, then continued the discussion: "Since the deceased was placed in a sitting position after being poisoned, we need to confirm the alibis of each suspect for at least thirty minutes before the crime..."
Hattori Heiji's voice gradually faded. Following the butler's direction, Kazawa brought Conan into Takayoshi Tsujimura's room.
"Conan? Conan?" Kazawa called out gently. "Can you hear me? How do you feel?"
After the stabbing pain in his heart, Conan regained some clarity. He opened his eyes with great effort and managed to whisper, "Fortunately, I'm fine... Kazawa, go stop him..."
Hattori Heiji's reasoning was flawed. If he concluded that the murderer poisoned first and then arranged the body, he would be falling into the killer's trap—he had to stop him...
"Lie down for a bit. It will take them some time to question the suspects one by one. Once your fever drops a little, I'll work with you to finish the deduction." Kazawa gently laid him on the bed, tucked him into the quilt, and felt his forehead again. Thinking it was almost time, he rolled his eyes, slipped a hand into his pocket, pulled out another phone from the prop column, blindly typed a string of numbers, and held it ready to dial.
Leaning against the pillow, Conan felt his heart being hammered with every beat. The pain was unbearable, making him curl up involuntarily and cry out.
A high fever overwhelmed him. Conan grasped the quilt tightly. He felt like he was being roasted alive, with smoke rising from his body.
...No, there really was smoke.
Next to him, Kazawa, who was waiting for the "miracle," stared wide-eyed at the white smoke rising from the quilt.
No way. The comics weren't exaggerating—it really came with a dry ice effect when he changed sizes? Kazawa was stunned. This was too much. What kind of magical girl transformation was this?
As the smoke cleared, a sweaty, confused high school-aged Kudo Shinichi emerged from the quilt. He looked down in disbelief at his original body.
He had changed back? All of a sudden?
To confirm he wasn't hallucinating from the fever, he looked at Kazawa beside the bed.
...Only to have a set of Teitan High School uniform thrown onto his head.
"Whatever's going on... put some clothes on, great detective." Kazawa, satisfied and no longer curious, didn't want to keep facing a naked Shinichi. Thankfully, he had placed a blanket over him beforehand.
He was only interested in the transformation process that violated conservation of mass—not in committing any crime.
"Oh, oh!" Kudo Shinichi quickly caught the clothes and was surprised to find a pair of matching underwear inside.
He rolled in the quilt bashfully, put on the underwear, and asked in shock, "It's one thing to have my school uniform... but why do you have underwear too?!"
"Relax, it's brand new. Return it if you don't want to wear it." Kazawa rolled his eyes and waved dismissively. "Just in case. And hey, looks like it came in handy, didn't it?"
What kind of "case" made someone carry around new underwear?
Kudo Shinichi had no idea what was going on. He could only stare in awe at the bag Kazawa carried.
Still the familiar black commuter bag—flat, not even that heavy.
So what exactly was in Kazawa's bag? Was he really Doraemon?
"What's going on with you now? Did the fever deform your body?" Kazawa circled him with crossed arms. "Could it be that the medicine you took has a temperature-triggered side effect?"
"I don't know..." Kudo Shinichi pressed his aching chest, still shaken. The pain was so intense it felt like he might die just a second ago. He wiped his sweat and felt his burning cheek. "The fever hasn't subsided. I still feel dizzy..."
Kazawa tilted his head slightly, sensing it was about time, flipped his hand in his pocket, and pressed the dial button.
A crisp ringtone interrupted their conversation. Kudo Shinichi turned to see the glowing phone screen sticking out of his child-sized blue suit.
He took it out and checked the caller ID. His face changed as he awkwardly covered the screen and looked at Kazawa: "Um..."
"The great detective's secret, right? Got it, got it." Kazawa raised a hand as a gesture of understanding, turned around, and left the room, closing the door behind him.
Kudo Shinichi raked his sweaty hair back with both hands and let out a long sigh.
Smart, interesting, physically capable, mentally strong—he had never met a more reliable teammate than Kazawa. It truly put him at ease.
After confirming that Kazawa had closed the door, he picked up the phone and answered, "Hello? Joker? Why are you calling me all of a sudden?"
"...Hmm?" Joker's lazy voice came from the other end. He let out a puzzled hum before continuing. "Ah, it's the big you. Did you change back?"
"Well... I'm not entirely sure..." Kudo Shinichi rubbed his neck uncomfortably.
After being a kid for so long, the sudden return to adult height felt like a free fall—his perspective and balance were completely off.
"Oh, did you drink anything? Alcohol?" Joker was the first to realize it, even before Shinichi.
"I drank some today... Wait." Shinichi, who had been kicking his legs, suddenly froze. "You—you knew that drinking white wine would change me back? How did you know that?! Do you know what kind of medicine I took?!"
"Hehe..."
Outside the room, Kazawa leaned against the corridor's French window. Sunlight filtered softly through the gauze curtains, casting a warm glow over his face. He closed his eyes and, mimicking Joker's voice, spoke slowly and playfully:
"Good question. Do I know... or don't I?"
Kudo Shinichi paced nervously and was about to press him further: "You...!"
"Before you accuse me, Mr. Detective, why don't you first explain your sincerity as a collaborator?" Kazawa flipped the table. "The last time I ran into Gin and the others, it was a coincidence. You happened to meet them while traveling, so I get that you forgot to tell me. But what about today? What did you promise me?"
"Uh..." Kudo Shinichi was rendered speechless. He scratched the back of his neck guiltily. "I-I had a really bad cold and forgot..."
"Ahaha, so once you find a way to change back, I'm disposable? Our collaboration is that meaningless to you?" Kazawa pretended to be hurt. "Then solve the rest yourself. Just a friendly reminder: the effect is temporary, like a short-acting allergy med. You'd better hope you don't turn into a kid in front of that girl. Otherwise, all I can say is... I'll mourn for you."
With that, Kazawa hung up maliciously and casually tossed the phone back into the prop column.
His collaborators forgot about him, but he still gave them a warm reminder.
That was truly repaying evil with kindness—an act of great love.