"Ah, ah—it's the big brother who treated us that day!"
Liu A'dou froze and saw Professor Agasa sitting in the bus with the Detective Boys. He thought, 'What a coincidence. I just hopped on the bus to be lazy after carrying stuff, and I run into them?'
"What a coincidence. Hello there."
"Hello, I'm Professor Agasa. Last time the kids were in your care," the professor said, sounding a bit sick, his face half covered by a mask.
"My name is Liu A'dou. I'm a student at Teitan High School," Liu A'dou said. "The weather's been changing a lot lately. Big difference between day and night. Flu's going around. You should take care of yourself and drink more hot water."
"I know, cough cough, thank you for the concern." Professor Agasa was already down with a cold.
"By the way, where are you all heading so early in the morning?"
"School's closed today. I'm taking the kids skiing," the professor said.
"Skiing! Skiing! Yay!" The Detective Boys cheered in unison.
Professor Agasa really had it tough. Even sick, he still had to drag a bunch of rowdy kids to go skiing. Still, these elementary school kids sure had a lot of holidays.
The bus moved forward toward the next stop.
At the next stop, Liu A'dou spotted more familiar faces—Teacher Jodie and the new school doctor, Shinshū Tomoaki. Also getting on was a sharp-eyed man wearing a mask, and two others dressed in ski suits, goggles on, ski bags on their backs. Plus a few normal passengers, filling the bus to capacity.
"This little girl, you're Haibara Ai, right? You look pale. Do you have a cold too?" Liu A'dou took out the hot soup he'd prepared for lunch and handed it to Haibara. "It's hot. Drinking it will make you feel better. I cooked it myself. It's delicious."
"Thank you," the professor said on Haibara's behalf.
But Haibara wasn't sick—she had sensed the gaze of Black Organization members. That bone-chilling aura was unmistakable. They were here. Members of the Organization were on the bus.
Haibara kept her head down, her small body trembling under her coat. The suffocating pressure crushed her. Sharing the same space as them, she felt all hope of escape vanish. As a traitor of the Organization, only death could end this torment.
Haibara? Conan and the professor both worried. Agasa quickly opened Liu A'dou's lunch. The rich fragrance spread. "Smells good. Here, Haibara, drink some."
Liu A'dou had traveled the world collecting ingredients, learning cooking not just to enjoy life but also as his secret weapon to win Ada's heart—after all, the way to a woman's heart was through her stomach.
Under Agasa's urging, Haibara finally took a sip. Instantly the cold vanished, warmth like sunlight wrapped around her. It was so good she forgot about the danger for a moment.
"Not bad, right? This soup was made with snow mountain spring water, Korean ginseng, and black chicken, simmered all night. Don't let the clear broth fool you—all the nutrients are in there."
Haibara looked down into the thermos. The broth was clear as crystal, like pure water. "Thank you," she whispered, feeling much better.
Originally, it was supposed to be a pleasant trip. But everything changed once those two shady men boarded. They pulled weapons from their long ski bags and hijacked the bus.
"Hand over your phones." The robbers' goal was to rescue their boss, Yashima Kunio, who had planted bombs during a jewelry store heist. Only he knew where the jewels were.
If the police didn't release him, they would shoot one hostage every hour.
"Hey, what are you staring at, kid? Want to die?" The robber's roar made the already terrified passengers shiver and break out in cold sweat, even though it was late October and the weather had turned chilly.
Everyone turned to see the robber aiming a gun at a high school student.
Liu A'dou realized no one was stepping in to defend him. 'Is it because I don't have protagonist aura in this world? Even Teacher Jodie and the new doctor aren't moving. Are they only here to protect Conan, that little kid?'
"I said what are you looking at? Believe it or not, I'll dig your eyes out," the robber snarled viciously.
Liu A'dou laughed. "I should be thanking you guys. Because of your hijacking, I don't have to go to school today. Honestly, I'm sick of the day-in, day-out routine. Nothing the teachers teach has any challenge at all."
What the hell? Was this kid insane? He wasn't even scared of being kidnapped, just happy to skip class? That was way too much. The younger generation was hopeless. If he were their relative, he'd beat him up himself. How could anyone glorify ditching school? But since Liu A'dou wasn't related to them, the hijackers ignored him. "Hand over your phone."
"Alright." Liu A'dou shrugged. It was just a phone, wasn't it?
One. Two. Three…
Everyone's minds nearly broke. At this time, having even one phone was rare. But what did they just see? Liu A'dou seemed to have filled every pocket with phones.
And many of them didn't even look like phones. Strange designs, unrecognizable brands.
No wonder—Liu A'dou had rushed here overnight from Earth No. 1 without even changing clothes. All his phones were still on him. Each had a purpose: one to contact friends, one for directors, one for business, another linked to an Antarctic database, plus the two new ones he'd bought in this world.
All together, it was a ridiculous pile of phones.
"What the hell do you actually do, kid?" Even the robbers were stunned.
Liu A'dou smiled. "Just an ordinary high school student."
Yeah right. Ordinary high schoolers didn't carry around a mountain of bizarre-looking phones.
"Liu A'dou, I've never even seen phones like yours," Jodie said. Even in America she hadn't come across such designs.
"Custom made," Liu A'dou replied.
After collecting everyone's phones, the two hijackers stood behind the driver, forcing him to keep circling around the city.
"What are you doing?!" Conan wasn't about to sit still. Just as he was about to use Professor Agasa's earring phone to call for help, the hijacker in front suddenly turned and grabbed him, slamming him hard to the floor. "Brat, you trying to die?"
"He's just a kid!" Liu A'dou stepped forward. "You're seriously going to pick on children? I despise you!"
"Bastard!" One of the hijackers was enraged and raised his gun to smash Liu A'dou with the butt.
"Owwww!" But before the strike landed, Liu A'dou threw himself to the ground, moaning dramatically, "Ow, ow, ow!" His performance was so halfhearted it was laughable.
"You little—!" The hijacker nearly exploded with rage, aiming his gun at Liu A'dou. His antics weren't following the script at all, and it pissed them off.
Luckily, the other hijacker was calmer. "Forget it. Why waste time with kids? Besides, we've still got that."
"Yeah, that." The first hijacker grunted and backed off.
Liu A'dou helped Conan back to his seat. "Conan, you okay?"
"I'm fine." Conan was baffled. He had to admit, Liu A'dou's nerves worked differently from normal people. He kept provoking the hijackers without fear. "Big brother, aren't you scared?"
"Scared of what? I can't stand these low-level robbers. No skill involved at all," Liu A'dou said with pointed disdain.
Conan didn't yet understand what Liu A'dou meant. He didn't know that the person sitting right beside him was actually Kaitou Kid, the thief who prided himself on high-tech, skillful heists.