Hattori Heizo and the other two men stared blankly at the spherical Rubik's cube in Heiji's hand.
"Heiji, are you saying this was assembled piece by piece?" Toyama Ginshiro asked, utterly incredulous.
Heiji nodded. "That's exactly the trick."
A rare, bitter smile flickered across Hattori Heizo's usually stoic face. "So that note wasn't meant to warn us. It was meant to trap our minds."
"Right," Heiji said. "The Night Baron exploited how desperate we were to recover the Yasakani no Magatama. He used the text on that paper as a trigger to hypnotize us, planting a fear of damaging the Rubik's cube."
Kudo Yusaku gave a humorless laugh. "From start to finish, we've been played."
"A game of cat and mouse," Toyama Ginshiro muttered.
"And the mouse ran straight toward the bait," Kudo Yusaku added.
Toyama Ginshiro shook his head, helpless. "The bait was the Yasakani no Magatama, and we were the mice. The Night Baron really is a headache."
"Maybe it was never 'Cat Catching Mouse,'" Heiji said.
"It was 'Cat Playing with Mice,'" Kudo Yusaku replied, glancing at Hattori Heizo with a weary expression.
"Yes," Hattori Heizo said quietly. "Cat playing with mice."
For a moment, none of the three men could speak.
Heiji stood off to the side, watching their expressions, his own face calm.
Then, a cold voice rang out in his mind.
"Congratulations. You have completed the S rank mission."
Heiji froze for a beat.
{Completed?}
He didn't look toward Kudo Yusaku. If the mission was complete, it meant Kudo Yusaku had already acknowledged the Night Baron's role. There was no need to draw attention to himself now.
{Open my attribute panel.}
Sin Value: -98,364
An S rank mission corresponded to 1,000 Sin points. Last time it was -99,364. After deducting 1,000 points, it naturally became -98,364.
{Good. I'm slowly moving away from the danger zone.}
Heiji was satisfied.
"Still, Heiji's reasoning this time was even sharper than before," Kudo Yusaku suddenly said, praising him.
Hattori Heizo nodded, pleased.
"Heiji might surpass you someday, Heizo," Toyama Ginshiro said, clearly proud of his prospective son in law.
"This was just luck," Heiji replied.
When it came to a national treasure like the Yasakani no Magatama, no one could stay calm. Anything that might reveal its whereabouts would be treated with extreme care. Unless it was truly accidental, deliberately damaging anything related to it would never look reasonable.
So Heiji had no intention of admitting it was intentional.
The three men exchanged looks.
"Even the Night Baron probably didn't expect it to end like this," Kudo Yusaku said with a light laugh.
Hattori Heizo and Toyama Ginshiro could only shake their heads again.
"Even so," Heiji continued, "we only got a map, and it has no markings. We still can't tell where the Yasakani no Magatama is hidden."
The room fell silent once more.
"If the Night Baron designed it this way, it shouldn't be meaningless," Kudo Yusaku said. "There must be another mechanism."
Kudo Yusaku walked over to the spherical Rubik's cube and examined it carefully, turning it from every angle.
Hattori Heizo watched from his chair. Suddenly, his eyes lit up.
"A globe."
Kudo Yusaku spoke at nearly the same time. "It works like a globe."
Kudo Yusaku looked at Hattori Heizo and nodded.
"Ginshiro, find a globe. It needs to be the kind with a stand."
Toyama Ginshiro paused for a split second, then hurried out. A moment later, he returned carrying a globe.
Kudo Yusaku tilted the spherical Rubik's cube, matching the globe's angle.
Toyama Ginshiro understood immediately. He removed the stand from the globe and fitted it onto the spherical Rubik's cube.
Kudo Yusaku rotated the sphere carefully, slowly testing every possible angle.
It took patience.
Fifteen minutes later.
Click!
One grid on the spherical Rubik's cube suddenly cracked open. The end of the globe stand snapped into it, locking into place. Soon, the other end found its slot as well.
Now the spherical Rubik's cube was fixed to the stand. With a light push, it rotated just like a globe.
"So that's it," Kudo Yusaku said, a sharp light in his eyes.
He lifted the sphere and examined the cracked section.
"This spot is…"
Toyama Ginshiro's eyes widened.
"Do you recognize it?" Kudo Yusaku asked. There was only a bird's eye view of a building, and he couldn't place it.
Toyama Ginshiro forced a bitter smile. "That's the Osaka Prefectural Police Headquarters. In other words, this building."
Shock flashed through Hattori Heizo's eyes as he stood abruptly.
"Notify everyone. Start reviewing surveillance footage from the past few days. Check for any package deliveries."
Toyama Ginshiro ran out at once.
Heiji, who had been silent, finally spoke. "Do you think the Night Baron already placed the Yasakani no Magatama inside the station?"
"It's not just a guess anymore," Kudo Yusaku said firmly. "If the Night Baron didn't mislead us again, then it's the truth."
Heiji frowned and said nothing.
The entire station mobilized. Using the surveillance footage, they began screening every single package.
Time: 5:41 PM!
After more than two hours, they found nothing.
"Were we fooled again?" Toyama Ginshiro let out a long sigh.
Heiji looked thoughtful. "Did you really check every single package?"
"The entire station was checked," Toyama Ginshiro said.
"No," Hattori Heizo said. "There's still one box you didn't check."
Hattori Heizo walked to a corner.
"That is…"
Kudo Yusaku and Toyama Ginshiro's pupils tightened as they stared at the small box in Hattori Heizo's hand.
"The shipping box that held the spherical Rubik's cube?" Kudo Yusaku said.
Hattori Heizo carefully lifted the bottom flap. At first glance, it looked empty, but the walls were noticeably thicker than a normal box, if you paid attention.
He tore open the side wall.
His hand stopped.
A necklace lay hidden inside, glowing with an emerald green light.
"The Yasakani no Magatama!"
Kudo Yusaku exhaled slowly. "That Night Baron… I have to admit, I'm impressed."
To think the Yasakani no Magatama had been sent back from the very beginning. Clearly, his goal was never the object itself. Meanwhile, they had been led around without realizing it.
In this game, they had lost completely.
6:00 PM sharp!
Hattori Heizo pressed the speakerphone button.
"The game of 'Cat Playing with Mice' ends here."
Haibara Mi put the phone back and stepped out of the telephone booth.
Her mission was complete.