The Queen Sallybeth was in chaos, with people moving everywhere.
"Heiji! Heiji~~!"
Kazuha, along with Ran and Sonoko, was looking for Heiji everywhere. They hadn't seen him from the beginning, and the girl was worried.
"I'm here."
Heiji came out of a corner, rubbing his head with an expression of pain.
Kazuha ran to him and held him, full of worry: "Heiji, what happened to you?"
"It's nothing, just that while I was chasing Kaito Kid, someone hit me from behind and knocked me unconscious," Heiji said with a slightly pained expression.
"It must have been the Night Baron. After Kaito Kid appeared, he appeared. To attack Heiji from behind... I won't forgive him," Sonoko said angrily.
"The Night Baron came too?" Heiji asked, feigning confusion.
"Yes, this is what happened."
Ran told him everything that had occurred from the beginning.
Heiji listened with a glint in his eyes; his expression was worthy of an Oscar.
"Kazuha, take me to Inspector Nakamori."
Inspector Chaki and Inspector Nakamori were on the deck, directing all the policemen in a thorough search. They didn't believe that Kaito Kid and the Night Baron could have disappeared out of thin air; they were surely hidden somewhere on the cruise ship.
Conan didn't believe it either. He was running all over the ship looking for clues.
"Inspector Nakamori, have you found my Dark Star?" Tomoko Suzuki asked as she came out.
"Well... Madam, I'm very sorry. The Night Baron took the Dark Star."
Inspector Nakamori felt very ashamed. Dozens of policemen had been unable to catch two thieves, and they had also been mocked in front of so many people.
"It was stolen? My Dark Star, the treasure of the Suzuki family..."
Tomoko Suzuki looked as if she was about to faint.
"Mom~~!!"
At that moment, Heiji and the others arrived. Sonoko ran to support Tomoko Suzuki.
"Inspector Nakamori, Heiji says he knows where the Dark Star is hidden," said Kazuha, who was supporting Heiji.
"WHAT?" shouted Inspector Nakamori and Conan, who had just arrived, in unison.
"Conan, don't run around. What if you get lost?" Ran scolded him.
"Hey, hey, Heiji-niichan, do you know where the Dark Star is hidden?"
Conan completely ignored Ran. In his mind, there was only the Night Baron and Kaito Kid... He was convinced it was impossible for them to have appeared and disappeared out of thin air.
[A disguise!!! Those two used the flash of light to disguise themselves and blend into the crowd to escape.]
Conan was firmly convinced of this idea.
"Heiji, do you know? Where is the Dark Star?"
Tomoko Suzuki was now quite distraught. The Dark Star was too important to the Suzuki family; the loss of the family treasure was a very serious matter.
"Young Hattori, do you really know?" Inspector Nakamori looked at Heiji with expectation.
"The Night Baron has not left this ship. He used the flash of light to escape, but that was just a sham. His goal was to create chaos to blend into the crowd," Heiji said slowly.
Conan frowned: "Heiji-niichan, what happened to you?"
"The Night Baron attacked Heiji from behind. What a bastard!" Sonoko said, unable to contain her anger.
"Attacked by the Night Baron? When?" Conan asked, surprised.
"Just before. It turns out Heiji had already gone out to chase him, but he didn't expect the Night Baron to attack him from behind," Ran said in a low voice.
[Could there be such a coincidence?]
Conan touched his chin and sank into thought.
Heiji glanced sideways at Conan: He knew this boy would be suspicious. But it doesn't matter, he won't find any clues anyway. The system has already erased all traces.
"Do you remember the Night Baron's words?"
"I remember he said something like 'I will arrive shrouded in the dense darkness and, under the bright night sky, I will take this jewel of the darkness'," Ran recalled.
"That sentence already tells us where the Dark Star is," Heiji said in a low voice.
Conan looked at Heiji sharply: "Heiji-niichan, do you know where the Dark Star is?"
"Ouch, that hurts!" Conan shouted, rubbing his head.
Sonoko withdrew her fist and glared at Conan: "Don't interrupt Heiji while he's working. Let him finish quickly so he can go and rest."
Conan rubbed his head, annoyed.
"Ran said the Night Baron spoke to you from the top of that mast, right?"
Heiji looked up at the cruise ship's mast. It stood imposing, several tens of meters high.
"He disappeared up there," Inspector Nakamori nodded.
Conan looked at Heiji. What's the point of asking that?
"Don't you find it strange? At tens of meters high, and yet you could hear him speak..."
Heiji's words echoed like thunder in Conan's mind, leaving him paralyzed.
[That detail... how have I overlooked it all this time?]
"You mean a loudspeaker?" shouted Inspector Nakamori.
"Yes. If I'm not mistaken, there must be a hidden loudspeaker somewhere on the Queen Sallybeth," Heiji said with confidence.
"Attention all units! Immediately search the ship for a loudspeaker that does not belong to the vessel," Inspector Nakamori roared into the radio.
"Cooperate with Inspector Nakamori immediately, quick!" Inspector Chaki also shouted into the radio.
All the policemen on the ship got moving again, searching everywhere for that supposed loudspeaker.
"Inspector Nakamori, we've found the loudspeaker."
The cheerful voice of a policeman came over the radio.
"Stay there and don't let anyone get close. I'm on my way immediately."
Conan forged ahead and was the first to run.
"Conan, this kid, really..." Ran couldn't even stop him.
"Let's go too."
Heiji said calmly. He no longer needed to be supported; overdoing the act would be suspicious.
When Heiji and the others arrived, Inspector Nakamori had already dismantled the loudspeaker and was inspecting it.
"Inspector Nakamori, what are you doing?" Heiji asked, speechless.
"Heiji, the Dark Star isn't here," Tomoko Suzuki said, disappointed.
Heiji was speechless.
"Madam, I didn't say the Dark Star was hidden in the loudspeaker. Please, don't worry."
"What? But we've already destroyed the loudspeaker," Inspector Nakamori said, dejected.
"Uh, it doesn't matter that it's broken. Its mission is already over."
Heiji glanced around and a confident smile formed on his lips.
"The location of the loudspeaker confirms the part of the Night Baron's phrase that says 'I will arrive shrouded in the dense darkness.' The stern is the machinery and storage area, not open to the public. Its darkness fits the meaning of the phrase. And now, what do you think was the first thing the Night Baron did when he boarded the ship?"
Heiji asked calmly.
Everyone began to think.
"Install the loudspeaker. Because if he didn't install it at the first moment, he wouldn't have had time to prepare it later," Conan suddenly shouted, his heart filled with astonishment.
Heiji looked at Conan and frowned.
[Damn, could this guy, Hattori, have discovered something?]
Conan felt a chill on the back of his neck: My deduction just now was a bit excessive.
"Correct! This little one is right!" Inspector Nakamori exclaimed, clapping his hands.
"That's right, that's it. Therefore, if we find the location of the loudspeaker, we can find the next clue."
"What clue?"
"Under the bright night sky, I will take this jewel of the night."
[Under the bright night sky, I will take this jewel of the night.]
Conan's thought synchronized with Heiji's words.
Those present were frozen, a look of confusion on their faces.
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