5:44 PM.
Winter nights arrived quickly.
As darkness settled over Tropical Land, neon lights flickered on throughout the park, making the festive atmosphere even more vibrant.
More importantly, today was December 24th, Christmas Eve.
As the day before Christmas, the holiday spirit was in full swing. The giant Christmas tree erected in the center of the plaza had become a sacred pilgrimage site for tourists eager to take commemorative photos.
After experiencing such a gruesome murder case, however, neither of the two teenagers had much desire to continue enjoying the amusement park.
Ran quietly sniffled.
Even after leaving the crime scene, she still felt terrible.
She had finally won her karate tournament and come to the newly opened Tropical Land with Shinichi. Yet somehow they had still ended up encountering a murder case.
And not just any murder case, a horrifying decapitation.
"Come on, stop crying already!" Shinichi said, assuming she was frightened because she had witnessed a murder.
Ran complained through her tears, "You're way too calm about this!"
"I-I go to crime scenes all the time, so I'm used to it already! I've even seen bodies chopped into pieces before!"
As expected of someone with the emotional instincts of a brick, Shinichi's method of comforting people was certainly... unique.
"If you keep getting carried away like this and sticking your nose into every case, someday you're going to get hurt! You're such an idiot, Shinichi!"
Seeing Ran cover her face and start crying again, Shinichi immediately panicked. Realizing he had said the wrong thing, he hurriedly tried to fix it.
"Uh... y-you should just forget about it! Stuff like this happens all the time!"
"It does not!!!"
Ran glared at him angrily, tears still pooling in her eyes.
He had wanted to cheer her up. But somehow, seeing Ran cry while angry looked incredibly cute. Embarrassed by his own thoughts, Shinichi quickly turned his head away.
As he raised a hand to scratch his cheek and hide his feelings, he spotted a man dressed in black looking around suspiciously in the distance.
'That guy... He was one of the men from earlier. What was he sneaking around for?'
Ran continued muttering her complaints while covering her face.
"This is all your fault. You're the one who said nothing would happen at an amusement park, so I came. Then why did this still—"
"Sorry, Ran! Head home first, okay? Be careful on the way!"
"Huh? Shinichi!"
Ran stared in disbelief as Shinichi suddenly darted into the crowd. She immediately started after him.
Unfortunately, the untied shoelace on her right shoe nearly tripped her. By the time she regained her balance and looked up again, Shinichi had vanished from sight.
'...What's going on? Why do I have such a strange feeling? As though...
This might be the last time I ever see Shinichi.'
...
After tossing his empty takoyaki container into a trash can and making absolutely sure he hadn't missed, Ritsu turned to leave.
His gaze passed over the enormous Christmas tree standing in the center of the plaza.
Thinking it might make a good souvenir, he pulled out his phone to take a picture.
But as he switched to camera mode, he noticed a long-haired girl tying her shoelaces beneath the tree.
'Mouri-san?'
He looked around but couldn't find Shinichi anywhere.
His eyes returned to Ran and he realized she was walking toward the amusement park exit alone.
Shinichi was gone.
Which meant,
'Crap. Don't tell me that idiot saw Gin and Vodka and followed them?!'
The moment the thought occurred to him, Ritsu hurriedly exited the camera app and opened the email Vodka had sent earlier.
Inside were several prearranged meeting locations.
Grinding his teeth, he stuffed the phone back into his pocket and rushed toward the address listed in the message.
'Kudo... please don't let anything happen to you.'
...
At that moment, Shinichi had absolutely no idea he was in danger.
Looking around in frustration, he brushed aside the hair hanging over his forehead.
"Damn it. I lost them."
Was black really the perfect camouflage at night? And that guy's counter-surveillance skills were incredible.
He had only blinked for a moment, and the man had disappeared completely.
Frowning, Shinichi surveyed his surroundings. He wasn't even sure where in Tropical Land he had ended up. Maybe he should just find a staff member and ask for directions.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Mr. Chairman."
'?!'
As Shinichi turned to leave, he suddenly heard the black-clad man's voice.
He froze.
Somehow, through sheer dumb luck, he had actually gone in the right direction.
Talk about fortunate.
Crouching down and suppressing the sound of his footsteps, Shinichi carefully approached the corner.
Peeking around it, he saw the sunglasses-wearing man speaking with a short, bald man who had a comically ridiculous mustache.
The bald man nervously looked around before stammering:
"I-I came alone, just like we agreed!"
Having already confirmed that fact during the roller coaster ride, Vodka casually kept both hands in his pockets and smiled.
"Yeah. I know you came alone."
"H-Hurry up and give me the item!"
"Relax. Let's see the money first."
Hidden behind the corner, Shinichi immediately realized this was some kind of illegal transaction.
Quietly pulling out his cellphone, he firmly pressed his fingers over the speaker and receiver to mute any sounds.
Then he switched to video recording mode and began filming.
Since the amusement park was still swarming with police because of the murder case, there was a good chance that handing this footage over could lead to an even larger criminal investigation.
"Here! No complaints now, right?!"
The bald man opened a metal briefcase. Inside was a mountain of yen banknotes. At a rough estimate, there had to be around 100 million yen.
Vodka accepted the briefcase and carefully inspected the bills.
After confirming they weren't counterfeit and checking the weight, he finally pulled a white envelope from inside his coat.
The envelope had originally been given to him by the undercover agent Chivas before his death.
"Here. These are the negatives and photographs proving your company's gun-smuggling operation."
Vodka turned away and took a few steps.
Then he chuckled. "Try not to do anything bad again, Mr. Chairman."
"Shut up! Compared to the things your Organization does, what we've done is nothing!"
Vodka immediately frowned. Turning around, he spoke coldly. "Hey. How much do you know about us?"
The bald man hadn't expected such a strong reaction and quickly waved his hands.
"I-I didn't mean—"
But Vodka wasn't interested in explanations. In a few quick strides, he grabbed the man's tie with a gloved hand.
"We only took a measly hundred million yen and spared your pathetic life. Got that?"
His voice grew colder.
"If you understand, shut down your company and get out of Tokyo. We want to build a new laboratory on that piece of land."
The bald man trembled so badly he could barely hold the envelope.
"Y-Yes! I'll leave immediately!"
...
Gun smuggling.
A mere hundred million yen.
A new laboratory.
Shinichi frowned deeply as he tried to connect the pieces.
'Just who were these people? They considered one hundred million yen insignificant?
And what was this talk about a new laboratory? Were they part of some research company?'
Crunch... crunch... crunch.
The sound of shoes stepping on grass.
The sound of blades of grass snapping beneath someone's feet.
Realizing someone had approached from behind, Shinichi hurriedly shoved his phone into his pocket while turning around.
Then he met a pair of emotionless emerald-green eyes.
Gin stared coldly at the terrified boy standing before him. When he noticed the overly curious little stray cat trying to run away, a cruel smile curved his lips.
"The detective game ends here."
His left hand slipped into his coat pocket.
A moment later, he pulled out a collapsible baton he had prepared in advance. Without hesitation, he swung it hard at Shinichi's head.
Crack!
A sharp impact rang out.
Shinichi cried out in pain and clutched the back of his head. Staggering forward, he collapsed onto the ground. His cellphone tumbled from his pocket and landed nearby.
He hadn't even managed to press the stop-recording button. The video continued recording.
'Damn it... How could I be this careless?
I completely forgot about the most dangerous one...!'
...
Canon Timeline is Here!!
Congratulations to Shinichi for receiving a complimentary baton strike from Gin.