Classes had yet to begin at Teitan Elementary School.
Haibara was about to change into her indoor shoes when she received a call from her older sister.
Ever since they had exchanged phone numbers a few days ago, she had always been the one making the calls. For her sister to contact her at this hour, something serious must have happened.
Not daring to delay, Haibara put her outdoor shoes into her locker, grabbed the already-changed Conan by the arm, and dragged him back outside.
"Hey, Haibara, what are you doing?"
"Keep it down."
Conan narrowed his eyes in annoyance, but his expression quickly changed when he saw Haibara's face gradually turn pale after answering the call.
"What happened? Did something happen with the Organization?"
"...My sister just got a call from the MPD. They said Onizawa has been missing since last night."
"What?! Onizawa-sensei is missing?!"
Haibara immediately clamped a hand over Conan's mouth.
'His voice is way too loud.'
He had already attracted the attention of the few people nearby. Fortunately, not many students had arrived at school yet.
"Would you calm down? My sister called because she wants you to help figure out where Onizawa disappeared to. If you lose your cool too, we'll never solve this."
Frowning, Conan took the phone and asked,
"Akemi-san, do you know where Sensei was before he disappeared?"
"He should have been working at the MPD. Normally, he would've driven straight home afterward, but Hayasaka said... his car is still sitting in the parking lot. It hasn't been moved."
Conan rested a hand under his chin and began thinking.
If Onizawa had been at the MPD, then no matter how capable the culprit was, they couldn't simply kidnap someone right outside police headquarters.
There were surveillance cameras everywhere. The risk would have been far too high.
So what could have made Onizawa leave his car behind, walk out of the MPD on foot, and then disappear?
'That's right!'
There had been a small explosion in an alley near the MPD last night. Could that incident be connected to the disappearance?
"Akemi-sensei, I think I know why Sensei disappeared! Please go to the scene of last night's explosion. I think you'll find some clues there!"
"All right. Thank you, Kudo-kun."
Haibara took the phone back from Conan and frowned.
"So, what's your plan?"
"If Akemi-san passes that clue on to the police, they should be able to track down Sensei. We're just elementary school students now. There's no way we'll be allowed to get involved in the investigation."
He sighed.
"Let's just go to class."
"Oh my~ Your answer really surprises me, Conan-kun."
Remembering how recklessly Shinichi usually threw himself into every case he encountered, Haibara chuckled.
"I thought you'd put your acting skills to use and pretend to be sick."
"Idiot... Even Uncle Mouri isn't allowed to get involved. Looking like this, how am I supposed to investigate?"
Conan let out another sigh, suddenly feeling powerless.
His teacher was in danger, yet all he could do was stay here pretending to be an ordinary elementary school student.
He looked worriedly toward the distant skyscrapers of the MPD.
'Please... come back safely, Sensei.'
...
After the explosion late last night, he had been brought here by the culprit.
By now, more than five hours had probably passed since his disappearance.
Looking at his reflection in the broken mirror, Ritsu frowned.
The crimson special-effect contact lenses he wore would eventually lose their effectiveness if he didn't replace them soon.
In other words, he had to find a way to escape.
Recalling the familiar face he had seen the previous night, Ritsu's brows knitted tightly together. He couldn't understand why the culprit had that face.
Who was he really?
Right now, the most important thing was removing the strange metal collar around his neck. The second priority was escaping before the culprit returned.
"Damn it... what the hell is this thing?"
"I'd advise against using brute force."
'That familiar voice... How could it be...?'
Ritsu staggered to his feet.
What he saw was someone in an even worse situation than himself, Rei.
Not only was Rei wearing the same metal collar around his neck, both of his hands were tied behind the chair he was sitting on.
'Why was Zero here? Wait... Could it be because of that face...?'
Rei had witnessed Ritsu being dragged into the room across from his own. He had tried several times to wake him, but failed.
Judging from Ritsu's injuries, he had probably been caught in the blast of a low-yield bomb at close range.
"Your hands and feet aren't tied?" Rei asked.
Ritsu deliberately ignored the question. Instead, he asked,
"Who are you? Why are you here? I don't remember seeing someone like you at the MPD."
Rei raised an eyebrow and smiled faintly.
"So only police officers are allowed to end up here?"
He smirked.
"What a sorry sight, genius detective."
'Still as sharp-tongued as ever.'
Rather than getting angry, Ritsu laughed.
"And you're just as pathetic, Mr. Whoever-You-Are."
"The culprit's target is the police. Someone like you, who doesn't exactly look like one of the good guys, how did you end up tied up here too?"
He tilted his head.
"Don't tell me you're one of the kidnappers' traitors?"
'He actually thinks I'm on the same side as those people?'
Maintaining his smile with some effort, Rei replied, "My name is..."
The alias used by a particularly annoying acquaintance suddenly came to mind.
"...Shinichi Wada."
'Shinichi Wada? Seriously? Does he think nobody's ever read Sherlock Holmes before?'
Ritsu couldn't even be bothered exposing the obvious fake name. As he searched himself, he was surprised to discover that his phone was still in his pocket.
'That's strange... Could it be that the culprit's real target wasn't me?'
"The culprit didn't confiscate our phones," Rei explained.
"But he did say there's no way to remove these collars. And if we try to force them off, We die."
"How?"
"It's a new type of bomb. As soon as the pink liquid mixes with the blue liquid, it'll explode. That's what the culprit told me."
"I have no idea why he'd tell us that..."
"...Maybe because he's confident enough that we're going to die anyway."
Ritsu took out his phone, only to discover the battery was completely dead.
'No wonder the vibration never woke me up.'
He pulled out the lock-picking tools he always carried and quickly unlocked the room's door before walking over to Rei.
"It looks like we don't have much time left."
Rei blinked.
"What do you mean?"
Looking through the transparent casing of the collar around Rei's neck, Ritsu pointed at the two colored liquids.
"I didn't notice it before, but there's clearly less liquid now than when I first woke up. It's designed like an hourglass. As time passes, the two liquids will eventually meet."
Rei froze.
He hadn't paid much attention to the collar itself because he'd been too busy wondering why the culprit had chosen him.
He had completely overlooked that detail.
"The flow rate is pretty slow."
He smiled.
"I've got to admit, this kidnapper is rather generous. He gave us an entire day."
"Yeah."
Ritsu glanced at the heavy door.
"Your room uses a keypad lock. It seems you're the culprit's real target."
"I'm just an ordinary civilian."
Rei shrugged.
"I think the kidnapper simply got the wrong person."
Ritsu knew that, as long as he was maintaining the identity of Onizawa, there was no chance Rei would tell the truth.
He decided not to waste any more words. Keeping his movements as controlled as possible to avoid shaking the collar, he suddenly lashed out.
Bang!
His foot slammed hard into the iron door.
"Tch... That's sturdier than I expected."
Rei stared.
"Don't tell me you're actually planning to kick it open?"
"What other choice do we have?"
Rei hadn't expected Onizawa to resort to such a crude, straightforward method. But after thinking about it, it probably was the fastest option.
After all, they had absolutely no idea who the culprit was. At least, he didn't.
He had never seen the culprit's face. He had simply heard someone suddenly call out,
"Furuya Rei."
The instant he turned around, he saw something thrown toward him.
It wasn't a bomb.
It was sleeping gas.