A black rock-style T-shirt layered beneath a studded leather jacket, matching cargo pants, and a pair of combat boots instantly made Ritsu look a full 192 centimeters tall.
After tying the last black headband around his forehead, he casually removed his gold-rimmed glasses and replaced them with a pair of sunglasses.
Looking at himself in the mirror, Ritsu was at a loss for words. Aside from his white hair, he was dressed entirely in black from head to toe.
For some reason, it gave him the strange feeling that he had changed clothes to report for work with the Organization.
'Yeah... all I'm missing is a full tattoo sleeve. I wonder if I could fake it with scars instead.'
In short, he looked like a gangster, a very convincing gangster.
He pulled back the dressing room curtain, and the staff immediately showered him with praise.
As expected of people in the entertainment industry, their flattery skill had clearly been maxed out.
"He's practically a walking Statue of David!"
"A once-in-eight-thousand-years handsome man!"
They rattled off such outrageous compliments without the slightest embarrassment. Their shamelessness was practically an art form.
"Onizawa-san, once the lift platform rises, you can get ready to start playing."
"Got it. Don't worry, I won't—"
Before he could finish speaking, the venue lights suddenly went out. Both he and the staff member froze.
The staff member was the first to recover.
"W-Who turned off the main lights?! Minami-san hasn't even finished changing yet!"
The worst part was, the music started playing immediately afterward. Ritsu hurriedly picked up the drumsticks and followed the sheet music, beginning to play.
Fortunately, his microphone had already been connected. Otherwise, this would have been a complete disaster.
He was wondering whether Conan and the others were pulling some sort of prank when he heard a voice identical to Minami's, except every single note had flown into outer space.
"BREAK MY LIES! Once again, I'm chasing after your silhouette!"
"SAVE MY HEART! I've truly been waiting to hold you tight!"
It was Ritsu's first time hearing Conan sing.
He hadn't expected Ran's complaints about Conan being tone-deaf to be completely true.
This level of off-key singing felt strangely familiar. His mind immediately drifted back to the Organization's year-end party three years ago.
When an admittedly tipsy Rei Furuya had sung an enka song. That performance had also gone completely off the rails, practically into Siberia.
The fans inside the venue were equally bewildered.
The voice definitely belonged to their idol, Minami Takayama. But... why was she singing so horribly off-key?
'Wait... Has Minami-chan been lip-syncing all this time?!'
In the audience, Sonoko gave Ran an awkward smile and whispered,
"Ran... doesn't that voice sound kind of familiar? Or am I imagining things?"
Ran couldn't be certain either.
"It... probably isn't Conan..."
She frowned uncertainly.
"But it really does sound like him. Still... how could he possibly get backstage?"
Moments later, the enormous screen at the back of the stage slowly split apart.
Minami, Nagano, and the Detective Boys walked out from behind it.
Both Ran and Sonoko froze. Neither of them knew what to say. As the two stage lifts rose into place, Sonoko couldn't help shouting,
"Wait! Isn't that Onizawa-san?!"
"Y-Yeah..."
Ran stared in astonishment.
"And the Detective Boys are up there too... What on earth is going on?"
On stage, Ritsu expertly twirled his drumsticks and struck the drums with skill that rivaled a professional drummer.
Whether it was the spotlight...
The deafening cheers filling the arena...
Or the sea of glowing light sticks stretching endlessly before him...
For some reason, his blood started pumping.
"Slowly gathering experience, just like dreams, because little by little we can no longer remain innocent..."
"Even so, I believe that somewhere, we'll surely find it!"
The oversized sunglasses slipped down Ritsu's nose.
The instant his crimson eyes were revealed, the production crew happened to cut the giant screen directly to him.
The entire arena erupted into cheers.
Standing in the very center of the front row, Vodka nearly dropped his sunglasses. He had already thought the drummer looked strangely familiar.
The moment those sunglasses slipped down, he realized the drummer was actually Augier, disguised as Onizawa!
'What the hell is going on? How did Augier become the drummer?!'
Amid the thunderous chants of "TWO-MIX!"
A rather unusual cheer suddenly rang out. Throwing both arms into the air, Vodka shouted at the top of his lungs,
"Takashi!!"
On stage, Ritsu silently thanked him. At least, Vodka still remembered not to call him Augier in public.
Hearing the unusual cheer, Conan instinctively looked toward the burly man with the slicked-back hair.
Without his trademark sunglasses and black suit, dressed casually with a TWO-MIX support towel draped around his neck.
Conan didn't recognize Vodka at all. Even Haibara, who was usually hypersensitive to the Organization's presence, sensed nothing unusual.
She merely found it amusing that Onizawa actually had a fan, and that the fan looked like a tough old gangster.
After finishing the song and stepping backstage, Conan covered his mouth with a grin.
"Onizawa-nii, I never thought you'd actually have fans."
"That's perfectly normal!"
Ayumi declared excitedly.
"Onizawa-nii is so handsome, of course he'd have fans! I'm one of them!"
"Onizawa-nii, can I have your autograph? Maybe if I get it, I'll do better on my exams and become a cool policewoman someday!"
"Me too! Me too!"
Genta quickly chimed in.
"I want one too! Write a message for me as well!"
Ritsu sighed helplessly.
'I'm not an idol. Why am I signing autographs?'
Unable to refuse the children, he borrowed some paper and a pen from one of the staff members.
After writing a short message of encouragement, he instinctively signed the first two strokes, then immediately realized he'd started writing the wrong name.
He quickly disguised the mistake by drawing a little heart over it before rewriting the signature as Onizawa.
'That was close...'
When signing for fans, his real name was simply too ingrained in muscle memory.
Haibara folded her arms and chuckled.
"My, congratulations on your debut as an idol, Onizawa-san~"
The corner of Ritsu's mouth twitched.
Somehow, Haibara always seemed to enjoy teasing him.
'As expected, an extreme siscon was terrifying.'
He was already beginning to worry about the day he eventually revealed his true identity to her.
She might just force-feed him dimethyl sulfoxide mixed with a little phenol to send him off as quickly as possible.
Crouching down, he ruffled Conan's round head with a smile,
"You all did a great job today. But I still have to remind you of one thing, if you run into danger again, call the police."
"And don't act so recklessly, understand? You won't always be as lucky as you were today. If one of those oil drums had exploded... you all would have died."
The three younger members of the Detective Boys all lowered their heads apologetically.
"We're sorry, Onizawa-nii."
"We'll definitely do better from now on."
Ritsu smiled gently.
"Good children listen. Now, you haven't had dinner today, have you? How about I treat all of you?"
"Think of it as a reward for working so hard today and helping solve the kidnapping case."
"Thank you, Onizawa-nii!"
Ayumi beamed.
"I'm sooo hungry~"
"Yay!"
Genta cheered.
"I want eel rice! Eel rice! Eel rice!"
"Genta, why do you always think about eel rice?" Mitsuhiko complained.
Chuckling, Ritsu took out his phone and handed it to Ayumi.
"But before that... you all need to call your families and let them know where you are. They'll be worried since it's gotten so late."
"Okay!"
Haibara narrowed her eyes and quietly remarked,
"I didn't expect you to be so good with children."
Ritsu was briefly taken aback.
Thinking of the girl he had once seen at the train station, Masumi Sera, he smiled faintly.
"It's because I missed so many years of my little sister's life. So... I guess I'm trying to make up for that, even if it's only a little... by looking after other children."
Both of the little adults looked puzzled after hearing that.
'Since when did Onizawa (Sensei) have a younger sister?'
They had never heard that before.
"Alright, Haibara."
Ritsu looked at her.
"You should call Professor Agasa too. Don't let the old man worry about you."
"...Okay."