Chapter 290: The Detective Agency Hostage Incident - End
With the incident drawing to a close, Conan lowered his phone, the screen dark, and let out a long, weary sigh.
"What's wrong?" Haibara's voice cut through his thoughts, dry as ever. "Disappointed that the great detective wasn't of much use this time?" She watched the dejected boy, a subtle roll of her eyes accompanying her words.
"No..." Conan began, turning to face her, only to be met with a faintly contemptuous look. He deflated. "Okay, maybe a little."
"Heh."
"But only a little!" he hurriedly defended himself. "I was mostly thinking about how quickly the Jade Chamber developed their new terminal. It feels like the 'Noah's Ark' incident wasn't that long ago, yet they managed to acquire Sindora Company's technology, develop a product, and bring it to market so soon."
His brow furrowed in concentration. "I suspect they might have already mastered similar technology themselves. They were just waiting to get their hands on Sindora's core tech to perfect their own ideas."
"You mean the Jade Chamber knew something was going to happen to Sindora all along and was just waiting to swallow the company whole?" Haibara asked, her tone sharp as she cut straight to the heart of his suspicion. She considered it for a moment, her expression unreadable. It wasn't entirely impossible.
Conan nodded slowly. "I have my suspicions. My dad mentioned that when the Sindora incident happened, Ms. Ningguang and the Jade Chamber reacted far too quickly. Learning how fast their products were developed only reinforces that feeling."
"Then you can go on suspecting, great detective," Haibara said, dismissing the topic with a wave of her hand. She left the frowning, contemplative boy to his thoughts and walked over to the other children to help them pack up their things.
Honestly, Haibara believed that even if Ningguang had known the Sindora Company was headed for disaster and simply allowed it to happen… it wasn't a big deal. After all, they had brought it upon themselves. She, of all people, was no saint; she couldn't find fault in Ms. Ningguang's actions. It was just… Her gaze drifted gloomily back to the still-conflicted Conan. It was just that a certain great detective, with his unshakable desire to save everyone, would probably find such cold pragmatism hard to accept.
"Mouri, you've found yourself in another incident." Inspector Megure, having finally arrived after receiving Kogoro's call, greeted the private detective with a familiar, weary air. His eyes scanned the room. "Ran and Natsume, you're here too."
His gaze then landed on Albedo and Sera Masumi, a question in his eyes. "And these two are?"
"This is my friend and Klee's older brother, Albedo," Natsume introduced him to the inspector.
"Sera is a new transfer student in our class," Ran added with a smile.
"Natsume, we meet again," a voice drawled from behind Inspector Megure. A man in sunglasses stepped forward, his posture lazy as he addressed her. "It's a bomb this time, huh?"
"Officer Matsuda!" Natsume's eyes widened in surprise at the sudden appearance. Although she knew Matsuda Jinpei had been transferred to Inspector Megure's division, their paths hadn't crossed at a crime scene until now. On second thought, however, his presence made perfect sense. When a bomb was involved, you called in a professional.
"Sigh… How do you always manage to run into these things?" With a helpless sigh, Matsuda Jinpei ambled over to where Sawaguri Kaoru was tied to the chair. Ignoring the culprit's frantic struggling, he leaned down, his focus instantly sharpening as he inspected the device strapped to the man's chest.
"It's fine," he announced after a moment, his calm conclusion washing a wave of relief over the room. "The bomb's performance is relatively stable. It won't be hard to dismantle."
He straightened up, his gaze shifting. "However, the way this culprit is tied up is quite special. He's been struggling this whole time but can't move an inch." Matsuda's eyes, hidden behind his sunglasses, landed on Albedo, who was quietly observing his work. "Did you tie him?"
"Yes," Albedo replied, his voice even. "It was nothing. I just tied him up casually."
Matsuda didn't seem overly curious. He had asked offhandedly and didn't press for details when the answer was so brief.
Hearing this, however, Sera Masumi couldn't help but shoot another curious glance at Albedo, her mind clearly filing away the piece of information.
Just as Matsuda had predicted, dismantling the bomb was a simple affair, resolved in a matter of minutes.
With the immediate danger gone, Inspector Megure took the culprit, Sawaguri Kaoru, into custody. Before departing with his team, he reminded everyone that they would need to come down to the station to give their official statements.
Not long after, Sera Masumi also bid everyone farewell and left.
Returning to the hotel where she was staying, Sera opened the door to her room. The interior was pitch-black, seemingly empty.
Unfazed, she flicked the light switch by the door, closed it securely behind her, and called out into the silent space, "Mom, it's me. There's no one else here."
With a soft click, the bedroom door swung open. A young girl who looked to be in middle school, with blonde hair and piercing blue eyes that bore a striking resemblance to Sera's, stepped out.
She was Akai Mary—mother to both Sera Masumi and Akai Shuichi—another victim of the Black Organization's poison, her body shrunken back to that of a child.
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