Chapter 301: The Forbidden Takahashi Residence
"Oi, oi! Kudo, did that Miss Raiden just pull something out?"
Heiji Hattori didn't possess the high-tech telescopic lenses built into Conan Edogawa's glasses, but his natural eyesight was sharp enough. Squinting through the distance, he could barely make out the silhouette of Raiden Ei. He watched her raise a hand to her chest in a fluid, drawing motion. Then, a sudden, brilliant flash of violet light erupted, and a blade materialized in her grasp out of thin air. He whipped his head toward Conan, his voice cracking with sheer disbelief.
"Yeah..." Conan stared blankly ahead. His jaw hung slightly slack, his usual composed demeanor shattering into pieces. "Yes. Miss Raiden just pulled a sword out of her chest!"
Even as the words left his mouth, Conan couldn't accept them. He yanked his glasses off his face and rubbed his eyes vigorously. His logical mind screamed that it was a trick of the light, a hallucination brought on by stress, or perhaps a hidden mechanism.
But when he shoved the frames back onto the bridge of his nose, the impossible image remained. Raiden Ei stood tall, her grip firm around the hilt of a magnificent, glowing purple tachi. He hadn't imagined it.
The air pressure plummeted. Conan wasn't sure if his senses were playing tricks on him, but the moment that blade cleared her chest, the very atmosphere shifted. A heavy, suffocating weight pressed down on his shoulders. He tilted his head upward. Thick, unnatural storm clouds were rolling in at an alarming speed, swallowing the afternoon sun and casting a gloomy, ominous shadow over the streets. It looked as though a torrential downpour was seconds away.
Conan's brow furrowed. A cold sweat broke out on the back of his neck. This was a terrible omen. Between Raiden Ei's sudden appearance and an action that completely defied every law of physics and common sense, panic began to claw at his chest. He turned back to Heiji, desperate to ask how far away the police backup was.
"Ah! That hurts!"
Before Conan could get a single word out, the taxi's brakes shrieked violently. The tires locked up, skidding across the asphalt. Both Heiji and Conan were violently thrown forward by the sudden inertia, only to be yanked back hard by their seatbelts. The harsh friction burned against their collarbones, pulling sharp groans of pain from their throats.
"Old man, do you even know how to drive?!" Heiji leaned forward, rubbing his chest as he glared at the driver. "Why the hell did you slam on the brakes like that?!"
"Didn't you see?!" The driver twisted around in his seat, his face pale and slick with sweat. He pointed a trembling finger through the windshield. "Lightning! It just struck right in front of us! If I hadn't hit the brakes, that bolt would have fried my car!"
"Hey, what kind of nonsense are you spouting? How can there be lightning in broad daylight..." Heiji trailed off. He clearly thought the driver was losing his mind. Following the man's terrified gaze, he peered through the glass. There was indeed a fresh, smoking crater in the middle of the road ahead, but his rational mind immediately tried to find another explanation. A blown underground pipe? A small explosive?
Before Heiji could voice his theories, the sky tore open.
A blinding, jagged flash of violet lightning crashed down from the heavens. It struck the asphalt just a few dozen yards ahead of the hood. Crack! The deafening explosion shook the taxi's chassis. Chunks of shattered pavement and a cloud of gray dust exploded into the air, accompanied by the sharp, metallic stench of ozone.
Heiji's eyes widened to the size of saucers. His mouth snapped shut, the words dying in his throat. Reality had just slapped his skepticism right across the face.
"Lightning... lightning really struck?!" he muttered, his voice barely a whisper.
He slowly turned his head to meet Conan's gaze. The young detective mirrored his exact expression of utter shock. Conan had seen it too; there was no denying it. This wasn't a hallucination.
Then, as if the storm itself was mocking their attempts at rationalization, the sky lit up again. Boom! Boom! Boom! Several more bolts of violet lightning cascaded down in rapid succession. They struck the road directly in their path, creating a literal barricade of scorched earth and crackling electricity.
"Hey, Hattori..." Conan stared at the smoking craters, his expression turning incredibly grim. He lowered his voice, the words heavy with hesitation. "Don't you think those lightning bolts are specifically striking there to stop us from?"
"How is that possible..." Heiji swallowed hard. "It has to be a coincidence. How could lightning have a will of its own?!" Despite his fierce denial, his brows were knitted together in deep conflict. His voice lacked its usual confident edge. Deep down, the same terrifying suspicion was taking root in his mind, but accepting it meant shattering his entire worldview.
The driver, however, had no such philosophical dilemmas. He was simply terrified. Gripping the steering wheel with white knuckles, he looked back at the boys. "Young men, you saw it with your own eyes! It's not that I don't want to take you to your destination, but this is a freak emergency! I can't drive through that! How about I take you two back? I won't even charge you for the return trip, just let me turn around!"
"No." Heiji and Conan spoke in unison. "We have a reason why we must go there." They firmly rejected the driver's desperate offer.
A few moments later, the taxi sped away in the opposite direction, leaving Conan and Heiji standing alone on the sidewalk. They stared down the road at the residual sparks dancing across the blackened asphalt. A heavy sense of foreboding settled over them. If this lightning was truly intentional, was it directly tied to Raiden Ei? What kind of terrifying, god-like power was she wielding, and what was her true purpose?
The two detectives exchanged a long, silent glance. Their eyes hardened with unwavering determination.
No matter the danger, no matter how much it defied logic, they had to reach the Takahashi Residence. They had to try and stop the brutal, private retaliation Raiden Ei was undoubtedly about to unleash.
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