Haibara Ai was safe, and Conan finally breathed a sigh of relief. Still, he didn't know exactly who in the Organization was involved, so the best move was to get Haibara away. He used the excuse of going to the hospital and had Takagi drive her off first.
Then Conan turned his eyes on Liu A'dou, the one who had set everything in motion. The robbers were criminals, sure, but luring them into killing each other—that was too sinister. Yet Liu A'dou hadn't actually pulled the trigger. He'd only spoken. The law couldn't arrest him.
It was just like Hercule Poirot's last case, where the true enemy was a man who incited others to kill. The law couldn't touch him. In the end, Poirot himself broke his own code and killed that man, and then walked toward the end of his own life.
Conan watched Liu A'dou casually chatting with the police and silently placed him on the list of most dangerous people—right alongside Gin from the Black Organization.
Gin was dangerous for his ruthless cunning and endless murders. Liu A'dou was dangerous because with nothing but words, he could drag others into hell, while keeping himself untouched. But Conan didn't yet understand the full truth—Liu A'dou had killed far more than Gin ever had. Yet the people he had saved… could fill entire worlds.
Unlike Batman of Earth-1 and the other heroes, Liu A'dou's age and experience far outstripped theirs. Batman and the other "no-kill" heroes, once they grew old, all ended up breaking their vows. Just like Poirot. In the end, Batman killed Joker with his own hands. Superman, too, once stepped into human wars and killed enemy soldiers.
Because whether Poirot or Batman, they all discovered the same truth: evil never ends, but their lives do. When they were young, they resisted killing, fearing they would lose control and fall. But when they grew old, it didn't matter anymore. Kill Joker? Batman himself would soon die anyway. There was no time left for "falling."
If Poirot and Batman could have stayed young forever, they would never have resorted to such extremes. But because they didn't have the time, they chose to wipe out evil directly, just to keep it from spreading further. They no longer had the strength to keep fighting.
When battling evil, heroes are also fighting against time. And in the end, they lose to time. That is the sorrow of heroes. It's the helplessness of standing against the world. Evil is endless. In the end, heroes must give up everything, even the principles they've clung to all their lives—their integrity, their kindness, their true hearts—until they themselves become beasts.
That's the real truth: it's the world's fault. Even heroes cannot change it. The greatness of humanity cannot triumph over endless evil. That is the sorrow of heroes, and the sorrow of all mankind.
But Liu A'dou was different. He didn't need to worry about such things. His mindset had long since shifted. Killing a few villains meant nothing to him. As long as Batman and the others never found out, it was fine. He still had to maintain the image of a hero in their eyes, after all.
"Don't run from your fate." That was the first thing Conan said to Haibara after finding her. And Haibara seemed to understand how she had to live in this cruel world. But her mind kept circling back—what exactly was Liu A'dou?
The police took brief statements and sent the hostages to the hospital for checkups. But they were stunned that Liu A'dou had talked the robbers into killing each other. Inspector Megure had been a cop for decades and had never seen such a thing. He thought it was excessive, but it wasn't his place to blame a hostage. And Liu A'dou hadn't broken any laws. They let him go.
Only Conan kept staring at him, convinced Liu A'dou was no good.
Liu A'dou returned to school with "Dr. Araide," Conan watching him the whole way.
At school, with Dr. Araide as his witness, Liu A'dou's absurd excuse about being kidnapped was accepted by the teachers. They let him stay in the infirmary to rest, under Dr. Araide's care.
"Really troubling you, Dr. Araide. You were supposed to be off today, and yet you had to come back to school. Sorry about that."
"Oh, it's fine. I've got plenty of free time anyway." Vermouth played the role of the kind-hearted doctor flawlessly. "But what about you? Are you really okay? The way you talked so much with those robbers today—it honestly shocked me." She was deeply curious about Liu A'dou. This young man had a tongue sharper than any blade.
"Why would I be afraid? What I'd really worry about is something happening to the gift I prepared for someone." Liu A'dou said, pulling out the crystal shoes meant for Sonoko.
The shoes were pale blue, carved entirely from a single flawless block of natural crystal. Even without light shining on them, they sparkled with a soul-stealing brilliance. Even Vermouth, with her broad experience, was stunned. At one glance she knew—these shoes were priceless, the kind of treasure only Cinderella's legend could compare to.
She never expected a high school student to produce something like this, let alone as a "gift." Were the high schoolers of this era all insane?
Her eyes couldn't leave the shoes. "This… is a gift?"
"Yeah. I asked someone for a favor, and this is my return gift."
"They're gorgeous. They must be incredibly expensive, right?" Vermouth probed cautiously.
"The crystal was given to me, and I just had it worked on. It's not expensive, just a token of thought." Liu A'dou said casually. "But I've always wondered—why is it that when the clock struck twelve, everything of Cinderella's disappeared, except the crystal shoes?"
"That's just a fairy tale. If you want logic, remember Snow White? She ate a poisoned apple and somehow just… choked? That wasn't exactly scientific either."
"Didn't think you were into fairy tales, Doc."
"I just know them," Vermouth replied. "These shoes—did you really make them yourself?"
"Of course. I can guarantee there's only one pair like this." Liu A'dou nodded. "Oh right, I need to have them come here at noon." He pulled out his phone. Before the explosion, he had already reclaimed all his phones. He quickly sent Sonoko and Ran a message.
Vermouth's curiosity only deepened. Just what kind of favor was worth such an extravagant gift? With his wealth, wit, and sheer audacity—backed by the sight of all those phones and now these crystal shoes—what could Liu A'dou possibly need help with? What could he not do himself?
By noon, Ran and Sonoko arrived. Sonoko spotted him and immediately teased, "I thought you wouldn't dare come back to school."
"How could I not? This morning I just got lazy and decided to take the bus, and somehow ended up in a hostage situation." Liu A'dou shrugged. "But I never break my word. Sonoko, this is for you." He handed her the shoes.
Then he gave Ran a card. "This is a lifetime membership card from FIFA. With this, you can enter any FIFA-organized match for free—including the World Cup. Plus, you can bring two guests."
Ran stared at the card uncertainly, almost unable to believe it.
Meanwhile, Sonoko caught sight of the crystal shoes. The dazzling glow nearly knocked her off balance. Her family was wealthy, sure, but even they had never been so extravagant as to make shoes out of pure crystal. She had never seen crystals this large before.
She kept staring until she swayed. Luckily, Ran quickly caught her. "What's wrong, Sonoko?"
Ran didn't have Sonoko's eye for detail—she only thought the shoes were beautiful, without grasping their true worth.
As for Sonoko, she recognized them for what they were because her older sister, Ayako, loved collecting crystals. Sonoko knew enough to see that these shoes were indeed crystal, and not just any kind—the rarest, most precious kind. A rich girl faced with someone even richer—Sonoko could hardly stand it.