The burly man with spiky, dyed-blond hair kept his right hand hidden behind his back, pretending he wasn't carrying a weapon as he cautiously made his way downstairs.
His name was Hidemitsu Kono, a senior member of the Nisen-kai's Tokyo branch. Precisely because he held that rank, he was authorized to carry a firearm.
Kono had come to Beika Library because he had secretly been running a heroin trafficking operation behind the Nisen-kai's back.
After receiving Tsugawa's call, he had been forced to crawl out of his warm bed in the middle of the night to help catch the rats.
With blood already on his hands, he didn't care in the slightest about killing anyone who got in the way of his business.
His finger rested on the trigger the entire time.
The moment he spotted a rat, he'd simply draw his gun and shoot.
"Hey! What's the point of hiding? If you're a man, come out and face me!"
The first floor was shrouded in complete darkness. He couldn't even hear the voices of the men he'd brought with him. Growing increasingly wary, Kono deliberately taunted the unseen enemy.
"Or what? You're not even a man?! Huh?!"
Hidden in the darkness, Ritsu had already activated the night vision function built into his glasses.
He could see everything perfectly, especially Kono's right hand hidden behind his back. It practically screamed,
"Come on over. I've got a gun."
No wonder the Nisen-kai wasn't taken seriously by law enforcement agencies around the world. Their members really weren't the brightest.
Ritsu suddenly found himself wondering who had founded the Nisen-kai in the first place.
'What kind of person could gather so many idiots under one roof?'
He glanced at the unfortunate man named Nagai, the one he'd knocked unconscious with a punch that had sent two of his front teeth flying.
After searching the unconscious man's jacket pocket, he found a wallet. Inside were several coins.
A mischievous smile crossed Ritsu's face.
'Let's have a little fun with this Nisen-kai executive.'
Still shouting provocations into the darkness, Kono suddenly felt something smack him in the forehead.
Startled, he instinctively raised his right hand. Only after exposing the pistol he was holding did he realize his mistake, hurriedly hiding it behind his back again.
Watching the entire sequence, Ritsu nearly burst out laughing.
'How can someone be this stupid?'
After several more coins struck him from different directions, Kono began to panic.
'Can this rat actually see where I am?'
Finally realizing the other side might have night vision equipment, he abandoned all pretense. Drawing his pistol, he fired wildly into the darkness based purely on instinct.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Even Ritsu was startled by the reckless barrage. He immediately grabbed the unconscious Nagai by the ankle and dragged him toward the corner.
A bullet struck the exact spot where Nagai had been lying just moments earlier.
'Wow... He's ruthless enough to shoot his own teammate. And this moron is an executive?
The Nisen-kai is probably beyond saving.'
...
Meanwhile, the Detective Boys remained crouched near the staircase.
The gunshots had left them too frightened to go downstairs. They had instinctively lined up in a game of hawk catches chicks, Conan in front, Haibara bringing up the rear...
...except she stubbornly refused to hold Genta's hand, leaving him effectively "eliminated."
"Conan... what do we do now?"
Genta's stomach had already been growling. Now, after hearing gunfire, his legs had gone weak.
"Shh..."
Conan analyzed the situation calmly.
"If someone made the criminal fire blindly into the dark, it has to be Onizawa-sensei. He probably rushed here the moment my call got cut off."
Without realizing it, Conan had referred to Onizawa as Sensei.
The other three children were too terrified to notice.
Only Haibara, who had been quietly observing her lab rat, caught the key phrase.
'Sensei... So Kudo and Onizawa have that kind of relationship?'
...
Worried something might have happened to Onizawa, Takagi also rushed to Beika Library.
The instant he heard gunfire, his heart skipped a beat. Police officers didn't carry service weapons while off duty. Which meant, the person firing wasn't a police officer.
'This is bad!'
"Inspector Onizawa!!"
Takagi hurried into the pitch-black library, trying to locate both Onizawa and the gunman. Instead, he was met with a puzzled voice.
"Takagi? What are you doing here?"
Ritsu calmly disarmed the unconscious Kono, removing the pistol from his hand. Using his night vision glasses, he walked straight to the electrical panel and flipped the main breaker.
Click.
The entire first floor was instantly flooded with light.
Takagi stared blankly.
Inspector Onizawa stood there completely unharmed. Several unfamiliar men lay unconscious on the floor, their eyes rolled back.
"W-What... happened here?"
"Onizawa-nii!!"
"Inspector Onizawa!"
The Detective Boys immediately rushed downstairs and surrounded him.
Ayumi, who had been holding back her fear the entire time, finally burst into tears.
Without even bothering to explain things to Takagi first, Ritsu crouched down and comforted the frightened children.
At the same time, making sure Conan couldn't see, he shot him an especially fierce glare.
'Kudo... Why on earth did you bring a bunch of kids to investigate a case? Did you forget you're in a child's body now? You don't have any fighting ability!'
Then again...
'Even as Shinichi, you didn't exactly have much fighting ability either. Honestly, the world's greatest detective should really learn some martial arts for self-defense.'
"Inspector... are you really alright?"
"What? Were you hoping something happened to me?"
Takagi frantically shook his head like a bobblehead.
"No, no! I heard the gunshots and got worried! Oh, right, Inspector, did you find Tamada-san's body?"
Conan immediately answered in his childish voice.
"Officer Takagi! We found a dead man on top of the elevator! Is he the missing person you were looking for this afternoon?"
"I'll go investigate immediately!"
"Wait, Officer Takagi!"
Conan grabbed Takagi's pant leg with a smile.
"The bad library director is unconscious in the second-floor reading room. Don't forget to arrest him!"
"Ah... right! Okay!"
Ayumi and the others eagerly chimed in, talking over one another as they described all the crimes Tsugawa had committed.
There wasn't even a trace of the fear they'd shown moments ago.
'Children really did recover emotionally at lightning speed.'
Ritsu stood up.
His gaze settled on Haibara, who had lowered her head in thought.
'If Shiho had even half of Kudo's acting skills, I probably wouldn't have to worry about the Organization discovering her.'
The thought had barely crossed his mind before he abandoned it.
Because, Haibara suddenly ran over without warning and wrapped both arms tightly around Onizawa's leg. Then she burst into loud, heart-wrenching sobs.
The unexpected tears left Ritsu blinking in complete confusion.
'So you weren't deep in thought just now... You were working yourself up emotionally and getting the tears ready?!'
Wait, he had once revealed that Augier would become Akemi's fake husband. Now, under the identity of Onizawa, he was posing as Akemi's fake boyfriend.
Ritsu's mind raced.
He instantly understood Shiho's intentions.
'She's trying to find out whether Onizawa and Augier are the same person. Fine, I'll play along.'
"Um... Ojou-chan, are you okay?"
Putting two hundred percent of his acting ability into the performance, Ritsu hurriedly pulled a milk candy from his pocket.
Just like he'd done when comforting Conan before, he gently rubbed her head and smiled.
"Here, have a milk candy. Don't cry anymore."
Still sobbing loudly, Haibara carefully sensed the aura around him.
There was none of the Organization's oppressive presence. His voice was different from Augier's. Even the panicked expression looked genuine.
Still...
She couldn't reach a conclusion so quickly. She needed to remain wary of this police officer whose hair color matched Augier's.
Taking the milk candy, Haibara slapped away the hand ruffling her hair.
There was still another act left to perform.
She quickly hid behind Conan and said tearfully, "I... I want to go home..."
"Then how about I have Officer Takagi take all of you home?"
"...Mm."
"My house is 2-22 Beika Town."
Ritsu shifted his gaze toward Conan.
'Kudo should find that strange... Why would this transfer student be living at Agasa's house?'
Conan did indeed look puzzled.
But the thought running through his mind was something else entirely.
'Huh? She lives pretty close to my house.'
He never realized... that the address she had just given was Agasa's house.