Ritsu gently lifted Conan's lightweight body into his arms and looked toward the butler, Fumio.
"Is there a guest room or somewhere he can rest? He's got a severe cold and needs a place to lie down. Please lead the way."
"The guest room at the end of the second floor hallway is usually used for visitors. You can take him there," Koike replied.
Looking at the child, who was on the verge of losing consciousness, he asked with concern, "Officer, should I bring some ice packs or something to cool him down?"
"There's no need. I'll take care of it."
Ritsu then turned toward Heiji and reminded him with a frown,
"Don't overcomplicate the case. What if this wasn't actually a locked-room murder from the very beginning?"
Heiji froze for a moment. By the time he came back to his senses, Ritsu had already disappeared from sight.
'Was that... a hint? Did he see through my line of thinking?'
He had assumed this was a classic locked-room murder, that the culprit had used piano wire, fishing line, or something similar to return the key to the victim's pocket afterward.
'But if it wasn't a locked room... then how did the key get back?'
He lowered his head and thought carefully.
Earlier, he'd been too eager.
Too eager to surpass Shinichi, who was probably hiding somewhere near Ran.
Too eager to defeat the brilliant genius detective standing before him.
His impatience had driven the truth into a blind spot.
His eyes drifted toward the towering stack of books and the Western classical music that had been playing when they first entered the study.
Suddenly, he remembered a strange action Onizawa had taken earlier, walking back to the doorway and looking toward the desk.
He unconsciously retraced those steps. Standing at the doorway again, he looked toward the desk and replayed the scene in his mind.
'So that's how it was... The murderer used those two things to create the illusion that the victim was already dead when we entered.'
A smile crept onto Heiji's face.
He pulled the brim of his baseball cap around to the front. Now all he had to do was continue reasoning along this path.
The truth was almost within reach.
...
Meanwhile,
Inside the second-floor guest room, Ritsu was witnessing something that left even him utterly astonished.
He had never personally seen Shinichi shrink into a child nor had he witnessed Shiho becoming smaller.
But today...
He had the honor of watching the complete process of Conan transforming back into a high school student.
It looked like something straight out of a science fiction movie.
"...That's seriously terrifying. If a drug like this were mass-produced, the world's finished."
Opening the wardrobe nearby, Ritsu found a suitable change of clothes and tossed them onto the bed.
Afraid that Ran might arrive with a doctor at any moment, he gave the still-unconscious Shinichi a couple of shakes.
"Hey, Kudo! Wake up!"
Shinichi slowly opened his eyes. Seeing that it was Onizawa-sensei, he looked surprised.
"Sensei... I'm... not dead?"
"You're not dead. And you've returned to your original appearance. Hurry up and get dressed. If Ran comes in and sees you like this, your identity will be exposed."
Only then did Shinichi realize that his body had returned to normal.
Wasn't this exactly what he'd always wished for? ...Wait. Why had he suddenly changed back?
He hadn't taken any antidote at all.
"What are you spacing out for? Don't tell me you're too weak to put your clothes on and want me to do it for you?"
"N-No, I've got the strength. Sensei... could you step outside first?"
Shinichi felt incredibly embarrassed.
He had just realized he'd woken up completely naked. If someone else had seen him, that would've been the ultimate social death.
Ritsu could only head to the doorway and stand guard.
After waiting for what felt like forever, he wasn't sure whether Shinichi had been struggling to get dressed or simply admiring his long-lost reflection in the mirror, Shinichi finally came out.
Without another word, Ritsu grabbed him by the arm and led him downstairs. As they walked, he asked,
"Anywhere else hurting?"
"My body's still a little weak. It's probably because of the bad cold..."
Shinichi wiped the sweat from his forehead before continuing,
"Sensei, the most important thing right now is solving the case. I already know who the murderer is, I just haven't found the decisive piece of evidence yet."
"The decisive evidence is already on the murderer."
Ritsu continued walking.
"Come on. Right now, what you should be worrying about isn't the case. It's figuring out how you're going to explain to Mouri-san where you've been all this time."
Only after hearing those words did Shinichi's sluggish, fever-ridden brain finally remember.
Ever since they parted at Tropical Land, he had never once stood before Ran as Shinichi again.
'Seriously... I've been Conan for so long that it feels like I've always been by her side.'
"...Yeah. I really do have a lot I want to tell her. Sensei... could you help support me? My legs are still a little weak."
"Of course."
Supporting Shinichi down the stairs, Ritsu returned to the crime scene. There, he found Heiji already presenting his deductions.
And he was on exactly the right track.
'As expected, he's a smart one. A small hint was all he needed to uncover the truth.'
"You're saying my mother is the murderer? That's impossible!"
Tsujimura Takayoshi refused to believe it.
His own mother killing his father? That was the kind of absurd plot that only happened in television dramas.
Kimie instinctively touched the key in her pocket. After confirming it was still there, she calmed herself and said,
"Hattori-kun, I invited you here to solve the mystery, not to frame me for the crime. We entered the study together, and my husband was still alive at the time.
Mouri-san and that little boy with the cold can both testify to that."
Heiji withdrew his gaze and confidently slipped both hands into his pockets.
"You're right. When we entered the room, the victim was indeed still alive."
"He was alive?"
Kimie let out a laugh instead of becoming angry. "Are you saying I murdered my husband right in front of all of you?"
"As long as you'd already given the victim sleeping pills beforehand, all you had to do was pretend to wake him up while secretly stabbing him with the poisoned needle."
Heiji blinked.
Those were... exactly the words he'd been about to say.
Turning toward the doorway, he saw a young man in a blue suit leaning casually against the doorframe.
Kudo Shinichi.
'So it really was him. He really has been staying by Ran's side all this time. Then my earlier deduction was correct...
The reason Kogoro transformed from the Sleeping Fool into the Sleeping Detective was because Kudo had been secretly solving the cases from behind the scenes.'
"Kudo-kun!"
Takagi cried out in surprise.
Ritsu noticed movement coming from the entrance hall and spoke up.
"Hey, Kudo. Mouri-san will be back with the doctor any second. Why don't you get yourself examined first?"
"No need, I feel much better than before."
The moment those words left his mouth, Ran hurried in, dragging a doctor behind her. Then... her eyes met a pair of familiar blue eyes.
The instant she clearly saw his face... she almost thought she was dreaming.
'Shinichi...
Shinichi... he's really standing in front of me... It's not a dream.
Finally... it's really not a dream anymore.'
Feeling that the two of them deserved some privacy, Ritsu leaned into the room and called to Heiji,
"The deduction's all yours. Do your best, hot-blooded detective."
"H-Hot-blooded detective?"
Heiji blinked twice.
The description actually suited him surprisingly well.
At the very least, receiving even a single word of acknowledgment from Onizawa... didn't feel bad at all.
Now, it was time to expose the murderer's sleight of hand.
Ritsu quietly closed the door.
He gave Shinichi a light pat on the back before pulling the sweating doctor toward the entrance. Smiling politely, he took out two banknotes from his wallet.
"I'm sorry, Doctor. Your services won't be needed after all."
"Huh? But... I didn't even do anything. I can't accept your money."
"Then consider it your taxi fare and compensation for making the trip. Thank you for coming."
"Haha... you're far too polite. In that case, I'll be on my way."
After the doctor left, Ritsu leaned against the door with his arms folded across his chest.
Listening to the voices inside, he slowly raised his head toward the orange-red evening sky in the distance. A heavy sigh escaped his lips.
Watching those two together filled him with an inexplicable sense of guilt, as though he himself were the one responsible for keeping them apart all this time.
Even though APTX4869 had successfully saved a life, he couldn't bring himself to feel happy about it.
And when his own turn came...
How was he supposed to explain everything to them?
---
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