Friday, February 22
At exactly 2:00 p.m., Ritsu received a special invitation from Mio Tokiwa, the chairwoman of the Tokiwa Group. Driving his luxury car, he arrived at the parking lot of the Twin Tower Building in Nishitama City.
Truthfully, he was rather curious why Mio had invited him. Inviting a police officer to the opening ceremony of a building like this always felt somewhat out of place.
Besides, he was a detective who frequently appeared at murder scenes. To some people, having someone like him attend would hardly be considered a good omen.
He hadn't even had the chance to properly admire what was currently Japan's tallest skyscraper before a familiar voice called out from behind him.
"Huh? It's Onizawa-nii!"
"Onizawa-nii, what are you doing here?"
Ritsu turned around helplessly. The guest list clearly hadn't included the Detective Boys, so why were they here?
More than helplessness, however, he felt wary. This time, he was carrying out a mission for the Organization, which meant there was bound to be some degree of danger. This was no place for children. More importantly, he didn't want those two little grown-ups getting involved.
He had been about to ask why they were here, but after spotting Agasa, he immediately understood. They had probably been camping nearby and, on their way back to Tokyo, noticed the Twin Tower Building and stopped by to take a look from outside.
"I received an invitation from the chairwoman of the Tokiwa Group, so I came."
Genta said enviously, "That's so nice! I want to go inside and look around too!"
At the same time, a dark green taxi pulled up in front of the Twin Tower Building. Ritsu turned to look, and the moment the first passenger stepped out of the back seat, he froze.
Brown wavy hair...
That silhouette gradually overlapped with someone else's in his memory. Even after she turned around, he couldn't immediately snap out of it.
Sonoko brushed back her newly permed hair. Noticing him staring, she met Ritsu's gaze and smiled.
"It's Onizawa-san! Is it because I got a new hairstyle that you didn't recognize me?"
Coming back to his senses, Ritsu smiled.
"So it's Suzuki-san. I was just wondering who this beautiful lady was."
Haibara narrowed her eyes as she looked up at Ritsu.
'Has this guy seen what I looked like after I returned to my original appearance?'
Obviously, Conan had never told Haibara that Onizawa was actually Augier. Their communication as teammates had completely broken down.
Looking up with his little head tilted back, Conan asked,
"Ran-nee, what are you all doing here?"
Ever since Kogoro learned that Conan was actually Shinichi, his attitude toward him had changed ever so slightly. Straightening his tie theatrically, he cleared his throat.
"Ahem. Here's the thing. The owner of this building, Mio Tokiwa, was my junior back in college. Before the grand opening tomorrow, she specially invited me for a private tour."
Ran, who had been suspicious of her father all along, couldn't help exposing him.
"I only found out after I kept questioning him until he confessed."
"'Questioning'? 'Confessed'? Isn't that a bit of an exaggeration?"
Conan grinned.
"So you all came because Ran wanted to keep an eye on you, Uncle."
Kogoro shot the little brat a vicious glare.
'One of these days, during a case, I'm going to wake up on purpose instead of sleeping and scare the life out of him.'
Ritsu's gaze settled on Conan, thinking to himself,
'Good luck with that. Kogoro-san already knows who you really are. Are you sure it's a good idea to keep pushing your luck like this?'
"Excuse me. Are you Kogoro-san and Onizawa-san?"
"Yes."
A beautiful young woman in a purple business uniform smiled politely.
"Hello. I'm Chinami Sawaguchi, Tokiwa-san's secretary. The chairwoman is currently entertaining guests, so please allow me to escort you to the exhibition rooms first."
The Twin Tower Building consisted of two towers, designated Tower A and Tower B.
Tower A was entirely office space for employees, with every floor above the 31st belonging exclusively to the Tokiwa Group.
As Ritsu observed the interior decor, he couldn't shake the feeling that the design style looked oddly familiar. After roughly estimating the floor area of each level, he couldn't help thinking that the Tokiwa Group's financial strength was nothing to scoff at. The rental income from leasing office space alone must have been enormous.
"The exhibition rooms are on the second and third floors. Please follow me."
Led by Sawaguchi, everyone arrived at the exhibition area.
Calling it an exhibition room was actually an understatement, it looked more like a technology expo for gaming software. Numerous inventions were on display, leaving Agasa visibly excited.
"Welcome, everyone. I'm Hara Yoshiaki, Executive Director and Chief Engineer of the Tokiwa Group. It's a pleasure to meet you."
The moment Ritsu heard the voice, he turned around.
Compared to the last time they had met, Yoshiaki's appearance had barely changed. Even those familiar round-framed glasses were exactly the same.
Unfortunately, such an outstanding talent was destined to die at the hands of the Organization.
The Detective Boys gathered around a large machine resembling a gaming capsule, examining it curiously from every angle.
Ayumi touched one of the handles and asked, "What is this? Is it a video game?"
"Want to give it a try?"
After noticing the children, Yoshiaki hurried over and crouched down with a smile.
"This computer can predict what you'll look like ten years from now."
'Predict what someone would look like in ten years?'
The corner of Ritsu's mouth twitched.
He had absolutely no interest in something like that. Ever since taking the incomplete APTX 4869, his appearance had already been permanently frozen at this age.
"Ten years later? That's amazing!"
"Professor, let's try it!"
Ritsu crouched down and looked at Conan and Haibara beside him.
"So? Interested in giving it a shot? Who knows? It might even produce a picture of Kudo."
Conan realized that his sensei really did have a wicked sense of humor sometimes. Giving him a deadpan look, he muttered,
"Heh... Why don't you try it? Maybe the disguise on your face won't work."
'A disguise... on his face?'
Haibara frowned at Conan.
"What do you mean by that?"
Only then did Conan remember that he had never told Haibara about Onizawa's true identity. He was about to explain when he noticed Ran and Sonoko sitting down in the machine to try it out.
'Ran ten years from now... I really want to see that.'
Without another word, Conan quietly sneaked over toward Ran, leaving behind an awkward-looking Ritsu and a deeply suspicious Haibara.
To be honest, Ritsu didn't want to reveal his identity to Haibara.
After all, when he had been Augier, he had accumulated quite a debt from all the teasing he'd done with his mouth.
'Why did I think it was funny back then and deliberately mess with her? Now I can't even bring myself to admit it...'
Haibara, however, had no intention of letting him off the hook. With her hands on her hips, she asked coldly,
"Go on. What kind of disguise are you wearing on your face?"
"I..."
Pretending he hadn't heard her, Ritsu stood up and walked toward the machine. He even waved to her with a smile.
"Come on, Haibara-chan. Let's go have some fun."
Haibara glared unhappily at Onizawa for changing the subject.
'Just wait. Later, I'm going to have a long talk with Edogawa. What exactly has he been hiding from me?'
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