Due to a trap set by Rum, the second-in-command, Furuya Rei's undercover disguise was exposed to the organization. As a result, they were out to kill him, ready to strike, regardless of what he might say. He was on the run, with several years' worth of undercover investigation ruined. His goal of avenging the death of his comrade fallen on the line of duty, Scotch, was now a long gone dream. Almost ready to give up, none of Edogawa Conan or Akai Shuichi's attempts to convince or motivate him to pursue his mission had proven to be fruitful.

As he was on the run through the dark, unwelcoming streets of Beika District, he finally found a safe place to hide with the assistance of Conan. He was breathing irregularly, exhausted from the chase given by the organization's lackeys under Vodka's command. At this desperate moment, the person that he previously tried to hand over to the organization, Miyano Shiho, stood before him inside the dimly-lit room and looked at him with a neutral, almost unfazed look. Rei looked at her and let out a surprised gasp, before quickly regaining his composure and adopting a sour, cynical expression.

"Haha... So now, even ghosts are after me, huh...? I've been surrounded by a lot of them these last few days. May as well let the Hell Angel's daughter take me to the afterlife."

"As much as I'd like to, I'm not a ghost. I'm a real, live person."

"Enough with the jokes... I saw you die in that explosion on the Bell Tree Express back then..."

"That wasn't me, and they didn't die. We had expected them to make their move on me after my picture got leaked on the internet, so we took some countermeasures. Apart from the victim of that case, no one died back then."

"Hahaha... Look at me... Listening to the rambling of a phantom..."

Shiho took a step forward, then another one. Mechanically, with no hesitation. As she found herself just in front of Rei, she quickly moved her hand, with a swift and impactful motion, which landed on the blonde man's cheek. Rei stood in front of her, unable to process what had just happened. Someone just hit him. Him. One of the few men at the top of the NPA. Zero. Without any hesitation. Without any remorse.

He set his eyes on the young lady in front of him, who returned his look with an annoyed and slightly irritated glare.

"Do you still think I'm a ghost now?"

"You... you hit me..."

"And I'll hit you again if the need arises."

"Do...do you despise me that much...? For trying to hand you over to the organization...?"

"Right now, I am simply disappointed."

"Oh...?"

"Your undercover alias was busted because of a trap set by the Organization. You have lost your only chance to make them go down, and even in the case that you had some delicate intel on one of their members as insurance, that intel will now be considered as fake and never believed by the other members. You are now back to square one and unable to move forward, while they are still free to commit to their business without fearing anything."

With a slightly surprised face, Rei looked at the young, brown-haired girl as she kept on talking.

"...You're probably thinking some nonsensical stuff like this now, right?"

"Heh... You're almost reading my mind... I didn't know you were also in charge of their supernatural power research projects..."

"Enough with the sarcasm! Do you really think you can give up like that?! What will become of all the people who have died until now?! What will become of those who are still hiding from them?!"

"I have given everything I could for that mission! Even if we started another undercover operation and put someone on it, it would take too many years to show any results, and there is no guarantee that they would succeed!"

"Is that the extent of the NPA's will to fight?! Are you saying that you are just going to give up like the FBI?!"

"The FBI has nothing to do with this!"

"It has everything to do with this! Both of your agencies have spent years trying to fight them, have sacrificed innocent people for the benefits of your missions, and when a strand of hardship comes to stand in your way, you both run away with your tail between your legs!"

"Do you think that makes me happy?! Do you think I'm rejoicing that all my hard work was annihilated in the blink of an eye?! But look at the reality, Sherry! I've done all I could, and devoted all of my being to taking them down! But I couldn't do it! You yourself know best how dangerous and sharp they are! I've reached my limit!"

Shiho just stood there, eyes in shock, when Rei's voice considerably dropped in volume.

"...And most of all... I'm tired. I've had enough of seeing people around me die, one after another, all for the sake of enforcing justice. Just let me rest already..."

Rei, tired from the dispute, tried to lean his back on the wall and sit down, but Shiho, on the verge of boiling up, moved her right hand and with another quick and powerful motion, landed it on his other cheek. Rei, once again taken by surprise, fell clumsily to the ground, making a quiet noise muffled by the rustling of his clothes in the process. He carefully put his hand on his cheek to have a feel at the pain that was coursing through the flesh. Unable to take it anymore, he ultimately let out his anger once more.

"You slapped me twice! Nobody has done that to me before, and yet...!"

"What are you weeping about?! I warned you that if the need arose, I'd do it again!"

Shiho then leaned down slightly, and forcefully grabbed the collar of the blonde man's shirt, before standing back up and pinning him with her extended hands against the wall behind him.

"Now stand up! Stand up, Furuya Rei!"

"..."

"You've been fighting for what you think was right ever since you were little! Even if you think that's not the case anymore, you'll always carry the hopes and regrets of the organization's countless victims on your back! What has become of the young boy who never backed down?! What has become of his will to never lose?!"

Rei motionlessly stood on his spot, looking absent-mindedly at the girl talking to him.

"If one blunder was enough for people to give up, then researchers would simply not exist. My family and I wouldn't have become part of them, and nothing of this would've probably happened. But the world isn't a simple place that works out just like that! You may say that it's impossible for you to fight back, but that's only if you stop breathing! As long as the red blood in your body continuously runs through your veins..."

Those last words caught Rei's attention. They weren't the same, and nonetheless very close to the words that, long ago, were said to him by a person very close to him. The context was different, and so was the message intended to be conveyed. But the similarity between the lines, and the fact that both women said them in an equally similar way, slowly rekindled a small ember of willpower that was on the verge of going extinct.

That's right. They weren't all dead. At the very least, one of them was still alive, just in front of him, putting herself in danger, and she was the one trying to encourage him.

Rei suddenly let out a small chuckle, taking the brown-haired lady in front of him by surprise and making her stop in her speech. He quietly chortled to himself one more time, then slowly rubbed his fingers against his cheeks to try and make the pain go away. After a few seconds, he finally put on his first genuine smile.

"Good grief... You really can't fight blood, huh…?"

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing... but you are right... I shouldn't be that quick to give up. Especially when the one that should be protected is willingly putting herself in danger. I nearly lost my sense of duty for a second."

As Shiho slowly removed her hands from the blonde man's shoulders, the latter leaned himself better against the wall, and took a deep breath in order to recompose himself. The organization's henchmen were, in all likelihood, still loitering in the vicinity, and it was a matter of time before they started poking around this building.

"We need to find a way to escape this place before they come here."

"There's a simple way. Look down."

Shiho pointed her finger towards the ground, revealing a trapdoor embedded in the ground that Rei immediately took notice of.

"This path is connected to another building not far from here. My friend should be waiting at the exit with an inconspicuous vehicle in order to escape."

"Now, look at that... Aren't you well-prepared?"

"If that wasn't the case, do you think I would've escaped their eyes until now?"

"T-That's true..."

Shiho slowly leaned down and pulled on the trapdoor's handle with all her strength, opening the passageway with a loud noise. Rei watched her from the wall he was leaning on, as she circled around the raised trapdoor and walked down the stairs, back turned to him, before being interrupted by the NPA agent.

"Just like your mother, you probably saved my life today. Who knows, you might actually be a real angel."

Shiho stopped in her tracks, pondering for a short moment before giving her reply.

"Stop the hollow complimenting. Even though I don't work for the organization anymore, I am still a despicable person who, even now, foolishly tries to rebel against the stream of time by fiddling with poisons, and whose past experiences led to the death of countless people. I am no different than a witch."

"...Well, if that makes you feel better, I do know for a fact that fairy tales can also feature good-natured witches."

"Oh? Weren't you the one who just told me to look at reality? I wonder if that was my imagination."

"That's... err..."

Shiho quietly chuckled, before resuming where she left.

"...However... at the very least, even if I'm a witch..."

"...?"

"I know that, instead of a thousand..."

Shiho slowly turned back, so that she could look directly at Rei while she finished her sentence. As she did so, for the first time of the day, she showed a warm smile reminiscent of her late mother's, that perfectly complemented the calm and peaceful eyes she inherited from her late father.

"I have only one face!"

Upon hearing that, Rei's expression softened as well, and he returned it with a reassuring, yet confident smile of his own, before heading towards the trapdoor himself. He remembered the words she gave him. The words that would most likely become his motivation from now on.

'Stand up, Furuya Rei.'

Furuya Rei, huh... Where did she get that information? Either she learned it from that young boy, or from Akai Shuichi...

Meanwhile, Shiho was leading the way to the exit, smiling knowingly about the small hint she gave to the newly motivated detective with her last sentence.