Conan ran as fast as his tiny legs carried him, the thoughts raced a thousand miles an hour, particularly for the wellbeing of his friends, his newly formed family and most importantly—Ran.
He hoped that she was well—unharmed by the condition of this crumbling building and uprising mayhem. Conan yelped as he stumbled, the torch light of his wrist wasn't bright enough to illuminate the entire hallway, and yet he surged forward, his mind whirling with thoughts of who—who had the audacity to blow up an establishment filled with innumerable amount of precious lives, and why—for what possible reason.
He had already ruled out the possibility of Kid arranging such chaos, the only explosive he was known to use were smoke bombs, and they were considerably harmless compared this catastrophic—
"Ow!" Conan muttered as his nose hit the ground. Up ahead, Megure-Keibu stopped in his track, his gaze falling on the little boy, and without a moment of hesitation he charged back to pick him up, tucking Conan under his arm as he carried him, steps behind Nezumi-Keibu who shouted at them to hurry.
Conan frowned at the speed of the old man, his cane barely touching the ground as he powered through the darkened corridor without the poor light of the boy's watch as if the layout of this building was engrained behind his eyelids.
Almost automatically Conan's head shot up at Megure-Keibu. His expression was tight, full of concern as his gaze steadily glanced back. Conan followed his gaze, behind him he could see nothing but a vast of hollowness instead of the troubled expression of his favourite officers, even the cheeky expression of the wannabe magician was nowhere to be found.
"Nee, Keibu—"
"We can't afford to stop here!" Megure's grip on him tightened as his face hardened. "Satō and Takagi are reliable officers. They will find their way out. I'm sure."
Conan nodded, his eyes lingered at the darkened corridor behind him before his gaze wandered at Nezumi-Keibu-ho, somehow the entire situation didn't make as much sense as it should. For a someone, who had recently remained anonymous, Snake was increasingly becoming notorious—not to mention that his adopted persona assumed the personality of blood thirsty killer rather than a thief.
Conan exhaled from his nose and flipped every single detail he had noticed during the event over his head until his eyes shifted from the ground onto the green icon of the emergency exist shining brightly at the end of the corridor. Conan's face automatically lit up and a flood of relief cruised through him until he noticed flashes of orange fielding inside his vision.
Conan recognised the uniform. The rescue team must have commenced with the search of injured persons inside this vast, crumbling building. His eyes strayed toward the stretcher carried out of the main hall towards the exit. Conan's eyes lingered for a moment on the stained white fabric peeking out from the elastic restrains binding the injured body. His brows furrowed.
Slowly, Megure-Keibu released Conan onto the ground before he wiped the beads of sweat glistening on his forehead with handkerchief, walking toward the figure standing on the side of the manoeuvring workers.
Nakamori didn't notice Megure-Keibu's approach. His gaze was pointedly fixated at stretcher slowly disappearing from sight until the inspector of the first division grabbed him by the shoulder. Bewildered, Nakamori turned around as his eyes fastened on Megure-Keibu, whose brows continued to furrow.
"Is something the matter?"
At the question Nakamori's eyes immediately wandered toward the exit. "Well, yes." Suddenly his brows knitted together harshly, almost in disbelieve. His uneasy eyes settled on Megure-Keibu, whose stern expression remained unchanged.
"What is it?"
"It seems that. . .Kid's identity has been finally revealed."
"What?" Megure snapped and his eyes narrowed distrustfully, almost automatically his hand reached out to pinch Nakamori's cheek tightly and instead of grasping a peeled mask, the inspector's cheeks reddened. Megure-Keibu's eyes widened. "Is that the truth? that's great news!"
Nakamori only nodded and Conan couldn't help but noticed that he seemed strangely dejected than overjoyed, and he wasn't far off the mark when inspector muttered quietly under his breath, "I can't seem to think so."
Conan stared at the inspector, slowly examining him as he asked, "Did something happen?"
Their heads turned towards him, and Nakamori's lips twitched into a thin smile and yet the young boy could see the hurt and tiredness settling on every crease of his face.
"Conan-kun," Nakamori suddenly called, his gaze held the faint glow of embers instead of the fiery glare he usually adopted. He sounded so abnormally subdued, Conan could hardly believe it was Nakamori speaking in front of him. It was almost as if his vigour and previous excitement dissipated into thin air.
Conan gazed at him sceptically. "Yes?"
"Try to live an honest life. . .with a purpose."
Stuffing his hand into his pocket, Nakamori walked away, leaving a dumbfounded Conan in his wake. Slowly, Conan turned around until Megure-Keibu grabbed him by his hand and marched towards the exit.
"Come on, let's go."
Droplets of sweat trickled down the side of Reika's tremble, her eyes glued on her favourite handgun clenched between Tachibana's hand, its long nose pointed at her.
"I seem to remember that you fuddled my plans as well." Her lips twitched into a cruel smile as her index finger gently tapped the trigger. "It might not be such a bad idea. This place will burn to pieces either way. What will a burned piece of tape do?"
Reika wetted her lips as she steadily gazed at her former colleague before her eyes shifted toward her fallen comrade, crumbled on the ground. Her voice resonated in the air before she could think otherwise. "Then go ahead."
Tachibana's brow shot up, quite surprised, and Reika prodded forward as she tilted her head and smirked, tried her best to feel as confident as she appeared.
"Taken aback?" she asked, raising a brow, deliberate and cunning. "I thought it's natural for a predator to hunt its injured prey? I'm merely prepared for what's to come—"
The sudden burst of laughter from Tachibana startled her enough for her to halt in her steps. The smile curling onto her lips was too sharp for Reika's liking and she rubbed her palms against the fabric of her skirt, overcome with a sudden swell of nervousness she hadn't experienced for long time.
Slowly, Tachibana shook her head once her laughter dissipated. "You could have fooled me for a moment. You must be quite stricken to bluff like this—"
"Aren't these words directed at yourself?" her tongue suddenly felt thick and heavy inside her mouth, almost as rough as sandpaper as she swallowed. "Did you honestly believe that I would aligned my beliefs with yours?"
"Of course not. I merely coerced you to agree. My primary intent was to unarm you. I don't have a need for you any longer—"
"Then what are you waiting for? Shoot already." She said, laying all her cards bare and risked revealing the only conclusion, she arrived at since Tachibana's appearance. "You won't do it—not until you can guarantee with absolute certainty that these surveillance cameras aren't working."
The face of her former colleague bristled, her eyebrows knitted harshly, and Reika figured she guessed right. Her gaze wandered at the ceiling, relieved that they were inside its field of vision, before her eyes searched out Hondo, silently expressing her gratitude for his meticulous work in arranging them in such position, before Tachibana's voice pulled her out of her thoughts.
"I guess, you caught me. I'm not entirely sure whether the footage survives the next explosion. I much rather liked you to attack me out of desperation, so I could land in another self-defence than play with the possibility of being charged with murder," she lowered her gun and shrugged casually, her hand reaching behind her head to adjust the top of her bun as she turned her back towards and walked down the corridor.
Reika watched sceptically as she hesitated, feeling more and more likely a fly caught in a web with a spider slowly nearing her, its fangs ready to devour her whole. Longingly, her gaze wandered toward Hondo, his Eagle trapped under his body. She stole a glance at the person walking ahead of her, before she quickly squatted down and noiselessly swiped the gun from underneath his arm.
She threw a lingering look at him before she followed her former colleague. The gun burned in her hand and her finger curled around the trigger. Her temperature rose and her hand sweated, taking in a deep breath, her gaze wandered upwards, feeling the weight of a thousand eyes on her, and she wondered how exactly Hondo was able to pull the trigger so flawlessly.
Reika briefly shut her eyes, tried to remember the layout of the building as they followed along the length of the corridor.
She had to get out of here somehow.
Kaito could barely see in front of him as he sprinted down the corridor, whilst he thought about the transmitter he crushed under his foot not too long ago. For some time, his mind was whirling with suspicion and half-baked theories, yet none of them remotely explained how Snake possibly knew his identity, so Kaito figured that he probably didn't.
His little show must have provoked enough suspicion for Snake to have kept an eye on him. But with the appearance of Kid, he couldn't help but wonder whether the suspicion had abated or intensified.
In his mind there was only one way to find out.
Hastily, Kaito jumped up the stairs and reached for his phone. So far, he hadn't received any notifications from Jii-chan since the black-out and from one look at his unlocked screen, it seemed to remain so. Kaito blew the air from his cheeks whilst he contemplated the odds of setting his dummy free. Vehemently, he shook his head as his finger punched the number of Jii-chan's newly acquired disposable phone, yet he was only directed toward voicemail. Exhaling deeply, Kaito drove his fingers over his hair. He had no clue whether the gem was stolen—whether his mom escaped—whether the entire heist was a success.
Kaito could only sigh in relieve when his phone vibrated in his hand. Quickly, he swiped to unlock his phone and pressed onto the message.
"Worst case scenario."
Kaito's heart sunk as he pressed the call button again. This time Jii-chan answered, his voice barely above a whisper. He must be surrounded by people. Kaito wetted his lips and asked the question that had been on his mind since he found himself suddenly surrounded by the officers. "What happened?"
"I-I'm not entirely sure but. . ."
"But what?" he stressed, nerves on edge. Jii-chan never sounded so uneasy before.
". . .the cover is blown. Oku-sama appears to be gravely injured. Kaito—wherever you are—get out of there quickly. We need to think of a counter-measurement to—"
"I know." Kaito cut in as his mind raced with possible solutions that were few and far between. His mother was dressed as Kid and most likely was in the possession of the gem. In the eyes of the public and the officers she was without a doubt a renowned thief condemned to spent years in prison as a punishment. How could he possibly save her from that?
With a sinking heart, Kaito realised that he was quickly running out of options.
"Jii-chan, get rid of the gem." His voice sounded more determined and confident than Kaito felt at the moment, and yet he reminded himself to keep up his poker face. He figured he needed to game up his showmanship to get out of this pinch. "We might need to change Kid's image into a heartless monster."
Kaito could hear Jii-chan's protest under the ensuing silence, yet what choice did they have other than risking it all?
With sweaty palms and quickening heartbeat, the call ended.
Kaito could only pray that nothing else would go wrong as he ran down the corridor.
His entire plan was disintegrating.
Kōnosuke Jii ended the call and stepped out of the shadows.
The streets were crowded by attendees, most of them injured and checked by the paramedics on site whilst the majority of the onlookers flocked around to catch glimpses of Kid around the burning building.
Kōnosuke was relieved to noticed that none of them caught sight of Oku-sama. The police intended to keep her whereabout a secret whilst she was looked over. He peered from a distance and mentally prepared himself as he strode forward. He caught the gaze of one of the officers and introduced himself. He played the card of a friend who saw someone he knew carried out on stretcher. The officer's eyes lit up regarding the prospect of identifying Kid with a name. Kōnosuke waited patiently whilst the officer exchanged a quick conversation over the radio but had not anticipated for him to suddenly reach out pull his face.
Kōnosuke endured the pain with a silent grumble under the officer's sheepish look before he mentioned him to follow along until they reached an area fully guarded with patrol cars. He felt the anticipation gathering inside his chest, his heart seemed to beat louder by the second—for a moment he feared whether they could hear it. . .
He took a deep breath and tried to calm his nerves as he caught the glimpse of a couple of paramedics from afar. They had draped a long blanket over Oku-sama. The white of her garment could barely be seen. To any passers-by she would have seemed like any other injured person. Yet unbeknownst to them, Kōnosuke was not any other person. He was an accomplice and understood the situation they were currently in, and would no condition cut the last string that could bring her and Kaito toward salvation.
Kōnosuke took a deep breath once he was near. His eyes lingered on the bandage wrapped across her face and his lips unturned almost automatically. He could only hope that none of these injuries would leave any permanent marks of any shape or form.
"And? Do you recognise her?" someone from his right asked as they neared him. It was Nakamori-Keibu as Kōnosuke expected, nor any other officer who were attending the event. They were dressed in their standard uniform. He figured, they must have arrived on the scene as reinforcement. Kōnosuke averted his eyes from him and directed his attention back at the injured woman. His breath hitched, and he found he didn't need to fake the wet sob coming from him, as he stumbled forward in a pathetic way to hugged her, as he sobbed like father losing his own flesh and blood.
"Of course, I know her!" he wailed as he glanced at the officers with tears glinting inside his eyes whilst his brushed gently his hand over the spot of her right pocket before he pushed his body away from her to stare objectively over her face. "S-she was like a daughter to me!"
Kōnosuke buckled at the sight of her face and crumpled, his head buried gently on top of her shoulder whilst his hand softly glided over her chest pocket to grasp her face as he cried, openly. "So young and energetic when I first met you. . .and now this!"
"Oh, what tragedy!" the tears persisted under his muffled cries and Kōnosuke sneaked a peek to glance the officers uncomfortably looking at the ground, yet one of the paramedic seemed to bore holes into his head as if she could barely keep herself from throwing him away from the injured body, and so he leaned back, hovering over her body as his other hand slid toward her left pocket before it rested on her arm, as he cried. "What catastrophe!"
Swiftly his hand sneaked under the covers to retrieve the necklace he felt moments prior as he ignored the paramedics polite remainder that Oku-sama was not life-threatening injured, but Kōnosuke played on deaf ears as he canted his body back, his eyes streaked red whilst he admitted, quite unrelatedly, that he was the godfather of her son.
The officer nodded empathetically, albeit somewhat impatient. His foot tapped the ground restlessly as he asked. "Could you identify her for us please?"
Kōnosuke nodded and straightened his back, wiping his face with a handkerchief before he slid the gem underneath the tissue and stuffed it inside his pocket without much attention. "She was wife of my late friend and former employer, and the mother of my godson Kuroba Kaito."
"And what's her name?"
"That would be Kuroba Chikage."
The officer nodded as he wrote down the information, and from the intensity of his furrowed brows Kōnosuke was a hundred percent sure he wasn't aware of the relevancy of this, and for once he was glad it wasn't the task force taking care of Oku-sama—especially, Nakamori.
His mind would have raced with a thousand theories at this revelation.
Kōnosuke disguised his sigh into another sob when the officer placed a hand on him, and he quickly excused himself after they exchanged their contact information.
Kōnosuke desperately needed some alone time to dispose of this gem.