Almost at the exact same hour, Shinichi made his way to Ekoda like he did three days ago. Since it was a Sunday, there were no worries about school. He especially didn't want to think about the tidal wave of tests and quizzes he was given in order to see if he was caught up on all the missed class time.
The agreed meetup location with Hakuba was at a junction in between Beika and Ekoda. Surely enough, Hakuba was already standing waiting with his signature pocket watch in hand.
"Ah, Kudo-kun. It's good to see you." He greeted as he flicked the watch close and slipped it back inside his coat.
"Hello, Hakuba-kun." Shinichi glanced around for suspicious individuals out of habit before continuing. "Did you have a place in mind where we could talk?"
"My house is nearby. If you don't mind, we can talk inside over coffee or tea."
Shinichi was pleasantly surprised by the other detective's offer, especially since he hadn't had much sleep lately. Hakuba's residence sat in a quiet neighborhood. The western style mansion resting behind a metal gate was a familiar setting to Shinichi.
After settling down in a pair of armchairs in the study room, Shinichi and Hakuba pulled out their respective materials necessary for the information exchange.
Taking a drink of his coffee, Shinichi began. "The data spreadsheet you arranged for me was incredibly helpful. Once again, I must thank you for doing such a tedious task on my behalf."
Hakuba lifted his laptop out of its case and set it on the table between them. "I take it that you made good use of it."
Shinichi nodded. "That's right. With it, I could easily cross reference it with another set of data I got. They seemed unrelated at first until I realized that the names and transaction dates on my set of files matched certain names on the trade documents I gave to you."
"So you found the real names behind the transactions?"
"Yes."
Setting aside his drink, Hakuba lifted the top of his computer. He took a few moments to enter the required passwords and pull up relevant files. "Please, continue. I'll have to note them down, just in case"
"Out of dozens of pseudonyms, I managed to trace them back to a list of individuals. Tetsuya Daichi, Phillip Fillsbury, Lucina Weisserman, Alicia Ann Collin, Louis Martin Boudreaux, Zhen Ying Qi, and Gregori Kristoph."
Hakuba's eyes darted up before returning to the screen. "Hold on, Kudo-kun. I think I've heard of their names somewhere before."
"I didn't have enough time to search about each individual. The web of alternate names in use is wider than I had expected."
"No need. Please take a look at this." Hakuba pivoted the laptop to show the screen to Shinichi.
Displayed on it were a collage of news article headlines from all across the world. From the few languages he could read, Shinichi understood that they were all announcing deaths and accidents.
"Drunk driving, suicide, and jaywalking. Each person you listed has died under one of these circumstances over the past few years." A pensive look crossed Hakuba's face.
Shinichi finished his cup and put it down with a clink. "Hakuba-kun, why do you have research done on them? Were they suspects in a case?"
"Actually, no. I was interested in the nature of their deaths. I had no idea they would be connected to illicit trade by using aliases."
On closer look, the photographs of the victims in the articles were professionally taken as if they were celebrities.
"Seems like they were people of considerable influence or wealth. Is there something linking their deaths that drew your attention then, Hakuba-kun?"
"Would you believe me if I said that they were all in fact assassinated?"
"I would." If these people appeared inside the files extracted from the Black Organization, Shinichi couldn't deny the possibility.
A year ago he would have tried his best to keep anyone from being involved with the crime syndicate. Now he was considerably more open about it. Shinichi needed as much aid as he could gather, but there were still precautions he had to make. Not everyone had the aptitude for chasing down criminals who could turn around and bite back at them viciously after any wrong moves.
Taking a deep breath, Shinichi prepared himself for the unbelievable story he was about to tell. "I promised that I would tell you about the top secret case I worked on. It began when I was with a friend at Tropical Land and I was a bit in over my head before I knew it… "
"...and thanks to that former organization scientist, the cure was synthesized quickly. My life has gone back to normal to some extent, but I will never forget the hell that I witnessed. So, here I am, trying my best to do what I can to rout any trace of that syndicate out of existence so nobody has to go through those injustices." He tried his best to keep names away from his story.
"..." Understandably, Hakuba stayed silent as he processed what Shinichi had just told him.
"A lot of good people were killed or had their lives ripped apart by those men in black. I consider myself very lucky to be able to live relatively normally after they've set their eyes on me."
"It was a lot more personal than I thought it was...I'm sorry if I made you feel obliged to tell me, Kudo-kun. My curiosity can get the better of me sometimes."
The brunet somehow laughed lightly after telling about his harrowing experience. "Consider me asking for your assistance as my payment. Now that you know about the existence of the Black Organization, I can consider you a trusted ally to my cause." It was oddly relieving to say that. He hadn't had the opportunity to say it often.
Hakuba smiled gingerly, not used to receiving direct praise from another detective. "Likewise." He straightened up to revert back to business mode. "Those deaths that we discussed earlier, there was a reason I knew about the fact that they were assassinations."
Shinichi's eyes darkened. He had a feeling that there was something ominous behind what Hakuba was about to reveal. "You mean it's part of an investigation you're working on?"
"Those assassinations were the works of a codenamed agent, Spider, or Gunter Von Goldberg II as he is known in public. The results of my research led me to conclude that this assassin is part of a larger group of criminals all working for an unknown goal."
"So, there is another one of them..." Shinichi swallowed anxiously when he understood that the blond was involved in the investigation of a criminal organization. The dangers that came with it were ingrained into him. "D-do they know about you looking into their affairs, Hakuba-kun?"
"With their resources, I would be more surprised if they didn't. I believe that my relationship with my father might be my saving grace. If Spider ardently aimed to kill me, he would anger a major figure in the Japanese police force and risk exposing the existence of his organization. Although there were some close calls4 on numerous occasions."
"I see. Then if the Black Organization had data related to the victims of another organization, then there must be more information related to other groups..." He began mumbling the rest of his sentence.
Hakuba asked with an intrigued tone. "Then how come you've never noticed the existence of a second organization?"
After a moment of silent thoughts, Shinichi shook his head. "In hindsight, I believed that they were keeping tabs on their enemies. The Black Organization didn't seem like the type that liked to share information networks and territories. After the takedown, the police reported an increase in criminal activities. Among those arrested, none of them had codenames so I thought they were small groups. With the Black Organization gone, a power vacuum has appeared and the criminal underworld is scrambling to fill in the gap. There wasn't enough information recovered from the hard drives yet to conclude that there exists another large group. I don't remember seeing any codenames."
"Which means that the one I'm chasing after has enough resources to evade and counter your group...So the data of Spider's victims were part of the Black Organization's own investigations?"
"Very likely. The set of documents were unlabeled like many of the files recovered from the sting operation." Shinichi sighed tiredly. "It's making the analysis team's job more difficult, which is par for the course."
The blond detective also sighed with a similar lack of enthusiasm. The long-winded discussion about criminal organizations with power and reach beyond their own capabilities brought their spirits down. "There are so many deaths that are passed as accidents. Any of them could be in reality a result of assassination..."
Speaking of which, Shinichi suddenly remembered something. "Speaking of that, Hakuba-kun, do you remember that incident at the Blue Parrots a few days ago?"
Changing the topic seemed like a good idea before they soured their moods any further, so Hakuba gladly chimed in. "Of course, I took the liberty of looking for the files related to it when I stopped by the TMPD. Strangely though, they were missing. No, it's more like there was no case opened for it."
"Not even an accident?"
"None. Although, considering Inspector Ikari's aptitude… I'll give it some time in case he's just slow on writing the reports."
A notification sound rang out from Hakuba's pockets. The blond pulled out his phone to check. "Oh, on a more positive note, there will be a Kaitou Kid heist tomorrow night and I shall attend. Care to join the chase?"
"Yea- Wait, no." Shinichi nearly forgot about his promise to Ran. "I told a friend of mine that I would buy her dinner for the rest of the week. I don't want to disappoint her any more than I already have." He felt like he owed Ran so much more for the 'Conan' stunt he pulled on her.
The past few days for Kaito were a mess.
After dealing with the police asking him to come to the station for statements, he had to sort out a number of other things. With Jii gone, he had to rearrange a lot of the plans for future heists. Intel gathering and location setup was going to take a lot more time so he had to space them further in between. All the work he had to do himself only made Jii's absence even more apparent. There were many times Kaito had to slap himself out of moments of self-pity. Time is of the essence and he had none to spare for feeling sorry for himself. Still, the deep and throbbing ache he felt in his chest didn't get any better.
Jii's funeral and cremation was going to happen during the morning in two days. Kaito would have to attend as 'Haneji' in order to keep up appearances. As for the billiard establishment, it was going to be closed down. In Jii Konosuke's will, Kuroba Kaito was listed as someone who would receive ownership of the Blue Parrot upon his death. While initially pleased by the idea of keeping the bar up and running, Kaito knew it was likely never to happen. 'Kuroba Kaito' was officially dead after all. This left the ownership of the parlor in limbo until officials found any living relatives of Jii's or Kuroba's, but Kaito also knew that would not be possible either.
A handsome businessman with narrow eyes stepped out of a conference building before he got tangled with the after-work drinking party. He swiftly retreated into the shadows behind some quiet streets. During a meeting between executives, the man had convinced the owner of Kaitou Kid's next target, Whisper of Lady Green, to display it in a glass case on the top floor instead of the ground floor. The peridot ring would look so splendid when it's bathed in sunlight coming through the glass dome ceiling!
Taking off the mask and loosening the tie, Kaito breathed out from the respite after an hour's worth of mooching off of the big figures in the board discussion. Changing the position of the jewel was necessary since Jii was no longer there to provide an escape route on ground level. Thankfully, the big wigs were easy to persuade with the motivation of receiving more revenue from the increased number of visitors.
Once Kaito finished removing his disguise and putting on his regular one, he went to where he hid his motorbike. Suddenly, he felt an arm wrap around his neck while a hand got hold onto his head. His attacker started to pull him backwards, trying to drag him away from his getaway motorcycle.
While taken by surprise at first, the teen remembered a self-defense maneuver he was taught a long time ago.
Putting energy into his core muscles, Kaito tried his best to bend down even though it put pressure against his neck. After a few seconds, he quickly used his hands to grab hold of the arm and use it as an anchor point.
He flung his legs over the top of his attacker's head and found himself landing in a crouched position behind them. That move caused the offender to fall over on their back, but they recovered just as quickly.
However, it created enough time for Kaito to pull out his card gun and aim it at the person. The unexpected attack left him a little out of breath. "That was not very nice of you, Sharon-san."
The woman had her easily recognized hair tucked underneath a cap. She got up and dusted herself off. "Impressive agility. Just like your mother."
"You're the one who showed me that." He responded flatly. After he realized who it was, Kaito returned his card gun back into its hiding place inside his jacket.
Sharon chuckled in an airy manner. "Well, Kaito-kun. I was simply testing you. I just happened to be in Japan for a special shoot. Lo and behold who I spot sneaking into the back alleys? Why, it's a familiar little phantom thief."
"I'm more surprised that you're still running around free, especially after what happened to your 'employers'." Kaito was aware that Kudo Shinichi had brought down a major faction in the criminal world and that Sharon was a high ranking member of it.
"Don't you worry your little head off. There will always be work available and people willing to hire me, be it within the confines of the law or in the lawless wasteland of the undergrounds." A cold grin graced her red lips.
Breathing a short sigh, Kaito narrowed his eyes. He wondered if she had a strange affinity for the dark side of the world. However, it would be hypocritical of him to criticize her decision. If he had to choose, he would much rather be doing freelance jobs than be stuck in jail. "If that's all you have to say, then I need to get going. I'm rather busy as of late." He made a dismissive wave with a hand and climbed onto his bike.
"I do have a departing gift for you, Kaito-kun. For old time's sake. A free piece of information, if you will."
Helmet in hand, he looked back at her. Her words caught his attention.
"They are getting impatient. Whatever you and your sworn foes are looking for, they think they are close to finding out where it is. That knowledge all rests within a former member of their group and they are looking for her."