Winter weather was always tricky. As soon as the sun ducked below the horizon, the previously present warmth disappeared in a flash. Draping his jacket over his shoulders, Shinichi slumped down on the stairs leading to the entrance of the community centre. Each breath he took made a transparent cloud of fog in the air as his eyes rested on the sight of the reddening horizon and the darkening sea under it. With the community centre standing near the highest point of the island, he had a clear view on the town itself, the street lamps illuminating the natty houses and narrow roads like fireflies in a forest of concrete. He could also catch glimpses of people heading home.

It had taken more time than he had thought. Not the interrogation though, there was hardly any point in going through the protocol when the ringleader had confessed on his own. No, the problem was that the only police officer in the island considered carrying around a handcuff a waste of time. He had said that there was at least one back in the police box, but not being in the mood to wait for several additional hours for him to find those, they took up on the locals' offer of ropes.

And thus, Kuroiwa Tatsuji and Kawashima Hideo ended up being tied to a chair.

Kuroiwa Reiko and her fiancé had been temporarily cleared of all charges as they had decided to give some credit to her claim of her father not involving them in his shady business. Even he was uncertain whether she was telling the truth, though it was possible. Her personality was of a rich woman's who did not care where the money came from until it came. They could go free with the note that the metropolitan police would question them more thoroughly when they arrived.

That was where problem number two came into the picture.

Even though the mechanic taking on the job had been working on the phone for hours, not being specialized in telecommunication devices proved a great disadvantage. Just when they believed he would make a breakthrough, it had turned out he lacked a certain type of wire coating. Even after someone had sacrificed their fridge for the purpose, he considered them making a phone call from this island in the near future a miracle.

Shimizu Masato, the last remaining mayoral candidate, had offered to go to the neighbouring island on his fishing boat to use their phone. Doing so in the darkness, however, had been so risky that they had to put off the action until tomorrow morning, meaning that they had to watch over the criminals until then.

That brought around the question of Nishimoto Ken.

Out of the four culprits from twelve years ago, only three were down in some way or another. What they had been able to gather about the missing person was that he had fled as soon as the case from twelve years ago had been brought up. While it sounded accurate based on his character of paranoia, it made it harder to circle down his location. He could have even left the island for all they knew. Not that it mattered that much though, once the case reached the capital, the first division would haul him up from beyond the surface of earth of they had to. It was only a matter of time that he followed the rest.

And not to forget about Kazuaki Hirata, the secretary. While he somehow slipped into obscurity this time around, his involvement in the drug deals had come to light in the original timeline, even if he had not been around twelve years ago. His location was another mystery.

While numerous tasks were hanging in the chilly air, waiting to being looked into, he found a strange peace inside himself. At the end of the day, he could bring one more successfully prevented case to book thanks to the person sitting on the stairs only some steps below him, enjoying the nighttime scenery obliviously to his presence. A single beer can standing next to the person in question informed him that he had already found the local convenience store.

"Good job there, Mouri-san."

The old man turned back with a grunt. "Whatever."

"You really can't take a compliment from me. I mean it though."

"I only stepped in when the knife came out and proved that I can read kanji. You figured out everything else beforehand from your own assumptions." Upon finishing his drink, the old man crushed the can with his hand. "I don't get it though. Are you helping me because of my daughter or what?"

"Yes and no."

"Yes and no?"

"I want you to approve of me, yes. I have other reasons than that though. No offense, but this case could have ended a lot worse without me deducting the truth in time. I want to save people, as many as possible. I have seen deaths, far too many to stomach in a lifetime. You only understand it when the people around you, acquaintances and strangers alike, are likely to die at any given moment. Like a curse following you, slowly killing off everyone until you're the last person standing."

He had been blessed with at least one corpse turning up in his way every week even before he had shrunk, and that had stayed the same no matter what form he had taken. It had taken him more to realise that not only case acquaintances had been in danger of dying around him though, namely the long-ignored backfire of investigating the organisation. It had taken one of his best friends sacrificing herself to fake his death to get the point across. It had taken him learning of the causalities through reports, causalities that his tactics had failed to prevent no matter what he had tried with, to realise how bad it had been.

"Spare me from your edgy teenager phase."

He could only snort at that.

It was rightful though. If he had the time to mull over his future, he could work harder to prevent it from happening. Everything stood on his performance again. Every case was a jumping board to his ultimate goal. Wrapping this incident up, front and underneath, was nothing compared what was to come.

"There you are, you two!"

Ran approached them from behind, holding a vinyl bag that hid three bento boxes. When the delicious scent reached his nose as she prepared for the meal on the stairs, he realised that he had completely forgotten about one primal need of the human body. Each of their dinners were clad in a neat wooden box with traditional design and arranged with so much care that he doubted it was from the convenience store. His suspicion soon proved true by another person appearing in their proximity.

The old man was halfway through a rice ball when it occurred for him to ask the obvious.

"How come you're still here, Asou-san?"

"I noticed that you've forgotten to arrange your meal and—"

Seiji bowing deeply in front of them made them stop inhaling the food for a moment.

"I wanted to say thank you. Had not been for you stopping me from acting on my darkest thoughts in my lowest moment, I would have ended up with blood on my hands, my own included. I—I planned to commit suicide once my revenge was complete. Mouri-san, you not only saved me from becoming a murderer. You saved my life in the most literal meaning possible. Ran-san, thank you for saving Mouri-san. While killing might not be the solution, the mayor certainly had that broken nose coming." Seiji winked. "And you, Kudo Shinichi, thank you for bringing me my father's last message. Those words are my motivation to carry on with my life."

Seiji bowed once more.

"Again, thank you so much. I hope that I can return all of this someday."

The old man gave him a hand. "I only did what every decent person would have done with my knowledge."

Despite that the old man somewhat diffused the awkwardness in the situation, he could only stare in baffled silence. His work had always been ungrateful. Only when things had gone south in some way had he had the chance to intervene. Even then, the most he had ever received was a pat on the shoulder or some words of compliment from whatever law enforcement present at the scene. It had been always compliment but never gratefulness. It was understandable though, as dead bodies were not known for speaking and culprits were usually busy with their own mental problems and had no reason to say thank you anyways.

It just showed how different it was this time around. He was no longer a simple detective, but something more than that. And that brought shame into the mix of feelings rising in his chest, scraping his throat. What he had put down as a jumping board for his plans meant the world to another.

The old man raised his chopstick. "That said, ittadakimasu!"*

"We've already started eating, dad."

Shoving the thoughts out of his mind that would only make the food sour in his mouth, he bit down on another sushi roll. He could taste a delicious seasoning that he suspected to be a local speciality. A look at the content of his box was enough to determine that his supplies of sushi rolls was not enough to quench his hunger. However, there were many rice balls lining up in the opposite side that he had not tasted yet. If those were as good as the sushi rolls—

Ran looked surprised. "Are these raisins in the rice balls?"

Seiji was eager to answer. "Yes, we like it sweet here."

All mental pictures he had about a tasty rice ball suddenly shattered.

His eyes cravingly hung on the sushi rolls in the box laying on the tights of his not-yet-girlfriend as he boredly poked the rice balls with his chopstick. Ran seemed to like those rice balls, he wondered whether she would renounce other goods in exchange of more of those.

"One sushi roll for one rice ball. Trade?"

"Fine, trade."

Her chopsticks batted away his as she snatched the rice ball he was abusing. His counterattack reached her sushi rolls while she was busy decreasing the number of the rice balls plaguing his portion. He could feel the old man raising an eyebrow as they were cleaning each other's boxes. However, even with her best efforts, the rice balls were outnumbering the emptiness of her stomach. Seiji chuckled lightly at their childishness, drawing attention to a fact that somehow slipped everyone's notice.

The old man looked confused. "Asou-san, why aren't you eating too?"

"I used up everything I had at home to make these. I didn't exactly tank up on food to begin with, as you know—"

Happiness previously present in the air suddenly vanished as everyone was guiltily looking between the crumbs and bits of their meals on their laps and the person who was willing to go hungry for their pleasure. The doctor soon had to choose from the three boxes handed to him.

"Take some of mine! I feel more like having a can of beer right now."

"I still have some rice balls left—"

"Shinichi, are you raising an anti-raisin campaign?"

Even though it was supposed to be inappropriate, none of them could resist the laughter. No cases and grand organisation schemes bothered him in that moment, just enjoying his time together with the three of them. Even though he did what counted as basking in happiness for him, his subconscious could not dismiss the concept of always-present danger. He hated himself for that, even if he should have hated those responsible for making him that way. He never once forgot the darkness lurking beyond what looked like happiness, aiming to prove that every good was transient. And in some twisted way, that was always bound to be the truth.

Everyone regained their composure when the police officer came running.

"M—Mouri-san! Nishimoto Ken—"

The old man jumped to his feet. "Did you find him?"

"Well, yes. However—"

Nishimoto Ken was found dead in his house. A single headshot had claimed his life so fast that the horror of the moment had frozen on his expression. For anyone not used to such gore, it was a haunting sight. His eyes took in the copious amount of blood staining the floor around the wound and the droplets all over the place except a regular area to the left, with some smeared traces at the edges. From the colour of the blood and the strength of the stench alone, he guessed it had been a couple of hours of that.

He could not check the body at the same time as the old man though.

"Approximately when did this happen, Mouri-san?"

"Two or three hours before. About when we confronted Asou."

He could hear the underlying message of his words, even though what that stated was obvious. A decade worth of similar executions made it impossible not to recognise the culprits from the style. The question was what reason the organisation had to kill this person. It was supposed to involve only him and them. From what he knew, they were testing him to find out if he was the prophet or not. A nauseating feeling grasped his stomach at the thought that they might have done it so that they could observe him in action, as the old man had ended up taking the spotlight before. To gather information on him, they had to watch him.

His hand supporting him on the wall bailed into a tight fist.

Despite their presence akin to despair crawling under his skin, never once had he seen even one of them ever since he had arrived to the island, even though he was confident that he could recognise their members on sight. Never once had he left any of his belongings unsupervised so that even if they had the required technology, they had not had the chance to bug him. If he took everything into account, there was only one option left to observe him without him realising it.

An option that suddenly made everyone a suspect.

His mind was running miles trying to pin down their identities. As the target of the observation, he had likely had contact with their fake personas. He recalled every bit of the little information he had about the case at his feet. It was thanked to the only police officer in the island thinking that intruding a house without a search warrant was perfectly legitimate that the body was even discovered in the first place. He had immediately come to find him and the old man once he had.

Kuroiwa Reiko and Murasawa Shuuichi, her fiancé, had stumbled upon the scene the next. Apparently, they had been on the way to the convenience store when they had seen the officer running away as if he had been chased. By the time they arrived, there had been a rather large gathering outside the house. Fortunately though, everyone had been decent enough not to disturb the scene so the commotion only added another point to the questioning the couple was due to face.

While some were more suspicious than others were, nothing decisive turned up in his brainstorming.

"This is a joke. How longer do we have to wait until normal police come here?"

"I understand your point, Kuroiwa-san, but the current situation—"

Murasawa stopped his fiancée from taking out her frustration on the old man. "We can do nothing else than waiting. It would be an advance if we could finally get in touch with the mainland though. Whoever is responsible for this is profiting from us being unable to call for help."

The old man stopped to think. "Indeed. These two incidents might be connected."

Murasawa went further. "If not for the broken phone, maybe the prophet could have warned us about this murder."

Reiko looked confused. "What prophet?"

"I sometimes check the city newspapers too. There's a strange person around that can predict crimes to happen through some rumoured supernatural ability. Whatever the truth is behind this sensation, someone actively contacts people about future cases. It has created no little uproar over there."

The old man looked deep in thought. "So the culprit cut the phone lines to prevent the prophet from interfering?"

"I take you believe in him then."

"Faith hardly matters, Murasawa-san. The prophet exists and has been actively helping the police for over a month now. While he most certainly has some kind of hidden agenda, his intentions seem to be clear. In fact, the first people he has ever contacted are myself and the brat here."

As the conversation took a rather curious turn, he shifted his full attention to the person who had brought up the prophet as a topic. Murasawa was one of those he found suspicious. Not that he was involved in anything questionable, or at least the real him, but his appearance and personality were quite simple to fake. If there was a disadvantage in disguising as him, it was his fiancée. Nevertheless, it would make sense for an organisation agent to ask around the matter above observing him. With watching the reactions and listening to the answers of the people around him, they could gather a load of information that would have likely never turned up otherwise.

As long as the old man was telling the official version, he was good. It actually helped him to maintain his cover, as him not showing interest towards such a large and mysterious case while being a celebrated high school detective would stand out even more than his current occupation.

Murasawa approached him. "Kudo Shinichi, personally."

He was definitely giving that organisation vibe. And not just any vibe.

Gin.

An upper-eight right off the bat.

He should not have been that surprised, he had essentially known from the beginning that the monster calling himself a person in front of him was the only one who would investigate him so soon. He should not have been that scared, he was better than covering in fright at the sight of enemy. He should not have been that wary, his secrets had not been revealed despite the presence on him screaming that it was already over. He felt ashamed as those feelings washed over him.

He missed his personal vendetta, even if that meant that he finally understood.

While preaching against acting on resentment, he had not even recognised for a long time that he had been nurturing the same kind of grudge inside himself. He had used to think of the silver-haired assassin as the manifestation of the organisation, justifying his thirst for revenge for ruining his life. Even when he had learnt what power laid in their hands, he had continued to cling to that false image. Gin was not the enemy, the enemy was the organisation as a whole.

Gin was just an employee, even if he was a high-ranked one at that.

He was coming for the boss.

He only had to survive long enough to reach.

"A detective in the task force dedicated to the future-prediction cases, the first person ever to come into contact with the prophet and who had been suspected for being the prophet himself once. It seems like you've been entangled in this fiasco in more than one level."

He shrugged. "I'm said to have a knack for getting into trouble."

"See what you can make out of this."

Making a mental note on looking into the people who had been present at the first meeting for a traitor, as everything discussed during it, including the fact that he had been indeed suspected, was supposed to be strictly confidential, he focused his attention to the pile of gore at his feet.

"As Mouri-san determined previously, the estimated time of death falls between six and seven o'clock in today afternoon. Nishimoto-san was in the middle of doing something when the assailant appeared and shot him in the forehead, likely with a handgun. His blood splattered over the premise as expected in the situation." He walked to the relatively clean area. "However, there's this spot without bloodstains. The logical explanation to that would be that something was there at the time of the crime that the culprit moved afterwards. We can safely assume it was to conceal their own identity or motives, both of which are mysteries at this point."

Murasawa—no, Gin smirked. "From the scene alone. Interesting."

Well, he could not just say that it was he or one of his goons acting on his orders.

Everyone looked towards the police officer entering the room. "Ah, Murasawa-kun! Kazuaki-kun asked about you."

Turning back and walking past the police officer without a word, Gin could not see the grin that flashed on his face as he saw through their disguises. Murasawa was Gin and Kazuaki was more than likely Vodka. That also explained why the latter had been absent throughout the community centre scene while he should have been present. He moved to discreetly follow them so that he would have a clear view on their plans in the island when something creaked under his feet.

As the assassin vanished from his sight in the split moment he looked down, he resigned himself to examine what caused the sound on the ground where nothing should have been apart from blood. Much to his surprise, he found a secret compartment under the floor, filled with—

He could feel the old man and the police officer looking over his shoulders.

It was a bunch of documents. More like records.

And it clicked.

The old man reached after him. "Hey, where are you going?"

"Back to the community centre!"

"Let me summarize. Kuroiwa's gang was a distributor of a criminal organisation when it came to drugs, but they swindled their employers to make more profit, and because of that the organisation sent assassins to kill them?!" The old man looked aghast at the sudden turn. It was understandable though, as he would have never thought of this case more than a potential series of murders fuelled by revenge. "That would mean that Nishimoto-san—"

"We were too late. We have to hurry or we might be late again."

Even if just a couple of minutes, they had an advantage. They could technically walk right to their targets without raising any alarms, as nobody would find them suspicious as long as they wore their disguises. However, this newfound information made everything more complicated. People he had thought not to have any connection to the organisation were actually members of it, even if just small fries. He had been here in the original timeline, he had solved this case before. It was that detectives had no reason to dig into the victims' businesses above what was connected to the motive. He just wondered how many other cases had similar loose ends.

It was mind-blowing.

It was an unrevealed organisation case. It was not an unexpected result of something he did in this timeline, no, they were here because they were supposed to be in the first place. That meant that they had been around in the original timeline too, just their presence had slipped beyond attention as another person with a motive had ended up doing their jobs. As his vigilance had been slipping slightly in the beginning of his journey, he could have missed them.

No, that was a wrong deduction.

Everything had added up in the original timeline. Apart from the suicide in the end, no unresolved endings had left a sour taste in his mouth. Nobody had acted out of their character without a reason or had mysteriously disappeared after the case. There had been no suspicious details giving the impression that someone had been faking their personality. While he might have lacked experience during that time, his ability to observe had been nothing to sneeze at.

Kazuaki had even knocked out Murasawa once back then.

Imagine Vodka doing that to Gin.

If they had not been around in the original timeline though, it brought him back to square one, namely why they were here this time around. It was possible that while the Kuroiwa gang had been on the hit list there, they had not been a priority in contrary to this timeline. It had perhaps only occurred to the organisation to take care of them once their murders had made it to the news. However, this time an upper-eight showed up at the scene, even sooner than expected.

In the end, everything led back to the cut phone lines. As professionals at not leaving evidence behind, there was no point in them hiding or delaying the discovery of their crimes. No, that was obviously a trap to lure the prophet, to lure him out. It made sense if he thought about their methods and character. Gin had moved up his schedule to test the limits of future predicting and to get to the individual behind it. If the prophet did not show up, he simply completed an assignment successfully. If the prophet showed up, he could have a bonus on his account. As he was his apparent suspect for the position, it made sense that he alighted on him too.

After taking a sharp turn at the next corner, the community centre was finally in sight. He could hear two sets of footsteps behind him, one belonging to the old man and the other to the girl who had been watching over the crowd with the police officer, only to join them when they had stormed outside.

Ran closed up to him. "If the enemy is really that organisation, what can we do?"

"Hope to make it in time. They might be already there when we arrive."

"We should have just left the police officer there."

"Wait, the old goat is here?"

Indeed, he could hear the faint fourth set of footsteps following them, obviously struggling to keep up the pace. He felt like facepalming. He understood that the man was the police officer even if he should have gone on pension years ago, but he could do nothing in that physical condition.

"You called me an old goat?! How disrespectful! Hey, wait for me!"

Shimizu Masato was a respectable man. Everyone around him had good opinions about him and his way of thinking. When he saw what those greedy politicians had been doing to the fishing grounds, and consequently to those who lived off the sea, he had decided to go against them in their own field. While his original work as a fisherman had made it harder to get the hang of politics, his honesty and willingness to work hard for the community had made him a popular candidate not only amongst his own people. What he had in mind was victory through fair means and bringing back the harmony to their lives, not this.

Looking at the other two candidates ties to a chair, he had to realise that the game had been rigged against him from the beginning. Even the thought that the person who was the most likely to win the election was the current mayor's puppet made him fight his famous temper.

However, there was no reason for anger anymore.

As a way of showing gratefulness towards that detective who had freed the community from these two blights of society by washing their dirty linens in public, he was willing to aid his group in whatever they needed help. If they had to make a phone call, he would sail to the neighbouring island to grant them the opportunity to do so. If they needed a volunteer to watch over the criminals during the night, he would commit to that.

Kuroiwa spat towards him. "Better be happy. You've essentially won the election."

"Shut your mouth! You have no shame masquerading as someone the people feel obligated to respect. You have no shame using your money and status to wordlessly threaten the entire island into submission. You have no idea about what it means to be the mayor!"

Kuroiwa looked cynical. "Is that so? Then please enlighten me."

"The mayor is the leader of the townsfolk, someone the people can trust in any circumstances. A person who stands up for the community and doesn't hesitate to put the necessary measures across. A person who dedicates their life to the wellbeing of the people under their leadership. Not someone who dispossesses the people of their livelihood and holds it over their heads to wordlessly threaten them into submission and make them cooperate in hiding heinous crimes!"

His rage-laced exclamation hung in the air pregnant with silence.

"Hmpf, you live in an interesting world."

His hands bailed into fists.

"Money and power are the two things that move this rotten world of ours. Fair and generous rulers only exists in fairy tales. Everyone is doing the same wherever you go. We were only doing in small what the big dogs are doing in large. You're too naïve! The likes of you should remain by the fishing web and not butt their noses where is doesn't belong! You don't have the right to stand in the same league as the real politicians!"

"Asou is a good judge of character, you know."

"If you think so."

He was surprised to find the doctor in question in the doorstep, since he thought that everyone had gone home apart from the detective and his group assisting him in guarding the criminals until the police picked them up. Asou was still clad in the funeral clothes that he had made his scene in, which was a telltale sign that he had not even left the community centre since then. He was curious about what kept him here though.

"Narumi-sen—no, Asou-san,"

"Narumi-sensei is okay. You all know me by that name."

"Narumi-sensei, then. Is there something that you want here?"

"Nishimoto-san has been killed. Mouri-san and the others went to investigate." Asou looked down at the two tied to the chair sending him a glare. "Before any of you would think so, it was not me. Out of the three of you, that person was the least evil in my books. I knew that he was driven to the edge of insanity by his guilt and even lost his job because of that. I want to ask some questions about those important people you mentioned."

He remembered that well. Despite being forced into the background, he could hear them using their supposed connections to threaten the detective about to corner them. Fortunately though, the detective in question had a backbone not to fold under the pressure. Knowing those two though, their claim might was a bluff. It did not sit well in him that there might were people occupying leadership positions with similarly corrupted mindsets, even though subconsciously, he accepted the harsh truth of reality. It was nothing he, a simple former fisherman can do anything about. He only worried that the mentioned connections would come back someday.

Asou seemed to hold a grudge against those connections too though. He could understand why he thought those to be the source of everything. Not to mention that it was possible that the drugs came from them too, as only criminals would protect other criminals as openly as those two claimed they would.

Kuroiwa huffed as the conversation steered towards his connections. "I know next to nothing about them, and that's not an exaggeration. They're elusive to a fault, not even telling their real names to the clients. I only spoke with one of the higher ranks, and he told me his name was some booze."

"If they use codenames, they must be some sort of organisation, right?"

Asou flashed a cold smile as he squatted down in front of the chair, making eye contact.

"As I said, I know next to nothing. I was only in for the money."

"Even though, you have to know their intentions—"

In that moment, a whole group of people stumbled upon the skid panting heavily, led by an eccentric teenager. He recognised that detective from before amongst the faces, as well as the police officer appearing some seconds after them, but the rest were strangers.

"Have any of you seen Murasawa-san or Kazuaki-san?"

No introduction or anything. "Well, no—"

"We made it. We're running short on time, so everyone listen here."

Shinichi had no time to think about the consequences of his actions. Not that he needed to think that much to know that if he carried the idea into execution that had popped in his head while rushing to the scene, his life would become even more complicated. It might was a bold move considering the assets at hand, but he had not come back to become a silent observer letting people down because of being too afraid to change anything.

If his plan worked though, they could potentially capture at least one of the codenamed agents.

Even if the seven other people in the room were far from the agents he had used to work with. Upon learning that organisation they thought they had outsmarted was out for their blood, the two criminals paled an unhealthy amount of shades while everyone else was worrying themselves to death thinking about what they should do. While it was visibly hurting their pride, the newly revealed targets considered their lives important enough to put it aside and beg for the present to protect them from the assassins. That tipped some of the people in question over the edge, but they eventually managed to agree that the court should be the judge of the fate of those two.

With everyone finally listening to him, it was up to him to delineate his strategy.

"We're going to split up. The first team in Shimizu-san and Asou-san, guarding Kawashima-san."

As there was a chance that the teams would face a member of the duo considered the white death of the organisation, he had to be careful with the division. Shimizu had a toned body as a former fisherman and Asou had taken out three grown men in the original timeline without much of a trouble. While neither of them was familiar with any form of martial arts, their physical prowess alone should have been enough to fend off the enemy so long reinforcement arrived.

"The second team is Ran and the old go—police officer, guarding Kuroiwa-san."

If you took an average, it was quite acceptable.

"That leaves Mouri-san and me for the third team." Stepping into the corridor, he gestured towards the entrance. "We'll be waiting there. Our team is the jolly joker. From that spot, we have a clear sight on the corridor and the area below the front side of the community centre. While it doesn't cover every nook and cranny of the building, there's a good chance that we'll notice the assassins before they could reach any of the teams. Also, if that still happens, our team can jump to help—"

"Objection!"

The old man was quick to protest.

"I don't know what are you're playing at, but this plan is going to endanger us all! There're two murderers looming around this place and you suggest us to split up? Everyone with common sense knows that people should stick together in situations like these, as they're easier targets separated."

"That may be the case with regular criminals. Average people are not physically and mentally prepared to go through the act of murder even if they determine themselves so, which is understandable, as such atrocious acts fall outside the comfort zone of most people, with the exception of psychopaths. Why they avoid attacking their targets if a large group of people surrounds them is that they fear to get caught, overwhelmed by the thought of being outnumbered. However, assassins are specialized in taking lives. People like them have trained themselves to be capable of taking out everyone in the room in one go and not care about it."

"No shit. What are even the odds that we win?"

"You have to understand that my plan is not free from risks. You might end up face to face with the assassins while doing your assigned tasks. However, none of you will be alone and backup will be available at any given moment. Excuse me for being blunt, but you have less experience in this than me."

The old man grabbed his jacket. "And you expect us to do something that dangerous?!"

"Shinichi—"

The police officer scratched his head. "There has to be a better solution than risking life and limb. We could hide Kuroiwa-san and Kawashima-san somewhere until the police arrives. We have no reason to risk ourselves when some thinking can solve everything."

"That would only make them search the entire island, potentially involving everyone who finds them during it. I know how they operate. We have to avoid them coming into contact with the locals as much as possible. If there were a better solution, I would choose that in a heartbeat over putting all of you on the line. I seek no amusement in doing this either. I only know that if we do nothing, two other lives will be definitely lost tonight. I can understand that you fear for yourselves. If you want to run away, the door is open. I have no right to stop you. However," He slumped down on the floor, arms crossed in front of his chest. "This is my decision."

Even though his eyes were closed with defiance, he could feel the awestruck gazes on him. He had never been good in motivational speeches, especially if the audience was a ragtag group of bystanders who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time to be wrapped up in his crazy plans. Both in the forgotten future and the newfound present, he hated the most to ask civilians for assistance, even if doing so was necessary under certain circumstances.

He opened his eyes upon hearing someone stepping in front of him.

"You really believe that we would just leave you here?" Ran obscured his vision, fighting against the tears sitting in the corners of her eyes. "If we did, you would die. If we did, we would leave people behind to die. We might be afraid, but we understand. Even if he picks at you, dad understands too. We decided to bring those two to justice, but letting them silenced by their organisation is far from any kind of justice. I will help you, no matter what."

Ran was precious as always, even if the old man took no comfort in her words.

Seiji smiled at that. "If everything goes according to the plan, we can capture the assassins, right?"

"Well, you saw through me."

Seiji moved behind the chair holding the two crooks restrained, catching them off-guard. "I asked these two some questions about those influential people they talked about before, who has to be members of this organisation. However, the only thing they seem to know about them is how they can bulge their pockets with money on the cooperation with them. While these people are indeed the killers of my family, their bosses are just as involved in my agenda as they are."

Okay, that was unexpected. "You're going further?"

"I want someone who can tell me the full truth."

Shimizu took a deep breath, looking at the old man baffled by how easily everyone was agreeing with his plan. "While your concerns are understandable, the safety of the locals is the top priority. Nobody owns a weapon in this island. If any of the townsfolk runs into people that dangerous, it will turn bad real quick. As the police would only arrive at tomorrow morning even in the best-case scenario, trusting this young man is the best we can do. Just as your daughter said, we want justice, not slaughter."

Shimizu looked at the police officer, who nodded in response. "As everyone agrees, it is my duty to stay."

The old man looked sullen. "Why does everyone have a hero complex here—?"

He would never admit how touched he was in that moment, even if everyone seemed to find the reason to aid him within themselves. "I take this as a permission to proceed with the briefing. Teams one and two will stay at the piano room and the ceremonial hall, respectively. If anything happens, scream or make any loud sound. This building is not that large, everyone will hear it. Watch out for suspicious figures, plus Murasawa-san and Kazuaki-san. They're likely to wear their disguises when they come for their targets. We'll find people to make a switch tomorrow morning, we have to hold out during the night."

As everyone headed towards their position with silent determination, the old man stepped besides him.

"Once everyone is ready, we have to talk."

Gin expected to see some light coming from the community centre. Without reportable police on the island, he guessed some busybodies would stay to watch over the criminals. It was not the kid and his group though, as they were busy finding non-existent clues at the other scene, unknowing that another, if even worse, was about to happen soon enough. He took a break before finishing the job for observing his person of interest, even if he turned out to be underwhelming. His detective skills were as good as expected, which was an experience in itself to witness for the second time too, but nothing seemed to point towards him being the prophet.

The combination of that and the vibe he was getting from the same kid did a number on his patience. While his confidence could easily fly as the cockiness of an eccentric teenager, he felt that rooting in years of experience. While his intelligence suited a proclaimed prodigy, he knew that such a moniker could hide invaluable information the kid was withholding until the perfect moment came. Every single minute spent in his proximity both strengthened his resolution and shook it at the same time.

At last, he decided to drop the test and proceed with his job.

His partner was following him, wearing his disguise just as he did. If anyone saw them, they would believe that two random dudes from the town decided to take a late night walk. As practical it was, he wished that he could get rid of the sunglasses veiling over his vision.

But even through the sunglasses, something was off.

"Aniki, is something wrong?"

While he had not really bothered to memorize the layout of the community centre, he recalled that the piano room, where the targets should be, was facing the sea on the end of the corridor. Upon taking a better look, he could see that a couple of other premises besides the piano room were also illuminated. It was enough to set off the alarms in his head. A couple of people should have been enough to guard two tied criminals, who had no reason to keep the community centre in full floodlight.

It seemed someone had prepared a little surprise for the two of them.

"You go through the rear entrance. Proceed as planned."

"What are you going to do, aniki?"

He walked past his partner wordlessly.

Published: 31/07/2022

Writing this chapter, I was constantly worrying that either I was repeating myself or not sharing enough details/explain things too complicated for the readers to understand. I hope I managed to avoid both. It was an interesting chapter to write otherwise. It almost exclusively follows Shinichi, with a short intermission in the middle, and sets up the next chapter that will, according to the plans, contain more action than the entire anime as a whole. No surprise there though.

By the way, Shinichi really doesn't like raisins. I think it was in a special manga or something.

*Ittadakimasu means "let's eat", or something along the line. Japanese people say that when they begin eating. What I bother explaining though, I guess everyone has heard Genta saying that in almost every episode he appears.

I again thank everyone for reviewing. I see that some of you are curious about when certain characters will make their debut, however, I won't share details that would spoiler the story. It will be a long one though, so don't worry if your favourite characters don't show up in the early chapters. I eventually plan to include almost every character from Detective Conan, so be patient. I only decided to write out is the Magic Kaito cast, as I stated previously under chapter three.