Kogoro felt a pang of nervousness upon looking at the empty corridors. While he could indeed keep an eye on the majority of the community centre from his position, the weight of the situation did not fail to increase his concerns. Both the piano room beneath the right corner and the ceremonial hall beneath the left had a door giving on a section of the corridor out of sight. Assassins could appear from beneath the corners he was glaring daggers into, or everywhere else really, in any moment and what they would notice first was him and the teenager leaning to the other side of the doorframe, his leisurely style mocking the solemnity hanging in the air.

While the recent events urged him to brood over it again, no matter how much he tried, he could not lay a finger on the personality of the brat, the same brat who had been friends with his daughter from day one in kindergarten. Both of his parents were acquaintances with him and his wife from high school, they had known about the kids of each other before those could tell up from down. He had watched those two kids growing to each other throughout the years right under his nose.

If he thought about it, he should have gotten a read on his character.

And he did, actually.

Kudo Shinichi was a person of outstanding intelligence and brazen confidence backing that up, a perfect mixture of both of his eccentric parents. He was a born celebrity with a love for spotlight and craving for attention, coupled with an infallible sense of justice and a will to achieve his aims in his own unique way. He was not a person to easily pass his credits to others or sacrifice a good chunk of his free time to help out a broke detective, expecting nothing in exchange.

Tropical Land. Everything had started that night.

Even though he seemed to pay attention not to make it that obvious, his personality had shifted towards an interesting direction after the prophet had showed up. From the very beginning, he had been entangled in the web of mysteries woven by that individual. He had been the first to be contacted. He had been the one to break the news to the police. He had been the centre of everything related to future predicting. He had been suspected to be the prophet himself, as it had been mentioned before. No wonder, nobody had believed his incredulous tale then. The more sceptical of their ranks were still musing over that point.

While several arguments revolving around the topic had gone down between the brat and nosy police members since the initial first meeting, he still stood behind what he had said there. He had known the brat longer than anyone else in the room had. The brat would do everything in his power, or even above, to save as many lives as possible. He had said it with his mouth merely hours ago, back on the stairs. If he had the information to prevent crimes, he would have put it into the service of the right purpose right from the beginning. He would have shed light to all criminals hiding in the shadows, starting with that menacing organisation from the first case.

It was another concerning concept to consider. Even the mere thought that something like that existed unbeknownst to the law enforcement was sending chills down his spine. As their existence had been revealed at the same time the prophet had appeared, it had been speculated that the two might were interconnected somehow. However, after his debut, the cases had reduced to foretelling random incidents while the organisation brought up previously had vanished into thin air.

Until then.

While it remained unsaid, it had come obvious that the organisation supporting and then targeting the gang was the same organisation from back then. And the brat was personally present at the scene when they appeared after a month of hiding, almost as if he had been informed about it beforehand.

It would have made much more sense if he had indeed been informed. Not only because of the apparent involvement of that organisation, but his unnaturally accurate assumptions regarding the original case as well. It was not normal to guess everything correctly from a single letter, no matter what kind of genius he was. And that unfathered feeling that he had noticed in his thoughts made it look like he had been aware of everything that was going to happen on this island and had planned everything in advance. If he considered the events of the day from that perspective, everything came together in a manner that scared him.

He had helped to decode the message in the music sheets the brat had gone out of his way to look up. Had the situation not heated up earlier than expected, that alone would have been enough to put a period to any possible future crimes. It could have been the plan the brat had in mind from the beginning, using him as a safeguard in case things went south and he was not there to handle the situation. Everything was part of a meticulously planned course of actions leaving no room for failure.

Asou meeting them by chance might not have been that much of a coincidence either.

"I thought you wanted to talk."

A confident voice broke the silence stilling in the air. A chilly wind coming from the frigid night outside blew through the opened door, rustling their clothes and hair with its refreshing touch as his mind came forward with the most plausible theory on the omniscience the brat had shown.

"Tell me the truth. Has the prophet contacted you about this?"

"What makes you think so?"

He did not even know where to begin. "Your deduction back in the detective agency was too accurate from almost no clues. I know your abilities as a detective, but nobody is that good. It would make sense if you came to us with exact knowledge on the case and purposefully made us realise the true intention behind the letter. Not to mention this strategy. I doubt that a teenager like you can come up with something like this during the time we ran from the scene in the town to here. Not even the first division you regularly assist has this kind of experience in dealing with assassins of all things. Kudo, who gave you instructions?"

The brat remained silent as his dark bangs veiled over his eyes.

"This person whom people call the prophet gave you instructions before, and you dubbed that worthy of following. You seem to trust this person to the point of openly crediting him and his abilities in front of the police. Whenever that organisation is involved, you always come into the picture somehow, just like when the prophet appeared for the first time. I work on the task force too, you can trust me as well. I can see that you keep something big from us. I have to ask—"

He faced the brat with conviction.

"Kudo, exactly what is your connection to the prophet?"

"What do you think it is?"

"Are you a secret agent and the prophet is your superior, or what?"

With how hard the brat was laughing at the idea, he thought that he should not mention that being an actual rumour going around the police headquarters. No matter how hard he tried not to draw attention to himself, he was always the fire that burnt too brightly. Even his fellow detectives noticed his quirks and unusual connections. While the actual suspicion had been lifted from his shoulders, everyone remained aware that he represented a different league.

The brat finally got himself together.

"Save your crack theories for yourself, old man."

"Old man—?"

"Reality is always stranger."

Before his mind could even begin to process the implications of what was told, a gunshot cleaved through the air. Upon determining the source to be the ceremonial hall, the place where his daughter was, his mind ignored all the theorizing to make space for more important things. His daughter was always the first and foremost priority. However, he did not forget. It was the sentence bouncing in his mind as a mantra as, approved by the brat, he rushed to the back up the second team.

Reality was always stranger.

Ran could handle pressure well. In the karate club, she was infamous for keeping her cool even in unwinnable situations, always managing to turn the tables in her favour no matter who the opponent was. In the classroom, she was a reliable pillar, keeping everything together and taking on a good chunk of responsibility. At home, she was the one to deal with her father cutting the budget short with his happy-go-lucky lifestyle every month. However, the burden the people depending on her placed on her shoulders only made her stronger both mentally and emotionally. Never once had she thought about her unwritten obligations to others as a bother.

When Shinichi revealed his most guarded secret, she had been grateful deep inside. His ambitions to clean the world from an organisation threatening to end everything considered freedom dwarfed her measly everyday responsibilities. Watching him using every ounce of his abilities to change a future that had ended in despair, taking full responsibility for the consequences reaching over the country, she was glad to stand by his side.

Shinichi wanted to protect everyone, just as she did.

While the thought of fending off assassins sounded frightening even for a karate expert like her, she had determined herself to overcome this obstacle. If she wanted to become a partner he could trust with his life, she had to learn managing danger without giving a reason for others to worry.

Looking around the ceremonial hall, the lack of furniture made them stand out like a sore thumb. An arrangement like that was a double-edged sword, lending her more space to move but less to hide. Kuroiwa-san was always near the officer, if not for his protection, then to complain about the fact that one of the people guarding him was the one who had broken his nose. While the officer could not let that go without a word, if the background noise level was anything to go by, she could hardly care less about his ingratitude. As she had stated, they were not the ones who should decide over life and death.

Readying herself in a karate stance upon some sounds coming from the corridor, the other two became silent too. A droplet of sweat rolled down her temple as they were all listening tensely to someone messing with the door, even though it was firmly locked.

A second later, a deafening sound slammed to their eardrums.

It was perhaps the loudest sound she had ever heard, loud enough to make her wince as it throbbed her ears and head. However, she forced herself together upon seeing the lock giving in the gunshot, because that was what the sound had to be. Kazuaki-san appeared at in the doorframe in the next moment, or at least someone looking like him. His harmless exterior meant little with a gun in his hand though. Not that she knew much on the topic, but with a father knowing his way around firearms, she could recall some bits and pieces. The previous one was likely not the only bullet and dodging additional shots was a risky stunt even with her reflexes.

Thus, she bolted.

If she could bring the person down as soon as possible, he would have little chance to inflict permanent damage. Not to mention the element of surprise that could swing the battle to her side with ease if she acted immediately. Breaking harshly on her left leg merely inches from him, she aimed to strip him from the weapon meaning the most danger to them. After the gun successfully clattered on the ground, she spun around to take him out in one go.

However, the man did not even budge at her backwards kick.

He felt like an unmovable wall, which was not surprising considering his built. He grabbed her right leg planted in his side, trembling with fruitless effort, and the next thing she saw was the world spinning around her. He left her only a moment to reflect on his strength that could throw her with such swiftness and power before he slammed her into the ground near the other two. Her arms immediately moved to support her up though, wincing at the scrapes littering her knees and elbows. Disregarding the voices calling out for her in the background, she gritted her teeth against the pain as she slowly and shakily took up her karate stance again.

When she looked at him again, her eyes were staring down a barrel. A quick look around confirmed that she had been too slow at getting up to keep the gun out of his possession. As her heart started thumping with panic, she realised that no matter how risky it was, she could no longer avoid the dodging bullets manoeuvre. Having no idea about exactly how to do it, the only thing on her mind was that she had to be fast, reacting sooner than the thought of pulling the trigger crossed his mind.

Without time for even a single conscious thought to formulate in her head, her body responded as soon as his finger moved even the slightest. It was a good thing it did though, as in the next moment, she could feel a sharp wind zapping by her cheek, cutting a hole in her hair.

The bullet hit the wall, much to the surprise of the assassin.

And she did not fail to use that in her advantage.

With a strong deceleration, she tackled him to the ground. His hand holding the gun slammed to the ground with enough force to make his grip loosen. Her aim was to keep him in that position until the situation was resolved, however, doing so turned challenging as soon as the man started struggling. Regardless her expertise, she was merely a teenage girl and he was an adult and a trained assassin to boot. Her only hope was that the others had heard the gunshots.

"Good job! Restrain him a bit longer!"

Kuroiwa-san and the officer rushed towards the door, thinking that it was already over. In the very moment his target was about to leave his sight though, he mustered up a whole new bout of muscle power and threw her backwards. Even though she immediately caught him again, he managed to flip to his stomach and get a better hold of his weapon, which was aimed at the two stepping over the skid. As soon as she caught enough of her breath, she struggled out a warning shout.

"Watch out!"

A third gunshot rang out in that night, this time drawing blood. Kuroiwa-san could only look back at the officer with awe as he stumbled from the impact to the side. The old officer bit back a scream as he clutched on his left arm, scarlet quickly tainting the blue of his uniform black around the area. It looked nothing life threatening, but it was enough to snap her out of the focus she had forced herself to maintain. While her warning might have saved the officer from a lethal shot, it did not erase the fact that someone had been indeed injured under her watch. Even if she thought to have readied herself for that possibility, reality was always the judge of preparedness.

And even a second of losing that could lead to devastating consequences.

While facepalming the ground again was not that devastating though, it sent her back to square one. Upon seeing the enemy freeing himself, the other two started running towards the front door in hope of receiving help. Even though it only lasted for the second the man wasted with nursing his nose, Kuroiwa-san slamming the door in his face earned both of them enough time to disappear beneath the corner of the corridor. Their wannabe pursuer stopped, forgetting that she was not out of the picture in the process.

The corridor offered more openings than the empty ceremonial hall did. Kicking herself up on the wall, she was above and behind him at the same time. With his blind spot in sight, not even the fastest reflexes could have dodged the kick in which she poured every ounce of her strength. Feeling the heel of her shoe colliding with the back of his head harshly, she might have even gone a bit overboard. He stumbled as she kicked herself into a safer distance on his back.

Stumbled, but still managed to stay on his feet even after her strongest kick.

With a grunt, he whipped back with a gun ready to get rid of her. A moment was needed for the situation to sink in. Still mid-air, she could neither dodge nor launch a counterattack. All she could do was waiting for the man to pull the trigger, hoping that she would somehow live through it.

A new figure appeared from behind as the moment of her untimely doom was rapidly approaching.

A figure that looked like the spitting image of the demon of wrath.

In the moment her feet touched the ground, the man crashed into the floor after the figure threw him over his shoulder like a sack of rice. It was amazing in itself, considering that her attacks were mostly futile against the person, but the identity of the individual stepping in to save her was the real catch. A bright smile on her face covered her disappointment in her own abilities as her father, a person knowing one single judo move, scanned over her with concern.

"Ran! Are you alright?"

"Yes. More importantly, this person is one of the assassins."

"They really did come. We need more rope—"

While her father was restraining the person at hand, another gunshot resonated in the air. Kuroiwa-san and the injured officer moved closer to the two of them as everyone snapped their heads towards the direction it sounded from, the front door. Even if there was no reason for an assassin to attack that place, as the other team was located at the piano room further from there, worry bubbled in her chest as she thought of the one positioned near the newfound danger.

"S—Shinichi—"

Gin looked whipped his head towards the place where he had thought to have seen something, only to end up wasting a bullet on the blank nothingness. He acted too much on his instincts and was a paranoiac to the bone, he signed that, but he was much rather that than a failure as an agent and assassin. When he had laid an eye on the community centre upon arriving, his gut crunched violently, and he knew better to overlook such a reaction coming from his subconscious that has saved him several times. He had only later realised that the lighting was the thing that tipped his senses off, and thinking about it, that was indeed suspicious overall.

While he was almost certain that there was a trap inside the building for them, he could only wonder who had the abilities to prepare such a thing. It was inherently not that strange though, as that one dude his partner had disposed of was discovered quite fast in courtesy of the police officer and certain nosy detectives. Based on the victim's connection to the drug dealing gang, assuming that the culprit might target the others members too was a logical conclusion even without being aware of the organisation.

With no detectives, or anyone with the necessary experience for that matter, living on this island, it brought it down to those three from the mainland. From what he had seen from them in his short time of observation, he could totally see them as the masterminds behind this outfit.

Those two figures in the doorframe had looked like the kid and that other detective too.

As he was positive that he had seen someone there, he wondered why they had disappeared by the time he stepped over the skid. An experienced eye could see that the front door was a strategically important position that should be guarded, or at least kept under surveillance. It would only make sense to flee upon sighting him if none of the people present had the abilities to actually fight, which was an obvious lie considering the little scene that girl had caused earlier.

At this point, it looked more as if nobody was around though.

Everything was abandoned in his sight. Had he not known better, he would have thought that the lights were accidentally left on. Not taking any chances, even the slightest bits of changes triggered an immediate reaction from him, just as when he had fired a shot on a moving shadow. That had made his location known, though not being in the mood for hide and seek anyways, he did not mind that in particular. Then he caught a sound from a nearby storage room.

And he smirked.

Shinichi would have bashed his head to the wall had he not known that would only make more sound. Not long after the sound of a gunshot had made the old man sprint off in the middle of a rather sensitive conversation, he had caught sight of his archenemy outside. He had no idea what possessed the usually unbelievably elusive assassin to just approach the front door like that until he realised that he did not know that they had seen through their disguises. Regardless that, he could have not exactly let him through if they had run into each other, and he was positive that the other would have not hesitated to apply lethal force to make him do so anyways.

Thus, he had ducked into the closest premise until he came up with a usable plan.

He had faced two problems with taking him out.

Even if he was a recognised detective, he was still a teenager and above all, a civilian. He could not carry around weapons in case something happened around him, which alone put him at a disadvantage against a person prepared to kill. He could manage that, he had not been doing detective work in the body of a seven-year-old child for nothing, but he could only depend on his wits and jeet-kune-do, even if he could not use the latter to its full potential. His seventeen-year-old body's physical abilities were barely acceptable. While he had started training, forehanded for an occasion like this, he was still lagging behind his future self.

Aware of his abilities and weaknesses, his eyes had inspected the contents of the room for any kind of assets. His blind choice had led him to a storage room, which had the potential to be a goldmine of opportunities for a sharp mind. Unfortunately, he had been running too tight on time to browse through each of the carton boxes lining up on the shelves, but he had not needed to as a rolled-up piece of material, presumably a type of plastic-enforced textile used to cover outdoor objects, had caught his attention. While an average person would not think of that as a prospective solution, an average person would not think of wrapping the enemy in it as a straightjacket either.

As the footsteps approached his hiding place, he had realised that there had been no time for a backup plan.

His heart had jumped for a moment when a metal beam lying out of sight suddenly fell sideways upon him trying to move the intended object. He was not naïve enough to assume that an organisation agent missed that sound. Locking the door was meaningless when a single bullet could tear through the bolt, so instead, he made sure that the assassin would have a moment of surprise when he barged in the room.

And he did only a moment later.

Just as that happened, he kicked the founding of the shelf, making it topple over to the person who had unsuspectingly stepped into the room. As expected, it averted his attention long enough for him to get close unnoticed. As he immediately wrapped him tightly in the material he had found, binding him with the fastener he had noticed in the last moment, after snatching his weapon from him with a swift movement, he could not have even the chance to catch glimpse of the person who took him out. Not taking any chances, he quickly bolted to exit the premise, turning the key in the lock immediately as he pressed his back to the door.

Well, people did not credit the element of surprise for nothing.

"Shinichi!"

"Hey, brat, what happened? There were shots—"

Ran and the old man were running towards him, seemingly unharmed. He let loose a sigh upon confirming that the other did not stand chance against their karate expert. "You two are okay, good. There's another assassin confined in this room who attempted to get past the front door. I managed to restrain him, but we need to tie him up to be sure."

Ran blinked at him incredulously. "Are you okay?"

"Ah, yes, I am."

"Hey, Kudo."

When they looked into the premise the old man had unlocked in a spare moment, a rather alarming sight fell into their vision. A heap of hard textile was lying in the spot where he had left the attacker, no sight of the person whatsoever. A cold breeze informed them about the window opened on the top of the wall. He had not even noticed that when he had set up his trap for the assassin let alone make sure to prevent any escape attempt through that tiny gap. Hell, the window in question was hardly big enough for him to fit through it, let alone someone with a larger build. Gin had to dislocate some joints to push himself through that.

The old man examined his self-made restrains with amazement. "He somehow managed the find his way out of this and then climbed out that window of all things. His determination is insane. He might come back later, so we should fall into position again. We'll watch over the one my daughter has subdued."

"Agreed. We should inform the others about what had happened though." He started lying out the newly versed plan while giving his childhood friend a proud smile. "This was their first attempt, and they now know what awaits them here. When the one who got away comes back, he'll be prepared. We have to as coordinated as possible if we want to keep our upper hand in the situation. We can't afford to let our guards down. I'm afraid this night is far from over."

A glance was enough at the two others to know that they understood.

February 11th, 1996

Kogoro awoke to his face hitting the ground. After rubbing his eyes, he took in his surroundings warily as those did not bear any resemblance to his home. If he had fallen asleep in a random place that was not even a bedroom, something had definitely happened. And such, the events of the previous day flashed back in an instant. Kudo helping him to decipher the meaning of that warning letter he had received, them deciding prevent the crimes about to happen in the remote island they had arrived to, him confronting the wannabe culprit and almost getting murdered before his daughter had caved in those goons' faces.

He also remembered the murder scene downtown and being unable to call the police due to cut phone lines. When he recalled the organisation involved in the case, the same one the prophet was working against, panic threatened to take him over. He jumped to his feet and rushed through the corridor in search of someone, as the memories of his conversation with the brat and their plan to fend off assassins came back. For some reason, he was sleeping peacefully in a grave situation.

A single question bounced in his head: what he had missed out.

"Hey, dad! You're up?"

His daughter appearing out of nowhere really prevented him from hyperventilating.

"R—Ran? W—What happened?"

"The only thing that happened was you falling asleep on guard." A sigh carrying frustration left her mouth, as if she expected nothing more from him. "Shinichi took every task you should have done on himself through the night while you made yourself comfortable in the corridor. He decided to let you sleep as long as nothing happens. We thought that they would come back, but in the end, they stayed away during the rest of the night. Not because of you though!"

He scratched his head in embarrassment.

Taking a good look around the room his daughter had led him to, he could see the police officer tucked into a sleeping bag wandering in dreamland. White bandages were covering his upper left arm, the place where he had been shot. Even though his daughter had been the only thing on his mind when he had rushed to their aid and he had left soon afterwards to check on the brat, he could still remember the police officer clutching on his arm. While it was not the most wholesome development, they were fortunate that a bullet graze was the only damage they had sustained, and that they had a doctor amongst them in case of such happenings.

Asou was sleeping in the other end of the room, exhausted by everything that had gone down the previous day. No wonder, he had a hard time digesting everything that was more than what he had thought to be possible to happen in a span of twenty-four hours too. Not to mention that for the doctor, everything was personal in the deepest level. Aiding them in their quest for justice even after the foundation of his life had been shaken spoke of great mental fortitude. He deserved the rest he was having.

He tried not to think much about how the two minors out of the six of them were the ones to take down the enemy though. His daughter was understandable, as she was stronger than most grown adults he knew as a result of her regular training, but the brat was an honest surprise.

His conversation with the brat in question flashed back again.

While he respected his request of not to be asked about the topic with the ears of the enemy around, it still annoyed him to no end that his interrogation had been interrupted when he was about to get some answers. He was positive that the brat had a hidden agenda, even if it was not as far-fetched as the rumours stated, and the mysteriousness and dodgy attitude coming from a normally composed person like him meant that he was finally peeling some covers off.

Talk about the brat, he could not see him anywhere.

"Where're the others, by the way?"

"Shimizu-san left for the neighbouring island as soon as there was enough light for him to navigate. Shinichi went with him to the port to gather some volunteers so that we could make a switch. Everyone was tired of being up for an entire night without any pause. After some fishermen came to replace the guards, we took a nap. Asou-san and the officer are still sleeping. Shinichi tried, and failed, to interrogate the member we captured last night."

"I see. Is he sleeping right now?"

"No, he's at the town hall to check on the phone the mechanic finished only some minutes ago. He'll get in touch with the headquarters in any case. No matter who has gotten to a working phone earlier, the police will be here soon enough. If everything goes right, we can go home today."

That was a bit anticlimactic, though he was the last person to enjoy the suspense of possible attempts at assassination in his presence. He merely felt disappointed with his role, or lack thereof, in the events. He was a private detective, the person who should have made sure that the case reached the police before everyone in connection with it died. Instead, it was his daughter and her friend, two seventeen-year-old teenagers, who ended up taking the case head on. While the doctor sleeping peacefully some steps from him was a thing to give himself a little credit over, the resolution was shameful and underwhelming on his end nevertheless.

Nevertheless, thing finally seemed to calm down.

He looked at his daughter, who was keeping everything in check more than he ever could. A composed mind and determination had always been her strength, if he thought about it, but it did not change the fact that she had pulled through an entire night with only a couple of hours of rest.

"You can take a nap. I can take care of things by myself."

A grim smile crossed her face. "I will sleep when he sleeps too."

He did not need to ask who the 'he' was. "And when that might be?"

"When everything is over."

Her attitude came to surprise to him. It was rare to see his daughter that determined and committed to a cause. He briefly wondered if her sudden enthusiasm had anything to do with whatever the brat was hiding. After all, the two of them had been spending more and more time together since their first, uh, outing, which mysteriously happened to be the same time the brat had started to change. He felt stupid for a second for ignoring the possibility that the brat might have included his daughter.

He might have started to become obsessive, but he was not going to sweep everything under the rug because there had been a case to deal with at the moment, especially as his family was apparently involved in the mess caused by one nosy high-school detective.

"Ran, is there something you keep from me?"

"What makes you think so?"

Her response was a question to a question, just as the brat's.

"I suspect that your childhood friend is hiding something important. I thought you might know something on the matter, always hanging around him and such." He might as well as come clean about it with his daughter. "I have reason to believe that he has a connection to the prophet himself, but won't tell me anything when asked. I know this is out of blue in the middle of this case, but it had stuck in my mind since he came forward with his plan."

"He does have a connection with the prophet."

A beat of silence passed.

"He—what?"

"You should leave him to be until he approaches you though. I promise that he has no malicious intentions towards anyone, just a secret that could lead to a lot of trouble if it was revealed in any way." He looked at his daughter incredulously. While he suspected that she might know a little bit more on the matter than he did, this was way over his expectations. "He knows the prophet more than anyone does, and we intend to let you in the secret when the time comes."

We. Plural form.

Shinichi was walking back to the community centre with a thoughtful expression weighting his face. His performance in the morning to gather people for the continuation of his plan had earned him quite a reputation in the town, especially amongst the fishermen. Haibara had always teased him about his charisma making the most different people to act on his instructions, though she was right somewhere along the line. While he might not have made use of that as often as he did of his skills in the art of deduction, he considered himself lucky to have inherited his mother's social skills on the top of his father's intellect.

Thanks to said social skills, the community centre was as good as fortified.

He found it surprising that no second attempt was made after the first one had failed the previous night, though if he considered the situation from the opposite side, waiting could also prove beneficial for the enemy. After all, the remaining crow not only had to take care of the targets but bust out his partner too, in a building stuffed with people prepared for his potential arrival. He might have considered such an endeavour too risky. If that was so, he might attempt to make up for his mistake when he saw a weak point in their defence, for example during the switch of people that had happened recently, or when they were going to move the captured.

A light breeze made him look upwards. He could see it, the helicopter the headquarters had sent to pick up the suspects and secure the scene until the rest arrived with a ship. As Matsumoto was the one to ensure him about the countermeasures via phone, he guessed the inspector was on board too.

The tiny spot in the sky that he had seen at first started to grow bigger as the helicopter approached the island. He realised that they intended to land in the clearing in front of the community centre, which was fortunate given that the whole ordeal of shipping off the culprits to the capital was going to take even less time than he had counted for. He was torn by the turbulence as the helicopter found the ground, the opening cockpit revealing the inspector of the first division holding on his hat tightly.

"Kudo-kun, did anything happen since you contacted us?"

"No, everything is silent. Thank you for coming all the way here, inspector."

"Ah, inspector!"

Ran and the old man appeared in the doorframe, likely notified by the sounds. A group was gathering around the unusual sight, only making his task of watching out for the missing crow potentially slipping in the crowd harder. He was definitely there, amongst the faces of the people surrounding the location as the fishermen acting as guards swiftly accompanied the arrested to the helicopter. Making an attempt at finishing his job in front of numerous witnesses and the police sounded illogical and insane, though the person in question was not the best example of a sanity either. He gulped at the fact of having someone like that around so many people.

He could see that the inspector was aware of the situation from the solemn look on his face. While he had cut his explanation on the events as short as possible with including every important detail, the inspector was no slouch to notice the deadly potential their arrival and the legal arrest brought. No criminal organisation with a sense of self-preservation would lean back and watch one of their members getting arrested, even less so if the member in question belonged to the higher ranks. Vodka would not spill that easily, that fact he had confirmed himself, but his capture could and would trigger both his partner and the organisation as a whole anyways.

His mind briefly wandered back to his interrogation. Keeping in mind that the organisation would bust their member out sooner or later, he could only ask the innocent and obvious questions without giving away anything about his true identity. Not being able to ask about the pressing matters was as annoying as the smug and arrogant face the crow was giving him. He was tempted to throw operation utopia into the mix, just to watch his expression, but he restrained himself.

Unfortunately, the system was too corrupt to know his secret safe in the hands of the police. He wondered if the organisation would make their move before or after the police had laid a hand on the culprits, though the first option was more probable if he thought about just how reliable those other goons had proved already. Had he not been that experienced with their business, there would be soon a mysterious escape distracting them from the fact that none of the gang made it to the trial alive.

However, in that case, they had to act during the short period of time the targets were escorted out.

His eyes glanced over the crowd again.

He could not feel them anywhere, let alone see, though his senses had definitely dulled in the past months of relative peace. His subconscious mind that was always faster in drawing conclusions than his conscious mind was had trouble keeping the pace with the events.

While his actual seventeen-year-old self would have laughed at the idea of judging intentions based on unexplainable methods, that thing, whatever it was, had spared him and his allies more trouble than they had probably realised. Haibara had been capable of pinpointing organisation members based on their presence when she appeared in his life, which he had considered merely paranoia until he had started to get the same vibes from people too. A sudden feeling of dread appearing in the air, screaming danger in every sense of the word was hardly something he could ever miss, not to mention disregard completely.

That ability usually supported his actual deductions, as well as warned him of potential malicious intention. However, as he was waiting for them to make their move while the police were ushering the criminals into the helicopter and the inspector was giving instructions, his ability failed him.

Unless—

Kuroiwa fell to the ground dead.

Faster than his lips could have parted to shout a warning, time seemed to have stopped. Everyone, civilian and police alike, could only gape at the atrocity committed in their vision with wide-eyed shock. As nobody could say a word, silence took over the clearing. Even the screams of terror had frozen in their throats upon seeing their efforts fail so spectacularly in the very last moment. His own eyes were wide too, laced with anger at himself for not considering that idea sooner.

Based on the nature of interaction with them in the previous night, his mind only accounted for close range attacks. As there had been no sign of such intentions so far, never once had it crossed his mind that they had brought a sniper—no, the sniper had been around from the very beginning.

His face contorted into a snarl.

Gin.

The inspector had been the first to recover from the shock and push the remaining member of the gang, who was struggling to wrap his mind around the events, into the assumed safety of the helicopter before they were executed in a similar style. His arm was nicked by another bullet even with the best efforts of the inspector. Needless to say, the man was vivid at the idea that someone had actually tried to dispose of others under his nose. While the other police started to come to their senses, including one private detective, he was frantically looking around in search of the same thing as he did too, the location of the sniper.

His mind dismissed the screams of the crowd that begun to move at the same time, screaming bloody murder quite rightfully, as his eyes trailed the form of the island. Where they were was near the highest point of the island, there could not have been many potential sniping locations to check. A faint glint of light tipped him off a spot a little above them in the woods, with clear sight on the clearing. He knew that glint, it was the reflection of the sunlight on a scope.

And he did not hesitate to make his realisation known.

"Inspector, that cliff!"

A moment of eye contact did the rest of the communication.

"Shiratori-kun, guard the helicopter!"

"Yes, sir."

He could only hear that exchange of word behind his back while rushing into the thick of the storm. While it was perhaps not how he had imagined his first direct confrontation with the organisation to go, but he could not just ignore their wrongdoings any further. He had had enough of being helpless, of being nothing more than a bystander to savour whatever advantage he had against them for a better opportunity. His entire being just refused to stay put anymore.

Time to turn the tables, then.

Published: 19/08/2022

Phew, things are getting interesting there. I was really looking forward this chapter, and the next one for that matter, and this is still the first arc. As always, I'm happy to see that many of you find this story interesting and make your opinion known. Talk about reviews, SoraRiderX, I have said this more than once previously, but NO Kid here. No offense, Kid is a good character with a lot of potential, but he just doesn't fit the general ambiance of this story. Sorry fans.

This might be a noob writer thing to ask, but it caught my attention that there're 'theme weeks' in the fanfiction community, mostly for certain pairings though. As several different writers seem to post similar themed stories in a short amount of time, I think the dates of these weeks are public in some form. If someone can tell me where I can find information on the exact dates or possibly prompts, I would be grateful.