30th floor, outside Ayumi's home.
Chi Feichi noticed pry marks on the door lock. He reached out and gently pushed the door, only to find it locked again. After checking the type of lock, he took two paper clips from his pocket…
Time to pry it again.
In this type of high-end apartment, aside from the first-floor entrance and elevator, there were no surveillance cameras elsewhere.
Since the lock already showed signs of being forced open, adding another set of marks wouldn't stand out. When the culprit was caught, Chi Feichi could simply say the door hadn't been locked properly. The culprit wouldn't be able to tell whether the lock had been damaged earlier.
Outside Ayumi's window, the red-eyed crow was still watching the drama unfold.
Inside the closet, children's voices could be faintly heard.
"But why isn't Ayumi answering us herself?"
"You forgot? She can't talk right now."
"Ayumi? Are you listening?"
"You can't speak, right? If yes, knock once. If not, knock twice. Find something to tap on the badge with."
The bedroom door opened quietly.The man wearing a safety helmet entered with a gloomy expression, tiptoeing toward the closet.
The children's voices from the badge were loud enough to completely drown out his footsteps.
"It's Ayumi! One knock—it must be her!"
"She still can't talk…"
"I bet she's bored and wants to hear our voices."
"That's good, let's cheer her up!"
"Wait… something's wrong. She can't talk, so using the alarm clock as her voice makes sense. But the alarm clock just reported a time that was five minutes slow. And today isn't the 5th…"
The red-eyed crow widened its eyes, watching the tense scene.
But then, out of the corner of its eye, it spotted a snake silently slithering into the room.
That snake looked familiar…
And right afterward, the person it had been following walked in with calm footsteps. The man in the helmet didn't notice a thing.
Feichi sensed the strange stares, turned around, and saw two crows plastered against the window watching like theatergoers."…"
This crow really haunted them like a ghost!
Snake and crow locked eyes in silence before turning back to watch the helmeted man.
Chi Feichi followed the man lightly, sizing him up.
The clothing was thick and tight, the neck protected by a high collar, and he wore a safety helmet. Except for his face, his entire body was protected—knocking him out instantly would be troublesome.
Not to mention the steel pipe in his hand. A murder weapon like that meant even a small mistake could get someone killed.
Best to restrain him first, then add supplementary strikes…
Inside the closet, the children's voices continued.
"Maybe Ayumi is trying to tell us something?"
The man reached toward the closet door.
Chi Feichi placed a hand on the man's shoulder.
Conan's voice came from the badge:"Ayumi? Did something happen?"
Inside the closet, Ayumi saw the door crack open and froze. She wanted to scream but no sound came out.
Outside, the man felt a hand grab his shoulder. A chill shot up his spine. Before he could turn around, a heavy strike hit his back ribs. Pain flared—and then his right wrist was seized. The world flipped upside down.
At Teitan Elementary, Mitsuhiko said through the badge,"Ayumi, if yes, knock once—"
Thud!
The man hit the ground head-first. Even with a helmet, stars exploded in his vision.
Mitsuhiko:"…Does she need to knock that hard?"
A sound loud enough to shake dust from the ceiling…Surely she'd used a hammer?
"Caw—!"
The crows watching at the window were startled, flapping away.
The red-eyed crow glanced at Chi Feichi turning toward it. Its feathers puffed up instantly. Those eyes—calm now but carrying the shadow of the strike he just delivered—were terrifying to a bird.
Chi Feichi looked once, then withdrew his gaze. Grabbing the man's right arm and pinning it behind his back, he removed the helmet with his free hand and slammed the man's head down, knocking him out completely.
Thud.
The man went from "seeing stars" to "total blackout."
"Uh… does that count as one knock or two?""Why is she knocking so hard? Is she mad—?""No, wait!" Conan cut in sharply. "Ayumi! Can you hear me? What happened?!"
Chi Feichi opened the closet and lifted the stunned Ayumi out. He took the badge from her hand.
"No problem. It's handled. I called the police. Go to class."
And he cut the connection.
"Wait—!"Conan choked on his words.
With Chi Feichi there, nothing to worry about… but he could at least explain what happened!
Cutting communication unilaterally—absolutely unfriendly to curious people!
Over twenty minutes later, the police arrived.
Ayumi leaned against Chi Feichi, calmly eating the steamed buns he brought. Her mood had already stabilized, but since her throat couldn't produce sound, Chi Feichi explained the situation to the police.
"Ayumi caught a cold and stayed home. I came to check on her. Found the door unlocked and pried open. Felt something was wrong, so I came in and took care of the culprit."
Takagi Wataru waited for him to continue…But nothing followed.
"…And then?" he asked.
"I called the police. You arrived," Chi Feichi said after thinking. "Nothing else."
…Gone?
Takagi stared at the extremely short report in his notebook. Sweat formed on his forehead.
"That…"
"What?"
Megure Inspector arrived with the culprit. After glancing at Takagi's notes, even he was speechless. He sighed and patted Takagi's shoulder.
"Takagi, you weren't here during the Magician-in-Love case, so you haven't met Chi-kun before. Just confirm the necessary details."
Takagi recalled the police station legend about the 'Modus Operandi Manual' and instantly understood.
"Right… okay…"
Honestly, those few sentences did explain the sequence clearly enough…
Any additional details could be asked from the culprit directly anyway.
So… nothing more?
"Alright, then for now, please come to the MPD later for a formal statement. We'll contact you."Takagi still felt off as he read the brief record.
Would his supervisor accept something like "I called the police, you came, done"?
And when Chi Feichi came to file a statement… what kind of terrifyingly concise report would the officer on duty receive?
He prayed desperately that it wouldn't be him.
"Ayumi!"
Ayumi's mother rushed in, face pale."Are you alright?!"
Chi Feichi set Ayumi down.
Ayumi ran to her mother and smiled, showing she was fine.
Her heart was big—too big—no psychological trauma at all.
Ayumi's mother trembled, still shaken. She bowed gratefully."Mr. Chi, thank you so much! If you hadn't come, I don't even want to imagine what could've happened…"
"It's nothing. I have to go to the hospital. I'll leave first."
Chi Feichi crouched and called,"Feichi, let's go."
Ayumi really hadn't been in danger—just frightened.
"Is that Mr. Chi's pet?" Takagi asked, turning curiously.
He hadn't seen any pet earlier. But then—
A gray-black snake slithered out from under the sofa, leisurely passing by his feet.
Feichi climbed up Chi Feichi's arm and disappeared into his sleeve.
Chi Feichi straightened up."I brought him to check on Ayumi."
Takagi: "…"
Ayumi's mother watched Chi Feichi leave, then exhaled deeply, guilt flashing across her face."So he even has to rush to the hospital… we must've delayed him…"
"Hospital?" Takagi blinked. "Is Mr. Chi sick?"
"He's receiving treatment at Aoyama 4th Hospital," Ayumi's mother answered casually, still full of gratitude.
Takagi nodded—then froze.
…Aoyama 4th Hospital?Isn't that… the psychiatric hospital…?
On the balcony, the red-eyed crow watched Chi Feichi leave, eyes burning with excitement. Only when he finally disappeared did it turn away, thinking hard.
Its best target had a good relationship with this little girl called Ayumi. So "borrowing" her small communicator to play with might be rude.
However…
The girl had been talking to other children.Which meant they also had the same device.
It could simply take the communicators from the other children!
Downstairs, Mamiya Mitsuru had been waiting in the car.
Chi Feichi got in and apologized. The car drove off—passing by the Detective Boys, who were rushing over from school.
The red-eyed crow signaled two subordinates to tail the car and then led the main group to land in a tree, staring at the four children.
Conan pocketed his detective badge after speaking with Ayumi.
The crow's sharp eyes spotted it—and also saw Genta wearing his badge clipped to his shirt.
"Attention! Looks like these four kids each have a small communicator. But they might know the target—we shouldn't overdo it. We'll take the two visible ones. Number Three, Number Eleven—move! The rest of you, follow me!"
A group of crows whooshed over the kids' heads.
One crow landed in front of Conan, blocking him. It pecked rapidly at Conan's shoe—peck peck peck—and loosened the shoelace before hopping aside proudly.
Another circled above Genta, waiting for a chance to snatch the badge on his clothes.
"It's the crows again…" Conan waved them off helplessly and crouched to retie his shoe.
When he crouched, his pocket opened slightly.
The crow spotted the badge peeking out.It darted forward, snapped it up in its beak—
—and ran.