"La-la-la~" Sonoko hummed a tune as she placed her shopping bags in the car. She happily walked down the corridor, heading for the restroom. Her actual reason for coming out to put away her bags was to use the toilet; she just found it a bit awkward to say it directly, so she came up with this excuse.
"Huh? The restroom is being cleaned already?" Sonoko arrived in front of the restroom and saw the "Sorry, cleaning in progress" sign. She pouted. "Why is my luck so bad? Even going to the restroom is unlucky! The next one is on the eighth floor!"
"Ding-dong-ding!"
"This department store is about to close. Thank you for your patronage today..."
"Please, customers who have not yet left, kindly exit as soon as possible. We welcome your visit again."
A gentle female voice suddenly announced. Sonoko looked up, startled. "How can this be?!"
"Seriously," Sonoko sighed, clutching her stomach. She was really about to burst...
Just as Sonoko was lamenting, in the corridor behind her, a malevolent gaze was fixed on her. The source of the gaze was a figure in a coat, wearing sunglasses, with a scarf wrapped around his face, a knit cap on his head, and carrying a slightly dented baseball bat. It was none other than Sadokane Yoshio, who had followed Sonoko with the intention of attacking her.
"A bunch of devils..." Sadokane Yoshio's gaze was unusually cold. In his eyes, girls who resembled Aizawa Tae were all devils. One day, they would commit evil, just like the devil who ran over and killed his child.
What he didn't notice was that not far behind him, another pair of eyes was watching him, peering slightly from the restroom doorway.
"The demon slayer will eventually become a demon..." Fujino watched Sadokane Yoshio trailing behind Sonoko. He could understand the motive, but he couldn't agree with the revenge that involved continuously attacking innocent people. To seek revenge before any wrongdoing had been committed, fueled by anger, was already a betrayal of the very idea of revenge. In doing so, he was no different from those "devils" himself.
---
Meanwhile, on the other side.
Takagi had received news confirming that the second victim had just gotten out of her car. Hearing the department store was closing, Inspector Megure had no choice but to wrap things up and prepare to handle the body. As the body was being carried away, Conan saw Aizawa Tae's shoe fall off, and suddenly everything clicked.
"It's platform shoes!" he exclaimed.
"Platform shoes?" Sato Miwako heard Conan's sudden remark and knelt down, asking him, "Conan-kun, did you figure something out?"
"That's right!" Conan nodded. "Don't the 109 Shibuya 'ganguro' girls dress very fashionably these days? Normally, wouldn't they wear very trendy clothes? Ms. Aizawa wearing flat shoes is very unusual!" Then, he turned to Ran and asked, "Am I right, Ran-neechan?"
"That's true," Ran nodded. "If she were a 109 'ganguro' girl, she should be wearing platform shoes."
"Platform shoes... Could the culprit be attacking people who wear platform shoes?" Sato Miwako suddenly had a flash of insight. "I remember the victim from a year ago was wearing platform shoes. Because of the platform shoes, she was slow to hit the brakes and crashed directly into him. Could it be that the family member of that little boy who was killed is seeking revenge?"
"Really, Sato?!" Inspector Megure looked at Sato Miwako in surprise.
"Yes, I remember it clearly," Sato Miwako stroked her chin, confirming. But then, her expression turned grim. "At the time, the little boy's divorced parents were very certain that was the cause of the accident, but the judge at the time didn't accept that idea."
"Divorced..." Conan heard this and quickly scanned his surroundings, then narrowed his eyes. "Could that little boy's father be named Sadokane?"
"Yes, that's the name," Sato Miwako recalled, confirming. But then, her face turned a bit pale. "That security guard earlier was named Sadokane! Could that guy be the culprit?!"
"That security guard..." Inspector Megure immediately remembered. He looked around but didn't see him, so he shouted to those nearby, "Has anyone seen that guy?!"
With the suspect's identity confirmed, everyone sprang into action. However, Conan wasn't excited about his deduction. Instead, he felt a sense of bewilderment. His thoughts turned to Fujino. He looked around but found no trace of Fujino, nor Sadokane, nor Sonoko.
"I see," Conan sighed softly. "It seems Fujino already figured it out..."
---
"Eh?!" Sonoko had just walked out of the restroom when the department store lights suddenly dimmed. She exclaimed in surprise, looking around the dim surroundings, feeling a little scared. Then she called out, trying to see if anyone else was still around. If she were trapped here alone, she'd have to spend the night in the department store.
"Heh heh..." Sadokane Yoshio was now behind Sonoko. After the power went out, he let out a cold chuckle. The power outage was within his expectations. This darkness was the perfect opportunity to make his move. Although he saw himself as an 'executor of justice,' he still didn't want to show his face. If his face were revealed...
Thinking this, he slowly walked forward, raised the baseball bat in his hand, and swung it hard towards the back of Sonoko's head.
"Thwack!"
With a dull thud, a metallic clang echoed for a long time in the dim department store. However, the baseball bat didn't hit Sonoko. It was blocked by something else. A wooden sword clashed with the baseball bat. Before the baseball bat could strike Sonoko, Fujino had rushed forward, using his wooden sword to block the bat.
"Huh?!" Sadokane Yoshio was clearly stunned and hadn't processed what happened.
"Fujino-senpai!" Although it was dim, Sonoko recognized Fujino at a glance and cried out his name. Fujino didn't respond. He just felt the force coming through the wooden sword and narrowed his eyes. The force of this guy's swing was a bit too much. Although he couldn't be sure about the 'Conan-level' combat strength in this world or how human bodies functioned, in his opinion, this blow, if not careful, could easily be lethal.
"You?!" Sadokane Yoshio also recognized the person in front of him. It was the detective who had participated in the investigation earlier. He actually ran into a detective... Sadokane Yoshio felt a sudden sense of dread. He wasn't afraid of detectives. After all, in his own eyes, he was an executor of justice. But he didn't want his identity exposed and to be caught.
He turned, intending to flee. Fujino didn't plan to shout "Stop!" or anything like that. If he did, the other party wouldn't actually stop. He just raised his wooden sword and swung it hard towards the other's head. But just as the wooden sword was about to hit the back of his head, Sadokane Yoshio seemed to sense something. He suddenly darted aside, and the sword slammed hard into his shoulder instead.
"Aargh—!" With a scream, Sadokane Yoshio felt as if he had been struck by some indescribably heavy object. He immediately lost all feeling in one shoulder. Then, he stumbled hard forward, dropping his sunglasses.
---