Outside the Izu Princess Hotel, a low-key black sedan backed into a roadside parking space.
"Sister Mingmei, how does it feel to shoot a shotgun?" Kazawa got out of the car and asked jokingly.
"You..." Miyano Akemi flicked his cheek with her hand. "Are you making fun of me?"
"How could I?" Kazawa grinned and rubbed the spot on his cheek where she had smacked him. "Shooting with a shotgun is quite relaxing, right?"
Miyano Akemi sighed, put on her sunglasses, pinched Kazawa's face on both sides, and then pulled Hoshikawa Teru—who had been driving—from the other side.
Unlike Hoshikawa Teru, Miyano Akemi had lived an ordinary life for over twenty years and had basically never been involved in the organization's affairs. She'd never received formal firearms training, and her marksmanship wasn't great.
That was probably why Gin found it amusing when she pointed a gun at him… Even hitting him back then was more a display of her resolve than skill.
So the firearm Kazawa chose for her was a high-powered shotgun. At medium to close range, it didn't matter whether her aim was precise—as long as she hit, the opponent was dead. It was very suitable for someone like her, whose shooting ability was still immature.
After getting her teasing in, Mingmei smiled and let go. Kazawa made his way through the lobby, heading for the open-air restaurant out back.
"Kazawa, over here!" Suzuki Sonoko, who had been watching the entrance eagerly, stood up and waved energetically the moment she saw him.
Kazawa turned toward their table, raised his hand in greeting, and walked over to observe the fruits of his earlier labor.
"Sis, this is Kazawa, Xiaolan's and my classmate," Suzuki Sonoko introduced excitedly, then leaned over and whispered, "What do you think? Isn't he a total heartthrob?"
Suzuki Ayako gave Kazawa a curious glance, then nodded in agreement.
Though her sister often imagined wild plots out of shoujo manga, her taste in men's looks had always been solid.
The classmate she'd talked about so much had a delicate, handsome face and striking light blue cat-like eyes… No wonder her sister had insisted on dining at this hotel tonight.
While everyone at the table was curiously checking out Kazawa, he too was studying them.
Mainly the Tozawa family on the other side of the table.
The biggest impact this case had on Kazawa was, first, that he was basically being dragged to meet the in-laws by the god of death, and second, that the criminal had to be chosen from among three.
There had been an eyewitness to the murder scene, so it should've been a straightforward case.
But no—they had brought in three suspects who were identical triplets!
This was truly next-level. Even if you died, your face would still get copied into a standard template.
After scanning the three brothers' identical faces, Kazawa's gaze finally rested on Tetsuji Tozawa.
This family really did live up to the title of a "loving father and filial sons." But if things had escalated to murder, most of the responsibility would likely fall on the head of the family—Tetsuji Tozawa.
This kind of overbearing father figure, long accustomed to leading a company, had a standard authoritarian personality. By middle age, when his energy began to decline, he would inevitably shift all his anxiety and frustration onto the people closest to him.
In short, a typical East Asian dad.
So even though Kazawa suspected the three brothers might show their true colors under pressure, his final target was still Tetsuji Tozawa.
With the right mental prep, any situation could be handled.
Sighing inwardly, Kazawa greeted everyone with a calm smile and sat in the empty seat left for him.
"Why'd you go into the city all of a sudden?" Conan, seated to Kazawa's left, leaned over and asked. "Did you find anything new?"
Even though Kazawa had said he was staying for vacation, Conan was still locked into detective mode.
Kazawa turned his wrist and showed the bag in his hand. "I just remembered I should buy some local specialties for Mr. Amuro and the others, so I went to the shopping street."
"…You really love giving gifts," Conan said, glancing at the neatly stacked pastry boxes in the bag. The corner of his mouth twitched.
"I just feel like I've been taken care of by a lot of people." Kazawa smiled and placed the pastries by his feet.
If you think about it... well, this is a stitched-together P5 world, isn't it?
Even without obvious signals, giving gifts shouldn't hurt. Just in case.
With everyone finally present, the seafood platters and set meals were brought out one by one. Kazawa shifted his focus and began to eat.
———
"Are you feeling okay now, Ai?" Seeing the girl in a black vest come out of the bedroom, Dr. Agasa looked worriedly at her face. "If you still feel unwell, don't push yourself. After all, that medicine you took is a special formula with unknown side effects…"
Haibara Ai paused.
This peaceful and ordinary concern… felt strange.
Looking at Dr. Agasa's kind expression, she gave an awkward smile and lowered her head.
"I'm fine, thank you." She lowered her eyes and said softly, "You didn't tell Kudo Shinichi about me, right? You promised."
Dr. Agasa nodded, a mischievous smile on his face. "That kid Shinichi doesn't even know what he's missing out on… Don't worry, I haven't contacted him yet."
"That's good." Haibara Ai brushed her hair back and quietly gripped the metal box in her pocket. "Can I use your computer? I want to check something."
"Oh, no problem!"
Even though they had only been together a couple of days, Miyano Shiho and Dr. Agasa, both being scientists, shared a similar aura. And with her now appearing so small and harmless, the naturally careless Dr. Agasa had quickly lowered his guard.
Haibara Ai smiled and thanked him again, then climbed onto the computer desk.
Now that she was in a child's body, she basically had to stand on the computer chair just to operate the machine. Her movements were awkward.
Still, Haibara Ai quickly typed in a web address. After a series of encrypted routes and proxies, she logged into an email inbox using a masked address.
At the moment, there was only one lonely email sitting there.
She looked at the sender, closed her eyes, and moved the mouse slowly toward the delete key.
This was the last thing her sister had left her...
But it couldn't stay.
As Miyano Shiho—Sherry—she had many secure accounts and ways to make contact, but none of them could be used anymore.
They were all now under the organization's full surveillance.
The final option she could think of was this secret email shared with her sister.
Once she sent what she needed to send, even this inbox would be compromised.
Her sister's farewell note wasn't just a goodbye—it contained a very important code, one that must not be discovered by anyone.
Gritting her teeth, she clicked the mouse and watched as those gentle words slowly faded away…
Big sister…
Forcing herself to focus elsewhere, Haibara Ai opened a new email draft, calmed her breathing, and began typing on the keyboard with her tiny fingers.
[Hello, I don't know whether I should call you Akechi Goro or Tsuchiguchi Hayato…
So, I will call you Kumail first.
...]