Fighting alone, Conan was now wearing Ayumi's little red dress as he ran through the pouring rain outside the station.
At this moment, he was seriously questioning his life. He had never imagined that wearing a skirt would feel like this.
It honestly felt as though he was running down the street with nothing on his lower half, especially on a cold, rainy winter day.
It was freezing.
After finally arriving at the phone booth the kidnapper had designated, Conan fumbled the Bow-Tie Voice Changer out of his pocket. After adjusting it to imitate Ayumi's voice, he answered the phone.
"H-Hello? A-Are you Mr. Kidnapper?"
"That's right, Ojou-chan. There aren't any police around you, are there?"
Conan deliberately paused for two seconds before replying,
"No... the police officers aren't here."
"Good. Well done. Next, head to the phone booth at 3-Chome, No. 28, Midoridai Town. Behave yourself and don't call the police on the way, or the two members of TWO-MIX will die because of you."
The kidnapper even let out a sinister chuckle at the end. The corners of Conan's mouth curled upward.
'He took the bait.'
Imitating a frightened little girl, he nervously replied,
"O-Okay... Ayumi will do as you say."
After hanging up, he hurried toward the next destination.
At this point, he was almost certain the kidnappers had no idea what was happening around the previous locations. They had only arranged surveillance at the final destination.
Which meant the last location had to be very close to where the hostages were being held.
Conan boldly took out the Detective Boys Badge he had hidden away.
"Hello? Can everyone hear me?"
"It's Conan! Conan-kun, where are you right now? Onizawa-nii said that as soon as we heard from you, we should tell him your location!" Ayumi exclaimed excitedly.
"I'm heading to 3-Chome, No. 28, Midoridai Town. The kidnappers should be there. Please tell Onizawa-nii the address. I'm turning off my Detective Badge now!"
Conan said while sprinting toward the station.
"Okay! I'll call him right away!" Mitsuhiko replied.
Before the connection was about to end, Haibara picked up Genta's Detective Badge and said,
"Edogawa, I think you should wait a little before going. He'll get there quickly if he drives."
"No."
Conan refused immediately.
"I have to make sure the hostages are safe. If the kidnappers spot Onizawa-nii, they might get angry and kill them. Those guys already have blood on their hands. They're definitely not afraid of adding two more victims."
Haibara had already expected that answer. With a sigh, she said,
"...Fine. Just make sure you're careful. If it comes down to it, it's okay to be selfish once in a while. Your own life is the most—"
"Idiot, what are you talking about?"
Conan interrupted her.
"Everyone's life is equally important. Don't worry. I'll come back safely."
Shiho, who had only recently escaped from the Organization, simply couldn't understand Shinichi's values. She leaned much more toward self-preservation.
After all, she carried too many burdens now. If she died, her sister would lose much of her reason to live.
The successful completion of APTX4869 would also put Shinichi in danger, dragging countless others into the mess.
'Kudo is still far too idealistic. If something really happened to him... What would his Ran, his big sister Ran at the detective agency, do?
Would she just keep waiting forever... for that idiot detective who would never come home?'
"Haibara, what are you standing around for? Hurry up and let's go!"
Mitsuhiko's voice snapped Haibara out of her thoughts. Before she could react, Ayumi had already pushed her onto a train bound for Midoridai.
She quickly realized what the three children were thinking.
"What are you all planning?"
She frowned.
"They're kidnappers. If we go, we'll only make things—"
"So what?"
Genta interrupted with his hands on his hips.
"Conan's a kid too, and he's part of the Detective Boys! Didn't Ms. Kobayashi teach us that there's strength in numbers? Maybe we can actually help Conan!"
Haibara had no way to explain that Conan wasn't actually a child nor could she tell them the truth.
In the end, she simply went along with the three children's decision and headed for the kidnappers' hideout to support the lone Conan.
She took out her phone, intending to notify Onizawa, only to discover that, at the worst possible moment...
Her phone had run out of battery. It shut itself off.
'Does this mean something bad is about to happen?'
Helplessly, she let out a sigh and silently prayed that nothing terrible would occur.
...
Meanwhile,
Ritsu was already driving toward Midoridai Town when he noticed the little red dot on the tracker suddenly begin moving rapidly.
'That speed...A train? Wait... where are those kids going?'
Frowning, he tried calling Haibara's phone.
It was powered off.
"What the heck is Shiho doing? She actually turned off her phone."
Looking at the direction the tracker was heading, Ritsu guessed they were trying to rendezvous with Conan.
He couldn't help stepping harder on the accelerator. If anything happened to those kids, he wouldn't know how to explain it to their families.
Twenty minutes later, he arrived at 3-Chome, Midoridai Town.
After parking in a nearby lot, he deliberately put on a black baseball cap to make his hair color less conspicuous.
Judging from the clues Conan had provided, the hostages should be somewhere near the designated phone booth.
That left only one likely location, the abandoned apartment building at No. 31. If he remembered correctly, it was scheduled for demolition in another month.
As Ritsu hurried toward No. 31, his phone suddenly rang. He immediately ducked behind a nearby wall.
A middle-aged man wearing a red scarf was carrying a burly unconscious man toward a black Nissan parked nearby.
"Hello? This wouldn't happen to be Officer Onizawa, would it? We've already released the two of them and those kids safely. Bye."
The person who hadn't actually made the call raised an eyebrow. He suddenly became curious about who had called them.
Less than ten seconds later, however, his own phone vibrated in his pocket. Taking it out, he saw the caller ID,
[Ran Mouri]
'She's probably calling to ask whether Conan made it home safely. She's such a thoughtful and kind girl.'
Now definitely wasn't the time to answer. Ritsu quickly hung up and typed out a text message to Ran.
Seeing the group preparing to drive away, he pocketed his phone and dashed forward.
In one swift motion, he grabbed the scarf of the man about to get into the passenger seat. The red scarf tightened violently around the kidnapper's neck, nearly choking him.
Ritsu immediately chopped the man unconscious with a clean knife-hand strike before sending him crashing to the ground with a powerful kick.
Leaning down to look at the two kidnappers inside the car, Ritsu flashed them a bright smile.
"Hello. Good evening. I hope I'm not interrupting your evening?"
"W-Who the hell are you?!"
The freckled man in the driver's seat reached for the revolver at his waist. Unfortunately for him, the man outside was even faster.
Ritsu seized the kidnapper's gun hand before he could draw and casually began giving him a lesson. Gripping the revolver's cylinder with one hand, Ritsu smiled pleasantly.
"Once you hold a revolver's cylinder in place, it's physically impossible for a human to pull the trigger."
He tilted his head.
"Your behavior is making things rather difficult for me. As a police officer, how exactly should I punish you?"
"P-Police? That's impossible! We clearly—"
"Oh?"
Ritsu interrupted.
"You mean because you had someone watching the phone booth?"
His gaze shifted toward the injured kidnapper in the back seat, who was about to make a move. Without even looking directly at him, Ritsu swung a punch backward.
Bang!
The man blacked out instantly. Two teeth flew out of his mouth.
"So stupid."
Ritsu continued calmly.
"Once I knew the address, why would I get close to the phone booth?"
He smiled.
"Anything else you'd like to say?"
"Y-You... could you let—"
Bang!
Before the man could finish speaking, Ritsu impatiently knocked him unconscious with another punch. Shaking the blood from his fist, he said expressionlessly,
"Tch. You actually wanted me to let you go. Are you the one with a brain problem or am I?"
He opened the trunk and took out the same rope the kidnappers had used for the abduction.
After securely tying all three men together and fastening them to the rear of the vehicle so they couldn't escape, he hurried toward the apartment building.
Hearing loud banging coming from inside, Ritsu shouted,
"Hey! Have your people step back from the door! I'm about to kick it open!"
"Ah! It's Onizawa-nii!"
"Onizawa-nii came to save us!"
"Thank goodness! We're saved!"