A black shadow flashed by—Kaitou Kid had appeared.
On the rooftop, Conan had been keeping an eye on Satou Miwako, worried she might do something drastic. He had already kicked the gun into the corner.
Now, Kaitou Kid landed right next to the gun.
"Kaitou Kid?!"
"Hey kid, we meet again." Kid acted like he was just passing by. "What's going on here?"
'This guy really shows up everywhere…' Conan frowned. 'There's nothing he won't stick his nose into.'
"Oh my, isn't this Officer Satou from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police? What are you guys doing here?" Kid sounded surprised. "Did you take down a criminal and earn another merit badge?"
"Kaitou Kid, why are you here?" Conan asked.
"Just passing by. That person on the ground—isn't he the bomber who's been disturbing the peace in Tokyo lately?" Kid said, stepping over the gun and walking toward the bomber's body.
Conan hid his hand behind his back again, ready to fire his tranquilizer dart at any moment.
Kid studied the shattered pieces of the remote on the ground, then looked around. "This seems different from what I imagined, Officer Satou?"
"Yeah. Once the suspect was no longer a threat, I shot and killed him. I abused my authority as a police officer," Satou admitted.
"Oh? And you, little Conan—are you a witness or something?" Kid asked.
"Officer Satou has decided to turn herself in," Conan said innocently.
Kid didn't respond. He picked up the broken pieces of the remote and with a few quick motions, put it back together. That's right—he actually restored it. "So it's this button, huh?" The remote only had one button, so the question was pointless.
"Kid, what are you doing?!" Conan hadn't expected him to fix the remote.
"I just want to see what happens if I press it. What will blow up." Kid casually glanced around. "Oh? Teitan High School, is it?"
"Kid?!" Conan had a bad feeling. It was like Kid was about to do something unforgivable. "Kaitou Kid, don't you dare!"
"Tell me, kid. Is there someone you care about in that school?" Kid suddenly turned serious.
Conan grew more tense. "Kaitou Kid, you…" Before he could finish, to his shock, Kid pressed the button.
A flash of light engulfed Teitan High School. Conan thought he saw Ran reduced to ashes in the explosion. Not just Ran—Sonoko, and all his other friends disappeared from the world.
"Ran??!!" The school was gone. No one could've survived that blast. Thick black smoke rose into a mushroom cloud. Even Conan's soul felt torn apart by the explosion.
"Kaitou~~Kid——!!" The white-clad thief turned into a black-robed demon in Conan's eyes. Kid had pressed the button that sent every student in that school to heaven—including the one he loved most, Ran.
After yelling, Conan lost all strength. He swayed and collapsed.
"How does it feel, kid?"
Conan stared blankly at Kaitou Kid. He was sure Kid knew he was Kudou Shinichi. Which meant he had done this on purpose—to make him lose Ran.
"Why?" Yeah… why take the one he loved the most? It was the same question Satou had asked.
"No reason. Just curiosity. Looks like I was right—it really was the school bomb." Kid grinned. "Blowing up a school has been my dream since I was a kid. Of course I had to do it myself."
Bastard. Bastard. Bastard. Bastard…
Demons clawed and howled inside Conan's heart, devouring all his reason. Ran was dead—blown to pieces. She left alone. Conan had never imagined something like this.
Now what was he supposed to do?
Out of the corner of his eye, Conan saw Satou's police-issued handgun. A voice in his mind told him to pick it up, slowly aim it at Kid, and take revenge for Ran.
"Conan?" It was Satou who stopped him. But she hadn't recovered either and couldn't even stand. "Conan, don't!"
But Conan's heart was filled only with Ran's smile. Now, that smile was stained with blood. He'd never see it again—only dig through memories to find a glimpse. And the one responsible for all of it was standing right in front of him. The gun was in his hand.
A devil whispered in Conan's head, tempting him: 'Pull the trigger. Kill the one who murdered Ran.'
Kid smiled. His pure white teeth gleamed in the sunlight like the fangs of a demon. That mocking grin, that contempt for life—it cast a dark shadow over what was left of Conan's reason.
Bang!
The same thing happened again. But this time, Conan was the one who pulled the trigger.
He had lost his beloved. Torn apart forever. Reason couldn't win against hatred. Love is humanity's most beautiful emotion. But losing love can turn someone into a monster that erases all traces of humanity.
This same story had played out over and over in human history. In many of the cases Conan had solved, the killer acted out of revenge after their loved one was hurt. Like in the Moonlight Piano Sonata serial murders, where Masaki Natsume disguised herself as a man to get revenge.
Every time, Conan had calmly told the killer, "Murder is wrong." But when the same thing happened to him, Conan also chose the simplest path of revenge—he killed the killer.
In that moment, reason was gone. Conan was completely ruled by hatred. There was no right or wrong anymore, because he was no longer human. He had become a beast. Concepts like morality and law were nowhere in his mind.
Huff, huff… he breathed like an animal. That bullet had taken all his strength. His hatred was washed away in blood, but it was already too late to regain clarity.
Satou was lying in a pool of blood. The moment Conan fired, she had thrown herself forward, shielding Kaitou Kid. She fell right into the path of Conan's bullet.
Even Satou herself didn't know why she did it. But in the end, she had protected her father's honor.
Everything had fallen apart. First Satou killed the bomber. Then Kid blew up the school. Then Conan tried to shoot Kid. And finally, Satou blocked the bullet.
"Really didn't expect that ending," Kid said, looking at Conan. "So… who's the bad guy? And who's the good guy?"
Conan's detective mind couldn't think anymore. It was like a broken engine—he had no idea how to make sense of anything.
Who was good? Who was bad? The bomber and Kid were the bad guys. Conan and Satou were the good guys? No—Satou killed the bomber, so she was a bad guy. But Conan shot Satou, so he was the bad guy? No—if the bomber was bad, then Satou was good for stopping him.
Then that made Conan, who shot Satou, the bad guy.
It was a mess. Conan stood there, dazed, dumbfounded.
The world had always been messy. Most people just tried to do what they thought was right—as long as they didn't break the law. But when you stand at the edge of law and emotion, who can really say what's right?
The law doesn't support revenge. But law can't control emotions. Can't control human hatred. When emotion and law clash, leaning toward emotion becomes rule by man. Leaning toward law becomes rule by law.
But no matter which side you choose, someone will be unhappy. You can only satisfy most people. The rest will always resist and keep doing things that force everyone else to take a side. That's why human society will never have absolute peace—only relative stability.
Because people are different. Every person is different. And even the same person changes from one moment to the next. No one is truly in control. It's all far too complicated.