"Mr. Suzuki, the 'Blue Wonder' has been successfully secured within the museum!" a staff member reported, his eyes fixed on the monitor.
"Excellent!"
"Now, seize the initiative! Kill the power to every light in the museum immediately!" Jirokichi Suzuki barked his next order.
"The lights...?" Inspector Nakamori blinked, completely blindsided. He couldn't begin to fathom what the old man was playing at now.
"Hmph. It's highly likely he's intercepting the museum's internal video signals. Cutting the lights is a safety precaution," Jirokichi explained, crossing his arms with a look of stubborn conviction.
"But doing that might play right into his hands," Nakamori countered, shaking his head slightly. "If you do that, we'll have no idea what's actually happening inside the museum."
"And what's your alternative, Inspector Nakamori?!" Jirokichi pointed a trembling finger at the video feed. "Unless you have a better way to stop a thief who walks through the heavens like a god, strolling step-by-step toward my prize, then I suggest you let me handle this!"
Nakamori stared at him, speechless. He turned back to the screen, his expression one of pure exasperation. Even if we do all this, he thought, that brat will probably just vanish again. All these theatrics won't help us actually catch him.
"As long as I protect the Blue Wonder, I win this round!" Jirokichi declared, his fist clenched in determination.
By now, Kid was less than three hundred meters from the museum.
"Inspector Nakamori, I'll leave the command here to you. Also, I'm borrowing a few of your most reliable men," Jirokichi said. He claimed to have spent the previous night concocting a "super-secret ultimate move."
"That shouldn't be a problem," Nakamori replied. He assigned five or six officers to accompany the Advisor as they exited the van.
He didn't know what this "ultimate move" was, nor why it required such secrecy. To Nakamori, the strategy was simple: just keep your eyes glued to the bastard as he approaches!
"Stay focused on him! Watch exactly how he vanishes this time!"
Outside, in the dark of night, the wind and rain began to intensify.
As the weather worsened, everyone watching noticed something was... off. The figure of Kid walking through the air seemed different than before.
"Wait... are those thin lines?"
"His legs are moving, but look at his shoulders—he's clearly being suspended by something!"
Even the fans gathered below began to spot the anomalies in the performance.
"Helicopter Seven!"
"Helicopter Seven, right above Kid, respond!" Inspector Nakamori shouted into his radio from the broadcast van. He watched the figure of Kid swaying awkwardly in the wind and rain, his suspicion mounting.
That specific helicopter was acting strange. He had called out several times with no response, and the camera feed from that unit remained dark.
In the sky, Kid took a few more labored steps before a sudden explosion of smoke enveloped him. This time, he was still nearly a hundred meters from the museum when he abruptly vanished.
"It's Seven! It has to be!"
"All units in the air, listen up! The Phantom Thief is likely hiding inside Helicopter Seven! Report its position immediately!"
Commanding the search was second nature to Nakamori. He had figured it out—Helicopter Seven had likely been piloted by Kid's accomplice from the very beginning. By using smoke bombs and specialized wires, they had created the illusion of walking on air and the trick of the "instant" disappearance.
"Copy that! This is Fourteen. I've spotted Seven! It's currently hovering directly over the museum's main entrance!"
Nakamori nodded, satisfied. With this many helicopters in the air, there was no way that single chopper could escape the dragnet.
"This is Thirty-five! Helicopter Seven is currently over Shiodome Park!"
Nakamori froze. "What?"
Shiodome Park was behind the museum. That was the complete opposite direction of what Fourteen had just reported.
"This is Twenty-eight! Helicopter Seven is quite a distance away from Shiodome Park!"
"This is Nine... I've just spotted two Helicopter Sevens in front of Shiodome Park!"
Finally, a pilot spoke the truth that shattered the confusion. On the tails of a large portion of the helicopter fleet, the number "7" had been slapped on.
"How is that possible?! You were all assigned specific numbers before you took off!" Nakamori's brow furrowed into deep, angry lines.
The pilot assignments were fixed. If every chopper was suddenly sporting the 'Number 7' insignia, the entire coordination would have collapsed from the start.
"Inspector Nakamori! Look at the museum!" a technician shouted, zooming in on the feed from the main entrance.
Six men were emerging. It was the group of officers who had just entered the museum with Advisor Suzuki.
"And that suitcase in his hand...?" Nakamori scratched his head, watching his subordinate in the center of the formation. Don't tell me they're just walking out with the Blue Wonder in a briefcase!
Nakamori scrambled out of the van, rushing toward the officers as they approached from the entrance. "Get in the car, now!" he yelled.
"Rest easy, Inspector," the officer carrying the suitcase whispered into Nakamori's ear. "This is a fake gem. We're just the decoys..."
He began to explain the Advisor's "brilliant" plan. The slow walk was a deliberate attempt to draw the Phantom Thief's attention. The real gem had been smuggled out by Jirokichi Suzuki himself, who had disguised himself as a member of the cleaning crew and hidden the treasure in a trash bag.
He had already slipped out the back door and was likely miles away by now. The plan was foolproof...
"Hahaha!"
Under the cover of night, along a quiet river embankment, Jirokichi Suzuki sat atop his large three-wheeled motorcycle. He looked at the gem resting on the seat beside him and let out a triumphant laugh.
"Is that really okay?"
"Using that face to let out such a youthful laugh, I mean."
The padding of the sidecar seat was pushed aside, and a small figure crawled out from the hidden storage compartment. He looked up at the Advisor with a knowing smirk.
"What are you talking about? Did you mishear me?" Jirokichi's voice sounded perfectly normal—exactly as it had before. It was as if that arrogant, youthful laugh from a moment ago had been a mere auditory hallucination.
"Heh. You showed your hand the moment you appeared today."
"Just like right now. You haven't put on your goggles once while riding. For someone wearing contact lenses, that's almost impossible in this wind, isn't it... Kaito Kid?"
The "Great Detective," Conan, turned his head to look at the old man's face.
Even Lupin, the dog that was always at Jirokichi's side, was nowhere to be found. It was likely unconscious somewhere, along with its real master.
"How could I be the Phantom Thief? When he appeared in the sky, I was standing right in the broadcast van. You and Nakamori were right there with me," Jirokichi laughed.
"The 'Kid' that appeared tonight was a total fake. I assume the gadget Professor Agasa spent all night making was a mechanical puppet capable of mimicking human leg movements, wasn't it?" Conan said, flipping up the cover of his tranquilizer watch and aiming it.
"Well, well, Great Detective."
The "old man" reached up and effortlessly peeled away his face. Kaito Kid smiled, his eyes twinkling with mischief.
"How was the show?"
(End of Chapter)
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