Night had deepened.
The lights were still on on the third floor of the Mouri Detective Agency. Dinner was long over, but Sonoko didn't plan to leave. Her mind was full of Moriya Teiji stealing the explosives, and she insisted on waiting for Inspector Megure's call to find out his true purpose.
Beep beep beep~
The ringtone of a phone echoed in the living room. It came from Haibara's pocket, making everyone excited—only to then turn their attention regretfully away from Kurosawa.
Haibara took out her phone, glanced at the screen, and answered. "Professor, is something wrong?"
"Haibara, I'm here to pick you up. I'm downstairs. Come down." Professor Agasa's familiar voice came from the other end.
"Okay." After hanging up, Haibara told everyone about her situation and got up to walk to the door.
"Haibara, I'll take you." Kurosawa smiled and followed, patting her head.
Haibara remained silent.
The two quickly arrived downstairs. A bright yellow Volkswagen Beetle was parked quietly by the roadside—its rounded body exuding a cute charm, highly recognizable. It was Professor Agasa's car.
"Hoshino, long time no see." Professor Agasa got out of the car, patted his head, and greeted him with a smile.
"Professor, it's been a while." Kurosawa responded politely.
"Oh, right." Professor Agasa suddenly remembered something. He turned around, took a bottle of sake from the back seat, and handed it to Kurosawa. "Hoshino, please give this to Mouri as a thank-you for taking care of Haibara."
"No problem." Kurosawa took the sake, nodded to the two of them, and turned to go upstairs.
A moment later, he returned to the third-floor living room. He saw Kogorō reclining on the tatami mat, looking listless.
Kurosawa swirled the bottle of sake in his hand and smiled. "Uncle Mouri, this is a thank-you gift from Professor Agasa for taking care of Haibara."
Seeing the sake, Kogorō instantly perked up. He sat bolt upright on the tatami mat, his eyes lighting up. But before he could even reach for it, Ran had already strode over to Kurosawa, snatched the bottle from him, and given her father a wary look. In a calm but undeniably authoritative tone, she said, "Dad, I'll lock this sake in the cabinet for now. I'll open it for you on a holiday. If you don't agree—I'm very democratic. With so many of us, we can vote."
Kogorō's smile froze instantly. His lips twitched. He was absolutely certain no one would vote for him. He was doomed to lose no matter what. In the end, he could only nod reluctantly and lie back down on the tatami mat like a deflated balloon.
Sonoko laughed without restraint. Conan forced a smile, but could only keep his lips shut. He knew his place all too well. He couldn't let Kogorō seize the opportunity to take his anger out on him—or he'd definitely get another punch.
"What's so funny?" Kogorō scoffed, then changed the subject. "Seriously, what's wrong with Inspector Megure? It's already eight o'clock, and he still hasn't gotten anything out of the interrogation? Sigh, he's really not as good as he used to be."
He barely finished speaking when Kurosawa's phone suddenly rang in his pocket. He took it out and saw it was Inspector Megure calling. He immediately said to everyone, "It's Inspector Megure."
He answered and immediately put it on speakerphone. "Inspector Megure, is there a result from the interrogation?"
"Yes. Moriya Teiji finally couldn't withstand the pressure and told the truth." Inspector Megure's voice was serious. "He stole the explosives, firstly to destroy those imperfect, asymmetrical buildings he designed in the past. Secondly—he wanted to ruin Kudō's reputation. Even kill him."
"Kudō-kun?" Kurosawa feigned surprise.
"Yeah. That guy is completely insane." Inspector Megure's voice was helpless. "He seems to have some kind of obsession. He wants to destroy all the asymmetrical, imperfect buildings he designed."
Conan, who was nearby, was completely stunned when he heard his name mentioned. He frowned and tried hard to recall the name "Moriya Teiji," but after searching through his memory, he couldn't remember when he had offended this person. Not only did the other party want to ruin his reputation, but he also wanted to kill him.
Kogorō muttered to himself, "That brat hasn't shown his face lately. Turns out he offended someone and was forced into hiding."
Conan was speechless but had to admit that Kogorō was right this time. His current elementary school-like appearance was definitely a sign of hiding. He couldn't let the Black Organization find him—or he'd be in danger.
Kurosawa then asked, "Inspector Megure, why did Moriya Teiji want to kill Kudō? What grudge did they have?"
"It's related to the traffic accident case involving Mayor Okamoto that Kudō solved a year ago." Inspector Megure explained. "At the time, Mayor Okamoto had invited Moriya Teiji to design the redevelopment plan for Nishitama City. Architecture was practically Moriya's life. But because of this case, Mayor Okamoto resigned, and the redevelopment plan was completely halted. He blamed it all on Kudō. A year later, he finally couldn't resist seeking revenge. But he didn't expect to run into you, Hoshino, on the way."
"Okay, Inspector Megure, we understand. I'll hang up now."
After hanging up, Kurosawa looked at the stunned crowd and shrugged.
Kogorō's lips twitched. He couldn't help but mutter, "Is this guy really crazy? To go to such lengths for something like this? He's insane. Luckily you ran into him, otherwise who knows what kind of disaster would have happened? That was explosives—and so much of it!"
"Yeah, thanks to Hoshino-nii." Conan chimed in, a wave of fear washing over him. He never imagined that solving a case would lead to such a deadly situation.
Sonoko yawned widely, reached out, and hugged Ran's arm. "Ran, I'll sleep with you tonight."
"No problem." Ran nodded, gave her a quick kiss, and laughter filled the air.
"Then we'll head back too." Kurosawa looked at Conan, his tone natural.
"Okay~" Conan obediently got up, looking very well-behaved. After spending this time together, he had already been trained to be very obedient.
Back at the house across the street, Kurosawa lay on the bed, opened the system panel, and looked at the Origin Points displayed. Thinking that he only needed fourteen more Origin Points to gain another superpower, he was in a very good mood.