Kyoto, Out of Reach
Conan had been about to find Natsume Xiayu and fill her in on the results of his little probing, and to talk over what they should do next. But before he could get anywhere near her, he saw her walking straight toward the men in black.
Xiayu strode briskly up to the pair, and as she brushed past them she snatched the case right out of their hands and hurled it backward over her shoulder. The instant both men's attention snapped to the flying case, she seized them by their collars and smashed their heads together with all her might. Before either of them knew what had happened, they crumpled to the floor, unconscious.
At that very moment, the falling case was caught—smoothly, steadily—in Genta's waiting arms.
Conan stared at the scene, dumbfounded.
Granted, the situation was obviously resolved now, and the bomb presumably wouldn't be going off, which was all to the good. But something about it nagged at him—the sequence of events felt all wrong. Wasn't the proper order supposed to be: stop the men in black, use deduction to prove they were carrying explosives, break down their psychological defenses, and then take them into custody? Skipping straight to the last step like this was just… too fast.
Around them, the other passengers had begun to panic at the sight of a girl who had not only brazenly robbed two strangers in broad daylight but knocked them both out cold in front of everyone.
Conan saw the commotion brewing and immediately spoke up to explain the situation, then had someone call the train attendant over.
Once the passengers learned that the two unconscious men were criminals, and that the girl hadn't been trying to rob anyone at all, they quieted down somewhat—but fear and suspicion lingered, and they all gave the spot where Xiayu and the children stood a wide berth.
Xiayu took the case from Genta's hands. “Genta, catching that case was a huge help. Nice work.”
Genta scratched his head. “Heh heh, well, obviously! We're the Detective Boys, after all.”
Mitsuhiko leaned in, curious. “But Xiayu-nee-san, what's actually in the case? You told us to catch it carefully and not shake it around too much.”
“Hmm, I can't say for sure, but there's a pretty good chance it's a bomb.”
Genta's eyes went wide. “Eh?! So does that mean we just stopped an explosion from happening?”
“That's exactly what it means. You kids were amazing.”
Only now did Conan remember the moment Xiayu had thrown the case, and a fresh wave of dread washed over him. If Genta hadn't caught it, wouldn't the entire trainload of passengers have gone down with it? That thing was very likely a live bomb.
He looked at the four of them—apparently completely oblivious to the danger—and couldn't hold back. “Xiayu-nee-san, what you just did was really dangerous.” He turned his head and continued, his voice deliberately grave. “And Genta, Mitsuhiko, Ayumi—if you hadn't caught that case, every one of us could have been hurt!”
The truth was, Xiayu had taken the risk precisely because she trusted the protagonist not to come to harm that easily. In the original story, that case hadn't exploded even after Conan had kicked it—she had plenty of faith in its stability. Chances were it would've been fine even hitting the floor.
But she obviously couldn't say that. “Ahem. Conan, it was an emergency, and that was the only plan I could come up with on the spot. I promise I won't do anything that reckless again.”
Admit fault first, deal with the consequences later. Besides, knowing you, the things you pull in the future will probably be even more dangerous than this.
By then, the train attendant had arrived on the scene. He took in the situation, and when he learned the case likely contained a bomb, he didn't brush it off as childish nonsense the way an adult might—he took it seriously and reported it to the police at once.
Kogoro and Ran received word and made their way over, joining Conan and the others to wait for the police. Naturally, they hadn't forgotten to deliver a thorough scolding over the children's dangerous stunt.
Before long, the train came to a halt, and soon a familiar face appeared before them: Inspector Megure.
He first cleared the surrounding crowd—Kogoro's group included—ushering them off the train, with questioning to follow afterward.
Then he called in the bomb disposal unit to deal with the suspected explosive.
None of which concerned Xiayu anymore, as she had already stepped off the train.
She had just disembarked and was heading toward Ran when a man dressed in black passed by her. The color of his clothing put her on instant alert, and she glanced at him out of habit before turning her head away.
Then, abruptly, something clicked. Xiayu whipped back around, searching the crowd for the man—but with the train stopped mid-route, too many disembarking passengers stood between them, blocking her view. All she could make out, dimly, was a head of curly black hair climbing back aboard the train.
That curly hair reminded her of someone—a man who should have died before the main story even began: Matsuda Jinpei. Once, she herself had cursed Aoyama out of sheer indignation over that man's death, and grieved for the police academy class of five who had been whittled down to one.
But that couldn't be right, could it? She hadn't arrived in this world until after the story had already started, so she shouldn't be able to change anything that happened before it. And yet the resemblance to his anime appearance was uncanny.
Xiayu frowned. Just then, Ayumi and the others called out to her, and she had no choice but to file the thought away, resolving to look into it later.
Meanwhile, the officer hurrying to the scene at Inspector Megure's summons couldn't help glancing back as he stepped onto the train—that girl bore a striking resemblance to the man who had happened to save his life a few years ago. But with the situation as urgent as it was, he gave it no more thought.
Sure enough, the police confirmed that the case contained a powerful explosive. With the help of specialists, the bomb was successfully defused, and from the confessions of the two captured men in black, they were able to track down the people involved in the transaction as well.
Though the matter was resolved without incident, the train had sat stopped for so long that they could no longer make it to the wedding in Kyoto. They had no choice but to head straight back the way they came.
Only after finishing up her statement and all the paperwork did Xiayu finally return to her home in this world.
“Traveler, you're back!” A voice called out from the kitchen. “I saved some snacks for you—if you're hungry, help yourself.”
“Xiangling, thank you so much.” Xiayu was genuinely touched. After all, thanks to giving her statement at the station, she'd had to eat dinner at the police precinct, and the food there had done nothing for her appetite. Knowing there were snacks waiting for her at home spared her the trouble of cooking for herself.
That's right—the character she'd pulled after saving up enough Primogems for another ten-pull had been Xiangling.
When she'd realized who she'd drawn, Xiayu had been over the moon. It meant not only that she could enjoy delicious food regularly, but that the first floor of her house would finally serve an actual purpose.
It wasn't that she couldn't cook—her food was actually pretty decent—but given the choice, the last thing she wanted was to make every meal herself. At long last, she could enjoy a free ride on the soft rice someone else had cooked.