End of the Preliminaries
Meanwhile, the conversation on the other end of the wiretap was still going.
Alhaitham answered the question the Wanderer had just asked. "Almost finished. Since Cointreau's been pushing so hard, this naturally takes priority. Let's hope Bourbon likes the gift Cointreau's sending him."
That single line confirmed Conan's earlier guess, and it steeled his conviction: this drug was something the Organization was giving Bourbon as an auxiliary tool to flush out Shuichi Akai.
The Wanderer clicked his tongue. "Tch. Cointreau's just reaping what he sowed. That's what he gets for not paying attention in the first place."
Not paying attention to what? Conan wondered.
The Wanderer sounded genuinely puzzled as he went on. "The drug's nearly done anyway—so why don't you want to head back to the base? Don't tell me you're planning to sleep in the car tonight. You might manage it; I certainly can't."
"What's the rush? Eager to get back to work?"
Even as he said it, Alhaitham knew he couldn't stall forever, and he began getting ready to drive back to the base.
After that, all Conan and Subaru Okiya could hear through the wiretap was the sound of an engine turning over.
Conan clenched his fists, staring tensely at the transmitter's location displayed on his glasses. This time, there was a real chance they'd learn the location of one of the Organization's bases.
Subaru, beside him, was far less optimistic. He didn't believe those two Organization members would fail to notice something extra on their bodies in the end. Still, the later they discovered it, the better—each hour bought them at least a rough fix on the base's general location.
A stretch of silence followed.
"Oh, right—those two things that have turned up on me. Take them off, would you?"
Alhaitham's voice cut in out of nowhere.
Conan and Subaru froze. They knew about the wiretap and the transmitter! Since when?!
"What, you don't have hands? Can't take them off yourself?" the Wanderer snapped, irritated.
But the complete lack of surprise in his voice made it obvious—he'd known all along that Alhaitham was carrying a bug too.
Conan couldn't understand it. If they both knew, why had they talked so freely just now, letting slip all that information?
"I'm driving right now. My hands are occupied," Alhaitham said, entirely unapologetic.
The Wanderer clicked his tongue again, plainly reluctant—but Conan heard a rustling, scrabbling sound, and it was clear he'd done it anyway.
"And here I thought you were going to carry these things straight into the Organization's base."
"Noticed them when we got away from the crowd. Doesn't matter—they're no use against me anyway. But bringing them all the way back to the base would be..."
What followed was a sharp, grating crackle—and then the wiretap was destroyed.
The signal on Conan's glasses winked out at the same moment. Clearly, the transmitter had been taken out with it.
Going over that final exchange, Conan and Subaru understood: the two of them had discovered the bugs long ago, and simply hadn't cared. Still, they hadn't given away much of anything.
And judging from their tone, neither of them seemed particularly loyal to the Black Organization—which was, honestly, the one genuinely encouraging piece of news they'd gotten all day.
At the very least, they now knew that Bourbon of the Black Organization was about to make his move. They would have to be far more careful in the days ahead.
Subaru Okiya above all—his disguise would need extra vigilance. What kind of drug targeted disguises, he could only imagine.
...
The two of them returned to their seats.
Apart from Ran fussing over Conan's health for a moment, nobody paid it much mind anymore—they'd long since grown used to his disappearances—and their attention slid right back to the dazzling performances on stage.
The show was drawing to a close.
One by one, the contestants finished their acts, and the event hosted by the Kamisato family was about to come to an end.
Only one segment remained: the announcement of the names of those who had passed the preliminary round and would advance to the semifinals.
Thanks to Barbara and Nilou's stunning performances, their names were among the first the emcee called out.
Three spots remained. Yet even now, Kazuha's name had not been spoken, and everyone's hearts were in their throats, unable to tell whether she would make it through.
Sonoko, Ran, and Natsuki gripped each other's hands tightly, nerves wound to the breaking point, their eyes locked on the emcee without so much as a blink as they strained to hear him reveal the final three qualifiers.
Even Heiji—who had never shown much interest in the contest from the start—found himself tensing up despite himself.
In the end, though, Kazuha's performance had fallen just that last little bit short.
When the emcee finally announced the last three names, everyone listened with a flicker of hope still burning—but the result was a bitter disappointment. Kazuha's name was not among them.