The Girl with the Familiar Face
Meanwhile, at the entrance of the Beika Shopping Mall, a familiar Porsche 356A sat parked by the curb.
Inside the car, Kir held herself perfectly composed even with Gin's gun leveled straight at her face. "There's no way he could still be alive. Gin, have you forgotten? Akai Shuichi — that man — I disposed of him with my own gun, right in front of you."
"Not right in front of me," Gin corrected coldly. "Through a surveillance monitor. Which means, at that moment, you still had every opportunity to tamper with things."
"Exactly — Aniki's right," a voice cut in from the front seat.
The Wanderer — no, that wasn't his name anymore. Word was that shortly after the Akai Shuichi incident, he'd been granted a codename. These days, he went by Glenlivet. He turned his head, his Beretta still trained on Kir. "If you'd just listened to me back then and used the terminal to confirm Akai Shuichi's body temperature on the spot, we wouldn't be dealing with all this today."
"I hardly think that's my fault," Kir said, her gaze flicking toward him.
"Oh? Then whose fault was it, I wonder?" Glenlivet's voice carried an odd lilt as he shot a sidelong glance at Gin.
Sensing the barb beneath the sarcasm, Vodka hurried to smooth things over beside him. "N-now, that's not Aniki's fault either! Aniki couldn't have known—"
"Shut up," Gin snapped.
That idiot Vodka, Gin fumed. Glenlivet never even spelled it out, and Vodka practically volunteered himself as the defendant.
Unwilling to dwell on the matter any longer, Gin turned back to Kir. "In that case, everything hinges on whether that look-alike who showed up at the mall today really is Akai Shuichi. Your survival depends on it, Kir. Heh."
Beika Central Mall.
Xiayu pocketed her phone, a puzzled look flickering across her face.
"What's wrong? Did that brother of yours send you something?" Charlotte leaned in close, curiosity written all over her.
Xiayu frowned. "He wants me to find a way to get Bourbon to notice what I look like. That's it — that's all I have to do."
"He says he'll handle everything after that, and I shouldn't worry about it." She puffed out her cheeks, grumbling in genuine irritation. "Honestly! The plan involves me too, but he won't explain a single thing clearly."
Charlotte blinked, taking in Xiayu's indignant expression, and offered no words of comfort whatsoever.
Sure enough, Xiayu's anger didn't last long. After a moment her emotions settled, and she let out a long sigh. "Fine. I'll settle the score with him properly later. For now, I'll just do what he told me to."
"Besides, with everything happening today, you'll get first-hand intel too, Charlotte." Xiayu looped her arm through Charlotte's with a grin.
"Then I am absolutely getting as many photos as I can!" Charlotte hoisted her camera, and the two exchanged a knowing smile.
At the center of the crowd, Mouri Kogoro and the others stood stumped before the thirteen red T-shirts laid out on the ground, unable to make heads or tails of why the culprit had mailed them.
"Ran, Conan, Mouri-san — Charlotte and I were out doing a bit of shopping. Imagine running into you here!"
At the sound of a voice calling to them, Ran and the others looked up.
There was Xiayu, pulling Charlotte along as she shouldered her way through the crowd toward them.
"Xiayu and I saw a commotion from a distance, and we knew right away — the Great Detective Mouri must be on the scene." Charlotte turned to Kogoro with a teasing smile. "So you won't mind if I capture the illustrious Mouri Detective cracking the riddle and solving another case, will you?"
Conan gave a half-lidded stare at Uncle Mouri, who was already getting dizzy from a few measly compliments, the corner of his mouth twitching.
He regarded Charlotte with something close to admiration. Truly the ace reporter of the Beika Daily — smiling and chasing her story even under the threat of a bomb.
Meanwhile, in the middle of that crowd, Amuro Tooru had been carefully observing the Mouri Kogoro group he was about to make his move on, and hadn't paid much attention when Xiayu and Charlotte drew near them.
Then, the instant his gaze drifted casually across the two unfamiliar women, his body went rigid. His eyes sharpened, locking onto them with unnerving intensity.
It was the blonde, golden-eyed girl who seized his attention most of all. Her features demanded scrutiny, and he studied her — the shape of her face, her expression, the way she carried herself.
A frown creased Amuro's brow, doubt welling up in his chest.
Who was this girl? What was her connection to Mouri Kogoro and the others?
And above all — the one question that mattered most — why on earth did she look so much like Cointreau?!