The Detective Agency Hostage Incident 5
"Ah!" Mouri Ran suddenly remembered that Sera Masumi had no idea who Albedo was, and hurriedly, with an apologetic smile, gave her a quick rundown of the situation.
"Hearing that, this Mr. Albedo should be at Professor Agasa's place right now," Sera said, studying Albedo with a probing gaze.
"Well..." Seeing the confusion on both Ran's and Sera's faces, Xiayu cut in to explain. "I'm the one who contacted Albedo."
That only deepened their puzzlement. After all, they had both watched Xiayu hand her phone over—by all rights, she shouldn't have had any way to reach anyone else.
"Ta-dah! I used this!" Xiayu held up the watch on her wrist. "It's the latest terminal developed by Jade Chamber Corp. It has a communication function—that's how I got in touch with Albedo and asked him for help.
Luckily, I knew Albedo was heading over to Professor Agasa's today. Otherwise I would've had to call Xiangling and the others, and at that distance they'd never have made it in time."
"I see!" Ran and Sera exclaimed in realization.
Sera quietly bumped her level of interest in Xiayu up a few notches.
Someone with that kind of skill *and* that sharp a mind, who was also closely connected to Edogawa Conan and the whole Mouri family—it made her genuinely curious. Just who was Xia Yu? The friends around her all seemed steeped in mystery as well, and the more Sera thought about it, the more certain she became: Xia Yu was no ordinary detective.
Still, about Professor Agasa—Sera felt like she'd heard that name somewhere before. Hadn't Ran mentioned that Conan had gone to Professor Agasa's house today?
Wait a second! Hadn't she forgotten something?!
Only now did Sera remember that the call Conan had made earlier had never been hung up. He must have heard everything that happened over here.
At the thought, Sera hurried to the table and picked up Ran's phone.
On the other end of the line, Conan had been anxiously directing the Detective Boys to search for clues after hearing the culprit describe his sister's case, while also asking Haibara to dig up personal information on the three suspects online. He'd just heard the victim's social media message and was lowering his head, deep in thought about who exactly the elephant, the fox, and the mouse in that message were supposed to represent—when a loud commotion burst from the phone.
Conan's grip tightened around the device, worry spilling out of him as he called out to ask what was going on. Haibara, Ayumi, and the others crowded close around him, straining to catch every sound from the other side.
But the longer they listened, the more everyone's expressions eased. And when Ran's voice finally came through—when they learned the matter was resolved and Ran and the others were safe—Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, and Genta let out a chorus of cheers.
Conan exhaled in relief too, yet as he looked down at the case details he'd just jotted down, he couldn't shake the feeling that something in the process was missing—a faint, nagging sense of loss.
Just then, a new voice came through the phone.
"Hey, Conan? Can you still hear me?"
Conan recognized the voice instantly—it was that weird kid.
He wasn't thrilled about the guy using Ran's phone to talk to him, but he gave an answering grunt anyway.
Knowing Conan was listening, Sera poured out everything that had happened on her end.
When she finished, she added, with a touch of regret, "It's just a shame we still don't know whether that Sawakuri Miko really did try to kill herself back then."
Conan: "It was murder. We just can't be sure who did it yet—I need more details from the scene."
Albedo: "It was murder. The culprit is the fox."
Huh?!
Everyone in the detective agency—including Mouri Kogoro, who had just gotten off the phone with Inspector Megure—turned to stare at Albedo.
Even Sawakuri Kaoru, who had never once stopped struggling even as the ropes bit tighter around the chair with every twist, froze mid-motion and gaped at him in astonishment.
He went still for a moment—then began straining to make muffled "mm! mm!" sounds through his gag, clearly desperate to say something.
In the end, it was Ran who asked the question he'd been trying to voice, and only then did he settle down again.
Ran: "Um... Albedo? How do you know the fox is the one who killed Miss Sawakuri Miko?"
"First, look at the tone of the victim's social media message—it's plainly impossible she was contemplating suicide," Albedo said, picking up the documents on the table and explaining as he read.
"Second, the message says only that she wanted to chase the fox out—nowhere does it say the fox was actually driven away. When she was signing for the mouse, she wrote, 'I'll throw them out the moment I finish signing.' Presumably the fox was still inside at that point, and quite likely hiding in the restroom.
Finally, throughout the entire ordeal, the fox was the only one who came into conflict with Sawakuri Miko.
Therefore, all we need to do is identify who the fox is."
The moment Albedo finished, Sawakuri Kaoru whipped his head around toward the three suspects, his eyes fierce—as if he could pick out which of them was the fox by sight alone, and then kill her with nothing but his gaze.