Raiden Ei on the Move
Raiden Ei gave Conan a careless glance and said flatly, "No one can stand against the falling thunder. No one can withstand the radiance of the storm."
She paused for a moment, as if something had occurred to her, then added, "At the very least, they certainly can't."
Conan couldn't understand why she would use such an analogy. But when he recalled the crushing weight of the gaze she had leveled at him just moments before, a thread of fear and unease stirred in his chest despite himself.
So even though his curiosity burned, he hesitated a moment and ultimately decided against pressing further. For now, he quietly buried the question in the back of his mind.
A short distance away, Kamisato Ayato caught the movement on Conan's side of the crowd. The corner of his mouth curled faintly, and his eyes swept over Hattori Heiji beside him with an unreadable glint.
Conan slipped over to Heiji's side under the cover of the crowd.
"Heiji, this is bad. I can confirm it now — the Kamisato family already knows which household was behind the attack."
"Damn, so we were one step behind." Heiji scratched his head, guessing wildly. "But if the Kamisato family knows who the culprit is, how are they planning to punish them? They're not gonna hire someone to do the guy in, are they?"
Even as he said it, though, he didn't really believe it. Someone like Kamisato Ayato — a man who looked like he had depths no one could plumb — hardly seemed the type to do anything so reckless and irrational.
"No, they wouldn't. An act like that is bound to leave traces, and if it ever came to light, the fallout would be far worse." Heiji glanced toward the man in the distance who was leading everyone down the mountain, the gentle, composed figure who had quietly made a point of watching out for the girls on the steep path. "...He doesn't look the type at all."
"No... probably not." Heiji shook his head, frowning, and answered his own question. "Something like that would definitely leave evidence. Getting caught would just be inviting disaster. So then — does the Kamisato family have some kind of connection to the yakuza or an underground organization, letting them send proxies to do their dirty work?"
He turned to look again at the warm, unfathomable man shepherding the group down the mountainside, and a wave of confusion washed over him. It was genuinely hard to square that family head with anything involving the criminal underworld.
"No, that's not it either." Conan shook his head, ruling it out, then looked toward Raiden Ei with a complicated expression. "Just now, Miss Raiden Ei said she's planning to punish them personally." He stressed the words. "Alone. She's going alone!"
Heiji's jaw went slack. "Kudo, are you kidding me? How does anyone just go alone?" He rolled his eyes. "However tough this Miss Raiden is, there's no way she can waltz in and out of someone else's territory single-handedly."
With that thought, Heiji ignored Conan's flailing protest and vigorously mussed up his hair, a hint of mischief in his grin. "Don't tell me you tried to pump her for information and got made. She probably just spun some nonsense off the top of her head to fool a little kid."
Conan wrenched himself free of Heiji's hand and shot him a glare. Only after Heiji had wiped the smug look off his face did he say seriously, "That's not it. I'm inclined to believe her. Miss Raiden really does intend to pay them a visit on her own."
"Whoa." Heiji let out a whistle, the meaning behind it unclear. His gaze drifted to Raiden Ei, who at some point had fallen in beside Xia Yu and Kazuha, chatting with them in a relaxed manner. "Come to think of it, why doesn't she bring Xia Yu along? Those two seem pretty close — and if I remember right, Xia Yu can hold her own in a fight too, can't she?"
Conan couldn't resist kicking him. When Heiji sidestepped it neatly and arched an eyebrow at him, he snapped, "What is wrong with you?! This isn't some fun little errand — nobody drags their friends along like it's a picnic!"
"So what do we do now? Keep investigating, or quietly tail Miss Raiden?"
Conan sighed. "We've already fallen a step behind. Digging further is pointless at this stage. Let's follow Miss Raiden in a bit and see what exactly she plans to do. If she goes too far, we can step in and stop her before it's too late."
It was getting late, and the tour of the Grand Narukami Shrine had taken its share out of everyone.
Besides, there was an event that evening, so Kamisato Ayaka thoughtfully suggested that everyone return to the Kamisato estate to rest first, and that Thoma would escort the group to the finals venue once the match was about to begin.
No one turned her down.
After descending the mountain, they all piled into the car Thoma had driven over.
Partway there, Raiden Ei got out early, citing some business she needed to attend to.
Heiji and Conan exchanged a look. After the car had traveled a little further, Heiji pretended that the police station had called with something urgent for him, and dragged Conan out of the car as well.
Declining everyone's offers to help, the two of them watched the car disappear down the road.
The instant it slipped out of sight, Heiji whipped around to Conan. "Well? Please tell me you didn't lose her."
Conan pressed the switch on his glasses. At once, the lenses lit up with the signal from the tracking device he had discreetly planted on Raiden Ei during their conversation earlier.