Klee's Jumpy Dumpty and Dodoco
Just as Amuro was fishing for an excuse to ask Klee to show him both the Jumpy Dumpty and Dodoco inside her backpack, a voice cut into their conversation.
“Klee, and Mr. Amuro — what are you two doing here?”
Kamisato Ayaka, who had just returned to the Kamisato estate, stared in open surprise at Klee and Amuro standing together at the lakeside.
Then her gaze drifted over the water-soaked ground along the bank and the fish still twitching in front of Klee, and she let out a soft sigh. “Klee, have you forgotten what you promised your brother Albedo?”
“Klee didn't forget......” Klee hung her head and fiddled with her fingers. “It's just, Haibara said she wanted to rest by herself for a while, so Klee came out to play, and then — and then Klee accidentally dropped Jumpy Dumpty into the water. Um...... Mr. Amuro was here too, he can be Klee's witness that Klee wasn't throwing things around.”
She pointed toward Amuro, who stood quietly a little way off.
Amuro met Klee's pleading eyes, and something inside him went soft.
She's still just a child......
Under Ayaka's questioning gaze, he backed Klee up after all. “That's right — Klee did drop her Jumpy Dumpty into the lake by accident.”
Watching Klee visibly relax with relief, Ayaka sighed inwardly. That child really was a worry — she hadn't even noticed that Amuro had just "sold her out."
How exactly does one *accidentally* drop something into the middle of a lake......
Ayaka filed the matter away, intending to tell Albedo about it once he returned after today's work was done.
“By the way, Miss Kamisato — would you happen to know whether the toy Klee is carrying is rather dangerous?”
Klee hadn't admitted the Jumpy Dumpty was a bomb, and it certainly didn't look like one, but Amuro had seen its destructive power with his own eyes.
And the moment Ayaka arrived and surveyed the scene, she had instantly guessed it was Klee's doing. Amuro was certain that she knew exactly what the doll in Klee's hands was.
“Ah, that...... Those toys are ones Albedo made for Klee to play with. They look a little powerful, I suppose, but really there's nothing dangerous about them,” Ayaka said with a soothing smile.
Albedo?
So anyone connected to Kaeya was no ordinary person. Capable of making something like that — the Teyvat Syndicate really did hide dragons and tigers among its ranks.
Amuro noted the name, raising his level of interest in the man.
“But still......” Amuro pressed, wanting to learn more.
“Don't worry. Albedo is Klee's brother — why would he ever give her something that could hurt her?”
With that, Ayaka steered the conversation elsewhere. “Oh, right — Xia Yu and Miss Ran and the others have already come back. I came to let you know. Would you like to go meet up with them?”
Amuro could tell she had no wish to linger on the subject, so he went along with her, and the two of them — Klee in tow — left the lakeside.
Meanwhile, tipped off by Amuro, Hattori Heiji and Edogawa Conan hailed a taxi and set off for the Takahashi residence.
In the car, Heiji got in touch with the Osaka police as well, forwarded the evidence Amuro would be sending over shortly, and had them arrange for some officers to join them at the Takahashi estate. Once there, they could escort the Takahashi family back to the station under the pretext of assisting with the investigation — which would also keep Miss Raiden from doing anything rash.
The Takahashi family was certainly wealthy. Their estate sprawled over a vast stretch of land, set in a tranquil district — not quite out in the countryside, yet keeping a careful distance from the bustle of the city. The location lent the grounds a serene, almost otherworldly air, as though the mansion had been cut off from the rest of the world entirely.
As they neared the Takahashi estate, Heiji glanced idly out the car window. In the distance, he thought he caught sight of a figure standing high up on the mansion — he paid it no mind at first, then his brain caught up and he whipped his head back around, eyes going wide.
“Kudo — look! Isn't there somebody over there?!”
Heiji smacked Conan's arm with more force than he meant to, jabbing a finger toward the direction he'd been watching, his own eyes straining to make out who on earth could be standing in a spot like that.
Conan followed his gaze and, sure enough, could make out a figure up in the heights.
Frowning, he adjusted the focus on the glasses Professor Agasa had made for him, and at last the image sharpened.
“Miss Raiden!” the name burst out of him the moment he saw her clearly.
Honestly, now that they knew the Takahashi family was the mastermind behind everything, neither of them found it strange that Raiden Ei and her group might be here — but they hadn't expected to spot her standing on the *roof* of the Takahashi mansion from this far away.
Come to think of it — what was Miss Raiden doing all the way up there?