Enter Haibara Ai
That day, Xiayu was in the highest of spirits as she set off for home. She had finally met the person she'd always longed to see, and the excitement had gone straight to her head — she'd impulsively emptied every last bill in her wallet. Now she couldn't even afford a taxi home. Left with no other option, she resigned herself to walking, and thankfully her stamina was more than up to the task; no matter how long the trek stretched on, she never felt the slightest weariness.
"Hm? Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, Genta — and these two as well? What are you all doing out here so late?" Xiayu had just spotted a small cluster of children standing at the police station entrance ahead. One closer look confirmed it: the Detective Boys, joined by two unfamiliar faces — a little boy, and a little girl whose face was set in a permanent mask of ice.
Xiayu had a pretty good guess who that extra brown-haired girl was: Miyano Shiho, shrunk down into an elementary schooler just like Conan. Ah — or rather, Haibara Ai, as she went by now.
Paimon couldn't resist a jab the moment she laid eyes on Miyano Shiho in this state. "Traveler, who knew little Sherry would make such an adorable kid! Only a teensy bit less cute than Paimon, of course. Though that frosty glare of hers doesn't look childlike in the slightest."
Xiayu nodded along in emphatic agreement.
"Sis Xiayu!" The children turned at her voice, discovered Natsume Xiayu standing there, and cried out together in delight.
Xiayu came over to the group and got introductions for the two newcomers: the boy was Toshiya, and the girl was, sure enough, Haibara Ai.
"So? Why aren't you home yet? It's dangerous for little kids to be out on the streets this late at night." Xiayu planted her hands on her hips and lectured them.
"Sis Xiayu, it's like this..." Reading the displeasure on her face, Ayumi hurried to explain what had brought them here.
"Ohh~ So Toshiya's big brother has gone missing, and after your Detective Boys looked into it, you decided the people at the newspaper office next door to the station kidnapped him and are forcing him to make counterfeit bills. Is that it?" Xiayu propped a hand under her chin, thoughtful.
Genta and Mitsuhiko nodded furiously.
"And I take it you just tried reporting it to the police, and they didn't believe you?" Xiayu asked.
"Uh-huh! They were so mean about it — they wouldn't believe us one bit, and even said we've been watching too many gangster movies." Ayumi gazed up at her, eyes brimming with hope. "Sis Xiayu... do you believe us?"
Haibara Ai studied the girl who had appeared out of nowhere — and somehow, she couldn't say why, the woman felt strangely familiar. (Miyano Shiho had seen Cointreau only once, back when her parents were still alive; she'd been barely a year old at the time, and retained hardly any memory of it.)
At Ayumi's question, Haibara waited with cool, level eyes for the verdict. An adult who suddenly heard a child say all this wouldn't believe a word of it. Naturally.
"Yeah, of course I believe you." Xiayu nodded without a moment's hesitation.
And she genuinely did. The Detective Boys turning out in full force could only mean something had happened. True, these kids could be impulsive and reckless, charging into things without a thought for the consequences — but they were good children at heart, and she trusted they would never, ever lie.
"Yay!" Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, and Genta instantly swarmed around her, overjoyed. "Sis Xiayu, you really believe us?!"
"Mm~ I sure do." Xiayu nodded once more — and then it struck her that one key figure was missing. "Come to think of it, where's Conan? Doesn't your little team always move together?"
"Conan told us to stay put right here and not move a muscle, then took off on his own," Genta grumbled. "And the more he tells us not to move..."
"...the more we wanna move!" Mitsuhiko chimed in.
"So — you're planning to go take a look at that newspaper office yourselves?" Xiayu said.
"Yeah, yeah! Can we? Huh? Can we?" Genta asked, practically bouncing.
"Of course. I'll go with you." Xiayu agreed on the spot — a perfect chance to earn herself a few more Primogems, for one thing. For another, she refused to believe a handful of thugs could give her any trouble; even if they had guns, so what? Worst case, she could always throw up a Geo shield.
"Yesss!" Genta, Mitsuhiko, and Ayumi cheered in unison.
"But you have to promise me one thing first: when we check out the newspaper office, you all stay right behind me. No running off, got it?" Before they set out, Xiayu made sure to drill this into the children one last time.
"Okaaay—!" everyone chorused.
Xiayu took the lead, keeping the kids trailing behind her — that way, if danger did show itself, she could be the first to charge in and snuff it out before it ever touched them.
Haibara Ai studied the girl walking up ahead, quietly bewildered. What is wrong with this person? What kind of adult swallows a ridiculous story from a pack of children without so much as a blink? And now she's actually about to march a whole group of kids straight into the scene!
The group soon arrived at the newspaper office. Even at the door, Xiayu could sense there was no one inside, so she simply pushed it open and strode straight in, the children close on her heels.
"Huh? There's nobody here at all," Genta said, sounding faintly deflated.
Mitsuhiko went up to a desk and gave it a quick once-over. "I don't see any counterfeit bills, either."
Genta sidled up beside him, skeptical. "You think maybe that Conan kid got it wrong?"
"He didn't get it wrong. Look — the desk is covered in paint for drawing bills. And look at this—" Xiayu let her gaze drift, casual as anything, across the security camera tucked into the corner of the wall, then slipped a single sheet out from the pile of newspapers on the desk. Printed across it, row upon row, were ten-thousand-yen notes.
"Whoa! That's so much money!" Ayumi gasped.
Genta was already counting on his fingers. "How many eel rice bowls would all this buy, huh? One, two, three..."
"Hmm, that's odd, though. The portrait on every one of these bills is missing its left eye," Mitsuhiko observed, leaning in for a closer look — he'd spotted something strange.
Suddenly, the newspaper office door swung open, and a woman's voice rang out from the entrance: "It's just like a daruma whose wish has been granted — you only paint in the eye once the wish comes true. Mm!!!"
Ayumi and the others looked up at the sound — just in time to see the woman in black, who had flung the door open and raised her pistol at them, take the door square in the face as Xiayu slammed it shut from behind with sudden, crushing force. The woman crumpled, senseless, and the gun clattered to the floor.
Xiayu gave the two remaining men no chance to react. The door she had just slammed shut flew open again, and the spent paint bottles she'd snatched up only moments before went hurtling out — catching each of them squarely on the forehead.
With a dull crack, both men dropped where they stood.
By the time Ayumi and the others' brains caught up with events, it was already all over.
Only two figures remained standing at the entrance: Xiayu, and one last man — trussed up tight in rope. Toshiya's kidnapped brother, Xiayu figured.
"Big brother!"
Sure enough, the moment Toshiya snapped out of his daze, he bolted to his brother's side and set about working the ropes loose.
"Sis Xiayu?" Conan stared in open astonishment at the person who had materialized out of thin air.
"Nice work out there, Conan." Xiayu eyed the last kidnapper — the one Conan had dragged over himself, laid out cold by a well-placed kick — and gave the boy's head a firm, fond rub of praise.
And even as she did, a thought was quietly forming in her mind: Conan's head really is perfectly round. It actually feels pretty nice to pat.