Dr. Agasa drove his familiar yellow Beetle down the quiet road.
In the passenger seat, Conan Edogawa frowned deeply.
"Did you find anything, great detective?"
Haibara Ai studied him from the back seat, worried that Hayashi Yoshiki's carefully calculated moves might have been flawed.
Conan's frown remained.
——In truth, he had just rushed up to that rooftop.
After witnessing Gin and Vodka fleeing, wounded, he had to choose between pursuing them or checking the scene.
When he finally reached the rooftop, he found a woman lying there—a woman who had Haibara Ai's face, but an adult's body—with a bullet hole in her forehead.
God only knows how shocked he was.
He then reconstructed the events that had just taken place, relying on the remaining traces.
Someone used a fake Miyano Shiho to trap and try to kill Gin and Vodka...
In other words, the enemy had a deep grudge against the Black Organization and knew intimate details about Miyano Shiho. Considering Haibara had fainted and was taken to a hotel room, it was very likely that the enemy knew she had been transformed and was actively trying to protect her.
"Haibara, you said it was Hayashi Yoshiki's editor who took you to rest while you were unconscious, right?"
"Do you remember how you passed out?"
Conan eyed her sharply.
Haibara, recalling Hayashi Yoshiki's guidance on this very question, furrowed her brow and pretended to struggle with the memory.
"I'm not entirely sure… It felt like… a hand suddenly reached out in front of me, and then I—"
"So it was drugs that knocked you out!"
Conan's eyes lit up with deduction.
Asamiya Nanae, Yoshiki's editor… Whether she was involved or not, this gave him a direction to investigate.
"What is it? What did you figure out?"
Seeing him tremble with excitement, Haibara asked quickly.
Conan didn't hold back—he explained everything he had seen on the rooftop.
When Haibara heard someone had faked their death at the hands of Gin, her face went pale with shock.
Yoshiki… what are you really up to?
"Understood. You can pull back now."
Hayashi Yoshiki had just received a call from Reiko Shimizu, informing him that the woman disguised as Miyano Shiho had been exposed.
Not just Vermouth—even Conan had uncovered the truth...
In fact, Hayashi Yoshiki had stationed two people to monitor the rooftop of the old building.
Reiko Shimizu had been positioned in a building farther away—for safety and surveillance—tasked with watching Gin and determining whether he suspected "Miyano Shiho's" identity.
The plan had been simple.
Let Gin kill the fake Shiho, while Seiran Hoshi sniped from afar, ensuring Gin didn't have the time to verify the corpse.
But the plan ultimately failed.
Gin's suspicion had been underestimated.
Still, it wasn't all for nothing—at least they'd succeeded in further deepening Gin's hostility toward "the zoo" (his term for the opposing organization).
Yoshiki pulled a small notebook from his pocket.
Cause of death: [Gunshot]Time: 18:32, December 16Summary: After spotting the target codenamed Sulli at the memorial service, he fully cooperated with Organization member Coindo, revealing all he knew.
→ Death: Gunshot wound
Cause of death: [Gunshot]Incident: At 02:03 on December 9, she crashed while driving eastbound from Mihua Forest and lost consciousness.Aftermath: Upon waking, suffered cognitive impairment from brain trauma.Time of death: 19:11, December 16 — shot dead on the Beika Hotel rooftop.
Hayashi Yoshiki had begun operations shortly after receiving the invitation to the memorial for Sakamaki Akira.
Yuka Masuyama, a veteran criminal, had long been under his watch. Using the Death Note, he made her lose consciousness, then subjected her to hypnosis for manipulation.
After that, he contacted Kuroba Kaito to help disguise Yuka as Miyano Shiho. Kaito, not knowing Yoshiki's full plan, agreed—partly due to their ongoing cooperation and Yoshiki's righteous reputation.
After tearing the notebook pages and burning them, Yoshiki flushed the ashes.
Letting the Organization realize that the dead Shiho was fake had its benefits. It would likely push them to believe that Shirley was being protected by a rival group, further redirecting their focus.
But that woman—Vermouth...
She had known the truth about APTX4869. She was the first to uncover Haibara's and Conan's real identities. And now, she might be on to him.
He needed to prepare.
Exiting the bathroom, he found Inspector Megure Juzo in the conference room, deep in thought.
"Inspector Megure, how's the situation?"
"We're still investigating. This was a premeditated murder. The suspect, Kenzo Masuyama, is dead—probably silenced to cover the crime."
The police had obtained a photograph of Kenzo Masuyama mid-crime. But just as they issued a warrant, he turned up dead.
"Sir! A body has been discovered on the hotel bar's rooftop!"
Hearing the report, Megure rushed off.
Since it would've looked suspicious to leave so suddenly, Yoshiki followed the officers—though as a "detective," there wasn't much more he could do in this straightforward shooting case. He tagged along briefly before slipping away.
Back in the car with Asamiya Nanae, Yoshiki checked his phone.
Message from Haibara Ai:"Kudo seems suspicious of your editor, Asamiya Nanae."
Reply:"Ah, that doesn't matter."
With a smile, he powered off his phone.
In the passenger seat, unaware she'd caught the eye of the god of death, Nanae looked exhausted.
"I didn't expect all this to happen during a memorial service…"
"Mr. Hayashi, are you okay?"
"Me? I'm fine. I'm used to this kind of thing."
She suddenly remembered that he was also a renowned detective—and fell silent.
Hayashi Yoshiki then smiled faintly and turned back to his phone.
—Because today's mission was complete.And now... the others would begin demanding their rewards.