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CLOVER Convenience Store.
Ding-dong—
"Welcome!"
Ichiro Yamamoto walked into the convenience store, making sure there were no other customers around.
But this time…
He wasn't here to buy firearms or ammunition. Instead, he was responding to a message from Akira.
"What do you need?"
By now, the two had established a solid, trustworthy business relationship.
Even though they were just business partners, Ichiro Yamamoto still remembered how Akira had once fronted him a Glock, no questions asked.
"I need a favor."
"If you pull it off, I'll give you five boxes of chocolate-coated beans."
The moment those words left Akira's mouth, Yamamoto's eyes lit up.
Five boxes of chocolate beans meant five hundred rounds of ammo.
Sure, five hundred rounds of ammo wasn't exactly a fortune if converted into cash, but the bullets themselves had a value that money simply couldn't measure.
"Go on."
"What do you need me to do?"
His attitude made it clear—
For someone like him, living on the edge of a knife, as long as the price was right, no risk was too high.
"Do you know a director named Keiko Yamato?"
As he spoke, Akira placed a prepared photo of Keiko Yamato on the counter.
The woman in the photo was in her forties, with sharp, unfriendly features that made her look unpleasantly envious of the world.
"Yeah… I know her."
Yamamoto didn't even need to look at the picture.
It might be hard to believe, but in his spare time, he was a bit of a drama addict. So, he knew more about directors in the entertainment industry than most people.
"She's about to start filming a new project called Blue Ocean."
"I need you to get it for me."
"I want the original script and all backup copies."
Yamamoto stared at Akira with disbelief.
Bro—
Are you trying to debut in showbiz or something?
He couldn't wrap his head around why a convenience store manager who secretly sold firearms would be interested in a director's script.
Was Akira planning to shoot his own movie?
"Can you do it?" Akira asked again.
"No problem."
Yamamoto had to admit he was somewhat interested in Keiko Yamato's work.
But—
His professional duty came first.
"Oh, one more thing."
"That yellow Beetle parked outside my store has been sitting there way too long."
"Get them to move it."
He had already noticed it.
With his deep understanding of the Detective Conan world, he didn't even need to guess to know that the people in that car were most definitely Professor Agasa and the ever-nosy Shinichi Kudo.
That kid must've started keeping tabs on him through Ran Mouri.
A few days ago, he overheard Sonoko Suzuki talking about how some brat wanted to stay at Mouri Detective Agency, only to get ruthlessly turned down by Ran.
All he could say was: Nice work!
"Shinichi."
"Are we really going to keep watching this place?"
"It seems… kind of pointless, doesn't it?"
Professor Agasa was getting impatient.
After three hours of staking out the store, he had only come to one conclusion: CLOVER Convenience Store had good business.
"Professor!"
"That guy is bad news!"
"Back when he was dating Officer Sato, he still had the nerve to flirt with Ran!"
"Ran must've been fooled by him!"
Professor Agasa sighed.
So what?
Maybe Ran just liked that kind of bad boy.
Even though he was an old bachelor, he understood one thing—many women had a soft spot for bad boys.
"You keep watching, then."
"This old man is taking a nap."
Just as Agasa reclined his seat to rest, he saw a masked man standing outside the car window, pointing a gun at his head.
The gun barrel tilted downward slightly.
He knew exactly what that meant—the robber wanted him to roll down the window.
"S-Shinichi…"
"Look! Quick!"
While rolling the window down, Professor Agasa urgently called out to Shinichi Kudo, who was still watching the convenience store.
That kid was a famous high school detective.
Sharp as a whip.
If anyone could figure out a way out of this situation, it was him.
"Professor."
"I'm busy right now."
Shinichi was laser-focused on the store, trying to snap a picture of Akira's suspicious behavior with his phone.
So much so that he failed to notice Yamamoto, who had silently crept up behind him after leaving the store.
"Just turn around and look!"
Professor Agasa was practically losing his mind.
He wasn't just terrified because a gun was pointed at his head. His bigger fear was that this might be one of the mysterious men in black Shinichi always talked about.
If that were the case—
Then he and Shinichi had no chance of making it out alive.
"Professor…"
Annoyed, Shinichi finally turned around—
And the moment he saw the gun barrel in front of him, he sucked in a sharp breath.
Oh.
Now he understood why the professor sounded like his pants were on fire.
"Don't move."
"Hand over all your money."
Shinichi and Agasa exchanged glances before nodding in unison.
They had no choice.
All they could do was comply with the robber's demands.
Even though they were being mugged, Professor Agasa actually felt slightly relieved.
From the way things looked, this masked thug wasn't one of the mysterious men in black.
Which meant their chances of survival had just skyrocketed.
"Watches, phones—everything."
"Hurry up!"
"Or I'll shoot you both right now."
In less than a minute, Yamamoto had stripped them of everything valuable in sight.
But he wasn't done yet.
Still aiming his gun at Agasa's head, he ordered, "Drive. Keep going forward. Or I'll shoot you."
Agasa didn't dare disobey.
His hands trembled as he started the car—taking three tries before the engine finally turned over.
Then, he stepped on the gas, following Yamamoto's instructions.
At the same time—
Yamamoto sprinted in the opposite direction.
"Professor—turn around!"
"Quick!"
Shinichi couldn't let this slide.
He, the great high school detective, had just been robbed in broad daylight by some no-name street thug.
But—
By the time they turned the car around and sped off, the robber was already gone without a trace.
"Damn it—!"
"Unbelievable!"
Fuming, Shinichi slammed his fist against the car window.
Today just wasn't his day.
"....."