"So you're stuck in the elevator now!?"
From the other end of the phone.
After receiving a positive response, his face turned pale and he reacted violently, shouting,
"Why would you do this?! Don't you know how dangerous this is!?"
"It is precisely because I know this that I choose to do this."
"What!?"
"I already know about the police officer who died three years ago. The Ferris wheel was damaged by a bomb, just like the Tokyo Tower is now."
Inside the stopped elevator, Hayashi Yoshiki had already opened the ceiling hatch.
His voice was much quieter than usual.
"You know what this means, Inspector Megure."
"..."
"So I've told Minister Odagiri—we must not let such a vicious criminal go unpunished. Well, I have found the bomb—"
Megure Juzo's phone was on speaker, so Odagiri Toshiro, standing nearby, also heard those words.
The usually calm head of the Criminal Department gritted his teeth.
He knew what Hayashi Yoshiki meant.
Was he afraid that the bomb squad might face the same trap and be forced into sacrificing themselves again—so he chose to do it himself?
"How stupid...!"
He strode over, snatched the phone, and roared:
"What kind of joke is this!? This is police business! How could it be your turn—you're not even a public official!"
"Will we face the same situation again in three years?"
Hayashi Yoshiki's calm voice silenced Odagiri Toshiro.
Just as he was about to argue back, Hayashi added:
"There's still half an hour before the explosion, and there's a very obvious eavesdropping device installed nearby… Can you transfer the call to the explosives disposal team?"
…
Faced with the urgency, Odagiri's rationality overruled his emotions.
After a moment, he forced out through gritted teeth:
"No matter what, don't let anything happen..."
Odagiri Toshiro knew that beneath Hayashi's calm and gentle appearance was a righteous soul—
But he never thought he would take it this far…
Hayashi Yoshiki climbed out of the elevator easily and examined the bomb.
Though he knew it wouldn't explode immediately, he still found something curious.
A liquid mixture bomb...
Two liquids, harmless alone, but devastating when mixed—a bomb identical in structure to the one used by "Plamya" in The Bride of Halloween.
That killer was strong enough to fight Amuro Toru one-handed…
Still, Hayashi Yoshiki handled nearly the entire bomb disposal process smoothly.
But just as the last wire was in reach—
"Let's stop here for now."
"What!? There are only three wires left—"
"'This officer is really brave. I really must praise your courage. There will be a fireworks show after the game. Three seconds before the explosion, I'll send a prompt. I wish you success.'"
"As expected, those words just appeared on the LCD screen..."
"Hold on, let me take another call, okay?"
Hayashi Yoshiki hung up.
Outside Tokyo Tower, the police broke into a cold sweat.
His life was in danger—and he just hung up!?
A crowd had gathered at the tower's base.
"There are only four minutes left before the explosion!"
The TV reporter shouted nervously.
"But Mr. Hayashi hasn't cut the wire! What happened!?!"
"...Four minutes left... Is this enough, Cointreau?"
Vodka muttered, nervously watching.
Gin smoked, calm.
"Focus on what you're supposed to do."
"OK…"
Suddenly, Vodka spotted a suspicious person—he sent the alert to Hayashi Yoshiki.
Meanwhile, AmuroToru, who had just arrived on scene, was desperately searching for suspicious figures, texting and calling Hayashi repeatedly.
No answer.
Damn you, Hayashi! Answer the damn phone!
He kept calling, blood boiling with panic.
Then—
"Hello, Mr. Amuro?"
Sitting outside the elevator, Hayashi Yoshiki snipped the final three wires and leisurely picked up the call.
"YOSHIKI!! Cut the bomb!!"
"…"
"Do you think you're a cop!? Are you trying to die just to find the next bomb!?"
"Don't get so worked up, Mr. Amuro."
"SHUT UP!"
"Sorry I didn't answer sooner."
"CUT THE BOMB!"
"I'm actually quite happy I have an assistant like you. Oh—and if you could pass a few words to Aunt Eri and Ran—"
"STOP BABBLING YOU IDIOT!"
"I've always been grateful to Auntie Eri. And even though Ran complains I give in too easily, I can tell she cares. Oh—and tell Uncle Mouri to smoke less. And pachinko? Just for fun. Don't let Ran worry too much. And Conan—"
Toru Amuro's face twisted with fury.
The images of his dead classmates—burned bodies—flashed in his mind.
And now... Hayashi Yoshiki's calm voice echoed with the same tone.
Gentler. Kinder. More selfless than either of them.
A man who would risk everything for strangers, who'd take on missing persons cases just to help women in need.
A man who could die under his watch—just like them?
NO!
"I'm heading to Tokyo Tower right now! If you don't cut that wire, I'll die with you!!"
Silence.
Then,
"Don't be ridiculous, Mr. Amuro."
"I'M NOT! You have more than your own life to consider! If I die, your messages won't reach anyone! If you want them to hear it—then live and say it yourself!"
Long pause.
Then, in a deadpan tone:
"Mr. Amuro, are you gay and have a crush on me?"
Veins popped on Amuro's forehead.
He glared up at the tower—less than one minute left.
There was no way Hayashi was still inside. But even so...
10... 9... 8... 7... 6...
The countdown ticked toward noon.
The red tower stood still.
No explosion.
Police sighed in collective relief.
Odagiri Toshiro and Megure Juzo exchanged exhausted glances—Hayashi Yoshiki had survived.
Suddenly, their phones buzzed.
Hayashi Yoshiki:
"The bomb is at Teitan High School. The bomber may still be nearby."
"Act immediately! Send rescue to the tower!"
"Yes!"
Megure Juzo immediately took his men away from the scene. Odagiri Toshiro stayed and waited until Hayashi Yoshiki was brought down by rescue workers twenty minutes later.
The superintendent stared at the young man who was approaching with a stern face.
"Isn't this something worth celebrating? Why are you making such a scary expression, Minister Odagiri?"
"Do you think we would celebrate letting a citizen like you do this? If you really died up there, it would be a humiliation that our Metropolitan Police Department will never be able to erase."
Odagiri Toshiro's tense face did not relax at all. He stared at Hayashi Yoshiki with hawk-like eyes. After a long while, he could not say anything. Finally, he chose to salute him.
Hayashi Yoshiki smiled. He glanced at the time on his left wrist, then looked at Amuro Toru who was running over, and said with a smile: "So the news that you were also on it was a lie, Mr. Amuro."
"What on earth are you thinking about? What do you think you are doing?!"
"...Isn't it rude for an assistant to talk to the boss like this?"
"I have finished my work report and it is time to get off work!"
"Ah..."
Time Rewind
Location Change
Not far from Teitan High School, the bomber was using a telescope to openly observe the school in front of him.
Only five seconds left...
Although there was a slight mistake with the bomb at Tokyo Tower—it didn't attract the police but instead attracted detectives, and in the end the fuse was cut and it didn't explode—it didn't matter.
As long as the bomb in the school was detonated, the police would pay the price.
The bomber kept staring at his watch, but even after the time was up, the school in front of him remained calm.
He was stunned.
Just when he thought there might be something wrong with the set time and was about to take out his cell phone to detonate it remotely, the phone next to him rang.
"I'm so sorry, but the phone number you called is now in our hands."
He looked around, a little panicked, and found that a group of plainclothes policemen were standing next to him.
Megure Juzo was holding a keypad phone in his hand—it was the same phone that the bomber had installed on the bomb to receive remote control commands.
"Thanks to Brother Hayashi, our demolition team has already sneaked into the school to dismantle the bomb you installed in the warehouse."
Megure Juzo looked at him seriously,
"Your game of teasing the police ends here, next--"
Upon hearing this, the bomber suddenly pointed the binoculars in his hand at Megure Juzo. When the police were about to rush over to catch him, he saw the opportunity and jumped off the overpass. He landed steadily on top of an SUV that happened to be passing by, and immediately grabbed the rack on the roof of the vehicle in an attempt to escape the police's sight.
"Don't try to escape!"
Miwako Sato immediately seized the opportunity and jumped off the overpass, landing just above a bus.
Now, Gin and Vodka, who were staying in a nearby building, were leaning against the window watching this scene.
"Heh."
Vodka laughed, took out the remote control, and pressed it.
Boom!!!!!!!!!!
Suddenly, there was an explosion on the street.
The bombs planted by the organization in a car parked on the roadside, in the mailbox, and in a flower bed beside the street early that morning made passers-by scream.
The bus driver under Miwako Sato was also frightened by the noise, and he immediately turned the steering wheel and slammed on the brakes.
Miwako Sato was thrown out of the bus, but she rolled over neatly to relieve the force and only suffered some minor injuries.
"Damn it! They buried a bomb in the street!?"
"Hurry and check if there are any wounded!"
"Chase him! We must not let that guy get away!"
The plainclothes policemen on the overpass were shocked and angry when they saw this. They quickly ran down the overpass to clean up the situation and called for support.
The explosives criminal, who was lying on the off-road vehicle and driving away quickly, was also extremely shocked at this time.
What's going on?
Didn't I plant a bomb here?
...And what about this car? It encountered something as scary as a bomb explosion, but it just kept driving forward without caring at all?
At this time, a sturdy man dressed in black in the driver's seat of the SUV made a phone call: "Hey, brother! That coward really jumped onto the roof of our car. Should we take him to the destination now?"
"Well, take him away. As long as we can get him out of the police's sight, that's fine."
"Okay!"
After Tequila hung up the phone, he didn't care about the feelings of the explosives criminal on the roof of the car at all, and stepped on the accelerator to speed up the vehicle.