After a night of fierce combat, Yuu Hoshimiya successfully established a contract with Natsuki Koshimizu.
With her revenge complete, the short-haired girl detective no longer carried any deep, unshakable obsessions in her heart.
When the contract condition prompt appeared, her only wish was simply to know how Yuu had managed to perform such a perfect "crime" on the deserted island.
In response, Yuu gave her a simple demonstration of the existence of supernatural powers.
No matter how shocked she was, when the facts were presented right before her eyes, Natsuki had no choice but to believe.
After that, everything became simple.
Under Yuu's overwhelming charm and god-like physical stamina, after several rounds of passionate lovemaking, Natsuki—who already held a high level of favor toward him—completely surrendered.
Her beautiful eyes rolled back slightly, her pupils flickering with the faint image of pink hearts; from her body to her soul, she had fallen completely for Yuu, satisfying all the contract conditions.
Once the contract was successful, Yuu used magic to help her body recover and then informed her of Noah's existence.
Noah would handle all the logistical arrangements for her from now on, so Yuu didn't need to worry.
As usual, the erratic flow of time skipped forward again.
After contracting Natsuki, the timeline suddenly jumped to a long holiday weekend.
Professor Hiroshi Agasa and Kogoro Mouri were taking the kids of the Detective Boys to the beach for a vacation.
Supposedly, there was some kind of puzzle-solving competition taking place...
Ran and Sonoko were also invited, but Yuu didn't feel like going.
Instead of spending time with a bunch of brats, he figured he'd rather head to Osaka to "deepen his relationship" with the beautiful kimono-clad wife, Shizuka Hattori.
Since Yuu wasn't going, Ran, Sonoko, and Ai Haibara all turned down the beach trip as well.
However, since little Ayumi Yoshida was going, Yuu still made some arrangements just in case.
This kind of group trip usually served as a prelude to a massive destiny event.
With the gears of fate turning and the butterfly effect in full swing, his advantage of foresight was becoming thinner by the day.
Regarding the main plot, his memory effectively reached its limit once the tomboy Masumi Sera and the blonde middle-school-aged Mary Akai appeared.
Any information regarding the plot beyond that point came from fragmented bits of lore he'd skimmed through videos in his past life.
For example, the true identities of the Boss and the second-in-command, Rum, or secrets from twenty years ago.
The information was likely accurate, but some discrepancies were unavoidable.
Furthermore, now that the trajectory of fate had shifted, he couldn't afford to take anything for granted.
As for the movie-scale events, except for the one where Gin strafed the Tokyo Tower, the one involving the beautiful musician Reiko Akiba, and the avalanche incident, he hadn't actually watched them.
Between the twenty-plus movies and the events he had already cleared, there were at least ten major incidents Yuu knew nothing about.
After weighing his options, both to skim whatever experience he could and to ensure Ayumi's safety, he had Noah monitor the kids 24/7 and placed undercover protection around them.
If a large-scale event or actual danger occurred, he could intervene immediately.
After making these arrangements, Yuu boarded the Shinkansen heading for Osaka.
His target this time was Shizuka Hattori, and with Kazuha waiting for him there, he took only Ran with him.
Ran was mostly going to play with Kazuha, which would conveniently create opportunities for him to be alone with Shizuka.
Since that jinx Conan was busy causing trouble elsewhere, the Shinkansen journey was perfectly smooth.
About ten minutes before they arrived at the station, Ran's phone rang.
It was Kazuha; Ran picked up and chatted with her friend in a low voice.
When the call ended, Ran said, "Kazuha says she's waiting for us at the station exit. She wants us to head toward the East Gate once we're through the gate."
Yuu nodded, subconsciously recalling the intelligence report Noah had provided this morning.
Heiji Hattori was participating in a kendo tournament today; they could stop by and watch later.
He had always wanted to learn kendo but had been putting it off; this was a good opportunity to see it in action.
And conveniently, it would serve as an excuse to visit the Hattori residence...
At that very moment, a murder had occurred at the Naniwa Central Gymnasium where Heiji was competing.
The tournament inside was in full swing.
But inside the locker rooms near the swimming pool, a university-aged contestant had been found dead in the showers.
This was standard procedure: Heiji Hattori—often called the "Little Conan" or the "Soot-faced Shinichi Kudo"—was on the case.
Heiji was in a state of high excitement, running back and forth between the annex and the showers, looking for clues.
Shizuka Hattori had come out from the audience seats to find him. She intercepted him on the grounds and complained, "Heiji! Why are you running around like a headless chicken? You didn't show up this morning, and you didn't even eat lunch. It's a team match, but you can't just dump everything on your teammates!"
Heiji looked completely impatient.
"Mom! There's been a murder in the gym! Inspector Otaki is already here. How can I ignore it? The match is a small matter. Besides, as long as I finish this by 2:00 PM, I can still make it for the finals!"
"Don't worry about it, Mom!"
Shizuka shook her head. "No. Since Inspector Otaki is here, leave it to him. Get back to your preparations. You lost last time; after training so hard for a year, don't you want your revenge?"
"I didn't lose to that guy! I was dodging his strike and just happened to get hit behind the ear. The blood wouldn't stop, so the doctor forced me to withdraw! The outcome between us is still undecided!"
"But there's no rush for that. I can deal with him after I solve this case!"
Shizuka sighed, but then her eyes lit up.
"Heiji, I heard from Kazuha that Mr. Hoshimiya is coming today. Why don't you tell him about the situation? I'm sure he could solve it in no time!"
Heiji looked at his mother with suspicion. "Mom, how do you know Teacher Hoshimiya? You never watch TV or read the papers."
"Cough... haha..."
Shizuka gave an embarrassed laugh behind her hand.
"It's just because Kazuha talks about him every single day. I did a quick search online, so of course I know who he is."
"Is that so?"
Heiji felt a bit uncomfortable, but having already accepted the reality of Kazuha's shift in affection, he quickly ignored it.
"But I'm going to solve this one myself!"
Heiji was filled with fighting spirit, intending to use this case to reclaim a bit of his pride.
He immediately sprinted back toward the locker rooms.
"Mom, just get back to the stands and wait. I'll be back soon!"
Shizuka watched Heiji run off and let out a heavy sigh.
But she soon pulled out her phone and dialed a number.
Yuu and Ran walked out of Osaka Station to see a young, beautiful girl with a large ponytail and a school uniform rushing toward them. It was Kazuha Toyama.
"Teacher Hoshimiya! Ran! You're finally here! I've been waiting forever!"
Kazuha immediately threw herself into Yuu's arms, sounding incredibly excited.
Yuu stroked her back, and it took a while before she calmed down.
Noticing Ran's teasing gaze, Kazuha shyly released Yuu and moved to hook her arm with Ran's.
However, her amber eyes remained fixed on Yuu.
Ran chuckled. "Thanks for picking us up, Kazuha. By the way, why are you wearing your school uniform today?"
"Because today is the kendo team tournament for Kaiho High. My classmates asked me to come cheer for them, so I put it on. But once I knew you were coming, I came straight here to find you."
"Perfect. I'm quite interested in kendo matches. We should go take a look together."
Yuu spoke with a warm smile, and Kazuha returned it with a sweet, radiant one of her own.
Wasting no time, they got into a car and headed straight for the Naniwa Central Gymnasium.
Twenty minutes later, they arrived at the gym.
As they walked in, Kazuha began to introduce the facility. "This part is the courtyard. The students sitting around are having their lunch boxes. To the left is the arena, to the right is the annex. I recall there's also a pool and locker rooms in the back; they hold swimming meets here too."
"The kendo tournament today is divided into high school and university divisions. The finals are this afternoon—the most exciting part. After the finals, there's a demonstration of battodo—that's done with real swords!"
While Kazuha was explaining, Ran let out a cry of surprise.
"Brother Yuu, look! Isn't that woman our former client?"
Ran had spotted Shizuka Hattori, who stood out remarkably among the crowd of students. She was wearing a brown kimono and looked stunningly beautiful.
Kazuha gasped. "Client? What's going on? Heiji's mom went to Tokyo to hire you?"
Nani?
Hearing this, Ran looked completely bewildered.
She looked at Shizuka, whose skin was as white as snow, and then at the soot-colored Heiji Hattori. It was impossible to imagine they were mother and son.
Ran blurted out in shock: "What? Miss Ikenami, you're Heiji's mother? That can't be right! You're so white and Heiji is so dark! How could you be mother and son? Besides, you're so young!"
Shizuka Ikenami—or rather, Shizuka Hattori—met Yuu's gaze and let out a light laugh behind her hand.
At that moment, Heiji, who was running back from the annex, happened to overhear the comment. An angry expression crossed his dark face as he marched over with a look of pure annoyance.
"Ran! What the hell is that supposed to mean? I inherited my skin tone from my dad! And you should be calling her 'Mrs. Hattori,' not 'Miss Ikenami'!"
Realizing she had been caught bad-mouthing him, Ran hurriedly waved her hands in apology.
Shizuka spoke up: "Ran, I am truly sorry. I didn't mean to hide the truth from you. I went to Tokyo for some other reasons, but Mr. Hoshimiya saw through my identity before I even left. Didn't he tell you?"
"I did know," Yuu said with an air of perfect indifference. "But so many things have happened lately. I got busy and just forgot to mention it to Ran."
"Forgot?" Shizuka's heart flared with sudden anger.
He did those unspeakable things to her in that car, and he could just "forget" it that easily?
Then what was she supposed to make of the fact that she'd been thinking of that scene and even dreaming about it lately?
When the others weren't looking, Shizuka gave Yuu a fierce, sharp glare.
Heiji glanced at Shizuka with a look of suspicion. "Hey, old lady. What were you doing in Tokyo? And why did you use a fake name when you met Teacher Hoshimiya?"
Ran looked confused. "Old lady? Why do you call her that?"
"She's my mom! I'll call her whatever I want!"
Shizuka smiled, her eyes narrowing into crescents.
"I wanted to get back a photo from an old classmate I hadn't seen in thirty years, so I hired Detective Mouri to help."
"Mr. Mouri was busy, and I happened to run into Mr. Hoshimiya instead. Since Kazuha talks about him every day, I thought I'd use a fake name to test him and see if he could see through me."
"I didn't expect Mr. Hoshimiya to be as incredible as Kazuha said. Not only did he uncover my identity, but he saw through every single lie I told that day. I lost quite 'miserably'!"
Shizuka stole another glance at Yuu, but seeing his calm smile and relaxed expression, she felt another surge of secret irritation.
"Lies?" Ran was confused again.
"In that case, I'll have to trouble Mr. Hoshimiya with the murder that happened here today," Shizuka said, giving Yuu a polite bow.
Heiji panicked. He had only finished half of his investigation; he wasn't even close to solving it yet.
Only now did he realize that his mother was the one who had drawn Yuu and his group here so quickly.
"Ah! Mom! What are you doing now?!"
Although Yuu held no interest in the case, since Shizuka had proactively requested his help, he couldn't just stand by.
He turned his gaze toward Heiji.
Left with no choice, Heiji had to lay out everything he had discovered.
As they walked toward the locker rooms, they listened to Heiji's summary.
The victim was a university student named Atsushi Tsurumi, a participant in the kendo match from Shinnai University.
The body was discovered in a shower cubicle; when found, the hot water was still running over the corpse.
The murder weapon was one of the two real katanas used for the battodo demonstration, found right next to the body.
The baffling part was that his three companions had already discovered the body once before.
But the first location was in a second-floor warehouse in the annex—a long way from the locker rooms!
Moving the body between those two points required passing through the courtyard and hallways filled with students. Heiji couldn't figure out how the killer had moved the corpse without being seen.
The annex windows were locked, leaving only the main entrance. Members of the kendo club had been sitting on the grass outside the entrance eating lunch the entire time.
They hadn't seen anyone moving a body; at most, they saw a strange person in full kendo gear and a mask, carrying a large bag of protective equipment.
Heiji had run into the victim's group earlier while heading to the restroom.
Atsushi Tsurumi had been dead-drunk and was arguing with his teammates because he was in no condition to compete.
During the argument, Heiji overheard that Atsushi seemed to hold some kind of leverage over the group, and that Masamichi Hakata had previously stolen Atsushi's girlfriend.
The members of the Shinnai University team included:
Noriyuki Doguchi, a pale, timid, fat man.
Mineo Mendo, a man with a rosy nose and visible nose hair.
Takashi Kotegawa, a handsome man with long hair.
And Masamichi Hakata, a burly man standing over 1.9 meters tall.
Except for Masamichi, who was in the gymnasium, the other three discovered the body in the annex warehouse at the same time.
Instead of checking if he was alive, they all panicked and ran in different directions.
Since none of them had their phones, the long-haired Takashi ran to call an ambulance.
The rosy-nosed Mineo ran to call the police.
The fat Noriyuki ran to the gym to find Masamichi.
It was while Noriyuki was searching for Masamichi that Heiji overheard him and followed the two of them back to the warehouse.
Only to find the body had vanished!
Later, someone called the reception desk and told the attendant to tell the Shinnai team to head to the locker rooms by the pool.
When the group arrived, they found the body under the running hot water.
As Yuu's group entered the locker room, Heiji held up a hand, and the officers guarding the scene let them through. The title of the "Police Chief's Son" held significant weight in Osaka.
Once inside, they heard the sounds of a commotion.
"Look, Officer, can we leave yet? We have a match this afternoon!" the 1.9-meter Masamichi Hakata was shouting at Inspector Otaki.
Goro Otaki was an Inspector with the Osaka MPD, with a visible scar at the end of his right eyebrow. He was a trusted subordinate of Heizo Hattori.
Otaki shook his head. "The investigation isn't over. You can't leave yet. Oh? Heiji! Ma'am! Who did you bring with you?"
Heiji immediately introduced him: "This is Yuu Hoshimiya from Tokyo. He happened to be in Osaka today, and since a murder occurred, I asked him to take a look."
Otaki's eyes lit up instantly.
"So YOU are the consultant that Superintendent Hattori speaks so highly of? I've heard so much about you! I never expected to be lucky enough to meet you in person!"
The officers collecting evidence all turned to stare at the legendary Yuu Hoshimiya, murmuring among themselves.
Within the police force, Yuu's reputation was even louder than it was among the public.
Countless departments were envious, wishing they could have such a consultant on their roster to boost their clearance rates and department prestige.
Otaki was beaming; if he hadn't been wearing gloves, he would have stepped forward to shake Yuu's hand.
Yuu exchanged a few pleasantries with him.
At the mention of Yuu's name, one of the university students in kendo gear couldn't help but feel their pupils contract as their heart rate accelerated.
Otaki invited Yuu forward to examine the body while he turned back to the four Shinnai University students.
"Mineo Mendo! How long did it take from the time you found the body in the warehouse to the time you brought the police?"
The rosy-nosed man hurriedly replied, "About fifteen or sixteen minutes. I didn't have my phone, so I had to run to the nearest police station outside the gym, across the street."
Otaki frowned and turned to the fat Noriyuki Doguchi.
"And what about you? The gym and the annex are right next to each other. Did you really need fifteen minutes to go back and forth? Tell me, what were you doing all that time!"
Noriyuki looked completely panicked, sweat pouring down his face.
"Because... Masamichi's waist tag was missing, and he was wearing his mask. It took me a long time to find him in the gym."
Seeing Noriyuki's expression, Otaki knew something was wrong. He barked, "You were the last one to leave that second-floor warehouse! That makes you the most likely person to have moved the body!"
Just then, the long-haired Takashi Kotegawa spoke up: "I'm sorry, Inspector. Actually, the last person to leave that warehouse was me."