Detective Conan: Midori

MOVIE 1: THE TIME BOMBED SKYSCRAPER - CH 20: BOMBS ON THE TOUTO LOOP LINE (4/6)

Touto Railway Terminal Station.

"Bombs on the Loop?!"

The Traffic Department Head, Kusunoki, who was 45, was just learning about the situation from his superior, the Commander Chief, Sakaguchi, who was 52.

They were inside the Touto Railway Traffic Control Room. The room was round with computers and tables full of buttons all around the walls and a long table in the middle. There wasn't a single chair that was empty. There were even some people standing as they brought documents for others.

Despite the heavy workload, the employees all stood frozen in their places with tense expressions as they listened to the conversation on the corner where the Traffic Department Head and Commander Chief were. The former stood with his hands against his desk and the latter was on the opposite side, forcing himself to remain outwardly calm.

Sakaguchi was panicking even more than Kusunoki, but as the Commander Chief, Sakaguchi just showed it less as he spoke, "We just received emergency contact from the police department."

"Understood! I'll stop all trains at once and have them inspected."

"No! We can't stop them!" Sakaguchi immediately stopped him. Looking at the confused Kusunoki, Sakaguchi didn't beat around the bush and explained. "The bombs will explode if the trains go below 60 kph after 4:00 PM!"

"Say what?!"

The sudden shouts from both parties startled the others in the room. In all their time working here, nothing this insane had ever happened and it made it harder for them to digest it.

Kusunoki lifted his wristwatch to look at the time, sweating even more once he saw where the hour and minute hands were. "There's only three minutes until 4:00!"

"Order all trains on the Loop to travel above 60, no, 70 kph!"

"What about the trains stopped at stations?!"

"Get them moving immediately!"

"What about trains about to stop?"

"Send them through!" Sakaguchi answered each one of Kusunoki's questions without pause. There were only five bombs, but they didn't know which trains had been strapped with them. They couldn't risk a single one exploding. Even if the trains were empty, which was impossible to do for all of them in just three minutes, the pieces of the train would still be blown all over the place once they exploded. If that happened, the damage and lives lost would only get worse. "All we can do is keep all the trains running nonstop until the bombs are found, Kusunoki-kun!"

"U-Understood!" Kusunoki stumbled as he ran toward one of the panels and pressed a red button in front of a microphone. As soon as he did, his every word was transmitted to each of the conductors inside the trains. "Emergency orders! Emergency orders! Attention, all trains! Someone has planted bombs! They'll explode if they're traveling under 60 kph! All trains are to stay at 70 kph! I repeat, someone has planted bombs! They'll explode if they're traveling under 60 kph! All trains are to stay at 70 kph!"

The conductors didn't have to be told again a third time. As soon as they heard the warning the first time, they had already begun pushing the lever to increase speed.

While the conductors were in a state of fear and apprehension, they still remembered to inform the passengers that there was an emergency and the trains would not stop. A similar announcement was heard in each of the train stations as the people saw the trains speed by one after the other with no apparent intention of coming to a stop any time soon.

As soon as the train station took measures, Commander Chief Sakaguchi gave a call to Inspector Megure to update him on the current situation. The inspector could finally release a sigh of relief once he hung up the call. "I see! That's good to hear! Apparently, no trains have exploded so far."