𝐁𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐬

file 058 | ending the case

9:07 PM

Agasa screeched his Beetle to a halt as Heiji and Suzume got out of the car with her on her Guardian's back.

"I'm going to meet the kids at Miracle Land," Agasa told them.

"Look after Kazuha for me," Heiji requested.

"I got it!"

Heiji shut the door and Agasa drove off. The two detectives then made their way back into the Red Castle Hotel.

"Aren't I a little heavy for you?" Suzume murmured, resting her chin on his shoulder.

He glanced at her with a frown. "No," he replied. "Don't ever imply that you are."

"Okay."

~ — — — ~

"Wait a second!" Heiji shouted, slamming the door of the conference room open and interrupted Kogoro's incorrect deductions.

"You two?!"

Takada frowned. "You two, Detective Mouri is giving his report."

Suzume fired a tranquilizer dart from her watch, meaning to knock out Kogoro, but instead knocked out Takada. She paled and Heiji grimaced.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Kogoro asked, catching the stumbling Takada. "Are you alright?!"

"Detective Mouri, hurry and finish," the client ordered, unbothered.

"L-Like I was saying, the culprit that shot Nishio was—"

Kogoro fell to the ground with a groan as Heiji stood behind him, a plate in hand and an apologetic expression on his face. "Sorry about that, otchan."

Suzume's eyes widened as the monitor shut off. "Not good!"

"Damn!"

Snatching the remote from Takada's hand, Suzume tried pressing random buttons to turn the monitor back on. However, one of the buttons ended up opening a hidden passage in the wall of the room.

"What the hell?" she murmured.

"The client could be back there," Heiji said. At her confused glance, he continued, "Earlier, when we called that Takada, I heard something in the background. The same noise I heard while talking to the client."

"I see."

"We're running out of time. Let's go."

"Right."

Grabbing the spear and shield from a nearby suit of armor, the teenagers traveled into the passageway.

9:28 PM

After traveling down the long hallway, they came across a dark room with several computer monitors and a man in a chair, his back facing them.

"Welcome, Kudo Suzume-kun, Hattori Heiji-kun," he said to them.

"We meet at last," Heiji commented. "Far East Office President..."

"Itoh Suehiko-san," Suzume finished.

"Well done," Itoh said. "I knew I made the right choice putting you two together."

"Just as we thought," Heiji said.

"You'll have to pardon my appearance. It's due to my handicap, you see."

Suzume tilted her head. "From the accident at the pier, correct?"

"Yeah. When I found out I wouldn't recover, I shut myself up in here. I asked one of my friends to invest my hidden assets. Including towards Miracle Land."