In front of a detective, of course you can't just confess right away. That would be disrespectful. A criminal must let the detective present the evidence—that's the basic courtesy.
Conan was confident. "The countdown to heaven. Right before you showed up, the thirty-second silent count game was running, and it was your idea. That's the best evidence. And just now, downstairs, I saw the real Miss Sawaguchi. She missed the entire banquet. And you're still saying you're not Kaitou Kid?"
Conan was bluffing. He hadn't actually seen Miss Sawaguchi.
But Liu A'dou had no intention of hiding anymore. Because Conan still carried that 'familiar flavor, familiar feel.'
He tore off the disguise, revealed his true face, and switched back to his natural voice. "Kid, you've got some skill, I'll give you that."
Kid stood right in front of them, lower body wrapped in white trousers baked orange by the fire below, upper body cloaked in blue-toned suit and hat, his cape flickering like it shifted between two worlds. That was Kaitou Kid—just standing there, his aura stunned the room.
'Damn, amazing.' The voice-changing trick before, the disguise now. Conan ground his teeth, evaluating the opponent's skill. He had to admit, Kid's performance was something even a detective couldn't brush off.
"You were the one who shot Gin's weapon earlier, weren't you?" Conan recalled the exact moment Gin's gun was destroyed.
"Of course. I don't get along with men in black suits. Just look at me—I'm the white suit faction. We and the black suit faction are like fire and water," Kid replied.
"You stayed here to catch Kisaragi too, didn't you?" Conan finally steered the topic toward the murder case.
"Sure, he confessed. But I didn't stick around just for some petty murderer. I was waiting to meet you." Kid strolled slowly along the shattered window ledge, stepping in the moon's reflection.
"…" Conan couldn't understand. What was there to meet about? If he were still Kudō Shinichi, maybe he'd believe it. But now? He was just an ignored little kid. "Why do you want to see me?"
"Because you're the flame burning below, and I am the moon hanging high. You'll chase me, seek me, but you'll never touch me. I'll watch you, see you grow. Tonight's just a greeting. Even if you can't catch the moonlight, don't extinguish your detective's soul."
'Damn it, who the hell is this phantom thief?' Conan felt completely exposed, as if Kid had seen straight through him.
Boom!
An explosion thundered above. Conan immediately thought of Genta and the others. He rushed to call them down.
The Detective Boys were fearless as ever. They weren't scared of Kid. They just thought he was terrible for stealing Mount Fuji.
"What now? The helicopter can't pick us up anymore." Genta groaned. "Are we really gonna burn to death?"
"Before you burn, you'll be blown up. This hall is full of timed bombs. You've got less than one minute to figure out an escape." Kid grinned, just trying to spook them.
"Ahh, what do we do?" Ayumi was about to cry.
Conan stayed calm. His eyes locked on the Porsche sports car. Then he bolted to the window, looking across to Building B's rooftop. Under the retractable roof was the swimming pool. No time to waste. He yelled for the people across to open the roof. Then he told everyone to get in the car.
Liu A'dou casually tossed Kisaragi into the car as well.
"Edogawa-kun, don't tell me you're planning—" Haibara realized it. Conan wanted to pull off a stunt drive.
Conan was confident. He had learned in Hawaii.
"Given the drop, we've got only two seconds of air time. The gap between the buildings is sixty meters. We'll need at least 108 kilometers per hour to make it across. But the hall isn't long enough for the car to hit that speed." That was high school physics, parabolic motion.
Still, Conan was sure. "As long as we use the explosion's shockwave, it'll work."
"Edogawa-kun?!" Haibara truly thought he'd lost his mind.
"No problem. As long as we charge out the instant the countdown ends, the blast wave will definitely push the car across," Conan said. "Kid, you're coming too—Kid??"
But Kid's shadow was nowhere to be seen. None of the kids even noticed when he slipped away. No time to worry about that now. "Ayumi, this time we need you to count down thirty seconds. Our watches are all dead."
"As long as Conan's by my side, I'll do it." Kids' feelings were complicated too.
Everyone got ready. Haibara stayed outside the car, watching the timer on the bomb. At the final thirty seconds, Ayumi would start the last countdown.
But the most critical moment still had problems—Haibara. She knew the Black Organization's style too well, knew her life would always be lived in fear. She didn't want to keep living like that. Better to die now than drag Professor Agasa down with her. So when the last thirty seconds came, she still didn't get back in the car.
"Haibara?!" But Genta scooped her up, using every ounce of strength from eating eel rice, and sprinted toward the Porsche. The Detective Boys weren't about to abandon a friend.
There was no time for seatbelts now. The countdown was done. Conan slammed the gas pedal. The car shot forward. At this moment there was no fear—only courage flooding through him. "Go!"
Go, Porsche!
They burst through the window—boom!
The explosion behind them went off, the shockwave slamming into the back of the car and shoving it forward. Everyone felt the jolt.
Two seconds in the air.
Haibara, without a seatbelt, was thrown up by the vibration. Mitsuhiko grabbed her at the last second.
But across the gap, the giant crystal decorations around the pool gleamed like jagged fangs, right in Haibara's path.
In barely over a second, she'd slam into those crystal spires like an egg against stone.
'Damn it!' Conan wanted to act, but even lifting his foot off the gas would take a second. Too late. Everyone had only one thought—'It's over.'
Whoosh—
A shadow streaked past the car and smashed into the crystal first. Boom—the whole cluster shattered. Haibara slipped through, grazing the flying shards. She could feel the sting of crystal fragments brushing her face.
Crash! The Porsche plunged nose-first into the swimming pool.
Soaked in the pool, Conan looked back at the tower's roof, now engulfed in fire. Through the flames, Kaitou Kid stood, pressing down his hat against the blast. It had been him who shattered the crystals.
Flames raged all around, yet Kid stood untouched. Conan couldn't understand how. Could fire really not reach the moonlight? Otherwise, none of it made sense.
Seeing that everyone was safe, Kid finally left. His glider wings snapped open, the heat currents and sparks lifting him higher and higher until he vanished into the moonlight.
On Building B's rooftop, the police were dumbstruck. "Is that even human?" He came and went in fire and wind like it was nothing—just like a superman.