Time passed quietly. The sky gradually darkened.
At the Mouri Detective Agency, everyone had finished tidying up and was about to leave. Ran's hand touched the doorknob when a sound came from outside. The door gently pushed open, revealing Sonoko's figure.
"Sonoko! What brings you here?" Ran's eyes lit up instantly at the sight of her best friend, her tone full of surprise.
Sonoko's gaze swept quickly over Kurosawa Hoshino before settling back on Ran. She grinned and said, "Of course I came to play with you! Staying home is so boring."
"Idiot Sonoko." Kurosawa immediately retorted, teasingly adding, "After knowing you for so long, this is the first time I've seen you come to see Ran at night. I bet you came to see me."
Sonoko blushed, her words sharp. "I've come to see Ran at night before—what's so strange about that! I wouldn't come to see you. I'm not an idiot—you're the idiot!"
"Alright, alright, stop bickering." Kogorō Mouri interrupted, leading the way out. "We're going out for dinner. You can chat on the way."
Ran smiled, took Sonoko's hand, and quickly followed her father.
Kurosawa turned and urged Conan along, then slowly closed and locked the door after Conan ran out.
As he walked down to the sidewalk, Kurosawa watched Kogorō's retreating figure. He already knew that where they were going wasn't anything fancy. There weren't any particularly upscale restaurants nearby. Even if they walked ten minutes, most were reasonably priced and had nothing to do with the "fancy meal" Kogorō had promised.
Ran had obviously thought of this too. As soon as Kurosawa caught up with her, he heard her whisper, "Dad lied again. It's definitely not going to be a big meal tonight. I should have known better than to make him lunch."
Kurosawa chuckled, his tone relaxed. "It's okay. There are many of us—it'll be lively wherever we eat. But you—" He changed the subject, looking at Sonoko next to Ran, and said helplessly, "You still don't believe what I said, do you? You said before that Uncle Suzuki recorded the whole thing when he sent people. You came here now, probably to make me believe you—to bring me the videotape, right?"
Having her true purpose exposed, Sonoko stopped pretending and simply took a videotape from her bag and handed it over. "Here. I really brought it. You can watch it when you have time."
Kurosawa didn't take it. He looked at Ran staring at him, shrugged, and had a helpless smile on his face.
Ran knew it was time for her to step in. She gently took the videotape from her best friend's hand and put it into her own bag. "Sonoko, Hoshino already told us about it this afternoon. He trusts you, so don't worry about him not believing you. You've known each other for quite a while now—don't you know his personality?"
"Huh? He already told you?" Sonoko asked Ran in surprise.
"The gold's already been snatched away by someone else. Of course there's no need to hide it," Kurosawa said.
Sonoko thought for a moment and nodded. "That's true."
Just as Kurosawa and Ran had imagined, Kogorō hadn't brought them to a fancy dinner—he'd brought them to a beer hall. He sat alone, drinking beer, the table full of snacks.
Ran sighed, glancing at the adults around her drinking beer. "Dad's really something. We're the only kids at this table out of all these people. I don't know what he was thinking bringing us here."
"You mean Conan, right?" Kurosawa glanced warily at Conan, who was silently eating.
"Of course." Ran smiled. "We're definitely not kids."
"Should we have a beer too?" Sonoko tempted from the side.
That sentence sobered Kogorō up. He quickly said, "Underage can't drink. Everyone behave yourselves. If anyone dares to misbehave, I'll deal with you."
Sonoko stuck out her tongue, moved her chair closer to Ran.
"How about we let Uncle Mouri eat here by himself, and we go find somewhere else to eat? What do you think?" Kurosawa suggested.
"Agreed."
"No objection." Ran and Sonoko echoed.
"What about you?" Kurosawa looked at Conan.
Conan was about to agree when he suddenly noticed a man at a nearby table. He was wearing a suit and glasses. He'd ordered a lot of food but hadn't eaten a thing. Conan found this very strange. Especially his expression—it revealed deep worry and unease. Something had clearly happened.
Thinking this, Conan decisively refused. "Hoshino-nii, you, Ran-neechan, and Sonoko-neechan go eat outside. I'll stay here with Uncle Mouri."
"Okay." Kurosawa nodded, then said goodbye to Kogorō and left with the two girls.
Once outside, Ran and Sonoko felt much more relaxed.
"The beer hall really isn't for us," Sonoko said.
"Yeah," Ran nodded. "It's much more comfortable outside."
"What do you want to eat?" Kurosawa asked.
"Just something nearby. I'm worried Dad might get drunk inside, and Conan won't be able to manage alone. Let's not go too far."
"Then let's go to that sushi restaurant." Kurosawa pointed to the sushi restaurant across the street. It was very close—they could keep an eye on the beer hall.
But before they could even get there, Conan and Kogorō ran up from behind.
"Hey kid, wait! Conan noticed something's wrong."
Kurosawa should have expected this. With those two around, how could something not happen? The chances were extremely slim.
Sonoko asked, puzzled, "What's wrong?"
Conan knew there was no time to lose. "I saw an old man inside who'd ordered a lot of food but hadn't eaten a single bite. I went over out of curiosity, and he was on the phone. I heard him say he hadn't called the police, the money was ready, and he was asking why someone wanted to cancel something. He even asked the person on the other end to let him hear the conversation."
"Kidnapping!" Ran immediately understood what was going on.
"Hmm—he's coming out." Conan noticed the man walking toward them and quickly warned.
Kurosawa and the others were seasoned veterans when it came to cases. They knew exactly what to do. They pretended to walk away as if nothing had happened.