"That idiot Vodka actually set the bombs to detonate automatically!"
Hearing those words, Haibara could only stare at him with half-lidded eyes in helpless exasperation.
Oddly enough, all of the fear she'd felt moments ago had vanished. The man holding her in his arms was the Macallan she had longed to see.
Deep down, she couldn't help but resent him a little; for hiding the truth from her and deceiving her for so long.
But more than that, she blamed herself.
They had met so many times, yet she had never realized who he really was. She had even spoken harshly to him.
"So... we're still doomed after all?" Haibara asked.
She had always been a pessimist.
Going down meant walking straight into the fire. Going up meant running into the explosions. No matter which way they chose, it seemed like a dead end.
"Not necessarily. I left myself one last contingency on the sixtieth floor. It's just that... we're running out of time."
Ritsu had never liked cornering himself with no way out. Stretching his long legs into a sprint, he dashed through the corridor.
At the moment, only the banquet hall inside the Twin Tower Skyscraper was in use, so no one would notice that an off-road motorcycle had been hidden inside one of the vacant rooms.
He swung onto the bike and seated Haibara on the back. In a stern tone, he said,
"Shiho... if you dare let go, I won't forgive you."
"Y-You're seriously planning to jump it with a motorcycle?" Haibara asked in disbelief.
"Whether it's the distance or the time needed to accelerate... it's impossible."
As the top student she was, a quick calculation was enough. An adult plus a child together weighed well over 170 pounds. There was no overcoming gravity.
"I never said we'd definitely make it. But there's always a way, isn't there? Right, Kudo?"
"Sensei! I'm already at the skybridge in Building B! I've got everything you asked for ready!"
Haibara's eyes widened upon hearing Conan's voice.
She reached into the black tactical uniform and felt the phone. Only then did she realize, he had kept the call connected with Shinichi the entire time they were escaping.
She truly hadn't expected that Shinichi would trust him this much.
"You're really something," she murmured.
"You've managed to earn the trust of both Gin and that detective maniac."
"You'll embarrass me if you keep praising me like that."
Frowning, Haibara leaned against Ritsu's back.
To be honest, she still wasn't used to Macallan's changed personality. He seemed much livelier than before.
Though perhaps that wasn't such a bad thing.
He felt... more human now.
Ritsu took a deep breath.
The crimson in his eyes gradually faded, returning to the familiar deep azure they had once been.
Gripping the handlebars tightly, he smiled.
"Well? Ready?"
"...Yeah. I trust you too."
"Then let's go."
The roar of the off-road motorcycle echoed through the sixtieth-floor corridor.
With such a short runway, even twisting the throttle all the way couldn't generate enough speed to clear the entire skybridge.
Behind them, flames surged forward like countless fiery serpents chasing their prey.
"Now!"
"Sensei! Catch!!!"
With a child's strength alone, Conan could never throw a baseball wrapped with a retractable safety line far enough.
As a soccer player, he didn't dare take any chances.
If his throw missed, both Sensei and Haibara would die. So instead of throwing it, he kicked it.
Squatting down, Conan adjusted the power of his Power-Enhancing Kick Shoes.
The instant the motorcycle reached the optimal distance, he sprang to his feet and drove his foot into the baseball.
It shot toward Ritsu like a bullet.
Watching the spinning baseball hurtling toward him, Ritsu suddenly felt as though he'd returned to his high school baseball club days.
'That speed... It's practically as fast as an ace pitcher's fastball.'
Without hiding his dominant hand any longer, he extended his left hand and caught the rapidly spinning baseball with ease.
At the same time, he twisted sideways, wrapped his right arm around Haibara, and leaped from the motorcycle just as it began to plunge downward.
With his left hand, Ritsu swiftly wound the retractable safety line attached to the baseball around his forearm.
His right hand had already drawn the pistol he had prepared beforehand.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
He fired continuously at the enormous glass curtain wall ahead until the magazine ran dry.
Once the thick glass was riddled with cracks, he twisted his waist, pulling Haibara tightly against his chest to shield her.
Then he slammed his own back straight into the shattered glass.
"Urgh..."
The impact forced a muffled groan from his lips.
"Macallan!!"
Crash!
His back slammed violently onto the floor.
He could clearly feel countless shards of glass slicing through his back.
Some of the fragments had even become embedded in his flesh. Yet Ritsu ignored his own injuries. Frowning tightly, he looked at the girl lying on top of him.
"Are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?"
"You idiot! Why are you worrying about me at a time like this? Hurry—H-Hey! Where are you going?!"
"All the disguise materials I prepared were stored in the banquet hall on the seventy-fifth floor. Now that the bombs have gone off... nothing's left."
Haibara froze.
She looked at the unfamiliar face before her.
The crimson eyes had become a deep azure once more, the color that belonged only to Macallan.
'When did he change his colored contacts? Why didn't I notice?'
Noticing the confusion in her eyes, Ritsu smiled.
"They're a special type of contact lens I developed myself. They automatically disappear after twenty-four hours. Pretty amazing, right—ugh!"
Whether it was because smiling pulled at his wounds or because he was feeling a little too smug, his back suddenly burned with searing pain, as though something were scorching it.
"They should be here soon. I need to hide. I can't let them see me looking like this.
Shiho, I'm counting on you to tell them a little lie. Thanks."
Enduring the pain, Ritsu staggered to his feet.
Getting himself into such a miserable state again really was pathetic. Then again, he was only human.
Sometimes he envied the superheroes in science fiction movies. If only he possessed the power to heal wounds instantly, he'd probably be unbelievably strong.
But... he had never feared death. To him, the people he cared about would always come first.
"Haibara!"
"Ai-chan's over there!"
The first to rush over after hearing the news was Ayumi.
The tears welling in her eyes finally spilled over the moment she threw her arms around Haibara.
For children their age, they had already experienced far too many partings between life and death.
Inspector Megure and the others soon arrived as well.
All of them had witnessed a motorcycle leap across the skybridge on the sixtieth floor. They had even seen the flashes of gunfire afterward.
But where had the rider gone?
Conan looked around repeatedly but couldn't find Onizawa-sensei anywhere. Then he remembered the black tactical outfit he'd just seen.
'Sensei must still be wearing Augier's face... That's why he can't show himself.'
Hayasaka had a vague feeling that this incident had something to do with Onizawa. She took out her phone and dialed his number.
To her surprise, the call actually connected.
"Hello? What's up, Hayasaka?"
"Y-You're... Onizawa, where are you right now?"
"Where else would I be?" he answered naturally.
"At home, of course."
Hayasaka could hear Akemi talking in the background, along with the noisy soundtrack of a television drama.
Letting go of her suspicions, she laughed awkwardly.
"A lot happened over here tonight. I thought you might already know. Well... get some rest."
"A lot happened? Was it serious? Do you need me to come over?"
"No, it's all been taken care of. I won't bother you any longer. I'm hanging up."