That night, sitting at the edge of his bed, Karasawa crossed out the name "Edogawa Conan" in his notebook—one that was now nearly filled with names—and suddenly felt like a hitman methodically working his way through a kill list.
Weirdly sinister… but kind of exhilarating.
He struck a dramatic pose with the notebook in hand for a moment, savoring the vibe, before finally tucking it into his inventory.
Something this spoiler-heavy absolutely couldn't be left lying around. If Amuro Tooru ever found it, flipped it open, and saw "Zero Furuya!" scrawled inside—game over. No way he could talk his way out of that one.
Bundled up snugly, Karasawa closed his eyes and dropped straight into sleep, only to find himself waking in that familiar, glowing blue bar.
"Welcome," Lyon greeted him, as usual, from behind the counter, polishing a glass. There was a subtle change in his demeanor tonight—he even gave Karasawa a nod and a faint smile, which for him was basically a bear hug.
Once they'd gotten more familiar, Lyon had defaulted to his standard aloof, deadpan-friend mode. That first-night hospitality? Gone.
"You're in a decent mood today. Something good happen?" Karasawa settled into his usual seat and then noticed it. "Huh? New stock!"
Until now, the liquor shelf behind Lyon had only ever displayed a few bottles of bourbon whiskey—endless in supply, sure, but it had always been the same set on repeat. Tonight, though…
Rye whiskey.
It had to be. Even though he hadn't officially interacted with Akai Shuichi yet, Karasawa had glimpsed him earlier that day from a distance. He hadn't expected that to count—but apparently it did. A small surprise, but a welcome one.
"So just seeing someone is enough? Doesn't matter if you actually know them?" Karasawa took the glass Lyon had poured, sipped the rye. "Not bad at all…"
Compared to the smooth richness of bourbon, the intense, almost throat-burning kick of the rye hit him with a jolt—sharp, but refreshing. It actually suited his current mood.
He wondered idly if, once the bar's menu expanded, Lyon might start mixing cocktails.
If the "distillery unlock" requirements were this relaxed, then he might actually stand a chance at completing them all. After all, a lot of those codenamed agents didn't exactly have long lifespans—his window to "check them in" wasn't going to stay open forever.
"Too obscure and the Easter egg just stops being fun," Lyon said with a shrug, pouring himself a drink too.
"The person I ran into today—it was Akai Shuichi. And now there's rye whiskey… Looks like the storyline's shifted a bit." Karasawa swirled the amber liquid in his glass, thoughts beginning to spiral. "I wonder what kind of ability Akai might unlock…"
Oof, what if it's straight-up sniping? That'd be awkward as hell.
Still, Karasawa was already mapping out a brand-new strategy in his head, grinning to himself.
Dream logic sure was convenient.
Good thing Amuro Tooru hadn't bugged his room. If he had, just waking up with that weird red glow on his face and a suspiciously smug smile would've been enough to get Karasawa dragged to the psych ward for an evaluation.
As part of his well-trained morning routine, Karasawa grabbed his phone before getting out of bed and checked the calendar.
Perfect. Day off.
This high school schedule—one day on, one day off—was enough to make the neighbor kids cry with envy.
He yawned and hugged his blanket closer, rolling over to catch a few more minutes of sleep.
He knew that his consciousness doing work in the Velvet Room didn't impact his body physically. But mentally? He always woke up feeling like he'd barely slept. To shake that gnawing emptiness, he figured he might as well indulge in some real, honest sleep.
He had just shut his eyes again when his phone lit up with a cascade of chimes—new message alert.
"Huh?" He cracked one eye open, staring blearily at the unfamiliar sound.
He hadn't exactly been swapping texts with anyone lately. After moving to Tokyo, most of the people in his contacts list were folks he saw every day—no real need for texting. Still, he reached over and lit up the screen.
"HELP!!! Get here ASAP!!!"
The subject line alone was enough to punch him in the face. All caps. Triple exclamation marks.
Sender: Edogawa Conan.
"Oh my god…" Karasawa covered his eyes with one hand. Somehow, this already felt like a loss.
Didn't they just cut a deal yesterday? Not even a bit of buildup?
Despite the internal grumbling, he got up and started getting dressed without further complaint.
No location mentioned, which meant Conan was talking about the detective agency upstairs. And since it was hard to imagine anything happening to him up there, this was probably a cry for backup.
Karasawa resigned himself to his fate, retrieved the gold fan Maru Denjirou had given him, tucked it into its case, and headed out.
He made a quick stop to tell Enomoto Azusa that he was going upstairs to deliver a thank-you gift, then left the café and headed up.
The Mouri Detective Agency was on the second floor; Mouri Kogorou, Ran, and Conan lived on the third. It was still early—too early for business hours—so the office downstairs was still shut. In the stairwell stood a girl with a sweet, cute face, hesitating at the agency door with her bag in hand.
Karasawa looked up the staircase and spotted Conan crouched partway between the second and third floors, gripping the banister like a spy, one eye peeking through the bars, his face frozen with tension. The moment he saw Karasawa appear downstairs, he visibly relaxed and bolted down to meet him.
"Please do something and get her out of here," Conan whispered urgently, his voice filled with sheer survival instinct. "Mouri-ojisan's going to come down and open the office in ten minutes!"
Then, flashing a dazzling, childlike smile, he turned to the girl and chirped, "Big sis! This is the guy I told you about! He's super awesome—just like Shinichi-oniichan! He's even friends with him! He'll definitely know where to find him!"
The girl, who'd clearly been debating whether to go in or not, lit up at Conan's words. She rushed down the stairs, pulled a photo from her bag, and held it out to Karasawa. "This is the person I'm looking for. Shinichi Kudou… You do know him, right?"
"Yes, we're classmates. May I ask why you're looking for him…?" Karasawa accepted the photo.
In it, Shinichi was wearing his Teitan High uniform, caught mid-stride in the crowd after school. He was looking toward the camera, expression mildly surprised—clearly a candid shot.
Karasawa raised an eyebrow. He had a hunch about which case this was.
And when he glanced at Conan again—who looked like he was facing his personal apocalypse—he instantly understood why the kid had texted for backup.
"He's gone missing," the girl said anxiously, fidgeting with the hem of her pleated skirt and staring at the ground. "No one can get in touch with him, he hasn't been to school, and I… I don't know what to do anymore… I just want to see him again. I… I'm his girlfriend!"