Karasawa took the photo from the girl's hand, catching a glimpse of Conan out of the corner of his eye—nervously glancing toward the upper floor again and again.
"I didn't! I swear I didn't!" Conan mouthed silently, eyes wide with panic.
Karasawa continued to stare at him for a few moments with the kind of look one might reserve for a cheating boyfriend getting caught red-handed. Only when sweat began to bead on Conan's temple did he stop teasing and waved casually toward the stairs. "Funny, I don't recall him ever mentioning he was dating anyone... Why don't you head downstairs and wait in the shop for a bit? I'll call him and ask. Oh, right—Conan, here."
He handed Conan a fan in a gift box he'd been carrying in his coat and gestured toward the detective agency upstairs. "Can you give this to Miss Mouri for me? I still have to take you book shopping later, so I'll meet you back here once I'm done delivering this."
Conan instantly understood the cue. His eyes lit up as he took the box, replying with a bright, exaggerated "Sure!" before bolting upstairs like a getaway car.
Karasawa smiled, politely gesturing for the girl to go ahead of him as they descended the stairs together.
The moment she introduced herself as Kudou Shinichi's girlfriend, Karasawa knew what this was about.
The younger brother of Akagi Hideo, a professional football player, had been kidnapped. The perpetrators had threatened Akagi, demanding he throw his next match or they'd kill the boy. They warned him not to go to the police—or a detective.
Desperate to save his brother but unable to risk alerting the kidnappers, this girl had taken a gamble. Armed with a photo of Kudou Shinichi, she claimed to be his girlfriend and had started showing up at places he was known to frequent, hoping the news would somehow reach him.
By sheer twist of fate, she'd unwittingly poked a hornet's nest. Her little ruse set off the already simmering jealousy of Mouri Ran—who hadn't seen Shinichi in days and was getting antsy. The girl's claim had triggered a full-blown rampage, culminating in a show of martial arts prowess that left a reinforced security door in splinters.
No one had died, thankfully—well, except for the door. And if Conan hadn't shown up to stop it, Karasawa honestly wouldn't have minded watching the whole dramatic farce unfold.
Now seated outside the café, Karasawa casually struck up a conversation while waiting for Conan to return. "Mind if I ask your name? I'll send him a message first," he said, pulling out his phone and miming a text.
"I—I'm Akagi Ryouko," she said hesitantly, lowering her head. "We've been seeing each other for a while now... You can reach him, can't you? Could you ask him to meet with me?"
Meeting Karasawa had brought her some relief. She wasn't sure if the kidnappers were keeping her under surveillance, and it hadn't occurred to her that one of Kudou Shinichi's known haunts was a detective agency. If they caught wind of her seeking help from detectives, the consequences could be fatal.
"Akagi Ryouko... Judging by your uniform, you're not a Teitan student. How do you know Kudou-kun?" Karasawa asked, fingers tapping lightly on his phone, keeping the tone light.
"I'm a first-year at Mikawa High... We met by chance," she stammered, clearly rattled, her eyes locked on his screen. "Just tell him it's urgent. Please."
"I've sent it," Karasawa said, pressing send. The message to Conan read:
"This girl's name is Akagi Ryouko. I think she's in trouble—something serious, possibly a threat to her safety. Get down here, quick."
Seconds later, a reply came.
"He says he got it and he's on his way," Karasawa relayed.
No sooner had the words left his mouth than the clatter of small feet echoed from the stairwell. Conan, backpack bouncing, came barrelling down the steps at full tilt.
Karasawa gave his head a quick ruffle as he passed, earning an indignant glare that said I'll get you for that, before turning to Ryouko. "Alright, the person I was waiting for is here. Do you want to stay and wait here, or would you prefer to walk with us?"
The sunlight caught in Karasawa's pale blue eyes, turning them the exact hue of a clear spring sky. There was something piercing in his gaze, like he was seeing straight through her.
Ryouko instinctively clenched her fists. She had a gut feeling—Karasawa had figured something out, or maybe the message he'd received had said more than he was letting on.
That little boy hadn't been wrong: Kudou Shinichi's friends were clearly no pushovers either.
She bit her lip and stood, bowing deeply. "Then I'll leave it in your hands."
Still unsure what was going on, Conan glanced back and forth between the two of them before quietly grabbing hold of Karasawa's coat sleeve, tagging along like an accessory.
"Wow, Karasawa-kun's doing pretty well for himself," Enomoto Azusa teased from behind the café's floor-to-ceiling window, watching Karasawa walk off with the pretty girl. "Hasn't even been here a week, and he's already got girls flocking to him."
"Yeah, looks like he's making friends," Furuya Rei replied, one brow raised as he watched their retreating backs—but his focus was squarely on the smallest one.
He didn't believe Karasawa was the type to go around flirting. Especially since his status as a "juvenile offender" forced him to keep his distance. Aside from Sonoko Suzuki (and the Mouri girl who inevitably got dragged along), Karasawa rarely spoke to anyone unless spoken to.
And yet, he'd somehow grown chummy with the kid upstairs.
Maybe Karasawa was just one of those people children naturally gravitated to.
Furuya considered following them... then changed his mind.
Even if that bastard Akai was lurking nearby, Karasawa wasn't alone. That meant he couldn't risk making a move—it'd draw too much attention.
Tch. Besides, he had other work to do.
He still needed to comb through the news coverage of the case Karasawa had helped with yesterday and make sure his name didn't come up anywhere.
Ever since this kid showed up at the café, the workload had exploded…
"What exactly is going on, Miss Akagi?" Karasawa asked gently as they walked side by side. "You don't even have Kudou's contact info, and he's never mentioned you—not once. He's not the kind of guy to just vanish on someone he's dating. I'm guessing... you don't actually know him, do you?"
Still clinging to the hem of Karasawa's coat, Conan blinked in surprise and gave him a sideways look, slightly touched. That was… actually a pretty high opinion of him.
Don't get excited. That was deduction, not flattery. Karasawa shot him a deadpan look and flicked him lightly on the forehead.
Akagi Ryouko glanced around, making sure no one was close enough to overhear. At last, she couldn't hold back anymore—her eyes welled up with tears.
"Please... come with me," she whispered. "I—I didn't mean to lie, I was just desperate. The match has already started, and I need your help—and Kudou Shinichi's. Please, save Mamoru. Save Hideo."
She led them in the direction of her home, pulling a folded fax from her bag.
"We have your brother.
If you want him back alive, you'll throw the match.
No fake injuries. No skipping the game. No police. No detectives.
Or the kid dies."
"I went to make breakfast this morning, but Mamoru wasn't home... Then I found this fax," Ryouko said through trembling lips, fighting to hold back her tears. "Mamoru's big brother is Akagi Hideo…"
"Akagi Hideo!" Conan, the football fanatic, perked up immediately. "You mean The Thunder Leg of Tokyo Aoyama FC?!"