Chapter Two: I Bet a Coin There's No Bullet in Your Gun

“…Yes, yes, Inspector Megure, please come quickly!”
Conan placed the receiver back onto the phone booth and felt a bit more at ease.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police would arrive in no more than thirty minutes. All he had to do during this time was keep the Detective Boys from entering the Renhe Building and watch the entrance to see if anyone came out.
This operation should count as the safest among all the reckless adventures the Detective Boys had undertaken!
However, at this moment, the little harbinger of death turned his head to look at the open space in front of the Renhe Building, where the Detective Boys had been standing.
He fell silent, for not a single person remained there.
“I take back what I said. This operation may be the most dangerous of all the reckless things the Detective Boys have ever done!”
——————
At the same moment, the members of the Detective Boys were carefully ascending the stairs, their nerves taut.
Trailing at the rear, Ai Haibara kept stealing glances at the figure in black behind her, as if by accident.
Back when she had been a member of the Black Organization, she’d seen plenty of their operatives—each one dressed in black, exuding a palpable sense of danger, just like this person.
But why would a Black Organization member be accompanying the Detective Boys? What was his goal? Could he be part of the kidnapping ring, entering with them only to keep watch?
Her unease deepened.
She glanced back again, only to find that the man in black, sunglasses and all, had vanished without a trace!
“What? Where did he go?”
The former Black Organization scientist immediately scanned every corner of the stairwell.
Yet the man in black had disappeared as silently as a shadow.
Hearing Haibara’s soft gasp, Ayumi, who was ahead, turned and whispered even more quietly to her.
“Keep your voice down, Haibara—we’re already here!”
…We’re already here?
Haibara looked up at Genta, who was leading the group.
She saw the Detective Boys’ number-one troublemaker fling open the door to the third-floor room and exclaim, “It’s not even locked!” before boldly striding into the lair of the kidnappers.
At that moment, Haibara felt her heart skip a beat, but she gritted her teeth and followed the others in.
A single glance at the room’s setup told her this was no mere kidnapping ring. On the contrary, this was a counterfeit printing den—the nearby presses were still warm…
Which meant the counterfeiters hadn’t gone far!
She watched somberly as Genta uncovered unfinished printing plates for thousand-yen Soseki Natsume bills, as Mitsuhiko shouted excitedly, and as Ayumi asked questions in confusion—

With a creak, a concealed door on the third floor swung open.
Appearing in the doorway, as seen on the surveillance monitors, was Silver Fox, one of the counterfeiters, pushing along a bound and gagged artist. Two more criminals, guns drawn, flanked her.
The sight stunned the Detective Boys into silence.
“The detective game ends here, little sleuths.”
Silver Fox leveled her pistol at the children.
She didn’t know how these kids had found the place, but since they’d already discovered the printing press and the plates, she couldn’t let them leave alive.
“You’ve nowhere to run. Now, how should I deal with you to make that guy speed up his work…”
Creak—
The third-floor door opened yet again.
The two lookouts who had been sent to deal with any followers collapsed stiffly to the floor, flanking the doorway.
Silver Fox’s eyes went wide with shock.
A figure clad in black stood calmly at the threshold. Without haste, he stepped over the unconscious criminals and walked toward Silver Fox and her two armed accomplices, as if taking a stroll.
He even had leisure to shield his lighter’s flame with his hand and light a cigarette—a small but telling detail.
“Who… who are you?!”
One of the henchmen, the one who had bought color-changing ink for Silver Fox, nervously turned his gun on the black-clad man.
His voice trembled with fear, and his hands shook—he was thinking of the urban legend that had recently surfaced in Beika Town.
A grim reaper clad in black, stalking the night, snatching away the lives of criminals…
“Does it matter who I am? That’s not important.”
Hikaru Nara placed the cigarette between his lips and spoke calmly.
“What matters is that you won’t be able to go on with your crimes for much longer.”
“Because I’m here.”
In the next instant, the lighter flew from his hand like a dart, striking the henchman’s gun-hand.
The gun fell from the man’s grasp.
In a blink, Hikaru Nara closed the distance to Silver Fox. The other armed accomplice, his arm bandaged, was already out cold.
The five-person armed gang was now reduced to Silver Fox alone!

This woman, dressed in black, hat pulled low, pointed her gun at Hikaru Nara’s head. Her hand trembled.
“I—I’ll kill you… don’t you believe I’ll shoot?”
“I believe you. But tell me—do you believe this?”
Hikaru Nara dropped his cigarette to the floor and crushed it underfoot.
Then he looked up and met Silver Fox’s gaze, his own unwavering.
“Tell me, madam—do you believe that, even with your gun pointed at my head, I could show you your own brains before you pull the trigger? I promise you, that kind of death is truly wretched.”
Silver Fox instinctively took a step back.
Though she was the one with the gun, the one who held the advantage, all she felt was fear and dread!
She watched as Hikaru Nara reached into his pocket and withdrew a hundred-yen coin.
…What is he doing?
She didn’t know, only stared anxiously at his movements.
“Of course, we could play a game. Let’s bet on whether there are any bullets in your gun.”
“I’ll wager this hundred-yen coin that your gun is empty. If you’re willing to play, pull the trigger now.”
“If your gun is loaded, you kill me and get the coin.”
“If it’s empty, then I’ll kill you.”
Clad in his black overcoat, Hikaru Nara spoke with an unnerving calm.
“Well? Do you want to play? It’s simple—dangerous, but the prize is great.”
“All you have to do is pull the trigger, just like you’ve threatened to do so many times before…”
“What’s wrong? Afraid to play?”
…Madman. He’s a complete madman!
From outside the third-floor door, the little harbinger of death peered in, chilled to the core.
Who would ever bet that the would-be killer’s gun is empty?
Conan raised his wristwatch and activated the sight.
He had to act, to save this reckless yet kind-hearted stranger in black!