The bustling streets of Tokyo were alive with streams of pedestrians and traffic. As dusk faded, night slowly descended.
At the front were the Junior Detective League. Behind them came a three-man criminal group. Trailing those was another group of unknown identity. Bringing up the rear was Shimizu Koji himself. Four separate parties, unknowingly, were acting out an elaborate game of pursuit and counter-pursuit.
Under normal circumstances, given Koji's personality, the best solution would have been simple: step in, take the Junior Detective League away, and end it cleanly.
But after observing the two groups tailing them, Koji chose not to act rashly.
There was only one reason.
They had guns.
He might not be afraid, but there were four elementary school children involved—and on top of that, he still couldn't tell what the pursuers' true objective was.
As the chase continued, Koji grew increasingly puzzled.
They ran all over the city, even passing Tokyo Tower twice, yet the three men showed no sign of attempting a kidnapping. They simply kept following Conan and the others.
The second group behind them was even more restrained—sticking close, step for step, without making a single extra move.
What were these people doing?Surely they weren't actually treasure hunting… were they?
Fortunately, it seemed things were finally reaching an end.
Koji's expression grew serious. He hadn't brought any weapons when he left home, but along the way he had seized the opportunity to grab a steel pipe and conceal it on his person. His bicycle had already been left in a parking lot.
When Conan and the others slipped into a darkened building, Koji stopped at a distance, observed briefly, then circled around to enter from the other side.
He had no intention of lurking at the very back. He wasn't here for profit or schemes—his goal was to keep an eye on the kids, especially Conan… and Ayumi as well.
Meanwhile, the largest group—the one bringing up the rear—split their forces. Some followed into the building, while others remained outside, stationing themselves at every exit and surrounding the place completely.
"There! That's it!"
"What? Where? Conan, there's nothing glowing here at all!"
Faced with the doubts of the three kids, Conan smiled confidently, adjusted the baseball cap on his head, and walked forward until he reached the edge of the rooftop.
"Look at that bridge covered in neon lights—and its reflection in the water below. If you connect them, doesn't it look just like a glowing fish?"
Hearing this, the three kids hurried over, eyes wide as they let out amazed exclamations.
Conan smiled in satisfaction, then lowered his head to study the treasure map again.
Carefully comparing distances, he began stepping backward—until—
Clink.
He stepped on something.
"These are—"
Turning around, Conan crouched down to pick it up, but someone was faster. A hand reached out and scooped up several scattered gold coins from the ground.
"Thanks for finding the treasure for us, brats."
"Conan?!"
The three kids cried out in shock as they turned around. Standing in front of Conan were the three grinning criminals. Conan, startled mid-crouch, fell back onto the ground, fear clear on his face.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The very next second, three dull blows rang out in rapid succession.
The trio collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
Having followed them in secret, Shimizu Koji didn't have many options. He knew there was still another group behind him, but seeing the kids about to be in real danger—and no one else making a move—he had no choice but to step in.
"It's Brother Koji!" Ayumi was the first to recognize him. Aside from Conan, who was closest, visibility on the rooftop was poor since it was enclosed and pitch-black.
After a moment of shock, Conan also relaxed, regaining some sense of safety and confidence.
"Brother Koji, why are you here?"
"Wait. There are still others," Koji said, ignoring the question. He calmly reached down and retrieved handguns from the waists of the three unconscious men.
His words made Conan freeze. He instinctively turned his gaze toward the stairwell.
Sure enough, clear footsteps echoed from below.
The three kids immediately hurried behind Koji, staring anxiously at the dark stairway.
None of them had imagined that a simple treasure hunt could turn into something like this.
"Impressive," a voice said. "If you hadn't shown up, we wouldn't have known there were others lying in wait."
"But you're only here for these kids, aren't you?"
One figure after another emerged from the stairwell. Conan's expression darkened by the second, while Koji remained relatively calm.
He had anticipated this the moment he acted. Now he had a gun in hand. The other side did too—but that didn't mean it would immediately come to bloodshed.
The leader stepped out of the shadows: a square-faced man in a brown suit, around thirty years old. His features were stern, but his demeanor steady. Clearly, he was the one in charge.
He took a drag from his cigarette. Though uncomfortable with the gun aimed at him, he raised a hand, signaling his subordinates to lower their weapons first.
"Are you here for the treasure too?!" Mitsuhiko suddenly shouted.
"Ah, the treasure. You could say that," the man replied. "To you, it's a treasure. To us, it's just an unexpected windfall."
He looked up at Koji. "If you leave now, we won't stop you."
No sooner had he said that than one of his men hurried over and whispered something in his ear. The man's expression turned slightly awkward.
"Ahem… but first, you'll have to help us find all those coins."
"We're not giving you our treasure!" Genta shouted angrily, though Conan quickly pulled him back.
Koji felt caught between a rock and a hard place.And—there really was treasure?
Seriously, what kind of lunatic hid treasure in a place like this?
"I think you may have misunderstood," Koji said calmly. "That isn't treasure. It's stolen money."
"The three men on the ground are Italian robbers. They stole a batch of gold coins, but their boss tried to take it all for himself. He came to Japan with the coins."
"But gold coins aren't exactly spendable, and carrying them around was risky. So he hid them and contacted us."
"You?" Conan and Koji asked almost simultaneously.
Judging by their expressions, the square-faced man shrugged and smiled.
"Don't get the wrong idea. We're not killers or thieves. Just an ordinary social group."
"Not long after their boss contacted us, those three showed up at his door. By the time we reached his place, he was already dead—but when he contacted us, he did warn that his enemies might come after him."
"And then you tracked down those three. Since two of them were Italian, it wasn't hard. You discovered they were following us while searching for the coins, so you decided to follow them as well—just to see what would happen."
Conan adjusted his glasses, having pieced everything together in one clear chain. The man looked at him in surprise, then nodded.
"That's right. Which is why these gold coins should belong to us in the first place."