"What?" Suzuki Tomoko frowned.
Mouri Kogoro, who had been observing, stroked his chin and exclaimed as if enlightened, "Ah! I understand! Mockingbird must have sped up the clock in the banquet hall by an hour! So the actual time hasn't arrived yet!"
Ran immediately retorted, "Dad, that's impossible, isn't it? Look, everyone's watches and phones show the same time as the banquet hall clock. Even if Mockingbird was amazing, it couldn't change everyone's watch and phone times, could it?"
"Ran, you have a point," Kogoro thought for a moment, then threw out another conclusion, "Then you must be lying, trying to save face, right?"
He pointed at Hugo.
"Exactly!" Suzuki Tomoko latched onto it like a lifeline, "It must be just as Detective Mouri said!"
"Heh heh, we Mockingbirds are always punctual ladies and gentlemen," Hugo's lips curved into a smile, "When we promise to visit on April 19th, we will never be late."
"The grand clock in the banquet hall is not faulty."
Meeting everyone's puzzled gaze, he continued, "The reason I say it's still April 19th is because the time zone we are currently in is exactly one hour behind Tokyo time. It is still April 19th."
He paused, his gaze sweeping over Suzuki Tomoko, whose expression had slightly changed.
"We have not broken our promise."
"What?!" Suzuki Tomoko and Mouri Kogoro exclaimed in unison, and the guests also burst into an uproar.
"Impossible!" Suzuki Tomoko flatly denied, "The cruise ship's route is fixed! How could it arbitrarily change time zones?"
"For ordinary people, it might be difficult."
Hugo had a confident smile on his face.
"But for someone who is proficient in navigation and just happened to have learned to pilot a cruise ship in Hawaii, it's not difficult to slightly adjust the course, temporarily deviating the cruise ship from the main channel and entering the waters of the East Eight Zone."
Silence fell in the banquet hall.
"You also studied at the Hawaii training class?"
Conan's mind buzzed, and he finally understood why the cruise ship had been traveling so fast earlier. It turned out Mockingbird had tampered with it!
Estimating with the Queen Elizabeth's maximum speed of 30 knots, assuming a straight-line distance, the East Nine Zone and East Eight Zone differ by 15 degrees of longitude. It would only take about an hour at the fastest to reach the East Eight Zone.
Of course, in actual navigation, the route cannot be a straight line. But from boarding in the morning until now, even crawling would have gotten them there.
Tomoko Suzuki's face was pale, and her body swayed slightly. Lycaon immediately stepped forward to support her.
"Then," Hugo elegantly bowed, "we will accept the black star. Thank you, Mrs. Suzuki, for your generous donation. Mockingbird will make good use of its value. Farewell."
He calmly turned and, with Vivian, had just stepped out of the banquet hall.
Just then—
"Wait! Leave the gem! The black star is my target!"
A soaking wet figure, with a white tuxedo clinging to his body, a crooked top hat, and looking utterly disheveled, climbed in from the ship's railing.
It was Kaito Kid, who had returned to his normal state.
He immediately spotted the black star in Hugo's hand and instantly activated his thrusters, lunging forward.
"Tsk, did you go fishing in the sea?"
Hugo raised an eyebrow, seemingly unsurprised by Kid's sudden appearance.
Facing Kid's lunge, he not only didn't dodge but instead showed a playful smile.
Hugo unhurriedly pulled a plastic bag from his pocket and carefully wrapped the black star brooch.
The second before Kaito Kid was about to pounce on him, he flicked his wrist, conjuring a large carp, and slipped the black star into the fish's mouth.
Having done all this, Hugo spread his hands, palms up, with a nearly provocative smile on his face, looking at the dripping wet Kaito Kid.
"If Mr. Kid wants it," Hugo spread his hands, making a 'please get it yourself' gesture, his smile elegant yet infuriating, "please take it yourself. It's in this fish's belly."
"Wh...?!" Kaito Kid's movements froze in mid-air, his ichthyophobia made him unable to speak clearly.
What made him even more terrified was that the other party dared to do this, which clearly meant they knew his weakness of ichthyophobia.
And this weakness was only known by a few people closest to him.
How did Mockingbird know?
Does this mean they already know my true identity?
Kaito Kid's emotions were complex. He glared fiercely at Hugo and Vivian, then finally stomped his foot in grief and indignation.
"Mockingbird, you Guy! Don't let me run into you again next time."
Having uttered this threat, Kaito Kid, without looking back, reactivated his glider and thrusters, disappearing into the vast night.
—
After some time.
The commotion on the Queen Elizabeth cruise ship gradually subsided, and life returned to the video store's daily routine.
Today, Rin was buried behind the counter, patiently re-sorting stacks of returned video tapes by number and type.
Click—
The sound of the store door opening made Rin look up.
Just as she was about to habitually say "Welcome," her words caught in her throat when she saw who it was.
Standing at the doorway was a tall woman, wearing a sports vest and goggles.
The newcomer was Grace, a top engineer from Belobog Heavy Industries, with an almost obsessive love for machinery.
"Ah, Grace?" Rin was a little surprised, "A rare visitor. Why do you have time to come today? Billy isn't here, you know."
She subconsciously added that, because this Miss Engineer's visits were almost always for Billy.
Sure enough, Grace's beautiful amber eyes quickly scanned the store. After not finding Billy, she unreservedly showed a disappointed expression.
"Is Billy really not here?" Grace's voice was very disheartened, and she confirmed again.
"He's really not here." Rin spread her hands. She couldn't very well say that Billy was hiding from Grace for fear of being taken apart, could she?
Rin smiled helplessly, trying to get the conversation back on track. "So, is there something you came for today? It can't really just be to find Billy, can it?"
"Oh, right." Grace seemed to just remember, and perked up a little, "The child you asked me to 'educate' before has been 'educated' well."
"Huh? Child?" Rin was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized, "Ah! Are you talking about my business vehicle?!"
Grace had a habit of treating machinery as her children. Her business vehicle had broken down before, and she had indeed asked the other party to take it for repair.
"Yes, that child." Grace nodded, a blush appearing on her face, "It's in a brand new state. I guarantee it will be more well-behaved than before."
"That's great!" Rin was overjoyed, "Where's the car? Quickly, take me to see it!"
"It's in the parking lot behind." Grace turned, gesturing for Rin to follow.
Rin locked the store door with anticipation and followed Grace around to the private outdoor parking lot behind the video store.
However, when she saw the cars parked in the lot, she was completely taken aback, frozen in place.
In the parking lot, there were actually three cars!
"G... Grace?"
Rin's voice trembled slightly as she pointed at the three "oddities."
"Which of these three cars is mine?"
She felt like she was barely able to call them "cars."
Grace responded with a smile, "All three of these children are yours."