"The dog at the crossroads must not bark."
There were countless intersections throughout Tokyo. Searching every single one would take at least a week.
That meant the key had to be the phrase "the dog must not bark."
'Does it refer to a place where pets aren't allowed? But what does that have to do with an intersection?'
No matter how he thought about it, Ritsu couldn't make the connection.
He had no intention of solving the code by himself. Now wasn't the time to be stubborn.
When he had no leads at all, the best approach was to let other people think it through with him. He immediately took out his phone and called Conan.
As soon as the call connected, he began,
"Hey, Ku—"
"AHHH!!!"
Conan suddenly let out a loud yelp, interrupting him.
Ritsu blinked in confusion. Listening carefully, he could hear several children's voices nearby. And they all sounded familiar.
"G-Good afternoon, Onizawa-nii! Why did you suddenly call me?"
"Huh? Conan, you're talking to Onizawa-nii-san?"
Hearing the voices of the three children from the Junior Detective League, Ritsu became even more puzzled.
'Did Kudo seriously put the phone on speaker?'
Realizing there were children present, he softened his tone.
"Is that everyone from the Junior Detective League?"
"Yep!" Ayumi answered cheerfully.
"I'm Ayumi! Akemi-sensei invited us over to your house to play!"
"And she treated us to grilled eel rice! It was sooo delicious! Onizawa, you have to be nice to Akemi-sensei, or my fists are going to start itching!"
The more dependable Mitsuhiko politely asked, "Onizawa-san, did you call because something happened?"
Finally getting the chance to speak, Ritsu hurriedly said,
"I actually wanted to ask Akemi to help me look at a coded message. Akemi, are you there?"
He honestly hadn't expected Akemi to invite the children over to his apartment.
'Hopefully they haven't been running around the place...'
Akemi glanced at Conan before stepping closer to the phone.
"I'm here. Go ahead. I received a coded message. It only contains one sentence."
'The dog at the crossroads must not bark.'
"I can't figure out what connection there is between crossroads and dogs, so I wanted to ask for your help. You studied art, so your imagination should be better than mine."
Although those words were directed at Akemi, he was really asking Shinichi to help solve the code.
As soon as Conan heard the phrase, countless possibilities flashed through his mind.
'Crossroads...'
The English word was crossroads.
Dog was dog.
But combining them didn't produce anything meaningful. So approaching it from English was obviously wrong.
'Then what is it? What's the connection between crossroads and dogs?'
Haibara also began thinking.
Her train of thought, however, went in a much stranger direction. She even started considering Latin.
The moment she voiced her theory, everyone else stared at her with blank expressions, especially the two younger members of the Junior Detective League.
They had absolutely no idea what Haibara was talking about.
Mitsuhiko suddenly felt another blow to his pride.
'Conan knows so much... And Ai-chan does too... I need to study even harder and learn more.'
The only one who paid no attention to Haibara's explanation was Ayumi. Furrowing her brows, she glanced timidly toward Conan, the team's resident genius.
Then she slowly raised her hand.
"Um... can I share an idea?"
Akemi smiled gently and nodded.
"Ayumi, this isn't school. Of course you can."
Encouraged, Ayumi smiled shyly.
"Don't you think... that 'the dog must not bark' is actually saying the dog can't bark instead of saying it's not allowed to bark?"
Ritsu froze.
He hadn't considered that possibility at all. His instincts immediately told him she was onto something.
He quickly asked, "Ayumi, could you explain what you're thinking?"
"Well, if a dog can't bark, could it be because it's a stuffed dog?"
Hearing Ayumi's reasoning, Genta tilted his head.
"But what does a stuffed dog have to do with a crossroads? Is there even an intersection somewhere with a stuffed dog?"
Mitsuhiko rested his chin on his hand as he thought seriously.
"I don't remember any intersection with a stuffed dog... but I do remember an intersection in Minato Ward with a Masked Yaiba statue."
'Intersection. Masked Yaiba statue. Stuffed dog...'
A spark flashed through both Ritsu's and Conan's minds at exactly the same moment.
"It's the Hachiko statue in Shibuya!"
they exclaimed in unison.
After all, besides the famous statue of the loyal dog Hachiko, Shibuya was also famous for another iconic landmark.
The massive intersection in front of Shibuya Station. Even modern TV dramas frequently used it as a filming location.
"You guys really saved me."
Ritsu stepped on the accelerator as he drove toward Shibuya.
"Once this is all over, I'll treat the entire Junior Detective League to a huge meal. Anywhere you want to go, just name it."
He hadn't expected the culprit to create the coded message from a child's perspective. If that was the case, the next code would probably have to be solved the same way.
"Yay!"
"We helped Onizawa-nii-san!"
As if remembering something, Ritsu cleared his throat.
"Um... Akemi, could you turn off the speaker? There are a few things I'd like to say to you."
"Huh?"
Genta protested immediately.
"Why can't we hear it?"
"Yeah!" Ayumi puffed out her cheeks.
"We just helped you solve the code!"
Knowing he needed an excuse to satisfy the children's curiosity, Ritsu smiled helplessly.
"It's grown-up talk. Kids aren't allowed to listen."
Sitting on the sofa drinking juice, Haibara shot a fierce glare at the phone broadcasting Onizawa's voice.
'This guy... He's not about to say something weird to my sister, is he?'
Mitsuhiko, who was surprisingly mature for his age, instantly blushed bright red.
"U-Um... I-I think... since we're kids... we probably shouldn't listen..."
Conan twitched at the corner of his mouth.
'Kids who mature too early are terrifying... Then again, I guess I'm one of them.'
Picking up the phone, Akemi pretended to look bashful as she walked toward the kitchen.
After turning off speakerphone, she asked softly,
"What is it?"
"Why did you suddenly invite the kids over to the apartment?"
Ritsu asked while keeping one hand on the steering wheel.
"I promised I'd teach them how to draw, so I invited them over."
Glancing at the children, who were still sneakily looking in her direction, Akemi lowered her voice.
"Don't worry. They're all very polite. They've only been playing in the living room."
"That's good. But keep an eye on one particular person who's definitely not a child."
"Don't let Kudo out of your sight. Even though we're cooperating for now, there's a good chance he's still suspicious of me."
"I understand."
Akemi nodded gently.
"Go take care of what you need to do. And... be careful."
"I will."
Ritsu smiled.
"I'm hanging up now."