Agasa's house, located at 22 Beika 2-Chome, welcomed two rather unusual visitors once again.
After receiving Wataru's message, Hiro immediately brought Rei over to have the bomb collar removed.
Naturally, Rei had disguised himself beforehand.
He had put on a fake mustache and a pair of sunglasses to conceal his appearance. If anyone asked, his excuse was that he had developed a stye and needed to protect his eyes.
Watching Agasa successfully remove the bomb collar, Hiro recalled that the information had come from Onizawa.
He couldn't help asking, "Professor Agasa, may I ask you something?"
"Hm?"
The professor smiled warmly.
"Of course, Detective Morofushi. If it's something I can answer, I'll tell you everything I know."
"Are you close to Detective Onizawa?"
Agasa froze for a moment before shaking his head with a smile.
"Not really. A child staying at my house happens to be one of Akemi-san's students, so we've crossed paths a few times."
Hiro could tell the professor was hiding something. However, he chose not to press the issue.
Instead, he smiled gently.
"I see. Thank you for helping remove my friend's bomb. We have urgent business, so we'll be going now."
"Take care, Officers."
Hearing that, Rei raised an eyebrow. He also smiled politely in thanks.
Once they left the house and got back into the car, Rei removed his sunglasses and spoke seriously.
"Hiro... did you notice how he addressed me?"
"I did."
Hiro nodded.
"He called you an officer. While it's possible he simply assumed that... I think..."
He recalled Ritsu's face and that flawless personnel record before continuing,
"I'm more inclined to believe that Onizawa already knows you're a police officer."
Rei looked down at the dismantled bomb collar in his hands and frowned.
"How could he possibly know I'm a police officer? The only explanation is that he knew us long before this."
"The only thing we can do is continue investigating his identity."
Hiro folded his arms.
"But one thing is certain. He probably isn't an Organization mole planted inside the Metropolitan Police."
"If he'd discovered you were a police officer, he would've immediately reported it to the Organization."
Rei nodded.
Then he suddenly remembered something important from his own investigation.
"Hiro. There's something important I need to tell you."
"What is it?"
"...Ritsu might still be alive."
Hiro's eyes widened.
He nearly failed to notice the car in front of them.
SCREECH!
He slammed on the brakes, the tires letting out a sharp screech. Only after steadying his breathing did he slowly ask,
"...What did you just say?"
"Hiro, calm down."
Thinking back to the identical kimono, Rei frowned.
"Do you remember the phantom thief Arsène Lupin? The kimono he wore was exactly the same one Ritsu used to wear. But I'd never seen Ritsu wear that kimono while asking me to wash it."
"And more importantly... there had been blood on it."
'Arsène Lupin...'
The moment Hiro heard that name, another one surfaced in his mind—Toichi Kuroba.
Memories came flooding back.
Only then did he remember that Ritsu had once mentioned that strange drug to him. Back then, he'd even joked that it sounded like one of those berserker potions from a video game.
"You mean..."
Hiro looked at Rei.
"...Ritsu has been using the identity of Lupin to secretly investigate another mysterious organization on behalf of the Organization?"
"Yeah."
Rei nodded.
"And Lupin reappeared when Kaito Kid resurfaced."
"I'm convinced there's some kind of connection between the two."
Only then did Hiro remember the investigation Ritsu had once asked him to conduct.
'I should've connected the dots much sooner... So why did it only occur to me after Zero mentioned it?'
Perhaps...
It was because he still couldn't accept Ritsu's death.
Ever since the day he'd received the news that Ritsu had died in the line of duty, he had unconsciously sealed away every memory connected to him.
"...Pandora."
"Hm?"
Rei looked at him in confusion.
"Pandora? What do you mean?"
"Ritsu investigated a gemstone called Pandora."
Hiro spoke slowly.
"There was also a member of that mysterious organization whose codename was Leo. And Ritsu asked me to investigate Toichi Kuroba's apparent accidental death eight years ago."
"I think all of those things are connected."
'Pandora... Leo... Toichi Kuroba.'
Rei tried piecing the keywords together.
Nothing fit.
Rubbing his throbbing temples, he sighed.
Ever since he'd been kidnapped by the culprit who had called him by his real name yesterday, he'd remained in a constant state of high alert.
The exhaustion was finally catching up to him.
"For now, our priority is solving the coded message and rescuing Kenji."
Hiro said,
"Once this is over, I'll gather everyone and discuss everything together. As for you... Be careful inside the Organization. Leave this investigation to us."
"But, Hiro..."
Rei lowered his eyes.
"I don't want to drag them into anything involving the Organization. You know how dangerous they are."
Hiro let out a quiet sigh.
He knew his childhood friend still hadn't recovered from witnessing Ritsu's apparent death with his own eyes.
He spoke gently,
"Zero... Have you ever considered... that they may have already been dragged into it?"
"Ritsu's death may have been the spark that started everything."
"..."
Rei fell silent. Finally, he nodded.
"...I understand. You investigate Lupin. We'll exchange information whenever we find something."
"Alright."
Hiro nodded.
"I'm heading to the MPD first to have the forensic lab analyze the liquid from the bomb collar. You take my car to the Hachiko statue. Stay in contact."
"Got it."
...
Meanwhile,
Already standing in front of the famous Hachiko Statue, Ritsu reached underneath a nearby bench and pulled out a white envelope taped beneath it.
Opening it, he found exactly what he'd expected. Another coded message.
Fortunately, this one didn't seem particularly difficult. Inside were only six English letters:
A, U, M, U, K, R
He recognized every letter. Yet no matter how he rearranged them, none of the combinations felt like the correct answer.
"If I eliminate the two identical U's... the only word that immediately comes to mind is Mark. But that doesn't tell me where the next coded message is hidden."
Holding the envelope, Ritsu muttered to himself.
After thinking for quite a while, he finally decided to photograph the coded message and email it to everyone in his contacts who was good at solving puzzles.
'Have my deductive skills gotten worse? Or am I simply overthinking things?'
Less than a few minutes later, his phone rang.
It was Hayasaka.
The moment he answered, she blurted out,
"Onizawa, did getting kidnapped scramble your brain or something? This clue is so obvious! How could you not figure it out?!"
"...Huh?"
Ritsu blinked.
He suddenly began wondering whether the bomb around his neck had somehow blown away part of his intelligence.
'Could that bomb actually lower a person's IQ?'
"Isn't it obviously MARUKU?"
"...What?"
Now even more confused, he frowned.
"MARUKU?"
"マルク still just means 'Mark,' doesn't it?"
"There are tons of people named Mark in Tokyo. How am I supposed to know which one you're talking about?"
"What Mark?!"
Hayasaka sounded utterly exasperated.
"MARUKU means Shibuya 109!"
"...Huh?"
Ritsu stood there completely dumbfounded.
He immediately hung up, opened Yahoo! Japan, and searched for it. Only then did he discover that Japanese girls often referred to Shibuya 109 by its nickname.
MARUKU (マルク).
He stared with half-lidded eyes, utterly speechless.
'How would a guy possibly know a piece of slang that's basically exclusive to teenage girls?'
Then he remembered the culprit's face, a face identical to his own during his Police Academy days.
A chill instantly ran down his spine.
'No way... Could that culprit actually be... a woman?
D-Don't tell me... they had a sex change?!'