After exiting the hall, Kazawa casually walked out of the alley as if nothing had happened. He pulled a few random items from his bag and held them in his hands, pretending he had actually gone shopping, then headed back toward Café Poirot.
Amuro hadn't returned yet—probably because he really didn't want to see Kazawa today.
Which made sense. Kazawa had only been out for half a day, and the amount of overtime work had already doubled. Not just his duties as a public safety officer, but even his responsibilities as Bourbon had increased. Even though he knew Kazawa was innocent—he hadn't done anything—Amuro still couldn't help but feel drained by him.
Kazawa thought for a moment and dialed Conan's number.
Unsurprisingly, he received the news that the bar had been blown up. Kazawa gave Conan a few half-hearted words of comfort, then subtly probed for what intel he'd gathered on the organization so far.
"The police already checked the suitcase that was supposed to be handed over to Tequila. They found a USB drive inside with some data," Conan said, his voice tired, having returned to the banquet hall at the Beika Hotel. "Hideaki Nakajima said this was the information the other side had asked him to collect. It contains a list of highly skilled programmers in the industry, along with their current employers, as well as detailed home addresses and other personal info. He said he didn't know what Tequila wanted it for—just that the pay was insanely high, so he did some digging…"
The organization really had a way of harassing programmers. Always shrouded in secrecy, talking about reversing time and resurrecting the dead and all that nonsense. No one knew what programmers had to do with any of it, but the organization always seemed obsessed with developing some kind of software to help accomplish their goals…
If just one programmer—especially a solo dev like Suguru Itakura—could really code something that changes the world or influences the future of humanity, then honestly, humanity should've already been wiped out. After all, sometimes even programmers don't know why their code runs in the first place.
Kazawa internally mocked the absurdity of it all, though his tone remained calm and serious as he spoke: "The organization needs programmers? For what? Maybe try keeping a backup of the list and see if you can use it as a lead to figure out their ultimate goal? I remember… Professor Agasa is quite the skilled programmer too, right?"
Now that was another mystery—how Professor Agasa, with his Doraemon-like inventions and programming skills, had somehow never attracted the organization's attention. With an oversight like that, it was no wonder the organization kept losing.
"You're right. There's still hope," Conan let out a breath. "The info Joker gave me said a lot of the organization members use alcohol names as codenames, and they tend to wear black. That matches—Tequila, and the one who knocked me out, were both like that. You be careful too, okay?"
But once that surge of hope wore off, Conan remembered that he had nearly gotten Kazawa into serious trouble today. A case involving members of the organization was nothing strange if the one solving it was the famous detective Mouri Kogoro, but if the one unraveling it was an unknown high schooler like Kazawa, it could very well bring danger to him.
Kazawa still had his own mess to deal with.
"I'm fine. Just make sure to take care of yourself," he said.
Though really, even if Conan didn't take care of himself, it wouldn't matter much. Kazawa thought this as he hung up the phone.
Conan wouldn't attract Gin's attention at all—he wasn't Haibara Ai.
Gin was the kind of guy who committed to his setting to the end. He genuinely didn't remember the people he killed.
Kazawa had nearly choked when he saw that "full moon arc" episode where Gin had to ask Vermouth over the phone who Shinichi Kudo was.
Now then… it was almost time for Mouri Kogoro's group to get on the Shinkansen.
Soon, they'd run into Gin and Vodka. Kazawa couldn't wait. His alcohol-themed codename collection was about to get longer.
Thinking of this, he called out a quick greeting to the others and eagerly climbed up to the attic to sleep.
Time to try that newly arrived bottle of Tequila!
———
While the high schooler was openly binge-drinking in his dreams, the overworked Kazami Yuya couldn't even get a proper nap.
He escorted his furious superior—who had just caused an explosion in the city—to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and gave a detailed report of his meeting with Kazawa.
"It's actually a good thing Kazawa knows your identity," Rei Furuya said, fiddling with a retractable ballpoint pen, repeatedly clicking it in and out, his mood unreadable. "Once the fake death is arranged, we'll still need you to handle the transfer. If he's aware of your identity in advance, it'll save us a lot of explanation."
"But that means… he'll also know your identity." Kazami pushed up his glasses, not daring to meet his superior's eyes in his current temper.
If Rei Furuya was the one who arranged Kazawa's fake death but then handed him off to Kazami during the process—and considering that Kazami had once earned Kazawa's trust by claiming to be his parents' liaison within the organization—it would make Furuya's identity as a public safety undercover operative all too obvious. And Kazawa was not someone easy to fool.
"It's not a big issue," Furuya waved his hand. "Even if he finds out I'm with Public Safety, he still doesn't know my codename within the organization. The risk is minimal."
Seeing how confident he was, Kazami made up his mind and pulled out a finished report from his folder. "You said the opportunity would come within these two weeks, since the other watcher, Rye Whiskey, will be heading out with Gin. I've been preparing since then, and the plan is mostly complete now. Please check for any flaws."
"Efficient, aren't you." Furuya took the plan from him, sounding a bit surprised.
Not to look down on his subordinate, but Kazami was the type who always completed orders dutifully—but never a minute ahead of schedule. He had strong execution but poor initiative.
For someone like him to proactively finish a plan ahead of time… that was rare.
Kazami adjusted his glasses and waited for instructions.
He truly wasn't the kind who liked finishing tasks early—especially when his boss was the type who'd send him urgent work on Friday night knowing full well the weekend was coming, expecting it done by Monday. A typical capitalist devil of a supervisor.
But between two devils, Kazawa was clearly the more terrifying one.
Furuya might make him work overtime occasionally, but ever since Kazawa showed up, he'd been working nonstop without rest.
Given the choice between two evils, he had to send this guy away. The sooner the better. Otherwise, he might be the one sent away instead…
Furuya finished reading the plan and was even more surprised.
"This is… actually pretty well done." The plan, on paper, was solid—meticulous, highly executable, and the setup of Kazawa falling from a building while saving someone matched his behavior pattern since arriving in Tokyo. It also aligned with the organization's assessments of him from both his and Rei's reports.
Honestly, this plan felt very un-Kazami-like.
Furuya gave his subordinate a skeptical look, wondering to himself—was this guy just pretending to be mediocre all this time?