Chapter 119 Nekono Ikuya admires black hair and blue eyes...

After hanging up the call to Matsuda Jinpei, Nekono Ikuya silently slipped his phone into his pocket. He turned his head and met the gaze of Edogawa Conan beside him.

“We can’t just wait,” Nekono Ikuya said softly, her emerald eyes sweeping over the bookshelves and the crowd. “Matsuda and the others will need time to get here, but the bomb could be detonated much faster. It’s very unusual that the bomber planted the bomb in a crowded place but hasn’t contacted the police to make any demands. Either they simply want to take revenge on society, or the bomb hasn’t been fully planted yet.”

The latter is more likely, meaning the bomber is probably still at the scene.

“Broadcasting announcing this will alert the suspect and cause panic. It might even cause the bomber to detonate the bomb prematurely. Let’s search for other bombs and hopefully find the person who planted them!” Conan immediately interjected, his blue eyes behind his glasses igniting a familiar flame that almost pierced through the child’s disguise.

His little face was full of determination: "If we can control him, we might be able to find out the location of the remaining bombs, or even get the remote control to defuse the crisis!"

Conan's brain worked at lightning speed: "The placement point needs to be away from crowded places for easy concealment and installation, while also having a certain deterrent effect."

The two men's eyes were drawn almost simultaneously to the fire escape not far away. Customers usually choose to take the convenient elevator when going up and down the stairs, and the fire escape has relatively little traffic. However, if an explosion were to occur in this place, it would be enough to block the escape route and cause great panic.

Of course, fire exits aren't the only place that meets the requirements, but this one is the closest to them.

Let's check this first.

They exchanged a glance, and without a word, the two moved silently toward the relatively secluded fire escape door without disturbing the surrounding customers.

Just as they approached the heavy fire door of the fire escape, Nekono Ikuya suddenly reached out and stopped Conan, her emerald green eyes sharply fixed on the tightly closed door.

His five senses were very sensitive, so he only needed to listen for a moment to hear the extremely faint rustling sound coming from inside, which was different from the usual ambient sounds.

There was also a soft, rapid-breathing murmur, sounding oppressively heavy in the empty corridor: "The last one... hurry... get it done quickly..."

Wow, you won the grand prize in one go?

I knew I was lucky.

Nekono Ikuya gently raised her hand and gestured to Conan that "there are people inside, they're setting things up."

Although it wasn't explained beforehand, the clever little detective miraculously understood the gesture.

His face tightened, and he immediately nodded in understanding.

The two silently approached the door. Conan looked up, frowning at the tightly closed door.

Damn it, the doctor only made him a retractable belt and kicking shoes, but not a lock-picking tool. Is he going to kick the door open with a soccer ball?

Wouldn't that make too much noise?

He was about to turn around and discuss a solution with Nekono Ikuya when, before he could speak, he saw Nekono Ikuya naturally raise her hand, and something suddenly appeared in her hand.

Before they could even see what it was, the fire escape door was opened by the other party in a few quick movements.

Nekono Ikuya's movements were fluid and effortless, and she didn't make a sound at all throughout.

"?!" Nekono-nii-san can pick locks? Edogawa Conan was quite surprised.

Although surprised, it was a good thing that the door was open, so without hesitation, Conan followed Nekono Ikuya and quickly peeked through the crack in the door.

A man wearing a dark hoodie, baseball cap, and mask was squatting on the landing between the stairs with his back to the door, frantically fiddling with a device connected to a timer, seemingly trying to fix it in place.

He's the one!

The next second, Nekono Ikuya moved without warning. His movement to push open the fire door was light and silent, yet incredibly fast.

Like a nimble feline, his footsteps were silent, and he approached the man before he even noticed.

Nekono Ikuya appeared like a ghost behind the bomber, his right hand forming a knife-like gesture as he swiftly and accurately struck the back of the bomber's neck!

"Uh..." The bomber only had time to let out a short groan before his eyes went blank.

With a flick of his toe, Nekono Ikuya's body slumped softly in the direction of the bomb.

The whole process took less than two seconds.

Conan Edogawa, who had just rushed in, already raising his wrist to aim at the bomber, with the tranquilizer dart ready to fire: "..."

He maintained his firing stance, watching the prisoner who was instantly killed and knocked unconscious, and then looked at Nekono Ikuya, who had a calm expression as if he had only done something insignificant.

Conan blinked his large, bright blue eyes, his voice somewhat dazed: "...It's...it's over just like that?"

He and his companions worked in perfect coordination to rush toward the bomber. The treacherous bomber suddenly attacked as if divinely aided. In that thrilling moment, did they fail to follow the proper procedure of using their schemes and the props provided by the doctor to break the deadlock?

Nekono Ikuya used whatever was available to tie up the bomber and was about to decipher his phone when she heard this. Her emerald green eyes turned to Conan, and she tilted her head slightly, her expression showing a hint of innocent confusion: "Otherwise what?"

With life's difficulty on easy mode, Nekono Ikuya, who has never experienced an opponent suddenly gaining an unfair advantage at a crucial moment, gently typed a question mark.

...

Fortunately, there was only one bomber. Nekono Ikuya and Edogawa Conan woke him up and, working together to provoke him, managed to get him to open up and find out the location of all the bombs.

The process wasn't difficult, after all, the remote control was already in Nekono Ikuya's hands, and the bomber himself had been caught. Whatever his purpose in planting the bomb, it was now impossible to achieve. In addition, there was the verbal stimulation from Nekono Ikuya and Edogawa Conan, especially the latter's sharp reasoning...

...To be honest, bombers who haven't even tasted the thrill of bombing people and whose ferocity hasn't been unleashed are already starting to give up.

The bomber is having an existential crisis: even an elementary school student could deduce several of the locations where he planted the bombs, so what's the point of him continuing to hide it? Even if he doesn't tell anyone now, the police will find them all, right? Am I some kind of idiot?

Just then, Matsuda Jinpei and Hagiwara Kenji arrived at the scene with members of the "Demolition Team".

"Not bad efficiency, Nekono." Kenji Hagiwara spotted the bomber at their feet immediately. He greeted Nekono Ikuya with a smile, his tone light and cheerful.

"We came over immediately after receiving the call saying there was a situation here. We didn't expect you to have already taken care of most of it."

Nekono Ikuya handed the bomber over to the police officer who took over the case and told him the locations of all the bombs he had found out. Then she smiled and said, "I just happened to run into him and took him by chance."

He'd stumbled upon a bomber's crime scene; of course, he wouldn't be the unlucky one. Nekono Ikumi thought casually, her tone matter-of-fact.

It carries a hint of haughty arrogance, but instead of making people uncomfortable, it makes people feel that this is how it should be.

At least none of the people present thought there was anything wrong with Nekono Ikuya's tone.

Conan observed the practiced ease with which they communicated.

"?"

Is Nekono-nii (Nekonono's older brother) close to Officers Matsuda and Hagiwara? — Conan, who has encountered many bombs before, certainly knows these two virgin bomb duo.

Conan recalled their previous meeting; Akashi seemed to know Inspectors Matsuda and Hagiwara quite well...

Judging by their ages, could the three of them have been born around the same time?

Since Nekono and Akashi are childhood friends, it's natural that Nekono would know Akashi's classmates, which makes sense.

Conan realized the truth.

Matsuda Jinpei noticed Conan's curious gaze. He glanced at the well-behaved Edogawa Conan and recognized him.

Matsuda Jinpei squinted. "It's you again, kid. I feel like I always see you near bombs lately." There was no malice in his tone, just pure teasing.

The detectives in the First Investigative Division seem to be frequently mentioning this boy who always appears at crime scenes. The frequency with which this boy, Conan Edogawa, appears at murder and bombing scenes is ridiculously high. Does he have some kind of built-in crime-solving navigation device?

With plenty of time, Matsuda and Hagiwara were waiting for the crowd to disperse before defusing the bomb, just in case. The bookstore was still crowded, so Nekono Ikuya decided not to squeeze in with the others and wait there with Conan until it was less crowded, which gave them time to chat.

This also explains why the bomb's structure wasn't complicated, and why Matsuda and Hagiwara didn't need to spend too much effort figuring out how to disarm it.

He didn't want to either; ever since he shrunk, his accident-prone constitution has become increasingly severe.

Surely the reduced mass wouldn't be added to the accident's physical structure? Conan thought jokingly.

He scratched the back of his head, revealing his signature innocent smile: "Hehe, because cases always call for detectives!"

It wasn't the detective who brought the case!

Nekono Ikuya chuckled softly, ruffled Conan's hair, and said meaningfully, "Perhaps this world is guiding capable people to where they are needed, to prevent the worst from happening? Conan is a little savior!" His words sounded like some kind of profound sentiment.

He was also being a little serious. This made Conan feel a little embarrassed.

Kenji Hagiwara had seen Conan relatively few times. He looked Conan up and down with curiosity and said with a smile, "Nekono, is this your child? I heard before that you helped take care of a very smart kid. I didn't expect him to be so capable. He can help catch criminals at such a young age."

By the way, this child is the one that Nekono Ikuya is taking care of!

As if remembering something, Matsuda Jinpei's gaze shifted between Nekono Ikuya and Edogawa Conan.

The gaze lingered on Conan's black hair for a moment, before finally settling on Conan's exceptionally clear and bright blue eyes.

"..."

"Tsk, black hair and blue eyes." Matsuda Jinpei deliberately emphasized these two features, a playful smile playing on his lips, and said to Nekono Ikuya in a teasing tone, "You really have a thing for this color combination." You'd raise a kid with this color, you must have a lot in common with Batman.

He remarked, "Love me, love my dog..." He knew that Nekono Ikuya appreciated this color scheme because his mother had black hair and blue eyes. Just like he liked boxing because of his father.

“Hmm, that’s right.” Nekono Ikuya smiled back, her expression quite composed.

Kenji Hagiwara, completely bewildered: "???" He looked at his childhood friend, then at Ikuya Nekono and the child beside him, his face full of confusion.

Does Kojinpei have a secret he doesn't know? Hagi is bewildered.

Conan Edogawa also typed a question mark: "?"

Does Nekono-nii-san appreciate black hair and blue eyes?