invisible signal

"Is this enough? I have lost a lot..."

Kudo was just silent.

What can I say?

He can't do anything.

"Then," the last voice on the communication end was Kudo's all-too-familiar voice, the gorgeous voice of a phantom thief on stage.

"I look forward to seeing you next time, detective."

As the Kaitou said, the communication has not been cut off.

You can also hear the footsteps of the Phantom Thief leaving.

Please, please don't walk away at this time.

please.

Basically, I can't even remember your name.

I am very troubled.

Very disturbing.

Kudo Shinichi put down the badge in his hand decadently and leaned on his body.

He knew that no matter how he shouted, how much he demanded a response, his voice would only be buried in the soundless underground.

No one will hear.

There is no longer any sound from the other end of the communication.

【No call】

One hour after the communication was cut off, Kudo Shinichi did not feel anxious or helpless.His thinking is still habitually staying in the so-called "communication state" before.

He is still thinking about a feasible operation plan.

Even though their call lasted less than 72 hours, the feeling of taking someone else's life into his own hands, or being connected to another person only through a small badge in his hand, made him feel inexplicably Excitement comes with great responsibility.

It may not be so accurate to say that, because in this communication, the strange thief is also an independent individual.He has his own consciousness, his own actions, and the right to choose independently.

How amazing that two people with different value judgments and different behavioral styles can keep in step only by relying on the small badge in their hands and the invisible wireless signal.

However, there are always similarities.

Kudo looked at the time, only an hour had passed since the communication was cut off, and it was not even midnight yet.

The "today" time limit has not passed.

With the heat of half a piece of chocolate and the physical strength of that Phantom Thief monster, it will probably be no problem to last until the early morning of the next day.

Will he still stay in that area and not leave?

With his anti-reconnaissance ability, he shouldn't be discovered so quickly.

Maybe he's found his way out?

Sometimes, people ask questions, not to get an answer.

More often, it is for "peace of mind".

I don't know when it started, Kudo took the successful escape of the phantom thief as his current task.Maybe it's out of the detective's instinct of justice, maybe it's the compassion for this childhood playmate who can't even remember the name, maybe it's just a simple hope that this perfect opponent won't die so easily... No matter what the reason is One, when the subtle electric sound rang in his ears, he felt a great responsibility.

In fact, as the strange thief said, he doesn't need to be responsible for anything.

You see, even if Kudo himself does not admit it, he is such a person.

They are all such people.

Habitually take responsibility, habitually want a stable situation, habitually stand on the front line, and habitually bear everything.

It doesn't matter if you don't do anything.

Obviously, he is just a kid who needs protection.

will not be blamed.

won't be blamed.

Time flies fast.

Time is never even.

During the conversation, Kudo always felt that his time was artificially divided.

He has never been so concerned about the impact of the passage of time in nature on people's work and rest.He is concerned about the change of weather and temperature. He realizes that it takes only a short moment to switch from dusk to night. He realizes that the human body is so fragile and easily destroyed after leaving the shelter of man-made facilities.

People always see more when they step out of their circle.

Two hours after the communication was cut off, Kudo began to fidget.

The safest period of time to confirm the other party's status has passed, and now it is impossible to take action to obtain the other party's location.

Where is he now?

Can the calories of half a plate of chocolate be supported until now?

Exposure to cold air in the middle of the night can be dangerous.

With that thin phantom thief equipment, there is no way to keep the body warm.

Is the wound still bleeding?

Are you still alive?

It's past zero.

The time limit has expired.

Kudo paced anxiously.

There is no way to rest at this point.

No sleepiness.

Is it my turn to act?

Should I do something?

Several times, he almost threw off his coat and drove straight out to conduct a carpet search, but his reason told him that doing so would basically lead to nothing except wasting time.

At this stage it seems all he can do is wait.

Three hours after the communication was cut off, Kudo gave up his plan to take action.

He sank himself into the sofa in the study, clasped his hands against his forehead.

wait……

But what are you waiting for?

Waiting for that troubled strange thief to come to your door?

He looks out the window.Even in the middle of the night, the sky is still illuminated by the lights of the city.

He resolved to wait.Although for a few seconds he almost gave up, after all, the possibility of such waiting to have any result is very slim.

But he was still not reconciled.

Even knowing that the chance of winning is close to zero, he still wants to take a gamble.

Even if the stakes are his confidence as a detective.

If you sincerely expect rain, at least bring an umbrella when you go out.

Kudo opened the door and let the cold wind pour into the room.

He sat in front of his house, relying on the crisp air outside to keep his mind clear.

Always, always waiting.

He felt that he had waited for so long that his body temperature was close to that of the cold and hard ground.Maybe it was just for a moment, because everything remained the same as in this silent space.

So when the small footsteps came from a distance, he believed that he must have heard it wrong.

hallucinations.

hallucinations.

But why involuntarily stood up.

It wasn't until the blood-stained boy staggered towards him, recklessly putting all his weight on him, that he felt that the ground under his feet was so solid.

He seemed to have regained his existence at that moment.Time, space, all regained meaning at that moment.

Kudo didn't speak, just felt the weight and temperature of his arms.

He looked at the dead leaves on the boy's messy hair without saying a word.

He felt his own heartbeat, felt the breath of another person in the air.

Ahhh, really alive.

Alive.

【No call】

When Kudo went back to the house to search for bandages and wound medicine needed for dressing, the boy sat quietly in the living room.

Until now, Kudo has no real sense that this is actually happening.

what am i doingHe felt like he was sleepwalking, or he was still immersed in ideals at all.However, the cold touch of the medicine bottle in his hand reminded him that this was reality.

He looked towards the living room, where the boy was just sitting there as a matter of course.

Even after experiencing such exhaustion and torture, the teenager sitting in the living room still looked around with interest, with a clear sense of observation.

The searching eyes are not receiving new information, but comparing.

Obviously, this is not his first time here.

Although Kudo still couldn't remember the details about the detective team, he didn't intend to force recall.

What has happened, even if you don't go to retrieve the memory, it's all there.Even if the memory does not remain, some traces must not be erased.

He returned to the living room with the medicine and bandages and began to clean the boy's wound.His movements are very slow, as if the other party is a fleeting wind.

At this moment, he was sitting quietly in front of him at the mercy of himself, but that strange thief.

In this way, is it caught?

Kudo suppressed this joking thought in his heart, but the corner of his mouth couldn't help but want to leak a smile.

As stated in the newsletter, the wound is not deep, not to the extent that it can affect the action.In this kind of place, the strange thief was telling the truth.

When Kudo finished cleaning the wound and wrapped the bandages around the boy's shoulders layer by layer, the boy frowned in pain.There are no unnecessary words, after all, it is a pain that ordinary people can bear.

Thin, but not thin.Some traces of training, but still the outline of a boy.

Just an ordinary high school student.

For a moment, Kudo didn't know whether he should continue the bandaging.

The boy's casually raised hair ends overlapped with the child in his memory, and Kudo knew that this was him.

What had happened in the past few years to cause such a drastic change in their positions towards each other?

Kudo didn't intend to ask questions.

If you want to know the answer, just find it in your own way.

After the dressing was completed, under the guidance of Kudo, the boy borrowed the bathroom of Kudo's house to take care of himself.

With the sound of water splashing, Kudo waited patiently outside the door with the prepared towels and a change of clothes.

In fact, he could have let go of what he was doing and rested for a while, but he didn't.For some reason, waiting made him feel at ease, as if he couldn't confirm the existence of the other party without doing so.

The dirty and messy Phantom Thief equipment was just piled up in the clothes basket by the bathroom door, including the monocle that was coveted by countless police officers and detectives.Kudo selectively ignored the metal object, and tidied up the pile of white cloth whose original color could not be seen.

There were damages in many places, and the shoulders were stained with a lot of blood that was difficult to wash off.

Probably no longer available.

The transpiring fog made the air in the room humid, and Kudo wanted to remind the other party to pay attention to the injury.