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Lightreaper
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"Buzz, buzz, buzz..."
The heavy sound of an iron gate being pushed open echoed in the warehouse.
Inside, the scene was already quite dilapidated. Various kinds of debris were scattered everywhere, with scraps of paper, advertisements, and other garbage littering the floor. The walls made of corrugated iron were covered in rust.
In the dim light, a blue bus slowly made its way towards the warehouse.
Under the illumination of the bus's headlights, a brand-new silver bus could be seen parked there quietly.
Once the bus entered the warehouse, it quickly stopped next to the silver bus.
"Get off quickly and board this bus!"
Yellow Hair was the first to get off, leading the others while the long-haired man dressed as a clown accompanied them, heading towards the silver bus.
"Hurry up and take your seats!"
Muffled sobbing could be heard inside the bus, making Yellow Hair somewhat impatient. He pushed the sluggish Ryōsuke onto the bus. Conan took advantage of this opportunity created by Ryōsuke and quickly scanned the surrounding environment.
Once everyone was on the bus, Yellow Hair finally breathed a sigh of relief and said, "That was close. We were almost caught because of the danger signal lights. Fortunately, it was a false alarm."
Shortly after the bus started, it was intercepted by two patrol officers. They even suspected something because the curtains were drawn, so they peered inside the bus.
Luckily, the man in black remained calm. Faced with this unexpected situation, he simply said that the child had fallen asleep after a tiring day at the amusement park, so they turned off the lights and closed the curtains.
This explanation covered both turning off the lights and the situation inside the bus, stopping the police officer from investigating further.
"Alright, get on the bus quickly," the long-haired man said to Yellow Hair. "Keep an eye on them. I'll take care of the driver."
After saying that, the long-haired man, holding a gun, pulled the trembling and begging driver to the back of a white van.
After a moment, the silver bus slowly started and drove off in an unknown direction.
....
"A total of eight children were kidnapped, and we believe that the teacher in-charge, Kamishima Yūko, should be with the children."
"In the parking lot of the children's club, we found bloodstains belonging to the driver, Tabata Fusao, as well as many footprints suspected to be left by the criminals."
"In addition, a blue minibus involved in this case was stopped near Nibhana 13th Avenue due to a violation of traffic rules related to a Stop signal. The person who interacted with the police officer at the time was a man in his forties with short hair."
"Among the eight kidnapped children, apart from Conan and his group who were invited today, the families of the other four children are quite wealthy. So, we cannot rule out the possibility that this kidnapping is a criminal act aimed at extorting a large ransom."
"Furthermore, although it has not been fully confirmed yet, there is a high possibility that the son of the head of the Osaka Prefectural Police Headquarters, Hattori Heiji, was subdued by the culprits after suspecting them."
After Senichi notified Officer Megure and the others, they immediately convened a meeting based on the information at hand. A large number of personnel launched an extensive search operation after obtaining the case information from the meeting.
As for the Crime Investigation Division Three, under Senichi's leadership, they returned to the opera house.
After investigating the theater, the members of Division Three gathered together to summarize the overall situation of the opera house.
"Whether the clown entered the theater through the cargo entrance or slipped in from backstage, it should be impossible," Officer Takagi said to his colleagues while holding a small notebook, sharing the information they had previously gathered.
"The security personnel are responsible for verifying the identities of all entering and exiting personnel and carefully checking the entrances and exits," Officer Sato reported, furrowing her brows. "This is troublesome. We can't find any traces of the culprit entering or exiting."
"No, quite the opposite," Senichi said with a faint smile after hearing the results of their investigation. "It might actually be a great help."
"Huh? What do you mean?" Officer Takagi asked, puzzled. "Senichi, did you find any clues?"
"Of course."
As Senichi walked towards the theater manager who was being questioned, he explained, "Just as you investigated, if all the other passages are strictly guarded, the clown can only enter through the main entrance. And to enter through the main entrance, they would need to buy a ticket as an audience member."
"Are you saying that the culprit may have left fingerprints?" Officer Sato's eyes lit up at the suggestion and then looked at the theater manager nearby, asking, "How many guests were there today?"
"Due to the opera being a big hit, all 1,314 seats for tonight's performance have been sold out," the middle-aged manager immediately responded.
Upon hearing this, Officer Sato and Officer Takagi's faces fell.
"So, you're saying we have to collect fingerprints from 1,300 tickets? Don't joke around, that's impossible. Toshiro-san would kill us," Takagi said in a hopeless tone after hearing the manager's words.
"No, no, no. There's actually an easier way," Senichi said, shaking his finger. Then he turned to the manager and asked, "May I ask if all 1,314 guests who were supposed to attend the opera tonight actually arrived here?"
"No, eighteen guests didn't come for various reasons," the female staff member in uniform replied. "As a guide, I need to escort the latecomers to their designated seats."
"Bingo! Now it's much easier for us. We don't have to investigate all the ticket stubs to see which eighteen guests didn't show up," Senichi snapped his fingers and then looked at the guide in front of him. "Could you please inform us about these eighteen seats?"
"I see. Now the suspects are narrowed down to just eighteen people," Takagi realized.
"Not only that, but we can even directly pinpoint the culprit's seat," Officer Sato quickly understood Senichi's train of thought, her eyes brightening. "These eighteen people are all guests who didn't show up. If one of their ticket stubs is here, it proves that they came to the theater but didn't watch the opera. That person is likely the culprit!"
"What are we waiting for then? Let's put all the ticket stubs back and screen each one!" Takagi immediately obtained a large evidence bag from the forensics department and, together with Officer Sato, started collecting the ticket stubs, preparing to gather a team to search for the ticket stub that belonged to the culprit.
"I'll leave this to you. I'll go check the area where the bus was parked," Senichi said, giving a nod. If Hattori Heiji had indeed discovered something, he would be prepared and wouldn't be easily subdued without any resistance.
And if the two of them had engaged in a struggle, there might be some traces left at the scene, or perhaps it was intentional evidence left by Hattori Heiji.
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