By the time Ranran was stuck in traffic mid way, her smartphone rang three times in as many minutes.

First came in Emiko, who reported in with her news, then, Shinichi and Takuma informed her about the man in the alley.

It was the third call that spurred her into action.

"Kudo Ranran! I think it's time we had a talk I'm coming down to headquarters in school, at 7am tomorrow morning..."

And boy oh boy, it was evident the sergeant sounded angry. After Ranran texted to everyone, much less a exhausted Michio and the two other girls who abruptly left, it was evident that in Shinichi's message he was not happy one bit.

His first-ever stakeout has turned out disastrous thanks to unforeseen events is one thing, but Takuma having not silenced his phone made it all so ever beyond maddening. He could've blamed the athlete, but then again, Ranran making that phone call to the athlete was what led to the failure of the stakeout alone.

He can't blame his mentor for this, no, cause she had no idea about Takuma's mistake. And yet...

"I can't believe this," Shinichi sighs deeply in disappointment the following day, "The first stakeout I ever planned smoothly, and it went in all sorts of directions!"

"There is always a first time, Kudokun." Ranran pets his shoulder comfortingly.

"That shouldn't be an excuse! I worked for you for a month!" Shinichi laments as Junko was the first to arrive. "What's happened?" She asked Ranran, "Why is it in our group message I read that Genzo wants to meet all of us out of the blue today?!"

Before Ranran could answer, Ran walked in with Michio behind her.

Initially, Ranran noticed that Junko turned away quickly from Ran. After that argument, she felt like she didn't truly know Mouri Ran at all.

But if there is one thing is that Mouri Ran confronts her problems head one. So she went straight over to her. For once, she wore a plain white tee shirt instead of her usual overalls, which made Ranran and Shinichi shared a curious glance with Michio before their eyes could turn to the two girls.

"Fuyuko, I don't judge a person based on appearance. And I am sorry on trying to force you to do something you don't like. But the reason I said that is because..." she whispered so the other three observing them couldn't hear, "I am just sick and tired that I lack the things Ranran has, you know? I just...if we at least have some of Ranran's beauty and talent, even for us as wallflowers...that could score us a win against someone like her..."

Junko's eyes misted with tears as Ran gave her а tissue. When their hands met, Junko didn't let go. "If I were, to be honest...I'm sorry, too, Ran," she sobbed. "I didn't mean to say all those things. But I too am...sick and tired of Ranran's manipulation."

Shinichi then nudged Michio, "What's with those two?"

"No clue," He shrugged. "Must be girl stuff as always."

No sooner had Emiko and Takuma arrived than Sergeant Genzo strode in from the shop. His grey-flecked hair had even more gray in it since the last time they'd seen him, and his face was set with a determined expression. Suddenly he caught sight of Emiko's sketch on the wall.

"On, you've met Werner?" he asked curiously. Everyone stared at him.

"Wait, you know him?" gasped Ranran.

"He is a wanted criminal, right?"Shinichi asked the sergeant. "A German criminal?"

"One that beat up that old man who was knocked off his bicycle last night," Emiko added. "He tried to kidnap him the other day at the mall!"

"And he told us to forget what we'd seen," confided Junko and Michio voiced out.

"I'm not surprised he said that," Sergeant Genzo chuckled as he lowered himself into a chair. He folded his arms behind his head and leaned back. "That is his job as Inspector from Germany after all."

Everyone's eyes boggled. "So the entire time what we had witnessed...was a cop arresting that drunk guy!?"Suddenly Michio turned red. "Sorry Sergeant Genzo," he swallowed, "You meant that he is genuinely a policeman?"

"Yes, children," Sergeant Genzo nodded, "And a very important one who is sent out here by Interpol."

Junko's jaw dropped. "Interpol!?" She'd read a lot about Interpol, the international police organization that worked with other police forces around the world.

"He's working on a big case,'' Sergeant Genzo went on, " Trying to track down a stolen jewel."

"The King of Rubies right?" Ran blurted out.

"How the hell did you know about that?" Sergeant Genzo demanded, sitting bolt upright in his chair.

"Because that's the case we're working on!" Takuma told him

Shinichi's eyes lit up. "So in other words, two days ago on a late evening, the real reason we saw him hanging around in the alley behind the gallery....was it to do his own stakeout!?"

"You finally got it right, boy." Sergeant Genzo drummed on his fingers the table. "So you're the kids Werner saw last night," he mused, "I might have known."

"But I don't get it," Michio protested. "If he's a German police inspector, why did he beat up that old man at the shopping mall?"

"And if he's a cop, why did he get the doctor to lie to Ranran and Shinichi?" Takuma asked.

"And why is the victim working at the Gallery?" Emiko wanted to know. "Isn't he part of the gang that wants to steal the ruby?"

Sergeant Genzo raised a hand for silence. "One at a time."

"I am assuming the doctor lied under police orders, since this is an undercover investigation, am I wrong?" Ranran guessed as she look straight into Genzo in the eye.

"Undercover investigation?!" Shinichi turned to Ranran in confusion, and so did the others.

"For some suspects, their awareness level is so high, let alone their ability to exploit the law is beyond talent, it's difficult to pin charges under the law by police officers. So the only solution is an undercover investigation, sending one of the law enforcement as one of their gang members, then infiltrating everything, including their shady plans." Ranran sighed while massaging her nose bridge.

"You are quite right, Ranran. And let's begin with the old man, the 'victim' who was knocked," he began. "The one you thought Werner attempted to kidnap..., well, he is in an undisclosed hospital, but he's recovering quickly. Why was he at the gallery you all asked? He was working undercover. Like Werner, he is also a policeman, also part of the investigation. His real name is Kagawa Masumi, he had experience studying in India under a student exchange program, which is why we later assigned him to poss as a worker at the Gallery after a disgruntled customer who felt scammed by the gallery tipped us off."

"So let me get this straight," Ranran groaned even further while struggling to digest all of the news, "The German man who was seen trying to drag him away....did he lie to Michio and Junko just so they remain undercover?"

"Yes and no," The sergeant shook his head "Someone had tried to shoot Kagawa Masumi that day, so Werner tried to drag him away to safety, that's all. Then they took him to the doctor, and the rest is history. And yes, he agreed to keep things silent. "

Takuma jumped up, "But if both our crooks are really cops, we don't have a case!" he shouted in despair.

Sergeant Genzo shot him a warning look, "We have a case, you all don't.'' Then he grinned. "I got to admit though, you all have done some very good detective work as usual, but now there's nothing more you have to do."

"Wait, one more question," Ranran raised her hand before asking, "The gallery owner, is he involved in this undercover sting?" she probed, brushing hair from her forehead.

"Oh yeah! We thought he might be going to switch a fake for the real ruby," explained Shinichi.

"Just like the white tiger case?" Sergeant Genzo raised an eyebrow, "No, this is very different. He is our suspect, making false claims about having the ruby over for his exhibition. And even if he wants to, he will never be able to get near the Rajah's Ruby, either to steal it or switch it, and I will tell you guys why," he told them. "The real one is permanently sealed in a glass box and only the owner has the key. And the owner lives in Switzerland. And he has his own security men watching over it, 24/7. So there is no way that Mr Enomoto, or anyone else for that matter, can even get near it, let alone tamper with the box, or even get permission to have the ruby over because the owner said no."

Sergeant Genzo looked at the circle of disappointed faces and rose to his feet

"So that's it," he announced. "We'll keep an eye on things from now on.' He hesitated for a moment."Meanwhile, the victim would like to thank you personally for helping him, Emiko.'' He jotted down his hospital address on a piece of paper, "You should call by and see him when you can."

When the door closed behind him, silence filled the room.

After a while, Shinichi got to his feet. "Looks like we've hit a dead end, so much of the fact that we wasted so much time on the stakeout." he shrugged.

"Also the fact that we don't have a case," groaned Michio. "And it was going so well..."

"I'm glad it's over in one way, "Junko polished her glasses "Cause let's be real here, whoever attempted to shoot Mr Kagawa Masumi wouldn't hesitate to shoot us."

"Big mistake," Everyone stared at the calculative Kudo Ranran, who cross both her hands in a thinking pose, "Genzo made a slip of a tongue earlier, which means the case is still back on."

"Eh?! A mistake?!" Everyone began to turn to the mysterious smile forming on Ranran's face, while Ran then probed, "What do you mean, Ranran?"

"This was a word for word," With a sly smile, Ranran fished out her smartphone for everyone to see, then replayed the audio recording that revealed the conversation between Genzo and Tantei Association. "Gather around, you are about to witness something fishy in his statement."

As Shinichi and the rest of the children surrounded Ranran, the audio played out:

Genzo: "I'm not surprised he said that, that is his job as Inspector from Germany after all."

Michio: "So the entire time what we had witnessed...was a cop arresting that drunk guy!? Sorry Sergeant Genzo. You meant that he is genuinely a policeman?"

"Yes, children, and a very important one who is sent out here by Interpol."

"Interpol!?"

"He's working on a big case,'' Sergeant Genzo went on, " Trying to track down a stolen jewel."

"The King of Rubies right?" Ran blurted out.

"How the hell did you know about that?"

Ranran paused, at first, the others didn't get it. But then Shinichi's eyes grew as big as saucers, he was about to voice it out in excitement, until Ranran stopped him by raising her hand. "Why shouldn't I say it-"

"I want to test their brains first, everyone," Ranran demanded from them, "Can you hear what is the problem with this statement?"

Once more, Ranran knew they had no idea. Expressions ranged from perplexed to confusion all over their faces. If a gallery ever opens up, all of their faces are better suited as paintings for customers to observe and admire.

Snickering at that thought, Ranran ordered Shinichi to reveal the flaw in this audio recording, which he was more than happy to. As soon as he does, he played out the selected cue:

Genzo: "And even if he wants to, he will never be able to get near the Rajah's Ruby, either to steal it or switch it, and I will tell you guys why. The real one is permanently sealed in a glass box and only the owner has the key. And the owner lives in Switzerland. And he has his own security men watching over it, 24/7. So there is no way that Mr Enomoto, or anyone else for that matter, can even get near it, let alone tamper with the box, or even get permission to have the ruby over because the owner said no."

Only then did Takuma gasp, "Wait, if the King of Rubies ain't stolen, why did he let slip earlier that the German cop was trying to trace a stolen jewel!?"

Everyone else soon followed Takuma's expression as Ranran broke into a grin. "Precisely the point." After retrieving her smartphone back from Shinichi, she announced, "Genzo said the real King of Rubies will never be stolen. If that is truly the case, what jewel is it that the german officer is looking into resorted him to even lie to Michio and Junko about their undercover jobs?"

"In other words, Genzo could've been lying!?" Michio was still in shock over the recording as others rush over to take their seats.

"Or saying anything just so us children won't get involved," Shinichi chuckled, as his interest rose more towards this case. "Now I am curious to know who is this man Genzo mentioned earlier, the Switzerland guy who allegedly owned the ruby. If the ruby is genuinely missing, it would explain the accident incident that took place onto Kagawa Masumi who was run over."

"Why not we go straight to the source to look for answers then? By paying Kagawa Masumi a visit after school?" Emiko smiled as she fingered the slip of paper that Sergeant Genzo had given her, "Although I won't expect him to share out anything now that we know he is an undercover officer, his options on trusting anyone are limited besides us, no?" She got up and beckoned the others, "Let's see what we can find out."

Takuma jumped up. "I'll come with you."

"So will I," agreed Ran and Junko, before the spectacle girl turned to Michio, "Are you coming, Michio?"

"Sorry, no," Michio snatched up his rondesu bag as he looked away, "After the Astrology meeting, I have a lot of things to do after class."

"Oh yeah, you did mention it in the group chat," Shinichi recalled then turned to his mentor, "What about you, Ranran?"

"I...have things to settle too." Ranran gave Michio a distrustful look while he thought no one was watching."

"Alright, if that is the case, everyone," Shinichi announced to the others, "So Emiko will be in charge of paying a visit to that officer, we will meet back at Michio's place after class."

As the others went over to fish out their backpacks before heading to their respective class, Micho could only look forward to his next date with that Adeline girl and can't wait for school to end.

.....

After school ended, everyone minus Michio gathered as all of them briefed over their plans before parting ways.

While the rest of the members left before waving to Michio's mother and hurrying through the hallway, Shinichi kept observing Ranran from his seat while he was completing files on the Ipad as Ranran watched them leave through their one-way window, in deep thought.

Sensing something amiss, she turned to Shinichi, "Why aren't you joining the rest of them to pay the cop a visit? I thought you said you are joining them."

"I was going to." He self-admitted, before being decided he had to know. "What...were you doing at Beikai mall the other day during the stakeout?"

Detecting the suspicion in his tone, Ranran answered, "I went to buy groceries from Aeon for mother-"

"Is that all?"

What is with him? "Is there something you want to ask about, then ask? Don't beat around the bush."

Shinichi was someone who gets easily intrigued by a person's motive behind any crime committed. He likes to get to know a person, and if he gets it right, it gives him the thrill. Out of all the things that give him such satisfaction, Sherlock Holmes was the only character he can never get tired of. As for Irene Adler, she is only a character that appeared one time to screw Sherlock Holmes over and that is about it.

Kudo Ranran however was a different kind. He admits, had he not known Ranran was The Fox, she could've been obscure out of his mind of sight and never could've guessed that she is working as a detective for the past year, manipulating everything behind the scenes to her advantage.

That's right, including the fact that she contacted Takuma and ruined his stakeout.

Now to anyone, it was a mere coincidence. However, during briefing roughly an hour before they departed on the night of the said stakeout at the HQ when everyone had gathered, he made sure to double check everyone's smartphone is set to mute, otherwise, expect severe punishments from him. Even as they arrived there, just as they were setting up the boxes to sit down and view, he triple-checked and confirmed Takuma's phone was set to silent.

So he couldn't understand why it despise this, his phone rang when Ranran made the call.

But then he recalled Takuma once having told stories of Ranran's pranks, one of them where she set her Ringtone ID on his phone to 'Oops I did it Again' by Britney Spears whenever he failed in one of his Football matches. It was a bug that came with his phone, and only she knew about it to continue pranking him. Supposedly this was a calculated move to sabotage Shinichi's stakeout, and the grocery errand for her mother was a sham, that changes everything.

Which also meant Mamiko's words rang true all along.

Shinichi didn't need to think twice about her motive, that she held grudges against him for calling her a 'bastard'. However, it's too soon to jump conclusions.

Having cleared his mind for a bit, he confronted, "You never take your own sweet time to buy groceries, it bores you to death. Also, it's unlike you to send someone as inexperienced as me to do the stakeout."

"So it's time why you suspect me of setting you up for failure?" Ranran replied coldly to him, who was wondering what she is going to do next. Much to his surprise, she neither deny or admit it, "You are half wrong."

"Eh? Half?!" He blinked.

"Half," She repeated as she let on, "I did buy groceries, but after all of that, I was spying on someone."

Ok, this was not the answer he was expecting. For a moment, Shinichi had so many questions to ask. As if she knew what he was expecting, she answered, "Michio's girlfriend. She was with him, eating at a fancy restaurant called Osteria, under the same mall I was shopping for groceries that night."

And with that, his brain almost blew to bits. "Wha-" Speechless, utterly speechless. At the same time, with the many questions that came with the answer she dropped on him, the first one that came out was, "Girlfriend!?" He mouthed.

As expected, Shinichi is feeling rather disturbed by this. Ranran couldn't help but think.

But anyone would, after all, this is Majima Michio, a hard worker who will never skip work for anything, even if it happens to be a beautiful girl. He was someone who feared the presence of girls who are unusually beautiful his age, so for Ranran to say he has a girlfriend now was a huge shock to the apprentice.

"And no, it ain't Junko."

Yeah, maybe Ranran should shut up at this rate, sensing her apprentice's mouth is so wide open, that if she tears a paper from a notebook and wraps it into a ball, she would have no issue securing a score while she tosses it into Shinichi's mouth.

Upon closing the Ipad, he told her to give him a minute to possess this piece of info. For 2 minutes he couldn't find the right words. She then continued, "He was out of her league, far out."

"H-how far out are you thinking?"

"Exceptionally elegant, pretty and cute. Even at first glance, she screams to me that she is a wealthy, high-class girl. The kind that will never glance back at a begging homeless peasant on the street, let alone, an average boy like Michio."

"As in your level?" He pointed out.

"Very so."

"Jesus...I need a drink." Shinichi took the jar on the table to pour himself a glass of water before drinking it like a thirsty hippo, after that, putting aside the glass before deciding he needed to know more. "How did they both meet?"

And so, Ranran shared everything with Shinichi about her suspicions and all of that. The CCTV, the lies over which school she comes from, even the way she approached Michio.

"Now that you mention it...." Shinichi rubbed his chin, "You do have a point. But...." he frowned at Ranran, "Ain't that his personal private life? We have no right to pry, you know?"

"True, but I felt like I had to look into it because of the wrong timing."

"Wrong timing?"

"I mean we are working on the King of rubies case right now, how can I not worry she might be a spy?" His eyes widened a little while Ranran rambled on, "We've just been working on this case for a couple of days only, not to mention, had a previous history of a break-in during our first major case. Doesn't it feel like a coincidence when all of this ruby case is going on, Michio happens to be score a beautiful and rich little girl out of the blue like that?"

Suddenly, Ranran couldn't continue with her words as she spots a familiar figure watching a familiar figure enter shop from the shadows, entering in.

"Speaking of the devil..."She was directing him with her finger at the girl across them through the 1-way window."See that!? That was the girl I was telling you about!"

"What!? She is here!?"It was Shinichi's turn to be surprised at her witness account before the two ended up running up to the said window to take a peek at her.

She was wearing sunglasses, but there was no disguising her exquisite face. Ranran and Shinichi peered across at her from behind a rack of handbags, as their Tantei association's one-way window is placed behind the rack. Was she the reason Michio hadn't gone with the others?

Both of them waited, but there was no sign of Michio. And the longer they both waited, the more curious both of them became.

"I better pull the curtains."Ranran's hand reach for the curtain puller.

"Ranran, don't, "Shinichi warn her, shaking his head.

"But Shinichi, she is going to-"

"Be quiet."

The girl walks up close to the 'mirror', which happens to be the Tantei association window. She peered at it closely, as if she knew this was a window instead of a mirror.

"It is odd, for her to look at their shop like that. How queer."Ranran spoke in suspicion as they observed, "Is she....trying to spy on Tantei association?"

"Now I am bothered, how is it that she knew where Tantei association is located? I definitely didn't remember any of us telling where our HQ is, let alone, mentioning anything about the one way window. Cold Michio have told her about it?"Shinichi pointed out.

Although Shinichi did tell Emiko to design them a website to show potential clients where their HQ is located, their webpage is still in the works due to Emiko's lack of skills in online design, so for anyone to know of their location is odd in general. The only way to know of it is if one handed them their business cards who is designed by Emiko, but every member were briefed to not simply give it out like a pamphlet or advertisement flyer, cause that would be plain rude.

"Could Michio have told her? Cause if he did, he just violated one of the association rules." Shinichi became more uneasy over this situation.

"Not possible to my knowledge, since their first date, he had not mention where the location was. He didn't even mention the HQ we had at our school," Ranran frowned in annoyance."I don't know about this,Shinichi, but I really has a bad feeling about her."

Whatever it was, Ranran could feel her detective instincts towards her wasn't good. Something about that girl reeks bad vibes, the same kind of vibes Ranran was used to dealing with the horrible children of Edgewood Academy, one that never hesitated to do the worst of the worst to get what they want.

Even Shinichi too could feel it, as he was considering all of the situation between Michio and this Adeline girl seems very odd. And he hates it when he doesn't get to the bottom of this.

An idea lit up in Ranran's head,"We are going to follow her."

"Eh?!"

"We need to know who this girl is!"She made a quick decision, as she grabbed Shinichi's hand and he followed her where she is heading through their bookshelf backdoor.

Both Kudos stepped out from their hiding place and crossed the road in front of her, both walked right past the mysterious girl and took closer look at her face.The girl didn't even notice then.She was checking her watch. Just as the two were about to go passed her, she stepped out of the shadows and hailed a taxi.

This was their chance to do some detective work of their own.

"Where to?" asked the taxi driver

Shinichi pointed to the girl's taxi that was pulling away from the curb as Ranran sat from the back seat."Just follow that cab," he replied."Our friend's in it and she's forgotten her bag."

Much to her surprise, the other taxi was heading toward the warehouse district. The buildings became older and shabbier, the streets crowded with lorries and vans, the back lanes lost in gloomy shadows. Both Kudos could see the girl framed in the rear window of the taxi. She was talking to the driver and showing him where to stop.

"Why do you think that this girl lied to Michio, Ranran? In your opinion?" Shinichi questioned his mentor, the two were quietly observing the girl's actions.

"Personally...I could be wrong, but maybe she got bored."

"Bored?!" Shinichi whipped his head at her,"Why would one do something that devious in the name of boredom?! By coming up with such lie to dupe a boy from an average family?"

"You would be surprise, Shinichi. There are psychos out there in this world who is willing to resort to this because it is fun. Ah," Ranran suddenly recalled something, "Maybe she is doing it just to be showered with attention."

"Hah?! Attention?!" It didn't make for him, if she badly wanted attention, she didn't had to go as far as to go for someone like Majima Michio.

"When I was about 3.....there was this boy I know of. He was blessed with looks so cute and with talent on being charming, he starred in many many hit movies and had a string of girls going after him at school."

"Eh...."Shinichi wonders where she was heading with this.

"Everyday without fail, there was never a day that goes by where she gained countless of kids who would admire him. He would receive gifts like chocolates, sweets, candies (imported ones, mind you), even flowers. Expensive ones....never once she missed a day getting all the attention and pampering, including the boys. If he comes up to a kid and ask to eat the cake they were planning to have, they will give it to him without hesitation. If he sees one playing video game on their console and demanded they let him play, no problem. Hell, if he ask someone to pay for something in school, he didn't hesitate to grab the money from the wallet."

"How old is...this boy you were speaking of?"

"I think he was around 7 years old at that time,"She ponders as she went on,"Every girl he ever dated in school, he want it, he got it."

Shinichi's eyes grew wide,"How is that possible? You are talking as if he was a Prince Charming from a fairy tale!"

"Even the one who had no interest him, he was able to get them. I always found it odd how it was possible, till one day, his ex was the one who contacted mentor-san for our service, was acting very odd and aggressive after they broke up. Requesting to find evidence on her behalf that her former best friend stole him away from her, very defensive of him despite his actions proving otherwise."

"Oh snap." Shinichi couldn't help but cringed, girl drama, the most unreasonable dilemma all boys in their avoided, because reasoning isn't possible to resolve it.

That's why he severe the ties between Ran and Sonoko in the first place to end up becoming Ranran's apprentice. Although Ranran's antics tend to be difficult to deal with, there is always a motive behind her actions. And his brain has all the time in the world to figure her out.

"One of his tactics is to act the ideal type of personality those girls expect in a person, as each of those girl he targets are actually daughters of powerful families. Some of them run a popular chocolate company, flower company, candy company etc, you name it: it had to be something that satisfy his personal greed. And the more I dig...the more I realize the truth: Her former bestfriend wasn't the one who stole him, it was he himself who intentionally sow discord by playing false hopes for them both. He gave them so many false sweet promises...that is why my client turned out the way she did: they were all brainwashed by him."

With bullets sweating out of his forehead upon hearing her profiling, Shinichi was faced with the dreaded question. "Then...in your opinion, do you think Majima Michio is...brainwashed?"

He did not want to hear this harsh fact, for he has no clue where he and Ranran are going to go should this happen. He and her just settled on having this office outside their school, and their association business is booming. Plus, he is finally getting recognition as a talented detective child rather than his good looks. Where are they gonna go if Michio ends up turning against them upon being swayed by a beautiful girl?

He had no one to ask that question, while the taxi swung into the curb.

.......

When Adeline dropped out of the taxi, that's when Shinichi instructed their driver to stop.

By the time Shinichi paid the fare and got out, the girl was hurrying ahead of her down the street."Ranran, follow from afar. Make sure she ain't alert with our presence."

"Got it, Shinichi. Let's go."

So both founder and apprentice followed her in discretion, keeping a safe distance between them. However, there was a drop dead moment when the girl looked over her shoulder, Shinichi had enough time to drag Ranran and push her to hide them both behind a parked van. After walking half block, the girl abruptly turned into a laneway and vanished from sight.

Shinichi cautiously approached the corner as he and Ranran flattened against the wall of a warehouse and peered around the edge of the building. A few meters beyond a metal fire escape, a long black car was parked in the laneway. The girl was striding quickly toward it .As she drew closer to the car, a man stepped out.

He wore a suit, with a green reptile-skin mask stretched over his face. The girl ran up and hugged him, calling him "Father" in English.

That was when Ranran felt the blood freeze in her veins. Shinichi, who initially couldn't get a good view, reposition himself, leading both children's eyes widened in terror.

They knew only one man who wore a mask like that, let alone, had such unusual accent. The master criminal only known as THE SNAKE!

THE SNAKE... the vicious criminal who had sworn to get revenge on their Tantei Association, their private investigation club both Ranran and Shinichi worked hard to sustain, also the same man who murdered Ranran's mentor...they are somehow involved in this.

Suddenly, all of the past turmoil Ranran thought she locked away in the back of mine years ago...came back to remind her the pain of the injustice inflicted on her.

Even until now...that bloody man is still using children to do his bidding!

With both her hands trembling with pure seething rage, Ranran was about to head over there to beat the living crap out of the girl who called him 'father'. "Hey-!"

But all of that was silenced with a hand covering her anger with the hands of her apprentice, before the apprentice desperately hailed a taxi to quickly flee from the situation, dragging the furious mentor away before any confrontation could take place.

By the time father and daughter turned their heads at the curb to check out who was causing that noise, both tantei association founder Ranran and apprentice Shinichi were no where to be found.