"Wow, they're already thinking about splitting the loot?"
Fujino trailed silently behind the two men.
Their earlier conversation replayed in his mind, leaving him a bit dumbfounded.
He'd figured that when they noticed one of their buddies was missing, they'd freak out or something.
But this? Not a shred of fear.
They were already plotting to divvy up the profits.
"What are they, Zhu Ge reincarnated?" Fujino muttered under his breath, clicking his tongue, his interest waning.
If he didn't give these guys a taste of "how many floors can you carry a sack of rice up" terror, this whole thing would feel kinda boring…
As a sneaky assassin-class veteran, his mission strategy this time was to take them out one by one.
And while he was at it, make them squirm in that "one second your buddy's gone, and who's next?" kind of dread.
Spider PTSD, for sure.
"Looks like we've got a lead on those little brats…"
The long-haired leader suddenly perked up.
He picked up a pair of glasses off the ground, grinning like he'd hit the jackpot.
"Glasses?"
The buzz-cut guy eyed the find, skeptical. "You sure it's a clue from those kids?"
"No doubt about it," Long Hair said confidently. He touched the blood on a nearby rock, smeared it on his finger, and—yup—licked it.
*Hmm, metallic. Tastes like the sea.*
He gave his internal flavor review, then smirked at the tunnel ahead. "The blood's still wet… even warm. Those kids can't have gotten far."
"Guess catching them will be a piece of cake then," Buzz Cut nodded, chiming in.
Before he could say more, Fujino slipped out of the shadows, clapped a hand over his mouth, and jammed a bat-shaped dart into his kidney.
Smooth as silk.
Before Buzz Cut could even process it, Fujino dragged him behind a stalactite without a sound.
"Hm?"
Long Hair turned when he didn't get a reply, only to find Buzz Cut—previously right behind him—gone.
Long Hair: "…"
Where'd my partner go?!
He shot up, swinging his flashlight around wildly.
Nothing. No one.
His buddy had *just* been there.
How'd he vanish without a peep?
Something's off. Way off!
Ever since their other pal disappeared earlier, he'd had a bad feeling.
Now another living, breathing guy was gone—no noise, no trace…
In this pitch-black cave? What the hell?
"Looking for me?"
Fujino flicked on his voice changer, pitching his tone low and raspy.
*Whoosh~*
Right on cue, a cold breeze swept through the cave, humming through the stalactites.
"?!"
Long Hair whipped around, a chill creeping up his neck like someone was breathing on him.
Fear slithered into his gut alongside that icy gust.
Fujino smirked, watching him squirm. With a flick of his wrist, he pulled a creepy ghost mask from his inventory and slapped it onto Buzz Cut's face.
Then he stood, silently dragging Buzz Cut behind Long Hair, and growled through the voice changer, "I'm right behind you…"
With that, he shoved Buzz Cut forward and darted back behind the stalactite.
"Holy—!"
Long Hair spun around just as the ghost face lunged at him.
A stampede of mental alpacas thundered through his brain.
Freaked out, he yanked out his gun and unleashed a wild barrage—American-style quick-draw.
*Bang! Bang! Bang!*
After a few shots, Buzz Cut's hefty frame collapsed onto him.
Blood gushed from the bullet holes.
Long Hair touched the sticky liquid.
Warm…
He froze, then calmed down.
Ghost blood wouldn't be warm, right?
Wait a sec!
This wasn't a ghost—it was a person!
Coming to his senses, he ripped off the mask.
Staring back was Buzz Cut's all-too-familiar face.
Shoving the body off, Long Hair's hands started shaking. "Ah!"
He'd just gunned down his own partner!
Son of a—
More money for him, though!
"￡︵§〓㈱"
From behind the rock, Fujino seized the moment, pulling out the voice changer and cycling through a medley of weird noises—including Buzz Cut's voice.
"Who's messing with me?!"
The sounds closed in from all sides, jabbing at Long Hair's frayed nerves.
Eyes wide, he scanned the dark, but no one was there.
*Flap, flap…*
Suddenly, odd noises echoed from the tunnel behind him.
He turned and saw a shadowy figure with glowing red eyes darting out.
"Ahhh!!!"
*Bang! Bang! Bang!*
Red dots swarmed toward him. Roaring, he fired at them until his clip ran dry.
Buried under a flood of bats, he collapsed, hugging his head and cackling like a madman.
The nonstop shocks had finally snapped his last thread of sanity.
Laughing like a kid.
Straight to the psych ward!
Aoyama Psychiatric Hospital: +1 patient.
"Out of bullets, huh…"
Fujino stepped out from behind the stalactite, wooden sword in hand.
This time, he didn't bother hiding his footsteps.
No point—the guy had nothing left to fight with.
*Tap, tap, tap!*
Rapid footsteps closed in from behind.
Still giggling hysterically, Long Hair turned.
What met his eyes was something black, thick, and big.
A wooden sword!
*Thwack!*
"Ahh!"
A dull thud mixed with a scream.
Clutching his head where the blow landed, Long Hair's bat-bitten, blood-soaked face twisted in agony.
Fujino glanced at the bats flapping away.
He'd noticed them roosting in the tunnel earlier.
Didn't expect them to be *this* cooperative, though—popping out right on cue with the gunfire.
"Five-star assist, bat bros," he thought, giving them a mental thumbs-up. Then he raised the sword again and brought it down hard before Long Hair could look up.
*Thwack!*
"Ahh~ Ahh~"
Screams, maniacal laughter, and muffled thuds echoed through the pitch-black cave.
The bone-chilling shrieks were enough to break hearts and bring tears.
A creepy, eerie vibe hung in the air.
Hearing the mix of wails and cackles, the kids trudging through the tunnel froze, trembling again.
Conan, slung over Genta's back, perked up an ear.
Conan: "…"
What the hell was that noise?
Why did those rhythmic screams sound so familiar?
Wait… Fujino?
Conan mulled it over, then flipped on his detective badge and asked Ai, "Haibara, Fujino didn't come in here too, did he?"
"He did," Ai replied, her tone a little tense. "He put on a bulletproof vest and went in to scout. How's he doing? Is he okay?"
"We heard gunshots earlier… but Fujino's probably fine…"
Conan had a hunch but wasn't sure how to answer.
He just aimed the badge toward the source of the noise.
Ai: "…"
Pretty loud screaming.
But judging by the sound, it didn't seem like Fujino was the one in trouble.
Ai let out a relieved breath.
---
Sure, those screams totally fit Fujino's style.
But after running into those thugs, the group wasn't about to poke their heads out carelessly.
After finishing off Long Hair, Fujino tidied up the scene a bit, activated Eagle Eye, and tracked down Conan and the others.
"Big Brother Fujino, Conan's hurt!"
Ayumi latched onto his leg, sobbing.
"I know," Fujino said, glancing at the panicked kids before heading to Conan, who was leaning against a stalactite. "How you holding up?"
"Huff… huff… Took a bullet to the gut…"
Conan panted, sweat beading on his forehead, lifting his shirt to reveal a blood-soaked abdomen.
"Let me check it out," Fujino said.
Conan lifted his shirt higher.
Fujino shone his light rod on it—a blood-stained bandage stuck to pale skin.
Peeling it off revealed a gory bullet hole, still oozing red.
"Through-and-through… Arterial graze causing bleeding… Kidney's fine," Fujino muttered, assessing it in a glance.
Judging by the entry wound, it was probably from that mushroom-head's gun earlier.
Low stopping power, high penetration—no bullet lodged inside, just a clean shot through.
Good news: no organ damage.
Bad news: the bleeding suggested a grazed abdominal artery.
"So…?"
Conan peeked at the wound. "You know medicine, right? Hurry up and patch me up."
"We need to get you out first," Fujino said, shaking his head. He scooped Conan up. "Can't treat a gunshot without a med kit, and this place is no spot for it anyway."
---
They emerged from the cave as dusk settled in.
Golden light bathed their faces.
"Conan, I'm sorry," Ayumi mumbled, head low, eyes red with tears. "If we hadn't run into the cave on our own, you wouldn't have gotten hurt…"
"It's not your fault!" Mitsuhiko said, glancing at Conan's blood-stained shirt, guilt creeping in. "I'm the one who found this place. You and Conan tried to stop us…"
"No, it's my fault," Genta added, head down. "I'm the one who stumbled on those bodies, so…"
"So you guys get it now?"
Fujino narrowed his eyes at the kids, who actually seemed to realize their mistake.
"Alright, it's not really their fault," Conan wheezed from Fujino's arms, playing peacemaker. "If they hadn't gone in, we wouldn't have cracked this murder case…"
"…"
Fujino looked down at Conan, who was turning into a human blood bag.
So you're saying they should do it again next time?
Bet you egged them on, huh…
Whatever. You're hurt bad—guess I'll let it slide.
"Are you guys okay?!"
A voice called out from nearby.
Fujino looked up to see Dr. Agasa huffing and puffing as he ran over.
"Blood… Fujino, are you hurt?" Ai asked, trailing behind. Her face stayed calm, but her voice betrayed some worry as she noticed the blood on him.
"I'm fine. It's all Conan's," Fujino said, glancing at the stains on his casual clothes.
They hauled Conan back to the campsite nearby.
He was laid out flat on a blanket, the Detective Boys crowding around.
"I've got the med kit," Ai said, bringing it over and eyeing Conan's wound. "Left side, through-and-through. Not sure if it hit any organs."
"No organs hit," Fujino said, taking the kit and pulling on surgical gloves. "But the bleeding suggests an arterial graze. Needs stitching, or he'll go into shock from blood loss."
"Arterial graze?!" the kids yelped in unison.
"Then hurry up and stitch it, Big Brother Fujino!" they urged.
"It's not that simple," Ai said, shooting them a serious look. "Arterial suturing's tricky. With what's in this kit, it's impossible."
"She's right," Fujino nodded. "It's a level-three risk surgery—needs anesthesia and proper gear. Right now, I can only do some emergency patching."
He'd successfully done intestine resection and stitching on a bamboo rat once.
But that—cutting and sewing intestines—was level-two risk territory.
With his medical knowledge buffs, he could handle level-one and -two stuff.
Arterial suturing? Level three. Out of his league.
Force it, and he'd probably kill Conan.
"Huh?"
The kids froze, stunned.
Conan: "…"
Welp, I'm toast.
"Conan!" Ayumi wailed.
"What do we do?!" Mitsuhiko panicked.
"He's not gonna die, right?!" Genta fretted.
"Don't freak out," Fujino said. "It's a grazed artery, but the blood loss isn't crazy yet. He's not dying anytime soon."
"He's not dying?!" the kids gasped, shocked.
Conan: "…"
What, you *want* me to kick the bucket?
Hey, I'm still bleeding here!
Keep freaking out like this, and I'm done for.
"Alright, you guys help me out," Fujino said, pulling an epinephrine shot from the kit and eyeing Conan's butt. "Hold his arms and legs so he doesn't squirm."
"Got it!"
The kids grabbed Conan's limbs in sync.
Conan: "???"
What's this now?
Why do I feel like I'm about to get *treated* to death?
Can I opt out of your help?
*(Chapter End)*