The Phantom Thief of Heart! But Conan.

Suzuki Sonoko was referring, of course, to the pile of things Hondo Eisuke had been holding earlier.

The numerous paper airplanes that flew out yesterday and the day before have made it onto the news due to their inexplicable nature, and many people are discussing the matter.

"Mr. Subaru, are you also interested in this? Speaking of which, I have a paper airplane here too..."

Taking advantage of the situation, Sonoko Suzuki, who had started calling out names, pulled out a paper airplane from her commuter bag that was similar to the one Eisuke Hondo had brought over.

These paper airplanes that suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the past two days have numbered over a hundred, based on media interviews and collections alone. Of course, they were also found at the Suzuki family's home, which owns more than one property in the city.

Sonoko Suzuki carries it with her, mainly for fun. After all, it's a hot topic right now, and it's always interesting to be able to participate.

“It has the same pattern as several of the paper airplanes here.” Taking it from her, Subaru Okiya examined it carefully before handing it to Eisuke Hondo as well. “Eisuke, take this and take a look.”

Hondo Eisuke dared not refuse, and could only accept the things with a stern face.

Well, Shuichi Akai didn't collect these things because he was interested in the news; rather, it was because his keen intelligence sense kicked in and he detected the scent of intelligence in these mysterious paper airplanes.

Shuichi Akai, who was actively working as an instructor, thought this topic was a good choice and that it would be more effective than simply teaching cryptography in a dry manner. So he assigned it to Eisuke Hondo as a final assignment for the course.

Just checking various news portals, personally collecting and visiting information, and marking out the landing area for the paper airplanes had already taken up a lot of Hondo Eisuke's energy. He had just returned to the Kudo residence with the materials and hadn't even had a chance to begin interpreting and explaining them yet...

"I've checked it a bit. The newspapers used for folding paper airplanes have a wide time span, the earliest being two months old and the most recent being this month's newspaper. They're not always from a single newspaper; they include three or four different daily newspapers. However, after organizing the contents, I can confirm that none of these newspapers have the same date."

Hondo Eisuke flipped Suzuki Sonoko's new paper airplane over, revealing the pattern drawn underneath.

“Yes, this is valuable information.” Akai Shuichi nodded, temporarily acknowledging his statement.

This suggests that the paper airplanes were likely made in someone's residence, as the newspapers appear to have been purchased and collected by an individual.

"Then, I counted the areas where the paper airplanes appeared, and it seems they were thrown from high-rise apartments. Without a certain height, the person throwing them would have to run around and scatter them everywhere to achieve this distribution, so that no one would miss their presence..."

Have you calculated their distribution?

"Yes, I've made my choice..."

"Wait, wait!" Completely out of sync, Sonoko Suzuki quickly raised her hand to stop them. "What are you two talking about? Have you figured out the meaning behind these paper airplanes?"

Currently, the general consensus regarding this news is that it's a prank.

If the person who threw it had a clear purpose, it wouldn't have escalated to this point without anyone claiming it.

There are also speculations that it might be some kind of unconventional brand promotion program. It's not uncommon for public attention to be used for brand and commercial marketing, and this is not unusual in this highly commercialized city.

However, Subaru Okiya and Eisuke Hondo have clearly skipped over the part about interpreting the purpose of paper airplanes and are now studying the situation of paper airplanes, searching for their origins...

"Isn't it obvious at a glance?" Hondo Eisuke pushed up his glasses. "It's an SOS, a distress message!"

"what?"

Sonoko Suzuki and Ran Mouri looked at each other in bewilderment.

How could you tell at a glance? Are you not allowed to live in Tokyo now if you can't use a few deductive reasoning skills?

However, Conan, who arrived quickly, proved this point once again.

“Just turn it over and you’ll see that this isn’t some meaningless pattern. It’s Morse code.”

Conan, who also picked up a paper airplane, spun it around, looked at the large black dots on the paper airplane's wings that resembled butterfly spots, and blurted out without thinking.

"Hey, you guys, have you even considered our feelings? At least say something! And what are you doing here, kid..." Sonoko Suzuki tapped the paper airplane on the table in protest.

“Look at this.” Conan unfolded a paper airplane, pointed to the dots and lines on it, and said, “They are all the same size and evenly spaced. This is not a meaningless doodle. This is the most well-known spelling of Morse code, SOS.”

Three dots, three horizontal lines, three dots – anyone familiar with Morse code will generally know that this is a distress signal that can save lives in certain unpredictable and critical moments.

Therefore, it can be basically confirmed that the person throwing the paper airplane was probably not just throwing it randomly out of boredom; they might be using this method to call for help.

"I don't understand." Ran Mouri rested her chin on her hand and asked in confusion, "These circles and dots were drawn by hand, right? So if this person had a newspaper, a pen, and could throw a paper airplane, why would he draw Morse code on the airplane? Couldn't he just write a distress message?"

Of course, we cannot completely rule out the possibility that the person's hands are bound and they cannot write—although judging from the standard circles and straight lines on the paper airplane, this is unlikely—but even if you were to draw with your toes, wouldn't you just draw the three letters SOS in this situation?

Why is it that three letters are more difficult to draw than nine symbols?

"...I don't know." Conan, who was about to begin deciphering the mystery, paused. "Uh, maybe someone's watching him, so he can't just write things down?"

"He can throw paper airplanes downstairs, over a hundred of them... What kind of surveillance is this? It's so lax..." Sonoko Suzuki couldn't help but complain, "Is the monitor an idiot? Doesn't he realize something's wrong?"

The need for help indicates that the person may be in danger or trapped somewhere.

When it's time to call for help, they're still acting like riddle-makers. It's probably their own fault they can't survive, right?

“Even if it’s just a prank, since the mystery exists, we should solve it properly.” Shuichi Akai waved his hand with a smile, changing the subject. “I also felt that his plea for help wasn’t very serious, so I left it to Eisuke to use his brain.”

“These SOS planes are from the batch from the day before yesterday, but the ones dropped yesterday are a bit different.” Hondo Eisuke sighed resignedly, pointing to another batch that had been sorted out, “These are easier to understand.”

Ran Mouri picked one up as instructed, and this time she could see a complete symbol without having to take it apart.

An icon resembling an antenna signal, and five horizontal lines on a broken line.

“Five horizontal lines in Morse code represent the number 0,” explained Eisuke Hondo. “Combined with this icon, the person might be saying, ‘There is no signal where I am.’”

“Yes, that’s another reason why we deduced that this person might be in a high-rise building.” Shuichi Akai nodded. “In a big city like Tokyo, it’s hard to be without a signal. If we had to say, it would be high-rise buildings, because of population density and the coverage of signal base stations, the signal would be much worse than on the ground. If there is absolutely no signal, we would have to consider buildings with more than 30 floors.”

“The paper airplanes started appearing the day before yesterday, and today is the third day. If this person isn't playing a prank, he's probably out of ammo by now.” Conan agreed with their assessment. “We must find him as soon as possible.”

Although this convoluted and bizarre method of seeking help is perplexing, and it's hard to say what exactly could possibly lead to the imprisoned person writing down their address and request for help being discovered, yet still managing to throw out over a hundred paper airplanes, what if?

You can't gamble with someone's life. They're joking. Even people with mental disabilities have the right to live.

"Unless a new paper airplane appears today, we'll have to rely on calculations and observations to select targets." Hondo Eisuke shook the map he had drawn and sketched, and said helplessly, "I'm trying my best to do this."

"You must have had a tough time."

"There's no way around it. Buildings over 30 stories high, spanning so many days, that height would seriously affect the variance of the distribution..."

"No, I think it would be more effective to check the weather station's information to confirm the wind conditions for the next few days."

"Can weather stations find such accurate change data?"

"Yes, there are websites where you can check. Mr. Okiya definitely knows..."

The two stopped talking when they realized there were two girls present who were completely unaware of the situation, and both looked at Shuichi Akai.

As a top-notch sniper working on the front lines, no one knows better than Shuichi Akai how to figure out the wind conditions in a place.

"For these kinds of problems, we usually conduct on-site investigations during our work," Shuichi Akai said frankly.

He certainly knows how to check wind speed and direction changes, but since he's assigning homework to newcomers, he can't proactively provide too much information.

not to mention……

Shuichi Akai glanced at Ran Mouri and Sonoko Suzuki, then remained silent.

Completely out of touch with the conversation, Sonoko Suzuki and Ran Mouri stared blankly left and right. Perhaps sensing the invisible pressure, they stood up at the same time.

"Um, I'm going to the convenience store to buy something to eat." Ran Mouri pointed towards the door. "It's almost lunchtime, right?"

“Uh, right, I also want to go buy some water…” Sonoko Suzuki hurriedly followed.

Being around these three bespectacled guys always made me feel inexplicably out of place, like I couldn't fit in.

The two of them went out hand in hand in a subtly unspoken atmosphere.

"How strange, those guys." After leaving the mansion, Sonoko Suzuki, who could finally speak freely, spoke up. "Didn't Hondou say that he was studying under Subaru-sensei? Why is he doing this kind of 'extracurricular activity'?"

While this might indeed train thinking skills, the project is rather strange.

"Well..." Ran Mouri, sensing something was amiss, gave a dry laugh.

Shinichi's situation is very special, and Subaru Okiya's situation must also be very special to have gained his approval to stay at his house.

With such a special person saying he wants to teach Hondo Eisuke, the training program can't be anything ordinary.

Could it be some kind of dangerous intelligence job? Did she come to stay with Shinichi to protect herself from those who might try to harm him? Ran Mouri wondered worriedly.

"Could it be..." Sonoko Suzuki stroked her chin, a thoughtful expression on her face.

Sensing the topic was getting a bit risky, Ran Mouri blinked quickly, trying to change the subject: "Uh, actually, I think they..."

"Could it be that they're training Hondo-kun to be a detective?" Sonoko Suzuki slapped her palm. "What do you think? If that mystery fanatic's house has any value as a training ground, is this all they have?"

Shinichi Kudo is a famous high school detective, while his father, Yusaku Kudo, although known as a mystery novelist, actually entered the field of criminal investigation earlier than Shinichi.

The Kudo family's study is filled with books. According to Shinichi Kudo, including materials collected by his father, local chronicles, magazines, and newspapers, the total number may be in the tens of thousands. If they really wanted to, they could compile a whole set of detective training materials from there.

Ran Mouri, who had the words stuck in her throat, took a breath and immediately nodded: "...Ah, you're right."

To be honest, Sonoko Suzuki's "reasoning" makes a lot of sense; strictly speaking, it's quite similar to Shinichi's current job.

"That deduction fanatic really knows how to seize any opportunity," Sonoko Suzuki scoffed. "Luckily, he won't be back for a while, otherwise, it seems like he might have dragged someone like Tang Ze over to be a detective too..."

Well, that's hard to say.

Recalling Hondo Eisuke's repeated mentions of his search for his missing sister, Ran Mouri's thoughts began to wander.

It's possible that Shinichi didn't instigate Hondo to do anything at all, but rather, like in Karasawa's case, Hondo himself has been drawn into this major case, and rather than passively responding to the changing situation, he might as well proactively prepare...

Didn't Tang Ze also have a deeper exchange with Shinichi because of this, and develop a strong relationship of mutual trust? He kept it from me for so long, but Tang Ze only knew the truth two or three days after he transferred here.

Ran Mouri, feeling inexplicably annoyed, joined Sonoko Suzuki in criticizing Shinichi Kudo, and then took Sonoko's arm and walked into the convenience store on the corner.

Even though I made up an excuse to leave, I couldn't go back empty-handed; I still had to put on a show.

The automatic door of the convenience store opened, and Sonoko Suzuki had just stepped into the store when she bumped into someone, narrowly avoiding hitting him headfirst in the chest.

"Ah—sorry, sorry—" Sonoko Suzuki, who almost perfectly replicated Eisuke Hondo, hurriedly spoke first. She looked up, but her eyes suddenly lit up. "Hey, it's you, Amamiya-kun! What a coincidence! Are you out shopping?"

Ran Mouri, who pulled her back to prevent her from bumping into someone, couldn't help but twitch her lips when she heard her exaggerated emphasis.

No, they live on this street. It's not really a coincidence. Compared to the people who live here, you're the one who came here...

Sigh, Sonoko's flirting skills have deteriorated further since Kyogoku came along. I wonder if that's a good thing...