Art Is an Explosion! (Please Keep Reading, 4K)

"Any sign of them?"

Nakamori Ginzo stared fixedly at the surveillance monitors.

As the clock struck eleven thirty at night, the phantom thieves would take the Tear of the Queen before midnight.

Over the next half hour, everyone's hearts were in their throats.

"Could you please calm down a little?"

Megure Juzo looked at him helplessly. He had noticed earlier that these three seemed more anxious than the last.

They were only catching a few thieves. Was there any need to make such a big deal out of it?

"Of course there is! They're world-famous thieves!"

Could it be that you're just incompetent?

Megure Juzo grumbled inwardly. This was indeed his first time handling something like this, but in his view, they were merely a few thieves. If he could not catch them, where would he put Megure Juzo's pride?

He had to catch these thieves today.

Still, he did not say that aloud. He might have been confident, but if he failed to catch them later, at least he had left himself some room to retreat.

"Conan, what are you looking at?"

Ran curiously leaned closer to Conan. Seeing him staring intently at the surveillance screen, she followed his gaze.

"I'm wondering how they'll get in!"

Conan looked at Ran with an innocent expression, but he was still pondering how they could possibly enter under these circumstances.

This was his first encounter with phantom thieves. He had heard of them before, but he was still unfamiliar with this sort of thing.

The area was already under lockdown, unauthorized personnel were not allowed inside, and surveillance cameras monitored everything. Any clue would be discovered immediately. How exactly were they supposed to sneak in?

"Haha, don't bother thinking about it, brat! If a little kid like you could figure it out, how could they have been great thieves for so long without being caught? Only the Famous Detective Mori Kogoro can handle this!"

Mori Kogoro laughed smugly. Today would be the day Mori Kogoro became famous!

There'd be a ghost if this muddleheaded detective could catch them!

Conan stared with dead-fish eyes as he mocked him inwardly.

If Mori Kogoro could really catch them, every last one of them would have been arrested by the police long ago.

"Big Sis, we've more or less figured out the situation inside. Should we move?"

Inside the art museum.

Having infiltrated the building long ago and evaded the police search, the Cat's Eye Sisters waited for their chance in a small room.

A small electronic screen displayed the Tear of the Queen, which was under surveillance.

The police were not the only ones who had installed cameras here. The sisters had placed their own in advance as well.

"How are Kaito Kid and Lupin the Third doing?"

Taisuke Rui thought for a moment, then shook her head. "Everyone is watching right now. Whoever acts first will probably fail. Kaito Kid and the others are most likely waiting too. Let's hold on for now."

"She's right. Let's wait and see. It won't belong to whoever gets it first."

Taisuke Hitomi agreed.

"You bastard, don't you dare disappoint me!"

Not far from the museum, inside a high-rise building, a woman held binoculars and stared unblinkingly at the gem inside the museum.

Mine Fujiko had already made up her mind. Once Lupin the Third got his hands on it, she would keep it all for herself!

She had provided all the intelligence about this place. As for betraying Lupin the Third, was that not just second nature to her?

At the same time, Kaito Kid had also made his preparations. Looking at the clock on his wrist, he planned to make his move once his scheduled time arrived.

Until then, he would wait and see.

"Are they still not ready?"

"Are they coming or not? The time's already here!"

In the square.

Quite a few people looked disappointedly at the giant screen. Five minutes had passed, yet the museum remained perfectly peaceful, without the slightest movement. Those who had come to watch a chase between thieves, or between thieves and police, were beginning to get bored.

"What do you think? How about I use a phantom thief girl as inspiration for my next novel?"

Kasumigaoka Utaha tapped her foot unconsciously against the ground and turned to Bai Ye.

"Huh? You want my advice?"

"But didn't Bai Ye-kun always give me advice whenever I wrote novels? Otherwise, how could my books have become known as the most heart-wrenching novels? I really never expected it. A boy like Bai Ye-kun having so many plot ideas... 'I was the first one here. Whether it was kissing, hugging, or falling in love with that guy... for the first time, I found someone I liked, someone who could be my friend for life...'"

A thoughtful glint flashed through Kasumigaoka Utaha's eyes. "Has Bai Ye-kun experienced something like that before?"

"Hmph, that guy even gave me advice on drawing manga. Has he experienced this kind of thing too?"

Eriri cut Kasumigaoka Utaha off indignantly.

Hmph!

Do not think only you two have a bond!

She had one too!

"Tch. Bai Ye-kun, when you think about things like that, who are you imagining? Me? Or Megumi? Or perhaps Sakurajima, or that woman Yukinoshita..." As she spoke, Kasumigaoka Utaha noticed Eriri's murderous gaze and dramatically added, "It couldn't possibly be Eriri, could it?"

"Ah!!! You bastard! What do you mean, 'It couldn't possibly be me'? What's wrong with me?!"

Eriri furiously swung her fists, intending to teach Kasumigaoka Utaha a lesson.

Yet rather comically, her arms seemed a little too short. Once Kasumigaoka Utaha held a hand against her forehead, Eriri's flailing punches looked as though she were striking empty air.

"It's starting."

"Huh? Did Bai Ye-kun say something?"

Katou Megumi, standing right beside Bai Ye, turned to him in confusion. She seemed to have heard him murmur something just now, but she had not caught what he said.

Come to think of it, he had spoken just now, right?

Before Bai Ye could answer, a wave of intense cries erupted around them. "He's appeared!!! He's finally made his move!"

"Won't he get caught? And who is that?"

Unlike the Cat's Eye Sisters, Lupin the Third, and Kaito Kid they knew.

The person who appeared on the giant screen was completely unfamiliar.

"Please forgive my uninvited arrival. I'm not one of the three you were expecting, but I'll be taking the Tear of the Queen tonight."

On the screen, a man wearing an orange spiral mask and an Akatsuki cloak patterned with red clouds on a black background waved at the camera.

He extended a finger and lightly tapped the reinforced glass.

Crack.

The glass instantly shattered, and the Tear of the Queen landed in his hand.

"Big Sis... what do we do?"

"We move!"

Inside the room, Taisuke Ai and Taisuke Hitomi exchanged a look, then prepared to act.

Such a good opportunity would not be missed by those other two either. They could use this unfamiliar man to draw the fire. They had been wondering how to infiltrate the place, but now he had become their shield, making their entry much easier.

"Tell me, where the hell did that guy come from?!"

What?!

Inside the monitoring room, everyone stared dumbfoundedly at the unbelievable scene before them.

The surrounding cameras had clearly not malfunctioned.

How could he have entered without anyone noticing?

"Conan, where are you going?"

"Hurry over there! That man's gone!"

Conan was the first to react. He immediately rushed out of the monitoring room and ran toward the museum hall where the Tear of the Queen had been displayed.

After hearing Conan, everyone else snapped out of it and hurried after him.

When they reached the museum, the man had already vanished, and the Tear of the Queen was gone as well.

"No way..."

Megure Juzo wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. It was just gone?

"Heh, what phantom thief? They're all trash. He stole a fake gem, and he still calls himself a great thief?"

A trace of disdain flashed across the museum director's face.

"It seems... he knew."

Conan retrieved a gemstone from around a corner. A note was attached to it, and this gem was unmistakably the one the orange-masked man had taken earlier.

[Even though I knew it was fake, I still wanted to show everyone that I'm no worse than the other phantom thieves. Also... I've taken the real one!]

Seeing the handwriting on the note, the library director's face instantly darkened, and he hurried toward the basement without stopping.

The moment he received the warning letter, he had put it in the basement.

He had not told anyone!

They rushed all the way to the basement. Seeing the opened door and the final figure fleeing in panic, everyone charged after him. The path led directly to the rooftop.

On the rooftop.

The Cat's Eye Sisters, Lupin the Third, Kaito Kid, and Bai Ye stood in four separate directions.

"Hands up! Surrender peacefully!"

The sudden arrival of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department shattered the stillness.

The rooftop door had been shut. Nakamori Ginzo looked at them smugly. Even if Uranus himself came today, they would not escape.

"Ah, what a pain. You knew this was the rooftop, so why bring the gem up here?"

Kaito Kid looked at Bai Ye with some frustration.

In truth, all five of them knew where the real gem was, but none had acted.

They had initially wanted to take advantage of the chaos Bai Ye created to snatch the gem.

But they had been a step slower than Bai Ye. The moment he took it, they immediately followed him, only to end up on the rooftop.

Fortunately, he could leave by glider.

Was Bai Ye a glider user too?

"Because the stage has already been set. Without an audience, this performance would be a complete failure. Only performance can bring me to my peak."

In the basement, he could have taken the gem and left immediately.

But simply leaving like that felt as though something were missing. He craved attention.

Perhaps because he lived in a peaceful era, what he sought differed from the other Bai Yes. He liked being admired, and he enjoyed those gazes full of reverence.

"A stage? Prison is your stage! You pretentious freaks, I'll tear off your masks one by one!"

Nakamori Ginzo looked as though victory was already in his grasp. Seeing the television station's helicopter broadcasting the scene live from above, he felt immensely proud.

Aoko, watch closely. This time, Dad had finally caught Kaito Kid!

"Everyone wears a mask. That brief joy before the curtain rises... remember me. This is my beginning. I awaken from filth and mud. I am the blazing blue lotus. I am beauty without equal."

Bai Ye murmured softly as a thunderclap rang through the sky.

Bai Ye clapped his hands together and shouted, "Art is an explosion!!"

Boom!!

The clone suddenly exploded, and smoke instantly billowed outward, obscuring everyone's vision.

When the smoke dispersed, Bai Ye was already gone.

In the square, Bai Ye watched the giant screen show everyone's disbelief, even Kaito Kid running to the edge of the building in search of his glider. He lowered his head and stroked the Tear of the Queen in his pocket with his left hand.

"Let's go. It's over."

Bai Ye gave the screen one final glance, then looked at Kasumigaoka Utaha and the other two before turning away.

There was nothing left to watch.

"Hey! I think you'd be perfect as a phantom thief! What if I wrote a romance between a phantom thief and a writing girl, with you as the model?"

Kasumigaoka Utaha hurried after Bai Ye. What she had just seen gave her a sudden burst of inspiration. She would cast Bai Ye as that phantom thief and herself as the writing girl.

Since readers had said her previous novel was too painful, she would use Bai Ye and herself as the basis for a sweet romance this time!

"Bai Ye isn't a phantom thief!"

Eriri retorted. Looking at Bai Ye's back, she muttered under her breath.

Stop trying to get ahead of everyone else!

"Bai Ye-kun would suit it quite well."

Katou Megumi covered her mouth as she smiled. The three quickly caught up to Bai Ye, swiftly taking up positions on either side of him.

"Th-they just ran away?"

"What do we do?"

"Run!"

Taisuke Rui, Taisuke Hitomi, and Taisuke Ai exchanged glances, then all three leaped straight off the building.

Kaito Kid, unwilling to be outdone, ran after them.

This time, he had humiliated himself beyond measure.

He had sent out the calling card, yet not only had he failed to seize the gem, someone else had taken it—and even showed him up before leaving!

"Lupin, don't run!"

"Wouldn't I be an idiot if I didn't?"

Lupin the Third tossed a smoke bomb to the ground, then used his glider to flee with the others.

What a terrible start today!

The Tear of the Queen... if he had gotten it, he would have made a fortune again. Thinking about how that man had taken it, Lupin etched Bai Ye's name into his memory.

Next time, he would definitely get even!

"They all got away?! Huh?"

Megure Juzo turned around blankly. He had personally come out, yet he had failed to catch even one person.

"Inspector Megure, we'll probably be on tomorrow's front page. Every police officer, Kaito Kid, Cat's Eye, and Lupin the Third... we all became that guy's backdrop."

Shirahatori Ninzaburo rubbed his forehead. He had a feeling tomorrow's news would be explosive.