The sudden interjection startled them both. They turned their heads in unison and only then noticed that, at some point, a curly-haired man dressed in black and wearing sunglasses had appeared at the other end of the bench.
The man smiled at them. Under Conan and Sekiguchi Yoshio's bewildered gazes, he casually lifted the lid of the Cream Puff Box and took out the gun inside... then suddenly fired behind him.
With a thunderous bang, Conan jumped up from the bench in fright. He spun toward where the muzzle was pointing and saw a police officer in the corridor clutching his chest in disbelief, a large spray of blood bursting from his palm.
Diagonally in front of that honest-looking officer, "Mr. Yamada," dressed in a hospital gown, had his eyes wide open—the Bullet had grazed past him before hitting the officer in the chest. If it had been off by less than half a meter...
Still reeling from the shock, Vodka abruptly clutched his head and dropped flat to the ground.
At the same time, in the hospital lobby.
The gunshot startled everyone else as well. The quick-witted ones snapped back to their senses and, like Vodka, covered their heads and lay prone. The slower ones were still looking around, trying to see who was setting off Firecrackers in a hospital.
"You..." Conan stared at "Mr. Kurosawa" in undisguised shock. He was about to say something when he suddenly saw the man raise his hand again.
Two more bangs rang out, followed by two more splashes of blood.
After firing those three shots, the curly-haired man lightly blew on the muzzle like a cowboy in a television show. Then he looked at the stunned Sekiguchi Yoshio and, like a remarkably patient mentor, smiled as he placed the gun back into