Mouri Ran saw the crowd of onlookers packed into the corner of the hall, as well as a figure among them who was trying to hide but still stood out conspicuously.
Against the curtain of rain outside the window, that tall figure in a knit cap gradually gave her a powerful sense of déjà vu.
A foreign alley drizzling with rain flashed through Mouri Ran's mind once more. She froze, feeling as though a memory was vaguely about to surface... but just then, someone hurried over and grabbed her.
"Ran, Ran, are you okay?!"
Suzuki Sonoko worriedly shook Mouri Ran, then turned to Yokomizo in dissatisfaction. "Do you even know how to solve a case?! Ran is practically fainting from anger because of you."
Mouri Ran had not been angered much, but Sonoko's shaking made her even dizzier.
Yet by sheer coincidence, the memories she had once forgotten seemed to have burst through a floodgate, and more images emerged.
—She remembered a beautiful woman with an elegant bearing, holding up a black umbrella that hid her face; a young man who resembled the knit-capped man before her, except he had waist-length hair and an angry expression... and Kudo Shinichi, getting soaked in the rain while striking a cool pose, his mouth opening and closing as if he were speaking.
"What on earth is he muttering about?" Mouri Ran had a powerful urge to grab Kudo Shinichi by the collar and shake him hard until he explained himself. "Speak louder, I can't hear you!"
"What do you mean, you can't hear him? Are you hallucinating?" Suzuki Sonoko grew even more worried. She pulled over a chair from nearby. "Sit down and rest first. I'll get you some hot water."
As she spoke, she pressed Mouri Ran onto the chair and turned