Shuichi Akai: Still as Ruthless as Ever, Bourbon

"I won't be participating."

Facing the small basket extended before him to collect watches, Conan touched the strap on his wrist and waved it off.

Besides being a gadget specially made for him by Professor Agasa, his watch also served as a crucial locator for the Phantom Thief Troupe. In this venue shrouded by the Phantom Thief Troupe's shadow, it gave him an incomparable sense of security.

The banquet organizers had questionable motives, and it was still unclear what they were really after. Handing it over rashly was not a good choice.

"I don't need to either." Ai Haibara shook her head as well, standing beside Conan and quietly watching the members of the Junior Detective Agency take their little flags and walk to the center of the venue.

"Mm-hmm, children, you can step forward a little so we can see clearly when you raise your hands later." Mio Tokiwa smiled as she controlled the proceedings, with no trace of the hysterical state she had been in backstage just minutes ago. "Once the timer starts, we'll press this stopwatch. You may count silently in your heads, then raise your flags when you reach thirty seconds."

The rules were simple, and no one in the room objected.

"Go, Ayumi!"

"Yeah! You counted thirty seconds perfectly before, without even a little error. We're counting on you!"

"Uh, okay..." Ayumi Yoshida hesitantly glanced at Conan and Ai Haibara, who remained off to the side, then looked around helplessly.

She was not actually very good at counting seconds. The reason she had counted thirty seconds so accurately before was that she had discovered her heartbeat rose to one hundred and twenty beats per minute whenever she stood beside Conan. As long as she counted her frantic heartbeats, she could estimate thirty seconds exactly.

But