When Shinichi rang the doorbell of the Kurobas, Kaito opened it immediately and laughed at him. "You were right again, great detective again. The old stories about Die Diebische Elster fill the newspapers. And have been for days!"
The detective smiled slightly. “That was to be expected!” But his expression quickly turned serious again. "Unfortunately this hype has had an extremely cruel effect!"
Kaito Kuroba noticed immediately that Shinichi was not in the mood for jokes. He knew the expression on his face. At the moment he was less his friend than the talented detective. He waved to him. "Come in and let's talk!" he got serious immediately.
Shinichi nodded, followed his friend into the living room and sat down. "Is your mother at home?" he wanted to know.
The government thief nodded. "Yes! Wait! I'll go get her! 2 he replied, leaving the living room to return shortly afterwards with the one I was looking for. She also knew after a look in the detective's face that something was wrong."She nodded to him.
"Talk! What happened?"
The detective took a deep breath. "Do you know a man named Ayato Kawomoto?"
Hibarue thought for a moment, going through her memory so as not to give a wrong answer, but then she shook her head. "No! The name doesn't mean anything to me!"
Shinichi looked at her seriously. "Are you sure?"
"Certainly!" she nodded. "What's up with that name?" she wanted to know.
"This man claims that the Thieving Magpie killed his wife and her unborn child 20 years ago!" he explained.
Hibarue Kuroba looked at him in horror. “What?” The bewilderment on her face convinced Shinichi more than any even the most elaborate speech would have done. “I'm supposed to have killed someone?” She gave him a big look. "I don't know anything about that! When should that have happened?"
On the one hand, the young detective was relieved. He had been very reluctant to suspect his friend's mother, who he knew was a well-known thief.He was already quite sure. She wasn't able to commit a murder at all. On the other hand, that didn't change the fact that Ayato Kawomoto believed what he said. And that he had put 20 children and two teachers in mortal danger in order to get hold of the Thieving Magpie. His mind wandered briefly, but now he answered her question.
"We don't know for sure. It's also not as if this man filed a complaint against you!"
Kaito interfered. "But what did he do then? Why are you coming here and telling us this? You wouldn't come without a serious reason!"
His friend nodded. "You are right, Kaito. The reason is very serious. Ayato Kawomoto has broken into a kindergarten. According to his own statements, he has a bomb with a time fuse with him and threatens to blow himself up and everyone present if the killer of his wife and his unborn child does not come to him! ""No!" Kaito groaned. "He can't do that!"
His mother was completely shocked. It took her a moment to process what she had heard, but she was used to recovering quickly and then briefly summarized what had happened.
"So this man believes that I killed his wife and now that I have reappeared, he wants revenge on me!"
Shinichi nodded seriously. "Yes! And in order to achieve his goal, he is also ready to kill completely innocent children!"
"But that's absurd!" Kaito exclaimed angrily. "He is accusing my mother of murder and is ready to kill for it. It can't be quite tight!"
Hibarue put a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"I assume so anyway. A normal person would have filed a complaint, not today but back then, when the murder was allegedly carried out. But discussing it is now of no use!" "You came to ask me if I am ready to surrender myself to this guy to save the kids!"The detective reluctantly agreed. "Yes!" he whispered. "I don't like it, but that's exactly why I'm here!"
She smiled sadly. "The answer is yes!"
Kaito looked at her angrily. "How can you do that? I need you, you can't risk your life so easily. What if he does something to you?"
His mother shrugged. "Kaito! Now listen carefully to me. I'm sure I didn't commit murder then and I've never heard the name. But if I don't stop this man from murdering these innocent children today, I'll feel guilty forever of not having prevented it, if he really does. And I don't want to live with that! "She smirked. "Besides, I'm sure you would do the same thing. Be honest with yourself!"
Her son bowed his head in defeat. He knew she was right. "But I tell you one thing, mother! I won't let you go alone, I'll definitely come with you!"Hibarue wanted to fend off at first, but then she thought better of it. She nodded hesitantly. "But you brighten up on my instructions. You do exactly what I tell you!" She looked at him seriously. "Do you understand? Otherwise I'll put you to sleep and I'll go alone!"
He didn't like it, but nodded in agreement. "All right! You're the boss, mum!"
She looked at Shinichi. "Shall we come with you at once?"
"No!" the detective shook his head. "Inspector Megure will first talk to the parents of the affected children and only then pass the whole thing on to the press. Nobody should find out that I know where you can be reached. So only get on the way when a call is broadcast on television that the Diebische Elster should report! "He looked sadly. "I hope everything turns out well, but I'm scared!"
"Me too!" she admitted. "But that is not important now!"
Shinichi said goodbye and quickly left the house. He had the feeling to have spoken to someone sentenced to death.***

After the televised call, repeated every few minutes, Inspector Megure could only wait. His only hope was that Diebische Magpie would even hear the search for her and then be ready to come. He had promised her safe conduct, but what good would that do her if she was to surrender herself to a murderer? He paced restlessly up and down. He hated being condemned to do nothing. So an hour passed that seemed to him to last a whole day. Inspector Nakamori and Shinichi Kudo wandered around with him. They didn't seem to fare any better than himself.
Suddenly there was a bright glow that dazzled everyone. When they could see again, a woman in a dark coat, a lady's hat on her head and a mask that covered her entire face was standing in the middle. She took a few steps. The policemen standing around backed away and let them through. She stopped right in front of Inspector Megure and looked him in the face."Is it about the life of the children?" she wanted to know in an expressive voice.
"Yes!" Megure nodded. He looked at her carefully, but no emotion could be seen through the mask. "May I ask you something?"
She already suspected what was coming, but nodded slightly anyway.
"Are you The Diebische Magpie 20 years ago or a copycat?" came exactly what she expected. "Please don't get me wrong. I wouldn't ask this question if it wasn't so important!"
She laughed out loud. "I know! And normally I wouldn't answer them either, but the life of these children there is more important than this little bit of the truth about my existence!" She took a deep breath before continuing. "But it's true! I'm the original! And that's exactly why I'm so irritated, because I can't remember ever having committed a murder!"
The inspector nodded slowly. "I went through all the files on you and came across countless thefts, but you haven't even hurt anyone.Apart from that, these things from 20 years ago are statute-barred for a long time and in the meantime it has also become known that you didn't steal the pearl last week, but Kaito Kid. So you are actually an innocent citizen and we cannot force you to risk your life for these children! "
She waved it off. "You couldn't have done it any other way, but that's not the point. You don't have to force me. Nobody is more innocent than these children and they are in danger because of me. Only because I came back did this unknown man think of them as." To take hostage. It doesn't matter whether I was guilty or innocent at the time. You don't need to say anything else. I couldn't go on living with the knowledge that you were harmed because of me! "
Inspector Megure breathed a sigh of relief. The woman in front of him had sounded very calm and confident. "But you know that we cannot guarantee your safety.You will be accompanied by a policeman, the blackmailer agreed, but he will only be able to bring the children and the carers to safety! "
Diebische Magpie laughed in amusement. "That would also be the first time that the police wanted to protect me!"
Inspector Nakamori interfered. "Yes! We would do that if it were possible!"
She waved it off. "Which policeman will come with me?" she wanted to know.
At that moment a voice spoke from the side. "I will be that!"
Everyone turned around in astonishment, because no one had yet been assigned to it. A policeman stepped up to her and the thieving magpie laughed softly to herself.
"No matter how good you dress up, I always recognize you, Kaito Kid!"
All the policemen looked in amazement at the man who had stepped forward. Was that supposed to be the Kaito Kid? They were unsure, but the person addressed grinned. "I know! I've never been able to deceive you!" He turned to Inspector Megure. Let me go inside.In a sense, I feel guilty about what happened. After all, I was the other part in the magic duel that came about! "
He glanced at Shinichi Kudo and Inspector Nakamori. Both nodded in confirmation. "I think the idea is not a bad one!" even the old enemy Kaito Kids grumbled. "If anything, he's the only one who can keep up with her. I agree!"
"Yes!" Shinichi also agreed. "Let the Kaito Kid go with her. If it is at all possible, the two of them can most likely do something together against this type of bomb!"
"Okay!" nodded Inspector Megure, who was in charge of this operation. "But don't take any chances as long as the hostages' lives are in danger!"
Diebische Magpie