Stay away from Conan.

"Nursery rhymes?"

Just as Conan finished speaking, they overheard Eisuke Hondo responding to Ran's words. They then noticed that Conan seemed to have a reaction to this, so Ai and Ran simultaneously asked Conan and Eisuke Hondo the same question.

In response to Ran's question, Hondou Eisuke scratched the back of his head, looking slightly naive and a little embarrassed, and replied:

"It's... a nursery rhyme called 'Seven Children.' I definitely hadn't heard this nursery rhyme before, but after hearing it, it just felt so familiar..."

Thus, after Hondou Eisuke uttered the name "Seven Children," Ran couldn't help but smile slightly and said:
"Oh, you mean 'Seven Children'? That's a very popular nursery rhyme... But I feel like I haven't heard anyone sing it for quite a few years."

Ran briefly recalled the book "Seven Children" that Hondo Eisuke had mentioned, and then said:

"Let me think... I remember, it should be sung like this—"

"Crow, why do you sing? Because on that high mountain, seven of her most beloved children are waiting for her to come home..."

So, Ran sang a short aria, and then, a little embarrassed, said to Hondou Eisuke:

"Oh dear... I can't remember the rest of the song either. It's been quite a while since I sang it... Maybe it's been too long for you too, so you've forgotten and only have a vague sense of familiarity left..."

At that very moment, after Ran sang a short melody of the nursery rhyme, Ai, who was asking Conan a question, also heard the melody Ran sang and her expression changed instantly—

After all, Ai was very familiar with this melody. It was the tune of a nursery rhyme. When she was in the organization, she used to send emails to the person in charge of the organization. The sound of the keys when she typed the email address on her phone was the same tune as the nursery rhyme.

At this point, Ai Haibara finally understood why Conan's expression had changed so much since he returned from the restroom. After all, given the few emails she had exchanged with Vermouth the previous night, Ai Haibara was fairly certain that there were organized individuals who had infiltrated the Metropolitan Police Department.

So if Conan and Eisuke Hondo hear the keystrokes of an email that sounded like it was being sent to the organization's boss, it means they've almost certainly run into the organization's member lurking in the Metropolitan Police Department!

Given this situation, even if Conan doesn't know the specific details, he can probably already guess that someone from the organization has infiltrated the Metropolitan Police Department.

Ai Haibara looked at Conan with a serious expression and asked:

"Is it possible..."

"I can't be sure..."

Faced with Ai's question, Conan understood that she had already guessed the specific situation from Hondo Eisuke's words. Therefore, Conan felt indignant, but he couldn't show it here. He gritted his teeth and finally uttered these words:

"But, I'm afraid that's just how it is..."

—An organized group has infiltrated the Metropolitan Police Department, likely through a disguise involving Vermouth, switching out someone else to achieve the infiltration. And one thing is certain: Hondo Eisuke, whom we initially thought might not have much connection to the organization, is now… If Hondo Eisuke also heard the keystrokes of the email address sent to the organization's boss, it means he must have had contact with an organization member qualified to send emails to the boss. Therefore…

What exactly is going on? What is Hondo Eisuke's true identity? Did he come to the Metropolitan Police Department for some other purpose, or does he actually know something?
Hopefully, Hattori's side can get some results from the investigation soon...

But compared to that, what's more concerning right now is the matter of the organization's members within the Metropolitan Police Department—

If there is a suspect, who was the person who came out of the toilet at the time, then who did that person replace?

At the time, besides Officer Matsumoto, who was already working for the Metropolitan Police Department, there were only a few other officers who were not from Tokyo. And coincidentally, apart from Officer Yamamura from Gunma Prefecture, he didn't know the other two…

So, the organization took advantage of the Metropolitan Police Department's joint operation with multiple prefectures to infiltrate its members within the department. Just how did this happen...?

What is it about this incident that has attracted the organization's attention?
Therefore, upon realizing this, Conan naturally understood that the key to the problem might still lie in the meeting that Uncle Mori and the others were attending. He needed to find out exactly what had happened that made the organization even send someone to infiltrate the meeting to investigate the case. After all, no matter what, once their identities were exposed, it would be very difficult to handle the subsequent situation...

Conan, trying to calm himself down, remembered the bug he had left on Kogoro Mouri. Now he was ready to listen carefully to this case discussion meeting, which brought together police officers from all over the country and even invited Uncle Mouri and Mr. Akechi, to see what kind of incident they were discussing.

Ai noticed Conan adjusting the temple of his glasses and realized that he was using the listening device on the temple to listen to some information. Considering Conan's usual behavior, it's likely that he left the listening device on Detective Mouri to listen to the Metropolitan Police Department's internal meeting.

Ai's expression turned quite serious upon hearing this.

After all, based on what we know, the members of this organization may not have come solely for this new incident; at least in last night's incident, there were suspected members of the organization acting on the scene.

Given Vermouth's attitude, she doesn't seem to care about the safety of this organization member who infiltrated the Metropolitan Police Department. Just what is going on...?

At least, Gao Yuan had information that the organization's members were inside the Metropolitan Police Department, so perhaps he would be able to more easily piece together the events, plus...

Turning to look at Hondo Eisuke, who was chatting with Ran, this boy who looked so much like Mizunashi Rena, Takato's attitude towards him, plus the fact that Takato had specially brought him here to the Metropolitan Police Department today, might actually mean that Takato was probably confident about the current situation.

In that case, I'll just trust Gao Yuan...

Of course, if I can do something in return, I want to help him and them...

Suddenly, at that moment, Ai trembled all over, feeling an unprecedentedly powerful yet familiar aura enveloping her from nearby—

This breath...

Gin? (End of Chapter)