Chapter 46: Kogoro's Last Request
"Why do they get so much space? We have to squeeze in here!"
"And this is all the food they're giving us? It's not even a mouthful!"
The old woman's shrill complaints cut through the tense quiet of the shelter. Her son and daughter-in-law tried to placate her. "Mom, please, keep your voice down! It's an emergency, everyone's having a hard time."
"They're the ones out there... 'fighting'. They need their rest," the man added, though his own voice was strained.
"Fighting? More like an excuse to be lazy!" the old woman shot back, her voice rising. "If you two hadn't been so slow, we would have gotten a better spot!"
The argument fizzled out into a resentful silence. The couple, defeated, moved to a less crowded spot, leaving the old woman to sulk by herself. Conan watched them, a familiar weariness settling in his heart. In a crisis like this, the smallest cracks in a family could widen into impassable chasms.
Kogoro found a quiet corner and sank to the floor, rubbing his temples. Ran brought him a bottle of water. "Dad, are you okay?"
"I'm fine, honey. Don't worry about me," he said, forcing a smile that didn't reach his tired, pained eyes. He knew the state of his Soul Gem. He knew he didn't have much time left.
After a moment, he seemed to make a decision. He stood up, walked over to Conan, and pulled him into a secluded corner.
"Hey, brat," his voice was uncharacteristically serious. Conan looked up, surprised.
"No," Kogoro corrected himself, his eyes sharp and clear. "I should call you... Shinichi Kudo."
Conan's blood ran cold. He never thought... not now, not like this.
"Uncle Mouri, you..."
"Don't ask me how I know," Kogoro cut him off. "That's not important right now." He placed a heavy hand on Conan's shoulder. "Listen to me, Kudo. My condition... I know what's happening to me." He glanced down at his own chest. "I might not... last much longer. But Ran... and everyone else... I have to protect them. If... if something happens to me..."
His grip tightened. "I'm leaving Ran... in your hands. You have to get her out of here safely. Promise me."
Conan stared at him. He had never seen this Kogoro Mouri before—not the bumbling drunk, not the sleeping genius, but a father, a magical girl facing his own mortality, and a man who, in this final moment, was placing his absolute trust in him.
After a moment of stunned silence, Conan nodded, his own expression grimly determined. "I understand, Uncle Mouri. I promise. I'll protect Ran with my life."
Kogoro gave his shoulder one last, firm squeeze. Just as he turned to go back to Ran, his old flip phone rang, the sound jarring in the oppressive quiet of the shelter. It was Eri.
He stepped away to take the call, his voice rough with exhaustion. "Hello?"
"Kogoro?!" Eri's voice was frantic on the other end. "Are you and Ran okay?! The news... they said Tokyo is..."
"We're fine for now," Kogoro said, cutting her off. "We're in a shelter. Don't come here, Eri. It's too dangerous. The whole city is a warzone. Just stay where you are. Please."
Ran, hearing her mother's name, walked over and took the phone. "Mom? Dad's right. Please, don't come. We're safe, but... we'd be so worried if you were out there. Just take care of yourself, okay?"
After a few more tearful reassurances, Kogoro took the phone back. "We have to go. Take care of yourself, Eri," he said, and hung up. He let out a long, shuddering breath, the weariness in his eyes deepening.
And in that moment of heavy, shared silence...
WEEE-WOOO! WEEE-WOOO!
The shelter's alarms blared to life, bathing the entire space in a flashing, hellish red light.
"What's happening?!" the shelter's commander yelled into his radio.
A military magical girl, her face pale with terror, burst into the makeshift command center. "Report! Massive Organization presence detected to the northeast! They've broken through the third defensive line! They're heading straight for the shelter!"
On the command center's main screen, the life-sign indicators for the magical girls who had been guarding the northeast perimeter had all gone dark. All that was left was static and the last, horrifying images of mangled bodies and shattered Soul Gems.
The commander stared at the screen, his knuckles white. "Dammit... we don't have enough firepower to stop an attack of that magnitude..."
Despair, once again, descended on the last bastion of hope in Tokyo.