Self-defense! This is pure self-defense!

Inside the shuttle pod, Vernon and Frank exchanged a glance. Whoever was down there certainly knew what he was doing.

“Captain... what do you think?” Frank asked.

The message sent by Renya Karasuma had stated that the case in his possession contained all the technology he had originally acquired, along with everything derived from it over the past century.

Moreover, he was willing to continue extracting energy from the world, so long as someone could keep him alive. Taking the blame was nothing to him.

Vernon rubbed his chin. “The authorization for an offensive strike has been unlocked. But how are we supposed to write the report afterward?”

Frank began to laugh. He understood exactly what Vernon meant.

Their captain had impeccable technical skills and nerves of steel, but he was still a little lacking when it came to this sort of maneuver. Frank, however, was familiar with such things. He could handle it.

Back when he had worked as an agent, he had done countless things far more outrageous than what they were about to do.

“Ahem...”

Frank cleared his throat, then pitched his voice higher and thinner, making himself sound frantic.

“The object in the other party’s possession may be a guidance device for an orbital weapon! The electromagnetic waves have already converged on—”

“I agree!”

Fina interrupted him before he could finish. She had understood in an instant what Frank was trying to do.

As expected, even the sweetest-looking people had a dark side underneath.

The people beside Fina heard the exchange over the voice channel and breathed a sigh of relief.

A justification for attacking? Excellent! That meant they were rejecting Renya Karasuma’s surrender!

No, no, this was not a justification. It was the truth!

Renya Karasuma was terrifying. He actually possessed a weapon like that!

Bzzzzt...

At the shuttle pod’s auxiliary weapon port, energy began to gather, and a magic array started to take shape.

Whoosh!

A thick beam shot out and struck Renya Karasuma, who was standing with both hands raised.

To be precise, the moment it came within a certain distance of him, the high-energy reaction reduced him to ashes.

The entire building vanished from the world immediately afterward.

Fortunately, most countries had already cut off the majority of the signals originating from Renya Karasuma. Otherwise, the incident would have caused mass unrest across the planet.

“Ahem.”

Fina coughed twice. Once again, she confirmed that the two men aboard the shuttle pod were far more reckless than she was—and far more ruthless, too.

Really, her teacher should not have been warning her. Those two were the ones who needed a lecture.

“Self-defense! This was self-defense!”

Fina repeated the words twice. Their voice communications were being recorded as well, and once they returned, all the data would be uploaded to the central system.

“That’s right! It was self-defense!” Rei Furuya was the first to echo her.

Whether an attack that reduced someone to dust could truly be considered self-defense did not matter. From this day forward, it was.

Every country would add a special interpretation to its self-defense laws.

After all, an extraterrestrial who at least appeared to follow—or needed to follow—the law was certainly preferable to one who acted without restraint and did whatever it pleased.

There was not a single person on Earth who could have evaded that attack just now. Most would not even have been able to detect it in advance.

Renya Karasuma had appeared and died in less than a minute. Vernon and the others had acted so quickly that they had frightened everyone.

After Rei Furuya, the other people with permission to speak hurriedly voiced their agreement as well.

From this day onward, even if the highest power in heaven itself came down to object, no one could claim that this had not been self-defense. They could even bring in the entire legal team from the American Simpson case to defend Renya Karasuma, and it would not make the slightest difference.

With Karasuma reduced to ashes, Vernon and the others had completed their task. Everything else could be left to the countries on Earth that were already in the know.

After all, Ouroboros did not recommend interfering in the internal affairs of other worlds.

Naturally, several energy-extraction arrays that had already been established remained on Vernon and his companions’ protection list. These people would also have to continue running about to keep the timeline stable.

Destruction was simple. But once the person responsible for the destruction was dead, things did not restore themselves automatically. Everything had to be repaired bit by bit.

The following day, when America ordered Japan to hand over all its special materials, Japan shook its head at its father for the first time.

Renya Karasuma was Japanese, and his power base had been concentrated there, which was why Japan possessed the greatest number of secret bases—so many that everyone else was green with envy.

After all, these were materials that could be traded with extraterrestrials. Whether they were kept for research or used directly in transactions, their value was impossible to imagine.

Just as America was preparing to teach its disobedient child a lesson, the Bear and the Rabbit on the other side of the planet suddenly began conducting joint naval exercises. Japan, for the first time, did not blindly echo America’s every word, but instead issued a statement expressing a clear position on the exercises.

At the same time, the Americans stationed in Japan discovered that their status as the country’s father was no longer as useful as it once had been.

The reason behind all these bizarre developments was quite simple.

America wanted everything from Japan. The Bear and the Rabbit, however, were willing to leave Japan at least a little something. On top of that, the appearance of extraterrestrials had shattered the existing global balance.

And because no one understood the extraterrestrials, no one on Earth would take the initiative to launch a large-scale war in the short term.

So Japan decided to become a rebellious child.

None of this mattered to Ai Haibara, who was quietly staying at home. It had little to do with her.

After the Black Organization was destroyed, she could finally sleep peacefully.

“See? I told you the decision I made back then was the right one...”

“I never said your decision was wrong.”

Two familiar voices reached Ai Haibara’s ears. When she opened her eyes, she saw her parents standing before her, smiling.

“Dad... Mom...”

Ai Haibara reached out, but the moment her hand closed around empty air, the scene vanished.

After staring wistfully for several seconds, she looked toward the corner of the room.

There, Akemi Miyano’s soul was curled up in a ball. They had talked for too long that morning, and she was now resting.

“How wonderful.”

Ai Haibara lay back, pulled the blanket up to her chest, and drifted into a sweet sleep.

She no longer had to serve a criminal organization or live in constant fear. Even if the antidote was never successfully developed, growing up again would not take very long. And her sister was still living beside her, albeit in another form.

Meanwhile, at the nearby Mouri Detective Agency, a chase was underway.

“You little brat! You actually shrank yourself to get close to Ran! You’re dead today!”

Kogoro Mouri pointed at Conan with an expression suggesting he intended to cut the boy into pieces.

“Uncle Kogoro...”

“You still have the nerve to call me uncle?!”

“Then... father-in-law?”

“...You little bastard! Die!”

Kogoro Mouri leaped into the air and pounced on Conan like a tiger.

Conan looked toward the only person who could save him, silently hoping she would do something.

Ran Mouri, however, stood to one side with her face blazing red, her mind filled entirely with the words father-in-law.