'This guy, what's his deal?!'
Spider glanced at his trembling hands, pain shooting through them. He suddenly felt like his hands weren't quite obeying him.
He didn't think the bokken could cause any real physical damage.
But clearly, he was stunned by the blow.
Fujino gave him no chance to react, raising his bokken and charging forward again.
Seeing this, Spider didn't dare maintain his dismissive attitude.
Just one hit from the bokken had messed him up this badly; what would happen after two more?
He pulled a golden spider thread from somewhere, then dodged aside, evading the strike with unnatural agility.
After dodging, he threw another steel needle at Fujino.
"Clink!"
Fujino brought his bokken down swiftly, striking the steel needle and sending it clattering harmlessly to the ground.
Meanwhile, Kuroba Kaito pulled out his card gun, shot the wire suspending Hakuba Saguru, and then popped the hot air balloon floating above the museum roof.
"So that Spider guy used this method to string me up?"
Hakuba Saguru scrambled up from the rooftop, looking stunned at the two figures engaged in a high-speed battle nearby.
"You're still a bit lacking."
Kaito Kid quipped, a hint of pride in his voice. "Fujino there figured it out even before I did, right when you were being hoisted up."
"Tsk..."
Hakuba Saguru clicked his tongue, then looked towards Fujino, who was still fighting, feeling inexplicably down.
He had been chasing Spider for so long, yet he hadn't managed to push him to the point of continuously using steel needles like Fujino had...
Thinking this, he asked Kaito Kid puzzledly, "Have you always been fighting guys at this level?"
"Alright, alright, just get out of the way."
Kaito Kid pushed Hakuba Saguru aside, then threw a smoke bomb. "I need to go back up that guy. After all, I owe him one."
Facing the surging Fujino, Spider threw another steel needle, then shot out a spider thread, dodging aside before weaving a large golden spider web in front of him.
This time, however, Fujino didn't meet the steel needle head-on.
Instead, he sidestepped, dodged the needle, then kicked off forcefully behind him, launching himself towards Spider at high speed.
The bokken in his hand danced, seeming to stir the very air around him. The spider web blocking his path was completely shredded by the bokken, breaking apart continuously.
This was a variation of the Hiten Mitsurugi-ryu: Kuzuryusen that Fujino suddenly conceived after his swordsmanship had greatly improved.
It was particularly effective against chaotic situations and numerous opponents.
"How dare you provoke me, Kaito Kid, and my troublesome rival with such crude methods... You've got some nerve!"
White cape fluttering, Kuroba Kaito appeared seemingly out of nowhere in mid-air on the stairwell landing. He pointed his card gun at Spider, demanding, "Who are you? Why did you attack us?"
Spider glanced at Fujino, then at Kaito Kid, his brow furrowing.
Kaito Kid was manageable, but the kid with the bokken was exceptionally tricky.
In the current situation, he was clearly at a disadvantage.
"That guy's a professional assassin!"
Hakuba Saguru shouted up from the bottom of the stairwell. "I, Hakuba Saguru, have been chasing him all the way from Europe!"
"An assassin?"
Kuroba Kaito paused upon hearing this.
Fujino also felt things were getting somewhat complicated.
Chasing Kaito Kid and running into an assassin...
"Kaito Kid is upstairs! Everyone move!"
Just then, a cacophony of sounds erupted from the exhibition hall nearby.
Spider glanced down at Kaito Kid's feet. Seeing he was standing on a reinforced glass ceiling and not under some illusion himself, a wicked smile spread across his face. "The enjoyable work has become boring... Look forward to the next stage! Farewell, Kaito Kid!"
Saying this, Spider crossed his hands in front of his three-eyed mask.
With a blinding flash of light and a sharp sound, Spider suddenly appeared high above the stairwell, then, along with a spider web that materialized behind him, distorted and vanished as if sucked into a black hole.
"Chuunibyou, right?"
Fujino watched Spider disappear abruptly, looking utterly speechless.
He realized that whether it was this Spider, Kaito Kid, or even Hakuba Saguru...
They all seemed to be suffering from terminal chuunibyou...
"Kaito Kid!"
Just then, Nakamori Ginzo, leading a large group of police officers, burst onto the rooftop.
Seeing the situation was unfavorable, Kuroba Kaito immediately vanished with a smoke bomb.
"Don't forget, you still owe me one."
Fujino called out towards the spot where Kuroba Kaito disappeared.
"Got it!"
A voice replied from somewhere unseen.
Clearly, that guy hadn't gone far.
Just hidden himself in some ridiculous way.
Honestly, magic, illusions, and the like were really troublesome.
Stairwell.
"So, what's the deal with that Spider?"
Fujino walked down the stairs shoulder-to-shoulder with Hakuba Saguru.
"That guy is a professional assassin skilled in using illusions to kill."
"Illusion assassination?"
Fujino looked at Hakuba Saguru, asking puzzledly.
"Yes, illusions."
Hakuba Saguru nodded. "Though calling it illusion isn't entirely accurate. His 'illusion' should be a combination of magic tricks, hypnotism, and the like... That guy is extremely tricky. If you're not careful, he'll lead you by the nose into illusions based on your subconscious fears."
"The reason I returned to Japan this time was because I received intel that this guy had infiltrated here."
Pausing, Hakuba Saguru seemed to recall something and asked Fujino curiously, "By the way, why does Kaito Kid owe you a favor?"
"We were both caught in the illusion. I broke free first and woke him up with my bokken."
Fujino hefted the bokken still in his hand. "So, he owes me one."
"I see. Spider's illusions are indeed terrifying. Even I almost fell off a cliff because of them once."
Hakuba Saguru stroked his chin, nodding in empathetic agreement.
"But speaking of which, if that guy is a world-renowned professional assassin..."
Fujino paused, asking Hakuba Saguru, "He won't retaliate against me, will he?"
"Probably not."
Hakuba Saguru shook his head. "Based on the intel I have, Spider usually only targets his assigned marks. Although he will kill those who obstruct his assassinations, he never seeks revenge afterward."
Saying this, Hakuba Saguru looked meaningfully at Fujino. "Especially against a formidable opponent like you, who even he found troublesome."
"Is that so?"
Even if Spider did come after him for revenge, it didn't matter.
Hilarious, he basically had no family in this world.
Akemi the Soul Lotus couldn't die. Ai-chan had the double protection of Akemi the Soul Lotus and himself.
At school and other times, there was that brat Conan.
Very safe.
Besides, he had already figured out how to counter Spider's hypnotism.
If his guess was correct, Spider likely used light spectrums and sound cues, plus some hallucinogenic drugs, to force the hypnotized subject into illusions based on their deepest subconscious fears...
Once free from the illusion, the opponent was just a third-rate magician, even less skilled than that fish-fearing Kuroba Kaito.
If that guy dared to come looking for him, he could simply don the Assassin's Robes, pull out the Hidden Blade, and kill him.