The Trigger for a Counterattack

Chronology
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Chapter 1128
Information
Title:	The Trigger for a Counterattack
Japanese title:	反撃の起爆剤 (Hangeki no Kibaku-zai)
Original release:	June 26th, 2024
Shōnen Sunday issue:	#31/2024
Volume:	106
Pages:	16
Viz Media version
English title:	The Detonator to the Counterattack
English release:	June 26th, 2024 (Simulpub)

The Trigger for a Counterattack (反撃の起爆剤 ,Hangeki no Kibaku-zai) is the 1128th chapter of the manga of Detective Conan. It was written by Gosho Aoyama, drawn by him and his assistants and first released in Shōnen Sunday #31/2024 on June 26, 2024 and was reprinted as part of Volume 106 on October 18, 2024. It was released in English by Viz Manga on the same day under the name The Detonator to the Counterattack.

Characters

Introduced

Employee
	Shudankan Books employee

Featured

Characters
Conan Edogawa Azusa Enomoto Ran Mouri Sonoko Suzuki Masumi Sera Rei Furuya Criminal B Man Criminal A Keisuke Omura Kiyoshi Hanke (background) Reita Kanamaru Mysterious Old Woman

Gadgets

Gadgets
Stun-Gun Wristwatch

Settings

• Japan
  • Unknown prefecture
    • Shudankan Books building
      • Studio #2
  • Tokyo Prefecture
    • Beika Ward
      • Beika Town
        • Café Poirot

Plot

As Conan just said that they were waiting for the signal for a counterattack, Azusa watches the second kidnapper texting on his phone and asks Conan what he means by that. Conan reveals that he actually took Azusa's wireless earphones earlier and tossed them in the pants' cuffs of the first kidnapper, and since the second kidnapper currently has Azusa's phone in his pocket, the phone's "find my device" function, and when the first kidnapper will be 400 meters away from the second kidnapper, Azusa's phone will receive a notification that her earphones are out of range. Then, it will be easier for and Azusa to deal with only one kidnapper. As the time reaches 20:49, the notification appears, and Conan gets up, but before the second kidnapper has time to react, Conan uses his stun-gun wristwatch to knock him unconscious. Azusa is impressed he has such a gadget, and Conan says the professor made it for him. Conan then tries to reach for Azusa's cellphone in the kidnapper's back pocket to call for help, but due to them being chained to the fridge, they are too far away and cannot move the fridge without risking the other kidnapper hearing. Conan decides that they have no choice but to open the lock and he asks for Azusa's matchbox. He then picks up a knife, which was next to the hacksaw and uses it to scrape off the igniter substance from the match head, before grinding it into a powder. He then puts the powder inside the padlock and uses another match head which he has broken off from its wooden shaft and sticks it in the padlock with the match head facing outside. Finally, he lights another matchstick and has it make contact with the match head protruding from the padlock, triggering a small explosion which props the padlock open. Conan explains that it opened since the explosion pushed the pins inside the lock upwards and made them align, thus unlocking the lock, but Conan says that it was still a bet, since it might not work with all locks.

Conan then gets up and goes to the now unconscious second kidnapper and notices that the man received a notification on his own phone. Using the man's finger to unlock his phone, and upon opening it, sees that he is chatting with two people and talking about "cramming up", "opening up" and "k.o", as in "removing the characters and filling the gaps", "converting the kanji into hiragana" and "kocking oneself out" (meaning "ok"), and understands the kidnappers' true motive. As Azusa asks him to call the police quickly, Conan removes the kidnapper's hood and Azusa panicks, seeing that he has the face of the head in the jar in the fridge. While Azusa starts thinking that the man killed his twin brother, Conan opens the fridge and removes the jar, before opening it and emptying it on the floor. The head happens to be nothing more than a laminated picture of the man's face viewed from the front and the sides, composited and attached together. By rolling the picture and putting it in the jar with water, it creates a convex lens effect and the picture appears as if it was in three dimensions. Azusa then points at the finger, saying that that is probably a real finger. Conan takes the finger and splits it open, and it is found out to be just a sausage that had cuts making it look like joints, along with ketchup to look bloody. He explains that these are all classic horror movie props and that they are most likely in a photo studio, since even though the law says that all indoor spaces must have a window, photo studios are allowed not to. He continues, saying that they are most likely held at a photo studio where the kidnappers were planning to take pictures for the new guide book for Azusa's favourite game. Conan then sends a message to the other kidnappers on their messaging app, asking them to come quickly. Azusa then wonders why she was kidnapped, and he reveals to her that she received a piece of confidential information that was not be released until midnight: the release of a new sequel to Splatatter II, "Splatatter III".

Meanwhile, Amuro, who is driving Ran, Sera and Sonoko to the kidnapping location in his RX-7, explains to the girls that Azusa did not hear the info from Keisuke Omura, but saw the new logo of "Splatatter III" from Omura's laptop in the window reflection. Sera continues, saying that they were kidnapped just in case they were to reveal that info. Since game magazines receive the game in advance so they can test, Omura happened to be testing the game in Café Poirot and thus, as a precaution he kidnapped Azusa and Conan so they would not leak any info ; if the game company knew, the game magazine could be in serious trouble if there was a breach of contract. When the girls were talking about the tug-of-war event, they said that Azusa was "light" (軽い ,karui), but Omura thought she was "loose-lipped" (口が軽い ,kuchi ga karui). They indeed to kidnap only Azusa, but Conan happened to be there and was kidnapped too, and Omura tried to make it seem like they were kept hostage by the body-chopping killer. Later, Amuro and the girls arrive at the Shudankan Offices and are escorted by an employee to their photo studio after Amuro told said employee that two people were held hostage. As they arrive at the photo studio, they see the three kidnappers (the two masked kidnappers and Keisuke Omura) bowing and apologizing to Conan and Azusa. Azusa yells at them, asking them what they would have done if the police actually came, but they said that they had planned to come in at midnight and say it was prank. Conan gets angry at kidnapper 2 for breaking his detective badge, and he apologizes, saying they will gift Azusa and Conan a copy of the new Splatatter III along their guide book, in exchange for not calling the police. Conan concedes, but not without asking for six copies of the game (two for him and Azusa, and four more for the Detective Boys).

Some days later, the girls and Conan are at Café Poirot again and talk about how nice Conan was to give the other kids the game and the guide book. Conan agrees, but says they were surprised to receive the guide books before the release date. Ran then remembers seeing the man who complained about the beef stew, Kiyoshi Hanke, in front of his restaurant close to Beika Station, placing a sign about their "new beef stew". The girls laugh at how bold Hanke is to steal Poirot's recipe. Sonoko still feels like she has seen the third man, Reita Kanamaru, before, and wonders who he was, while Sera takes a glance at Amuro, telling Conan that she is also curious about the "guy who has been stalking Conan recently". At that time, Kanamaru comes in the restaurant, and Azusa greets him as if she knew him. The puzzled girls ask Azusa who he is and Azusa explains that he was the substitute manager when the Café Poirot Master got hospitalized. This explained why he knew there was herb salt behind the counter. The girls then ask him why he was spying on Azusa and Amuro, and he blushingly says that he heard that Azusa was dating the new worker (Amuro) and wanted to make sure Amuro was a nice person. Amuro and Azusa yell at the same time that they are not dating. Meanwhile, the old lady with the stroller passes by the café and stares at it.

Sherry's Soliloquy

Sherry's soliloquy for File 1128.

Sherry's Soliloquy (シェリーのひとりごと ,Sherī no Hitorigoto) is a collection of comments Gosho Aoyama has Ai Haibara say on the official Detective Conan website, Conan News Agency (こなん通信社 Konan Tsūshin-sha) in the course of every new chapter's publication.

Soliloquy of File 1128:
鍵開けのトリック真似しちゃダメよ！
Don't try to copy the lock-picking trick!
(June 28, 2024)

Animal Crossing Promotional Hints

With every new chapter, players can receive these hints written by Gosho Aoyama in Animal Crossing: New Leaf and Animal Crossing: New Horizons by interacting with four characters named Spade (スペード), Heart (ハート), Diamond (ダイヤ), and Clover (クローバ), who appear in Gosho's Dream Town.

July 1st, 2024:
Spade: I drew a commemorative cardboard ->
Heart: Featuring Ran & Shinichi! ->
Diamond: Titled "Cooking of a Lovely Cake" (laughs)
Clover: Look forward to checking it out!

See also

• Manga
• Volume 101-110
• Detective Conan