After his initial contact with the disguised Vermouth, the very next day, Tsuneo accepted an invitation and took the ticket sent by Kid to see a magic show.
"Hey, hey, hey, I'm the elusive Phantom Thief Kid; why do I have to do something like this?" Kaito shot a sideways glance at the repairman standing in front of him.
The location chosen for their chat was the restroom of the theater.
The performance was currently underway on stage, so indeed, hardly anyone would come in here.
"You're a pro," Tsuneo said, looking at the face before him and smiling involuntarily.
Of course, Yukiko was also a professional at this kind of thing, but that actress really loved to ad-lib and add her own drama too much...
"No, no, last time you even warned me that transforming into Kudo Shinichi would be life-threatening." Kaito shook his head.
Last time I disguised myself as that famous detective to help you out of a jam, those were the words that came out of your own mouth, right?
That someone might pop out of nowhere and put a bullet in me.
"I ate too much; I was just spouting nonsense," Tsuneo patted him on the shoulder, comforting him.
You change your hairstyle and you look no different from him anyway. Don't be afraid of such things; if your luck is bad, it'll happen sooner or later.
Kaito crossed his arms, staying silent, only looking at the other man askance.
I've only heard of people talking nonsense when they drink too much.
Who talks nonsense just because they ate too much?
"As long as you don't show your face in public, you'll be fine. Consider this him owing you a favor." The repairman knocked his fist against a dripping faucet nearby.
Look, fixed!
"..." Kaito looked at the faucet.
Is this guy simply repairing things, or is he threatening me...
"Is that Organization really that dangerous?" Kaito asked, a bit curious.
"Oh, they're probably a bit stronger than the organization you deal with," Tsuneo shook his head as he recalled the silver-haired assassin strafing Tokyo Tower with an attack helicopter.
That guy was insane most of the time.
The organization Kaito dealt with had members mostly codenamed after animals.
Compared to the 'Winery', the strength of this 'Zoo' seemed a bit lacking.
"How come you seem to know everything?" Kaito sometimes suspected that this Dark Knight had investigated him.
"A gem that grants immortality, a drug that grants eternal life." The repairman felt that the goals of these two organizations were quite similar.
The former spoke of the mysterious gem Pandora, which sounded even more unreliable than the latter relying on pharmaceutical technology to create eternal life.
Although Conan and Ai, who had taken APTX4869, hadn't been that way for long—so it was unknown if they possessed ageless abilities—judging solely by that witch, the drug was already a success.
Of course, whether there were other costs remained unknown.
Vermouth's real age was at least around fifty. If she took an A-drug that could reverse age by ten years, turning her into a contemporary of Yukiko and Kisaki Eri, that would make sense.
Tsuneo suspected that the version of the A-drug Vermouth took likely had some side effects.
Otherwise, regarding the execution of Sherry, she shouldn't have been so resolute after confirming Conan's identity.
"What are you thinking about?" Kaito had been standing there for two or three minutes, but the other guy just stared into the mirror with no follow-up.
"I was thinking, immortality might not be as difficult as we think." Tsuneo reached out and rubbed his own face.
"Heh, don't peel off a mask and suddenly tell me you're an old monster who's lived for hundreds of years," Kaito said speechlessly.
If that were the case, it would actually be quite terrifying.
"It's hard to understand, right? Just like you—you're seventeen this year, still in your developmental phase. What if at twenty-seven, or thirty-seven, you were still in your developmental phase?"
Tsuneo glanced at Kaito's height. He was about ten centimeters shorter than himself; he should still be able to grow a bit.
"Isn't that developmental phase a bit too long..." Kaito thought about it. If that were true, he might grow to be five meters tall.
"What if human cells and various organs remained in their prime state, and their upper limits were still increasing?"
Tsuneo held out his own palm and looked at it.
Although he often repaired things and even went to smash trees, there was no roughness to his skin.
Well, he had read Haibara's notes, but he couldn't understand most of them...
"Did you join some illegal organization?" Kaito felt the repairman was talking gibberish.
Did he get scam-pitched by someone selling health supplements?
"Heh, anyway, the acting gig is settled. Be ready on standby and wait for my call." Tsuneo smiled and walked out of the restroom.
"Honestly, Kaito, where did you run off to?" The performance was already halfway through. Aoko and Jii, seeing that Kaito and the other guy hadn't returned, had come out to look for them.
"I was in the restroom the whole time..." Only after Kaito came out did he realize the repairman had vanished without a trace.
That guy was even more elusive than he was...
On the playground of Teitan Elementary School.
"Hey, is it done?" Conan was holding his earring-shaped phone, talking to someone.
"Yeah, just a small favor. He didn't have any reason to refuse." Tsuneo's voice came from the other end.
The two were communicating about Kuroba Kaito disguising himself as Kudo Shinichi.
"Conan, why haven't you retrieved the soccer ball yet?!" Genta shouted loudly at the famous detective near the bushes.
As the strategist of the Detective Boys, dawdling like this wasn't acceptable!
"Okay, okay, I found it!" Conan agreed repeatedly, shoved the phone into his pocket, bent down, and picked up the soccer ball from the grass.
Honestly, if it weren't for the fact that Paigan didn't work permanently, he would drink it every day—even if he became an alcoholic—just to turn back into Kudo Shinichi and escape this place.
Genta kicked the ball so off-target every time, and so close to the classroom windows too...
"By the way, didn't the Professor say there's an activity this week?" Mitsuhiko received the ball kicked by Conan and passed it to Genta.
Because they had forgotten their equipment last time, the group had abandoned their camping plan and spent the night in that blue castle, solving a case in the process. The Professor had said he would make it up to everyone!
"In this weather, even if we forget blankets or something, we don't have to worry about catching a cold!" Genta laughed loudly and kicked the ball hard again.
Conan shuffled his short legs, successfully catching the soccer ball, and said speechlessly, "Genta, there are only three of us passing the ball, don't use so much force!"
If you keep this up, I'm going to turn on the switch on my shoes!
"Ai-chan, do you know where we're going camping this time?" Ayumi asked the scientist who was reading a textbook on the side.
"I hope it's a place where no cases occur..." Ai smiled and closed her textbook.
I wonder if this request is a bit too much?
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