"Vodka, what do you know about Suguru Itakura?"
The moment Gin stepped into the car, his voice cut through the air, cold and demanding.
"Aniki, how could I not know?" Vodka asked, looking utterly bewildered as he started the engine. Didn't I just report that to you last night?
"I am talking about the news of his death!" Gin's hand tightened into a fist before slowly unfurling, his words forced through gritted teeth.
He hadn't expected the man to fail his escape. Instead, Itakura had been murdered, and the news of his demise had spread like wildfire throughout the morning.
"Itakura is dead?!" Vodka looked genuinely shocked; it seemed he hadn't yet had the chance to check the morning papers.
Gin frowned, his gaze turning icy once more. "Last night... you said Itakura opened that email?"
"Aniki, I get it now! He must have opened the Organization's mail, and before he could reply, someone killed him? Or maybe he just had a heart attack?" Vodka's expression shifted to one of realization.
It made sense to him. How else could that coward have opened the email without immediately sending a response?
"Just drive," Gin commanded coldly, taking a deep breath to suppress his rising irritation. If he continued this conversation, he was worried he might actually die of sheer frustration.
He had originally intended to send someone to Itakura's villa to investigate the situation. However, the current state of affairs in Tokyo was becoming increasingly bizarre. He could no longer reach a single one of his subordinates in the area.
To have so many people go off the grid at once—could the Public Security Bureau have launched a secret sting operation?
But would the PSB set fire to the houses?
No, that's impossible. Only I know the specific contact methods and addresses of every single operative.
The sudden disappearance of his intelligence and field agents left Gin shrouded in a fog of uncertainty. For the first time, the decisive and ruthless assassin felt a flicker of genuine unease.
"Oh, by the way, Aniki," Vodka said, attempting to break the heavy silence. "When I went to the convenience store last night, I heard some brats talking about the 'Dark Knight'..."
"Shut up, Vodka!"
"Right... sorry, Aniki."
"There's one more person I'm worried about."
Conan rested his chin on his hand, pacing back and forth across the room. Despite having stayed up all night, he showed no signs of fatigue. Professor Agasa had already retired to bed to catch up on sleep, leaving the rest of them to their discussion.
"Who is it?" Akemi asked gently. Seeing that neither the Repairman nor her younger sister were engaging with him, she took it upon herself to answer the Great Detective.
"Last night, Ran and I ran into a man wearing a knit cap. I've seen him before—he was there during the bus hijacking case."
"If I recall correctly, his name is Shuichi Akai," Conan said, his brow furrowed.
That was the name the man had given the police, though Conan couldn't be sure if it was an alias. However, according to Ran, she had seen him before in the United States, apparently working a mission alongside people wearing FBI jackets.
Tsuneo and the two sisters exchanged a knowing look.
"Wait, we didn't tell him about that?" Tsuneo asked, sounding curious.
"You were the one who said we should keep it a secret," Ai Haibara remarked, picking up a magazine and flipping through it with practiced nonchalance.
Shuichi Akai—her sister's so-called lover and an FBI agent. Even now, the two of them were still exchanging emails.
"Shuichi Akai, Mary Sera, Elena Miyano..." Tsuneo muttered under his breath while looking at the sisters.
The tangled web of love and hatred between the Akai and Miyano families was enough to fill a novel. Then again, the connections between the Kudo and Kuroba families were just as messy.
"What do you three know now?!" Conan demanded, his eyes darting between them.
Akemi was the first to buckle under his gaze. "I'm... going to head out to buy some groceries," she said, making a quick exit.
"Don't you already know he's FBI?" Tsuneo said, slipping on a pair of headphones as if tuning out the world.
"But what's his goal? And Haibara's reaction back on that bus... that couldn't have been fake, right?"
Conan had originally suspected Jodie-sensei and the man in the knit cap, but both had essentially been ruled out as threats by now.
"His goal..."
"The reaction on the bus..."
Tsuneo and Ai glanced at each other, shaking their minds in unison with perfect synchronicity. Who could say for sure?
"I'm going back to sleep," Tsuneo announced. He planned to squeeze in two hours of rest before finding time to meet with Tooru Amuro to collect his payment for the recent operation.
Seeing the Repairman head for the door, the Great Detective leaned in toward the "Evil Scientist."
"Do you know what he actually did last night?" Conan whispered.
The two villas mentioned in the news were almost certainly burned down by Tsuneo. Reportedly, there were no casualties. But what was the objective?
"Hmm..."
"Villas like those... they might have been safe houses," Ai mused after a moment of silence, recalling the footage she had seen on TV. It was a logical deduction; she had been to safe houses with similar layouts before—two separate buildings connected by an underground tunnel.
"Was the PSB involved in this?" Conan felt it was highly likely. If there was something shady going on, the regular police wouldn't have been able to keep it so quiet. It made much more sense if the Public Security Bureau had handled it.
"If you're asking me, who am I supposed to ask?" Ai turned her head away, clearly finished with the topic.
With so many parties now closing in on the Organization, the situation felt like it was improving. However, letting one's guard down was out of the question.
After all, that "Dr. Araide" had managed to plant bugs in their home without anyone noticing. If it hadn't been for Noah's Ark intervening, they might have let something slip before ever discovering the surveillance.
A few days later.
Outside a local shop, a group of children pressed their faces against the glass window, staring at the elaborate display of Hinamatsuri dolls.
"Look, look! The doll at the very top is so beautiful!" Ayumi exclaimed, her eyes sparkling with wonder.
"It is," Ai agreed with a small smile.
"It's almost Doll's Festival again," Conan muttered, hands in his pockets and his schoolbag slung over his shoulder. He sighed inwardly. Lately, he felt like he was involved in everything concerning the Organization, yet he still felt like he knew nothing at all. It was a restless, gnawing feeling in his chest.
"Hey everyone, what are you all doing here?"
A woman wearing stylish clothes and oversized sunglasses stepped out from a nearby shop. Seeing the group, she greeted them with a bright smile.
"Who are you?" Genta asked, frowning. If they hadn't been in a large group, he would have suspected she was a stranger trying to lure kids away.
"..."
"Ikumi-san, what brings you here?" Conan cleared his throat and looked up. Genta's memory was truly terrible.
"Oh!" Mitsuhiko realized instantly. "I remember now! You're Tsuneo-niichan's girlfriend!" It was hard to recognize her with the sun hat and the shades.
"I'm starving!"
The door to the shop next door swung open, and the Repairman emerged, lugging a mountain of shopping bags in both hands. He looked exhausted.
Tsuneo had received a significant amount of funding from Amuro recently. When Ikumi returned, he had thought it would be a nice idea to go out for a stroll together.
Instead, they had been walking through the mall and the shopping district for two and a half hours. Looking at her energy levels, he suspected she wouldn't be tired even after another two and a half.
"That man... he looks truly miserable," Ai commented, crossing her arms and smiling at the sight.
Conan let out a weary, empathetic laugh. "Heh... tell me about it."
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