Chapter 282: The Strange FBI Agent
Natsume had originally thought her interference would have a greater impact. By having Lynette help capture the culprit early, she had prevented the dramatic scene where Conan Edogawa declared himself Sherlock Holmes's apprentice in front of the competition's cameras. She'd assumed that without that public spectacle, Sera Masumi would never have noticed the uncanny resemblance between Conan and a young Kudo Shinichi, and thus would have had no reason to come to Japan.
But the butterfly effect was a fickle thing. During a follow-up interview, Apollo Glass, the younger brother of the other finalist, still brought up Conan's name. He praised the boy as a brilliant disciple of Holmes who had cleverly cracked the code, and just like that, Conan was plastered all over the news anyway.
'So much for changing the timeline,' Natsume mused, a wry thought crossing her mind as she stood just inside the entrance of Café Poirot, momentarily lost in her reflections.
"Natsume, over here!" Sonoko Suzuki's cheerful voice cut through her thoughts. She was waving enthusiastically from a booth where she sat with Ran Mouri.
Natsume smiled and made her way over. As she slid into the seat, Sonoko leaned forward, practically vibrating with excitement. "Natsume, come, come, let me introduce you! This is our new transfer student, Sera Masumi. And guess what? Just like you, she's a detective!"
Sonoko then turned to the new girl, a bright, boyish-looking student with a charming grin. "Sera, this is Natsume Natsuki. She's a detective too, and she lives right above the café. I figured you two would have a lot to talk about."
With the introductions made, Sonoko launched into a vivid, highly animated retelling of how she had first met Sera on the bus, mistaking her for a pervert. The misunderstanding had escalated into a brief scuffle between Sera and Ran, which, in true Sonoko fashion, she described as the dramatic forging of a new friendship.
"Jeet Kune Do?" Natsume repeated after Sonoko finished her story. Her gaze lingered on Sera's face, a flicker of recognition stirring in her mind. She glanced at Ran, her expression thoughtful. "Come to think of it, Ran, don't you think Sera looks a bit familiar?"
"She does?" Ran hadn't thought so at first, but with Natsume's prompting, she studied the new student more closely. A faint sense of déjà vu surfaced, but she couldn't quite place where she might have seen her before.
Sera, hearing their exchange, tilted her head and looked at Natsume with open curiosity.
"Hmm..." Natsume frowned, her eyes narrowing as she carefully examined Sera's features. Suddenly, a name clicked into place in her mind. "I think I know why! Sera, you look a bit like that strange FBI agent."
FBI!
The acronym struck Sera like a bolt of lightning. Her heart gave a sharp jolt. Could the person Natsume was talking about… could it be her eldest brother?
'No wonder she's a detective,' Sera thought, her easygoing smile tightening almost imperceptibly. 'She's a little too sharp for her own good.'
"FBI?" Sonoko's voice rose with theatrical disbelief. "Natsume! When did you and Ran meet an FBI agent? How come I don't know anything about this?" she asked, pouting with mock indignation. "Are we even best friends anymore?"
"Sonoko—" Natsume sighed, a helpless smile on her face. "Have you already forgotten? I told you about it when I was chatting with Ran. It was that strange passenger we met during the bus hijacking case, back when we went skiing with Conan and the others. Ran and I were talking about it again recently, and she mentioned she'd run into him again. That's when she told us he was an FBI agent."
Natsume recalled the rest of that conversation, where Ran had recounted meeting the very same man with Shinichi during their trip to the United States.
Sonoko, however, had likely filtered all of that out. Her attention at the time had been completely fixated on the "true love forged in adversity" between Ran and Shinichi. A mysterious background character like Akai Shuichi wouldn't have even registered on her radar.
"Ah—" Sonoko scratched her head, a blush of embarrassment creeping up her neck. "I guess that does sound kind of familiar. But Natsume, why do you call him strange?"
Hearing this, Sera was now almost certain they were talking about her brother. She hadn't realized Ran and her friends had known him for so long. A new wave of curiosity washed over her—why on earth would they call him strange? As Sonoko voiced the question, Sera subtly leaned in, her ears pricked to catch every word.
"Because if Ran hadn't confirmed he was with the FBI, I would have suspected he was a stalker," Natsume stated plainly. "On the bus, I kept feeling like he was secretly watching me. And for a while after that, I'd occasionally spot him lurking around where the Detective Boys were. Isn't that suspicious?"
"I-It was probably just a coincidence, right?" Ran offered with a strained laugh. "That FBI agent hasn't shown up again since then." Although the man had said some odd things to her when they'd met, Ran intuitively felt that his concern for her had been genuine.
"But does he really look like Sera?" Ran steered the conversation back to its starting point. She tried to recall the agent's face but couldn't find any resemblance. Confused, she turned back to Natsume.
"It's the eyes," Natsume prompted, her gaze sharp. "When I first saw him, he was wearing a mask, so his eyes left a really deep impression on me. The moment I saw Sera today, I was immediately reminded of them."
As she spoke, Natsume turned to face Sera directly, her expression sincere. "Your eyes are incredibly similar. By the way, Sera, I heard you used to live abroad. Do you happen to have any relatives working for the FBI?"
Sera laughed, a slightly awkward sound that came out a touch too quickly. She waved her hands in a dismissive gesture. "Of course not! I used to live in the UK with my mother. I have nothing to do with the FBI."
She couldn't believe it. On the very first day they met, someone had already drawn a line connecting her to her eldest brother. The most urgent task now was to erase that line, and fast.
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