Chapter 349: Shuichi Akai's Relatives
"So, when do you plan to tell him?" Cointreau pressed, leaning slightly forward.
"The sooner, the better," Glenlivet replied, his tone laced with casual indifference. He did not even bother looking up from his device. "But since you are so curious, That Person will be forwarding the entire file to Bourbon momentarily. Honestly, I am worried that if we drag this out any longer, Bourbon might stumble upon the truth himself. You know how quickly that brat attracts trouble. It would not take much for Bourbon to spot a flaw and realize Shuichi Akai is still breathing."
Acting on that very thought, Wanderer finalized his reply to Cointreau, swiped across his screen, and drafted a new, encrypted message directly to Bourbon.
Miles away, Toru Amuro sat in silence, having just finished reviewing the latest intelligence reports regarding the chaotic Twilight Mansion incident. The sudden, sharp vibration of his encrypted terminal broke his concentration. A text message had just come in from Glenlivet.
He opened the secure channel. The glowing text on the screen was brief, yet it carried the weight of a bomb.
'The new transfer student at Teitan High School, Sera Masumi, is Shuichi Akai's younger sister., the Taikou Meijin, Shukichi Haneda, is his younger brother. Find a way to acquire their DNA yourself and compare it with the corpse.'
Amuro's sharp gaze locked onto the words. For a long, suspended moment, his brain struggled to process the sheer shock of the revelation. Sera Masumi. He remembered crossing paths with the tomboyish high school detective at the scene of a recent car accident. To think that she was actually the younger sister of the man he despised most.
A dark scowl twisted Amuro's features, his fingers tightening around the terminal until his knuckles turned white. He gritted his teeth, a low hiss escaping his lips.
'As expected of that shameless FBI rat,'he thought bitterly.'To think he would go so far as to deceive his own cousin's feelings just to infiltrate the Organization for a mission. What an absolute scumbag.'
A few days later, the bell above the door of Café Poirot chimed cheerfully.
Toru Amuro wore his signature warm, welcoming smile as he balanced a tray of fresh sandwiches and coffee. He expertly served the dishes to Kogoro Mouri and his daughter, Ran, who had stopped by for a casual lunch.
"So, Conan has gone out camping for the weekend?" Amuro remarked casually, wiping down the edge of their table with a cloth. "That sounds really nice."
Inwardly, his mind was racing. Ever since receiving Glenlivet's explosive message, Amuro had completely thrown himself into investigating both Sera Masumi and Shukichi Haneda. He paid special attention to Sera, whose sudden transfer to Teitan High School raised massive red flags. The timing of her arrival in Japan aligned far too perfectly with the aftermath of Shuichi Akai's supposed death. Amuro, a seasoned intelligence officer, absolutely refused to believe in such convenient coincidences.
On the surface, Sera appeared to be an independent student studying abroad alone. She gave off the impression that she knew very little about her eldest brother's current status, and she rarely made contact with her second brother, Shukichi, despite him living in the same country. To Amuro's trained eye, this deliberate distance was a glaring tell. It practically screamed that she was hiding dangerous secrets.
also, Amuro recalled her intense, almost frantic reaction during Conan's recent kidnapping incident. Sera cared deeply about the bespectacled boy, perhaps a bit too much for a mere high school acquaintance. Then again, Conan himself was a walking anomaly. The child's behavior was frequently too sharp, too calculated for a first grader.
Amuro shifted his weight, maintaining his friendly facade. "Conan went with his little friends from the Detective Boys, right? I always see that energetic group running around together."
Ran nodded brightly, taking a sip of her water. "Yes, that is right. But it is a slightly bigger group this time. Besides the usual kids, Klee is going, along with a new friend who just transferred into their class named Qiqi."
"Oh? Little Klee is going too?" Amuro blinked, a genuine flicker of surprise crossing his face. "That makes seven children in total. Can Dr. Agasa really take care of all of them by himself?"
He frowned slightly, projecting the image of a concerned older brother. Managing that many chaotic first graders sounded like a logistical nightmare for one elderly inventor.
"Do not worry," Ran reassured him with a soft laugh. "Klee and Qiqi's older brothers are going along to help chaperone. With three adults keeping an eye on things, it will definitely be fine."
"Is that so? That is a relief, then." Amuro let out a soft sigh, his shoulders relaxing. "By the way, where exactly did they decide to set up camp this time?"
"Conan mentioned they were heading out to Gunma Prefecture for the day," Ran replied.
"Gunma Prefecture?" Amuro tapped his chin, mentally mapping out the popular outdoor spots in the region. "They must be heading toward the campsites near Mount Fuyuna. The hydrangea fields around there are absolutely stunning this time of year."
Sitting across from Ran, Kogoro Mouri flipped a page of his racing newspaper with a loud rustle, looking thoroughly uninterested in the conversation. Hearing Amuro's polite curiosity, the detective grunted casually without looking up.
"They are bound to take a mountain of photos. I already told the brat to upload all of them to my computer when he gets back. If you are that interested, Amuro, you can come up to the agency and look through them later."
Amuro's eyes narrowed into pleasant crescents as he flashed a bright, sunny smile. "I will definitely have to take you up on that offer, Mouri-sensei."
Just as he turned to head back to the counter, a cheerful ringtone echoed from Ran's pocket. She pulled out her phone, her face lighting up as she answered a call from Sera Masumi.
Amuro, who had only taken a few steps away, immediately slowed his pace. Pretending to wipe down an empty table, he tuned his sharp ears to the conversation. He easily overheard Sera's distinct, boyish voice filtering through the receiver, eagerly asking Ran for specific details about Conan's camping trip.
A knowing glint flashed in Amuro's eyes.
'It seems my intuition was spot on,'he mused silently.'Shuichi Akai's little sister is paying an awful lot of attention to that bespectacled kid.'
Meanwhile, on the winding roads leading toward the Gunma Prefecture wilderness, the camping expedition was well underway.
Given the sheer size of their party, the group had split into two separate vehicles for the long drive. Leading the way was, of course, Dr. Agasa's iconic yellow Volkswagen Beetle. Trailing smoothly behind it was a sleek, spacious SUV driven by the stoic, red-haired Diluc, with the mild-mannered Baizhu occupying the passenger seat.
The seating arrangements for the children had required a bit of shuffling. Klee, bouncing with boundless energy, naturally claimed a spot in the back seat of her brother Diluc's car. Qiqi was originally supposed to ride with them as well, but a very enthusiastic Ayumi had wanted to chat with the quiet new girl, gently pulling her away to sit in Dr. Agasa's crowded Beetle instead.
Conan, ever the opportunist, had quietly slipped into the back seat of Diluc's SUV alongside Klee. His sharp eyes immediately darted toward the complex, glowing Vision secured at the red-haired man's waist. Recognizing this as a rare, golden opportunity to gather intelligence on these mysterious individuals, the miniature detective strapped himself in, his mind already formulating a dozen probing questions.
Ai Haibara saw right through Conan Edogawa's thinly veiled intentions the moment he opened the car door. Letting out a quiet, exasperated sigh, she hesitated for only a fraction of a second before climbing into the SUV to sit right beside him. Someone had to act as a physical barrier to stop the reckless detective from asking dangerous questions and blowing their cover.
Truthfully, Haibara's sudden burst of courage to willingly share a confined space with Diluc, a known associate of this deeply mysterious faction, stemmed from a strange, underlying comfort. Unlike the suffocating, icy dread she felt around the Black Organization, Diluc's quiet, intense presence did not trigger her internal radar. He did not emit a single ounce of malicious danger.
With Conan and Haibara securing the remaining spots in the SUV, the rest of the boisterous Detective Boys happily piled into Dr. Agasa's Beetle alongside Qiqi, their excited chatter echoing down the highway as they headed toward the mountains.
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