Chapter 268
Haibara Ai kept her head down, but could still feel Usuha Izuki walking up in front of her.
Though he had entered the room earlier than them, when Usuha Izuki approached, it was as if wind and snow's chill was enveloping her.
"What's wrong?" Usuha Izuki asked in a very gentle tone.
But Haibara Ai sensitively detected a subtle scrutiny... It had no aggression, but it certainly didn't match the gentleness in his tone either.
"Be-because what you said was too scary! She's still a girl, and talking about men in black and such—it's like a horror movie. It's normal to be frightened."
Edogawa Conan laughed dryly as he tried to smooth things over, standing in front of Haibara Ai, who seemed to have temporarily lost her rationality due to psychological trauma, blocking Usuha Izuki.
You could tell that Kudo Yukiko's acting skills really hadn't been inherited much by him. Edogawa Conan said stiffly: "Um, don't you have a date? Is it okay not to leave now?"
Usuha Izuki didn't advance further, and his tone became cheerful again: "True. Anyway, you all be careful. Dr. Agasa, don't stay up late either—take care of your health... I'm leaving now! Bye~"
Dr. Agasa waved kindly, watching Usuha Izuki flutter out the door like a butterfly, even helping them close the door.
"That child Usuha-kun... really brightens your mood just seeing him." Dr. Agasa sighed.
Edogawa Conan complained: "Shows he doesn't have work pressure. Generally speaking, people his age have already become corporate slaves and wouldn't be this relaxed normally."
After complaining, he turned around and found Haibara Ai still had her head down. Edogawa Conan was worried: "Haibara? Are you okay? Maybe you should take some time off school."
"...That's not the problem." Haibara Ai came to her senses and frowned.
She felt Usuha Izuki gave her a somewhat subtle feeling, but also felt it wasn't worth mentioning specifically. Since she couldn't explain what was subtle about it either, she simply skipped this topic.
"Gin and Vodka appearing in this area... could they be coming for me?" As she said this, she couldn't help but nervously hug her arms again.
Edogawa Conan thought about it: "Probably not. After all, Usuha-nii saw them drive away, and he walked over himself, even going back to my house. If Gin and the others knew you were here, they should have arrived already. Maybe they were just passing through and had some business nearby."
Edogawa Conan needed to guess, but Usuha Izuki didn't.
When Vermouth called him out for dinner, she was driving and very casually told Usuha Izuki about the mission content, completely without consideration for secrecy.
"Tomorrow's memorial service, Pisco will assassinate a politician. For insurance, he specifically called me to help." Vermouth said. "For extra insurance, Gin plans to bring Vodka nearby, and if something goes wrong, they'll provide backup shots."
Usuha Izuki expressed doubt: "Is Gin such a cautious person? I see him making quite a few mistakes! Even Sherry, whom he personally handcuffed, disappeared!"
"It's precisely because of Sherry's disappearance that he lost a lot of face, so this mission absolutely cannot fail." Vermouth always took a spectator's attitude toward Gin's misfortunes.
Usuha Izuki pondered: "Tomorrow... But I think having Gin there makes trouble more likely. Why don't I call someone else? It would be more reliable."
Vermouth, who was driving, glanced at him sideways, somewhat speechless yet unable to suppress her widening smile: "Want to watch Gin's drama again?"
"Sort of." Usuha Izuki said righteously. "Don't you want to?"
Vermouth pretended to think: "I want to too. Anyway, I'll be at the scene tomorrow. If there's any drama, I can livestream it to you."
"Vermouth is the best!" Usuha Izuki cheered. "Then I'll ask who's available right now."
As he spoke, Usuha Izuki opened the [Anti-Gin Squad] group.
Botanist: [Tomorrow, Gin has a mission. I bet he's going to cause trouble. Who's available?]
Bourbon: [What mission?]
Botanist: [Don't know. After all, I strictly follow organization rules and never pry into things randomly. I just know he has a mission.]
Bourbon: [...]
Scotland: [If you don't know anything, what do you want people for?]
Botanist: [To monitor Gin.]
Scotland: [...]
Chianti: [Me! I'm free! My sniper rifle is already starving! But after I killed Miyano Akemi last time, Gin said I can't shoot randomly without his orders.]
Botanist: [Last time you said he aimed at Miyano Akemi for ages without shooting, so you helped out, and Vodka was making excuses there... Perfect. If he won't let you shoot, then don't. This time bring a video camera.]
Chianti: [Huh? Is that okay?]
Botanist: [It's fine. If he has no problems, he definitely won't mind you recording. Complete the mission and destroy the footage. If the mission fails, the recording is evidence! I want to see just how accurate Gin's shooting really is... Tch, but we still need to hide this from him. Wait for my message. I'll gather more intel. Anyway, keep tomorrow afternoon free.]
Chianti: [OK, I'll listen to you.]
Bourbon silently looked at the group chat records. Though he didn't know what mission Gin had tomorrow, he felt Gin was going to be in trouble.
Also, Chianti was already almost completely obedient to Usuha Izuki. Usuha Izuki himself was very good at causing trouble, just with poor initiative. With Chianti added... would this really be okay...
He didn't particularly hope the organization would do well, but he was very worried that the aftermath of Usuha Izuki's troublemaking would affect him!
No matter how speechless Bourbon and Scotland felt looking at the chat records, Chianti was very much looking forward to it.
She felt that hanging out with Usuha Izuki was obviously more interesting than hanging out with others.
Organization missions were just simple sniper assassinations. After all these years, that was all there was to it. But the things Usuha Izuki asked her to help with were always full of fun—she loved calling Gin an undercover agent to his face!
To prepare for the next day, Chianti even went out specifically to buy a handheld video camera with the best technical parameters currently available. Even though the organization wouldn't reimburse this expense, she was enthusiastic about it.
Usuha Izuki stopped Gin halfway the next day.
"You're going to that memorial service, right?" Usuha Izuki said without courtesy. "I need to find Vermouth. Give me a ride. I'm under that overpass behind you. I saw your car drive past just now."
Vodka, who answered the phone, habitually put it on speaker: "Um, we have business..."
"What business won't let you give me a ride? You can definitely turn around now!" Usuha Izuki asked suspiciously. "Are you going to meet with the FBI?"
Vodka was speechless: "No! We really have a mission!"
He was about to continue explaining when he suddenly found that Gin, who was driving, had actually turned around directly.
Vodka was shocked: "Boss?!"
Gin said coldly: "He's playing dumb. Vermouth definitely told him everything."
He had long discovered that Vermouth was very fond of this brat. Since Usuha Izuki knew where Vermouth was, Vermouth must have told him about his mission, and might have even revealed the mission content!
And if Usuha Izuki dared so brazenly interfere with his mission, he would most likely report to the Boss. If he didn't turn around now and waited for Usuha Izuki to bring out the Boss before turning around, it would be more troublesome!
"Ah, I've been found out." After hearing Gin's voice, Usuha Izuki indeed admitted it. "Gin is really smart. But why hasn't someone so smart found Sherry even now? Her disappearance was really orchestrated by you, wasn't it?"
Gin's grip on the steering wheel tightened again, but he soon relaxed and even gave a cold laugh: "Then you'll be disappointed."
This brat Usuha really came at the right time. He had just discovered traces of Sherry today.
"Hmm? You sound like you've made some discovery?" Usuha Izuki asked curiously.
Vodka thought of something and hesitated to speak.
Gin was focused on driving and looking ahead, so he didn't notice Vodka's expression. He just snorted: "I already know where Sherry is."
"...Riddlers get out of Beika Town." Usuha Izuki said coldly. "Vodka, you explain. How did he discover Sherry?"
Vodka stuttered: "Uh, my boss and I left for a while, and when we came back, we found a bug in the car, plus a strand of hair. Boss said it was Sherry's hair..."
Usuha Izuki: "...Huh? Seriously? You can identify someone from a single hair?"
Vodka: "Really."
"...Then Gin, you really are quite perverted." Usuha Izuki said sincerely. "I can see your car. Stop for a moment."
Gin waited coldly for Usuha Izuki to get in the car, then warned him: "You're not allowed to interfere with this mission, understand?"
His relationship with Usuha Izuki had always been poor. Previously, he didn't like talking in front of Usuha Izuki, but this time with a mission, he felt it was necessary to warn him to prevent Usuha Izuki from causing more trouble.
"Okay, I'll just watch." Usuha Izuki agreed readily.
Seeing such an obedient Usuha Izuki, Gin's mental alarms went off, his vigilance instantly maxed out, very much suspecting Usuha Izuki was preparing some big news.
"You're also not allowed to command others to interfere. If there's really a problem, have the Boss order me."
Usuha Izuki: "Okay, others can only watch too."
Gin looked at Usuha Izuki through the rearview mirror, feeling his suspicions were about to overflow, but he couldn't think of what Usuha Izuki planned to do. He had warned about everything he could, even bringing out the Boss...
...The Usuha Izuki in the rearview mirror was just typing away, revealing nothing.
After a while, Vodka felt his phone vibrate.
He was silent for several seconds, then took it out to check the email.
As expected, it was from Usuha Izuki.
This behavior of sending emails sneakily to communicate instead of speaking directly when they were clearly in the same car... made Vodka feel very uncomfortable. He knew without thinking it definitely wasn't anything good!
Vodka could even vaguely guess what Usuha Izuki wanted to say.
Vodka quietly glanced and saw that Gin was driving and not paying attention to him, so he couldn't help but open it.
[Do you really believe Gin can identify Sherry from a single hair? Choose between him being a pervert or him staging everything himself.]