Conan: I'm really not the mastermind behind the scenes

The system only provides automatic Japanese translation for players. Kazuya Miwa could barely recognize that it was Russian, but he couldn't understand what the words meant.

However, he quickly recalled the case on the streets of Shibuya that afternoon, as well as the plot of another theatrical version mentioned in the group chat, and soon made a guess.

"you……"

Kazuya Miwa spoke up, looking at Akimitsu Aoyagi: "What's your opinion on retaliation in kind?"

Aoyagi Akimitsu was replying on his phone. He knew the other person couldn't understand it, so he didn't bother to avoid his gaze and typed out a string of Russian: "Hmm?"

"Both Sherlock Holmes and Poirot feature detectives who let criminals go free. The victims were also criminals, and since the perpetrators could not be brought to justice through legal means, they resorted to vigilante justice to take revenge themselves."

Kazuya Miwa cautiously glanced at Akihiro Aoyagi's expression: "What do you think of this behavior?"

As expected, Aoyagi Akimitsu did not show any mockery or fear on his face.

He showed neither the disdain of an outlaw for legal judgment nor the anxiety of a novice prisoner about the guillotine falling; he simply put down his phone.

"Kazuya, can you answer one question for me first?"

"what?"

“You grew up in a peaceful environment, didn’t you?” Seeing Kazuya Miwa nod, Aoyagi Akimitsu continued, “Then, in your heart, what is the essence of law?”

"The essence of law is that it is a tool for the ruling class to achieve class rule."

Kazuya Miwa, who had studied politics and prepared for some exams after graduation, spoke fluently without hesitation.

“Yes.” Aoyagi Akihiro nodded. “So you yourself know very well that its essence has nothing to do with fairness or justice; what it pursues is ‘stability’.”

"Many people reject private revenge, believing that it should be judged by law in order to maintain national stability. After all, if everyone takes matters into their own hands, social order will be completely disrupted."

"Compared to a nation, the injustice and suffering of a segment of the population can be completely ignored. This is the regrettable and necessary sacrifice... and this is why retaliatory revenge is born."

He chuckled softly, his voice gentle.

Kazuya Miwa felt as if something had stabbed his heart.

In fact, he is a supporter of retaliation. In the past, when he discussed with [Arrogance] the scientists' research on addictive drugs to retaliate against the entire Japanese society, he said that he understood it.

But this time, upon hearing Aoyagi Akimitsu's words, he felt slightly uncomfortable.

Aoyagi Akimitsu glanced at the books next to Miwa Kazuya: "You're asking this because you want to write this kind of story?"

"Correct."

Kazuya Miwa nodded hesitantly.

Writing a story based on the Junior Detective League is not easy. He recently sought information from them, but the stories he received were not very interesting. This time, he had to come up with the plot himself.

"I... want to write a revenge team. Their relatives and friends are murdered, and then they gather together to carry out revenge. According to the traditional view of good and evil, the ending is that the protagonist talks a lot and makes them give up their hatred, but I want them to succeed and then escape."

Aoyagi Akimitsu pondered for a moment: "The editor won't agree. The protagonist of the novel is a teenager, and most of the readers are teenagers too. They won't allow such values ​​to be conveyed. Unless..."

"Unless what?" Kazuya Miwa asked hastily.

"If we write it as a long-running story, their escape will set the stage for an even bigger story."

Kazuya Miwa frowned: "That's certainly possible, but the escape plot has to be reasonable. We can't portray the protagonist and the police as idiots... Someone is secretly helping them, and that person is the mastermind behind it all. Is that a good way to write it?"

"of course can."

Aoyagi Akimitsu nodded calmly and patiently asked, "What kind of villain do you specifically want to write about?"

Kazuya Miwa humbly asked for help: "What's your opinion?"

"I personally prefer two."

Aoyagi Binguang showed a thoughtful expression.

"One possibility is that this revenge team was instigated by him to seek revenge. He jumped out and said he could give them advice, and they believed him. Their hatred was a part of his manipulation from the very beginning."

"There's another way..."

He paused for a moment: "Although he has done all sorts of bad things, this revenge has nothing to do with him. He just happened to learn about their existence and started paying attention. Because he was interested in some of them, he ended up helping them out."

After Aoyagi Akimitsu finished speaking, he turned to Miwa Kazuya: "Which one do you want?"

Kazuya Miwa felt his fingers stiffen slightly again.

"The second one, I suppose."

He managed to say, "It has a little bit of humanity. The first one is too cold-blooded; the entire revenge team is just a bunch of clowns."

It's even possible that this person killed their own family members, and the so-called target of revenge is just a scapegoat.

Aoyagi Akimitsu neither agreed nor disagreed, but continued to offer his opinion: "If it is the second type, then we need to focus on the portrayal of the group, so that those people have the value of being saved."

"for example?"

"For example, having a special identity... or being exceptionally capable."

Aoyagi Akimitsu stated in a statement of fact:
"They can gather Avengers from multiple countries, collectively infiltrate another unfamiliar country, acquire a large number of weapons, and establish a base to accommodate so many people. Without prior warning, local authorities would have no way of detecting their presence."

Kazuya Miwa couldn't help but say, "They almost fooled the officials? That's like cheating!"

"...When I said they couldn't detect it, I was just giving background information and not praising them for being particularly capable. At its peak, there were nearly 300,000 foreigners illegally staying in Japan, but after inspections, that number dropped to 70,000. The authorities have always been pretty incompetent."

"I'm sorry." Miwa Kazuya, unaware of the situation in Japan, bowed his head in apology.

At the same time, he silently reviewed Aoyagi Akimitsu's description in his mind.

Foreigners, stealthily infiltrating another country, can acquire ample weapons and operate covertly as small armed groups...

The only people capable of doing something like this, besides organized and trained terrorists, are probably... right?
Kazuya Miwa stopped speculating. He had a vague feeling that Akihiro Aoyagi was preparing something, but his intuition told him that he shouldn't ask now.

"Are you afraid of me?"

As Kazuya Miwa struggled with his decision, Aoyagi Akimitsu's voice came from the side.

He stiffly turned his gaze and saw his teammate sighing:
“Anyone else would be happy to hear that I’m willing to be honest, so why are you afraid to ask anything? Do you think I’d kill you? We’re both players, we have protective auras, you should know I can’t hurt you.” Aoyagi Akimitsu’s tone was troubled, as if he were walking down the street and casually tossing something to a stray cat, only to have the cat turn around and run away out of war.

Miwa didn't think he genuinely wanted to get along with him. This player with the ID "Rage" was usually very good at faking his emotions.

But the other party's bluntness dispelled the unease that Miwa Kazuya had been building up, and he suddenly blurted out:

"Then can you tell me why you would throw another person into a nuclear-contaminated area?"

Kazuya Miwa looked at Akimitsu Aoyagi, a question that had been lingering in his mind ever since he saw the news that afternoon. He desperately wanted to know the answer, a feeling so intense that it even overshadowed his inner unease.

He asked again:

"You can't possibly not know what nuclear power means. If you want to harm people, you can just kill them, or even slowly drown them like you did with Eto... Why throw them into a place like that?"

Aoyagi Binguang showed no sign of unease.

“Finally, we’ve hit the nail on the head,” he sighed. “But this key point may have absolutely nothing to do with your current doubts.”

Aoyagi Akimitsu used a helpless tone, as if he saw a struggling student finally willing to prepare for the exam, only to end up reviewing the wrong subjects:
"Do you think I have some kind of antisocial personality disorder, that I enjoy abusing others, or even that I find pleasure in killing? Did you dump this person in a contaminated area just for fun?"

...Isn't that so?

Miwa also said this quietly in his heart.

"You misunderstood me."

Aoyagi Akimitsu pressed his temple: "Leaving aside things that can be done directly, harming or killing people in other situations is quite energy-consuming, so unless there is a need, I will not do these things on my own initiative."

"Just like when you were providing relationship counseling in school, if it weren't for the payment, would you willingly go over and listen to them pour out hours of emotional garbage that raises your blood pressure?"

Kazuya Miwa: "..."

...That's the logic, but can these two things be compared?
“I have to correct you on two points,” Aoyagi Akimitsu said. “First, it wasn’t me who moved the people in there. I was in Shibuya at the time, but my main body was at the Metropolitan Police Department. Second, moving people into the contaminated site doesn’t actually count as harming them.”

Kazuya Miwa was taken aback at first, then a surge of anger rose within him: "This isn't considered harming people?! Do you even know what the consequences of nuclear contamination accidents are?"

This was the second time he had been this angry.

The first time was when he was arrested and interrogated by the police; the second time is now. In the past, when Hojo Tobika was bothering him, he was just annoyed, not angry.

When Kazuya Miwa first saw the news that morning, he treated it as just another spectacle. After all, revenge killings were common in Tokyo, especially in Beika, and many police officers had died in the line of duty. He was used to it.

It wasn't until the afternoon when news reports came in that one person had died and the other had been hospitalized, the latter having been rescued from Donghai Village, that Miwa Kazuya began to feel uneasy.

Of course, this wasn't because he suddenly became kind and started to sympathize with others who were injured or dying, but rather...

He knew all too well what this kind of accident really meant.

"I know. Of course it's not about harming anyone."

Aoyagi Akimitsu took in Miwa Kazuya's expression.

"If I really wanted to harm someone, I should have placed him in a crowded place, so that everyone would come into contact with his body, which had been exposed to high levels of radiation and had become a radioactive source, and everyone would be in trouble."

“But I didn’t do that.”

Aoyagi Akimitsu spoke in a light and airy tone.

"He was specially sent to the contaminated site. People entering there are fully equipped with protective gear, and medical staff are also fully prepared before providing treatment. The harm is minimized."

"The person who was sent in was not a good person. He was a juvenile delinquent who had been released from prison and had been roaming the streets since adulthood. Many shopkeepers and passersby were harassed by him... No innocent people suffered in this incident."

Kazuya Miwa remained silent for a moment.

"...What about the location of the accident?" he asked in a low voice. "Once a nuclear accident occurs, the surrounding area will be contaminated, and residents will have to evacuate, but I haven't found any related reports."

Aoyagi Akimitsu glanced at him again.

"It doesn't matter."

The player, who was pure black from the start, comforted them, saying, "There's no need to evacuate. No innocent people will suffer in that place either."

……

Somewhere in Tokyo.

Rum left the organization's base and was escorted back to his residence on the outskirts of Tokyo by his trusted bodyguard.

The location here is quite remote and completely isolated from the outside world. The nearest neighbor is three kilometers away, so there's no need to worry about strangers wandering in.

Rum told them to drive the car directly underground; the villa above was just a cover, and his real residence was an underground base with multiple safe evacuation routes.

"Mr. Rum, tomorrow..."

The driver had barely opened his mouth when Rum raised his hand to interrupt him.

“Don’t bother picking me up, I’ve already made an appointment with ‘that person’,” he said coldly. “Her people will be coming tomorrow.”

The bodyguard in the passenger seat was shocked: "You...you really contacted those people over there? She's that person's—"

"Shut up!"

Rum's face hardened as he reprimanded him.

The driver and bodyguard were brainwashed from childhood, so their loyalty was higher than that of Curaçao, who was exposed to the virus as an adult. However, in terms of usability and comprehension, they were far inferior to the confidants in those two organizations.

Thinking of his trusted confidant, he immediately thought of Glenn, this reliable subordinate who would head straight to Nagano Prefecture after completing his programming assignments for the following week.

Rum felt he should give a few more instructions; he'd been too hasty at the base. So he took out his phone and started composing an email.

[Monitor Gin's movements. If he leaves Tokyo, notify him immediately...]

He quickly edited the email.

But just as he was about to press the send button, he suddenly noticed that the signal bars on the screen were zero. There was no signal. (End of Chapter)