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

Faced with his daughter's question, Karasuma Mochizuki remained silent.

Over the years, she had always granted her every request, even when she wanted to marry someone in America for love, or marry someone connected to the organization; in the end, she still agreed.

There has been only one exception over the years: she has always been resolute in her stance on whether or not to reveal the existence of the organization, and has firmly refused to tell anyone.

Before, Karasuma Sakura was too young, and she didn't want her to know about these dark aspects; but now, she dares not—

How can she tell her daughter that her peaceful life is all an illusion, and that her mother, brother, husband, and almost all her relatives are actually executioners with blood on their hands?

How could she dare to tell such a cruel truth to her daughter, whom she had raised with such care?
“Sakura.” Karasuma Mochizuki gazed at her daughter, her voice gentle. “You should know that Akimitsu was only brought back by his father when he was ten years old. Before that, he lived with his mother and brother.”

“He is under a lot of pressure right now. He can’t choose his true interests in his studies, and his twin brother, with whom he has a very good relationship, is having health problems. Your brother is usually busy with work and doesn’t have much time to spend with him and Anatoly, so it’s normal for him to be angry with his father.”

“Boys tend to have bigger tempers than girls during puberty. Your brother was also very rebellious at that age, which I couldn’t understand.”

Karasuma Mochizuki avoided addressing his daughter's real questions and instead steered the conversation towards issues related to a teenager's development.

"By the way, I remember you told me that Binguang would help take care of Hina, right?" she asked casually. "How's he doing now?"

When her daughter was mentioned, Karasuma Sakura's attention immediately shifted: "He's very good to Hina. Not long ago, there was a shooting at Hina's school, and he arrived at the school before Perrin and me, and brought Hina home safely."

Seemingly recalling what happened, a look of lingering fear appeared on her face: "It was truly terrifying. A wanted criminal had actually infiltrated the school and opened fire on the students. It was one of the deadliest school shootings in the United States in recent years."

Karasuma Mochizuki: "..."

Wait, she seems to remember...

"Artemis is quite unbalanced in his studies. He is very dependent on his brother and usually treats his brain as decoration. However, he has a great talent for martial arts, which is completely unlike me."

"Just a few days ago, the kid Gin was taking care of, I think his name was Shiho Miyano? and another kid he picked up from Japan were being bullied at school, so he sneaked in and killed all of them... With so many people running around the school, he was able to find and kill them one by one with perfect accuracy. His marksmanship is really good."

"—He also killed a few police officers who came to the scene. I heard him complaining to Gin that they were more difficult to deal with than the Japanese police, that they liked to shoot directly, and that they almost hit him..."

"The police brought them back that day. When they got out of the car, Bin Guang said goodbye to them and asked them to find the criminal as soon as possible. The policeman said that he had seen many drug-using troubled teenagers, but he had not seen such a polite child in a long time."

"Although I understand his concern for Hina, I still scolded him after he went inside. He was too impulsive, running to school like that. What if he got into danger too?"

The voice of Godivasel in the memory overlaps with the voice of Karasuma Sakura in reality.

"After being scolded, the kid looked aggrieved and whine to me, saying he was agile and bullets couldn't hit him at all... Honestly, he's such a grown man, yet he's still so naive. Does he think he can dodge bullets like a secret agent in a movie?"

Karasuma Sakura let out a long sigh.

Karasuma Mochizuki looked at his daughter's half-complaining, half-helpless smile, and secretly clenched his hands on his knees.

...Indeed, not telling her was the right thing to do.

Not only her mother, brother, and husband, but now she also treats her beloved nephew and adopted son as her own, turning her into a master of disguise and a demon with countless lives on her hands.

……

When people are engrossed in their work, time always seems to fly by. This was especially true for Karasuma Mochizuki.

Several years later, Gin brought Shiho Miyano back to Japan. This young girl, who was only one year older than his granddaughter, was given the code name "Sherry" and inherited her parents' research.

Karasuma Renya handed over the drug research to Gin. Karasuma Mochizuki knew that the other party was probably dissatisfied because of her lack of progress over the past few years, so she did not refuse and readily handed over the work to the young man.

Watching the other person examine the drug information, she belatedly realized that Anisette was behind it.

Aniset, this is the code name shared by the brothers Anatoly and Artemis. Few people know that they are twins; outsiders believe there is only one person, Gin's partner.

"What will happen to Anisette now that you've come to Japan?"

Gin glanced at her.

This young assassin, who had already made a fearsome name for himself in the organization, seemed cold-blooded, but he was not actually bloodthirsty—none of Goldwasser's men were psychopaths who enjoyed killing—and he even had enough patience to explain himself to others.

Considering her status and right to know this, Gin spoke up: "The older one has developed symptoms of kidney failure and has been hospitalized. He will no longer need to perform any missions from now on."

Karasuma Mochizuki's brow twitched slightly.

If she remembered correctly, Anatoly was only twenty-two years old this year.

"What about the smaller one?"

Gin remained expressionless: "If you follow the news from New York, you'll know that he flipped a pickup truck over with his bare hands and threw it several meters away to stop a prisoner from escaping, and was subsequently suspended from duty for such an impulsive act—if it weren't for Goldwasser, he would already be making headlines and a real-life superhero."

Karasuma Mochizuki: "…………"

Gin was clearly used to his two brothers getting into trouble. After he finished speaking, he lowered his head and continued reading, but stopped abruptly when he saw a certain document.

Karasuma Mochizuki also snapped out of her reverie about the starkly different physical conditions of her two grandsons. Noticing Gin's pause, she asked, "What's wrong?"

Gin pulled out a portion and placed it on the table: "What's the situation with the Takeuchi family?"

She looked at the document, at the blackbird symbolizing the family crest on the white paper, and her voice was calm:
"Seeing that the medication wasn't making any progress, they resorted to some underhanded tactics."

Karasuma Mochizuki had a neutral opinion of the Takeuchi family. In terms of wealth, it couldn't compare to the Karasuma family or the Suzuki family. If her older sister Yoko hadn't married into the family, she wouldn't have cared about it at all.

Her gaze shifted from the document about the Takeuchi family conducting additional experiments at a semi-abandoned old base and their plans to establish a large hospital in Gunma, and returned to Gin:
“The Takeuchi family is also his descendant in this generation. It might be a bit troublesome for you to handle it. Leave it to me.”

As one of Karasuma Renya's most trusted confidants in recent years, Gin was well aware of the situation of Karasuma Mochizuki and the Takeuchi family, both of whom were the kind of people who relied on connections that pragmatists disliked the most.

He nodded almost imperceptibly: "Understood."

……

I haven't finished writing yet; I underestimated my procrastination.

I've been so unlucky lately. It seems like my teeth always have problems before exams. I had a root canal done around this time last year, and this year I need to do two. Besides that, I've got several more cavities... (End of Chapter)