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

The gunshot rang out suddenly, and none of the people present expected Aoyagi Akimitsu to suddenly launch an attack.

Bilson fell to the ground. The bullet hadn't hit a vital organ to kill him instantly; instead, it had struck his stomach. He could even feel the burning pain from the stomach acid rushing into his abdominal cavity, and every breath was accompanied by excruciating pain.

As a member of the organization, his physical and mental abilities were far superior to those of ordinary people. Despite being in such a terrible state, he managed to look at Aoyagi Akimitsu with great effort.

"You...you're not Gin at all!"

He had clearly heard Aoyagi Akimitsu's voice earlier.

Karasuma Mochizuki finally woke up with a start: "Who are you? Where did you put Gin?!"

Morofushi Kagemitsu and Edogawa Conan, who were behind the machine, were also dumbfounded.

They could hear sounds, but couldn't see the outside scene. They didn't know what had happened that made Aoyagi Akimitsu, who was disguised so well, choose to expose his identity directly.

The next second, they knew the answer—

"Get down!"

Upon hearing Aoyagi Akimitsu's shout, Morofushi Kagemitsu, without a second thought, immediately staggered to the ground, shielding Edogawa Conan beneath him.

"boom--!!"

A deafening explosion rang out right above their heads!

……

A loud noise came from the forest, echoing far into the night.

Startled, countless birds resting in the woods flapped their wings and flew into the night sky.

A figure walking alone on the path had clearly heard the commotion, and looked up with a slight frown. The bright moonlight filtered through the gaps in the trees, falling on the long, silvery-white hair.

Gin watched the direction from which the commotion came warily, his hand instinctively reaching into his pocket to grip the only weapon he could trust at that moment, the only weapon that some bastard had left him before he left.

Seemingly realizing something, he clicked his tongue softly.

……

Gin and Aoyagi Akihiro have fought quite a few times.

When they first met, Aoyagi Akimitsu was ten years old and Gin was fifteen. By the time Aoyagi Akimitsu left for his uncle's house, he was fourteen and Gin was nineteen. They had countless fights together.

The difference in physical strength and experience during his teenage years allowed Gin to easily dominate Aoyagi Akihiro.

However now—

"boom!"

Gin drew his gun and fired with incredible speed; the Beretta bullets flew out rapidly. Aoyagi Akimitsu merely shifted his stance slightly, allowing the bullets to whiz past him.

"Don't get so agitated." He dodged the bullets, spread his unarmed hands, and said softly, "Let's sit down and talk. I have something to ask of you."

Gin was extremely wary of Aoyagi Akimitsu, who had stopped his car in the forest in the middle of the night: "How did you know I was in Gunma?"

Aoyagi Akimitsu seemed completely unaware of his vigilance: "Why don't you just ask someone in the organization about this? There are so many eyes watching you right now."

"........."

Thinking about his recent situation within the organization, Gin's forehead twitched slightly, and his gaze toward Aoyagi Akimitsu held an even fiercer glint.

The latter was unconcerned by his attitude. With a flick of his right hand, he pulled out a folding knife from his sleeve and unfolded it naturally.

"Sigh, enough nonsense, Gin. I have something to do and I'm in a hurry." Aoyagi Akimitsu took the initiative. "Now listen to what I need to ask of you. Don't make me say it a third time, okay?"

His response was a bullet that Gin mercilessly fired right between his eyebrows!
Aoyagi Akimitsu turned his head to the right and easily dodged again. Not only that, but he also smiled inexplicably in Gin's direction during the dodge.

Gin's heart skipped a beat; he instinctively sensed danger and wanted to avoid it.

But it was too late.

Something suddenly wrapped around and bound his feet, causing him to lose his balance. Just as Gin was about to roll over and get back up, Aoyagi Akimitsu appeared as if by magic, instantly closing the distance between them and disassembling his Beretta.

Gin was furious. He grabbed the man in front of him by the collar, but he didn't expect there to be a cliff behind him. The two of them fell down together in that position, each holding onto the other.

Not to be outdone, Aoyagi Akimitsu immediately plunged a dagger into Gin's abdomen, avoiding a vital spot. His free hand also reached out and grabbed Gin's hair, pulling him forcefully towards himself.

"Boom!"

The two fell to the ground one on top of the other; the cliff was not very high.

Aoyagi Akimitsu breathed a sigh of relief and sat up. He moved his hands and feet to make sure he was alright except for a little pain, before he started to worry about Gin, whom he had just dragged over to be a temporary human cushion.

"Gin, my good friend, are you alright?"

He took Gin's left hand, pinched all four fingers except the thumb into his dominant hand, and anxiously patted the dust off the back of his hand.

With his body pinned down, his feet bound by an unknown object, and his dominant hand firmly restrained, Gin thought, "…………"

Knowing that the person in front of him was strong enough to kill an adult brown bear with his bare hands, Gin slowly calmed down.

He maintained this posture, gazing at Aoyagi Akimitsu, whose face still held a smile.

"Stop laughing, your laughter makes me want to throw up," Gin couldn't help but mock.

Aoyagi Akimitsu said, "Then you'd better hold it in. If you throw up like this, you'll end up lying on your own vomit." Gin stopped beating around the bush and asked directly, "What exactly do you want?"

The two stayed at the foot of the cliff. There were no trees nearby, and the moonlight fell directly on Aoyagi Binguang's body and hair, but his expression was completely hidden in the shadows.

Gin noticed a glint of green in his hair; the emerald that had supposedly been sent back to Russia was still tied to his hair.

He heard him say, "What I want to do, what I want to do... As someone who has known me for over ten years, don't you know?"

Gin remained subtly silent for a moment.

“Anatole was suffering from severe kidney failure due to a genetic disease before he died,” he said. “Given your mother’s condition, he would have died even sooner if he had stayed there all these years.”

Gin is very straightforward; even in such a dangerous situation, he still speaks the truth.

In his eyes, the twins were amazing. The older brother was mentally strong but physically weak. Even with the support of medication, he completely lost his mobility after completing that trip to Vienna at the age of sixteen and could only rely on a wheelchair.

The younger brother may not be as mentally capable as his older brother, but he has always been very strong.

Even more remarkably, these two vastly different twins never harbored any resentment towards each other. This was something that Gin, who had witnessed so many family members killing each other and brothers turning against each other within the organization, found very difficult to accept.

Gin stared directly at Aoyagi Akimitsu, still unable to discern the other's expression, and continued:

Even if you are willing to give him a kidney transplant and it is successful, his body still won't last more than a few years, and in the end you will also suffer from a bad body.

Three years ago, Anatoly was recuperating in Canada. His health was extremely poor at the time, and he needed a kidney transplant.

The world's first successful organ transplant was performed on a pair of twin brothers. Twins with the same DNA are always the best match.

Aoyagi Akimitsu was willing to be the donor. He quickly ran to apply to withdraw from the hostage rescue team because after losing an organ, he could no longer engage in such strenuous physical activity.

But the surgery could not be performed because Anatoly had died before that could happen.

“He actually committed suicide,” Gin said sharply, “so as not to be a burden to you, so as not to make you lose your greatest advantage.”

"At the same time, to avoid angering Goldvasel, he set up a trap before he died, taking away a high-ranking official that Goldvasel had always wanted to get rid of, and also involving several suspicious members, giving him a legitimate opportunity to carry out a major purge in North America—which also gave you motivation, because with your personality, if he died at the hands of an undercover agent, you would be like a mad dog, finding and tearing apart all the undercover agents in the organization."

"Only in this way will the organization keep you around because you are still useful, since you have lost your weakness."

Gin paused, then gave a soft, cold snort: "It's truly remarkable that someone who was lying in a hospital bed, too weak even to eat, would go to such lengths to keep you alive. What a pity..."

Aoyagi Akimitsu looked at him.

Faced with Aoyagi Akimitsu's reaction, Gin didn't finish his sentence.

Aoyagi Akimitsu calmly replied, "I know."

“That’s my brother. How could I not know what he’s thinking?” His gaze met Gin’s. “I also know that I’m only alive because of Godivassel, the person I hate the most. Otherwise, my brother and I, as the son of an undercover agent, would have been killed when we were found back then.”

"I don't care what his purpose is—since he dared to let me live, he must be prepared to be torn to pieces along with the organization, right?"

Aoyagi Akimitsu spoke in a soft tone.

He stood up from the ground, simultaneously pulling out the knife that was stuck in Gin's body. He hadn't stabbed him deeply, so he didn't treat the wound and simply tucked the knife back into his sleeve.

"Goldvasser recently gave me a Ferrari Dino 206GT."

Gin, whose body had finally relaxed, suddenly sat up, but he still couldn't stand up because his feet were bound with a spotted ribbon.

When the ribbon saw him move, it hissed and spat out its tongue at him as a threat.

He noticed what Aoyagi Akimitsu said, and realizing something, he said, "That car is..."

"A memento presented by the founder of Ferrari to his eldest son who died of kidney failure."

Aoyagi Binguang remained calm.

"They were both eldest sons, both died young, and both suffered from kidney failure... I guess he felt that giving me such a 'gift' must be full of sentimental value."

Gin didn't say anything more.

"Alright, let's get down to business now."

Aoyagi Akimitsu looked at him again, and that familiar smile that was obviously a disguise reappeared on his face.

“If it were my brother, he would have killed you on the spot.” He said very gently, “But I’m different. I’m kind-hearted and soft-hearted. I can’t bear to see my good friends suffer, and I can’t bear to hurt my own good friends with my own hands… Most importantly, you took care of my brother, and I have to repay that kindness.”

Gin felt the pain in his abdominal wound, but this time he didn't feel nauseous because he knew that what the other person said was true.

Aoyagi Akimitsu raised his hand and gently brushed his long silver hair aside, as if he were pondering something.

“Now, here, take off your clothes,” he said. “I want 'Gin'.”

……

In the woods.

Gin, having finished reminiscing, looked away and pulled his brand-new black trench coat tighter around himself. All the blood and wounds on his body had been treated.

At the same time, he heard a familiar police siren in the distance.

"Finally, here's a friendly reminder: there are problems within the Nagano Prefectural Police, and they might even be hostile towards me, a diplomat investigating a case. They'll be deploying a large number of officers tonight, so if you don't want to run into them head-on, you'd better take a back road."

Gin pulled his hat down low and hurried away as the sirens grew closer. (End of Chapter)