Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 477 Vermouth's Resolve

"Hey! What are you doing? Why did you let her go? Who is she? Is she a member of that organization codenamed Vermouth? What exactly is this relationship you're talking about? Why is she concerned about my safety? Did... she tell you?"

Conan then asked Shiraishi a series of questions.

However, Shiraishi was busy operating the computer and didn't pay attention to him, only replying perfunctorily, "It should be Vermouth. As for the relationship... I don't know either. Just consider me an informant."

"What do you mean by 'just consider'?" Conan asked excitedly.

"Maybe our families are old friends," Shiraishi said casually.

Shiraishi's attention was focused on the Black Organization's database, which had already been downloaded and was now searching for various wine names!

"What family friend would care so much about my safety? And since she's a member of the Black Organization, why would she care about family friends?" Conan didn't accept this explanation.

“Maybe your dad is the boss of the Black Organization, and Vermouth is your dad’s personal secretary.” Shiraishi brought up an “old rumor.”

"What do you mean by 'maybe'? Your dad is the boss of the Black Organization!" Conan couldn't help but retort.

"Ah..." Shiraishi paused for a moment, then said regretfully, "It seems Gin has already received the news."

The system is now unable to search, and a white mask has appeared on the screen—the Dark Baron has begun his work!

Fortunately, Shiraishi had already downloaded the necessary materials.

"Have you found any members of the Black Organization?" Conan asked.

“No, Pisco has no authority over any of them,” Shiraishi said, shaking his head.

"Didn't you try several?" Conan said unwillingly.

“The Black Organization is, after all, an international criminal organization. Most of its members should not be in the Eastern Island Country. Not to mention those with higher authority than Pisco, members from other countries would not be shown to him. The probability of him being fooled is not high,” Shiraishi said matter-of-factly.

When Shiraishi led Conan back to the hotel lobby, most of the people had already left—it was true that Inspector Megure had arrested Kenzo Masuyama, but Shiraishi had used a recording…

"Shin-chan!" Yukiko hugged her son tightly when she saw that he was alright.

"Don't call me Shin-chan..." Conan protested softly.

Ai, dressed as Conan, saw Conan wearing a wig with her own hairstyle, his head almost bald and revealing his original hair. She quickly took off Conan's wig when no one else was around.

"What's wrong with his hair?" Ai couldn't help but ask.

"The enemy was really too ruthless. That huge iron gate just grazed right over our heads..." Bai Shi said with emotion.

Conan: ...

Conan glared at him but didn't say anything.

Without a word, Conan could guess that even if he argued back, Shiraishi would just say, "If the enemy hadn't so viciously locked the door, would I have kicked it away?"

"By the way, do those bad guys believe that Ai isn't the person they're looking for?" Yukiko asked, releasing Conan at that moment.

All the tears stopped instantly...

Conan: ...

Could you perform a little longer?
“I think… um.” Conan said, looking at Shiraishi.

Kenzo Masuyama completely believed it; the "Sister of Shiraishi" looked exactly like Conan in disguise. He felt a pang of regret, thinking he had mistaken her for someone else.

However, Vermouth, who was disguised as a waitress, clearly saw through her disguise and is likely to suspect Ai's identity...

"I guess we've managed to keep it a secret for now... Sister Yukiko, do Mr. and Mrs. Takeru know Chris Vineyard?" Shiraishi asked directly at this point.

"Who is that?" Conan asked in return.

“An American actress… who was also the only guest who went missing after the evacuation, and was never found,” Shiraishi said.

Since the murderer had already been caught, and Shiraishi hadn't mentioned that "his accomplice might be disguised," Megure assumed that the accomplice was a man who had infiltrated the hotel and didn't take the actress's disappearance seriously—after all, she was a public figure, and she might have left to avoid trouble... This possibility is entirely valid!
Although they couldn't help but complain in their hearts that "Americans are so lax and undisciplined," they wouldn't treat this as a "missing person case" unless someone reported it to the police later.

"Chris? Is that Chris?" Yukiko asked in surprise.

Hearing his mother's tone, Conan couldn't help but ask, "Mom, do you really know her?"

Conan was wondering if the actor was a temporary replacement, but judging from his mother's reaction, she obviously knew him!

“I know her… well, I wouldn’t say I know her, we’ve never spoken directly, but… she’s Sharon’s daughter, Aunt Sharon, you remember her, right?” Yukiko said, looking at Conan.

“Aunt Sharon?” Conan then remembered Sharon, the American actress who was a friend of his mother’s and whom he had met a year ago when he and Ran went to the United States.

Is it...

Is it really because of their "family friendship"?

Is he really that loyal?
"Wait, Aunt Sharon's daughter...you didn't say anything?" Conan then realized—Mom and Aunt Sharon should be very close.

“Because Sharon’s relationship with her daughter was always very tense, and Sharon rarely communicated with her during her lifetime, I only saw her once from afar at Sharon’s funeral. However… she seemed to keep me at arm’s length, so I didn’t go up to greet her.” Yukiko said helplessly, seemingly lamenting her friend’s passing while also worrying about her friend’s family affairs.

Conan:? ? ?
That doesn't make sense, does it?
Her relationship with her mother is just so-so, so why would she protect me so fiercely just because her mother and my mom have a good relationship?

Conan immediately realized something was wrong.

"Wait... Could it be... Mom, how long have you known Sharon?" Conan stopped calling her "Auntie."

"How long ago? It should be... ten years ago, when I started learning disguise from my teacher, I met Sharon..." Yukiko recalled.

"Disguise?" Conan was completely stunned and immediately asked, "Did she learn it better than you?"

"Shin-chan!" Yukiko glared at her son angrily, but seeing his anxious look, she weakly said, "Then... be a little bit better than me."

"Disguise... I see... I'm afraid... um?" Conan suddenly paused, then asked his mother to confirm, "How old is Sharon exactly?"

"Huh? Let me do the math, she's twelve or thirteen years older than me..." Yukiko muttered to herself.

Upon hearing this, Conan immediately said, "Fifty years old?"

Yukiko:! ! !

"Shin-chan..." Yukiko's veins throbbed as her age was indirectly revealed.

However, Conan didn't have time to worry about that at the moment. Instead, he muttered to himself, "So, which one is the real age, Sharon or Chris... That's right! Sharon only learned disguise ten years ago. Before that, her appearance wouldn't have been concealed much. In other words, her age and appearance when she met her mother ten years ago were real. Chris must have been disguised later..." Conan analyzed.

"Shin-chan, what are you talking about? What happened to Sharon?" Yukiko asked, concerned.

“I guess… Sharon… should also be a member of that organization! Chris is just a fictional identity of hers!” Conan seemed to be guessing, but his tone was very certain.

Shiraishi really wanted to say that Vermouth might have also used APTX4869...

Logically speaking, as a core member of the organization, Vermouth would not have any reason to use herself as a human experiment, especially one that would almost certainly result in death.

Although Shiraishi remembered that before the time travel, most viewers assumed that Bayonetta was experiencing premature aging, logically speaking, "disguise" was more likely, so Shiraishi remained silent...

"What? Sharon... is still alive?" Yukiko felt a mix of disbelief and delight.

But Conan was still puzzled...

Is Sharon really protecting herself just because she's friends with her mother?
Conan then looked at Shiraishi and said, "Did you already know that Vermouth was Sharon?"

"I don't know," Shiraishi said frankly—he really didn't know, or rather... he forgot.

Hearing Conan "checking accounts" with his mother here, Shiraishi finally remembered this matter.

"By the way, Ai, you must have seen Vermouth when she was young, right?" Shiraishi asked deliberately—Ai had pretended to be an old lady with him before.

but……

It's now been confirmed by Shiraishi and Conan that she's actually the same age as Gina!

Ai probably already guessed it, and at this moment she rolled her eyes at Shiraishi—after all, she was the one who reminded Shiraishi to prioritize copying data and to use a MO disk... It was easy to guess that since this guy had discovered the "computer with access," he would definitely take a look at his data.

"In short, under my intimidation, even if Vermouth has doubts, she certainly wouldn't dare to tell the organization. Besides, at most, she only has doubts," Shiraishi said sternly.

Conan: ...

Is that intimidation? It feels more like a threat to me! And... I'm the "hostage"!

Upon hearing this, Ai breathed a sigh of relief.

“In that case… hopefully Pisco was in contact with Gin before he was arrested,” Ai said expectantly.

From Pisco's perspective, Shiraishi's sister only has a similar hairstyle to Ai Haibara, but they don't have the same face at all. So if he had contacted Gin, he would probably have shared this information and completely believed that Shiraishi was "fishing".

If he hasn't contacted Gin yet, then he's taken the bait for nothing!

"By the way, was it Inspector Megure who took the person away just now?" Shiraishi asked Ai to confirm.

After informing Inspector Megure to make the arrest, Shiraishi went to find the wine cellar...

"No, another group of mysterious people came and took Pisco away... Judging from Inspector Megure's reaction, it must be those people." Ai was also wary of the Public Security Bureau.

Once Ai's identity is discovered, not only will the Black Organization be unable to protect her, but... if the Public Security Bureau finds out, Shiraishi might also be unable to protect her!

The former is because "it's easy to be a thief for a thousand days, but difficult to guard against thieves for a thousand days." Shiraishi could easily handle one or two assassination attempts, but continuous assassinations would eventually fail. The latter is due to the influence of the Public Security Bureau on the police system...

Shiraishi is the head of the Beika Police Station and a superintendent of police, so the only way to deal with him is by assassination. However, Shiraishi is physically immune to assassination. But if Shiraishi is a criminal and they actually use modern weapons, Shiraishi will be in trouble.

However, Shiraishi had anticipated that Pisco would be taken away by the police.

Even if I didn't notify them at the beginning, the police would certainly have heard about such a big event as an explosion at a famous director's memorial service.

Bai Shi felt more at ease having the police take him away...

Shiraishi didn't believe that the Public Security Bureau could guarantee Pisco's safety; rather, he felt that this would at least ensure the safety of Inspector Megure and the others.

It's too dangerous to have ordinary detectives arrest the official members of the Black Organization!

If Pisco, a veteran of the Black Organization, were to be arrested, Gin would undoubtedly be sharpening his knives...

……

Just as Shiraishi had predicted, Gin was currently in front of Vermouth, berating Pisco...

"That idiot Pisco, so experienced, yet his methods are so childish! It's one thing that he failed to silence me, but he was also led astray by Shiraishi Kuro's scheme, exposing his identity for nothing and almost revealing the computer he had access to!" Gin was also very angry.

The last time Pisco contacted him was to tell him "there was a mistake," "it has the same hairstyle as Shirley," and "it really does look a bit like Shirley when she was little"...

Gin thought so too!

After all, Gin had no idea about "shrinking," so he naturally interpreted Shiraishi's sister's hairstyle as "provocation."

"He actually thinks Sherry might turn back into a child? That's absurd!" Gin said angrily as he assembled the sniper rifle.

At the same time, Gin confirmed with Vermouth, "That Shiraishi Kuro and his sister didn't touch Pisco's computer, right?"

"Heh." Vermouth seemed unimpressed at the thought of saying it a second time.

The first time, Vermouth told him that after threatening Shiraishi with the computer to escape, she turned around and shot the computer...

Of course, Vermouth did this not primarily to shirk responsibility!
Vermouth's status within the organization is unusual. Even if Gin were to tell her that she traded her computer for her security, he wouldn't dare to do anything without the Boss's approval.

However, the problem is...

Vermouth was afraid that Gin would go on a killing spree and would have to eliminate all the members that Pisco could find!
Vermouth planned to report this directly to the Boss, leaving Gin no room for subjective interpretation—the Boss was in a special state, and no one else had seen him for a long time, but Vermouth was able to contact him.

“However, your identity as an actor has also been exposed!” Gin said with dissatisfaction.

“Perfect timing, I don’t feel like acting lately either…” Vermouth said in a deep voice.

"Hmm? Are you going to stay in the Eastern Island?" Gin understood her meaning.

"Yes, there are some things I need to investigate." Vermouth did indeed suspect Shiraishi's real sister, but she didn't have any evidence at the moment.

Coupled with Shiraishi's threat, Vermouth didn't plan to tell anyone, but...

Vermouth didn't give up and went straight for "Sherry"!
She was certain that if she could succeed directly, Shiraishi wouldn't actually go and kill Shinichi Kudo...

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Dongdong: Volume 3 is now finished. Following the main storyline of the original work, the story that follows is the Vermouth arc~
(End of this chapter)