Conan: I'm a zaibatsu in Tokyo

The fever reducer seemed to have a miraculous effect.

When Ai opened her eyes again, it was already dark outside the window.

She sat up groggily, feeling light and airy, as if a heavy shell had been removed.

Standing in front of the full-length mirror, she looked down at herself.

Those familiar oversized pajamas, those chubby little hands, and the little girl with messy short hair in the mirror.

It's back to normal.

Ai crossed her arms and stared blankly at herself in the mirror.

His mature and composed demeanor contrasted sharply with his youthful appearance.

"woke up?"

Zhengyi's voice came from behind.

He was leaning against the doorframe at some point. "I've already arranged for your sister to work overtime."

Ai didn't turn around, but stared coldly at her reflection in the mirror: "Why did I shrink?"

"It's the effect of the medicine."

He stood up and slowly walked over, placing his hands on the mirrors on either side of Ai's head without any hesitation.

He positioned himself in a "T" shape, encircling Ai in a small space, even resting his chin on the top of her head, treating her like a breathing cane.

"Didn't your experience say that this is just a regular fever?" Ai's voice was tinged with a hint of gritted teeth.

"Clearly, my experience was wrong." Zheng Yi shrugged, his tone relaxed.

As he spoke, he reached out and pinched Ai's soft cheeks, which felt wonderful.

Clearly, previous experience was completely ineffective in the face of this unexpected situation.

Empiricism is deadly.

Xiao Ai sighed, letting him knead her, her eyes somewhat vacant.

These days, you have to warm up for ages before transforming, the process is agonizing, and it's not even reliable.

Zheng Yi seemed to notice her low spirits, gently patted her head, and for a rare moment became serious: "Don't worry, the problem with the medicine's effectiveness will definitely be solved."

"Oh?" Ai raised an eyebrow, half believing and half doubting.

"I will help you." Zheng Yi ruffled her hair and said confidently, "This time, I will not only provide funding, but also support in terms of equipment."

"Oh?" Ai looked up at him, her eyes half-closed. "Besides funds and equipment, what else can you do to help me? Is it some kind of moral encouragement?"

She pulled a long face, looking disgusted: "I don't want someone cheering me on while I'm doing my experiment."

"How could that be?" Masaichi laughed, reaching out to flick Ai's forehead lightly.

"What is that?" Ai covered her forehead, looking at him warily. "Do you mean you've decided to take the A drug yourself and use me as a test subject so I can get more experimental data?"

This is the greatest and most direct help I can give her.

Ai looked at Shoichi, even gesturing with her hand, imagining what Shoichi would look like in a suit after shrinking, and couldn't help but smile slightly.

"This time, I'm going to use my wisdom to help you." Zheng Yi puffed out his chest, looking like he was in complete control.

All the curiosity in Ai's eyes vanished the moment Zheng Yi finished speaking.

What's the difference between this and not helping at all?
Ai's gaze made Shoichi very uncomfortable. He coughed to cover his embarrassment: "Look, although I don't understand chemical formulas, I have a business mind! Maybe I can give you some brand new ideas."

"Heh." Ai sneered and turned to leave. "You should save your wisdom for now. It's better not to help than to make things worse."

"How could you say that!" Zheng Yi quickly stopped her, mysteriously pulling out a bright red chili pepper from behind his back. "Eat it."

Ai: ?
She looked completely bewildered.

They just said they'd use their wisdom to help me, and now they're making me eat chili peppers?
What is this operation?
"Let's see if chili peppers can help counteract the effects of the medicine," Zheng Yi said with a straight face, spouting nonsense. "Fighting poison with poison! Or maybe stimulating your taste buds will activate your potential!"

Xiao Ai looked exasperated, feeling as if her intelligence had been insulted:
"You'd better not use your wisdom for now. It's better not to help than to make things worse. You're just causing trouble."

“How can you call it causing trouble!” Zheng Yi retorted, turning around and dragging a huge box out from behind him.

It was filled with all sorts of strange things—stinky durian, sticky natto, stinky tofu that looked like black bricks…

He pinched his nose and pointed at the pile of things, saying, "These are all carefully selected by me! You can try them all; they might just relieve the effects of the drug on your body!"

"Can you please stop being so unreasonable?" Xiao Ai rubbed her forehead, feeling a throbbing pain in her temples.

"Please describe, from a chemical or biological perspective, what kind of reaction might occur in the body after consuming these foods."

Ai looked at Masakazu, wanting him to face reality.

See, you can't say anything now, can you?
Masakazu scratched his head and muttered, "That's not how it's described. Although I don't know much about biology and chemistry, you have to trust the judgment of a man at the pinnacle of Japanese business!"

"Heh." Ai sneered again.

You know best how you achieved what you have today.

What judgment can you make?
Zheng Yi started counting on his fingers: "Look, I can easily succeed in any industry I enter, and I can crush established companies that have been cultivating the market for many years."

"That's because your competitors often die violent deaths, not from battles," Ai bluntly exposed.

"Let's look at the real estate sector! The overall real estate market is very bad right now, but I'm still leading the company further and further. The employees of the construction company have basically never stopped working."

"Because many buildings were bombed by unknown terrorists, unless your construction company rebuilds them, they will be bombed again." Xiao Ai rolled her eyes.

"Then tell me about my security company!"

“There’s not much to say about that.” Ai crossed her arms. “Many people have suffered terrorist attacks, but as long as they hire your security company, those attacks will mysteriously disappear.”

As for why it disappeared?

That's so hard to guess.

She squinted, watching to see what else she had to say.

Ai whispered, "As long as I also have the surname Sumitomo, I can succeed too."

"So, you're blaming my success on my family?" Zheng Yi stared at her, his face somewhat unpleasant.

Ai nodded, her face saying, "Isn't that right?"

"Foolish!" Zheng Yi said angrily. "I've achieved my current success because of Conan! It's because of Conan, you understand?"

"Look~" Ai turned to the side and pointed at Shoichi, saying, "You said it yourself, your success has little to do with yourself."

He admitted it himself!
"Oh dear~"

Enraged, Zheng Yi grabbed Ai and hugged her tightly, giving her a few rough squeezes.

Pinching her face, rubbing her head, and shaking her until Ai was forced to whimper in protest, finally made her realize the reality and understand who was older and who was younger.

"At least, I was the first to discover how to use Conan, which shows that I have good judgment!" Zheng Yi argued illogically.

Ai pouted; when you're under someone's roof, you have to bow your head.

In Zheng Yi's arms, Ai had already learned how to endure.

"Okay, okay, you have good taste," Ai said dismissively. "But what's the use of having good taste?"

"Of course it works!" Zheng Yi released her, a smug look on his face.
“Back then, baijiu was able to restore Conan's health, and when you were researching the antidote, you also analyzed the components of baijiu. What if some of the ingredients in it are also useful? It could save you a lot of time.” Ai looked into Shoichi's eyes and felt that what he said made sense.

The initial free labor certainly saved her a lot of trouble.

But when Ai looked at the things that Shoichi had prepared, the feeling she had just felt vanished instantly.

Couldn't you have brought something normal?

Looking at the box of special supplies that emitted a strange smell, Ai closed her eyes in despair.

Zheng Yi clearly wasn't trying to help in a proper way.

"Why don't you go find some other test subjects?" Ai whispered.

"Ok."

Masahiro nodded. "By the way, why did Akai Mary stand us up again? We've made plans several times, but we still haven't met."

Ai glanced at Masakazu.

Of course, it's also because of the problem of the antidote.

Mary Akai also has the potential to change size at will, so she can't just go out whenever she wants.

Moreover, when Masakazu mentions Akai Mary at this time, he must be thinking of using her to try these strange foods.

"That's not good," Ai said softly.

They are elders, after all; this is inappropriate.

“Besides her, probably no one else would be willing,” Zheng Yi said.

Ai Haibara definitely won't eat it, and Conan probably won't be easily fooled either.

Only Akai Mary, who hasn't been fooled yet, has a chance of succeeding.

Ai kept her mouth shut and didn't offer any opinion.

……

Sera is a pure family.

Mary Akai stood in the center of the bedroom, her brow furrowed. She had to put her hand in front of her nose and fan the air forcefully, trying to dispel the suffocating "biological weapon."

She stared at the huge cardboard box on the ground, filled with brightly colored food that emitted deadly toxic fumes, and her eyes twitched involuntarily.

What exactly are you moving?

Mary's voice was somewhat muffled because she had two wads of tissue paper stuffed in her nose to prevent herself from being overwhelmed by the smell.

Sera Masumi laboriously placed the box on the floor and patted the dust off her hands.

"It was Ai who sent it. She said... these things might help to reduce the effects of the medicine."

"Huh?" Mary looked at her daughter in disbelief. "You mean, my niece, the scientist who developed APTX4869, wants me to recover my health by eating these things?"

Although the drug can indeed turn a person back to normal, the side effects are also obvious.

Sera Masumi started taking things out of the box, her movements as mechanical as an assembly line worker.

A large, plump durian covered in thorns.

One box of natto has extremely long, stringy strands and an overpowering aroma.

There was also a piece of stinky tofu with a charred, burnt exterior, clearly made with a lot of oil and salt.

There are also all sorts of strange things that are edible, but the taste is hard to describe.

She lined these things up on the small coffee table in front of Mary.

As Mary Akai watched her daughter's actions, she felt that she was performing a ritual for an evil god.

"Ai said you can try these things to see if they can relieve the effects of the medicine."

Sera Masumi repeated what she had said on the phone, her tone carrying a hint of schadenfreude that she herself didn't even realize.

"As Brother Zhengyi also said, these were all carefully selected after careful consideration."

Mary stared at the food suspiciously, her gaze shifting between the durian and natto: "What's the point of eating this? Do you think I can grow bigger just by smelling it?"

She strongly suspected that her daughter was playing a trick on her.

"Did Ai really say that?"

Sera Masumi nodded, her expression serious: "It was sent by Masakazu. He specifically told me on the phone that Ai asked him to prepare these for collecting experimental data."

At this point, Sera Masumi seemed to remember something and added, "Shoichi said that Ai and Conan eat these things and then record the changes in their bodies. Having more data will make the experiments more reliable."

Upon hearing this, Mary's tense expression eased slightly.

If it's Ai Haibara, then perhaps there really is a one in ten thousand chance... right?

“Just like with baijiu (a type of Chinese liquor), drinking baijiu can temporarily restore you to your original state.” Sera Masumi tried to convince her mother in the name of science.

"These foods should have the same effect. It's possible that some component in them stimulates metabolism, or it could be a reaction of some enzyme..."

In short, since Ai said that, she must have her reasons.

Mary stared at the pile of ingredients and fell into a deep silence.

In order to return to her original appearance, and to no longer live with this young but incongruous face, she endured it.

“Okay, I’ll eat it.” Mary gritted her teeth.

Sera Masumi immediately brought over a small stool, took out her notebook and pen, and looked every bit the meticulous assistant to a scientist:
"Okay, I will record your body's reactions in detail."

Mary pinched her nose, picked up a piece of golden fruit with her fork, closed her eyes, and stuffed it into her mouth.

"It has a smooth texture and is extremely sweet..." Mary swallowed with difficulty.

"It's a bit disgusting."

Sera Masumi wrote earnestly in her notebook: "After eating durian, the subjects reported feeling nauseous."

Mary looked at the sticky, stringy black beans, took a deep breath, pinched her nose again, picked up a piece with her chopsticks, and put it in her mouth.

That unique scent instantly penetrated the tissue paper defense in my nasal cavity and hit me right in the head.

"Ugh—!" Mary finally couldn't hold it in anymore, bent over and dry-heaved, her face turning pale.

Sera Masumi recorded expressionlessly: "After consuming natto, the subject experienced a severe physiological rejection reaction, suspected to be a precursor to poisoning."

Mary Akai has become numb.

She stared blankly at the dark, oily thing.

She mechanically took a bite; the crispy outer layer and the sour, rancid smell inside mixed together, making her completely give up resisting.

“I can’t take it anymore…” Mary threw down her chopsticks.

Sera Masumi closed her notebook, looked at her mother's miserable state, and then glanced at the message Ai had sent her on her phone.

How are you feeling? Any physical reactions?

Does nausea count? (End of Chapter)