Conan: I'm a zaibatsu in Tokyo

Gin stood in the shadows of the parking lot at the Tokyo Aquarium, the cigarette between his fingers burning to the end, only snapping him back to reality when it burned his fingers.

He irritably stubbed out his cigarette at his feet.

Just three minutes ago, he dialed that bastard Zheng Yi's number.

“Listen, Shoichi,” Gin’s voice was low. “Right now, immediately, restore her memories. Rum is getting impatient; we have to get that list of undercover agents back.”

There was a two-second silence on the other end of the phone, followed by Zheng Yi's lazy voice, with even... the sound of a popcorn machine in the background?
"Huh? Gin? What did you say? The signal is bad, I can't hear you—hello? Hello? Are you on a roller coaster? The signal is so bad!"

"Beep-beep-beep-"

The call was disconnected.

Gin's hand, gripping the phone, showed prominent veins on the back, and his knuckles turned white from the force.

He stared intently at the words "Call Ended" on the screen, as if he wanted to kill that bastard with his eyes.

"That bastard..." Gin spat out the words through gritted teeth, then abruptly turned to Vodka, "Did you find his location?"

Vodka shrank back, his forehead covered in cold sweat: "B-Big Brother, we found it. But..."

"But what?"

"That signal source... is moving. And it's moving very fast, heading towards Yamanashi Prefecture. Judging from the frequency of the base station switching, it seems like it's on the Shinkansen."

"Yamanashi Prefecture?" Gin sneered, turning to walk towards the black Porsche 356A. "Very well. He wants to run? I'd like to see where he can run to."

However, when Gin drove to Yamanashi Prefecture, Masaichi and Curaçao had already disappeared without a trace.

"Brother, we can't find Zheng Yi," Vodka said in a low voice.

In fact, he suspected that Masaichi had deliberately led them to Yamanashi Prefecture.

Zheng Yi's technology in this area is inherently superior to that of the organization. He guessed that the fact that they were able to monitor Zheng Yi's whereabouts was because Zheng Yi deliberately leaked the information to them.

"Damn it."

This bastard, does he even care about the organization?!

If he doesn't care about such an important list of undercover agents, what else does he care about?
Gin took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. He took out his phone and found the number he rarely dialed.

The phone rang once and was answered; a hoarse voice, altered by a voice changer, came from the other end.

"Gin, have you found Curaçao?"

“No,” Gin answered decisively. “She was taken away by Shoichi.”

"Zhengyi didn't restore Curaçao's memories?"

"No." Gin leaned against the car door and lit a new cigarette.
"Rum, one of your men is about to be poached. Besides, Curaçao knows information that's bad for the organization, and you don't want Zheng Yi to find out, do you?"

Rum remained silent.

Gin said, "If you don't want your trusted aides to become Shoichi's subordinates, you'd better act now. Otherwise..."

Rum said, "I can restore Curaçao's memories, but where is she now?"

Sending her to Zheng Yi's side was both to show the organization's sincerity towards Zheng Yi and because of Curaçao's memory ability, which allowed her to receive a lot of information from Zheng Yi.

It's not that I really want to give Curaçao to Masakazu.

"I don't know," Gin said. "Shoichi has already taken her away and we don't know where they've gone. We can't contact them right now."

“I cannot restore Curaçao’s memories remotely,” Rum said.

"That's your problem to consider. If you don't want to lose a trusted confidant, then take action." With that, Gin hung up the phone.

After passing the buck to Rum, Gin felt much better.

Trouble like Zheng Yi should be passed on to someone like Rum.

Meanwhile, in an unassuming hot spring inn in Yamanashi Prefecture.

Zheng Yi was sitting on the tatami with his legs crossed, holding a skewer of freshly baked dumplings in his hand, and smiling as he looked at Curaçao sitting opposite him.

"Come, Curaçao, call me 'master' and let me hear it."

Curaçao, wearing a yukata provided by the hotel and holding a cup of hot tea, no longer had a dazed look in her eyes.

Those heterochromatic pupils reflected Zheng Yi's punchable face, yet remained unusually calm.

She gently blew on the steam rising from the tea, took a sip, and completely ignored Zheng Yi.

Just then, the partition was suddenly pulled open.

"Zhengyi! What are you up to now?"

Ai stood at the door with a disgruntled expression.

"Even though this place is private, your voice is way too loud. If the waiters outside hear you, what will you do? You'll lose all face!"

She felt ashamed for Zhengyi.

“I don’t care, so why do you?” Zheng Yi asked.

“Shoichi,” Ai looked at Shoichi with the kind of look one gives someone looking at unrecyclable trash, “I have a question I’ve been wanting to ask you.”

"Go ahead and ask." Zheng Yi was in a good mood, even crossing his legs. "Do you want to know why I'm so handsome, so talented, and so rich?"

“No,” Ai interrupted him expressionlessly, “I want to ask, is your cerebral cortex as smooth as a freshly peeled egg? Or is your brain circuit actually a Möbius strip, forever cycling between ‘shameless’ and ‘even more shameless’?”

Zheng Yi's smile froze for a moment: "Your analogy is quite cultured."

Actually, he didn't quite understand what she was saying; he only understood that Ai seemed to be saying that he was shameless.

Zheng Yi wouldn't react at all to being simply called shameless, because he truly is shameless.

However, Zheng Yi felt a little embarrassed because he couldn't even understand the insults the other person was using.

Ai crossed her arms over her chest.

Isn't it common knowledge that I'm more educated than you?

To avoid revealing his lack of education, Masakazu casually picked up a dumpling and handed it to Ai: "Here, Ai, have a dumpling to rest your mouth."

Ai took the dumpling, took a bite, and then said coldly, "This dumpling is just like your brain, soft and empty."

Zheng Yi was displeased. "I gave you food and you still scolded me: 'Hongye, look at her...'"

This is absolutely outrageous!

But this time, Ai could understand what she was saying, which made me happy o(*￣▽￣*)ブ.

Hongye covered her mouth and chuckled, patting Xiao Ai's head, not intending to side with Zheng Yi.

Ai wasn't one to hold a grudge, and seeing that Masakazu was so weak, she didn't continue the pursuit.

Otherwise, Zheng Yi is someone who can't take a joke and likes to break the rules. If they keep playing like this, Zheng Yi will start to lay a hand on her.

Seeing that Shoichi was already in that kind of stance, Ai quickly changed the subject, saying, "If Curaçao doesn't regain her memory, what about the three undercover agents who are being held captive by Gin?"

In reality, Ai only cares about Rena Mizunashi because she is her classmate's older sister.

The remaining two are unrelated.

"Whether Curaçao has regained her memory or not is up to me. Let's just assume she has, and then tell Gin that Gil isn't an undercover agent," Zheng Yi said.

Ai frowned and said, "Can Gin be trusted? And if you speak up for her, Gin might become even more suspicious."

"So I'm saying they're undercover agents?"

"That won't work either. What if Gin believes your nonsense?" Ai shook her head and said, "Why don't you just not say anything?"

Zheng Yi pursed his lips.

You still don't understand Gin, let alone the close relationship between me and Gin.

How could he possibly believe me?
He trusts me less than you trust me.

“If I don’t say anything, Gin, with his impatient nature, might kill all three of them, thinking they’re undercover agents,” Zheng Yi said.

Hongye listened from the side, completely bewildered. It was another topic she knew nothing about; she simply couldn't participate.

She looked at Zheng Yi and asked, "So what exactly are you talking about? Can you tell me?"

Ai and Shoichi turned around at the same time and said, "It's better if you don't know about such a dark topic."

Hongye pouted, clearly dissatisfied.

She knew about something as dark as Zheng Yi murdering a prince, so what darker things couldn't be told to her?

Hongye stretched out her slender finger and tapped Zhengyi's nose from a distance.

"Zhengyi, are you questioning my mental fortitude? I know the earth-shattering secret that you murdered that prince in Kyoto last time."

What could be darker in this world than killing a member of royalty and being covered up?

"You can't just say things like that!"

Zheng Yi stood up, glanced at the door, and seeing no one eavesdropping, said to Hong Ye with displeasure, "If you keep talking nonsense, I'll sue you for defamation."

He always obeyed the law and never killed anyone, especially members of the royal family.

"Hmph!" Hongye snorted coldly.

Since she already knows about such dark things, what darkness is there that she can't hear about?

Ai Haibara defended Shoichi, saying, "That's fake darkness. What Shoichi and I were talking about is the real darkness."

Hongye stared at Xiao Ai with a deep, unsettling gaze.

As expected, Shoichi and Ai are the closest, and they have many topics that I don't understand.

……

The heavy iron door was violently pushed open with tremendous force.

Gin stood against the light at the door, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, the flame flickering in the dim light.

"Having a good chat?"

Gin stepped into the house.

"Since you have the energy to analyze who the mole is, it seems you're still quite sharp-minded." Gin sneered, walked up to Bourbon, and looked down at him.

Bourbon looked up and asked, "What's wrong? Are you planning to let us out?"

Gin didn't answer, but just gave the three of them a cold glance.

“It seems they’re not planning to let us out,” said Shuichi Akai.

"Shut up," Gin growled.

Shuichi Akai shrugged and said nothing more.

Gil opened his eyes, looked at Gin, and said, "Can that person's memories be restored?"

Gin looked at the three of them and said, "Just as I returned to this warehouse, Cointreau called me."

“Oh? What did he say?” Bourbon asked.

Gin said, "He said that the person's memory has returned, and that he has been given the list of undercover agents."

Upon hearing Gin's words, the three were startled, but they did not show it.

They didn't really believe Gin's words.

If the list has really been released, Gin will definitely not waste time talking to them here; he will definitely be sending them to their deaths.

Gin stared at the expressions on their faces and sneered.

It's so peaceful.

He said, "Jundu said that none of the three of you are on that list of undercover agents, and many of the people I killed before are not on that list of undercover agents either."

The three of them exchanged glances.

It's unclear whether the organization stole a fake list or if Cointreau was trying to protect them.

Bourbon said to Gin, "Since we're not on that list, can you let us go?"

"Do not."

Gin looked at the three of them and said, "Oh, I forgot, Junto said that Subaru Okiya is not an undercover agent, but Bourbon and Gil are."

All three showed varying degrees of surprise on their faces.

Gin looked at Shuichi Akai and said, "Why would Kimi say you're not an undercover agent?"

“Because I wasn’t an undercover agent to begin with,” Shuichi Akai said.

"Heh." Gin sneered.

He didn't know that Junto was Shoichi, but Gin did.

Zheng Yi, that stingy and gossipy person, wouldn't easily tell the truth.

Moreover, Curaçao has definitely not regained her memory yet, so that list could only have been made up by Zheng Yi.

Shoichi really disliked Subaru Okiya, and even arranged an 'accident' for him.

Gin looked at Shuichi Akai.

He knew that Zheng Yi really liked reading "Romance of the Three Kingdoms". Could it be that he was playing the "Zhou Yu beats Huang Gai" trick?

Shuichi Akai stared sullenly at Gin. Through this conversation, he seemed even more certain of Jundo's identity.

That guy is absolutely wicked.

Gin turned to Bourbon and Gil and asked, "Do you two have any last words?"

Bourbon asked, "Can Cointreau's words really be trusted?"

Gin glanced at him.

Of course it's not worth it.

Kiel frowned and asked, "Come to think of it, I've been in the organization for so long, and I've hardly heard anything about Jundu. This time, he doesn't seem willing to hand over the list. Could he be the mole?"

Gin said coldly, "He's not an undercover agent."

Although Zheng Yi is greedy, cunning, despicable, without any bottom line, greedy for money, ruthless, cruel and violent, and has no respect for the organization.

However, he could never be an undercover agent.

Gin couldn't have imagined what kind of power could have persuaded Shoichi to become an undercover agent.

"Since I'm not an undercover agent, when will you release me?" Shuichi Akai asked.

“Although Cointreau says you’re not undercover agents, I don’t believe it,” Gin said.

"What exactly do you want to do?!" Shuichi Akai asked.

He thought Gin was completely unreasonable; did he catch undercover agents just by feeling?

Although his intuition seemed pretty reliable.

“Yes, I don’t think we can trust what Cointreau says either.” Bourbon looked at Shuichi Akai.

He said calmly, "I feel like he's being sarcastic. Subaru Okiya is an undercover agent, but Kir and I aren't."

Gin glanced at him: "I don't believe you either."

Seeing that Gin didn't believe anyone, Gil simply stopped talking.

She leaned against the wall and yawned, even seeming somewhat resigned to the status quo.

I'm tired. That's enough. Gin can believe whatever he wants. (End of Chapter)