I'm in Detective Conan, and the system has appointed Batman.

Chapter 478 Hondo Emi's Box Opened at breakneck speed
Just as Shuichi Akai was keeping an eye on Hidemi Hondo, he was getting restless and ready to make a big move.

A figure quietly appeared behind Shuichi Akai.

Shuichi Akai frowned and immediately turned to look behind him.

Sure enough, it was that familiar figure who appeared again—

It's Batman.

"What are you looking at?"

Chen Enming asked a question he already knew the answer to.

Upon hearing this, Hideaki Akai answered directly and bluntly.

"I'm looking at the codenamed member of the Black Organization that you pointed out earlier."

We didn't take drastic measures against this codenamed member before.
That's because both he and Chen En needed this codenamed member to send back information that Bourbon Whiskey was still active outside, acting as a messenger. But now it seems there's no need to keep this codenamed member around.

To this, Chen En simply shook his head and said,
"That member of the black organization was codenamed Kir, and his alias was Rena Mizunashi."

"Her real name is Hondo Hidemi, and her true identity is one of the CIA agents. Although in my impression, Hondo Hidemi should have no contact with the CIA anymore, my investigation found that this was not the case."

"Although the FBI and CIA are at odds, if you directly take action against Hondo Hidemi..."

"I don't think it will end up with a decent result."

—A CIA agent?
A hint of doubt appeared in Shuichi Akai's eyes.

Bourbon Whiskey is an undercover agent for the Japanese Public Security Bureau, and Kir is an undercover agent for the CIA. Therefore, at least one-third of the codenamed members of the Black Organization in Tokyo are undercover agents from other intelligence organizations.

How did the Black Organization manage to build up its influence in the Tokyo area to its current level?
Shuichi Akai put his monoculars back in his pocket.

Although the FBI and CIA have a deep-seated feud, if it were any other FBI undercover agent, even if they knew Gil's true identity, they might pretend not to know and go over there to beat Gil up first.

But he's different, because he's not a pure-blooded FBI agent.

His biological mother, Mary Akai, was a real MI6 agent. Ten years ago, she even got into a fight with him because he joined the FBI. He only reluctantly accepted the fact after he explained that he joined the FBI to investigate the whereabouts of his father, Tsutomu Akai.

He wouldn't go so far as to beat up Kiel just because of a feud between the FBI and the CIA.

After briefly introducing the matters concerning Hondo Eisuke and Hondo Eikai, Chen En got straight to the point.

"You should already know that Sherry is being hunted down."

"Even if I don't tell you the specifics of this matter, you should be able to guess that this is a conspiracy plot by the Black Organization specifically to deal with you. That Sherry is most likely Vermouth in disguise."

The reason he gave this conclusion with certainty is naturally because Vermouth is definitely a professional at impersonating Sherry, having once created multiple age versions of Shiho Miyano in "The Shadow of the Black Iron Fish".

Although Vermouth did this only to mislead people about rum.

Based on this point, it's absolutely true that Vermouth is a professional at impersonating Sherry. In addition, since the other person being hunted is Gin, there's no doubt that the person being hunted is Vermouth.

"Next, Vermouth will most likely reappear at some point to lure you into a trap and kill you. To ensure your safety, you should get more self-defense items."

"However, I guess when Mr. and Mrs. Kudo met with you, they must have already asked you to go see Professor Agasa."

Shuichi Akai nodded slightly in response.

Although Yukiko Kudo seemed completely unaware of this matter.

However, Yusaku Kudo clearly knew the whole story. After returning to the Kudo residence, he told Shuichi Akai that what he was about to do was extremely dangerous, and that it would be best to prepare some self-defense tools and prioritize personal safety when carrying out the plan.

Afterwards, Shuichi Akai followed Yusaku Kudo to Professor Agasa's house and retrieved some rather outlandish gadgets—

These props don't look like they're for civilian use.

Even the agents of the United States, a technological superpower, have never used such advanced weapons. Of course, it is possible that Shuichi Akai's position is too low to see them.

After all, he was just an investigator in the FBI, and hadn't yet reached the senior rank.

Shuichi Akai showed Chen En a glimpse of a few of the gadgets developed by Professor Agasa before putting them back.

Seeing this, Chen En nodded and continued,

"If you're planning to play along this time, then I only have one request for you: don't actually die."

"Besides that, I'll tell you something else—"

“If the Black Organization doesn’t use any other means to lure me away, then I will follow you and act together. If necessary, I will take action and eliminate all the Black Organization members present.”

"Of course, there is also the possibility that I may not be able to get to the scene or take action."

"I will contact you in advance so that you don't make the wrong judgment about the current situation."

As Chen En finished speaking, he glanced sideways at Hondo Emi, who was still waiting at Anno Mitsuko's house.

He paused for a moment, then said,

“I’ve investigated. Mr. Anno will most likely not get home until 7 p.m. Even if they resolve the fraud case ahead of time, they will still be detained until 7 p.m. because Mr. Anno is coming home late.”

"Hondo Emi might be held captive until 7 PM. You can check whether the Black Organization has started their evil plan by confirming Hondo Emi's departure time."

"Or perhaps we should wait for a sufficiently eye-catching message."

The Black Organization's goal is to lure out Shuichi Akai and eliminate him.

If the Black Organization's actions aren't obvious enough, and Shuichi Akai remains unaware of it, then the Black Organization would truly become a circus, putting on a show only for themselves.

Therefore, if the Black Organization wants to lure out Shuichi Akai, they will definitely use a conspicuous method to ensure that he knows about it.

Having said all he could say, Chen En took a step back and said,

"I have other things to take care of, so I'll head out first."

"If you need any help, and you know how to contact me, I will reply as soon as possible and provide assistance to the best of my ability—goodbye."

Shuichi Akai nodded slightly.

If Chen En were to be held back by the Black Organization, it might be the end of his life under this identity.

He didn't even need to look back to know that Chen En had definitely disappeared silently behind him.

Therefore, Shuichi Akai only stared at Hidemi Hondo for a while.

Then, he took out his communicator, switched the channel to the FBI's internal channel, and decided to give Hondo Emi a job—since Hondo Emi's younger brother had no one to take care of him anyway, he might as well let someone with more authority ensure Hondo Eisuke's safety.

(End of this chapter)