Conan: I'm Really Not Tokyo Ghost Story

...It's good that you're hesitant; that's a sign you're about to take the bait!

Sano did not approach rashly, but put down the black cat in his hand.

At the same time, Sano did not control the black cat to come forward on its own; it just stayed at his feet, luring the plush toy to come over on its own.

Looking at Sano and the black cat opposite, the doll meowed twice, seemingly trying to call the black cat away from the dangerous upright ape and to come to its side.

Of course, no response was received.

After hesitating for a moment, the doll finally walked over on its own.

The ragdoll approached the black cat. At first, it seemed to be distracted and wary of Sano, but after a while, it simply ignored him and started circling the black cat, meowing and rubbing its head against it from time to time.

...Damn it, it usually barks and bristles when it's called to me, but now it's all tucked in?

Sano's lips twitched slightly, but he was observing Kuro out of the corner of his eye.

The effect of the beautiful cat strategy is not limited to easing the situation and bringing Sano and Buu closer.

It's more likely that this will make Kuro "anxious" and then unite with Sano to deal with the "enemy" Kuroko.

...It's somewhat similar to the so-called "good cop, bad cop" dynamic.

This is a joint scam... cough cough, anyway, it's a win-win situation.

They're just taking advantage of the puppet's low intelligence and the little black guy's naiveté.

Even if it's sophisticated, it's not something that seasoned old hands with extensive social experience can easily see through, especially for a supernatural scam like Sano's "cloning technique."

Proceeding from both ends.

On the one hand, you can choose to start with Xiao Hei, and on the other hand, you can choose to start with Xiao Hei's weaknesses. Sano doesn't believe he can't handle a dog.

However, this seemingly perfect plan has a high risk: what if Xiao Hei gets too "anxious" and attacks "Black Cat" directly, and Sano doesn't stop him in time?

Sano might lose one of his pseudonyms.

Fortunately, Xiao Hei is a rational dog, even when the goddess is being intimate with the god in front of it.

Xiao Hei showed no signs of losing control; instead, it started circling around Sano.

"Brother, do you know this cat?"

Sano didn't know where Kuro learned the title "Big Brother" from. It seemed that from a certain day onwards, Kuro would call him "Big Brother" whenever he saw him.

...This always makes Sano involuntarily think of a certain silly guy.

Sano did try to change the way he was addressed, making Kuro call him "master".

The guy immediately retorted, "Master, what do you mean?" leaving Sano completely bewildered.

...Xiao Hei's vocabulary is basically derived from what he saw and heard during his daily wanderings.

It seems that, apart from a certain special group, no one would actually shout "master, master" randomly on the street anymore.

So it's not surprising that Xiao Hei doesn't know what "master" means.

After figuring out the reason on his own, Sano spent about ten minutes explaining to Kuro what "owner" and "pet" meant and what their connection was.

Then, Xiao Hei said, "Then why should I call you master?" which left Sano confused once again.

"Because you're my pet!"

Sano replied in this way.

"But you just said that pets have owners because the owners provide them with food, water, shelter, and companionship, but you haven't provided any of that for me."

"...I can provide that for you too."

"But I don't need it."

"..."

When Sano saw the sincere, heartfelt doubt in Kuro's eyes, he suddenly felt like he didn't know what to say.

"Then why do you call me 'Big Brother'?"

Unwilling to admit defeat, Sano launched another attack.

"Because you smell good."

Xiao Hei once again retaliated with sincerity.

...No, Sano felt that as a human, it was impossible for him to understand the dog's thought process.

However, it's ultimately just a matter of address, and Sano felt there was no need to waste too much energy on it.

The important thing is the present.

The "voice" Xiao Hei used to ask the question was filled with curiosity, but it didn't convey any other emotion.

This was undoubtedly somewhat unexpected for Sano.

After thinking about it, Sano felt that there was no need for him to overthink things on his own, since Kuro wasn't incapable of communicating anyway.

"Little Black, this Ragdoll cat seems to like this black cat so much, don't you have any other feelings about it?"

Sano tentatively began to study Kuro's psychology.

After tilting his head, Xiao Hei replied, "No, it's just that this cat smells pretty good, although not as good as Big Brother. And since Ragdoll likes it, then I'll like it too."

...Because Sano has always called Kuro Kuro "Kuro," even though Kuro Kuro doesn't understand why it's called Kuro Kuro, it knows that Kuro Kuro must be referring to itself whenever Kuro Kuro is mentioned.

Later, when Xiao Hei heard Sano refer to the Ragdoll as "Ragdoll," he assumed that this so-called "Ragdoll," like "Xiao Hei," was a unique name belonging to this Ragdoll cat.

So Xiao Hei started calling this doll "rag doll".

Sano was also too lazy to explain this in detail to Kuro.

It's probably hard to understand even if I explain it, but you'll naturally understand it in the future.

The problem now is that Xiao Hei's sycophantic behavior is clearly beyond Sano's expectations.

How should I put it? It's kind of like, "I love her, so as long as she's happy, anything is fine."

They licked it so hard it couldn't be licked any more.

Sano was somewhat speechless, but he didn't have any other thoughts.

The fact that Xiao Hei didn't feel any aversion to "Black Cat" shattered Sano's idea of ​​"uniting the front" and thus getting closer to him, but at least it reduced the risk of losing his alternate identity. The pros and cons outweighed the cons, so it wasn't a big problem.

At that moment, seemingly because the black cat clone controlled by Sano had been reacting poorly, the doll became somewhat anxious.

Their actions became increasingly intense, subtly suggesting a desire to... force themselves on her.

Sano couldn't believe it. After a brief twitch in his eye, he immediately controlled the black cat and began to dodge.

...Resistance is definitely not an option, otherwise, if excessive resistance causes Ragdoll to develop hostility towards the black cat, the plan will fail completely, so the tactic of stalling must be used.

Sano didn't let the black cat run away directly; he just wandered around near him, with the plush toy following along.

After temporarily stabilizing the situation, Sano continued to communicate with Kuro.

...In fact, if the goal is to build a closer relationship through interaction, Sano should have gotten to know the plush toy first, rather than Kuro.

However, the reason why Sano was forced to use the "beautiful cat" strategy was not only to make Kuro obey him, but also because he had another, more important, objective.

That is, try to use Xiao Hei's [effect].

As a living enhanced being, Xiao Hei has a total of four effects.

Leaving aside the first two, Sano has yet to witness the specific performance of the latter two.

Summon and lock onto targets.

At first, Sano didn't care because the prerequisite for using the latter was "using it according to the scent," since he couldn't use it at all. After all, at that time, he and Kuro couldn't have normal and effective communication.

But Sano couldn't use the former yet, and he felt something was a little off.

It wasn't until later, when Sano was able to communicate normally with Kuro and command the guy to sniff out scents, but still couldn't use the lock-on tracking, that he finally realized something.

Of the four effects, judging from the descriptions alone, the two that Sano has already experienced are of the "passive" type, while the latter two are of the "active" type.

Sano originally thought that the two active effects would be the same as the effects of the other enhancements he had, and that he would be in control of whether to use them.

In reality, however, it is very likely that this was led by Xiao Hei.

Although Xiao Hei's intelligence has increased significantly, it probably doesn't know how to use this "new skill" that is neither instinctive nor innate.

It's hard to say whether this speculation is right or wrong.

However, Sano came here today specifically to take a look at it.

So whether it's true or not, just try it and you'll know; there's no need to overthink it.

Then Sano began to guide Kuro, trying to get the opponent to use these two active effects.

……

In a certain location within the distillery, Vodka enjoyed a rare moment of leisure alone, a time to drown his sorrows in alcohol.

It's fine if I don't have to team up with Sano.

My older brother even took a rare vacation, so I took one too.

It's been so long since I've had a day like today, where I can relax from morning till night...

"...Hey, hey, did you guys hear? That guy's started doing missions again!"

"Who is it that's making such a fuss?"

"Who else could it be? They must be crazy... Lord Rye!"

"Rye Master, is he the codenamed member? What happened to him?"

"You didn't know that? Are you new here?"

"..."

Listening to the gossiping chatter of a group of peripheral members not far away, Vodka couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief.

Even though it's a rare holiday, why does the name Sano still haunt me like a ghost...?

You can't shake them off.

Vodka downed the vodka in his glass in one gulp. Although he was feeling irritable, his attention inevitably turned to the gossipy group after the keyword was triggered.

After listening to that wave of "legends" about Sano, Vodka thought the topic would end there, but unexpectedly, the topic turned back to him the next second.