Conan: I'm Really Not Tokyo Ghost Story

Is this a desire to work under Sano's wing, or rather, a desire for him to help introduce... well, get a job in the factory?

Chapter 324, page 323: Do you remember how many slices of bread you've eaten?

It feels a little strange to have someone apply to join a criminal organization right in front of you.

Shuichi Akai let out a somewhat awkward sigh.

However, on the other hand, this smiling guy was actually able to investigate the organization's activities and even track down the whereabouts of one of its leaders.

That's not simple.

Does someone like him really have no other purpose in wanting to join the organization?

Perhaps, like himself back then, he wanted to take the opportunity to infiltrate the organization from the inside?

Akai Hide started to let his thoughts wander.

Unlike Shuichi Akai, Sano didn't think that much about it and simply asked a question.

How did you find my location?

...Sano was genuinely curious about how Ito Taka had found him. After all, Ito Taka's aliases were always "appearing and disappearing mysteriously." Even if the other party had many "friends" or were very powerful, they shouldn't be able to do something like this, right?

If only I possessed the power of a black grim reaper like myself, who is everywhere in the streets and alleys, I could rely on sheer numbers and luck.

It is possible to do so.

In response to Sano's question, Ito Taka scratched the back of his head somewhat sheepishly and chuckled, "Well, actually, I originally wanted to investigate myself, but I couldn't find anything at all. It was only later that a friend of mine told me about a place in Tokyo called the Armed Detective Agency, which is particularly good at finding people, so..."

Upon receiving the reply, Sano's eye twitched involuntarily; he felt both speechless and amused.

This is just too outrageous!

Why the hell do they send their own people to them?

Sano held back for a long time, but finally couldn't help asking, "So how much money did they give you?"

"not much."

Ito Taka held up three fingers.

"Thirty million..."

Sano nodded, but Ito Taka shook his head and denied it: "No, it's three hundred million."

"..."

Sano and Shuichi Akai both twitched at the corner of their eyes at the same time.

These days, you can get 300 million for finding someone?! ??

Not enough?

This kid's really putting on an act, huh? Three small goals, huh?

Sano suddenly had a bad feeling. Although his intuition told him that it might be better not to ask any more questions, he still felt like he was being scratched by a cat.

It's very itchy.

"...So how much did you pay that armed detective agency for the commission?"

Sano asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

"Oh, after I posted this request to them, they just told me to wait for news. It wasn't until today that they called me to say they had found the person and that I could just transfer three million to their account later."

Ito Taka replied in this way.

"..."

Sano and Shuichi Akai's eyes twitched again.

Damn it, a commission fee of three hundred million.

He did nothing, relied entirely on his own people to cheat him, and ended up getting three million!?

So this guy swallowed 297 million all by himself?

That's practically a 99.1% split! Could you be any more shady?!

You middleman, scalper, you damn profiteer, I'll f*** you big bastard!

Sano, who almost couldn't catch his breath, took a deep breath.

No, I'll have to figure out a way to get more money out of Ito Taka.

Otherwise, it would be too uncomfortable.

However, not now, since Rye's pseudonym is obviously unrelated to this matter.

As for what needs to be done now, it is...

[Please kill all mission targets within the mission time limit. Completion will reward you with 100 enhancement points. Mission time remaining: 00:14:59]

Sano looked at the red dots on the map that were rapidly approaching and clustered together.

If nothing unexpected happens, these targets should be the same guys that Ito Taka mentioned who are eyeing him.

"Looks like we won't be able to have this meal."

Sano sighed, got up and walked out of the restaurant, waving his hand as he spoke.

Seeing this, Shuichi Akai and Taka Ito also got up and followed.

"Are you planning to leave right away? You'd better hurry, or you might get stuck at the door."

Sano reached the elevator and pressed the button: "No, why should I leave? Since they want to find me, I'll give them a chance."

Shuichi Akai put on a mask: "Do you need any help... though I probably can't be of much help."

"casual."

Sano walked into the elevator without a care in the world.

"Just a heads-up, there are quite a few of them, and they all seem to be armed with handguns."

Ito Taka offered a timely reminder.

However, Sano remained completely unconcerned: "It doesn't matter, I'm invincible anyway, you can do whatever you want."

The two people who followed them into the elevator paused.

"..."

hiss--

Should we say this guy is confident, or should we say this guy is confident, or... should we say this guy is confident?

After the elevator doors closed, it immediately began to descend.

The elevator soon arrived at the first floor. Sano, who had been keeping an eye on the map, also noticed that the group of targets had arrived at the entrance of the building on the first floor at the same time.

"Ding!"

The elevator doors opened, and Sano was the first to step out, then walked towards the group of people who had just entered the building.

"Ding!"

Almost simultaneously, two more elevators arrived on the first floor. When the elevator doors opened, they revealed Ran Mouri and Ai Haibara, the two-person duo Vermouth and Jodie, as well as other passengers.

...Although Sano's group was the last to leave the restaurant, the two groups that left earlier were slowed down by other people who boarded the bus midway because they got off the elevator earlier.

But that's not important. What's important is that the two duo who just stepped out of the elevator noticed the unusual situation ahead and the black-clad figure that seemed to have suddenly appeared and become the focus of their attention.

"So you're the one who killed my brother, right?"

Even when they were still twenty or thirty meters apart, the only person in the group wearing a suit, who was probably the leader, had already started shouting at Sano.

...Sano had no idea who the man's younger brother was.

Based on what Akai Shuichi asked Ito Taka in the elevator, the reason he's targeting Sano is because his younger brother suddenly passed away recently.

According to an anonymous tip, his younger brother was apparently threatened and extorted for a large sum of money, so he went to pay the money to the other party one night.

Then they just mysteriously vanished.

After the man in the suit offered a large reward, a passerby provided "testimony".

It is said that on that night, his younger brother saw a white-haired man wearing a hat in the area he was in, so the older brother started to offer a large reward for the so-called white-haired man in the hat... and this is how the situation ended up.

As the saying goes, if you walk by the river long enough, you're bound to get your shoes wet. It's not surprising that a passerby might see you while you're on a mission. As long as the process isn't witnessed, it doesn't matter.

...Even for Sano, it wouldn't matter if the process was seen.

As for the other party's younger brother.

Sano wouldn't possibly remember.

Sano has done at least a hundred, if not dozens, of these kinds of tasks to collect funds for the organization. He must be mentally challenged to memorize the faces and names of each target.

Therefore, when Ito Taka in the elevator asked Sano if he still remembered this incident, this was his answer.

Do you remember how many slices of bread you've eaten?

...These words sounded incredibly menacing, but why did Shuichi Akai and Taka Ito always feel that there was a strange hint of mockery in the other person's tone when he said them?

As the scene from the memory came to mind, Shuichi Akai and Taka Ito were initially thinking that they should put a little distance between themselves and observe the situation.

Then decide on the next course of action.

To their utter surprise, as the group of people approached, Sano suddenly pulled his hand out of his pocket and, as if by magic,...

A pistol appeared out of thin air in his hand; he raised it and pulled the trigger.

"boom!!"

A loud bang echoed through the quiet lobby of the building, like a boulder being thrown into a calm lake.

This startled not only ordinary passersby, or those like Ran Mouri and Vermouth who only had a vague understanding of the situation, but even Shuichi Akai and Taka Ito were taken aback by the gunshot and stood there dumbfounded.

Damn, does he have to be so brave?

They're having a gunfight right here in a place like the Beika Central Building?!

Are you afraid that the police aren't taking this seriously enough, and that you can't do without mobilizing all the police forces in Tokyo?

Generally speaking, in situations like tonight, people tend to handle things in less crowded places to minimize the impact. This way, regardless of who survives in the end, they can continue to live relatively "peacefully" in the future.