Conan: I'm Really Not Tokyo Ghost Story

Gin was somewhat embarrassed.

Because when you count it up, that's how many times I've fallen into a trap and messed things up in front of Sano.

This isn't the first or second time.

Throughout his entire career, he's only encountered such situations a handful of times, yet somehow he's the one who keeps running into them.

Feeling threatened by his boss's authority, Gin rubbed his temples.

"I heard that several of that guy's puppets were captured?"

Finally, Gin broke the silence and asked, "Is everything alright?"

"Ah."

Sano yawned: "He's not stupid, he knows what he's doing. Besides, these guys didn't do anything at the time, so the police couldn't do anything."

This intimidation campaign was launched against Shuichi Akai.

Because it had been delayed for so long, both Sano himself and Ito Taka, who was driving, were involved.

Relying on brute force, they broke out of the encirclement before the situation truly became a vortex.

But the others, the puppets responsible for delaying the FBI agents' vehicles.

However, several of them were caught—to be precise, the Japanese police arrested a few puppets along the way when they arrested the FBI agents.

There's nothing we can do; we can't catch the big fish, and there aren't many small ones left.

For the Japanese police, the issue is probably no longer whether they are under pressure or not.

Even though the FBI agents appear to be on the side of "victims".

But there is no doubt that it is illegal possession of firearms.

"Those FBI agents arrested by the Japanese police, if they don't confess their identities, they'll probably be charged with more serious crimes than they would have otherwise been, just to attract attention. If they do confess, at the very least they'll still be deported and the FBI from America will come and take over."

Vermouth laughed, "Because of the rye, some died, some were injured, and some were arrested. The FBI's strength in Japan is now only one or two tenths of what it used to be... It's just a pity that Shuichi Akai is still alive."

"That's enough."

Gin swirled his glass and said calmly, "In that case, at least for the short term, the FBI won't dare to make any more moves."

"Oh, right."

Gin then looked at Sano and asked, "Has the matter with the Mud Ginseng Association been completely resolved?"

Sano nodded: "Mm."

"I heard that the outside help you hired is that black cat?"

Gin narrowed his eyes: "When did you become so familiar with him?"

In the Mud Conference mission, Sano's Black Cat disguise didn't deliberately conceal anything. The big explosion in the middle and the subsequent "filling in the gaps" were one thing, but the "declaration of war" the night before last even had to be high-profile.

Otherwise, it would not even have the intended effect of a declaration of war.

If only the person wearing the rye vest is shown throughout the entire event, then even if Sano took photos...

It's not necessarily true that the platform will determine that the task was completed by Sano.

Therefore, even if Gin didn't deliberately arrange for someone to track him, or if Calvados tipped him off in private, he still knew about it.

"We're not familiar with each other."

Sano lit a cigarette and casually said, "It was just a temporary team-up, a mutual exploitation."

"Mutual exploitation."

Gin said thoughtfully, "Didn't we pay him to do it?"

"Are you kidding me?"

Sano scoffed and said, "How much do you think that guy's appearance fee is, Gin-sama? This isn't an official business trip, who's going to reimburse me for this expense?"

Gin: "..."

Vodka: "..."

Vermouth: "..."

Calvados: "..."

To be honest, none of the four of them were poor, but they weren't particularly rich either.

Not to mention the appearance price of the Black Cat, the range of which is indeed quite astonishing.

But the four of them still couldn't understand.

How can an official be so vulgar and self-righteous?

"...So what exactly happened to you?"

Vermouth was the first to come to her senses and ask a question, saying that they weren't familiar with each other and she hadn't spent any money.

Why did those two end up together?

"I don't know either. Anyway, he contacted me and said he wanted to take action against the Mud Ginseng Society. He asked if I was interested in playing along, saying it would be much faster, so I agreed."

Sano said this.

"They must have received a mission related to the Mud Ginseng Association, or perhaps because of what happened last time, there was some unavoidable conflict between them."

Gin pondered, "The same thing happened last time. Knowing that Kiriko Busujima and Yasuharu Tsuchimon didn't get along, I found their contact information and borrowed a bunch of cannon fodder."

"He's someone who's used to relying on the strength of others."

Vermouth, resting her chin on her hand, said with interest, "Rum seems quite interested in this guy too. Why don't you, Rye, talk to him and see if you can bring him into our organization?"

"There are better candidates than me for this kind of thing."

Sano looked at Calvados: "Brother Calvados should have something to say too, right?"

"Ok?"

Their gazes turned to Calvados.

Calvados made no attempt to hide anything, saying, "I've joined the Black Cat's team."

"...Are you crazy??"

Vermouth's eyes widened immediately.

Gin frowned slightly, but his expression didn't change much.

"That's your freedom, but you should know which side you truly belong on."

"Well, I'll treat it as a part-time job. If necessary, I'll prioritize the organization."

Calvados was not too surprised by this answer.

Sano felt the same way—from the moment he confirmed that Calvados had an account on a professional assassin platform, he knew there wouldn't be any major problems.

This might be similar to the reason why Sano is a detective.

As for why Sano chose Calvados.

Aside from this sniper, there are likely others who meet the hiring criteria for Black Cat's assassin team.

More importantly, Sano discovered the anomalies in Calvados.

Calvados likes Vermouth; he's basically a sycophantic tool.

That's why Vermouth asked him to help her in the first place.

However, he nearly lost his life at the hands of Shuichi Akai.

Calvados survived thanks to Sano's intervention.

This small detail seems unimportant.

But the truth is—Calvados harbored resentment towards Vermouth.

What happened that night was a trap set by the FBI against Vermouth.

Vermouth realized this and pretended to be Judy to get them to leave.

There shouldn't have been any problem.

But who told Shuichi Akai to stay? Who told Vermouth not to tell Calvados the whole story beforehand, almost causing him to lose his life due to carelessness?

This attitude is like treating ants that can be discarded at any time.

Finally, the sycophants have been awakened.

Correspondingly, Sano, who saved Calvados, was actually unknowingly involved.

It won over a lot of goodwill.

Calvados turned around and didn't say anything more.

Aside from remembering his past relationship with Vermouth, isn't that why?

...Perhaps this can be considered a blessing in disguise for Vermouth?

After all, without comparison, there is no harm; with green leaves, flowers become more beautiful.

all in all.

Sano extended an invitation to Calvados.

of course.

The specific details are not as simple as they seem on the surface—Calvados and Sano's Black Cat Vest have no connection whatsoever, so it's not like they could just join forces on a whim.

The key point is still the relationship between Calvados and the Rye Vest.

Of course, now that Calvados has joined, Sano isn't afraid of him gossiping... If he doesn't agree, it's even simpler: just silence him and say he was killed by the Mud Ginseng Association.

...On another note.

Was I poaching Gin's man or Vermouth's man?

"Well then, you two keep chatting, I'm going back to sleep."

After waving his hand, Sano got up and left the cocktail bar, but remained under the counter.

But it was a black hat.