Conan: I'm Really Not Tokyo Ghost Story

I haven't even said anything yet, how come my stance has already been exposed?

Is this guy a monster?!

Seeing Akai Mary's barely concealed reaction, Sano's smile widened... It has to be said, some things really are a matter of practice.

It's like using too many bandages in martial arts, even without doing anything intentionally.

Just like one's own martial arts skills will naturally improve.

Having used the fox demon mask to test others so many times, Sano naturally learned how to more easily draw out the weaknesses of the person he was testing.

And what kind of reaction indicates what kind of flaw.

...That is, when wearing the fox demon mask and using the fox eyes, the eyes will automatically emit a purple light. Otherwise, Sano could have used the illusionary evil spirit to erase the existence of the mask and conduct a deeper level of probing. Of course, he could also use a second illusionary evil spirit to control Akai Mary's vision and erase the purple light in his own eyes as well, but that might suddenly fail.

Then Sano would have no choice but to eliminate Mary Akai.

Of course, Sano could also choose to simply wear a casual hat and squint his eyes.

Just like when he and Amuro Tooru erased the matter of Rye's death.

But in that case, Sano might as well just change his identity and come over.

Ultimately, it was because of the Akai Mary incident, which was neither too big nor too small, that Sano didn't really take it seriously; he was only interested to a certain extent.

"...What are you talking about? I don't understand at all."

Mary Akai was still desperately feigning ignorance, stubbornly saying, "MI6 is like America's FBI. How stupid do you have to be to think that a middle school girl would be one of their people?"

"Junior high school?"

Sano tilted his head with some doubt, looking Akai Mary up and down, and asked suspiciously, "Does your body look that old now...? Did you have your bone age checked? I thought you were at most a sixth grader."

Akai Marie: "..."

I don't know why, but I feel like I was just greatly insulted.

How subtle...

Feeling awkward, Akai Mary watched as Sano gave his answer on his own and showed a thoughtful expression, which immediately helped her adjust her mindset.

Although I don't know why, the person in front of me is clearly not on edge.

If we can seize this opportunity...

Mary Akai's peripheral vision fell on the black pistol on the coffee table.

Although Mary Akai couldn't quite understand why this person, after knocking her unconscious, didn't choose to take her away immediately but instead brought her into the house nearby.

The current situation is that almost all of my secrets have been thoroughly investigated, and further delays will likely be pointless.

It could even lead to Sera Masumi, unaware of anything amiss, carelessly returning home and offering herself up... That's something Akai Mary absolutely doesn't want to see. Her husband and eldest son are already gone because of that existence; if her daughter were to die too...

...We have no choice but to give it a try!

"Shh!"

Mary Akai lunged forward, grabbing the pistol from the coffee table with all her might. After landing, she rolled and turned to point the gun at Sano.

"Don't move!!"

...It's a success! It's a real success!!

Mary Akai herself hadn't expected to succeed so easily. A slight smile unconsciously appeared on her lips, but she didn't forget to pull the trigger even tighter... As the beneficiary, she didn't want to experience the feelings of a victim again after being careless.

"You were careless. Now the roles are reversed. What are you going to do?"

While Akai Mary's face subtly revealed a hint of smugness and ecstasy, Sano remained with his legs crossed... somewhat unexpectedly.

Oh.

Sano was certainly not surprised by Akai Mary's struggle.

What surprised me was the way this fake little girl struggled.

...This is exactly the same action as the previous fake loli?

That's right.

The gun in Mary Akai's hand is not a real gun.

Sano would never pull out a real gun in his true form.

That was just Sano's pistol and lighter.

what is this?

Is this an inevitable stage in the creation of a fake loli character?

...Even he himself had forgotten that there was that thing of a Sano on the coffee table.

I feel like I can't hold back my laughter.

"A minor oversight, the roles switched?"

Sano's smile was even wider than Akai Mary's. He leaned slightly to one side, resting his elbow on the back of the sofa and supporting his chin with the back of his hand.

"If you're so confident, why haven't you fired yet?"

...The last fake loli might have been unable to detect anything amiss because she had a fever that damaged her brain. But this time, the fake loli...

What happened this time?

Was the previous blow too hard, hitting his head or breaking it?

Is this guy really from MI6?

Sano couldn't help but doubt the results he had obtained through his testing.

"Since you're not going to shoot, then it's my turn."

Sano reached into her bosom, instantly raising Akai Mary's alertness to its peak.

"Don't move! I said you're not allowed to move!"

Seeing that Sano was ignoring her completely and had already pulled something out of his pocket, Mary Akai gritted her teeth, abandoning her original idea of ​​trying to extract some information from him, and pulled the trigger directly.

"Then you might as well die!"

"clatter!"

A flame emerged from the muzzle of the gun, but no bullet followed.

In the deathly silence, the only sound was the flickering of a tiny flame, which nearly caused Akai Mary's mind to freeze, leaving her eyes glazed over.

What the heck?!

"Ha, you really didn't notice? Do you think I'm stupid? Would I leave an important gun lying there without even looking at it? Are you stupid?"

Sano's mocking laughter reached his ears.

He looked away from the muzzle flash and looked up to see the dark muzzle of the gun pointed at him, with a mocking expression on Sano's face behind it.

……to be honest.

Sano originally had absolutely no other intentions besides testing Akai Mary, but... who told this guy to be so reckless and volunteer to come to him for something?

Shuichi Akai, Masumi Sera, and now it's this guy's turn.

...Although Sano is still unclear about the relationship between this fake loli and the brother and sister, judging from those three pairs of eyes...

There is no doubt that they are related by blood.

Indeed, a family needs to be all together!

"I kept you around because you are a more special and valuable material than the previous two, with unique experimental value and a special identity. If we interrogate you when Sera Masumi returns, we might get some information that could be useful."

Sano paused, the smile on his face vanished instantly, replaced by a blank expression.

It was filled with cold, murderous intent.

"But even though it was useless, you still shot me. You wanted to kill me, which made me very unhappy. Let me make it clear that your value is only to the organization, not to me. Besides, no one else in the organization knows about you. In other words, your death will have no impact on me."

As Sano "accused" her, Mary Akai's expression grew increasingly grim, but what he said next made her even more flustered.

"And Sera Masumi too. Since I don't need you anymore, she's of no use to me. On the contrary, she'll only get in my way... Don't worry, I'll wait for her to come back here after I kill you. In other words, I'll dispose of both of your bodies together. In a sense, it's like a joint burial. This is my mercy to you."

Despite his hands trembling slightly, he was unable to release the trigger because his body was stiff.

So much so that the flame at the muzzle never went out.

Sano mentally grumbled to himself, having just refilled the lighter with new oil, as he pulled the trigger on his side: "With gratitude and..."

Farewell.

With her pupils constricted, Mary Akai tried desperately to dodge, making one last desperate attempt.

But the series of unexpected events made it really hard to come to one's senses.

Even ignoring everything else, how could Mary Akai not understand just how valuable her current body was for experimentation?

Mary Akai had imagined countless crisis moments and prepared contingency plans in advance.

This is the most helpless, yet also the most effective, method.

It's about laying your cards on the table and demonstrating the value of your experiments. That way, you can at least temporarily delay the situation and enter a state of temporary immortality, which might allow you to find another opportunity to escape... Even if you fail to escape and are taken away for experiments, that's not entirely impossible.

Will they escape again, or be rescued?

Let's try to think in a better direction.

Maybe if I'm taken to the lab, I can learn some secret information...

The result is now.

Mary Akai didn't reveal her identity; it seemed that Sano was completely convinced that she had shrunk, yet he still planned to kill her without a second thought.

what is this?

In this guy's eyes, I'm just like an insignificant ant.

This shouldn't be happening!

"Zi!"

Under Mary Akai's wide-eyed gaze, a stream of water shot out from the muzzle of Sano's gun, extinguishing the small flame on the barrel.

"..."