Conan: I'm Really Not Tokyo Ghost Story

"It seems like Vermouth and Bourbon have started up some underhanded tricks again."

"Is that so? Let them be. I can't control them anyway."

While waiting for their trading partner to arrive, Sano and his friends took a break and fished for a while.

...Actually, it's not much different from usual, except that the smoking area has been moved from inside the car to outside, where the air circulation is better.

After finishing his cigarette, Vodka took out some snacks from his pocket to fill his stomach. Of course, before he started eating, he very considerately handed one to each of Sano and Gin... three biscuits, each about half the size of a palm, stacked together, with seaweed sprinkled on top.

It's green overall, and when you open the package, there's a scallion smell.

Well, it has both color and fragrance.

Sano calmly accepted the vodka, while Gin scoffed... "Only kids eat this stuff. Why are all my men like this?"

Vodka relaxed considerably when he saw Sano accepting the food, and opened his biscuit, but before he could put it in his mouth, he suddenly noticed something else.

The large black dog on Sano's shoulder was staring straight at him.

"...Do you want some too?"

After hesitating for a long time, Vodka tentatively took out a biscuit and handed it to Big Black.

With lightning speed, Big Black snatched the biscuit and jumped off Sano's shoulder. Then it put the biscuit down and pecked at it wildly, breaking it into small pieces so that its little beak could easily eat it. This made Vodka laugh... Looking closely, this crow is actually quite cute.

However, while Vodka was laughing, Gin frowned.

"Regardless of whether it's dirty or not, if your beak pecks off the paint on my car or even dents it, don't blame me for making you pay for it."

Hearing Gin's disapproving warning, Sano shrugged innocently.

"What does this have to do with me? I didn't give you these cookies. Go ask Brother Jia."

"what?"

Upon hearing Sano's words, Vodka was immediately stunned. He subconsciously looked at Gin and found that the other was also looking at him, which made him even more confused.

...Is it really my fault?

Vodka fired a row of dots... If he told Gin now that every time he wasn't around and Sano chose to slack off, he would just press his big butt against the hood of this car, he should be able to successfully transfer the hatred, but unfortunately, he didn't dare.

"I'll take care of it later."

The timid vodka ultimately took the blame for Big Black's actions.

But no sooner had they finished speaking than they heard a "splat" sound.

Sano and the other two looked at the white patch on the car's hood almost simultaneously.

His expression immediately froze.

"……rye?"

Gin, his face turning ashen with rage, could hardly contain his fury.

He glared at Sano, breathing heavily.

"Damn, no way, is this my fault? What can I do if birds don't have sphincter muscles?"

Sano isn't like vodka, so there's absolutely no way he could take the blame.

However, Gin, who was on the verge of losing his mind, could not easily accept this reason.

"Nonsense, this is your bird. If a child is not taught properly, the father is to blame. Of course, you should take responsibility. Otherwise, do you believe I'll roast your bird today?"

Sano: "..."

This car is Gin's most treasured possession, so it's understandable that he's so angry... Even if Sano says he'll clean it up, it's probably not something that can be easily brushed off.

They really know how to get themselves into trouble.

Sano looked at the innocent-looking Dahei with a bit of a headache... This dog, usually when he was asked to poop to see the effect of his bad luck aura, he just couldn't poop no matter what, and when he did, it was always in the wrong place.

Fortunately, that bastard didn't poop directly on Gin's head.

Otherwise, we'd really have to teach this guy what roasted bird tastes like today.

...As for the claim that birds do not have sphincter muscles, it is not entirely accurate, but it's not far off either.

In any case, there's no way to control excretion.

"Then I have no choice but to bake it."

Upon hearing Sano's outright surrender, Gin chuckled in exasperation: "Fine, fine, you said it yourself. I've had roasted bird before, but this is truly my first time eating roasted crow!"

As he spoke, Gin reached out to grab Big Black.

But Big Black didn't dodge... Even though it could fly, and it seemed like it could escape if it wanted to, with Gin's marksmanship, flying would only be courting death for it. So it just flapped its two wings and opened its mouth, saying, "Wait a minute, I don't taste good, I don't taste good!"

"Whether it tastes good or not, we'll have to try it..."

Gin's voice and movements came to an abrupt halt, and the anger on his face instantly transformed into blankness and bewilderment—"Big-Big-Big Brother!!"

After a few seconds of frozen motion, Vodka grabbed Gin's sleeve and shouted.

"The crow spoke! The crow spoke!!!"

Chapter 619-622, The Distillery's Actions

Gin's ears were ringing from Vodka's shouting, and he impatiently shook off his hand... He wasn't blind, what was he yelling about?

What kind of behavior is this, all loud and boisterous?

Making a fuss over nothing, being naive and easily surprised.

Gin snorted and asked Sano, "Did your experiment succeed?"

"experiment?"

Sano was taken aback at first, and then remembered after a few seconds.

It seems that I might have teased Gin with the idea of ​​an experiment?

...You actually remember that? Could it be that you actually believed it?

"What? Didn't you say you wanted to experiment and see if you could make it talk?"

Gin asked in confusion, and Sano nodded this time: "Ah, um, that's right."

"Can your result be replicated?"

Gin looked at Daikoku with some curiosity: "Have you thought about the application aspects?"

"Reproduction, application?"

Sano tilted his head in surprise... It wasn't just a day or two since Dahei was able to speak, otherwise it wouldn't be so, well, human-like when it spoke. At first, even he had to try to understand what the guy was saying for a while, but now it was showing off this special skill.

It was naturally at Sano's behest.

Given Gin's state just now, something needs to happen to distract him.

Only then can this matter be covered up.

Judging from the current situation, Sano did not do anything wrong.

The only thing that surprised Sano was Gin's focus.

Generally speaking, people would be very surprised to see this.

The "strange" aspect refers to both curiosity and impossibility.

After all, the human tendency to gossip is essentially a manifestation of curiosity.

But Gin's curiosity was directed in a somewhat practical direction?

While Sano may have indeed told Gin that it was an experiment, he probably meant it was more like a game he was playing out of curiosity, and Gin should have understood that as well.

Gin's current seriousness is clearly not quite right.

"What's the point of replicating this thing? And how can it be used?"

Sano pinched his chin: "Are you going to go to the circus to perform animal training to make money... Oh, that's actually a good idea. Maybe I can change careers."

Gin snorted coldly at Sano's grinning face.

“Foolish. Crows are small animals that can fly, making them ideal for reconnaissance... Although you have indeed used them for reconnaissance and surveillance, they can't speak, so they can't convey many things, and what they can convey is something that no one but you can understand. Now it's different; this is an improvement in applicability.”

"If we can replicate them, we might be able to use other, better creatures. Besides reconnaissance, they might also play some other roles... Of course, the focus here is still on the domestication of creatures. You could also try to domesticate some poisonous creatures, which would be extremely convenient for assassination missions."

Gin thought for a moment: "But the most important thing should be intelligence... How much of the master's orders can be understood and how accurately can they be executed? That's the key. If it can become similar to a human, only different in body, then it would be equivalent to an alien soldier."

At the end, Sano's eyes finally flickered slightly, but because of the faces of passersby covering his face, Gin was unlikely to notice anything.

"...To put it bluntly, everything is based on the premise of being able to communicate."

Sano picked up the conversation: "But unfortunately, many things are talents. No matter how much I teach you or how much I help you deal with these external things, it's impossible for ordinary people like you to replicate them."

...ordinary people.

Gin's eyelids drooped slightly... No one had ever described him like that before.

However, one thing must be acknowledged.

With Sano's abilities, he refers to everyone else as an ordinary person.

It doesn't seem like he's being arrogant at all.

"I've heard that crows are among the most intelligent birds, with an intelligence level roughly equivalent to that of a human child. Even if they are trained to the point where they can talk and follow commands, they still can't do that kind of thing?"

Gin tried to persuade him again.

Unfortunately, Sano rejected the idea outright: "First of all, and the simplest point, it's difficult enough to get crows to obey commands, let alone commands from someone other than themselves. Secondly, they have to fully understand the commands... that is, be able to comprehend what is being said. Although crows are supposed to have the intelligence level of human children, that's only in theory. Due to various factors, they are ultimately inferior to upright apes."

"Furthermore, you should know that not every crow is like my pet, possessing a level of understanding and learning far beyond that of ordinary crows. This leads to the third and final point: the issue of learning to speak."

Sano raised his hand to signal Dahei to take the opportunity to fly away, then tilted his head back and continued to say while watching it fly: "Even this one, sometimes it is quite difficult to talk to it. Sometimes it is very smooth, as if communicating with a person, and sometimes it is very difficult, and it is nonsensical. We don't know if it is really like a child."

Hearing Sano's long sigh, Vodka scratched his head and interjected.

"Could it be that because their intelligence level is equivalent to that of a human child, they are more playful and deliberately pretend to be stupid to tease people?"

Sano raised an eyebrow and looked at Vodka... This line of thinking is quite peculiar.

"So, what you're saying, Brother Jia, is that I've been being made a fool of by a bird all along?"

Vodka: "..."