Isn't it very scientific to use the Death Note to kill people?

Her vision began to blur and spin, and the cold light from the laptop screen in front of her shattered into unfocused spots of light.

She almost slipped off the chair, barely managing to maintain her balance by gripping the edge of the table tightly with one hand.

At that moment, Lin Jiashu was on the phone outside on the balcony.

It's Gin.

After getting the list from Curaçao, that guy practically traveled all over the world chasing down undercover agents, and today he's finally back in Tokyo.

"I heard that when you were chasing down the undercover agent, you were ambushed by them with their own men?"

"snort"

Gin gave a curt snort, neither too loud nor too soft, without answering the question: "Bourbon's back at your firm as an assistant?"

"Yes, with his help, I can save a lot of trouble."

"Have you figured out what his purpose is?"

Gin's tone on the other end of the phone was somewhat sinister.

Previously, in that abandoned factory, Cointreau and Bourbon had a falling out, but Bourbon shamelessly went back to be Cointreau's assistant... This bothered him somewhat.

However, Hayashi Yoshiki laughed and changed the subject.

"It seems to be to facilitate his intelligence gathering work; it's a mutually beneficial arrangement. But after dealing with so many undercover agents, why is he still so murderous?"

Gin tentatively accepted this answer, but still said, "Before we deal with that most important little white mouse that escaped, killing as many as we want is not enough."

“…Sherry?”

Lin Jiashu's eyes narrowed slightly.

The list submitted by Curaçao was actually at his behest, and quite a few people had indeed died... However, Lin Jiashu didn't care, or rather, he was happy to see this happen.

After all, he had already set his sights on Karasuma Renya's position. What he would end up with was an organization that had been infiltrated and riddled with holes, which would be troublesome for him as well.

Just then, Lin Jiashu vaguely noticed a sound.

His gaze traveled across the balcony to the guest room.

"I have something to take care of here, I'll talk to you later."

He hung up on Gin immediately.

In the guest room, just as Ai Haibara was about to be consumed by the intense pain—

knock knock knock

A clear and restrained knocking sound abruptly pierced through the background noise of the television and her own heavy breathing.

Ai Haibara froze.

"Ai? What's wrong? I think I heard something fall to the ground?"

His voice came from outside the door.

Ai Haibara bit her lower lip hard, almost tasting the blood, before forcing herself not to let out a second cry of pain.

However, the intense pain did not stop; instead, it became even more acute due to the sudden shock and forced suppression.

She could feel her body stretching, the shoulder seams of her pajamas were digging painfully into her, and her trouser legs were getting shorter and shorter... She could even hear the faint sounds of her joints stretching.

"No...it's nothing!"

She tried to speak, but her voice was hoarse and distorted, trembling with undisguised pain, "I just... accidentally knocked something over!"

She struggled to come up with an excuse, hoping the sound of the television outside would mask the unusual tone in her voice.

Lin Jiashu, standing outside the door, remained silent for a moment.

"……Yeah?"

His voice came again, still gentle, but seemingly closer, "Do you need me to help you tidy up?"

"Need not!"

Ai Haibara almost screamed in refusal, her voice distorted by extreme tension and pain, "I can do it myself! You...you don't come in!"

It’s over.

My reaction was a bit excessive.

When Ai Haibara realized this, there was no sound outside the door... no footsteps leaving, and no further questions.

There was only a deathly silence, and a silent standoff between the two sides inside and outside the door.

The girl… or rather, Shiho Miyano, who was gradually recovering, curled up on the ground, enduring wave after wave of excruciating pain. Cold sweat soaked through the children's pajamas that had become incredibly tight and were almost about to burst. Every second felt like an eternity.

Then--

"Click".

A very faint yet perfectly clear sound came from the machine's loudspeaker.

Lin Jiashu pushed open the door and entered.

His gaze swept across the dimness of the room and landed on her, who was slumped on the floor. A very subtle crack appeared in his eyes the moment it fell upon her.

Silently... Shiho Miyano felt her entire face burning. What kind of impression would she leave on him after inexplicably taking the antidote?

She dared not think about the question and could only subconsciously hold her breath. The next second, the sound of tearing fabric rang out, and she could only subconsciously curl up even tighter.

"..."

Without saying a word, Yoshiki Hayashi walked up to Shiho Miyano and squatted down.

His gaze avoided her almost naked body, which trembled slightly from pain and embarrassment, and instead fell on her sweaty, pale face.

How are you feeling now?

As he spoke, he took off his white shirt with remarkable speed and without any pause.

The next second, the shirt, still warm from his body and faintly scented with evening primrose, was gently, even carefully, draped over Shiho Miyano's bare, sweat-drenched shoulders.

"..."

Shiho Miyano shuddered and instinctively grabbed the clothes she was wearing. The residual warmth of his body on the fabric soothed her cold skin, and his familiar scent filled her nostrils.

Complex and bittersweet emotions overwhelmed her last line of defense like a tsunami.

"I'll go see if there are any other clothes."

"Can you get up by yourself now?"

After receiving a positive reply, Lin Jiashu got up and left the room.

The figure didn't hesitate or linger at all.

Shiho Miyano was left alone in the guest room, feeling nervous and ashamed as she faced the uncertainty of what would happen next.

Chapter 27: It seems like your eyelashes tremble quite a bit every time you lie to me.

Time flowed viscously in the silence.

Shiho Miyano curled up in the oversized white shirt, the fabric soft, still warm from Yoshiki Hayashi's body and that faint scent that stirred her complex emotions.

The intense pain had subsided, leaving behind a feeling of utter exhaustion and a lingering ache in her bones and muscles. She sat on the cold floor, hugging her knees, her long, brown hair clinging to her cheeks and neck, damp with sweat.

What's amazing is that the dizziness I experienced from the cold has disappeared.

The temporary antidote worked like it gave her a new body. Once the pain completely subsided, she felt an unprecedented sense of relief.

"I looked around but couldn't find any clothes that fit you, so please use this bathrobe for now."

When the door opened, he simply reached in one hand and handed in a white bathrobe.

Ai Haibara slowly reached out and took it.

Then the door closed again.

There was no more sound coming from outside the door. The television had stopped sometime earlier, and the entire apartment was plunged into an almost frozen silence, with only the patter of rain outside the window continuing.

Shiho Miyano clutched the bathrobe, paused for a moment, and then began to put it on.

The loose men's bathrobe was a bit too baggy. She tried several times to tighten the belt around her waist, but because her waist was too slender, the belt would always come loose by itself after she tied it... Even her shoulders felt light and would slip down if she wasn't careful.

That's it...

After managing to put on the swaddling clothes, she couldn't utter a sound. The only sounds in the room were her heartbeat and the chaotic thoughts in her mind.

She couldn't say how much time had passed.

until--

Knock, knock

The knocking sounded again, restrained and polite, breaking the almost suffocating silence.

Lin Jiashu's voice came from outside the door, still in that gentle tone, devoid of any emotion: "Are you ready? May I come in?"

Shiho Miyano took a deep breath and instinctively wrapped her bathrobe tighter around herself, while Ai Haibara's completely ruined nightgown was kicked under the bed like a ridiculous rag.

She looked around; there was nowhere to hide, and no need to hide anymore.

She cleared her throat, trying to make her voice sound steady, but it still had a slight hoarseness: "...That's enough."

The doorknob turned, and the door was gently pushed open.

Lin Jiashu stood at the door. He had already put on a clean set of clothes again. After entering, his gaze lingered on her for a moment before he noticed her discomfort with the size of her bathrobe. He then moved away from the medicine box that had fallen to the ground.

"so……"

After speaking, Lin Jiashu hesitated for a long time before asking, "Why should I take the temporary antidote?"

"...There's no particular reason."

Shiho Miyano only heard her own voice, which was deliberately cold and calm: "Didn't I say that there was some experimental data that needed to be checked urgently? The data model calculated to a certain point, and we felt it was necessary to conduct an entity verification, so we did it."

Lin Jiashu listened quietly, without any surprise on her face, as if she had expected her to answer like that.

The girl unconsciously gripped the soft fabric of her bathrobe with her nails, meeting Lin Jiashu's quiet gaze. She concealed all her complex and unspeakable emotions within them—she didn't want Lin Jiashu to know what had driven her to make this choice, and she didn't want him to see her disheveled and wretched state.

"You were acting strangely when you texted me today, but I never expected you to take the antidote without a word at this time... This is so unlike your usual meticulous style, Sherry."

It wasn't "Shiho" or "Ai," but "Sherry"... This name was like a needle, precisely piercing the calm she was trying so hard to maintain.

Shiho Miyano's heart skipped a beat.

She opened her mouth, but found that she couldn't make a sound.

After a long while,

A look of intense anger flashed in her eyes: "Don't call me that!"

"……Feel sorry."

Lin Jiashu apologized softly.

An unspeakable silence spread between the two.

Until a dozen minutes ago, Shiho Miyano was only thinking about whether or not she should swallow the antidote, and hadn't considered what their interactions would be like after her body returned to normal...

I never expected the atmosphere to become so stiff and awkward.

In the end, it was Hayashi Yoshiki who took action.

He didn't approach, but leaned forward slightly to close the distance a little.

“You know, Shiho,”

His voice deepened, losing its previous calm tone and taking on a strange, almost intimate gentleness, like the gentle caress of waves on a beach at night, with an irresistible penetrating power. "It seems that every time you lie to me..." His gaze fell on her slightly trembling fingers, which were tightly gripping the fabric of her bathrobe, before slowly moving back to her forced composure. A faint smile curved his lips: "Your eyelashes tremble violently."

"—!"

Shiho Miyano suddenly held her breath.

Her blue eyes widened slightly in shock and panic. She wanted to argue back and keep being stubborn, but all her words got stuck in her throat under his smiling gaze.

Lin Jiashu did not give her a chance to organize her thoughts.

He maintained that slightly tilted posture, his gaze lingering, almost tangible, over her cheeks, slightly flushed with nervousness, her long, brown hair, glossier with sweat, and the slender yet graceful curves of Shiho Miyano, not Ai Haibara, wrapped in an ill-fitting bathrobe.

Did I have this habit before?

She was a little flustered, and she could feel that her eyelashes were indeed trembling.