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

Not at all.

Hayashi Yoshiki's car quickly disappeared on the street in front of the Mori office.

He reached out and touched the spot where Xiaolan had just kissed him, smiled, and then drove to the organization's bar.

It's not even 10 o'clock yet.

It's still early...

He leisurely parked his car at the foot of a building, took the elevator to a high floor, and found a private bar.

As I pushed the door open, a tinkling sound came from behind the door.

Cohen was the only one sitting quietly in the corner of the bar area. When he saw Lin Jiashu, he gave a slight nod as a greeting.

Why are you the only one here today?

Lin Jiashu sat down on a high stool not far from Cohen and loosened his collar.

"Chianti has been temporarily reassigned to another location for a mission."

"is it?"

Lin Jiashu didn't think about it in detail.

Cohen looked at him, as if he had something to say.

However, Lin Jiashu's gaze fell on the liquor cabinet behind the bar.

"Is there no bartender today?"

"What would you like to drink?" Cohen asked.

How about a Ramos Ginfizz?

Lin Jiashu had a smile on his face.

Ramos Ginfizz is a cocktail that gives bartenders a real headache.

The recipe includes gin, lemon juice, egg whites, and syrup—the proportions are not complicated, but shaking the meringue on top of the glass requires considerable strength and skill.

Even after it's set, you have to carefully pour the soda water in slowly along the spoon handle to create a nice foamy top.

Cohen went behind the bar.

Silently, he slowly took out his bartending tools and ingredients. Just when Lin Jiashu thought he really knew how, he opened his phone and started searching.

"..."

Are you trying to act all high and mighty by not saying anything?

"..."

Cohen picked up the shaker and shook it for a moment.

After a lot of work, the meringue that was shaken out of the shaker was ultimately unusable.

He stared at the cup for quite a while behind his sunglasses.

"Gin was very unhappy when he found out that day."

He suddenly said something out of the blue, but Lin Jiashu understood it.

He didn't respond, he just kept smiling.

Cohen didn't seem to expect a response. He took out new materials and reviewed the tutorial he had searched for on his phone again, looking at it very carefully... while saying:

"Chianti went that day too, and when she came back she kept mocking Gin, so she was sent out."

"Where to send them?"

"Africa."

"..."

"Just pick any drink you like."

"Give me that lemonade, with some ice and water."

Cohen gave him a glass of lemonade.

After that, the only sound in the bar was the rustling of shaker glasses.

Until the bar door was pushed open again.

Gin and Vodka walked in one after the other. As soon as Gin entered, his cold, dark green eyes fell directly on Yoshiki Hayashi.

The air temperature dropped significantly by several degrees.

Vodka instinctively shrank his neck and followed cautiously behind, barely daring to breathe.

Gin strode over, his tall figure beneath his black trench coat exuding an invisible pressure. He stopped next to Yoshiki without immediately sitting down, instead scrutinizing him from head to toe with his cold eyes, his gaze swirling with unfathomable emotions—a mixture of anger at being fooled and displeasure at his own misjudgment.

That bastard...

The most crucial point he should have realized earlier was: how could Jundu be so easily framed by someone like Bourbon? How could he so easily be arrested by the police?

Gin felt a rare, self-deprecating anger at the thought that he had been completely unaware of such a simple problem and had even been used as a pawn by the other man.

If Bourbon had only revealed the truth about it before, and he was only about 80% sure, then when Makoto Shimobe was arrested and even admitted to and took responsibility for the explosions caused by these "copycats," even idiots like Vodka and Tequila could see through it.

Yoshiki Hayashi seemed completely oblivious to the oppressive aura emanating from Gin. He turned his head, a smile spreading across his face.

Good evening.

Gin stared at his impeccably smiling face, his expression tightening for a moment before he finally let out a cold snort, sat down next to Yoshiki Hayashi, and said in a chilling tone, "...You're having a good time?"

"I wouldn't call it being happy." Lin Jiashu picked up the glass of lemonade and took a sip, his gaze still fixed on Cohen's shaker. "After all, the beds in the detention center are a bit hard, and... Bourbon's life is really tough."

Gin chuckled.

His voice was full of sarcasm. "Rum values ​​him more than I thought. Maybe he really doesn't have many trustworthy people under him."

"Rum...?"

Vodka sat down to the side.

He listened to their conversation without interrupting, but secretly glanced at Lin Jiashu.

Jundu is getting bolder and bolder. He dares to cause trouble at an international event like the Tokyo Summit, where countless police officers are watching. The key point is that he got away scot-free after so many police officers died, and now he's sitting here drinking leisurely—and his only goal was to kill Bourbon.

"Cohen, give me a vodka tonic."

He looked at Cohen, who was standing there with his shaker open, seemingly lost in thought.

Cohen glanced at him, poured out the contents of his shaker, and said, "Okay, but wait until I've mixed the Cointreau."

"Ok."

Upon hearing that it was Cointreau, Vodka certainly didn't dare to suggest cutting in line.

He waited for almost twenty minutes.

Gin, on the other hand, seemed unwilling to dwell on his experience of being used as a pawn. He took out a cigarette, lit it, and said, "Don't do anything unnecessary. Your mission with Bourbon has dragged on for too long."

Is it really worth the rush to achieve a goal of that magnitude?

"It was that gentleman who gave the order."

Gin lowered his voice, but it carried an undeniable air: "He's getting impatient."

Chapter 43: Rum Makes His Appearance

Afternoon sunlight streamed through the blinds of the detective agency, casting warm dappled patterns on the floor.

Lin Jiashu leaned back in his office chair, unconsciously twirling a pen between his fingers, his phone pressed to his ear, listening to Ai Haibara's cool yet youthful voice coming from the other end.

"Yes, suppressing drug resistance is the main direction at present." Ai Haibara's voice came through the receiver, accompanied by the clatter of keyboards. She was probably busy processing data at her computer again. "The pharmacological models for complete reversal or long-term maintenance are too complicated, and the existing sample data are not enough to support them. But if we just want to delay the development of drug resistance and reduce the risk of subsequent drug failure, we have found a few possible entry points."

Her tone was calm, as if she were reporting on a routine research progress, but Lin Jiashu could hear the focus hidden beneath that calmness and... a hint of barely perceptible urgency.

"It sounds like things are going well."

Yoshiki Hayashi responded with a smile, his voice gentle, "But don't push yourself too hard, Ai. Your health is more important."

"reluctantly?"

Ai Haibara on the other end of the phone gave a soft hum, the typing paused for a moment, and her tone suddenly became a little off: "Compared to a certain master of managing energy and time who needs to juggle different women, this amount of research is not even a stretch."

Lin Jiashu burst out laughing.

He didn't find Ai Haibara's occasional sarcastic remarks about his love life offensive.

On the contrary, I found it quite cute.

After all, her current research is even focused on how to prevent temporary antidotes from developing into drug resistance, so her intentions are quite clear.

She seems to have become very proactive too.

When Ai Haibara saw that Yoshiki Hayashi didn't refute her, she unconsciously ground her teeth.

The silence lasted only a few breaths.

Hayashi Yoshiki suddenly and naturally changed the subject: "Speaking of which, the weather has been nice these past few days. How about we go out for a walk this weekend? I heard there's a new exhibition at the Beika Central Art Museum, or maybe we could try that new dessert shop in Beikacho? The Mont Blanc you mentioned wanting to try last time seems to have pretty good reviews there."

There was still silence on the other end of the phone.

But Lin Jiashu could almost picture her looking at him with a mixture of excitement and indifference, as if she were trying to look away.

"...Whatever." Finally, she managed to utter two stiff words, but her tone softened noticeably. "If someone doesn't have any other more important appointments."

"Of course not," Lin Jiashu replied readily, her tone gentle. "You have the whole weekend to yourself."

"……snort."

Ai Haibara hummed again, but this time it sounded more like a satisfied mutter, "Hanging up, I have to get back to work."

"it is good."

Lin Jiashu responded softly.

But before she hung up, Lin Jiashu seemed to suddenly remember something and casually asked, "By the way, how have you been at school these past few days? Has anything unusual happened?"

When he called, Lin Jiashu would occasionally inquire about her situation.

Firstly, it was out of concern, and secondly, it was to confirm whether any noteworthy cases had occurred on Conan's side so that he could keep track of the plot's development.

Ai Haibara's mind was mostly on the computer screen on the other end of the phone, so her voice sounded somewhat nonchalant: "What could be so special? It's just class, playing detective games with those kids and watching that mystery fanatic..."

Her voice suddenly stopped.

"...What's wrong?" Lin Jiashu keenly noticed her pause.

"It's nothing." Ai Haibara's voice returned to its usual calm, but her speech was a little faster. "It's just that yesterday, an old skeleton was found in the basement of the old warehouse behind the school."

"Skeletons? What happened?"

"It's nothing particularly serious; that guy Edogawa has already taken care of it."

Having encountered so many cases with Conan, Ai Haibara spoke with an unusually calm tone, "The situation is that a group of robbers stole gold bars many years ago and ran away. Their leader used the basement of the old warehouse at Teitan Elementary School as the loot distribution point, exchanging the gold bars for banknotes and leaving a coded message for his accomplices to come and collect them. As a result, the leader probably wanted to keep it all for himself or something happened to him, and he died in the warehouse basement and turned into skeletons. The banknotes have remained untouched ever since."

She paused, giving Lin Jiashu time to process what she was saying, before continuing, "And the remaining robbers who had been searching for the stolen money happened to find the warehouse yesterday, but thankfully, they didn't cause any trouble."

She briefly explained the details.

The person involved didn't think anything of it, but Lin Jiashu's eyes gradually hardened on the other end of the phone.

Ai Haibara stated that she was a new teacher who had just transferred to Teitan Elementary School—a clumsy woman who was knocked down by the robbers while wildly swinging things around like throwing wild punches.

Ai Haibara didn't say her name, but Yoshiki Hayashi already knew that the other person's name was Rumi Wakasa.

...It's already this late.

Rumi Wakasa was one of Rum's three candidates when she first appeared, but in reality, she and Rum were sworn enemies and she wished she could kill him.

What's particularly noteworthy is that her combat power is almost second only to Makoto Kyogoku, a Saiyan.

Lin Jiashu vaguely remembered that after she appeared, Rum also quickly followed and appeared on stage.

The opportunity has arrived...

Lin Jiashu's smile slowly faded, but her tone on the other end of the phone remained gentle: "It's good that it's resolved, but it sounds like your experience was still quite dangerous. Next time something like this happens again..."

"Don't you always act recklessly when you do dangerous things?"