The establishment of the Time Travelers Alliance began in the first year of Conan

Chapter 247 Professor Agasa's Perfect Calculation
Those who were once responsible for adjusting the "prisms" above the Earth's atmosphere in the "Star Tower Case" have now become Professor Agasa's eyes looking at the ground.

Dr. Agasa had experienced this feeling before when his RSI value was too low, and apart from now having more eyes and brain, there was no difference.

Although that emptiness and coldness would tightly surround him every time he "connected" to the device—in order to incorporate everything into the future plan more quickly, Dr. Agasa directly connected to a [Cycle Computer].

Surrounded by a thousand hands, ten thousand eyes, and countless brains, Professor Agasa was easily overwhelmed by his superfluous senses, if not for the help of the Time Crystal and the mask...

In Professor Agasa's eyes, everything around him merges into a set of data, their appearances become blurred, and they look identical.

He stood in this "cage" and gave an order to his "hands" to spit out a "note" from his "mouth".

"Go ahead and ruin yourself, Agasa."

The mask kept sighing. As the most "Professor Agasa" version of the original from the story timeline, it had tried to help him for a while, but Professor Agasa forcibly stopped it.

"I still have to be 'Professor Agasa' in front of Conan." Professor Agasa sighed; for him, leaving this room felt like a rest. "That child needs care."

And Professor Agasa, lying on the table, looked miserable.

Its beard drooped dejectedly. When it looked at its "self" in front of it, it realized that it knew absolutely nothing about Professor Agasa.

Was I telling the truth?

Was his concerned tone genuinely out of genuine care for Conan, or stemming from cold calculations, or simply a performance to reassure me?

……

Even this morning, I was wearing the mask on my own face, becoming one with Professor Agasa.

At that time, Professor Agasa, wearing a mask, drove his Volkswagen Beetle and cheerfully dropped Ai Haibara off at the school gate.

The elderly man, who cared deeply for the child, instructed her, hoping she would temporarily put that cruel past aside.

"You can actually make some friends, Ai."

Dr. Agasa's face revealed a genuine concern for "problem children," the concern of a kind old man for children.

"And I thought about it again this morning, and even if you were to make that kind of joke with Conan, I wouldn't actually object, okay?"

"I wouldn't do that like a child." Ai Haibara's cold voice came from the passenger seat. "Doctor, you mean Shinichi Kudo knows some information about that organization, right?"

"Ah! This..." Professor Agasa unconsciously lowered his voice, "Don't tell Conan that I told you this, okay? He seems to have been investigating that case for the past three days, the pharmaceutical factory case."

……

What happened even made the mask itself feel a little creeped out—

It wasn't until he was stripped of his hat that "Professor Agasa" realized how those behaviors, which perfectly matched his own traits or "persona," were ingeniously integrated with the plans now appearing before him.

Even when the two timelines briefly overlapped, the mask attempted to uncover Professor Agasa's true thoughts.

It was trapped by the endlessly extending steps, the infinitely wide land, and the infinitely upward mountain peaks.

When "Professor Agasa" stands amidst those memories and histories, he sees countless echoes of himself, random colors, lines, and patterns.

It saw the shadow of an old man, and countless shadows of old men, these lonely shadows, struggling to climb the hill, thinking.

The mask revealed everything about Professor Agasa to him, showing him—

For Professor Agasa, even the question of "who am I" is no longer important.

If you can't even be sure which one is "Professor Agasa," how can you be sure of his true thoughts?
Even when Ai Haibara got out of the car and Professor Agasa removed himself from his face, the mask realized that it hadn't changed at all because of what it had seen.

"Professor Agasa" is still "Professor Agasa".

This made the doubts in the mask's heart even more rampant—

It was uncertain whether the scenes it had just witnessed were a disguise created by Professor Agasa to gain its understanding.
Or perhaps, that was his true thought?
—As the first "plot character" to learn the truth about the world, Dr. Agasa's experiences allowed him to delve deeper into himself and his "persona" than anyone else.

Perhaps now, only Karasuma Renya can compare to him.

As mentioned before, they are on two different paths regarding the "persona issue".

Of course, for the mask, it can only make itself like a real Professor Agasa, starting to sigh, start to complain, and like an old man, rambling on about its own opinions.

Just like now, the mask looks at the screen in front of it, and at itself reaching out to grab something.

"Anyway, if the plan succeeds in the end, our god will correct everything, right?" it asked.

"It's us."

—That's how Dr. Agasa answered it.

……

Of course, the mask guess was actually quite accurate.

Professor Agasa did indeed include Ran Mouri's comforting words to Conan this morning as a variable in his plan.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have said those words before Ai Haibara was ready to make that "joke".

For Conan, amidst the momentary silence and the children's exclamations of "Kawaii!", he finally focused his gaze, which had been wandering in the air.

Ms. Kobayashi was holding the hand of a seemingly calm little girl.

Calmness is not usually a word to describe a child's appearance, but Conan felt it was just right for that child.

Her expression was calm to the point of being indifferent. Her short, brownish-gray hair hung neatly down the sides of her face, with the ends curling slightly inward. Her gaze was clear and sharp, constantly scanning the classroom with alertness.

The burgundy off-shoulder coat perfectly complemented her icy blue eyes. That cool yet fiery aura softened her unusual calm and alertness compared to her peers, making her assessing gaze seem more like the shyness of someone new to the place.

"Today we're welcoming a new student!" Ms. Kobayashi wrote her name on the blackboard.

"This is our new student who transferred to our class today, Ai Haibara," Ms. Kobayashi introduced softly to the children, her eyes gentle. "Everyone, please welcome her!"

For Ai Haibara, Professor Agasa's tolerance struck a chord deep within her—that even hazy memories have their advantages.

"Like a real child making a joke?"

That vague anger urged Ai Haibara to burn away all the relaxed emotions in her heart.

Then, the coolness, like snow falling on her neck, made her even calmer.

Ai Haibara met Conan's gaze, which was slightly weary and sad. Then, the thoughtful look in Conan's eyes made her start to think as well.

"What I need to do is first convince that detective to stand on my side."

So, when the teacher said, "Haibara, we are in class now, could you please find a seat?" Ai Haibara walked straight to Conan's seat, put down her bag, and turned to look at him.

"Please give me more advice."

"Ah." Conan looked at the child who had suddenly sat down next to him. "Nice to meet you."

But in his heart, Conan felt a slight sense of resentment.

"What's going on..." he thought, "Now I'll have to be secretive when making plans in the future."

Out of the corner of her eye, Ai Haibara saw Conan put the piece of paper, which was covered with what looked like clues and paths, into a drawer.

"Baijiu?"

The name made her frown; she didn't recall having such a person in the organization.

At the same time, the name of the drink made Ai Haibara feel even more anxious—it seemed as if the organization had rapidly recruited more members after she escaped.

So, a few minutes after Ai Haibara finished packing her textbooks and put her bag in her desk drawer, Conan saw his new classmate start passing him notes.

Conan, who had originally planned to write a refusal to communicate on the note, immediately darkened his expression the moment he unfolded it.

The note was brief: "Do you know Apoptoxin-4869?"

Clearly, neither Apoptosis (programmed cell death) nor Toxin are words that a first-grader should be able to grasp.

……

As for Mask and Professor Agasa, they were now watching Ai Haibara and Conan quickly, or rather perfunctorily, say goodbye to the three members of the Junior Detective League.

"Wales, your A team is responsible for the route to hijack the phone booths, and then you're to place the liquor in the shops, but not in the most conspicuous places."

Then, Professor Agasa gave orders to the other teams of "Destiny's Mandate".

"In addition to Team A, Teams B, C, and D are responsible for 'evacuating the public' and also act as customers, setting TDD to automatic silent mode."

Many voices were ringing out in the basement; Dr. Agasa was currently issuing orders to many teams and many targets simultaneously.

"Eternal First Strike"—these GSSRA support forces, already "sent out" by Heiji to join the traffic police force, were processed by Dr. Agasa's voice on the communication channel.

"Meng Han and Mutou Airi, your teams A and B are responsible for guiding the traffic flow on the road. Each vehicle must have no more than three people. At the same time, use traffic lights to keep the vehicles spaced apart, and make sure the movement path is not too deliberate or rigid."

"Meanwhile, the other two groups of police officers were responsible for guiding Officer Sato along [Shinichi Kudo's] movement path."

Those who could be replaced were replaced with "non-passersby" whenever possible.

For the league, these seemingly minor details have now become the most troublesome thing.

If it's possible to avoid a "murder," then it's best not to.

Fortunately, Conan's thoughts and attention are now completely drawn to this former Black Organization member who claims to have escaped from the organization and shrunk by taking APTX-4869.

After using the excuse of holding his own "induction ceremony" the next day to appease the three members of the Junior Detective League, he immediately took Ai Haibara to a public phone booth on a street corner after school.

While Ai Haibara watched her surroundings warily, Conan dialed the police station's number first.

"Ran-neechan? I suddenly remembered that my skateboard is still at Professor Agasa's house... Hmm, I already told Professor Agasa yesterday that he would prepare dinner... I won't be going back for dinner today!"

"What about tonight?" Xiaolan suddenly remembered that tomorrow was the weekend. "Are you going to stay at the professor's house for the night?"

"Mmm!" Conan was just wondering how to give a reasonable explanation when Ran's suggestion was exactly what he wanted, "I'll be back for lunch tomorrow!"

Then there's Professor Agasa.

"Doctor? I've already seen the child." Conan lowered his voice. "Are you sure that woman is trustworthy? And what about what she said?"

"Ah—I forgot to tell you about this, Shinichi. This child collapsed in front of my house..."

Under Professor Agasa's gaze, the mask spoke in a tone of embarrassment characteristic of the professor. To be honest, it really wanted to scratch its head, but unfortunately, it had no hands.

Dr. Agasa briefly explained the situation, and then added a sentence.

"In short, I didn't tell her anything, especially about the watch."

Conan glanced at the figure standing outside the phone booth, and nodded subconsciously to indicate that he understood.

"Okay, I've already talked to Xiaolan, I won't be going back tonight."

Then, he pushed open the door of the phone booth and looked at Ai Haibara.

"Let's go, Haibara, let's go buy some alcohol first."

"Buy alcohol?" Ai Haibara's voice carried a hint of surprise and doubt.

“Hmm,” Conan looked at a slightly larger store in the distance, “I need you to cover for me. I’ll explain the reasons to you later.”

Although it's unclear what kind of alcohol Conan wants to buy or what he intends to do with it, agreeing to this won't hinder her goal of destroying the Black Organization.

On the contrary, agreeing can further clarify one's position.

She nodded slightly.

Ai Haibara knew that her top priority was to gain the detective's trust.

There's simply no extra time left to play those childish "house" games.

Just like not long ago, when Conan used "baijiu" (a type of Chinese liquor) to start a conversation, she didn't rush to delve into its meaning.

Just like earlier, when she presented Conan with the general information about "APTX-4869" and her identity as a "former member of the Black Organization".

Conan, too, did not act like a child, excitedly or irrationally pressing for specific details.

Conan and Ai Haibara both knew the truth perfectly well.

Both sides are currently concealing things for various reasons, but because they both possess a maturity beyond their years, they quickly reached a tacit understanding and soon achieved common ground while reserving differences.

As if some inexplicable force was at work, they tacitly completed the initial cooperation, and even the wariness in their hearts gradually subsided at a relatively fast pace.

On the way back to Professor Agasa's house, based on Haibara's trust in him, Conan revealed some information.

Regarding his purpose in "buying" baijiu.

"You mean, the ingredients in baijiu temporarily restored your original body shape?! Could it be some kind of polypeptide component...?"

"Phew—" The surprised and analytical voices from those around him finally put Conan at ease.

Conan felt that Ai Haibara was the kind of person he was least good at dealing with. She was like a machine, only able to give a few indifferent replies after simply judging whether he had brought up a topic.

He carefully used "baijiu" as a pretext, not only to test her, but also to verify something.

"As expected, that organization didn't know about this either."

Conan kills three birds with one stone.

He not only confirmed that he was temporarily safe, and verified that the Black Organization truly did not know there was an antidote for this drug, but also deduced from Ai Haibara's subconscious response upon hearing this—

“She wasn’t lying. She told the truth in class that she participated in the research and development.”

……

As for the mask, it watched Conan and Ai Haibara, one using crying to attract the attention of the shop assistant, and the other skillfully cutting off the labels, putting four or five small bottles of different brands of baijiu into a backpack and quietly slipping out of the store.

It couldn't help but admire the seamless coordination between the two now, and at the same time, it breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good! Now the contradictions that were originally due to [historical inertia] will not occur!"

Then, it saw another version of itself, casting a thoughtful gaze because of that sentence.

The "Cyclic Computer" clearly reacted in a special way to some extent with a certain trait of Professor Agasa.

now--

Dr. Agasa's plans were flawless.

(End of this chapter)