Daily Spy Life in the Detective Conan World

Chapter 945 The Girl's Gratitude

A dull night.

The air conditioner's outdoor unit was buzzing loudly, disturbing my peaceful sleep.

Ai Haibara tossed and turned in bed.

Moonlight streamed through the window and spilled onto the floor.

The dappled glow, like her sorrow, appeared every night.

"Sister, are you alright?"

The glow on the ground seemed to have taken on the shape of her older sister, her thin smile forced, yet she liked to put on a brave face in front of her.

My sister must have done a lot of bad things for the distillery, even in places I can't see.

If one day, Uncle Xia Chuan really does destroy the brewery, and my sister reappears in front of me...
Her thoughts suddenly stopped.

Will that day ever come?

Honestly, I don't know.

"Who was it that was in the video from a while ago, that could have been put in my backpack?"

Not wanting to think about what might happen to her sister, Ai Haibara shifted her attention to the USB drive she had received a few days ago.

The appearance of this USB drive is quite strange.

It was in his schoolbag.

She clearly remembered that no one approached her on her way to and from school that day, not counting the Junior Detective Club.

Therefore, it can only be at school.

Judy?
The other party is an FBI agent, an underling of Shuichi Akai, who is also his sister's ex-boyfriend.

Ai Haibara gently shook her head.

impossible!
His sister shouldn't be in his hands, and if he really cared about this relationship, he wouldn't have left so decisively in the first place.

There was no true love between him and his sister.

"As Sherlock Holmes said, when you have eliminated all the impossibilities and there is one left, however improbable it may seem, that is the truth."

Ai Haibara suddenly muttered those words.

This is a phrase that Conan often says.

She had previously scoffed at this, thinking it was just Conan's pretentious catchphrase.

But those words had already echoed in my mind many times.

This wasn't the first time; a similar situation occurred before.

Is it possible for Tequila to come and go from home?
Ai Haibara doesn't understand Tequila's abilities, but she does understand Uncle Natsukawa.

Given Uncle Natsukawa's abilities, Tequila shouldn't be able to do that.

"So, is tequila actually related to Uncle Natsukawa?"

In a daze, she returned to that rainy night and the time when she fell in Beika Town 2-chome.

That night, Professor Agasa and Uncle Natsukawa saved me.

Is it by chance?

Frank also lives in 2-chome, which is not far from Professor Agasa's house. He must be going to Frank's house, right?
Uncle Natsukawa's identity is not simple, and why does Frank happen to live near Shinichi Kudo and Professor Agasa's house?

Did they already know that Shinichi Kudo had become Conan?
"How about I go ask Uncle Xia Chuan?"

Ai Haibara spoke softly, as if talking to herself.

"oops."

Ai Haibara was startled and looked in the direction of the sound, only to find Anya muttering to herself in her dream.

She must be playing with Bond in her dream.
Thinking about Xia Chuan's attitude towards her during this period, she felt that it was a very shameless thing to doubt Xia Chuan like this.

They've been so good to you, why are you still making such sinister assumptions?

—Then what's the difference between myself and Shuichi Akai?
Suddenly, Bond's voice came from downstairs.

Although the sound was soft, she had sharp ears and eyes, so she still heard it.

It's possible that Xia Chuan and Yue Er, the two nominal guardians, have returned.

"Never mind, I'll just go to sleep."

She closed her eyes, pulled the blanket up a little, and withdrew her hands.

"Click."

The door was pushed open a crack.

Ai Haibara didn't open her eyes; she knew it was either Natsukawa or Yoru who came to check if they were asleep.

To avoid worrying others, she would pretend to be asleep in such situations.

The door didn't close again, and she felt as if someone had walked up to her.

He opened his eyes and, sure enough, saw Joel standing in front of him.

"woke up."

"I'm not asleep yet."

"Come down for a moment, Xia Chuan has something to say to you."

"Uh-huh."

Ai Haibara hesitated for a moment, but still agreed, "Okay."

When Ai Haibara came down, she saw Natsukawa and Yoru sitting on the sofa, their eyes both on her.

That gaze made her feel uneasy; it was strange, as if something was about to happen.

"Uncle Xia Chuan, is there anything you want to tell me?"

Xia Chuan didn't speak directly, carefully considering where to begin in a way that would minimize Haibara Ai's discomfort.

"Actually, the reason you were able to escape from the organization was because Xia Chuan helped you."

Somewhat annoyed by her fiancé's hesitation, Joel directly delivered the bombshell news that was devastating for Ai Haibara.

The air suddenly froze, and Ai Haibara stood frozen in place.

After a while, she forced a smile and asked, "What do you mean? I should have told Aunt Joel, right? The reason I left was because Tequila helped me open it."

Her voice paused.

"Hmm." Joel nodded slightly. "You should have guessed it already, right?"

"I can not guess it."

Cold sweat beaded on Ai Haibara's forehead, and her heart pounded rapidly.

When she wanted to ask, it was like being torn apart by a hundred claws, but when the topic was actually brought up in the open, she didn't want to delve deeper or find out the truth.

Furthermore, Agave is nearly two meters tall, and although Uncle Natsukawa is also quite tall, he is at least ten centimeters shorter, right?
"Disguise, height increase, voice change, these are not difficult for me."

Xia Chuan suddenly spoke, his tone thick with Osaka accent, and his eyes became much more sinister, like a raptor ready to devour its prey.

This change in expression happened in an instant, yet it still made Haibara hold her breath for a moment.

so similar.
No, they're exactly the same!
That's how it was when I first encountered Tequila!
"Uncle Xia Chuan."

Ai Haibara finds it a bit hard to accept.

She could accept that Xia Chuan was an assassin, a master of another criminal organization that coveted the winery, and that he was working for a certain national power.

But it's hard to accept the fact that the other party is tequila.

Back when she was still Sherry, she had many encounters with the other party, but the experience was not pleasant.

Although the other party did not cause her any real harm, every time they spoke, it put her under mental pressure.

Especially after the other party hid his sister, he has been suffering from missing her for the past few months.

"Is that how it is?"

Ai Haibara still couldn't understand Natsukawa's behavior. "If that's the case, then you brought me out of the organization in the first place just for APTX4869?"

"Including the inexplicable research materials that followed, were those also given to me by you?"

Xia Chuan nodded heavily.

The sky is falling.
Ai Haibara felt dizzy and disoriented.

It turns out that all of this was just wishful thinking on my part; Xia Chuan was simply trying to take advantage of me.

He also wanted to get a share of APTX4869.

"Ai." Joel felt that if he didn't speak, the misunderstanding between the two of them would only deepen.

"You should know that Xia Chuan never had the idea of letting you continue researching APTX4869, otherwise he could have directly threatened you with your sister."

"Yes, where's my sister?"

The little girl didn't have time to think; she only heard the last sentence.

His own sister is in Tequila's hands, and now that he knows Natsukawa is Tequila, then his sister is in Natsukawa's hands.

You still say it's not a threat?

Otherwise, why wouldn't you let yourself meet with your sister?

Moreover, Tequila did indeed tell him to thoroughly research drug A.

She looked at Xia Chuan.

She didn't want to hear Joel's explanation; she wanted to hear Xia Chuan explain it himself.

This way, I can finally give up on any remaining thoughts.

At this moment, an invisible barrier seemed to rise around Ai Haibara, separating her from Natsukawa Yoru and from the world.

She regained the same wariness she had when she first met Natsukawa at Professor Agasa's house after escaping from the organization.

Like an abandoned kitten, filled with fear of the world.

“I do know where your sister is, but I never intended to use her to threaten you. If I wanted to threaten you, wouldn't it have been simpler to just kidnap you to a research institute?”

Xia Chuan's sincere explanation was not accepted. Ai Haibara remained wary, or perhaps she could no longer listen to Xia Chuan and just wanted to distance herself from him.

Watching the other person retreat, Xia Chuan felt a pang of sadness. If he had known this would happen, he would have been better off being honest from the beginning.

"The reason you can't see Akemi Miyano isn't because of you. It's because Akemi Miyano's condition isn't suitable for you to meet right now. She's currently under police protection and is in Yuri's hands."

You've probably seen the contents of the USB drive from a few days ago, right?

Xia Chuan shook his head and smiled bitterly: "The reason I helped you escape the winery was simply to slow down the development of APTX4869. I don't want this drug to ever be released to the market."

“But people like Conan do exist, so I didn’t stop you from researching drugs.”

“Yeah, yeah!” Joel added, “There must have been quite a few times, right? Xia Chuan saw you were busy and forcibly dragged you on a trip to relax. If he really was after Drug A, he could have just pretended not to see it!”

This is true.

Ai Haibara had already accepted this explanation, but she still felt uncomfortable.

This feeling is very strange.

It's like being the only one in a family who's kept in the dark.

etc.
And then there's Anya, that guy doesn't know anything either.

If that's the case, it seems a little better.

"."

At the corner of the stairs, Anya was peeking at the scene below, her thumb to her lips, biting her nail.

It seems like I should go down and tell Haibara that she actually knows everything, and that she knew it even before her mother.

But Anya is no longer the same naive person she once was; she knows that she shouldn't speak carelessly at times like this.

"No matter what, let's start by recording the good things in life."

They muttered to themselves and set up the camera.

"Then why are you suddenly telling me all this tonight?"

Ai Haibara finally understood why, despite having some suspicions, she had stubbornly refused to ask Natsukawa about it in the previous few days.

So it was because you were afraid of being disappointed.

Just like now, she would rather Xia Chuan and Yue Er deceive her for the rest of their lives.

"Is it related to yesterday's trip?"

She had already suspected Xia Chuan and Yue Er had left yesterday under the guise of tourism, and now she was almost certain.

But what exactly is it that would make Xia Chuan and Yue Er choose to tell you the truth?
"Yes, it's about your parents."

Xia Chuan regretted it a little and didn't really want to say it, but Joel was staring straight at him.

He sighed, poured himself a glass of water, and then slowly said, "Yesterday we discovered some clues about Karasuma Renya, so we investigated it."

"This investigation has indeed yielded some results; our target was once a close confidant of Karasuma Renya."

"I don't know if you've heard about Karasuma Renya's confidants."

“I’ve heard of him.” Ai Haibara nodded decisively. “But all I know is that he has a driver who looks ordinary, but I’ve heard he’s quite strong, maybe not much weaker than Gin.”

This was something that had never been mentioned before, or rather, hadn't been taken seriously.

Since we can't even get a glimpse of Karasuma Renya right now, there's no point in talking about it.

Does he have many close confidants?

Xia Chuan nodded and continued, "This time we found a pair of brothers surnamed Zhenye, but when they were with Karasuma Renya, they were probably called Number Seven and Number Eight."

Ai Haibara shook her head.

She didn't know that; she only heard about the driver from Vodka a long time ago.

According to Vodka, he had never met the other party, nor did he know anything from Gin's account.

"Seventeen years ago, they ran away from right under Karasuma Renya's nose and started a new life."

"Seventeen years ago?"

Seventeen years is a very sensitive year for Ai Haibara.

She was only one year old that year.

That year, her parents died in an experimental accident.

"These brothers are connected to my parents' deaths, aren't they?" she pressed urgently. "How exactly did my parents die?"

She absolutely refused to believe that he had died in a research accident.

The research data clearly shows what the parents were researching; it wasn't some chemical product, so an explosion would be too far-fetched.

Even if the equipment malfunctioned, the parents shouldn't have been denied a chance to escape.

Over the next few minutes, Xia Chuan explained in detail what he had seen in the materials, combined with Miyano Akemi's previous statement, and some reasonable speculations.

In short, the Miyano couple created chaos by dying, causing Karasuma Renya to lose his composure and allowing the Makino brothers to take their two daughters away.

However, the plan was only half successful.

The Makino brothers ran away, leaving behind the Miyano sisters.

Tears streamed down Ai Haibara's face as she bit her lower lip, trying hard not to cry out loud.

I'm an eighteen-year-old adult now, I can't cry.

Actually, I didn't want to tell you.

Xia Chuan sighed softly and wiped away the tears from Haibara Ai's face.

"But there's no way around it, there are some things I really should tell you. Every time I see you pretending to be asleep even though you're not, I can't bear it."

The news I received tonight was too heavy and too shocking; Ai Haibara hasn't recovered from that state yet.

Joel gestured to Xia Chuan, signaling him to return to his room; the rest of the time would be for the mother and daughter.

Although Ai Haibara doesn't call her "Mom," she already considers her her daughter.

“Aunt Joel, I know that you and Uncle Xia Chuan don’t need to feel sorry for me.”

"If it weren't for you guys, I might have been in even more danger."

Hearing this, Joel hugged him even tighter.

—I feel even more sorry for her.

"pain"

"Feel sorry."

Joel quickly let go.

"It's nothing." Ai Haibara suddenly looked up, her face covered in tears.

"Thank you!"