Separate Endeavors
"Lyney and Lynette? What are you two doing here all of a sudden?" Kudo Shinichi stared in shock at the twin duo who had appeared before him without warning, and his eyes darted instinctively to their throats. Sure enough, those glassy orbs were still hanging there on their chests.
Lyney and Lynette exchanged a glance, and it was Lyney who spoke first. "Kudo-kun, though it's true we've learned quite a lot about you through Xia Yu..."
Lynette picked up where he left off: "...I never realized the great Detective Kudo was quite so familiar on a first meeting."
At those words, Shinichi's stomach tightened. He realized he had made a mistake.
It had all happened so fast that it simply hadn't registered: the people this pair had originally gotten to know was Conan, not Kudo Shinichi. As far as logic went, Kudo Shinichi had no business knowing Lyney and Lynette at all.
A fine sheen of sweat broke out across his forehead. Under the twins' oddly amused gazes, he was so rattled that for a moment he completely forgot about the photos they had snapped of him.
Just then, Ran, standing beside him, came to the rescue with a smile. "I'm sure Conan must have told Shinichi about you two. That little one talks to Shinichi about everything."
"Really." Lynette remarked, deadpan as ever. "That does track. That kid does have quite a lot to say for himself."
Lyney sighed. "Lynette, dear, it may well be the truth, but must you say it quite so bluntly?"
Watching the twins accept Ran's explanation so easily, Shinichi let his racing heart settle — only for their remarks to catch up with him a second later.
The corner of his mouth twitched. So this was how the people of Teyvat saw him.
What did they mean, a lot to say for himself? He was simply doing his due diligence by explaining the reasoning behind his deductions, thank you very much.
Wait. Lyney and Lynette were members of the Teyvat Syndicate. They had just seen him in his Kudo Shinichi form!
Only now did the far more lethal implication hit him!
If they were to tell the Black Organization... then Ran and the others would be in danger!
No — calm down. Don't spook yourself. Analyze this rationally.
From everything he'd observed in past dealings with the Syndicate, their various departments didn't seem to know each other all that well. As far as he knew, only Ningguang's Liyue division and Kaeya's division (name unknown) had any cooperation with the Black Organization — and the division Lyney and Lynette belonged to appeared to have never been in contact with them at all.
And besides, mere business partners wouldn't give outsiders knowledge of something as core to the organization as the users of the drug APTX4869.
With that thought, the tension in Shinichi's chest loosened slightly.
Then, recalling Xia Yu's relationship with them, perhaps things hadn't yet reached the point of no return after all.
The priority now was getting them to delete those photos. After he switched back to being Conan, he could find an opportunity to probe them further.
In the end, Shinichi fell back on the excuse that this was a case requiring strict secrecy, and persuaded Lyney and Lynette to promise they would keep quiet about having seen him in London.
He had no way of knowing whether they'd end up telling the rest of Teyvat, but for now, all he could do was trust them.
And when Kudo made that perfectly reasonable request, Lynette deleted the photos from her camera without a moment's hesitation.
It hardly mattered anyway — she'd already backed them up in advance, so wiping them in front of Kudo Shinichi cost her nothing.
Meanwhile, Mouri Kogoro stood in the middle of the banquet, thoroughly bewildered, having been abandoned there by his own daughter.
His English was hopeless. He couldn't make heads or tails of Lady Diana and her friends no matter how hard he strained to guess, and the conversation kept stalling on him.
It was Neuvillette who finally took pity and translated a few phrases here and there, and only then did the conversation begin to flow.
After a few glasses of wine, Kogoro found himself warming more and more to Neuvillette, forgetting entirely the initial instinct to keep a respectful distance from that stern face. Before long he was all but slinging an arm around the Iudex's shoulders.
He even got so carried away that he proposed demonstrating a shoulder throw together — and when he very nearly ended up on the receiving end of one himself, he didn't even get angry.
......
At the same time, in Osaka, Japan.
With Conan having left the country, and Shuichi Akai apparently off chasing an investigation of his own, Xia Yu had come to Osaka again this weekend.
As before, Thoma picked them up at the station, and the two of them made straight for their true destination — the venue for the finals of the idol competition.
Kamisato Ayaka and Kamisato Ayato were already there, waiting.
"Hm? It looks like there's still quite a ways to go before this place is finished."
Xia Yu looked around at the site, puzzled.
The pace of construction was nothing like the island base — Kaveh and Zhongli had been moving at a snail's pace by comparison.
Kaveh, who had walked over alongside Zhongli, overheard and explained with a helpless shrug. "This isn't an uninhabited island, you know. Too many eyes around. Zhongli-san can't afford to be too... conspicuous."
"But the finals are only a week away. Will it be done in time?" Xia Yu asked, worried.
"I suspect the head of the Kamisato Clan is not one to be anxious," Zhongli said, turning his head until his gaze came to rest on Ayato, who had been standing quietly at the side without a word. "I imagine he has already devised a solution."
A man who had never once pressed them about the schedule, Zhongli reasoned, surely already had a plan in hand.