The Detective Agency Hostage Crisis 2
Meanwhile, over at Professor Agasa's house.
Mitsuhiko, Genta, and Ayumi were excitedly gathering their things for tomorrow's outing.
And Conan and Haibara had found their way onto the subject of Sera Masumi.
Haibara didn't think much of the fact that a detective named Sera already seemed to know about Conan's situation. "She probably picked it up from the newspapers or the news, that's all."
She let out a cold little laugh, narrowing her eyes as she shot him a sidelong glance. "After all, a certain someone has no idea what the word 'low profile' means the moment a case turns up. Even after shrinking down to elementary school size, he still keeps ending up in the papers. Great Detective, sometimes I wish you'd take a page out of Xia Yu's book and at least stay out of the media's way."
"Ha ha, well, when I'm cracking a case, there's not exactly time to think about that," Conan said with an awkward chuckle, steering the conversation elsewhere. "Speaking of which, I have a feeling that Sera kid had already figured out the truth of the case back then — she just pretended to get it wrong on purpose, because she wanted to hear my reasoning first."
"Wait a minute!" At that, Haibara lunged toward him, eyes wide with disbelief. "Don't tell me you actually delivered your deductions right to her face — in Kudo Shinichi's voice?!"
"Ah... well, it was the only method I could come up with at the time," Conan mumbled, even more embarrassed as he scrambled to defend himself. "Besides, I don't think that kid's an enemy. And there's something oddly familiar about her — like I've met her somewhere before. Who knows, maybe she just looks like someone I know."
By the time he finished, Conan had drifted off into thought. He genuinely believed Sera Masumi had to resemble someone he knew — otherwise she never would have given him that strange sense of déjà vu.
Haibara was about to say something more when the doorbell rang, cutting her off.
"That's probably Klee! I'll get the door!"
Ayumi had heard the chime too, and she immediately dropped what she was doing and ran happily to the front door.
"Klee!" Sure enough, when Ayumi swung the door open, there stood Klee, and she greeted her with a bright smile. "And Klee's big brother, let me think... your name is..."
Ayumi's beaming smile froze for a moment as she looked at the person behind Klee — the name had simply slipped her mind.
A flicker of frustration crossed her face, but mercifully, the name came back to her after only a second. "Albedo-nii-chan!"
She blurted it out, her voice carrying a note of relief.
Watching her flounder, the corners of Albedo's mouth lifted in a smile so faint it was barely there. He gave Ayumi a small nod and answered in a gentle voice, "Hello, Ayumi."
Then he turned to Professor Agasa, who had come over behind Ayumi. "Good to see you, Professor."
"Welcome, welcome — come on in!" Professor Agasa hurried to usher Klee and Albedo inside.
"So, what were you all talking about?" the moment they were in, Ayumi dragged Klee over to Conan and the others and asked curiously.
At the sight of Albedo, Conan felt a flicker of tension, even though he'd known Klee was coming and had fully expected to see him here. Actually coming face to face with a member of the Teyvat Syndicate inside Professor Agasa's house was another matter entirely.
And for some reason, Albedo made him far more nervous than Kaeya or Diluc ever did. He couldn't shake the worry that this man would somehow see straight through him.
Haibara, by contrast, felt more at ease around Albedo than she ever did around Kaeya. Something about his demeanor simply put her at ease.
Kaeya was another story — probably because she'd learned he really did have contact with the Black Organization. Every time she saw him, her whole body would go rigid, her nerves wound tight, and she could never quite relax.
"Um..." Before Conan could even figure out how to answer, Mitsuhiko and Genta had already moved on to the next topic.
Mitsuhiko looked over at Klee. "Come to think of it, I saw Xia Yu-neechan and Ran-neechan today, walking around with a high schooler."
"Yeah," Genta chimed in. "We've never seen that guy before, I think."
Klee jumped into the conversation. "Mm-hm, Klee knows about that! Xia Yu-neechan told Klee — she went to the Mouri Detective Agency with Ran-neechan and one of Ran-neechan's classmates!"
Then a puzzled look crossed her face. "But... Xia Yu-neechan said Ran-neechan's classmate isn't a boy. She's a big sister too."
Mitsuhiko said Ran had been walking with a boy he didn't recognize — and even with other people around, Conan couldn't help but fixate on it.
Then Klee said the person was a girl, and Conan grew even more conflicted.
Right at that moment, Haibara voiced exactly what was on his mind, a teasing lilt in her voice: "If you're that worried about it, why not just call and check?"
On the receiving end of her needling, Conan shifted uncomfortably — but in the end, honesty won out, and he pulled out his phone.