The Unlucky Tequila
"Oh, right — I heard there's a new recruit who earned a codename in less than a month. Apparently he's with the research division. Send me his file sometime; I'd like to take a look."
"There's no harm in sending you a file — it's hardly classified information. Though I'll admit I'm a little curious. What's got you suddenly interested in a rookie? Did you find something?" Gin asked, suspicion threading through his voice, though by the end of it his tone had taken on a distinct note of excitement.
"Why on earth would you get excited over the possibility of him having problems? Well, I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you — I didn't find anything. I'm just interested in that stamina-restoration drug he invented to earn his codename." Cointreau rolled his eyes. There were times when he genuinely couldn't fathom what went on inside Gin's head — why anyone would be so passionate about hunting down moles.
"Tch." Gin's interest evaporated on the spot. "I'll send you the file later." With that, he left.
"Tch... so it really is Alhaitham." A short while later, in his safehouse, Cointreau stared at the file that had just come through on his phone and sighed in resignation.
He'd had a suspicion the moment other Organization members described the newcomer's appearance, but now that he had the detailed file in hand and could see the name and photograph for himself, there was no longer any doubt — this man truly was Alhaitham of Sumeru.
"Ugh. If he sees me, that means Lumine will find out too. Now is not the time for a reunion — I suppose I'll just have to keep my distance from now on." Cointreau let out a long breath, muttering to himself with a splitting headache.
"Wow! So this is what a game convention looks like! Ran, thank you so much for inviting me — this is my first time at an event like this." Xia Yu's eyes darted from console to console across the exhibition floor, practically glowing with excitement.
She had, of course, anticipated that this convention wouldn't go smoothly. If she remembered correctly, this was the case where the Black Organization member Tequila made his first appearance — and his last. As far as she recalled, Tequila was the only casualty, and a hapless victim of mistaken identity at that.
There was still a good while to go before the incident. Xia Yu planned to make the most of it and play to her heart's content before the case broke out — because once it did, the convention would surely be shut down, and she'd probably never get another chance to try this many games in one place again.
"Oh, don't be silly. If anything, I should be thanking all of you for throwing Daddy that celebration party last night."
"Speaking of that party — Ran, I'm sorry. We couldn't keep an eye on Mr. Mouri, and he ended up drinking so much... I think he's still hungover right now." Xia Yu apologized awkwardly.
"Xia Yu, what are you talking about? How could that possibly be your fault? He's the one who has zero self-control." Ran laughed as she said this, all while thumping her father vigorously on the back — Mouri Kogoro very nearly folded in half under his daughter's karate-trained blows.
Conan watched the great Mouri get disciplined by his own daughter with half-lidded eyes, savoring every moment of schadenfreude. Heh. Well, old man, when I was the one hungover and Ran was tearing into me the other day, you weren't exactly shy about piling on, were you? How's it feel now that it's your turn?
For the rest of the morning, Xia Yu made no attempt to seek out Tequila's silhouette. Instead, she threw herself wholeheartedly into the convention's games alongside Ran. After all, she had no intention of saving Tequila — her plan was simply to let the case happen, and then solve it.
"Come baaack — Shinichi!"
Xia Yu suddenly saw Ran shout Kudou Shinichi's name at the top of her lungs while driving a fist into the punching machine before her. Moments later, the screen flashed a high score of "400."
She remembered this was supposed to be the record so far. Even Nakajima Hideaki, an employee of the game company Manpyouden who'd been in his university's boxing club, had only managed "348." That was Ran for you — the girl who could snap a utility pole in half with one punch.
At the thought, Xia Yu's gaze drifted instinctively toward Conan — and sure enough, there he was, breaking out in a cold sweat and fidgeting uncomfortably.
Still, it did make her wonder... how high could she score? Curiosity prickled at her.
Noticing that Xia Yu wanted a try, Ran held out the boxing glove to her.
Xia Yu took it, slipped it on, and readied herself, quietly calculating how much strength to use.
Let's see... half power should do it. After all, I'm wearing the Traveler's body right now — a score that's too high would draw all the wrong kinds of attention. And it'd be even worse if I accidentally broke the machine.
Decision made, Xia Yu snapped her fist forward. With a cheerful ding, the screen flashed the same "400" high score.
The surrounding crowd stared, stunned, at the second girl in a row to rack up a "400."
At the commotion, a tall man in black passing by glanced over instinctively. His gaze lingered on Xia Yu's face for a moment longer than necessary — but he didn't seem to pay it much mind, and quickly looked away.
Seriously? What is it with girls these days? Since when are they all this violent?
"Ran-neechan, I gotta go pee." Conan, who couldn't stand another minute of it, excused himself to the restroom as a way of escaping.
As it happened, Nakajima was headed the same way, and offered to take Conan along.
On the way, the two of them collided with a towering man in black. And just like that, Conan recognized him — one of the very people from the Organization that had turned him into a child. Better still, he caught the codename the man used on his phone call: Tequila.
When Tequila kicked at him, Conan seized the split second to plant a bug and a tracking device on the sole of the man's shoe. Then he trailed him to the restroom, intending to eavesdrop for any intelligence about the Organization.
Meanwhile, Cointreau set down his phone, utterly speechless.
Is this what the Intelligence Division is capable of? Announcing your own codename over a phone call — and throwing in Gin and Vodka as a two-for-one bonus — while complete strangers are within earshot? Cointreau could only be grateful that Tequila didn't know his codename. Otherwise, would the man have blurted his out casually in front of bystanders too?
Granted, it was just a little kid — but sometimes little kids were precisely the ones you couldn't afford to underestimate. And though her memory of it was hazy, Cointreau vaguely recalled Xia Yu once saying that the protagonist of this world was an elementary schooler. Could it possibly be the same kid Tequila had just bumped into? No way. Tequila can't be that unlucky... can he?
Unable to put his mind at ease, Cointreau dialed the man's number yet again.
"H-hello...? What... do you... want?" Tequila clearly had no idea who was on the other end. Rum had arranged a single face-to-face meeting with the contact before the operation — without introducing any codename, only saying that this person would serve as his handler for the day. So Tequila had assumed he was dealing with some rookie who hadn't earned a codename yet, and his tone left a great deal to be desired.
"Have you run into anything... unusual recently?" Cointreau paid the rude tone no mind. With a man of Tequila's intellect, there probably wasn't much depth for him to think with anyway — getting worked up over it would only be inviting trouble for himself.
"Strange... things? Well... back... at the con...vention... I saw... a girl... who looked... a lot... like... you. Does... that... count?" Tequila replied.