Conan Cracks the Lock
Meanwhile, Amuro Toru returned to his own apartment. Before anything else, he checked the marks he'd left on the door, then gave the interior a quick once-over as well. Only when he confirmed that no one had entered while he was out did he finally allow himself to relax.
He shrugged off his coat, settled into the chair at his desk, and pulled out his phone to review the information Kazami Yuuya had dug up for him right after he'd seen Vermouth off.
His brow creased slightly. There wasn't much — barely a few pages.
The Ragnvindr family was hereditary nobility from Country H. The previous Viscount had passed away several years ago, leaving an only son — Diluc Ragnvindr — to inherit the family title. The family owned a winery: Dawn Winery. Its newly developed dandelion wine was selling briskly both at home and abroad, and its products could even be found on shelves in Japan.
The rest was business information on Dawn Winery and its current operations — nothing important, nothing that might connect to the Organization. Amuro skimmed through it quickly.
No real gains. The file offered absolutely no clue as to why the Ragnvindrs would have ties to the Organization. On its face, it read like the ordinary biography and business dealings of some foreign noble.
Then, suddenly, something clicked. Amuro flipped back to the first page. There, in two unremarkable lines, it noted that Viscount Diluc had an adopted younger brother — Kaeya Alberich — an orphan the previous Viscount had brought home one day without warning.
Because the man didn't bear the Ragnvindr name, Amuro hadn't paid him much attention at first, assuming an outsider would hold little real power in the family. But now, staring at that murky, unexplained background, his instincts told him: the Ragnvindr family member involved in this deal with the Organization was probably Kaeya Alberich himself.
And in fact, Amuro wasn't wrong. Kaeya really was the one steering this cooperation. But unlike what he imagined — Kaeya secretly cutting a deal with the Black Organization behind Diluc's back — the truth was that Diluc knew exactly what Kaeya was planning. He simply couldn't be bothered to care. The winery kept him buried in work, while the man who was supposed to help was never around anyway. If his adoptive brother had something to occupy himself with, so much the better — at least he wouldn't come drifting in out of nowhere to mooch wine off him.
After what felt like an eternity away, Xiayu finally set foot on Japanese soil once more.
She tilted her head back and drank in a deep breath of air. Having at last left the swaying ship behind, her whole body seemed to loosen at once.
Then she felt a faint chill on the tip of her nose. She reached up and touched it — water. Looking skyward, Xiayu realized that snow had begun to fall, soft and slow, from the heavens above.
“Traveler, look, it's snowing!” Paimon cried out. “This is the first time we've seen snow since coming to this world, isn't it? Paimon wonders which is colder — winters here, or Dragonspine?”
Dragonspine's probably colder, Xiayu thought. She'd never actually seen Dragonspine herself, but logically it had to be — after all, the cold there had frozen the Traveler solid a good ten-plus times.
Still...
Xiayu extended a hand and caught one of the falling snowflakes, her expression tinged with wonder. Has time really flown by that fast? It feels like it was still summer when I left — and now I come back to winter.
“You were gone almost half a month, Traveler,” Paimon said, entirely unimpressed. “Of course the kon WORLD changed seasons. Totally normal.”
Xiayu's face went dark with exasperation. Is... is that really how it works...?
Ah, well — no use dwelling on the weather. She'd just come back from a warm island, only to find winter had already arrived on this side. She'd barely worn enough layers. With the Traveler's constitution she'd be fine, of course, but it was still chilly. Better to hurry home and bundle up.
The snow thickened by the minute, laying a thin white blanket over the streets. As Xiayu walked across it, a trail of footprints stretched out behind her.
Nearly home, she suddenly spotted two familiar figures — Conan and Haibara — standing beside a Porsche 356A, picking the lock!
It took her only a heartbeat to place the scene: this was the prelude to Pisco's assassination of Sugitani Kunhiko — the hit he'd pulled off, only to be photographed in the act and promptly silenced by Gin.
It was here, too, that Pisco discovered the secret that Sherry had shrunk. If he hadn't had the rotten luck of being caught on camera, Conan might have brought the whole story to an early end. Of course, Gin had made his own considerable contribution to keeping this thousand-plus-episode saga alive.
Xiayu grumbled inwardly.
But wow, Conan really did have protagonist armor, didn't he? Lock-picking, out in broad daylight on a public street. Was she seriously the only one who'd noticed? She glanced around — maybe because of the sudden snowfall, the street was nearly empty, and sure enough, no one else seemed to have a clue.
Xiayu was speechless for a moment. Then, struck by a thought, she took out her phone and snapped a picture of Conan mid-break-in.
She hadn't realized early-era Conan was this reckless — climbing straight onto Gin's car. Wasn't he afraid Gin would come back and catch him red-handed?
And in fact, Xiayu could already see Gin approaching his car in the distance, a moment from crossing the street. She hastily ducked behind the roadside. She had no intention of leaving any impression of herself in Gin's memory — better to hide and enjoy the famous spectacle of Gin jaywalking in all his glory.
God, what an arrogance move!
Xiayu couldn't help feeling a flicker of envy. When would she reach the point where a single glare could send enemies fleeing?
Then she watched as Gin and Vodka climbed into the Porsche 356A and drove off, leaving two small children — Conan and Haibara — hidden behind the parked car.
Lightening her steps, she slipped up behind them as they stared after the receding Porsche, and drawled, “My, my~ I saw everything, you know~”
The voice behind them hit like a thunderclap. Conan's and Haibara's pupils contracted to pinpoints, and their bodies went rigid with fear.
Conan, being the more familiar with Xiayu's voice, recovered first. He turned around with a scowl. “Xiayu-neechan, do you have to walk with zero footsteps? And why did you have to scare us like that?!”
Hearing Conan, Haibara snapped out of it too, realizing the person behind her wasn't one of the people she dreaded. The stiffness drained from her body, and she slowly turned around as well.
Xiayu looked at Conan with pointed, meaningful eyes. “None of that matters right now. What matters is what the two of you were just doing.”
Just then, Professor Agasa, who had been keeping out of sight until now, finally caught up with them. He looked at Xiayu, whom he'd known for a while now through Conan and Ran, and asked, “Xiayu-kun, did something happen just now?”
“Professor, guess what — Conan just broke into a car.” Having delivered her answer, Xiayu turned her gaze on Conan and locked onto his eyes. “Conan, I've always known you're an exceptionally clever kid. But you should understand — there are things a person simply shouldn't do. Running around crime scenes, playing detective copying after Mouri-san, fine, whatever. But breaking into someone's car? That's crossing a line. And an antique car of all things — if you'd damaged it, imagine how worried Ran would be...”