The Memorial Service
Conan could only stand there, jaw slack, as Xiayu tore into him. He wanted to explain himself, but no explanation in the world could change the fact that, as far as she was concerned, he was a grade-schooler who had just broken into someone's car.
His mouth opened and closed a few times, hunting for an excuse that refused to materialize, until at last he hung his head and confessed like a properly chastened child. "I'm sorry, Xiayu. I know I was wrong. I'll never do it again."
The words were barely out of his mouth before he shot a withering sidelong glance at the someone beside him who had turned away at the sound of his apology, shoulders quaking with barely suppressed laughter.
Hey, what exactly are you gloating about? Weren't you terrified just a minute ago? Where did all that fear go?
"And you too, Haibara — don't you laugh! I always thought you were such a mature little girl, and instead of stopping Conan when he did something wrong, you climbed right up onto the car with him and even stood lookout. Do you understand what you did wrong?"
In Xiayu's opinion, if someone was going to be scolded, both offenders deserved it in equal measure. Playing favorites simply wouldn't do.
"I'm sorry, Xiayu. It won't happen again," Haibara said, and with a resigned sigh, bowed her head in apology exactly the way Conan had.
Which meant it was Conan's turn to gloat.
Heh. Weren't you mocking me just now? How does it feel to be on this end of it?
"An apology alone isn't going to cut it. I expect you two to actually mean what you've said. Haibara, I'm not too worried about you — you don't usually do this kind of thing. Doctor, keep a closer eye on them from now on." With that, Xiayu turned toward Dr. Agasa.
Dr. Agasa, plainly still rattled by the sheer force of her presence a moment ago, could only nod dumbly.
"As for you, Conan..."
A sudden sense of foreboding crept over Conan. He had a feeling the next words out of Xiayu's mouth would be very hard to take.
And sure enough...
"I took photos of you prying open that car. If I ever catch you doing something like this again, Conan, I'm sending those pictures straight to your Ran, and I'll let her teach you a proper lesson!" So saying, Xiayu produced her phone, opened the gallery, and flashed the damning evidence before his eyes.
Conan's gaze swept over the screen and he let out a small breath of relief — neither his face nor Haibara's had been captured. No danger of the photos leaking and letting the Organization connect them to Kudo Shinichi and Sherry.
That was cold comfort, though. Ran would recognize the lock-picking brat in those pictures at a single glance, and given what Ran could do with her karate...
No. Absolutely not. She can never see those photos.
With that thought, shame went right out the window. Conan leapt up, lunging for the phone in Xiayu's hand even as he begged, "Xiayu, I promise I'll never do it again! Delete the pictures — please, just delete them..."
"No!" Xiayu stretched her arm high out of his reach and flatly refused.
In the end, Conan failed to talk her into erasing the photos, and could only extract a promise from her: so long as he stayed out of trouble, she would never show them to Ran.
After Xiayu left, Haibara couldn't resist a jab. "My, Edogawa. Just now, you looked exactly like a little boy desperately trying to cover up his mistakes."
Conan gave her a flat, half-lidded stare. "Heh. And you played the innocent child pretty convincingly yourself."
With that, he set the whole episode aside, extended the antenna from his glasses, and muttered, "Good — we haven't lost too much time. I can still pick up the tracker's signal on Gin's car."
He then had Dr. Agasa drive him and a once-again expressionless Haibara off in pursuit of the signal trailing Gin.
Before long, Gin spotted and destroyed both the transmitter and the bug, but Conan had already gleaned what he needed from Gin's earlier conversation: a codenamed member of the Organization known as Pisco would be assassinating someone at today's memorial service at the Haido City Hotel — and he might well be planning to use that drug.
With the tracker gone and the trail cold, Conan made up his mind: they were going to the Haido City Hotel to stop the murder.
Truthfully, seeing how frightened Haibara was, he hadn't wanted to bring her along at all; his plan had been to leave her in the car with the Professor. But Haibara knew Pisco might use APTX4869, and despite her fear, she resolved to walk into that hotel at Conan's side.
"So this is a movie star's memorial service. Quite the gathering of dignitaries, isn't it?"
"Mr. Alberich — is this your first time attending an occasion like this?" Chris asked with a smile, wineglass in hand, addressing the man marveling at his side.
The man standing beside Chris was none other than a member of the Ragnvindr family, the clan about to enter into cooperation with the Organization.
He had arrived in Japan that very morning, and upon receiving the news, Cointreau had tasked Vermouth with playing host. Vermouth had intended to decline the sudden assignment, citing tonight's mission — but the moment this Mr. Alberich heard a mission was afoot, he had insisted on tagging along, declaring that he wished to evaluate the capabilities of his future partner. And with the Boss himself apparently placing great importance on the man, Vermouth had had no choice but to agree to bring him along to the memorial service.
In truth, the instant Vermouth laid eyes on Mr. Alberich, the image that sprang to mind was a Caribbean pirate. Ink-blue hair gathered into a low tail at the nape of his neck, a swarthy complexion that could give Bourbon a run for his money, and an eyepatch over his right eye — whether from an actual injury, she couldn't say. Whatever the case, he looked nothing, nothing, like a nobleman.
For a moment there, Vermouth had genuinely wondered if she'd picked up the wrong person.
Kaeya paused before answering. "Kaeya is fine, Miss Chris. Hardly anyone calls me by my family name — I nearly didn't realize you meant me. As for occasions like this... well, those are usually Diluc's territory. That tediously responsible man attends them in my place."
Diluc — Vermouth had done her homework. The name of the current head of the Ragnvindr family, and the sworn elder brother of Mr. Alberich... no, of Kaeya.
Though from that tone just now, the two brothers didn't exactly get along, did they?
"By the way, who's your target today?" Kaeya asked, a smile playing at his lips.
That much was no secret. Knowing a name without knowing the plan left him powerless to do anything about it — and besides, Vermouth would be glued to his side until the operation began tonight. He'd have no opportunity to interfere regardless.
"Ah — that politician over there, the one under suspicion for taking bribes. Nunokuchi Kunihiko." Vermouth indicated the target's location with a flick of her eyes.
"Ohh~ then I shall look forward to the show."
Just then, Kaeya caught sight of two children scurrying past out of the corner of his eye, and asked with some curiosity, "Speaking of which — do they really allow children at memorial services? If I'd known kids were welcome, I'd have brought Klee along. Honestly, I am a little worried about her."
Kaeya stroked his chin, musing that Lisa ought to be able to keep Klee in check. This was no Mondstadt, after all — if the little spark bomb got loose and caused an incident here, cleaning up after her promised to be quite the headache.
As he pondered this, his gaze landed on the codenamed operatives of the Black Organization standing nearby — and inspiration struck like lightning. If Klee did cause trouble, I could simply have these Black Organization fellows smooth it over! They were about to become partners, after all. Tidying up a minor mishap caused by a partner's little girl should be child's play for an organization with this kind of history and firepower.