Forty Years
Cointreau had no intention of playing along with Vermouth's little theater. He saw straight through the "Dr. Shinshi" standing in front of him and called out his true identity on the spot.
The doctor paused for a beat, and when he started moving again, his whole expression had changed. "My, my. No matter how many times, it never stops being uncanny. My disguises are flawless — how on earth do you manage to see through me every single time?"
Vermouth ignored the question Cointreau had just thrown back at her — she'd ignored his earlier one, after all — and instead asked something that had been nagging at her for a long while.
"I just see it." Seeing as there was still business waiting for him afterward, Cointreau deigned, for once, to give an actual answer; usually he simply pretended the other party hadn't spoken. Whether she found that answer acceptable was, of course, not his problem.
"Fine, don't tell me. No need to brush me off with nonsense, though." As expected, Vermouth didn't buy the answer he'd tossed out so carelessly.
Then her tone shifted. "But you know, I really didn't expect to run into a girl who looks so much like you today. Who is she, I wonder?"
She leaned in close and lowered her voice. "She wouldn't happen to be the person you've been searching for these forty years... would she?"
Cointreau showed not a flicker of guilt at having his secret guessed. His expression didn't change at all as he fired the question right back at her. "What if she is? Planning to tell the Boss?"
"You don't seem very worried that I might. Do keep in mind — your position in the Organization may be unusual, but at the end of the day, that gentleman regards you exactly the way he regards me, Gin, and the rest: as a handy tool. The only difference is that you happen to be a slightly more special tool. And the reason he's never interfered with your search — why he's even helped you when you needed it — comes down, in the end, to his belief that you'll never actually find that person. So if he learned that the one you've been hunting all this time has finally appeared, and that she might matter to you more than the Organization itself... do you really think he'd be happy for you?" Vermouth delivered all of this with a smile, her eyes never leaving Cointreau's face as she spoke, watching for the slightest crack.
But she was disappointed. Even after all that, his expression remained utterly unchanged. He merely countered with a question of his own. "So. Will you tell her?"
Vermouth leaned back against the wall, bored, and studied him. "Whether I tell depends entirely on what you're willing to give me~"
"Mouri Ran. And Kudou Shinichi." Cointreau offered two names.
At the sound of them, the hand Vermouth had resting at her side clenched instinctively — but she loosened up almost at once. "Why bring those two up out of nowhere? What do they have to do with what we were discussing? We're talking about your girl, not these two nobodies."
"They may be nobodies to me, Vermouth — but are they nobodies to you as well?" For the first time since entering the school infirmary, Cointreau smiled. "I've known all along why you came back to Japan."
He saw Vermouth open her mouth to respond and raised a hand to stop her. "You crossed paths with those two children before, didn't you? A year ago, in America — they saved your life without a thought for their own safety. Ever since then, you've been quietly keeping tabs on them. Then recently, Kudou Shinichi disappeared, and your digging turned up a connection to Gin. The Organization's reports list Kudou Shinichi as dead. But there was no body, and not one of his family or friends had any idea something had happened to him — so you guessed he was probably still alive. Unable to rest easy, you came back to Japan to investigate his whereabouts personally. Am I right, Vermouth?"
"Clap, clap, clap." Vermouth raised her hands and applauded three times. "Truly worthy of the name Cointreau. If I didn't know for a fact that there was no one else around me that day, I'd swear you'd watched the whole thing with your own eyes. So? I'd say we now hold each other's secrets in hand, wouldn't you?"
Cointreau: "If you don't mind me spreading the news that Kudou Shinichi swallowed APTX4869 and lived, then by all means, feel free to tell her about me."
Vermouth held his gaze for a long moment before finally conceding. "Fine. We keep each other's secrets. But understand this — that girl looks far too much like you. Anyone who sees the two of you together will know at a glance that you're related. Before now it didn't matter, since you weren't in Japan and few people had ever seen your face. But if anyone else in the Organization finds out... they won't be nearly as agreeable as I am."
"I appreciate the concern, but you can leave that to me." Having said what needed saying, Cointreau saw no reason to linger. He turned and made for the door.
"Wait — one more question. Just indulge my curiosity." Seeing him about to leave, Vermouth called out, voicing the doubt that had been gnawing at her from the start. "From that girl's face, her manner — she's clearly not a day over twenty-five, so she can't be a case like ours. Then how could you have known she existed forty years ago? How have you been searching for her all this time?"
"No comment." Cointreau dropped the four words and walked out without looking back.
Vermouth clicked her tongue in irritation. "Tch. In the end, not a single thing."
That little episode in the Teitan High infirmary, needless to say, had no effect whatsoever on Xia Yu's life. Having run into Kudou Shinichi again on the day of the school festival, she crossed paths with him again the very next morning — walking Ran to school, with Ai Haibara in tow.
"Morning, Xia Yu!" The moment Kudou Shinichi spotted her, the greeting slipped out on pure reflex.
"......"
Xia Yu could only stare at him, lost for words.
She had met Kudou Shinichi exactly once, at Tropical Land, and their second meeting had been yesterday at the school festival — where the case had kept them from talking much. And now, on only their third meeting ever, was it really appropriate for him to act this familiar and start calling her like she was his big sister?
"Haha." Shinichi clearly realized his mistake too. He laughed awkwardly a couple of times and turned to Ran and Xia Yu to explain. "I heard you're older than us, and Ran told me how much you looked out for her while I was gone. I just figured I'd call you 'big sis' to show a little gratitude and respect. Heh."
Xia Yu decided the excuse was just barely passable and let it slide — only to pivot to a question that made him break out in a cold sweat. "By the way, Kudou — how long are you staying this time? Don't tell me you'll be gone again in a few days, off chasing another case?"
"Uh, well, that's..."
Kudou Shinichi could feel Ran's gaze boring into his back, waiting for his answer, and he stammered without managing to produce one.
He should have known — running into Xia Yu at a moment like this never boded well. The woman had a gift for asking questions that cut straight to the bone. It was one thing back when she'd been grilling suspects at crime scenes, but now that the blade was pointed at him... For the first time, he genuinely sympathized with all those people she'd left speechless.
In the end, unable to come up with an answer — since even he had no idea how long his current state would last — Kudou fell back on the oldest trick in the book: run first, think later. He grabbed Ran's hand, said a hasty goodbye to Xia Yu, and bolted.
Xia Yu watched the two of them — plus "Conan" — beat a retreat, and sighed.
Really? She'd asked one casual question, and they fled like that?
She glanced down at the tickets in her bag. What a shame. She'd been hoping to run into them so she could hand the tickets over to Ran and "Conan" — they could have passed them along to Sonoko, Mr. Mouri, and the Detective Boys. Now she'd just have to deliver them herself.