After that, I returned home, washed up, and was about to go to sleep when Haibara knocked on my door. I opened it, and she was holding a pillow.
"Sleep with me today."
She seemed afraid of having nightmares after seeing Gin of the Black Organization. So I just agreed.
"Alright, let's do that."
We were sleeping together like that when I heard sniffling from beside me. I looked at Haibara; she was crying in her sleep, as if she had seen her sister in a dream.
"Sister..."
Seeing that, her sister, the spirit Miyano Akemi who was attached to Haibara, looked at her pitifully as well.
'This is a problem... Her PTSD seems to be getting worse.'
So I gently stroked sleeping Haibara's head and fell asleep.
The next morning, when I opened my eyes, Haibara had her feet on me again. So this time, I took an instant camera out of my inventory and took plenty of pictures.
I got out of bed, took a cup of coffee, went out to the living room, and turned on the TV. A special news report was on about the assassination of Masuyama Kenzo, the chairman of an automobile company. Masuyama Kenzo was also a member of the Black Organization, but it seems he was eliminated by the organization due to a mistake. The events were unfolding not much differently from the original.
I checked roughly where Gin and Vodka of the organization were. Since I had secretly attached shadow soldiers yesterday, I could determine their approximate location. Even though their business was finished, they hadn't left town. Given the early hour and that they weren't moving, they seemed to be staying at a hotel in the city.
'Are they looking for the car? They haven't left yet?'
It was too early to conclude, but that seemed to be the reason.
Anyway, I began preparing breakfast while watching TV. Just as I was almost finished setting the table, I saw Haibara coming out of her room rubbing her eyes.
"You really wake up early. I'm starting to doubt whether you actually sleep."
Since awakening my Game Life, my stamina had increased significantly, and I slept less.
"I do sleep, don't worry. Hurry up and eat."
When Haibara sat at the table, I placed the photos I had taken on it. The photos clearly showed Haibara sleeping with her feet on me.
"To think I really slept like this..."
"You see from the photos? I'm the victim here."
Haibara looked at the photos for a moment, then started eating as if it were nothing.
"... Well~ I suppose that could happen."
She seemed to have decided to boldly accept it now.
"Good grief. If I had done that, you'd be causing a fuss, but now you're just letting it slide."
Then Haibara pointed to her own feet.
"I'm different from you. These tiny feet, how heavy could they be for you to complain?"
"Huh... That's ridiculous."
After we finished eating, when I was about to pack a lunchbox, Haibara said as she went to wash up.
"Don't pack one for me. I'm not going to school today."
"Really? Okay. Then should I call the school for you?"
"Yeah."
I packed only my lunchbox, then called Haibara's school and vaguely made an excuse that she was absent due to a broadcast schedule. Haibara was practically a celebrity now, already well-known at school, and her grades were good, so there was no particular problem with such an absence. After finishing the call, I got ready for school and went.
When I arrived at school and was sitting blankly resting, Ran approached me with a bright face and delivered the news.
"Jin! Conan is back."
"Really?"
"He came back from America. I guess he couldn't adapt there. So he decided to stay in Japan until he gets a bit older."
From what she said, it didn't seem Conan had told her directly. Probably Kudo Yukiko helped.
"So where is he staying now? Like before, at the detective agency?"
"No, he's staying at Shinichi's house with Auntie Yukiko now."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Auntie Yukiko said since he's her friend's son, she'll take care of him."
"Ah, I see."
I'd have to ask directly, but it seemed he couldn't find a way in America and just came back to Japan. Yukiko followed out of concern. So today I decided to go to the Mori Detective Agency to hear the details.
After school, while riding my bike with Ran toward the detective agency, I spotted Gin and Vodka in a black Porsche 911. Since that wasn't a car you often see around here, I recognized them at a glance. Gin of the organization seemed to be a huge Porsche fan.
'Good grief... Where did they get that car?'
We passed by briefly and arrived at the detective agency. When we went inside, Kogoro was sitting in a chair reading the newspaper, and Conan was playing a game on TV.
"Detective Mori, we're here. Long time no see, Conan."
"Yeah, long time no see."
I quietly asked Conan what had happened so far.
"So, did you find a way?"
"Hoo... Well... My parents were treated like lunatics in America. Nothing showed up in my body. My body was just that of a child. So the researchers thought my parents were mentally unstable. You have no idea how much I suffered to prove otherwise..."
"I see. That must have been hard."
"Yeah... So I have no choice but to somehow get the drug that changed my body and analyze it. Because of that, my parents worried a lot, and my mother followed me all the way here from America."
"So you're staying at your original house."
"Yeah... Hoo... I really don't know what the future holds. Haibara is still the only hint I have about that organization, and she doesn't seem to know much either..."
Conan unloaded everything that had happened, as if venting to me. Probably because I was one of the few people who knew the truth.
"I don't know if this will help you, but since two days ago, I've seen members of the Black Organization in our town. Haibara saw them and was really surprised."
"What??? Is that true???"
Conan's eyes widened in surprise as he asked me. Since this was something Haibara also knew, I decided to tell him.
"Yeah. I don't know why, or how long they'll be here, but I saw them driving around today too. In a black Porsche 911."
As soon as he heard that, Conan jumped up from his seat and tried to go outside. Seeing this, Ran said to him.
"Conan, are you leaving already? Since you came after so long, at least eat something..."
"I'll eat next time~"
And he just left.
"Does he have some urgent business?"
"It's his first time back after so long, he probably wants to see his friends too."
"I see. Jin, are you going to eat before you leave?"
"I have to go too, unfortunately. My little sister is waiting for me. I'll eat with you next time."
"Okay. Then see you tomorrow~"
"Yeah, see you tomorrow. Detective, see you next time."
After saying goodbye, I rode my bike, did some quick grocery shopping, and returned home.
"I'm back~"
Then the housekeeper came out first to greet me.
"Welcome home, young master. The young lady is in her room."
"I see, thank you. You've worked hard again today. You're dismissed."
I let the housekeepers leave, knocked on Haibara's door, and went in. Haibara was reading a paper on her computer.
"What paper are you so absorbed in?"
I peeked and saw it was a paper about 'telomerase'. There is a setting that APTX4869 (the drug Conan took) activates telomerase to increase cell proliferation while disrupting cell apoptosis.
"Hmm... Do you want to go back to your original body?"
"I'm just reading it because it came out. I don't intend to research again. If I went back to my original body and became a target of the organization, that would be troublesome."
"Really?"
She said that, but it seemed she had some desire to go back. If Haibara wanted to research, I didn't particularly plan to stop her. I wanted to let her do what she wants. Conan can't return to his original body anyway, and the organization is no longer a threat to me.
"Let's eat dinner first."
"Okay."
After dinner, we rested separately. Haibara seemed to go back to her room to read papers, and I watched TV. Then a surprising news report came on. The Porsche 911 that Gin of the Black Organization had been driving was broadcast as having crashed into a utility pole near central Tokyo. According to the news, the driver had abandoned the car and fled.
'Those guys aren't the type to make such mistakes. What on earth happened?'
The shadow soldiers I had attached to them were low-level, and I had only instructed them to signal if they came near our house, so they hadn't reported anything. So I used [Stealth] without Haibara knowing and teleported to the accident scene to see for myself.
When I teleported to the traffic accident scene, police were controlling the area, and the Porsche was smashed against a utility pole. Looking closely at the car, besides being embedded in the pole, the left side had clear marks of being strongly struck by something.
'This is Conan's doing.'
The only one who could do such a thing was Conan. When I checked Gin and Vodka's location, they were already leaving the country by plane. So I went to Shinichi's house to check if Conan was okay. He was just grumbling and eating with Yukiko.
'This guy... He tried but seems to have failed.'
After confirming Conan was safe, I teleported home, washed up, and was about to go to bed when Haibara came and asked to sleep together again. So we ended up sleeping together again.
The next day, Haibara said she would go to school. So I packed her lunchbox and helped her get ready for school. Soon the housekeeper would arrive and take her to school.
That day, I stopped by the detective agency with Ran again, and Conan was there too.
"I saw the TV yesterday. You really went for it."
At my words, Conan sighed and said.
"Yeah... Yesterday I ran around town and finally found them. For some reason, they were looking around near a tow lot. So I hid and tried to follow them. But a problem arose. Running around town had drained my skateboard's battery, and I felt like I was going to lose them. I had no choice but to do that."
"I can roughly imagine what happened next. The car stopped, but in the end, they got away, and you just came back."
Conan continued, disappointed.
"Right. Those guys, tough as they are, even after crashing that hard, they didn't lose consciousness. They got out of the car while being wary of their surroundings, took a taxi, and left. So I couldn't follow them any further."
"I see."
"I thought there might be something in the crashed Porsche, so I searched it thoroughly, but there was nothing."
"Weren't you acting too rashly? What if someone had died?"
"There was no one else around, and they were just turning a corner, so I thought it was an opportunity. And they're not the kind of guys to die from something like that. I was hoping they'd both be seriously injured or lose consciousness, but..."
This guy seems to think only of his own convenience. No matter how you look at it, the accident was quite severe, and it was a miracle they survived. Perhaps he acted that way out of a desire for revenge.
'This shinigami, now he's even trying to commit assassinations...'
As I was thinking that, Ran said.
"You probably have a lot to talk about after so long, but do it after you eat."
"Okay."
While we were talking, Ran had somehow prepared my meal as well, so we ate together. Ran seemed curious about how Conan had fared in America and kept asking. I thought Conan would be quite flustered, but it seemed he had already prepared his excuses. He handled the various questions well. He vaguely explained it as 'I lived at an international school in America.'
"Is that so? Then you must have made a lot of friends there, Conan?"
"No. My stay was too short to do that."
"Th-That's too bad..."
Ran had heard from Yukiko that Conan hadn't adapted well, so she couldn't ask further.
I listened to their conversation for a while, then said goodbye and returned home. Haibara had been waiting without eating.
"You're a bit late today? Did something happen?"
"Ah, Conan came back. So I was talking with him."
"Really? Did he find a way to return to his original body?"
"No, he said he couldn't."
Then Haibara said, as if she expected it.
"As expected... I predicted it wouldn't be easy to find because that drug breaks down immediately in the body. That was originally the intent, to create a poison for perfect crimes. Let's eat first, I'm hungry."
"Okay."
Haibara doesn't know that the real reason they couldn't find anything was because he really had become younger. If they had closely examined Conan's body without my [Nothingness Transformation], I think they would have noticed something strange. But I had no intention of telling her that story.
Several days passed like that. There were various cases, but after Conan returned, I decided to step away from the cases Kogoro took on for a while.
'Now that Kogoro has developed some deductive skill, it should be fine.'
So I was doing Onmyōji work with Haibara when suddenly Vermouth appeared, guided in by my manager.