Akemi and Shiho stopped watching after a while. Unlike Gin, they couldn't simply close their eyes and deceive themselves.
Ren stayed quiet as well.
This time, against the Public Security Bureau and the FBI, there was no question—the organization had won.
Countless agents and officers had been eliminated. Even if their names were unknown, training just one required enormous effort, time, and money.
The only sacrifice the organization suffered was Chianti, who had been captured alive. But even that was a heavy blow.
A sniper wasn't so easy to train—especially one who was unwaveringly loyal to the organization.
The moment Gin learned of Chianti's capture, he immediately contacted Ren.
"Chianti's been taken. You can track her location, can't you?" Gin's voice was cold, devoid of emotion.
"I checked," Ren replied. "They're exploiting that fact. On my end, I can trace three locations, and they keep shifting."
"Send them to me. If the position changes again, contact me at once." With that, Gin hung up.
Ren exhaled softly. He glanced at the two women before moving to sit beside Shiho.
"What's on your mind?" he asked gently.
Shiho lowered her gaze.
"Ren, our research has already caused the deaths of too many people."
Her voice trembled with guilt. Until now, she had only experimented on lab mice, but the weight of responsibility pressed heavily on her.
Ren clasped her shaking hand firmly. "We've always been living in the shadows, haven't we?"
Shiho hesitated, then nodded. "…Yeah."
"As long as the organization achieves its ultimate goal, we'll retire someday," Ren said calmly. He felt no sympathy for the dead.
After all, why was the lie detector so accurate? Because his experiments had used humans—countless humans—as test subjects, providing all the data he needed.
Shiho drew a deep breath. "…Then we need to hurry our research."
"Akemi…"
"What is it?" Akemi looked at Ren with a worried expression.
"Are you worried about your ex-boyfriend, Shuichi Akai?"
"Sis!?" Shiho's sympathetic mood vanished instantly as she turned her head toward Akemi.
"No, I'm not worried about him. I just…"
But in the end, Akemi couldn't bring herself to say it.
That if her sister and brother-in-law ever lost their value, the Organization would abandon them, just as it had abandoned her before.
"Don't worry." Ren spoke only those three words.
Even back then, the Organization would never have chosen to touch him—let alone now.
Life for the three of them soon settled into calm.
Shiho buried herself in her research, forcing her emotions aside.
Akemi kept busy with housework, learning new dishes, and finding little things to occupy her days.
Ren, meanwhile, immersed himself in his new laboratory.
…
"First, a pharmaceutical company explodes, and then a mansion fire. Why is Beika so restless these days?" an older man muttered as he watched the news on television.
Not far away, on a sofa, sat a small boy and a high school girl—Conan and Ran.
Conan's face was pale.
This time, it could only be called a complete failure for both the Public Security Bureau and the FBI.
After the explosion, Jodie had been hospitalized, and though her body was healing, her spirit had shut down completely.
The Public Security division pursuing the Organization was nearly forced to close due to lack of manpower.
Conan didn't know what to do next.
After clashing head-on with the Organization, he finally understood its overwhelming power.
Whether it was their way of doing things or the people within the organization, they were all nothing but lunatics.
Ran's mood was equally heavy.
If she hadn't known the truth, she might have been like her father—watching TV, sighing about the dangers of society.
But now that she did, all she felt was worry.
Worry for Shinichi.
Worry for her parents.
Fear that one day, they too might be caught up in something like this.
Finally, Conan stood up and looked at her.
"Ran-neechan, Uncle… I'm going to the professor's house tonight."
"It's already this late, what's the point of going?" Mouri Kogoro grumbled, taking another gulp of beer.
Seeing the despair in Conan's eyes, Ran silently walked him to the door.
She had only ever seen confidence and excitement in Shinichi's eyes before.
Never had she seen such deep despair.
She understood exactly what Conan was thinking.
"Ran-neechan… I'm sorry. I dragged you and Uncle into this." Conan's voice was filled with hopelessness.
He had done so much, yet still failed.
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't find a way out of this situation.
"Shinichi… don't think about leaving." Ran knelt down and gently embraced him.
"Ran, after I became Conan, I came here… because I didn't want the girl I liked to fall for someone else. I just wanted to stay by her side."
Conan whispered, finally confessing why he had chosen to live at the Mouri Detective Agency.
"…If I had known Shinichi was always right beside me, I wouldn't have worried so much."
Ran's eyes softened.
At last, she understood his feelings.
"But liking someone isn't rational. It's a puzzle. A mystery even Holmes himself couldn't solve. Ran… there's still a chance. Right now, I'm a ghost on paper. Erasing my existence wouldn't be hard."
In that moment, Conan steeled his resolve.
This time, he wasn't fighting for the truth of the organization.
This time, he was fighting only to protect the person he loved.
"No, Shinichi. Your existence can never be erased. This place is filled with your traces… and so is my heart."
Ran's voice trembled.
For once, she dropped her restraint and spoke her true feelings.
"Ran… I've already been selfish once…"
"Then go ahead and be completely reckless, leaving me alone—what kind of thing is that?" Ran quickly interrupted, her voice rising as tears fell.
Looking at Conan's hand, her tone softened. "Shinichi, if you use a tranquilizer on me, I'll never forgive you in this life."
Conan finally put his hand down. He didn't want to do anything that would make Ran hate him, but he couldn't ignore the matter of the Organization.
How could he deal with such a desperate situation?
"Shinichi, maybe that member didn't even notice your presence," Ran said.
"That's impossible…" Conan first refused to believe it, but the series of events that had happened made him uncertain.
If he had truly been exposed, the Organization would have acted as ruthlessly as they had with the FBI and the police, not just ignored it.
"Shinichi, I know I can't stop you from investigating the Organization, but please promise me one thing. Don't leave without saying goodbye, and don't act recklessly."
Conan remained silent. He truly could not give up chasing the Organization. That group could blow things up without hesitation, disregarding life.
"Shinichi, now that you're off the official records, as long as you don't appear in the newspapers, there will be very little information about you online," Ran continued, sharing her thoughts.
"Yeah, I'll be careful." Conan recalled what had happened before—the Detective Boys running around crime scenes, practically dancing on a knife's edge.
If he was going to continue investigating the Organization, those actions couldn't happen again. Even if they did, he mustn't make the news.
Seeing this, Ran breathed a sigh of relief. Conan's reply was enough; at least she knew his answer.
"Ran, I need to go to the professor's house today. He invented something that could help me, and I need to check it out," Conan said, explaining his purpose for going out.
"Okay, come back early tomorrow." Ran let go of Conan. This time, she didn't stop him. Watching his figure run away, she remembered the time at the amusement park.
She had been scared, worried that this time, like before, he might go and never return.
**********
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