Chapter 189: No Sherry! And No Brown-Haired Girl!
"Stop at the next intersection, hand me the briefcase, and don't ask any questions."
As expected, Gin probably didn't plan to return to Shirakage Pharmaceuticals, which reassured Natsukawa considerably.
It would be best if he stayed away for the next few days.
Speaking of which, it seemed like he could ask Franky for a list of problematic company executives.
Then give it to Gin.
Ideally, they should be from other cities—Gin's absence from Tokyo would make it easier for Sherry to escape.
However, in the original storyline, he didn't know if Gin was present when Sherry escaped. Would doing this be unnecessary?
If he suddenly provided blackmail targets, and then Sherry disappeared...
Although the two events had no causal relationship and were completely unrelated, this was the Detective Conan world. If Gin suddenly suspected he was an undercover agent, things would become very serious.
The briefcase was handed over to Gin, along with the driver. Vodka wasn't good at much else, but Gin really did rely on his driving skills.
As he left, the driver gave Natsukawa a look, as if to say: "Aniki can do without you, but without me, he can't even go anywhere."
Natsukawa remained silent, chuckling quietly, unperturbed by the provocation.
After they drove off, he abandoned the van in a secluded location and got into Franky's getaway vehicle to return to Franky's safehouse.
The first thing he did upon arriving was demand several lists of company executives he could use for blackmail operations.
"I'm telling you, are we really going to give all this intelligence to Gin for free?"
Franky was practically in tears, his voice trembling as if these intelligence reports were costing him his life.
"It's just a few intelligence reports. You're one of the most well-connected people in the intelligence world—why would you be so stingy?"
"No... these intelligence reports are extremely valuable, okay? If I sold them properly, I wouldn't have to work this month.
Besides, the CIA also needs these materials. I prepared these for your CIA handler identity.
I also have intelligence from other countries—why does it have to be Japanese targets?"
Natsukawa rolled his eyes. "The Organization is huge. If you give me foreign intelligence, Gin might hand it over to other branches. If I can't get him out of Tokyo, how can I execute my plan? Do you think Gin is the only one in the entire Organization who handles operations?
If that were the case, the Organization would have been dismantled long ago."
"Fine."
"By the way, keep watch on the street in front of your house these next few days, especially when it's raining like this."
Speaking of rain, Natsukawa's urge to complain resurfaced.
It must be the Conan universe's plot convenience targeting him. It wasn't raining anywhere else—only Beika and Haido had been experiencing rain these past few days.
For example, the suburbs he'd just visited were cloudless, with a bright moon, and the air was even a bit dry.
It looked like the rain would continue for many days, making it difficult to pinpoint Sherry's escape timing.
He couldn't very well camp outside Sherry's location every single day.
For now, he could only have Franky monitor the street near Professor Agasa's house and try to rescue her before the professor did.
The Next Day
Natsukawa's life returned to normal.
"Father, when are we going to the hot springs?"
Anya held up a family hot spring package voucher. Natsukawa glanced at it—it seemed to be a promotional gift from the Beika Department Store, and they hadn't used it yet.
Fortunately, in the Detective Conan world, there was no such thing as expiration dates on these promotions, so it was still valid.
"Wait until your school vacation starts." Natsukawa shoved the homework workbook into Anya's hands. "Right now, you need to do your homework. Kobayashi-sensei has called me several times, constantly bringing up the fact that you haven't been completing your homework properly.
You have to finish your homework tonight, or I'll give the hot spring tickets to Mouri-san, understand?
Come talk to me about the hot spring trip when you've satisfied Kobayashi-sensei."
"But Mama wants to go too!" Anya was clever and knew that bringing up Yor might help her case.
However, Natsukawa smiled coldly. "Oh, really? Then I can go to the hot springs with Yor sometime. As for Anya, you'll have to stay home and watch the house."
"Okay..."
Anya's expression completely crumpled when she looked at the homework workbook, and she sighed repeatedly, but in the end, she gave in to Natsukawa's ultimatum.
Her father's attitude was too firm, and Anya couldn't find any other suitable excuse.
There was nothing she could do—she wanted to go on the hot spring trip.
She could only obediently return to her room to do her homework.
Watching Anya trudge upstairs, Natsukawa shook his head and sighed deeply.
This daughter was so difficult to raise. Being a father was such tough work.
In his previous life, he used to laugh at those viral videos of "adorable little devils" who would create bizarre homework excuses.
Now, he could only say that karma was real, and Anya had finally made him understand those parents' pain.
"Sherry, hurry up! I can entrust Anya to you then!"
Natsukawa muttered to himself while continuing to clean.
It had been a while since he'd done any serious housework, and the house was a mess.
Bond's dog hair was everywhere. Long-haired dogs, like cats, shed twice a year—each time lasting six months.
"Entrust Anya to Sherry?"
Anya, who had been contemplating how to avoid homework at the corner of the stairs, peeked out and looked at Natsukawa, who was vacuuming.
Why entrust Anya to Sherry? Three huge question marks appeared above the little girl's head.
After a moment, Anya suddenly thought of those cartoon plots where a father had to entrust his daughter to someone else for various reasons.
Considering her own grades, Anya figured the so-called "various reasons" was probably her academic performance.
"Father... Father doesn't want Anya anymore?"
"o(>﹏<)o Nooo~"
Her face went pale, her pupils lost their color, and Anya looked like a drowning person.
"Anya, I can see you~ Go do your homework. Don't make me say it twice, or I'll send the hot spring tickets to Mouri-san's house right now."
Natsukawa didn't even turn his head before spotting Anya peeking at him from the corner of the stairs.
This little girl was probably thinking of some scheme to avoid homework again, but he wasn't going to let her succeed today. She had to complete what she was assigned. Not buying her several kilograms worth of additional practice books was already the greatest mercy he could show.
"Okay, Anya just wanted to study with Bond."
Anya said this while running downstairs and leaping onto Bond's back. "Come with me, Bond."
Bond: ???
Finding Bond completely unmoved, the little girl, with strength from who-knows-where, somehow managed to lift the much heavier Bond and carry him upstairs.
Natsukawa glanced back. A metaphorical crow flew overhead. Was Anya actually an ant?
This... could only be attributed to this being an anime world. This absurdity was still somewhat within acceptable limits.
However, if even weight could be exaggerated, why did dogs in anime still shed fur?
What kind of cursed attention to detail was this? It must be the Detective Conan universe's plot convenience targeting him!!!
That damned Conan universe plot armor.
Rain wasn't bad enough—now it was tormenting him with dog hair too.
Upstairs, Anya clutched Bond's head, tears welling in her eyes.
"Bond, tell me quickly—who is Father going to give me to!"
Not wanting to be sent away, Anya thought of Bond. With Bond's precognitive abilities, he could definitely see the corresponding future scene.
If she knew who the person was beforehand, she could prepare countermeasures.
After watching so many cartoons, she'd finally learned some useful tactics.
Throwing tantrums, pretending to be a bad child, fake crying, calling the police claiming the person was a human trafficker!
All these methods could be tried.
Because Natsukawa's thought had been rather simple, and Anya had only heard the last sentence when she came downstairs, she'd misunderstood.
She thought Natsukawa was planning to give her away, not add a new companion to her life.
"Woof?"
Bond tilted his head, looking confused.
"Hurry up, or I'll be sent away, and you'll definitely have to come with me.
Maybe the new home won't have such good dog food anymore. Don't you want to eat Father's cooking?"
Vegetables?
Bond barked, indicating: I've only ever eaten dog food, never table scraps.
It was all Anya's fault for licking her plate clean every meal, leaving no leftovers, so he didn't even get any.
Fortunately, the dog food tasted good—otherwise he'd be tempted to raid the dinner table himself.
"Hurry up, or I'll definitely take you with me to the new home. You won't be able to eat premium canned dog food every day anymore. If you help me, you'll get canned dog food three times a day for a whole month!"
Anya glared at Bond, hands on her hips, pressing her index finger against the dog's head to emphasize he shouldn't be ungrateful.
Then she touched her pockets, feeling a bit guilty.
This promise was too expensive. Her little allowance definitely couldn't handle it. As the leader of the Detective Boys, she had to buy snacks for her teammates every day. If she added premium dog food to that expense, she probably wouldn't even have enough money for her own snacks and toys.
Bond rolled his eyes in a distinctly human-like manner but still barked and agreed to Anya's request.
What dog could resist the temptation of canned food three times a day? Bond certainly couldn't!
As for whether Anya would actually keep her promise, Bond's canine brain had limited capacity and couldn't comprehend human duplicity.
Anya sat up straight, reached out and stroked Bond's head again, like a fortune teller gazing into a crystal ball, rubbing and kneading it until Bond's eyelids nearly rolled back.
But there was no helping it—Anya had to maintain physical contact to see the visions. Otherwise, she could only hear his thoughts.
And because they were different species, Anya's telepathic channel sometimes experienced "poor reception."
Soon, an image formed in Anya's mind.
The location was at home, even... in her own bedroom.
In the vision, she was sitting at her desk, a headband tied around her forehead, gripping a pen in her right hand.
A mountain of homework was piled on the table, taller than herself.
She was writing furiously, tears streaming down her face. If she slowed down even slightly, a ruler would slam down on the table.
Behind her, a slightly taller girl with brown hair stood with her arms crossed, her expression stern, watching her intently.
"If you don't finish this entire stack of homework today, you'll have to sleep with Bond tonight. Then your bed will be mine~"
The brown-haired girl's whispered words were like something from hell, each syllable sending chills down Anya's spine.
"How terrifying!"
Anya was so frightened by the scene that she nearly wet herself, quickly disconnecting her consciousness from Bond's precognitive abilities.
She hadn't seen the supposed Sherry, but instead, a girl around her own age was supervising her homework.
This scene was unthinkable—she didn't even dare imagine it.
The impact of the vision was too intense. The little girl was momentarily stunned until Bond called out impatiently, snapping her out of her daze.
"No Sherry! And no brown-haired girl!"
Anya shook her head vigorously, banishing the girl's image from her mind, and muttered to herself with determination, "I won't leave Father's side, and I won't do my homework."
Fortunately, she spoke softly. If Natsukawa had heard, Kogoro Mouri might have actually gotten those hot spring tickets.
"But why is that brown-haired girl in my room?" Anya frowned, pondering for a long time.
She was adopted by her father. Was he planning to send her away and adopt a daughter who was academically gifted and good at homework?
Judging from her height and appearance, the girl was about her age, seemingly meeting her father's requirements.
Her father's initial requirement had been to find someone who could provide him with information about the first-grade class.
She'd only caught his attention because she'd lied about her age. The girl in the vision seemed to fit his requirements even better—
The right age, so strict about studying, and apparently very academically capable!
But she'd already joined the Detective Boys and even become the leader. Why wasn't her father satisfied?
It was like an undercover police officer becoming a gang leader, only to have headquarters abandon their star agent and send in another undercover operative as a backup plan.
After thinking for a long time, Anya couldn't figure out why Natsukawa would do this, given her limited cognitive capacity.
She just secretly decided that she absolutely couldn't let this brown-haired girl into her room.
No—she couldn't even let her step into the house.
Immediately! Right now, she had to devise a plan to prevent the brown-haired girl from entering.
Her homework supervision was about to be stolen—who cared about actual homework?
Just as Anya was plotting how to keep the brown-haired girl out of the house, Natsukawa, who was taking out the trash, made an unexpected discovery.
"Mouri-san, where have you been? Just getting back?"
Seeing the Mercedes pull up, Natsukawa greeted them casually, taking the opportunity to gather information.
Kogoro Mouri was dressed in a suit and tie, and Ran was wearing a rather formal dress. They looked like they'd just returned from some formal occasion.
Very suspicious.
Given the characteristics of the "Grim Reaper Elementary School Student" phenomenon and the trio's formal attire, Natsukawa suspected they might have just returned from a murder scene.
Who on earth was so oblivious as to invite the Grim Reaper Elementary School Student? Did they have a death wish?
"Natsukawa," Kogoro Mouri sighed, seemingly uninterested, and glanced irritably at his daughter.
"It's all because of that brat Kudo. He said he couldn't return to Tokyo and asked me, the famous detective, to attend the garden party of the renowned architect Teiji Moriya in his place.
That kid really doesn't know his place. He didn't even call himself for something like this—he just called Ran. It's so disrespectful."
After saying that, Kogoro Mouri muttered under his breath, "If it weren't for Shinichi Kudo, I wouldn't have lost face like this, having a child solve the case first."
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