Chapter 192: Showdown
Sherry watched Natsukawa's actions without blinking, remaining silent until he closed his eyes. Only then did she look around again.
This place looked like both a living room and a research lab.
The person who mentioned Professor Agasa—this must be the Agasa residence next to the Kudo house.
Come to think of it, she was incredibly lucky to have been saved by a kind person.
It was midnight on a rainy night. Normally, there wouldn't be anyone on the streets, especially in this residential area. Logically, there shouldn't be anyone around—or if there were, it would be some dangerous criminal. Surviving this was definitely a blessing.
"Phew."
Sherry breathed a sigh of relief, lay back on the bed, closed her eyes, and began to think.
She should now be considered free from the Black Organization.
Not only had she shrunk, but she'd also escaped to someone else's home. Even if Gin searched the entire city, it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack—he'd never find her.
But what should she do now?
As an undocumented person, she didn't know how to explain her situation to Natsukawa.
Just now, she could only pretend to be a child who'd just experienced something traumatic and was too scared to speak.
Perhaps she could maintain this act until dawn.
But what about after that?
Besides, there's Kudo Shinichi. How am I supposed to face him?
I'm the developer of APTX4869, and Kudo Shinichi is the victim. If I reveal my identity, will he immediately orchestrate my murder?
Forget it, I'll deal with it when I meet him.
Before that, I need a legitimate identity.
Shiho Miyano's identity is definitely out of the question, and Sherry is even less viable. If any news about Sherry gets out, Gin will probably show up in his Porsche 356A to silence her.
Therefore, I need a new name to face this society I've longed for.
Japan's identity system is relatively outdated, and Sherry quickly figured out how to give herself a new identity.
Having just experienced a fever, she could simply pretend to have amnesia to avoid Natsukawa continuing to question her about her background.
However, there was still one troublesome issue: she was worried the man on the sofa would take her to the Metropolitan Police Department.
Normally, when someone finds a lost child and can't determine where they live, they'd take them to the police.
The only reason she hadn't been delivered yet was probably because of her fever, the late hour, and the heavy rain.
But tomorrow morning might be different. If she still couldn't contact her parents, they'd definitely hand her over to the Metropolitan Police Department.
Then she'd be exposed.
She had no doubt the Black Organization had informants or moles within the Metropolitan Police Department. Being sent there was tantamount to suicide.
Once exposed, the consequences would be unimaginable.
It didn't matter if she died—but the man who'd saved her and Professor Agasa would likely suffer too. Gin would never let anyone she'd contacted go unpunished!
Perhaps she was too exhausted, or perhaps it was the fever, but Sherry fell asleep while thinking.
When she woke again, the sun was high in the sky.
"You're awake?"
Professor Agasa, who was eating what could be either breakfast or lunch, waved his hand. "Want something to eat? You look so pale."
Sherry ignored the enthusiastic professor, first glancing at the clock, then freezing.
It was already 12:30 PM. She hadn't slept like this in years!
Although the Organization was a criminal gang, they were surprisingly strict about working hours: 8 AM to 6 PM, no tardiness or early departures, and those who didn't work overtime would be fired by Gin.
Gin's work system was comparable to that of a ruthless corporate boss, and the pay was meager.
Many of the researchers' families were also kept under the Organization's control. If they didn't comply with Gin's wishes, their families faced ruin.
She was one of them, kept under the Organization's control since childhood, living under constant surveillance.
"Where's that guy from this morning?" Sherry pulled the blanket tighter, looking at Professor Agasa warily.
"You mean Natsukawa? He got a phone call early this morning and left in a hurry. It seemed work-related."
Professor Agasa handed Sherry a bento box, smiling. "Don't worry, he'll be back later."
He then began rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
The little girl seemed a bit shy. Natsukawa had told him before leaving that the girl was timid and didn't talk much, and hadn't answered questions about her parents.
But it wasn't a major problem. It was normal for a little girl to be afraid of unfamiliar adults. He'd already called Shinichi.
Shinichi, now transformed into Conan, was still a child, so she shouldn't be wary of him. If he intervened, he might be able to find out about her parents and home address.
If that didn't work, they might have to ask Kogoro Mouri.
Kogoro Mouri relied entirely on Conan to solve cases, but he was supposedly quite adept at finding missing people and pets.
That was the strange thing about Japan—even when something happened, people's first thought wasn't the police but a detective, as if they were afraid of interfering with some TV drama. It was quite absurd.
Ding-dong—
The doorbell rang.
The sudden noise startled Sherry. She was still on edge, and any sound triggered her alertness.
"It's alright, it's probably Shin—Conan. He's about your age, so you two should have more to talk about."
Professor Agasa said as he walked toward the door.
"Shin-Conan?"
"Conan..."
Sherry muttered a couple of times, noticing the shift in Professor Agasa's tone.
Professor Agasa had said "Shin" first, then changed it to "Conan."
Others might not notice this, dismissing it as a slip of the tongue, but Sherry, extremely vigilant, didn't think so.
Besides, she'd recently confirmed that Kudo Shinichi and Edogawa Conan were the same person.
And she'd heard the Kudo family and their neighbors, the Agasa family, were very close—making it impossible not to connect the dots.
This Conan was probably Kudo Shinichi. Judging from Professor Agasa's tone, he likely knew that Shinichi had shrunk.
Thinking about it, Professor Agasa was a rather famous scientist. It was natural that Shinichi would want to reverse his condition after shrinking and would consult a scientist.
As she pondered this, Professor Agasa led a boy about her current height into the hall.
The boy wore a blue suit jacket and shorts, his small frame sporting enormous feet—those shoes must be size 40 at least!
His head was also unbelievably large.
While Sherry sized up Conan, Conan was also sizing her up.
"Hey there! Let me introduce myself. I'm Edogawa Conan—a distant relative's child currently staying at the famous detective Kogoro Mouri's house. I've aspired to be a detective since I was little. He's practically Kogoro Mouri's most capable assistant, his personal Watson."
"Please, I'm not Uncle Mouri's assistant." Conan rolled his eyes, somewhat dissatisfied with Professor Agasa's introduction. Who was actually solving the cases might not be clear to others, but Professor Agasa certainly knew!
His name was Edogawa Conan, a brilliant elementary school detective.
"So, what's your name?" Conan knew his task and got straight to the point. "We're both elementary school students. Professor Agasa just introduced me, so you should introduce yourself now, right?"
Conan, very familiar with the house, walked to the refrigerator, opened it, and stood on tiptoe to take out a bottle of cola.
Professor Agasa reflexively walked to the refrigerator, took out his own cup, and handed it over.
Conan's lips twitched. "Professor Agasa, maybe you shouldn't? Didn't we just agree you'd lose weight? Carbonated drinks will ruin your diet."
After pouring himself a glass, Conan poured another and handed it to Sherry.
"This is for you."
Sherry remained silent, quietly taking the cola and taking a small sip.
"Coffee is still better."
"It's not a good habit for kids to like drinking coffee," Conan commented, adopting a lecturing tone.
He'd thought she might be mute since she hadn't spoken.
"It's not a good habit for kids to drink cola either."
Saying this, she took another sip.
Conan's eye twitched in annoyance. This little brat was quite argumentative.
However, kids were kids—a glass of cola was enough to get her talking. It seemed his job would be done soon.
"What's your name?"
"..."
Sherry didn't answer. Instead, she downed her cola in one gulp, then grabbed the bottle from Conan's hand and refilled her own glass.
She'd just woken up and was thirsty.
Conan's lip twitched again. Why was this girl so shameless?
"What a strange elementary school kid."
"How old are you?" Conan asked, putting on his cute act to extract information from the girl.
Even Ayumi couldn't resist his charm, and he was sure the little girl in front of him wouldn't be able to either.
However, the little girl frowned upon hearing his words, looking like she didn't want to talk to him.
"You're disgusting, pretending to be a child," Sherry commented after a pause.
"Alright, don't drink too much." Professor Agasa snatched the bottle away from the little girl who was about to pour more.
Her fever hadn't completely subsided. Drinking too much iced cola right now wasn't good for her.
"Pretending to be a child? I am a child now."
Conan muttered, somewhat bewildered by the little brat in front of him.
"You're saying I'm pretending to be a child? What about you? Pretending to be mature?"
Sherry's gaze remained fixed on Conan's face, seemingly expecting a look of shock.
However, Conan clearly didn't take her words seriously, simply seeing her as a rather precocious little brat, and didn't connect her words with shrinking.
Seeing this, Sherry spoke again. "Professor Agasa just called you 'Shin-Conan.' Is your surname Shin? That's a unique surname."
"Of course not, my surname is Edogawa." Conan's face darkened, realizing Professor Agasa had let something slip.
This wasn't Professor Agasa's first time making this mistake. Luckily, she was just a little girl, so it wasn't a huge deal. But he'd have to lecture the professor later, or it would be hard to explain if he mentioned it in front of Ran next time.
After all, Ran had suspected him recently, and he'd finally managed to dispel her suspicions. If Professor Agasa accidentally mentioned it in front of Ran, he might be suspected again.
He didn't want to get punched like a telephone pole.
"Edogawa Ranpo, Conan Doyle."
Sherry propped her left hand on her right arm and her right hand on her chin, looking thoughtful.
"My dad's a detective fan, that's why he gave me this name." Conan had forgotten how many times he'd explained this. He was already very familiar with it, and the lie rolled off his tongue smoothly.
"Really? My dad's a detective fanatic too. What do you think I should be called?"
Sherry chuckled, a hint of sarcasm in her voice. "Help me think of something. What famous female detective would suit me?"
Conan's forehead beaded with sweat.
What did this little girl mean?
Did she suspect his name was fake? But why would she?!
Conan finally looked at Sherry seriously, scrutinizing her for a few moments, but couldn't discern anything unusual.
Then his gaze shifted upward, their eyes meeting, creating a scene reminiscent of elementary school students squaring up for a fight after school.
"Hey! Don't do this!" Professor Agasa pulled them apart, inwardly complaining that Shinichi was seventeen and still arguing with a child.
He looked at Sherry with kind eyes. "Little girl, do you remember where your home is? Or do you have a phone number?"
Sherry brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and pointed out the window with her right hand. "That's my home."
Conan and Professor Agasa looked in the direction she was pointing, and their expressions fell simultaneously.
"That's the Kudo residence. I don't remember the Kudo family having a child this young."
Professor Agasa glanced at Conan out of the corner of his eye, as if asking, "Does your dad have another woman somewhere?"
Or could this girl actually be a daughter the Kudo couple had in America?
Yukiko's hair color does seem to be similar.
"Impossible. My mom's brown hair is dyed—she actually has black hair." Conan saw through Professor Agasa's doubt and whispered in his ear.
"I see. But if that's the case, then this girl is..."
"That's even more impossible. This little girl looks six or seven, eight at most. For those two years, my dad was busy writing manuscripts every day. How could he have had time? Besides, my dad isn't that kind of person."
Professor Agasa gave Conan a knowing look. Shinichi's understanding of adult matters was still too naive.
"That's Shinichi's house. How could it be yours?"
"Actually..." Sherry squeezed out a few tears from the corner of her eyes, biting her lip. "I'm actually my father's illegitimate daughter. I just came back from America, and this time I came to find my brother."
"Brother?" Professor Agasa, who was a bit slow on the uptake, believed most of it at this point. How could such a cute little girl lie?
"Shinichi, I think you should..."
Professor Agasa was about to say they should call Kudo Yusaku to confirm. If it was true, they'd have to ask the Kudo couple to return.
"Impossible!" Conan firmly pushed aside Professor Agasa, took two steps forward to Sherry, and said, "You say you're Yusaku Kudo's daughter? What proof do you have?"
"None." Sherry paused, put her hands behind her back, and leaned forward as if observing Conan's expression.
Seeing the uncertain look on Conan's face, she cut him off before he could speak. "But you say your name is Edogawa Conan—you have no proof either."
"My identity is registered with the Metropolitan Police Department!"
"I know all too well what's going on with Japan's population registry system. That doesn't prove anything unless your parents appear before me right now. Otherwise, your name might have been chosen randomly."
Conan was speechless.
It was rather unusual for a little girl to notice the significant flaws in Japan's population registry system.
Moreover, the more they talked, the more he felt this little girl had a serious problem. Her behavior was nothing like a typical elementary school student's—it was more like his own.
"Alright, I'm done teasing you." Sherry waved her hand, sensing Conan was at a loss for words, and her expression immediately turned serious.
Her expression changed from pitiful to grave in an instant, and Conan grew increasingly alarmed. Her ability to change expressions was as quick as his mother's.
Before he could think further, her next sentence made his legs go weak.
"Your real name is Kudo Shinichi, the son of Kudo Yusaku of 2-chome, Beika Town."
(End of Chapter)
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