Slowly, in a new tone carrying a bone-chilling "realization," he spoke in a low voice, each word seemingly carrying a thousand pounds of weight:
"I've changed my mind."
His gaze swept over her pale little face, as if re-evaluating a lost and found, unique treasure.
"Gin, Vodka..."
The corners of Kanjuro's mouth curled into an arc of cold and absolute control.
"If you truly want them dead..."
"I can give them to you as a gift."
These words were worlds apart from his statement just moments ago that he had "no obligation to help you"! And this sudden, illogical change was solely because he had discovered—the girl before him was no longer just an interesting toy or a traitor to be controlled.
She was his bloodline.
She was his property.
She was the princess of his dark empire, left outside and finally found.
Thus, pleasing her, satisfying her (even her desire for slaughter), seemed only natural. After all, doting on his "daughter" and watching her reveal any side of herself he wished to see under his wings—wasn't that also a form of ultimate control and pleasure?
Ai Haibara was completely stunned; she couldn't understand Kanjuro's sudden, 180-degree turn in attitude. The emotions in his eyes were too complex for her to read, but the undisguised, deeper, and more twisted possessiveness within them made her soul shiver.
This "gift" did not bring her the slightest joy; instead, it was like opening Pandora's box, foretelling an even more unpredictable and desperate future.
Kanjuro carried the soaking wet Ai Haibara, who had become even more wary due to his sudden change in attitude. He didn't return immediately, instead stepping into an abandoned roadside pavilion to take shelter from the torrential rain. He placed her in a relatively clean spot and stood before her, his gaze like a precision scanner, carefully scrutinizing every detail of her face once more.
The clues he had previously overlooked now became crystal clear under the confirmation of his bloodline resonance—the shade of her auburn hair, the hidden resilience and wisdom deep within those ice-blue eyes that were identical to Miyano Elena's, and even the stubborn set of her lips. They all bore the unique mark of his own genes merged with Elena's traits.
"Haibara," Kanjuro spoke, his voice low and carrying an unquestionable probe, "tell me, who are the 'parents' in your memories? How did they 'die'?"
Ai Haibara curled up in a corner, hugging her knees in an attempt to draw some warmth. Hearing this question, a flash of profound pain crossed her eyes, but it was mostly replaced by a coldness honed by countless recollections. She didn't want to answer, but under Kanjuro's oppressive gaze, she stated the facts as she believed them in a raspy voice:
"Koji Miyano and Miyano Elena. They were both scientists. Recruited by the Organization to research drugs, including APTX4869. Later... they died accidentally in a laboratory fire." Her tone was flat, as if telling someone else's story, but her slightly trembling fingertips betrayed her inner turmoil.
"A fire? An accident?" Kanjuro caught the key point and raised an eyebrow slightly. "Did you see their bodies with your own eyes?"
Ai Haibara jerked her head up, a trace of shock and offense flashing in her ice-blue eyes. "What do you mean? Things were chaotic back then, and I was so young... Besides, when the Organization handles such matters, how could they leave behind obvious evidence?!" This was a fact accepted by almost everyone in the know; no one had ever questioned it so directly.
"Not seen with your own eyes..." Kanjuro repeated slowly, his lips curling into an understanding yet slightly mocking arc. "Then, have you ever considered that perhaps... Koji Miyano isn't your biological father?"
"What?!" Ai Haibara's pupils constricted, and she almost stood up. "What nonsense are you talking about!"
Kanjuro ignored her agitation. His thoughts seemed to drift back to those chaotic and dark years eighteen years ago. The fragments of memory gradually pieced themselves together, and many overlooked details became clear.
"Eighteen years ago, the Sacred Scripture Academy's Underground School Building... Miyano Elena," Kanjuro's voice carried the flatness of reminiscence, yet he spoke earth-shattering words. "She was one of them. I had a relationship with her."
He watched Ai Haibara's face turn instantly pale as he continued to drop an even heavier bombshell:
"I didn't pay much attention at the time. But thinking back now, after that... Elena seemed to stay by my side for a considerable amount of time, far longer than the others. Perhaps... five or six years?" He frowned slightly, seemingly calculating the timeline precisely. "It wasn't until she graduated from university and decided to go to the United States for further study and development that she left Japan."
His gaze refocused on Ai Haibara, his eyes looking as if they had already seen through to the entire truth:
"The timing matches perfectly. If she discovered she was pregnant shortly after leaving the Old School Building, then the child born then would be Akemi Miyano."
He paused, declaring word by word:
"And the one she was carrying in her womb when she went to America... was you, Shiho Miyano."
"You, like your sister Akemi, are my daughter, Kanjuro's daughter. Koji Miyano was merely a nominal 'father' arranged for you by the Organization—a front to cover up the truth, or perhaps just Elena's colleague or cover in the Organization."
This series of deductions was like countless thunderclaps striking one after another deep within Ai Haibara's mind!
She instinctively wanted to scream in rebuttal, to berate Kanjuro for fabricating such absurd lies to insult her dead mother! However, countless childhood fragments she had deliberately ignored or couldn't understand now flooded her mind, aligning with Kanjuro's words—
The complex and sorrowful looks her mother would occasionally cast into the distance;
Her mother's unusual understanding and calmness regarding certain dark matters;
Her mother's extraordinary protectiveness toward her and her sister, and the feeling that her relationship with 'father' Koji Miyano was one of mutual respect but lacked true intimacy;
And... deep within her own heart, that indescribable sense of familiarity toward Kanjuro—a feeling so contradictory it bordered on the extreme, encompassing fear, loathing, and yet an occasional attraction to his power... Could it be... could all these nauseating coincidences and sensations truly stem from... bloodline?!
The impact of this realization was far more terrifying than being hunted by Gin or controlled by Kanjuro! It completely subverted her origins and overturned all her perceptions of the past! If what Kanjuro said was true, then her lifelong hatred, her struggles, and her yearning for her parents... were all built upon a false foundation?!
"No... impossible... You're lying to me! You're just saying this to control me better!" Ai Haibara clutched her head, her voice raspy and filled with the desperate struggle before a breakdown.
Kanjuro watched her pained state, an indescribable light flashing in his eyes. He stepped forward, ignoring her resistance, and forced her into his arms once more. This time, his movements carried an unquestionable dominance, as if declaring ownership.
"Whether it's a lie or not, your body and your blood are more honest than your mouth, my daughter."
His voice rang in her ear like a devil's whisper and a father's declaration.
"Welcome home, Shiho."
"From now on, you no longer need to struggle for the so-called 'revenge for your parents,' nor do you need to fear the Organization's pursuit."
"Because you are of my blood, Kanjuro's blood. You are the rightful princess of this dark kingdom."
"The Gin and Vodka you loathe, even the entire Organization... if you want them, Daddy can give them to you... as toys."
Ai Haibara trembled violently in his arms, tears finally surging out uncontrollably. But these tears were no longer just from fear or sadness; they were a mixture of the massive shock of her worldview collapsing, the bewilderment of her identity being overturned, and the deepest despair of falling completely into endless darkness.
In the end, she had failed to escape the cage named "Kanjuro."
In fact, she herself was a part of this cage, flowing with the same dark blood as him. Ai Haibara's resistance and disbelief were within Kanjuro's expectations. He didn't offer any more explanations, simply bringing her back to Ayumi's house with an unquestionable sense of control.
At Ayumi's house, the atmosphere remained eerie and complex. Akemi Miyano, Sumiko Kobayashi, and Reimi Yoshida were all waiting anxiously. Seeing Kanjuro return holding a soaking wet and soul-shaken Haibara, Ayumi immediately ran forward in concern: "Daddy! What happened to Haibara?"
Kanjuro didn't answer Ayumi directly. Instead, his gaze swept over the women in the room, finally landing on Akemi Miyano and Reimi Yoshida. His tone was flat but carried a decisive weight: "Get ready. We need to confirm a few things."
Shortly after, at Kanjuro's request, a "blood kinship test" ceremony—which would seem ancient or even superstitious to ordinary people—was conducted in Ayumi's living room. With Kanjuro's power, he naturally disdained such crude methods, but this was more of a physical ritual for all participants to witness with their own eyes, meant to shatter the last shred of hope and doubt.
In a bowl of clear water, Kanjuro was the first to prick his fingertip. A drop of crimson blood fell, slowly blooming in the water. Then, at Kanjuro's signal, Akemi Miyano, Ayumi Yoshida, and Ai Haibara—who was still shrouded in massive shock and resistance—each had their blood taken in turn.
When the three drops of blood belonging to the different females were dropped into the bowl one after another, touching and merging with Kanjuro's drop without any sign of rejection—even faintly forming a strange pattern that seemed to attract one another as the water rippled—
The living room fell into a dead silence.
Akemi Miyano covered her mouth, her eyes full of disbelief, but more so a kind of... twisted relief? It was as if the inexplicable, irrational dependence and closeness she had felt toward Kanjuro for so long had finally found its fundamental cause.
Reimi Yoshida turned pale, her body swaying as if she could hardly stand. This result confirmed the secret she had hidden for years and completely tied her daughter Ayumi to Kanjuro's war machine.
Ayumi, on the other hand, widened her eyes, looking at the water bowl, then at Kanjuro, and then at Akemi and Haibara. Her small face was filled with wonder and a naive joy: "So... Sister Akemi and Haibara... are also my sisters? We really are all one family!"
As for Ai Haibara, she stared fixedly at the bowl of water, the last glimmer of light in her ice-blue eyes completely extinguished. Science told her that blood kinship tests weren't entirely reliable, but under the influence of Kanjuro's eerie power and the undeniable bloodline resonance deep within her, she knew she could no longer deceive herself.
The cold, hard facts were laid out before her in the most direct and brutal way.
She, Shiho Miyano, Ai Haibara, and the sister she had always tried to protect, Akemi Miyano, as well as Ayumi Yoshida, whom she viewed as a companion... were actually all the biological daughters of the demon before her!
"Now, do you have any more questions? My Shiho." Kanjuro's voice broke the silence, carrying a hint of satisfied laziness. The way he looked at Ai Haibara had completely changed into that of a father looking at his property, even if this fatherly love was twisted and dark.
Ai Haibara slumped back a step, leaning against the wall as if all her strength had been drained. She closed her eyes, no longer looking at anyone or speaking. Silence was her final resistance and the symbol of her complete breakdown.
Kanjuro didn't care about her silence; he enjoyed this feeling of total control. His gaze slowly swept over the three girls linked to him by blood, as well as the other women whose fates were already tightly intertwined with his (Sumiko Kobayashi, Reimi Yoshida).
A thought surfaced in his mind.
He looked at the women before him—some reliant, some in awe, some in despair—as a deep and eerie smile curled at the corners of his mouth.
"Since we are all family now, there are some things you should know." Kanjuro's voice carried a strange magnetism, as if he were recounting an ancient secret.
"Haven't you all been curious why I always look like an eighteen-year-old high school student?"
His words caught everyone's attention; even Ai Haibara, whose heart was like dead ashes, couldn't help but open her eyes slightly.
Kanjuro lightly raised his hand, a dim light seemingly flowing through his fingertips.
"An eternal eighteen... it is not a curse, but the form I chose after gaining control over power and transcending the laws of mortal life."
"The passage of time has slowed for me, to the point of nearly standing still."
He paused, his gaze seemingly piercing through time to see the distant past.
"But if calculated by normal time..."
His gaze fell upon Akemi Miyano. "Long before you were born, I already existed in this form for quite a long time."
Then, he declared clearly, word by word:
"My true age is actually... thirty-six years old."
Thirty-six!
This number left everyone stunned.
Thirty-six years old, with three daughters of varying ages (Akemi is an adult, Ayumi is in elementary school, and Haibara's body has shrunk but her actual age is near adulthood)—calculated on a timeline, it was completely logical! This perfectly explained why he could have crossed paths with their mothers at different times.
But more importantly, it meant he possessed a life form far beyond ordinary people, bordering on the eerie! Beneath the appearance of an eternal youth was a mature, even weathered soul and an incomparably powerful foundation of strength.
This was no longer just the terror of power, but a crushing sense of despair brought about by the absolute gap in the level of existence.
Kanjuro smiled with satisfaction as he looked at their complex expressions mixed with shock, fear, and bewilderment.
"So, do not use common logic to judge me anymore."
He spread his arms as if to embrace everyone, yet also as if displaying the dark kingdom he ruled.
"Whether it be age, power, or this connection of bloodlines..."
"You only need to remember, from the past, to the present, until the eternal time of the future..."
"You all belong to me, Kanjuro."
"You are my daughters, my property, my most important... collectibles in this long life."
His words were like a final judgment, branded into everyone's hearts.
Ayumi only half-understood, but instinctively felt a chill.
A flash of confusion appeared in Akemi Miyano's eyes, but it was quickly replaced by a deeper reliance.
Yoshida Reimi and Sumiko Kobayashi lowered their heads.
As for Ai Haibara, she slumped completely onto the cold floor, burying her face in her knees, isolating herself from the world.
In this even more solid cage of despair built from bloodlines, power, and twisted affection, she could no longer see a single glimmer of hope for escape.
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