How to Survive With a Death-Flag Character Setting in Detective Conan - Chapter 29

On the way back, Vodka glanced sideways at Gin several times. Finally unable to hold it in any longer, he asked while driving, “Aniki, why did you let that kid take on the mission? He has never received systematic training, right? What if he fails?”

“So what if he fails?” Gin took a drag from his cigarette and replied indifferently. “It’s Bourbon’s mission anyway. If it fails, it fails.”

Vodka looked at Gin in shock. “Huh?”

Gin shot him a glance and said, “Rum’s subordinates aren’t under my jurisdiction. Whether he can complete the mission has nothing to do with me. I’m just taking this opportunity to give that kid a reminder.”

“Let him always remember his identity. Don’t think that just because he got out of there, he’s free.”

“Also, do not be like that stupid woman, Miyano Akemi. She read too much and let her heart run wild, actually wanting to leave the organization, and even dragged a rat in with her.”

Vodka thought to himself, Aniki, the way you put it makes you sound like a feudal patriarch who hates it when his children study…

He then said, “That kid is different from Miyano Akemi, right? He wouldn’t leave the organization.”

“Of course.” Gin looked out the window. “As long as the organization exists, he will never be able to break away from it.”

* * *

Hatori Yuiichi took a cold shower for the first time ever.

This was something he never did, given how much he normally valued maintaining his health.

The icy water stimulated his skin, making his thoughts incomparably clear.

Higashino Hiromu was in trouble. No matter the reason, once those people set their sights on someone, they would cling like maggots to bone, impossible to shake off.

Fortunately, Gin had thrown the mission to him. He had to find a way to make them stop paying attention to Higashino Hiromu after this.

Hatori Yuiichi walked out of the bathroom. The cold water on his body had not yet been wiped dry as he sent a message to Higashino Hiromu.

* * *

By the time Higashino Hiromu returned home, it was already dark.

When he arrived at Ogawa Research Institute yesterday, it was already afternoon, and he had waited there for a long time. After that, a case suddenly occurred, and catching the culprit took up more time. Later, they went to search for the kidnapped Director Ogawa. When the director was found after three days without food, he was already barely alive. Fortunately, the institute lacked nothing, and they immediately replenished him with water and electrolytes.

Because of the nighttime high tide and strong winds at sea, the police were unable to go out on the water and could only wait until the next morning, taking a fishing boat to the island. It was the same boat, piloted by the same uncle who had taken Higashino Hiromu to the island in the first place.

Higashino Hiromu thought to himself that this uncle must have been in quite a good mood over the past two days.

After that, he went to the police station to give a statement. By the time it was over, evening had already arrived.

At that hour, he did not want to detour to school, so he sent a message to his advisor Yasuda, explaining that he would bring the materials the next day. Then he went home, buying some fried chicken on the way for dinner.

Just as he was happily eating his fried chicken, the mission suddenly updated.

Once is unfamiliar, twice becomes familiar. After escaping life and death crises many times, he could now face the so-called “death notice” calmly. As long as the method was right, he could easily avoid the danger.

So, while leisurely gnawing on a piece of chicken, he opened the system.

【 Upcoming Event 】: Death due to an attack at Tohto University

【 Murder Weapon 】: Handgun

【 Cause of Death 】: Excessive blood loss

【 Suspects 】: Gin, Vermouth, Bourbon

【 Death Countdown 】: 71:59:59.59

“Cough, cough, cough!” Higashino Hiromu immediately spat out the chicken in his mouth and started coughing violently.

What?!

Who are the suspects?!!!

Higashino Hiromu rubbed his eyes and looked again at the suspects column. Three alcohol code names were lined up side by side, stabbing painfully into his vision.

No, wait… Why?! When did I ever have anything to do with the Black Organization? Why would they want to kill me?!

Higashino Hiromu clicked on their names, his face filled with utter disbelief at his own existence.

【 Gin 】: Member of the Black Organization. You are involved in his mission. Please be careful!

【 Vermouth 】: Member of the Black Organization. You are involved in her mission. Please be careful!

【 Bourbon 】: Member of the Black Organization. You are involved in his mission. Please be careful!

When Higashino Hiromu saw these lines, his hands and feet instantly went ice-cold.

How did he end up getting tangled up in their mission?!

Higashino Hiromu was in complete panic. Even without having read Detective Conan, he knew how utterly insane the Black Organization was. Especially Gin. When carrying out missions, if he could shoot, he would never waste words!

“Calm down! Calm down!”

He took several deep breaths, forcing himself to settle down, and carefully retraced his connections to the Black Organization.

First of all, the only person from the organization he had ever come into contact with was Amuro Tooru, also known as Bourbon. Their most recent meeting had been just yesterday, at Ogawa Research Institute.

He had originally thought that Amuro Tooru had gone there together with Mouri Kogoro. Now it seemed that Amuro Tooru must have had other motives for being there.

Ogawa Research Institute was connected to the Black Organization. It could have been a few individuals, or perhaps the entire institute had defected to the organization.

The reason he was targeted had to be because he had taken something.

But the only thing he took was the data on the anesthetic agent. And when he was looking for that data, Amuro Tooru had been right there watching the whole time.

If the anesthetic data were what Amuro Tooru wanted, he would have had plenty of chances, from yesterday to today, to secretly copy a version for himself.

Yet the mission had only just been updated now. That meant the anesthetic data was not the key point, or that the Black Organization had only just realized the importance of that data.

Higashino Hiromu frowned in thought. Could it be that other important content had been mixed into the data?

He wanted to check the contents of the USB drive, but he was afraid that if he learned something truly dangerous, he would really be silenced.

Higashino Hiromu rubbed his face and thought to himself, No matter what is inside this USB drive, since they have already set their sights on me, they will definitely try to take it. Right now, the only thing I can do is avoid contact with Gin and Vermouth, since those two might directly “send me off”. The best option is to hand the USB drive directly to Amuro Tooru. As long as Amuro Tooru gets the USB drive, regardless of whether the contents are useful or not, he will definitely try to keep me alive.

But how was he supposed to give the USB drive to Amuro Tooru?

Just as he was racking his brain, his phone suddenly vibrated.

Higashino Hiromu jolted violently in shock.

No, no, this is bad. He was already getting jumpy at the slightest movement.

He opened it and saw that it was a message from Hatori Yuiichi.

[Hatori kouhai]: Higashino senpai, I would like to treat you to a meal. May I ask if you are free tomorrow?

Higashino Hiromu let out a long sigh and muttered to himself with a depressed expression, “You asking me out to eat does make me very happy. But I really don’t have the mood to go on a date right now!!!”

He raised both hands and grabbed his hair in frustration.

“Wait!” His eyes suddenly lit up. “That’s it, eating!”

He immediately picked up his phone and replied to Hatori Yuiichi.

[Hiromu]: Can I choose the location?

[Hatori kouhai]: Yes.

[Hiromu]: Then let’s meet at 10:30 a.m. at Café Poirot!

[Hatori kouhai]: Okay.

Higashino Hiromu looked at the chat window and smiled in satisfaction.

The solution was right there! He just needed to deliberately leave the USB drive at Café Poirot and let Amuro Tooru pick it up!

It would resolve the crisis and let him go on a date with his kouhai at the same time. Killing two birds with one stone!

Thankfully, Amuro Tooru had a fixed part-time workplace. Otherwise, he would not even know where to run into him by chance.

Having figured out the solution, Higashino Hiromu immediately felt much lighter. The fried chicken on the table had already gone cold, so he put it into the oven to heat it up again, then ate everything without wasting a single bite.

* * *

Although he said it did not affect him, in reality, Higashino Hiromu had nightmares all night long.

In his dream, he was being hunted down by a group of people from the Black Organization, including Gin, Vodka, Vermouth, and even Bourbon and Kir… There were guns and bombs everywhere, and the scene was extremely intense. However, perhaps because it was his dream, he seemed unusually hard to kill and actually dodged every attack. In the end, his kouhai descended from the sky and rescued him.

After waking up, Higashino Hiromu felt very conflicted. In the first half of the dream, he had been exhausted from running, while in the second half, he had been extremely happy.

But scenes where the person you like “descends on colorful auspicious clouds to save you” only exist in dreams anyway. In reality, who could possibly take off on the spot?

Seeing that it was already getting late, Higashino Hiromu hurriedly threw off the blanket, got up, and changed clothes.

Although his real target today was Amuro Tooru, his date with his kouhai was also very real. He deliberately took some time to tidy himself up properly.

Higashino Hiromu looked at himself in the mirror and gave a satisfied smile.

Today’s me is as handsome as ever!

When he arrived at Café Poirot, he found that Hatori Yuiichi had already arrived and was seated by the window.

Using the reflection in a parked car’s mirror by the roadside, he checked that his hairstyle was not messed up, then walked into the café.

After entering, Higashino Hiromu first glanced toward the counter to confirm that Amuro Tooru was working today. Then he walked over and sat down across from Hatori Yuiichi. “Sorry, I’m late.”

Hatori Yuiichi smiled and said, “No, I just came early.” He handed the menu to Higashino Hiromu. “I haven’t ordered yet. Take a look and see what you’d like to eat.”

Higashino Hiromu suddenly noticed that the fingers on Hatori Yuiichi’s right hand were wrapped in bandages. He frowned and asked, “What happened to your hand?”

Hatori Yuiichi glanced at it and explained, “Oh, I scraped it by accident while playing. It’s nothing.”

Higashino Hiromu thought to himself, Volleyball seems like a sport where people get injured quite easily…

At that moment, Amuro Tooru walked over to pour them water.

“Higashino-san, Hatori-san, welcome.”

Higashino Hiromu looked at him and said, “I heard Conan mention that Amuro-san is very good at cooking, so I came specifically to try it!”

Amuro Tooru smiled, showing a row of white teeth. “That’s my honor.”

“Do you have any recommendations?” Higashino Hiromu asked.

“The most popular item in our shop is the ham sandwich. There’s also pasta bolognese, stewed dishes, and so on…”

Higashino Hiromu immediately ordered a sandwich. This was Amuro Tooru’s specialty, so he definitely had to try it.

Hatori Yuiichi, however, stared at the menu for quite a while, looking conflicted.

“Sorry, I don’t eat Western food very often,” he said a little awkwardly.

Amuro Tooru said, “Then I recommend the stew. It’s Japanese-style. Or you could also try the pasta.”

Hatori Yuiichi said, “Then let’s get one of each.” He then looked at Higashino Hiromu. “You should order something else, too. Just a sandwich probably won’t be enough.”

Higashino Hiromu thought for a moment and added a strawberry cake.

Amuro Tooru collected the menu and turned to head into the kitchen.

Higashino Hiromu then started chatting with Hatori Yuiichi. As they talked, the conversation gradually shifted to his trip to Ogawa Research Institute.

“You have no idea how remote that Ogawa Research Institute is! There isn’t even a boat that goes directly to the island! You can only go back and forth by fishing boat! And we even ran into a case there! Luckily, Detective Mouri was around and caught the culprit smoothly. But by the time I got home last night, it was almost eight o’clock.” Higashino Hiromu deliberately raised his voice. “I didn’t even have time to hand the materials to my advisor. I’ll still have to go to the university this afternoon.”

Hatori Yuiichi nodded. “Yeah, I’m going back in the afternoon too. Let’s go together then.”

“Okay!” Higashino Hiromu replied, while secretly observing Amuro Tooru to make sure he had heard their conversation.

When the dishes were almost all served, Higashino Hiromu said, “Wait a moment, I’m going to the restroom.”

He went into the restroom, took the USB drive out of his pocket, and casually tossed it onto the floor. Afraid that Amuro Tooru might miss it, he deliberately placed it somewhere obvious.

As long as Amuro Tooru picked this up, he would be safe, right?

CHARACTER PROFILE:

Miyano Akemi

Manga/Anime: Detective Conan

Height: Not specified

Role: Low-ranking member of the Black Organization; older sister of Miyano Shiho (Haibara Ai)

Personality: Kind-hearted, selfless, protective of her sister

Notable Traits: Skilled robber; tried to leave the Organization after a heist

Background: Executed a billion-yen robbery in an attempt to secure freedom for herself and her sister from the Black Organization, but was betrayed and killed by Gin.

Kir | Hondou Hidemi

Manga/Anime: Detective Conan

Height: Not specified

Role: CIA undercover agent infiltrating the Black Organization; television announcer under the alias Mizunashi Rena

Personality: Calm, professional, mentally burdened by her double life

Notable Traits: Highly trained operative; participates in Black Organization missions while secretly cooperating with the CIA

Background: Infiltrated the Black Organization after her father’s death; works to undermine it from within while protecting her brother, Hondou Eisuke.