Author's Note: Happy Valentine's Day to everyone and also Happy Birthday to me! So, this chapter isn't really the typical kind of thing people do for Valentine's Day, but when I realized last week that this chapter would probably be done in time for my birthday, I decided "What the heck, might as well wait and treat myself." Totally didn't plan it that way, of course, but that's just how the cards fell this time. This chapter spans the very end of episode 700 and goes all the way through to the end of episode 704.
I have three canon spoiler warnings from the manga!
SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 1008 AND EPISODE 942 for the Boss of the Black Organization's true identity!
SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 1011 AND EPISODE 953 for the revelation of Bourbon's connection with the Miyano family!
And SPOILERS FOR CHAPTER 1021 for Scotch's real name and a family relation! There's no anime equivalent for this chapter yet, but let's just say that Scotch just became a hell of a lot more interesting to me now because of who he's related to.
Raven Mystery Train
Bourbon knew that when Gin had ordered him to Beika City to investigate Pandora, it would not be an easy task, but he had not appreciated just how difficult it would be until he'd begun the investigation. He had been in the area for weeks and the most he'd managed to glean was that a Pandora definitely existed, but the nature of its existence, form, and objective all continued to remain a mystery. The Pandora seemed to be made of more rumor than fact and was just as insubstantial. Bourbon came across more information about a mythic stone named Pandora that could supposedly grant immortality than he did about the alien of Gin's interest.
He had broken into Detective Mouri's computer on the off-chance that he'd find something that could help his investigation. He was a famous detective that had solved hundreds of cases all across Japan. It was possible, even likely, that Detective Mouri had encountered aliens at some point during his casework. He may have even had some as clients.
He had not expected to find a video file of Sherry nor that the computer would be hacked within seconds of him finding it. He had not even been able to block the hacker, much less identify them.
The identity of the mysterious hacker was why Bourbon was currently sitting at the bar of the Black Widow nursing a glass of scotch whiskey. Seeing Sherry was a shock, and not in the least because she looked just like her late mother, Elena. Sherry had just suddenly disappeared from the Organization with no one the wiser about where she could have gone and no word from the higher-ups about what happened to her. He hadn't really believed the rumors circulating that she'd turned traitor, though that theory had gained a great deal of traction once word had gotten around that Vermouth had tried to kill her. If she was a traitor though, then it probably wouldn't be kept a secret by the ones in charge. No, Bourbon had been of the opinion that she'd been sent into hiding with only a select few people aware of her exact location, and given Gin's interest in this insubstantial Pandora alien, he'd suspected that Pandora was the cause and that Sherry was hiding somewhere in Beika City.
But the video of Sherry was taken in the Gunma mountains, which were not the first, second, or third place he would have considered searching for her, but the computer had been hacked which seemed to confirm his suspicions that yes, someone was after Sherry and it might still be Pandora if they were both of the same mind that the Gunma mountains were an unexpected hiding place for her.
"Ahh, so this is where you've holed up for the night, Bourbon," a familiar woman's voice said as she approached from his right side.
"Vermouth," he said, inclining his head politely towards her in acknowledgment of her presence.
"Scotch whiskey, eh?" she commented airily as she sat down on a barstool next to him. "Been a rough night of investigation already?"
"Just haven't had many leads and then something unexpected cropped up, that's all," Bourbon told his superior as he drank another swallow of the whiskey.
"Bourbon, you know I can't help you if I don't know what it is you're investigating," Vermouth said with a resigned sigh.
Bourbon nodded. "I'm aware, but Gin assigned me this mission, and since you're both the same rank, if he hasn't told you, then I don't believe I have the authority to tell you either."
"Fair enough, but then perhaps I could help out with this 'unexpected thing' interfering with your work, or is that also beyond my scope of authority?"
She said the last part a little bitterly, but Bourbon considered it. Gin was having him investigate Pandora and though he suspected Pandora was involved in Sherry's current situation, he had no evidence to back it up and maybe having Vermouth's insight and contacts would be beneficial. He was a pro, but Vermouth was on a whole different level from him. There was a reason she was the head of the Intelligence Division at the MiB and was considered 'that person's' favorite. She was the absolute best at what she did.
"Actually, you might be able to help. In my investigation, I accidentally stumbled across a recent video file of Sherry that was taken in the Gunma mountains," Bourbon said.
"The Gunma mountains? That's unexpected; she's not supposed to be there," Vermouth said with a raised eyebrow.
So he wasn't the only one who thought so then. "That's what I was thinking, but that's not the strangest part. No sooner had I found the video and noticed she was wearing a Mystery Tree Pass Ring when the computer was hacked, and I believe the person who did so must have seen the video, but the timing is just too convenient. It was as if someone knew I would be in there and that there might be something worth investigating on that computer," Bourbon said with the slightest of frustrated sighs.
"You think there's someone in the area that's watching your every move," Vermouth summarized.
Bourbon nodded. "I already know Akai's little sister has been hanging around the Mouri Detective Agency with frequent regularity and given Stout's report on Mary's fairly recent disappearance, such a deduction is not out of the question. Masumi herself might even be the culprit if she's not really Masumi."
"Do you have a copy of the video?" Vermouth asked.
"Naturally. It's already on my phone," Bourbon said as he pulled up the file and handed his phone to Vermouth. "Don't know what further insight you can gain from it, but knock yourself out."
Vermouth played the video clip and watched it with a thoughtful frown on her face. "Has the Boss seen this yet?"
"No, I didn't think it was necessary," he said.
"Send it to him. He'll want to know where Sherry is right now."
"I suppose you're right," Bourbon said as he took his phone back and started composing the message to 'that person'. "So what are your thoughts regarding the hacker?"
"That depends. Do you think they know who you really work for?" she retorted and then ordered a martini from the bartender.
That was a heavily-loaded question and she could have been referring to either the Public Security Bureau, the Black Organization, or the Men in Black.
"I think they know of only one and I don't think it's because of my suit, and while my sakura-shaped silver medal makes the suit look nicer, it's hardly shiny enough to draw the eyes," he said carefully.
"A man with secrets always looks good dressed in black, Bourbon. Women are just as attracted to the allure of mystery as men," Vermouth said as she took a sip of her martini.
She had understood his underlying meaning perfectly. The suit represented the MiB, the sakura-shaped silver medal represented the PSB, and the color black represented the Black Organization. He didn't think the hacker knew he was MiB or PSB.
"But if the hacker does like the cut of your suit, black or not, then perhaps they've been keeping an eye on you just in case you discovered anything about where Sherry has hidden herself away so that they can find her instead," Vermouth suggested casually.
Bourbon considered the possibility. It would certainly explain why the video had been hacked so quickly… And judging from Vermouth's words, it seemed his deduction was right. Someone was after Sherry.
"You've met Conan Edogawa properly since I spoke with you the night he was kidnapped, right?" Vermouth asked in a seemingly abrupt change of topic.
"Oh… Yes, I've met him properly; why?"
"The Organization is rather taken with him. Conan is a remarkably intelligent and resourceful little boy that Gin has been challenging from the shadows with various Black Organization schemes to test his skills and mettle, similar to what you underwent when you were a NOC before you proved yourself and Gin revealed the Organization's true nature," Vermouth said.
It was there, just lying under the surface and could not have been made plainer than if she had actually spoken his name. It lingered in the too-long pauses she made after saying 'you'… the 'and him' that should have followed after her breaths. 'You and Scotch'. Him and Hiromitsu. They had been in the police academy together… infiltrated the Black Organization together… fought alongside each other, feared for each other, loved each other… and then they'd stayed together… until that bastard Akai had killed him…!
"Bourbon, you'll break the glass."
Bourbon startled and relaxed his ever-tightening grip before the glass broke. He didn't much fancy picking shards of glass out of his hand tonight. "Why are you telling me this, Vermouth?" he said, unable to completely mask his resigned sigh.
Vermouth let out a low whistle. "You really are out of it tonight. I just told you a seven-year-old child has been continuously set challenges worthy of a Black Organization NOC agent and you're not the least bit curious."
"Wait, what?" Bourbon said, taken aback.
"Oh yes," Vermouth said with a delighted smile on her purple-painted lips. "He's proven to be quite the formidable opponent and I wouldn't be remotely surprised if he was already aware that black is your color. After all, Kir was given the go-ahead to let the FBI know you would be investigating Sherry's disappearance long before it was even conceived in Gin's mind to assign you your current mission."
Bourbon felt a familiar, vicious jolt in his gut at the mention of the agency that guy worked for. "Why was my codename given out to the FBI if there were no plans for me at the time?" he said tightly.
"Validation," she said and took another sip of her cocktail. "The FBI discovered that Kir was CIA, so she had to provide them seemingly-important information shortly after we rescued her to keep up the ruse of her being a NOC working for the Black Organization. The fact that you showed up here in the area where the FBI seems to be focusing their efforts is purely coincidental on our end."
"You think that boy, Conan, knows I work for the Black Organization?" Bourbon said, switching topics in an effort to distract himself from further talk of the FBI.
Vermouth nodded. "Absolutely. He's probably expecting you to make a move soon and that video you discovered on Detective Mouri's computer could be the catalyst we need to set you up."
"Set me up? I don't follow you," Bourbon said, perplexed.
Vermouth set her glass down and gave him a smile that held no warmth. Her mask. "How would you like to help me create another little Black Organization scenario for Conan? The ring Sherry is wearing in the video tells us where she will be and when, so we can pretend we're hunting her down while we're within Conan's proximity, but in truth, we will be secretly assisting Sherry in relocating to a more secure hiding place. Perhaps her presence on the train can also be used as bait to lure out your mystery computer hacker."
Bourbon eyed her warily. "I thought Gin was in charge of the Black Organization scenarios," he said slowly.
"Oh, he is…," Vermouth said lightly. "… but he's not the only one who can create them. I was personally involved in a confrontation not too long ago that Gin had no hand in."
Bourbon's brow furrowed. "Didn't Calvados commit suicide during that engagement?"
Vermouth gave a mournful sigh. "An unfortunate and terrible tragedy I was unable to prevent."
"But didn't you try to kill Sherry once?" he pressed. "I thought you hated her, so why are you helping her?"
"I do hate her," Vermouth said and her turquoise blue eyes hardened briefly before the iciness disappeared behind her poker face. "However, if something out there is targeting Sherry, I can't very well settle my score with a dead woman, can I?"
"I suppose not," Bourbon agreed reluctantly. "So, what kind of scenario do you have in mind?"
()()()()()
Gin had an enormous amount of respect and admiration for 'that person'. He was the one who had found him and his sister homeless on the streets of Nagano in the middle of October when time was pushing them relentlessly closer towards a frozen death, and 'that person' had offered them a place within the Men in Black. He had given them a home, a job, and a purpose, and Gin was forever grateful to him. In many ways, he saw the old man as a father figure and there were moments they'd shared where he wondered if perhaps 'that person' saw him as the son he'd never had.
This was not one of those moments.
Right now, he felt anything but kindly towards his Boss as he stood in the large office before the wide desk and glared angrily into the old man's deep, sunken black eyes that flashed with equal fury.
"You're out of line, Gin," he said in a low, deadly voice, his lips barely moving as he spoke.
"Sorry," Gin spat.
The old man's eyes narrowed. "Say it when you actually mean it."
"Then that'll never happen, sir..." he said through gritted teeth. "... because letting Vermouth anywhere near Sherry after she's already tried to kill her once after you went out of your way to exclude her from being informed of Sherry's status in the first place is the single stupidest judgment call you have ever made."
"I've already reeled her back in and restricted some of her privileges since that incident. She won't dare defy my explicit orders," the old man said confidently as he laced his long, gnarled fingers together atop the spherical pommel of his cane.
"But this is Vermouth we're talking about!" Gin burst out and slammed his palms flat on the desk. "She's a treacherous snake who will find a way around your orders to take advantage of any opportunity to advance her agenda and she wants. Sherry. dead! You're just so blinded by your favoritism of her that the mere notion of her double-crossing you is absurd!"
The temperature in the room seemed to drop significantly and 'that person' slowly stood up from his chair behind the desk. His back was permanently stooped and he would have only been average height in his youth, but his shorter physical stature did nothing to diminish the sense of grandness and regality that radiated outward from his person, nor the feeling Gin had of being looked down upon by this powerful and ancient man.
"You forget to whom you're speaking, Edward Kuroda, son of former Nagano Inspector Hyoe Kuroda," he said with ringing authority. "I am Renya Karasuma, a child born of the Meiji period. I have seen the turn of two centuries and the rise and fall of the Japanese Empire. I was one of the initial financial investors of the American Men in Black in the 1960s and I am the Founder and Chief of the Japanese branch. I am one of the richest and most powerful men in the world, and you think I can be so easily duped by a woman not even half my age?"
Gin retracted his hands from the desk and clenched his jaw but said nothing.
"I am well aware of Vermouth's true nature, even more so than you are, Gin, and I do not appreciate you questioning my judgment of her, so I will only repeat myself once. Vermouth will not disobey me, and I forbid you from interfering with her work on this scenario."
"But sir-!" Gin protested, but Karasuma raised a hand with a piercing look, and he fell silent.
"I do not forbid interpersonal relationships between coworkers in the Men in Black unlike many companies, nor did I file criminal charges against you for engaging in a sexual relationship with an underage girl when I easily could have," Karasuma said coolly and Gin flinched. "My trust in you then was happily not misplaced and I am glad that your relationship with young Sherry is so strong and healthy, but right now, you are letting your emotions get the better of you and you are not thinking clearly. You are in no fit state to be involved in this operation. Vermouth will be in charge of the new scenario, and you will not interfere or participate unless she requests your assistance; is that clear?"
"Yes, sir…" Gin ground out bitterly.
"Good. You are dismissed," Karasuma said with a wave of his hand.
Gin's eyes narrowed as his hands clenched into tight fists, looking like he either wanted to say something or strike the old man, but he did neither. He spun on his heel with his long hair whipping about his shoulders and he stormed out of the office, slamming the door loudly behind him.
"I take it from the storm clouds gathering in your eyes that your meeting with the Boss didn't go as you hoped?" an unfortunately familiar male voice asked rhetorically from his left.
"Rum…" Gin growled as he glanced over at the Second in Command leaning casually against the wall with his arms crossed.
For somebody who preferred to use indirect methods of communication and didn't like showing his face in public more than he had to, he sure didn't dress like he was trying to be inconspicuous. He looked like a tall, towering daimyo straight out of the Sengoku period in a full, formal black kimono, a black haori, and gray-and-white-striped hakama with his long, tightly-curled brown hair pulled up into a high ponytail at the back. Rum's working brown right eye tracked his movements and so did his prosthetic left eye with a slight lag. That missing eye from seventeen years ago was why he still didn't like to reveal his physical presence, despite Curaçao having been his eyes for the past seven years.
"You may not like his decision, Kuroda, but Lord Karasuma knows what he's doing and has reasons for everything," Rum said solemnly.
Gin stopped and narrowed his green eyes hatefully at the older, taller, and broader man that was his sister's lover. "That's easy for you to say, Asaka, but I wonder if you would feel so blasé about this if it was Curaçao that Vermouth's presence threatened instead of Sherry."
Rum only gave an infuriating shrug. "Who can say? I don't typically waste time or brain power dwelling on such useless hypotheticals. Vermouth was the one who trained Curaçao when she first got here after all, and she was quite taken with her, so it's difficult to conceive of a situation where she would suddenly turn around and try to kill her."
"Drop dead, Rum," Gin muttered darkly as he stalked past Karasuma's right-hand man.
"You've been telling me that for years, and yet the universe still hasn't seen fit to answer your prayers," Rum said with an exasperated sigh.
Gin looked back over his shoulder at the man and scowled. "Maybe my prayers would have a better chance of being answered if you didn't send my sister out to do your dirty work."
Rum's nostrils flared and his working eye flashed with anger while the prosthetic one remained eerily still. "I need her…" he said stiffly.
"To be a pair of working eyes or to blow you off," Gin sneered. "You were doing just fine the previous nine or ten odd years before we arrived after you lost your eye and got the Akai patriarch killed."
Rum's right hand twitched convulsively, and Gin felt the cool comforting weight of his gun in his own left coat pocket. He would not draw first blood, but he would not hesitate to shoot the Vice Chief of the MiB either.
"Tch. Needling me as you always have; you're still the same arrogant brat that you were when you first came here," Rum said through gritted teeth as he slid his arms into the sleeves of his kimono.
"And you are still the same cocky prick that gets off on ordering people around," Gin retorted.
Rum's eyes became lidded and a thin smirk traced his lips. "Your twin doesn't seem to mind."
It was an honest miracle that Rum did not drop dead under the withering glare that Gin fixed him with, or by the Beretta he had grabbed out of reflex.
Rum released a heavy sigh and ran his hand through his curls. "Why are you still so dead set on hating me after all these years? I can understand when you first arrived and were worried about my intentions towards your sister, especially with the eighteen-year age difference between us, but we've known each other for ten years now. I've never given Emma cause to fear me nor have I ever tried to restrict her freedoms or overstep the boundaries of our relationship. When we were just casual lovers, I didn't let myself get jealous or abuse my power against her other lovers because I had no more of a claim on her than anyone else and I respected that. We've been an exclusive couple for two years now, but you still won't accept that my feelings for her are real and that she loves me back just as much. What do I have to do? Swear a blood oath? I'll do it if it will finally get you to stop being so hostile towards me, at least for her sake."
Gin did not doubt that, but that wasn't the problem.
"As long as you make Emma happy, I won't have a reason to kill you, but you will never be worthy of her," he said in a low voice to the older man.
Rum's brown eyes hardened into daggers. "And you're worthy of Sherry, are you?" he said coolly.
Gin's own green eyes narrowed and he started walking away. "No. I'm not."
And that was the problem. There were too many parallels between him and Rum regarding the woman of their choice for his comfort, but Sherry still wanted him just as Curaçao wanted Rum, so what could he do? What could either of them do?
And how could he protect Sherry when 'that person' had tied his hands? He didn't care what 'that person' said about Vermouth, Gin did not trust her and could not just stand idly by while she was given free rein to do as she wished. He did not believe for an instant that Vermouth wouldn't try and kill Sherry again. He knew that woman would not need nor want his involvement, and his inability to act was infuriating. It was just like last time, only worse because he knew about it in advance and it was with Bourbon instead of Calvados- Bourbon…!
Gin had his phone out in seconds and dialed Bourbon's number. He still didn't like him, but this was the only way…
"Hello, Gin," Bourbon answered.
If he was calling him by his codename, then it meant he was somewhere free to speak openly. "Is Vermouth with you right now?" Gin demanded.
"No, she's not, and I'm not sure how I feel about you calling me if you're looking for her," he said.
Gin scowled. "I'm not, but what I'm about to tell you is not for that woman's ears and I don't want word of this getting back to Rum or 'that person' either."
"A secret from 'that person'?" Bourbon asked quietly. Gin did not miss the note of suspicion in his tone. It sounded just as bad out loud as in his head.
"I've been forbidden from being involved in this scenario Vermouth is concocting, but I don't care if 'that person' vouches for her. I would not put it past her for her to turn this into another secret plot to kill Sherry," he said in a low voice and then frowned in thought. "You were friends with Akemi too, weren't you?"
Akemi had been on good terms with so many people who had otherwise hated each other that he had often joked about her befriending literally half the Organization.
"I know you hated Akai…" the only other thing he and Bourbon shared apart from their friendship with Akemi and their half-Japanese heritage. "… but if you have any kind feelings left towards Akemi, then you will help me do whatever it takes to protect her little sister."
"I did hate Akai, but my enmity towards him has no bearing on my regard for Akemi. What do you need me to do?" Bourbon said seriously.
"Vermouth wants Sherry dead. Your job is to make sure that doesn't happen," Gin summarized simply. "Find out every detail of the plan and know both your role and hers inside and out, then immediately call her out if she does something suspicious or makes even a small change. There can be no surprises. Don't let her get away with anything and do not, under any circumstances, let Vermouth anywhere near Sherry."
"Understood, and what shall I do if she does act out?" Bourbon asked.
Gin's eyes glinted dangerously and were already narrowing in anger. "If it's a little thing, then abandon the scenario and stick to her like glue. If she gives you any cause to believe she's going after Sherry, then arrest her. I will be waiting for you at the Nagoya train station."
"I thought you said you were forbidden to be involved."
Gin smirked. "I am, but the scenario ends when the train pulls into the station and Sherry is free to escape on her own, and nobody's forbidden me from being involved in the cleanup of this operation. I want a quick debriefing from you when you get off the train and I will deal with Vermouth if it comes to that."
"Roger that. Anything else you need of me?" Bourbon inquired.
Gin shook his head. "No, that's all."
"Alright, we'll talk later then," Bourbon said and hung up.
Gin ended the disconnected call too and shoved his phone back into his coat. Receiving Bourbon's debriefing was a legitimate excuse to be at the Nagoya station, but that wasn't the main reason he wanted to wait there for the Mystery Train. He hadn't seen Sherry in months and he wanted to see with his own eyes that she came out of this alive. She had to. He could not allow a repeat incident to occur with a different outcome, but he was forewarned this time and Bourbon was no Calvados.
This whole situation still bothered him though, and it wasn't just because he knew he wouldn't be sleeping well until it was over. His instincts were screaming at him about Vermouth. If it wasn't for the fact that Vermouth was in America when Akemi was killed, and he was sure that the one responsible was the same one after the Arquillian, he would be inclined to think she was the one he should be hunting down so that Sherry could finally come home.
()()()()()
"Have you found her yet?" Bourbon whispered of Vermouth walking just ahead of him and disguised as Akai with a burned face.
"No, not yet, and I suppose you've also been unsuccessful thus far," Vermouth said in a perfect imitation of Akai's voice.
"Yeah…" he confirmed. "Maybe she didn't even get on the train?"
"We have plenty of time before the train puts in at Nagoya to find her; don't lose faith so easily," Vermouth reprimanded.
Bourbon opened his mouth to retort when the train's loudspeakers suddenly dinged on and he stopped to listen.
A polite, professional male voice began to speak to the passengers on board and said, "May I have your attention, please. In light of an accident that just took place on the train, we are considering changing our course and stopping at the nearest station. We apologize for the inconvenience, but please remain in your rooms until further notice, and refrain from leaving them if at all possible."
"An accident?" Bourbon murmured curiously.
"Try and find out what happened while I continue to look for Sherry," Vermouth hissed back to him over her shoulder without pausing in her stride. "It might be nothing we need to worry about, but if it's not, then we'll need to move fast."
"Agreed," Bourbon said as they turned around the corner of the next Carriage and his blue eyes lit up with interest as they focused on a familiar detective's daughter standing near the end of the hallway and looking up at the loudspeakers worriedly. "Oh? Looks like fate is in my favor."
He approached the young woman at a casual walking pace and once her gaze naturally fell upon him, it brightened in recognition. "Wow, you're on this train too, Mr. Amuro?" she asked.
"Yes, I was lucky that I managed to get myself a ticket. I just met Teacher Mouri over in the dining car, too," he said.
Ran's friend, a young woman with short brown hair lighter than hers and watching him keenly put up her hand and whispered loudly to Ran, "Hey, Ran, who's this hot guy?"
"He's the detective I told you about the other day, the one who wanted to be Dad's apprentice," Ran told her in a normal-volume voice, making no effort to play along in a gossipy conspiratorial whisper.
"This is him? Nice to meet you! I'm Sonoko Suzuki!" Ran's friend said brightly.
Ahh, a possible relative of the Advisor to the Suzuki Group then? "A pleasure," he said politely and turned his attention back to Ran with a puzzled expression. "Anyway, it seems some sort of accident happened. Do you know anything about it?"
Worry instantly clouded her face once more and she leaned forward, drawing her hand up to her face. Bourbon imitated her forward motion so that she could whisper directly to him without being overheard. "It seems there's been a murder on the train. Sera and Conan are still at the scene," she said quietly.
"I see, then it seems it might be wise to have Teacher Mouri handle this," he said seriously, but his mind was already preoccupied with this new information.
A murder on the train? As Vermouth had said, it could be nothing, or it could be an alien-related incident, but the latter didn't seem likely. If there were any criminally-inclined aliens on board, such as his possible mystery hacker or even Pandora, then their only target should be Sherry. If Conan was already at the scene of the crime, he should recognize her if she was the victim. Sera, or rather Akai's little sister, Masumi, being present on the train and at the crime scene was a complication he had not counted on. They didn't need a second pair of keen detective eyes noticing their movements and making a mess of things in an already-dangerous situation. They would have to remove her from the action somehow…
()()()()()
Train platforms were usually full of people. It was normal, even expected. What was not normal was the large squadron of police officers coming up onto the platform with Advisor Jirokichi Suzuki leading the way. Gin and Vodka hid behind one of the pillars near the trains and carefully peered around it to listen in.
Such carefulness ended up not being necessary because Jirokichi Suzuki was yelling at the top of his lungs for everyone to hear, "Heed my command, troops! Breach the train the moment it arrives, bind the confounded murderer hand and foot with lightning speed and bring them forth to me!" His impassioned words were met with silence by the officers present. "Why won't you answer me?! Why?!"
"Advisor Suzuki, please stop giving my subordinates orders without permission," said a slightly taller man with his hands raised in a calming gesture. He was probably one of the Division One Aichi police inspectors. "Allow us Aichi police to handle this."
"What! The train crowned with my surname, Suzuki, became a murder site! You dare to tell me to just sit and wait, you fool?!" Jirokichi exploded and spat in the man's face. "Upon capturing the miscreant, hang high the head of our filthy quarry on the central tower of Nagoya Castle!"
"Hey, Aniki, that sounds like somebody was murdered aboard the train," Vodka said worriedly and looked up at him. "You don't think it was-"
"-Sherry?" Gin finished.
He didn't know, but before he could say as much, he felt his phone go off with a text alert and he pulled it out of his coat. It was a message from Bourbon and it read:
Vermouth says Sherry's aboard the train. A murder took place, but she doesn't seem to be involved. The murderer does not appear to be an alien, but I'm keeping all possibilities open. Currently no signs of alien activity at all. Everything is proceeding as planned. No suspicious behaviors observed.
- Bourbon
Gin sighed in relief. "It wasn't Sherry, just some unrelated incident. She's safe for now."
Vodka exhaled heavily and smiled. "Thank goodness," he said.
Gin nodded, still staring at the words on his phone. "Ah, but she's not in the clear yet…" He wouldn't relax until he saw her get off the train here at Nagoya with his own eyes.
()()()()()
"Eh?! You sent the video footage from the camp trip last week to the Mouri Detective Agency?!" Dr. Agasa exclaimed and Haibara felt her blood chill.
Last week, she had taken the temporary antidote to become Shiho Miyano in order to rescue herself and her friends that had been trapped in a burning cabin before they burned alive. The kids had taken a video of her and then sent it to the Agency!
"Yes. We want to properly thank the lady who saved us, so we figured a great detective might be able to figure out who she was," Mitsuhiko explained.
No!
"Oh, I watched that video along with Dad," Ran said, "He said there's no way to find someone with just a face and a voice, but if we posted it online, maybe someone would recognize her."
No, no, no, no!
"That lady had a Mystery Train Pass Ring, so we've all been hoping we might see her here!" Ayumi said excitedly.
"Haven't seen her yet though!" Genta pointed out no less enthusiastic.
The ring that she hadn't been able to take off! If the kids had figured they'd find her here just from that, then if anybody else had seen that video, they would make the same leaps in logic the kids had. But then… the reason for the ominous feeling in her chest…! Someone here on the train was after her- that man! The one who looked like Akai with a weird burn scar on his face was when the feeling had been strongest, but it couldn't… that couldn't have been the real Akai! He was Subaru right now!
Haibara felt a sudden jolt to her memory and shivered anew. A predatory grin. Green eyes flashing red. Choking pressure. Six dead dazzleflies. "Their venom better be worth it." Could it be…? She'd imitated Gin so flawlessly before; who was to say Pandora couldn't fashion herself into Akai's likeness as well? But if it really was Pandora she was sensing, then… what should she do? She was trapped on the train for several more hours, and there was nowhere she could escape to and no place to hide where she wouldn't eventually be found. Gin couldn't help her and Kudo… this had nothing to do with him or the 'Black Organization'. Vermouth might not be willing to hurt him, but there was no such guarantee on Pandora and he didn't know anything about the aliens living on Earth. Kudo still had an active bounty on his head from a Quantaban mob boss he'd helped put away without realizing his true alien nature. She couldn't risk involving him and putting a target on his back in his current form.
She glanced first at her friends by the window, and then Ran sitting next to her. If Pandora was here, then she couldn't stay. She would be putting everyone in danger. Her phone vibrating in her dress pocket startled her. Haibara pulled it out and looked at the screen. A new email? She didn't recognize the address. She opened it and her irises shrunk into tiny pinpricks of fear:
Are you ready?
- Vermouth
Haibara trembled. No way! Vermouth…! Not Pandora, but Vermouth! Why?! She'd thought Vermouth had given up on her after Kudo had brought their confrontation to a stalemate! Was this just another scenario or was she trying to finish what she'd started at the shipping yard several months ago? No… that blood lust she'd sensed was too real. Vermouth meant to kill her this time and there was nothing to stop her from accomplishing that objective.
"Haibara?" She looked up startled. It was Mitsuhiko who'd called her. "Did you get an email?"
"Who's it from?" Ayumi asked excitedly.
"Is it from Conan?" Genta said.
"No, it's just spam," she lied. She put away her phone and jumped off her seat, heading straight for the door.
"Hm? Ai, where are you going?" Dr. Agasa asked as she was opening the door.
"The bathroom. I'm going to take some medicine for my cold, so I'll be a while," Haibara said.
A very long while.
"Then I'll go with you-" Ran started to say and stood up, but Haibara quickly closed the door behind her.
No… No, Ran definitely couldn't come with her. She didn't know why Vermouth had been so hesitant to shoot her last time, but she didn't want to put Ran between her and Vermouth again. Never again… Haibara ran off down the hallway towards where Carriage 6 connected to Carriage 7 and hid around the corner just in time.
She heard the door of the room she'd just vacated open and Ran's voice call out, "Ai, where are you?"
Panting from more than just her cold, Haibara reached into her other dress pocket and pulled out a light green plastic container and opened the lid. There were six wells, and all of them filled with some kind of pill or capsule. She picked up one of the red-and-white capsules from the left bottom row and held it up to her eye level. This was the temporary antidote to the Apoptoxin that would change her back into Shiho Miyano for the second time in a week. Vermouth knew she was stuck as a child, but her friends and Ran didn't know Shiho except as the nice lady that saved the kids from the fire. They would not be as torn up over finding her adult-sized corpse as they would be finding Ai Haibara's.
With shaking hands and tears beading at the corners of her eyes, she closed and repocketed the medicine box and clenched her hand into a fist around the antidote. 'I'm sorry, Gin. I couldn't keep my promise to you,' she thought.
The Carriage 6 door that connected to Carriage 7 opened and Haibara gasped in shock. Subaru came through the door and he stared down at her, though the light from the sun reflected off his fake glasses in a way that made them blindingly white.
He smirked. "Just like your sister, I can read all of your moves."
Her already frantic heartrate sped up even more. Why was he doing this now after she'd recently accepted that he was the real Akai?!
"Now would you step this way into our area?" Subaru asked in a quiet, sinister tone.
Haibara didn't answer, but quickly darted past his legs into Carriage 7 away from her friends and made for the empty Room B that had belonged to the victim. She couldn't deal with this right now! Whether Subaru was Akai or Pandora or whoever, she needed to become Shiho first!
She threw the door open and nearly tripped over her feet in shock when she discovered the room wasn't empty. "You?!" she gasped.
Kudo's mother winked at her with a playful smile and said, "Yep! You're safe now, Ai, so there's no need to take that antidote anymore. Just sit tight here and leave the rest to me!"
"I… Huh…?" Haibara stuttered as she stared blankly at the cheerful woman. She had no clue what was going on.
()()()()()
Vermouth had informed him that she'd found Sherry and was currently working on setting up the smoke bombs that would cause the rear Carriages to empty towards the front and draw Sherry alone towards the back of the train where they would better be able to help her. They were even making use of Sherry's fear of Vermouth to send her the direction they wanted her to go. The only problem Bourbon had left to resolve was how to get Masumi away from the crime scene so that when he arrived in Carriage 8, he could issue the fake warning about a fire starting in the victim's room and send the probably-pyrophobic Carriage 8 passengers in a panic. Until he came up with something though, he was just going to have to sit in his room in Carriage 7 and wait to take advantage of an opportunity.
An opportunity did come to him. He heard running feet in the corridor beyond and as soon as they passed his room, he opened the door and peered around. It was her: Akai's little sister.
He sent off a quick text to Vermouth: The obstacle is heading to Carriage 6. Then he closed the door again and waited to receive word that Vermouth had intercepted her.
He didn't have long to wait. Several minutes after he sent the warning, a new text alert popped up on his phone and he read the message Vermouth sent: The obstacle is out of the way. Proceed as planned.
'Perfect,' he thought as he left the room and started making his way down to Carriage 8.
If the murder hadn't been solved yet, then he could always lend his own formidable detective skills to the investigation. Despite all the hiccups that had occurred so far, everything had still gone according to the plan he and Vermouth had concocted, and she had not acted out as Gin had feared.
()()()()()
Haibara was sitting alone in Carriage 7 of Room B still seven and still clueless about what was going on when the loudspeaker came on for the second time that trip. "This is an emergency announcement! A fire has been reported in Carriage 8! For your safety, the passengers in Carriages 6 and 7 should evacuate to the Carriages at the front of the train!"
First a murder and now a fire? Was Carriage 8 just cursed?! Mrs. Kudo had told her not to leave, but if a fire had started, then she was only one Carriage up from it and she wasn't safe here anymore! She had just laid her hand upon the handle to turn it when the door was suddenly yanked outward and she knocked straight into Conan.
"Kudo, what's-?" she started only to jump back when he shoved a phone right in her face.
"Phantom Thief Kid is dressed as you. He's getting ready to meet the Organization; you have to tell him what to say!" he said quickly and his blue eyes were frighteningly intense.
She took the phone out of his hands solely to stop him from accidentally hitting her in the nose and glared at him. "Would you mind telling me what the hell is going on?!" she demanded.
"There's no time! The fire's just a trick by the Organization to lure you to the back, so we gotta act fast and I have to leave now to keep Vermouth stalled in Mom's room!" Kudo said sharply.
"Hah…?!" she squawked incomprehensibly. Was he pulling her leg right now?!
"Phantom Thief Kid's on the other end waiting for you! Hurry!" he shouted and dashed out of the room as quick as he'd come.
Haibara stared blankly at the place he'd disappeared before huffing and closing the room door again. It seemed she wasn't evacuating to the front cars after all. She put the phone to her ear and said, "Hey. I don't like bad taste jokes, so if you aren't the Phantom Thief Kid, you'd better tell me right now or I promise it will not be pleasant for you later."
A voice that sounded remarkably like Kudo's normal teenage voice sighed heavily over the other end and said, "Believe me, Miss, I'd rather be doing just about anything else right now."
()()()()()
Bourbon heard the coughing first before he saw the young woman, but he was still surprised when he laid eyes on her and the first words out of his mouth were, "You really are Hell Angel's daughter. You look just like her."
Sherry gasped and whirled around in alarm. He had first met Akemi when he was little and her mother, Elena, had treated his injuries from the fights he used to get into all the time, but Shiho had not been born yet. He had been genuinely shocked to find Akemi again all-grown-up when he and Hiromitsu Morofushi had joined the Black Organization as NOCs. How could sweet, innocent Akemi have possibly gotten mixed up in a secret criminal organization was what he'd wondered at the time. Naturally, everything became much clearer after Gin officially inducted him and his partner into the Organization and revealed its true name and the nature of its work: The Men in Black. Despite running into Akemi several times and even reviving his old friendship with her, he had never had the fortune (or misfortune if the rumors of her sharp tongue were true) of meeting Akemi's much beloved little sister, Shiho, until now.
"A pleasure to meet you. My codename is Bourbon," he announced.
Without fully taking his eyes off Sherry, he sent a quick text to Vermouth, alerting her that he had found Sherry in Carriage 8 as expected. After that, he repocketed his phone and gave the reddish-brunette woman before him his undivided attention.
"Do you ever recall hearing that codename?" he asked out of curiosity. "I've met your family before."
"Yes, I've heard of you," Sherry said stiffly. Her voice was as cool as her eyes. "You're a member of the Organization and a rival of my sister's boyfriend, Dai Moroboshi. From what my sister told me, there was a lot of antipathy between you two."
'Antipathy' was a gross understatement of his deep-seated hatred for Akai. Anyway, Sherry seemed to be speaking to him as the traitor-to-the-Organization that the rumors at Headquarters had assigned to her. He wondered if that was intentional. No matter, he could play along with that.
"Indeed, and just as I suspected, he turned out to be an FBI dog," Bourbon said, still smug from being one of the first people to figure it out before it was officially confirmed. "I couldn't believe the reports that he'd been killed, so I disguised myself as him and wandered around people close to him to watch their reactions, but all I could figure out from that is that he really is dead."
And how very frustrating that dead-ended investigation had turned out to be. Gin had freaked out when he heard word that somebody who looked like Akai was running around Beika, then been livid with him for wasting time on what he called a 'petty grievance'. He was a damned hypocrite; Gin had been even closer to Akemi than himself and absolutely hated Akai's guts for using one of his best friends.
"Anyway, my partner who helped me make that disguise is the one who's now disguising as him in my place," Bourbon continued uninterrupted from his mental side tangent. "The fact that you've appeared before me shows how much she terrifies you."
He'd said it to try and bait her into reacting, but apart from the slight narrowing of her eyes, she didn't respond to his words at all. She simply maintained her stoic expression, showing no sign of the truth of his words. Bourbon was impressed; Sherry was only eighteen and there were agents much older than her that wouldn't be able to remain so calm in such a situation.
"Now would you put your hands up and slowly walk backwards?" he said as he pulled out his gun from underneath his black vest and pointed it at her. Sherry raised her hands dutifully. "We'll go to the luggage car behind Carriage 8."
The walk to the back was a slow one because he wouldn't allow Sherry to turn around and see where she was going, but he wasn't in much of a hurry now and he made sure to give her adequate instruction to not bump into anything. In this way, he directed Sherry to the luggage car.
"Now, please open the door and head inside," he directed with his gun still pointing at her.
She had to turn her body slightly to reach the door and push it aside, but she still maintained eye contact with him and readjusted her position to its original orientation as she walked backward over the luggage car threshold. She had been quiet the whole time and he didn't know her well enough to know if that was normal or not.
"Fear not. I intend to take you back to the Organization alive. I'm going to destroy the link between these two Carriages with an explosive to break off the luggage car…" he said as he pulled out a bomb from the other side of his vest and set it on the Carriage connectors. "… and after it stops, my partners will come and collect you. Until then, I'm afraid I'll have to knock you out," he added apologetically.
She didn't seem bothered by the suggestion of such drastic measures, or at least she didn't make any form of protest he recognized. Her eyes glanced off to the right.
"Don't worry, you'll be sleeping at a safe distance from the door, so you don't need to worry about getting caught in the explosion," he said reassuringly.
"Apparently I do have to worry," Sherry said after he'd barely finished his sentence and she removed a white sheet off to her right. "This luggage car is full of explosives."
Bourbon's mouth fell open and he stared stunned at the young woman. Explosives? Why were there explosives here?
"Looks like there was a slip-up in your preparations," Sherry continued in an almost bored tone.
He slowly closed his mouth. 'I see…' he thought grimly, recalling Gin's words. 'Vermouth really is determined to kill her, no matter what.'
"Vermouth wants Sherry dead. Your job is to make sure that doesn't happen."
That was what Gin had told him. "Guess I have no choice. How about you come this way?" Bourbon said.
"Sorry, but I decline," Sherry said and shut the luggage car door in his face.
"Hmph. You're as difficult as they said," Bourbon huffed, remembering what Akemi used to tell him about Shiho and what he'd heard by word of mouth from other agents who'd been forced to interact with the young scientist. "I might have to get a little rough with you," he warned.
He was just preparing himself to force the door open when the door behind him creaked open and he spotted a shadowy figure obscured by the false smoke standing in the doorway.
Bourbon brought his gun to bear on the figure and glared at it. There was only one person it could possibly be and he wasn't going to let her anywhere near Akemi's little sister. "Vermouth? Sorry, but she's coming with me-"
His last words were cut off by a metallic clink and something was tossed towards him from the smoke. He managed to finally identify it as it rolled towards the connecting link and he gave a start.
"A grenade?!" he exclaimed. Who-! He whirled back around and shouted, "Who's there?! Who are you?!"
The smoke continued to hide the figure from his view as they were closing the door, but when there was just a crack left, he thought he saw a flash of a familiar thick-lashed, sharp avocado-green eye. An eye that belonged to a person who was by all accounts dead… Bourbon stared at the closed door in stunned disbelief, his impression of that single eye strengthening rather than fading with every passing second.
The explosive heat and shockwave blasted into his back and reminded him too late about the active grenade. He quickly covered his head from the flying metal debris and swore under his breath as he watched the luggage car drift further away from the train until it slowly came to a stop on a bridge.
Just as he'd started plotting how to rectify this situation, a fiery orange explosion engulfed the luggage car and Bourbon cried out in shock. Sherry! Akemi's sister- she was…! She was still in there…!
()()()()()
"There. That's the end," Vermouth said as she closed the program on her phone that had last read 'Activation Device Launched'.
"No way! It can't be!" Yukiko exclaimed in denial and stuck her head out the window.
"Don't worry. I waited for the sound of my partner destroying the link to the luggage car before I detonated the bomb, so the train won't derail," Vermouth assured her old friend, without the faintest trace of remorse for what she'd done.
"Ai…" Yukiko said faintly, still watching smoking wreck that was the former luggage car.
Vermouth turned and left her behind, feeling both satisfied and gleeful that her revenge was complete and the last of the Miyano clan was now dead.
()()()()()
With the loud ruckus on the train platform, it was a small miracle that Gin even heard his phone ring in order to answer it. He pulled it out and frowned when he saw the number.
"Bourbon…" he murmured and answered it immediately. "What's going on? Has Vermouth done something?"
"Gin, she… the luggage car, I couldn't… she blew it up, but I swear I had no forewarning at all until we were there!" Bourbon exclaimed frantically, and the emotional incoherence he was spouting was such a complete break in his normal persona that Gin felt himself growing alarmed.
"Bourbon, shut up and try again when you can speak in complete sentences," Gin barked irritably.
He heard Bourbon take a deep breath over the line, but his voice was no calmer when he started speaking again. "Everything had been going exactly as we planned. Vermouth didn't deviate from the plan we both agreed on, but when I got Sherry to the luggage car and was going to blow up the connecting link so that we could safely get her off the train to pick her up and relocate her later, Sherry found explosives everywhere in the luggage car! I have no idea how Vermouth did it and she wasn't anywhere near Sherry! I tried to get Sherry out of the luggage car, but she was being stubborn and somebody – not Vermouth, I don't know who it was – snuck up behind me and tossed in a grenade that blew up the connectors to separate the luggage car from the rest of the train!"
Gin's green eyes went wide and his breath caught in his throat. Please, no! "What happened to Sherry?! Bourbon! Tell me you got her out of there!" he yelled hoarsely.
"I couldn't! I was trying to figure out how to when the luggage car blew up! Sherry was… she was still inside it!"
Gin's fingers went slack and he nearly dropped the phone, his eyes staring blankly ahead. Bourbon was saying something about the train making an emergency stop at the nearest station, but Gin hardly heard him. He felt cold and numb and his brain seemed to have stopped working. It couldn't be… Sherry was… Sherry was…!
Vermouth!
In an instant, the numb ice in his veins turned into raging fire and the blood lust consumed him. Vermouth would pay… Oh, how she would pay dearly for murdering his beloved! Death was too kind for the likes of her; he wouldn't be satisfied until he had that woman literally screaming and begging him for death, and he. wouldn't. grant it. until the absolute end.
"Find her," he snarled to Bourbon still on the phone. "Find Vermouth and arrest her for murdering a fellow agent. Scour the whole damn train for her if you have to, but capture her and bring her before me. I don't care how you go about doing it or decide to keep her restrained, but if you let her go or lose her, then I promise Pandora is going to be the very least of your worries for the rest of your short, miserable life."
He didn't wait for Bourbon to answer him or not before he hung up on him and dialed that woman's number with seething fury. His teeth ground together when the call connected and he heard her answer with a surprised "Gin?"
"You've gone too far this time, Vermouth, and I'm going to make you regret ever messing with me," he swore in a deadly quiet voice.
"I'm sorry, Gin, but I'm afraid I don't know what I could've done this time to incur your ire. Where are you even calling me from right now?" Vermouth asked, sounding perplexed.
"Don't you dare play coy with me right now, Vermouth!" he spat, his anger and hatred boiling over. "And where I am is irrelevant because Bourbon is searching for you on the Bell Tree Express this very instant and will bring you straight to me in less than twelve hours as part of your punishment for murdering Sherry!"
"What? Sherry's been murdered?" she said both surprised and confused. "Why do you say that? You're not on the Mystery Train, so how would you know if she was or wasn't?"
"So you weren't the one who blew up the luggage car with Sherry inside?!" he said sarcastically.
Vermouth gasped, "The luggage car! I heard the explosion from my room, and I saw it burning when I looked out the window, but I didn't know Sherry was actually in there! How do you know this?"
"Bourbon just called and told me that he saw her blow up right in front of him after some unknown figure tossed a grenade past him that destroyed the luggage car's connecting link with the rest of the train," he growled through gritted teeth. "As if you didn't already know."
His eyes were already starting to sting, but he refused to let the tears fall. Not here, not now.
"But Gin, I didn't know!"Vermouth protested vehemently. "All Bourbon told me was that he found Sherry, so he was going to proceed to the plan's next phase and move her into the luggage car so that we could move her safely just in case any unwanted alien visitors had snuck aboard the train. The luggage car was just supposed to be separated, not blown up, but if Bourbon said there was an unknown figure that tossed a grenade at the connecting link, then doesn't that mean he realized something had gone wrong with our plan and was trying to fix it, only to be thwarted by that unknown third party?"
Gin closed his mouth and frowned. Bourbon had said as much, hadn't he? That he saw the explosives in the luggage car and was trying to get Sherry out when the grenade came through?
"Perhaps the one who's been after Sherry all this time finally succeeded in their goal," Vermouth said coolly and hung up, leaving him feeling drained, powerless, and full of doubt.
"Aniki…?" Vodka said softly and Gin looked back at him with a hollow expression. Vodka was watching him carefully, looking both worried and upset. "Sherry, is she…? Did Vermouth…?" he trailed off, completing neither of his questions.
Gin's breath hitched in his throat and he grit his teeth as his heart clenched painfully, averting his eyes from his partner's face and glaring hatefully down at the ground. "Bourbon saw it… Had a fucking front row seat to her funeral pyre… And Vermouth…" he smashed his fist angrily into the stone pillar behind Vodka, and he hardly felt the pain that came with it. "… I don't know if she had a hand in this or not anymore… Bourbon thinks she did it, but Vermouth says it might have been the alien after Sherry and her suggestion corroborates with what Bourbon described, so she could have been telling the truth for once, but she's so damn good at lying that I don't even know if I can believe her."
It didn't even matter anymore to him who was responsible, whether it was Vermouth or Pandora, because it wouldn't change the fact that Sherry was still dead. She was gone, just like her sister… He'd failed her and he'd failed Akemi in his oath to protect her… It was taking literally everything he had not to completely lose it on this public train platform full of strangers that wouldn't - couldn't - ever understand the unbearable agony he was going through.
"Vodka… get me out of here…" he said shakily. Even his normal speaking cadence was off-kilter.
"Right away, Aniki," Vodka said immediately and placed one hand on his shoulder to keep him grounded as he started to lead him out of the busy station back to where the car was parked.
They had just left the station when Gin's phone rang again. He pulled it out of his coat pocket automatically and his green eyes suddenly blazed with fury.
He answered it and his voice was downright feral in its ferocity as he snarled, "What the hell do you want now, you two-faced lying bitch!"
"Calm yourself, Gin, I call to bring you good news, so try to be a little grateful for my efforts," Vermouth said smoothly, unphased by his temper.
"Nothing you have to say is ever good news!" she shot back.
"Oh, not even that I found your sweetheart still alive?"
Gin froze all over again, just as he had when Bourbon had told him Sherry had been in the luggage car when it blew up. His eyes narrowed into dark slits and he breathed shakily in a deadly soft whisper, "Don't you dare try to screw around with me right now, Vermouth, or I swear I will-!"
"-No jokes, Gin," she said seriously. "She's alive and still small, but asleep and being carried by the Professor she's living with, and she's surrounded by all of her little friends who are relieved that she was found. I don't know who blew up in front of Bourbon, but it wasn't Sherry and it seems that her secret is still safe from the 'Black Organization'. You're a lucky man, Gin." She hung up without waiting for his input either way.
Gin couldn't take anymore. His knees buckled beneath him and the only reason he didn't fully collapse to the ground was because Vodka quickly caught him around the waist and threw one of his arms around his shoulders.
"Aniki! Aniki, what happened? Who called just now? What did they say?" he demanded frantically, but Gin just smiled giddily.
"She's alive…" he breathed, feeling lightheaded with overwhelming relief. "My Sherry's alive… She's still alive…"
An amazed smile broke out over Vodka's face as well. "Oh god, Aniki, that's wonderful!"
"I know…" Gin sighed happily, still feeling like he was about to pass out any second. "Can you drive? I don't think I can right now."
"Yes, absolutely, Aniki," Vodka said enthusiastically and half-carried him the rest of the way to the Porsche because Gin's legs still didn't seem to want to hold him up right now.
Once Vodka had opened the passenger's side door, Gin was able to use the frame to support himself enough to climb in and he collapsed into the leather seat with a relieved moan. Sherry was alive… She was alive, and he hadn't broken his promise to either her or Akemi… Kudo had probably figured out something was off, or maybe just discovered Vermouth on the train and acted accordingly to protect her when he had been unable to. Gin was immensely grateful to him. If there was any way he could ever return the favor without compromising his job's true nature, he would gladly do so. He still wished he could have seen her again, but he would much rather her be alive than dead, so he would just have to be content with that. However, there was one more thing he had left to take care of…
"Vodka, text Bourbon that Sherry's still alive and that the girl he saw blow up wasn't really her, but probably a stunt double," Gin said tiredly.
()()()()()
With the chaos of seeing the luggage car explode with Sherry in it, calling Gin to let him know what happened, trying to track down Vermouth, and then getting the text from Vodka that Vermouth had found Sherry alive while the one he had seen was a fake, Bourbon completely forgot about the single green eye he glimpsed from the crack in the doorway until he saw Masumi Sera on the train platform with those exact color eyes. That unique green eye could only belong to one person, but that was impossible… unless his original hunch was not wrong…
"Regarding the detailed files from around the time of Akai's death, can I see them one more time?" Bourbon murmured under his breath to Vermouth as she walked past him, his gaze still fixed on Akai's little sister.
"Sure," she said shortly and kept walking on ahead as if they were total strangers to each other.
Good. It seemed as though he would have to restart that investigation from the very beginning. He would continue to carryout Gin's assignment on Pandora, of course, but he had hit plenty of dead ends with that mission already. Nobody could really fault him for tackling a little inconsequential side project during those low points, now could they?
The Boss and Rum has finally officially appeared in my story! As of this point in time, Rum has no confirmed canon identity, so I decided to make one up for him instead of picking one of the current Rum suspects. I won't change it even if his or her identity is revealed before this story is finished.
Yep, I'm having Hyoe Kuroda be Gin's and Curaçao's dad because he's cool, I like him, he's old enough to have twenty-eight-year-old kids, and from the canon standpoint, it would be hella ironic if one of the Organization's most loyal and dangerous members was the son of a police officer.
I have Akemi friends with Gin and also getting along with Vodka. She was raised by Pisco and if Irish saw him as a father figure, then she probably came into regular contact with him as well. Then there's the canon material that has Akemi knowing Rei as a kid, then establishing that Rei and Hiromitsu also knew each other as kids, so she could have easily befriended both of them too. Then of course she was dating Akai who eventually became Rye... She's very popular friend material apparently.
Yes, I lowkey ship Bourbon/Scotch. Next chapter is "Scarlet Showdown".