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Steven stared at the mission details behind the photo, and scenes from Detective Conan immediately surfaced in his mind.
In the original story, Miyano Akemi struck a deal with the Organization to rob an armored truck carrying one billion yen, all to help her sister, Miyano Shiho, escape from their clutches. The agreement promised that she'd walk away clean afterward.
Too bad Gin was a total bastard with zero sense of honor. Breaking the deal wasn't enough for him. He went ahead and had Akemi killed.
This time, the task Steven received was to take Gin's place and handle the cleanup.
Once Miyano Akemi successfully pulled off the robbery, he was supposed to kill her and deliver the stolen one billion yen to a bar in Beika.
Talk about perfect timing. Gin's arrangement hit Steven right where it suited him.
This was his chance. He had to get his hands on Miyano Akemi first. Only then could he negotiate once he found Miyano Shiho.
"Who in this world doesn't love money? You're no exception," Vermouth said coolly."Since you're willing to take the job, I'll report it to Gin right now."
Completing a C-rank mission paid double what a D-rank one did.
Vermouth assumed Steven had changed his mind purely for the money. In her eyes, that made him painfully ordinary. After speaking, she turned toward the living room to make the call.
"Yeah, who doesn't love money?" Steven shrugged and smiled calmly.
With Vermouth's status as a world-famous actress, money naturally meant nothing to her. But that didn't mean everyone else lived that kind of life.
"By the way, you still haven't answered my other two questions," Steven reminded her with a yawn as he followed her into the living room.
"Most banks in Tokyo offer foreign currency exchange. You're not a three-year-old, you can handle that yourself. As for when you'll be allowed to visit headquarters, sorry, I have no idea."
"…"
Steven was speechless. Inside his head, ten thousand alpacas were stampeding.
No key information gained. A complete waste of breath.
Still, having a mission to eliminate Miyano Akemi at least counted as something.
Steven headed to the bathroom and took his time washing up, his mind constantly turning over how to secretly save Akemi without alerting the Organization.
The more he thought about it, the trickier it seemed.
In the Conan world, the Organization's intelligence network was no joke. For now, Steven couldn't think of a perfect solution.
"The mission's three days away. For now, I just need to keep an eye on Miyano Akemi. Calm down. Take it slow. No way I can't figure something out."
He dried himself off and muttered to himself as he left the bathroom.
When he returned to the living room, Vermouth had just hung up the phone.
"The operational funds for this mission are five thousand dollars. Gin's already had Vodka transfer it to your account."
"Got it," Steven nodded, heading into the bedroom to change.
Since the funds were approved, it was time to get to work.
Might as well get a card and exchange part of the dollars into yen. It would be more convenient when he needed it.
"Hey, little Vermouth, how about coming out for a stroll with your husband?" Steven teased as he was about to leave.
"Get lost," Vermouth snapped, rolling her eyes as she grabbed a pillow from the sofa and hurled it at him."I'm a big star. Being seen with you would ruin my image."
"So what if you're a big star? I'll still ride you like a horse," Steven shot back.
"Scram!"
"Tch. Menopausal women are so irritable."
"…"
Bang!
Moments later, Vermouth kicked Steven out of the villa and slammed the door shut behind him.
…
Beika Bank Plaza
A young man in a black jacket hunched his neck into his collar, tugged his baseball cap low, nearly hiding his entire face. His shifty eyes darted back and forth, scanning the pedestrians.
Soon, he spotted his target.
An elderly woman with a cane stepped out of the bank, clutching a bulging black leather bag with one hand. She'd clearly just withdrawn a large sum of cash.
The young man rushed forward, snatched the bag, and bolted.
"Robbery! Someone stop him! That's my husband's life-saving money…" the old woman cried out helplessly.
The passersby barely reacted. They went about their business, calm and indifferent, with no interest in getting involved.
Beika was a grand stage where bizarre murders played out every day. A simple robbery barely registered for the locals.
Besides, violence had long since become part of the national psyche. Seeing someone get robbed was nothing new. Why bother meddling when you could just chat and mind your own business?
Suddenly, a sharp-looking woman in a fitted professional skirt stepped in front of the fleeing thief.
Slash!
Without hesitation, the young man pulled out a dagger and lunged.
The woman twisted aside, then executed a classic Mori-style shoulder throw, slamming him to the ground.
"Bitch, you dare stick your nose where it doesn't belong? You got a death wish!" the thief snarled.
He whistled sharply, and three accomplices hiding nearby rushed over to surround her.
Seeing the gleaming knives in their hands, the woman felt her heart sink.
At best, she could handle two petty crooks. But now there were four, all armed.
She knew her chances were slim. Still, she had no choice but to fight it out.
The four attackers lunged at once.
She dodged and managed to trip one of them, but another blade came flashing toward her side, less than two inches from her waist. There was no way to avoid it.
Just as despair set in, a handsome man appeared out of nowhere.
He leapt into the air and unleashed a clean, elegant series of kicks, dropping three of the attackers in the blink of an eye and shattering the crisis.
Realizing they were outmatched, the four robbers abandoned the stolen bag and fled in a panic.
"Ma'am, your bag!" the woman said, picking it up and handing it back to the elderly lady.
"Thank you, thank you so much," the old woman said tearfully."If that money had been taken, my husband lying in that hospital bed might not survive. I don't even know how to repay your kindness."
"It was nothing," the woman replied gently. "Please don't worry about it."
"If it's not too much trouble, could you leave me your address? Once my husband recovers, we'll come thank you properly."
"I'm really sorry," the woman said apologetically. "I'm just a passing tourist. Goodbye."
She told a small, kind lie, then turned to the man who had just saved her.
"Thank you for earlier—"
Halfway through her sentence, she froze. The man in front of her looked strangely familiar.
"You're… that guy. I've definitely seen you somewhere."
"Steven," the man said calmly."Lawyer Kisaki, you've seen the wanted poster before, haven't you?"
From her pale snow-blue work suit, the dark purple sweater underneath, her blue eyes, and her slightly curled hair tied into that signature bun, Steven recognized her instantly.
When he escaped from the detention center, he'd sworn revenge on that four-eyed brat Conan.
Now he'd already gotten Mouri Ran and Yukiko. If he could also bag Conan's future mother-in-law through this accidental encounter, wouldn't that be perfect?
"Right, right! The wanted poster!" Eri Kisaki exclaimed as realization dawned on her.
She never would have imagined that the righteous, handsome man who'd just stepped in to help was the same Steven who had escaped custody and thrown Tokyo into chaos.
"Knowing I was a wanted criminal, aren't you scared?" Steven asked with a grin, watching her surprised expression.
Strictly speaking, he used to be wanted.
Once the police revoked the warrant, no one really cared who Steven was anymore. Walking down the street, he was no different from some random good citizen.
After all, in Beika, you could grab a handful of criminals just by reaching out.
That was exactly why he dared to go out without any disguise.
"Why would I be scared?" Eri said with a warm smile."I actually think you're a good person. If everyone were like you, willing to stand up against injustice, the crime rate here would drop by at least half."
"Besides, your case had obvious inconsistencies. The police followed the principle of 'when in doubt, acquit,' and withdrew the warrant long ago."
"But I do have one question," she added."Since we've met by chance, I hope you can help clear it up for me."
Her smile was captivating.
"What is it?" Steven said immediately, clearly pleased by her praise."I'll tell you everything I know."
In truth, he hadn't stepped in purely out of righteous indignation.
From a distance, he'd seen a beautiful woman surrounded and attacked, and figured he'd play the hero, create a romantic encounter.
It just so happened that the woman was Eri Kisaki.
Had it been someone else, he still would've stepped in.
"There are rumors that the explosion at the Metropolitan Police Department was your doing," Eri said seriously."But the police have never released details. Maybe to save face, or maybe because they lack evidence."
"Mr. Steven," she asked softly,"Was that explosion really your work?"
"If it's inconvenient, you don't have to answer."
Eri Kisaki was asking purely out of curiosity. She had absolutely nothing to do with the island nation's police.
Besides, as the undefeated queen of the legal world, getting a bit of inside information was effortless for her. Those so-called "rumors" were basically just a reflection of the police's attitude.
Steven wasn't stupid. If he refused to answer Eri, it would look like tacit admission, and the conversation would die on the spot.
Fishing took patience.
"Truth and lies are always hard to tell, like trying to see flowers through fog," Steven said casually. "The Metropolitan Police framing people isn't exactly a first-time thing. Since they're dead set on dumping the blame on me, what can an ordinary guy like me even do?"
He put on an air of helplessness, a faint bitter smile tugging at his lips.
It wasn't that he didn't dare admit he'd blown up the MPD building. He just didn't want to come clean in front of Eri yet.
If he wanted a chance with a justice-obsessed legal heavyweight like her, playing innocent was the only way to keep things going.
Confessing outright would kill the mood instantly.
"That's true," Eri said thoughtfully. "Like that case earlier, there were quite a few suspicious points…"
As she spoke, she pulled out her phone and held it out to him.
"Mind if we exchange contact info? If something like this happens again, maybe I can help a little. Free of charge."
Hooked.
Steven looked at the phone in her hand but didn't accept it right away.
A woman this easy to flirt with? Playing a little hard to get would reel her in for sure.
"Lawyer Kisaki, I really don't want to go through something like that again."
Eri immediately realized her wording was off. She apologized, then smoothly changed her angle.
"Sorry, that was careless of me. People avoid lawsuits like the plague, after all. How about this instead? We exchange numbers, and if there's time, we grab a drink sometime."
"Sounds good," Steven replied with a smile. "You pick the time. I'm free anytime."
He took her phone and handed over his own.
Soon, they had each other's numbers saved.
With Steven's intelligence, it was obvious why Eri was so insistent on exchanging contact info. She wanted to thank him for stepping in earlier.
Do a good deed and expect nothing in return?
Yeah, right. Steven wasn't that noble. He preferred helping things along.
Since Eri had shown interest, there would always be a way to make her return the favor properly.
"See you next time, then. Bye!"
Eri put away her phone and turned toward Beika Bank.
When fate decided to show up, there was no stopping it. Who would've thought they were heading the same way?
"Lawyer Kisaki, fancy seeing you again."
"You're going to the bank too?"
Eri glanced sideways at Steven as he walked up beside her. She frowned slightly, suspicion flickering in her eyes. Was he deliberately engineering this encounter? Did he have some ulterior motive?
For a split second, a bolder thought crossed her mind. Could the robber from earlier have been his accomplice?
But just as quickly, she dismissed it as overthinking. Maybe it really was just a coincidence.
After all, no matter how capable Steven was, he couldn't possibly have predicted she'd run into a robber and step in to stop it.
"Yeah," Steven replied. "I'm here to exchange some foreign currency and open a card. What about you?"
Mentioning it stirred up a bit of irritation in him.
He lived in this country year-round, yet the Organization insisted on using U.S. dollars. Mission funds, bonuses, everything. Which meant he had to make a special trip to the bank just to exchange money.
"I'm the legal consultant for this bank," Eri explained. "There's been a debt dispute recently, and the manager asked me to come discuss how to handle it."
"As expected of the undefeated queen of the legal world," Steven said with a grin. "Even banks have to invite you over as their guardian angel."
"Oh, please," Eri laughed. "I'm just the best of an average bunch. Purely thanks to my peers making me look good."
"…"
Chatting idly, they soon arrived at the bank lobby.
After separating from Eri, Steven relied on his memories from before crossing over. He knew that Miyano Akemi had infiltrated the bank ahead of time, posing as a teller to prepare for the armored truck robbery three days later.
He scanned the service counters and quickly spotted her.
The Organization's orders were to monitor Miyano Akemi's movements for now. Once the ten billion yen from the armored truck was secured three days later, she was to be eliminated.
But Steven had no intention of following the Organization's plan to the letter. He had his own ideas.
"Hello—"
"Take a number. Get in line."
Unbelievable.
Steven hadn't even finished speaking before Miyano Akemi cut him off coldly.
He knew she was here under the alias Masami Hirota, acting as an inside agent for the ten-billion-yen robbery. But still, professionalism mattered. At least let someone finish their sentence.
"There's only me here," Steven said. "Do I really need to take a number and wait?"
"Bank policy," she replied flatly. "Nothing I can do about it."
"Oh? Is that so?"
Heh. Sticking to principles, huh.
With his god's-eye view, handling Miyano Akemi was child's play.
"Sherry."
Boom.
The moment those two words left Steven's mouth, a flash of white exploded in Miyano Akemi's mind. Her body stiffened instantly.
Sherry was Miyano Shiho's code name within the Organization.
Even inside the Organization, it was classified information. Only a handful of people knew it.
"Who are you?"
Realizing Steven was anything but ordinary, Miyano Akemi snapped back to her senses, panic flickering in her eyes.
"....."