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"Are you ready to go back, Kong?" Conan gave the co-pilot Noel a flattering smile and asked cautiously, "Can I come with you..."
"No." Noel immediately understood the other party's plan. As early as last Halloween, this detective should have realized that there was something wrong with Amuro Toru's identity, and thus deduced that he was related to the organization.
"Are you the kid from before?" The blond man recognized the boy in front of him as the one who bumped into him before. Although he didn't doubt anything, he also took this excessive coincidence to heart. "Are you familiar with this guy?"
"Hello, big brother. I..." Conan was about to explain something when Noel suddenly interrupted him and said, "Come up."
As soon as he finished speaking, Conan felt his neck tighten. He saw the man stand up and get out of the car, grab the young detective by the collar, open the back door and throw the man in. He also sat in the back seat and closed the door.
The blond man looked at the scene with amusement and said nothing. He closed the window, stepped on the clutch and performed his job as a driver conscientiously.
After discovering the importance of Natsukawa Sora's identity to Grappa, he immediately memorized all the social relationships of Natsukawa Sora that he could find, and this little boy was on the list. In addition, there were many other children. After partnering with him for these years, he didn't think that Grappa was a pervert who had special ideas about children, so he just simply liked being with children?
Those lower-ups in the organization would be scared to death...It was a rare occasion that Toru Amuro sympathized with the criminal for three seconds.
"Brother Kong..." Conan sat in the back seat with a guilty conscience, not daring to look at the other person's expression. For the first time, he felt a little regretful, reflecting on whether he was too reckless. In his peripheral vision, he caught a glimpse of Noel's expressionless face, and his limbs became stiff and he dared not move.
Damn it, my mind was so full of this blond-haired member of the organization that I really didn’t see Brother Kong in that blind spot!
Conan was not reflecting on himself for contacting a dangerous member of an organization without permission, but was reflecting on himself for not carefully observing who the co-pilot was and rushing in directly. If he had known it was Kong Ge... then at least he would not be so direct and would have been more tactful, such as installing a eavesdropping signal transmitter first. Besides, this was his original plan, but he did not think that he could get into the car directly.
"What are you thinking about?"
Noel looked at the other person and guessed what he was thinking. His tone gradually became colder, which made Toru Amuro, who was sitting in front of him, look at him sideways.
Wouldn't the child be frightened by his sudden ferocity? He turned to look at the boy and found that although he was scared, he was not surprised or shocked. He thought that Xiachuan Kong had a good relationship with the child because he pretended to be gentle and close, but now it seems that this is not the case.
Conan didn't have time to care about the driver who was watching silently in front of him. He could only turn around and look into Noel's eyes. His big blue eyes were full of moisture, and he said in a soft and cute voice, "Kong, I haven't seen you for a long time."
Acting coquettishly may seem childish to a high school student, but it is just right for a high school student in the guise of an elementary school student. At least, he clearly felt that the coldness from Noel had dissipated a little.
"Kids like him very much," Toru Amuro, who was sitting in front, said with a smile, and then hesitated for a moment before calling him, "Xiaokong."
This address made Noel feel uneasy instantly. All he could think of was that man, Kenji Hagiwara, who had suddenly dyed his hair blond and changed his skin to dark and was being so intimate here. Although he had already guessed what Toru would look like and decided to refer to that guy's image, the feeling was too strange and he immediately corrected himself:
"Don't yell like that, it's weird."
This reaction made the blond man stunned for a moment, and then he looked at the other party's disgusted look and fell into deep thought. Did he not want the identity of Xiachuan Kong to be associated with the Bourbon of the organization, so he did not want the name of this identity to be called so intimately?
Although he was not sure what the answer was, Toru Amuro decided to go along with the other party. A smile flashed across his gray-purple eyes and he said, "Don't you like me calling you that, Noel?"
The name Noel was a pseudonym that the two exchanged when they first teamed up. From that day on, Grappa began to call Bourbon "Toru", but the blond man preferred to call him by the code name of the winery, Grappa. However, in this situation, neither Grappa nor Natsukawa Sora was suitable, so he found this name again.
The atmosphere suddenly fell silent for a moment. Just when Amuro Toru was wondering why the other party didn't respond, a soft voice came from behind, "Whatever you want."
Toru Amuro stopped as he was about to look back, and missed Noel's reaction from the detective's perspective.
From the perspective of the detective sitting next to Noel, the situation was quite complicated. When the blond man in front of him called out the name "Noel", he saw for the first time a look of confusion on the face of this air steward who had always been rather cold, as if the other party calling out this name was so... surprising? Conan couldn't think about the other party's thoughts. After all, the man next to him turned his head very quickly, as if deliberately avoiding his gaze, and then said in a seemingly natural way, "Whatever you want."
Afterwards, the atmosphere in the car returned to silence again, but Conan's brain began to turn uncontrollably.
Noel, is this Kong's name? Does Kong have another name in the organization? This makes sense, after all, Kong's father is Italian, so he has an Italian name... But this name doesn't sound Italian either. According to what the blond man said, Kong should not usually use his real name, that is, it is just a name that is convenient for the organization to call him? However, the blond man suddenly called Kong's real name, Xiachuan Kong... Is he threatening me?
Conan was shocked at the thought. He remembered his own reasoning. If Kong was really just a low-level member who was forced to participate in the organization's activities, then what about this blond man? You have to know that the other party had appeared with Grappa and seemed to be of equal status. Did such a person suddenly calling out Kong's real name represent a threat? Thinking of Kong's evasive but not refusing look, Conan silently clenched his fists.
The car was not driving very fast, but the short distance did not allow the silence to last too long. Amuro Toru turned around and looked at the man in the back seat who was about to pick up the little detective and get out of the car, and asked with a smile: "Why, don't you invite me to sit inside?"
"You will probably be very busy from now on," Noel said expressionlessly, picking up Conan with one hand and opening the car door with the other hand, getting out of the car neatly, "I won't stay any longer."
Conan obediently let Noel hold him. He could feel that he was not using much strength so it was not uncomfortable. He looked up at Kong's expression, but he could not tell anything. He only heard the blond man opposite him suddenly say, "Don't forget our agreement, Noel."
Afterwards, he drove away, as if he was really just preparing to send Kong Ge back, and had brought a child along who had suddenly joined the fun.
However, Conan clearly felt that the man who was holding him stiffened for a moment after hearing the other party's words. Then he quickly left the car without saying anything, walked to the door, then quickly opened the door, put Conan down, and sat on the sofa without saying a word.
Conan carefully observed Noel's expression, but found that although his expression seemed calm, his eyes were trembling slightly, and his lower lip was inadvertently bitten by his teeth, as if he was trying to press something down with difficulty.
Brother Kong...Isn't it true that he was threatened? They agreed, what did they want Brother Kong to do...For the first time, the detective realized how powerless he was, watching his important person being so passive.
"Conan, tell me, what do you want to do?" The sudden voice broke Conan's train of thought. The boy looked up and met the gray-green eyes with a bit of reproach. He finally realized that he had not gotten away with it. He could only laugh guiltily and explained: "Ahem, Brother Kong, I just, uh, wanted to come and play with you."
"Conan, are you trying to say that you, as a famous high school detective, just threw your mind aside and barged in because you saw someone you knew?"
Noel knew what the other person was thinking, but it seemed like this was the other person's innate nature, engraved in his bones and could not be easily changed. Curiosity... Detectives are very magical creatures.
Conan was also stunned. He had clearly talked about it last time and knew that Kong Ge recognized him as Kudo Shinichi. But why did he subconsciously avoid it by acting coquettishly... Has the child's behavior become an instinct?
Noel looked at the other person with amusement, his body slightly relaxed. God knows he almost laughed out loud in front of Conan just now. Seeing that Toru Amuro, whose identity was originally a secret in the Bourbon arc and had to go through several twists and turns before his identity was confirmed, had so easily established his pure evil identity in front of the protagonist, he had completely deviated from the direction of the plot and felt happy again.
"I'm sorry," Conan confessed, realizing he couldn't avoid it. "I shouldn't have been so impulsive."
"I understand, Conan," Noel reached out and rubbed Conan's head, and said softly: "But if Bourbon wants to kill you, I can only risk my life to stop him."
Of course, Bourbon would never kill a child, but Noel knew that saying this would be the most effective. Sure enough, he saw the blue in the detective's eyes begin to waver. Guilt and fear seemed to be vines pulling at the detective instinct driven by curiosity.
This made Noel secretly curl the corners of his lips, and a morbid smile flashed across his eyes.
That's right, detective. You are no longer the protagonist in the main storyline that has deviated from the main plot, so be more cautious, more stable, and more mature. I don't want to see you on the cold operating table of those crazy scientific researchers, and I don't want to hear about you going to some damn heaven in the hell full of karmic fire. You should always be in the sun, saving more people with the kindness, passion and persistence that I never have.