173

"Mr. Akai, how are you now? Are you injured?"

"Here... the plan was a success."

A slightly hoarse voice of Shuichi Akai came from the other end of the headset. Unusually, this man's tone did not have the certainty and firmness of the past. Although the reason for this pause was not doubt about the content, it was a bit strange.

However, before Conan was clearly asking about the other party's physical condition, the other party only answered whether the plan was successful. This is indeed Shuichi Akai's style.

But this answer still made Conan fall into silence.

Plan successful?

If Grappa had not appeared, Conan would have been more than 80% sure. Although they had not been together for a long time, the detective had a high degree of trust and confidence in Akai Shu, and the other party had a thorough understanding of Gin's character. This made the plan look bold but actually had a very reliable success rate.

But Grappa shows up, and he even knows that Kiel is undercover.

It was like the most crucial piece of the puzzle had been taken away, and there was no possibility of the incomplete puzzle being put together. However, in this case, Shuichi Akai said that the plan was successful?

So Conan asked:

"Mr. Akai, is Grappa your brother?"

The detective had close contact with Grappa and had seen his skilled and accurate killing methods. Under this premise, let's not talk about Kiel's situation, it would be impossible for Shuichi Akai to get away with it just because Grappa had examined him at close range. A professional killer knows the human body as well as a professional doctor.

Therefore, this question was undoubtedly a slightly offensive joke made by the detective because he didn't know how to react due to shock and too many loopholes. The subtext was that this was the only way to explain why Shuichi Akai's fake death was not exposed. At the same time, the absurdity of Shuichi Akai and Grappa being brothers was compared with the absurdity of the success of this plan to highlight the latter. This was a somewhat dark joke, however, the other party was silent.

When Conan realized this, he also fell silent.

This silence lasted for about two minutes, and finally Conan asked with a little uncertainty: "Mr. Akai, are you kidding?"

"Indeed," Conan breathed a sigh of relief at the affirmation from Shuichi Akai on the opposite side, but he suddenly stopped breathing the next second.

"After all, if you shout fratellino at him, he probably won't recognize it."

There was a hint of a smile on the other side of the face when he said this, but Conan felt a chill down his spine. Fratellino means younger brother in Italian.

After instantly realizing the meaning, the detective even thought of the possibility that Shuichi Akai was a member of the organization, but soon his brain reminded himself that if that was true, he would have been sent to the organization. After all, he didn't think that with Shuichi Akai's observation skills, he could hide the fact that he was Shinichi Kudo. After his identity was discovered by police officers Hagiwara and Matsuda last time, he realized that his acting skills were completely unbearable in front of some highly professional people.

So what's going on now? What's the relationship between Shuichi Akai and Grappa? Fratellino? Is this a joke or is this serious? Conan wanted to ask, but the other party suddenly said he had something to do and hung up. Before hanging up, he specifically mentioned that Mizuki was fine.

The large amount of information made the detective's brain buzz, as if the boss he originally thought was the biggest had suddenly turned into a middleman with an ambiguous position. He had to seriously integrate the things in his mind.

Dr. Kotani who talked to him in the hospital was actually Grappa in disguise. He realized this when he overheard the conversation between Grappa and Gin through the eavesdropper. After recalling the details of every conversation when they were together, he also realized that Grappa was wearing colored contact lenses.

Grappa most likely does not have gray eyes and has a certain ability to disguise himself, so it is very likely that what he saw was not real.

The detective could easily think of this.

Then, of course the detective knew the word fratellino that Shuichi Akai mentioned. He even looked up the meaning of this sentence, because that was a conversation his father asked him to convey on behalf of an FBI friend, and it was to someone he was very curious about. After discovering that it might involve privacy, the detective could only suppress his curiosity, but he would keep it firmly in his mind.

The detective sat alone on the sofa with his head lowered. Although there was no one around, he covered his face with his hands, trying to hide his overly complicated expression.

"Brother Kong, you scared me."

He muttered to himself, and although his words contained some complaints, he looked as if he was about to cry.

However, no one heard this sentence, and no one responded. Instead, the room became even quieter, so quiet that only the detective's heartbeat could be heard. However, it made people feel that something had finally changed in this silence.

At this moment, the detective finally realized clearly that he could not save, and had no way of saving, the people he cared about.

———

Akai Shuichi hung up the phone, looked up at the man who was pointing a gun at his head, and explained, "This is my first time being held captive, so I'm not very experienced."

Noel snorted coldly, looking at the man who had no fear or sense of being held hostage, and said in a vicious tone: "Don't worry, you will become proficient in the future."

Obviously, if Noel had not forced the other party to hang up the phone, the other party might have told the young detective something that would reveal Noel's past.

Although it has almost been exposed now, about the fact that Natsukawa Sora is Grappa, it was also because Akai Shuichi threw the clue so fast that he didn't react in time. He was suddenly betrayed and is still a little dazed. Noel rolled his eyes in his heart.

"You could have easily stopped it." As if seeing through Noel's thoughts, Shuichi Akai's words ruthlessly broke Noel's self-deception. After all, if Noel really wanted to, it would have been easy for him to just shoot the phone. But Shuichi Akai knew clearly that the gun pointed at his head not only had bullets in it, but the trigger had also been pulled long ago.

"There's no need to make him suspicious," Noel didn't want to dwell on this topic any more, and turned around and said, "Stop talking nonsense, let's get down to business."

As he spoke, he waved the gun in his hand to show his threat. Under the mask, the corner of his mouth curled up into a sarcastic smile. His gray-green eyes looked coldly at the FBI officer who was calm under the gun, and said, "Tell me, who in the FBI is your backer?"

Under Akai Shuichi's somewhat astonished gaze, Noel snorted coldly: "Even if you are strong enough, a half-English-Japanese who only became an American citizen in college, I don't believe that there will be no one behind you if you can pass the political review."

As if he had figured something out, Akai Shuichi calmed down again and asked, "What do you want to do?"

Obviously it is an admission.

There really is...Noel's mouth twitched under the mask. In fact, he really thought about it. Maybe in the comic world, Shuichi Akai really relied on his superb abilities to make the US government ignore his resume that looked like a spy and was recruited into the FBI and entrusted with important tasks. Damn, the reality is really cruel, he is just a backdoor!

Although Akai Shuichi's ability, even if it was a backdoor, was only due to objective background reasons, and his own strength and intelligence were the ceiling of the scientific world, and the FBI was definitely making a fortune, Noel still felt like his filter was broken to some extent.

"Let's work together to achieve a win-win situation." Noel said as he put away his gun.

"Aren't you worried that I'll run away?" Akai Shuichi said this with a slight smile, and it was obviously just a casual question. His confidence not only comes from his strength, but also from his sharp and accurate analysis of the situation in various situations. For example, now, he has realized the other party's purpose and is happy to cooperate.

Noel rolled his eyes and said, "Stop talking nonsense. Who is it?"

Shuichi Akai casually said a name, and the corners of Noel's mouth twitched again under the mask.

Very good. If he remembered correctly, this name should be the name of the current FBI director. However, he remembered that this person took office three years ago, but Akai Shuichi should have joined the FBI in college. Noel's eyes suddenly became sharp, but before he could say anything, Akai Shuichi smiled and said, "It's enough to contact him."

I understand. Rather than saying that the current FBI director is Shuichi Akai's backer, it should be said that he is just the candidate recommended by Shuichi Akai after he realized his plan. It is known that such a person with more tricks than a beehive will not be able to speak out his bottom line. However, it seems that the person behind Shuichi Akai will probably have a higher status. It can't be the Secretary of the US Department of Defense or something like that...

Suddenly I remembered that someone in Xia Tian World had proposed a theory that the fathers might know each other. Then I thought of Kudo Yusaku's connections and the fact that he mentioned that he had a friend in the FBI. Noel couldn't help but wonder if these old foxes had already gathered together for afternoon tea with the script. It would be okay if there was a Minister of Defense among them...

"So you're going to America next?" Akai Shuichi's question brought Noel back to his senses, and he then heard the other party say, "Or more than that?"

As expected, for someone like Akai Shuichi, if you get close to him, he will find out something. Noel was about to say "don't bother", but he heard him say:

"Why not take me with you? After all, I am also in a state of suspended animation."

After Mizunashi Renna faked her death, she was taken by his side, so what’s the harm in having one more Akai Shuichi?

Obviously, this was Shuichi Akai's subtitle, but after hearing it, Noel couldn't help but scream in his mind:

Why not? The nuisance is huge!