Two Old Foxes

Haibara's little sister?

Fujino silently observed the old woman in front of him who was pretending to be Old Auntie.

Clearly, "little sister Haibara" refers to their Ai.

Why is that Old Auntie Vermouth bringing Ai?

Fujino remained calm and said, "That's true. She's a distant relative's child, and she's just staying temporarily... But speaking of Doctor Shinide, what happened Ai?"

He paused, then a hint of worry appeared on his face. "Could it be that there's something wrong with my body?"

"No, she is in good health."

The Old Auntie, Vermouth, disguised Tomoaki Araide, glanced at Fujino's reaction and chuckled, "I just noticed that she seemed a little listless and had dark circles under her eyes, so I just wanted to ask about her sleep."

"Oh, I see."

Fujino breathed a sigh of relief, but said with a hint of helplessness, "To be honest, she often stays up late playing games, and no matter how I try to persuade her, it's no use."

"After all, they're just kids."

Tomoaki Araide chuckled awkwardly, then said worriedly, "But you should pay close attention to her sleep, otherwise, insufficient sleep and a weakened immune system can make her more susceptible to illness..."

"Thank you for reminding me, Doctor Shinide."

Fujino thanked her and said earnestly, "I will definitely pay more attention to her sleep!"

"That's good."

Tomoaki Araide looked Fujino up and down, chuckled, and remarked, "But Fujino, you really are a good older brother who cares about his younger sister."

"After all, I already consider her my own sister."

Fujino smiled slightly and said softly, "I don't know what it's like to be an older brother, but I can only do my best~"

"If there's nothing else, I'll be going now."

Tomoaki Araide turned and walked towards his car. "Goodbye, Fujino- kun!"

Goodbye, Doctor Shinide!

Fujino watched the departing car, calling out to it, his smile gradually fading, his eyes becoming unusually indifferent, a chilling white light flashing behind his glasses. "Testing someone and then pretending to be genuinely worried, what an old fox..."

Fujino didn't need to use his brain to figure out what the purpose was of this Old Auntie disguised as a newcomer coming to find him.

It seems like he's worried about Ai's health.

Actually, it's all just water from iced tea; it's all fake!

Fujino guessed that the Old Auntie's real purpose was to find out something was wrong with Ai and to try to get some information out of this 'high school student'.

For example, whether she really lives in his house, whether he knows Ai's true identity, or something else.

He had been paying attention; the Old Auntie's gaze had been constantly scrutinizing him.

Looking at him gave me the creeps...

Of course, this wasn't because the Old Auntie had taken a liking to him and wanted to steal the organization's funds to support him financially.

Instead, they wanted to capture his micro-expressions during the chat.

If he hadn't been prepared, he probably would have been caught off guard.

A blank expression is a pretense, while hesitation, blank stare, and surprise are easily detected by seasoned intelligence personnel, immediately raising suspicion.

As for Vermouth discovering Ai Haibara's true identity...

Fujino, however, seemed completely unsurprised.

The Old Auntie must have lived for who knows how many years; she must have seen Shiho Miyano as a child.

Just by looking at Ai Haibara's current appearance, one could immediately recognize Sherry as the defector from the organization.

Even Kudo Shinichi is the same.

Although Fujino wasn't quite sure why Vermouth had lived for so many years, he figured that her longevity must be related to A-drug.

Naturally, she was aware of the existence of A-drug.

If we're talking about shrinking, there's the case of Kudo Shinichi.

Shiho Miyano will inevitably be suspected as well.

"Since we've already gone this far, let's keep acting... I hope you don't court death."

Fujino watched the departing car and murmured to himself. He turned around, opened the car door, sat in the driver's seat, and sped off.

If Ai really did come into contact with the fake Tomoaki Araide.

Given this concentration of aura, Ai's organizational radar would have been triggered long ago.

They must be terrified right now...

"High School Detective Fujino Doji..."

Vermouth gripped the steering wheel with one hand, took a pack of cigarettes from the car with the other, lit it slowly, looked at the road ahead, and narrowed her eyes. "What an old fox."

Although she had noticed the boy before, most of the time her attention was focused on her beloved godson and godson.

After all, she had already regarded the two of them as special beings after they had saved America.

However, it seems that Fujino, this seemingly ordinary High School Detective, is not so simple after all.

During the inspection today, after seeing the 'Ai Haibara', she immediately connected it to Sherry had betrayed the organization, based on her previous observations.

If that's the case, then it explains why the organization has been searching for this person for so long without finding them—they weren't hidden by other organizations, but rather shrunk down like Cool Guy.

Since their own Cool Guy can shrink.

So why can't Sherry shrink?

The clever Old Auntie immediately thought of this.

But then another question arises—if Sherry also shrinks, then who was the person who appeared at the Haido Hotel before?

The Old Auntie thought carefully about the scene when Kudo Shinichi appeared in front of her during the school festival, and immediately realized that there might be an antidote.

The only one who could probably develop an antidote Sherry, who inherited the research of those two people.

Thinking about it this way, the brown-haired little girl next to my guy became even more suspicious.

However, the Old Auntie couldn't be sure about this conjecture for the time being.

After all, this involves his cool guy.

Further investigation and confirmation are needed...

She had just been testing Fujino, but the test yielded no results.

Everything was natural.

It even made her wonder if she had made a mistake in her judgment.

Thinking about this made the Old Auntie's head ache.

Based on her observations over this period of time, the High School Detective's perception ability was truly terrifying; even she couldn't easily see through his cunning and pretense.

Before we could even exchange two sentences, the conversation had completely shifted to something else.

Being too radical will definitely arouse suspicion.

It is extremely difficult to investigate those around such a person.

But...

Since our guy has connections with Sherry, we can solve this problem much better by changing our approach.

Vermouth stuck her hand out of the car window, exhaled a long puff of smoke, and a playful smile appeared on her lips:

What exactly is your relationship?

"Things are getting more and more interesting!"