Lawless Outlaw in the World of Conan, Tokisaki Kurumi

Especially Kudo Shinichi, whom Vermouth valued so highly.

Just as the mustachioed robber slowly began to squeeze the trigger, King Crimson moved.

Three pitch-black throwing knives, hurled by King Crimson, shot out like bullets from a chamber—swift and precise—embedding themselves into the foreheads of three robbers. The latter didn't even let out a sound before the blades pierced their brains.

With the brain controlling their bodies destroyed, the three lost their lives and collapsed to the ground without a word.

Before them, the children—who had closed their eyes in despair, resigned to death—heard the thuds of bodies falling and the clatter of pistols hitting the floor. Only then did they open their eyes, which were red and swollen from crying, except for Kudo Shinichi.

"What happened? Are we saved?"

"They're dead? How?"

Staring at the three robbers lying on the ground, the children, having narrowly escaped death, were overwhelmed with joy and astonishment, ecstatic.

At that moment, they had never felt the world was so wonderful. Even this pitch-black corridor seemed as warm and reassuring as their own bedrooms.

In contrast, Kudo Shinichi's face showed a mix of delight and bewilderment.

Noticing the knife handle embedded in the forehead of the mustachioed man before him, he instantly realized that someone mysterious was still lurking in the shadows.

"Conan, we're saved!" The only girl among the children, her face streaked with tears, spoke happily to the physically shrunken Kudo Shinichi, completely unaware that danger hadn't truly passed.

"But who saved us... Wait, are they dead?"

The freckled boy, still tied up, craned his neck to look at the man's corpse and also spotted the black knife handle on his forehead.

"Hey! Dead?"

Hearing the boy's words, the chubby kid, who could rival a sumo wrestler in build, was instantly shocked.

After all, they were just children. Though their hobby was adventure and they wanted to be detectives, when a real person died right in front of them, they felt a wave of fear as kids.

Especially the little girl, who had just gone through a whirlwind of emotions, let out a sharp scream again.

"Don't scream yet, Ayumi. There's someone else here!"

The calmest of them, Kudo Shinichi, warily scanned the surroundings. Hearing the girl's scream, he quickly warned.

At the words of Kudo Shinichi, who went by the alias Conan, the three troublemakers forced themselves to calm down.

They were still tied up and couldn't move. If the person hiding in the shadows wanted to harm them, they'd have no hope at all.

The kids' bodies trembled with fear. Compared to being held at gunpoint earlier, this strange silence and the unknown brought them far more unease and terror.

The eerie stillness lasted for several minutes. Kudo Shinichi, his body drenched in cold sweat, raced through his thoughts.

'Who killed them? The ability to take lives with throwing knives in an instant is definitely not something an ordinary person could do.'

'Is it a killer here for a turf war? Or someone else?'

Though Kudo Shinichi was only a high school student, the knowledge in his mind far surpassed that of ordinary people, especially regarding the underworld that most didn't know about.

'But if it's someone from that side, why did they only kill the robbers and not harm us? Just for the money?'

Kudo Shinichi couldn't figure it out.

But one thing was certain: the person hiding in the shadows didn't seem to want to hurt them.

And from the silence in the corridor, they were likely still hiding somewhere nearby, probably wanting these troublesome kids to leave so they wouldn't see their face.

If that was the case...

At this point, Kudo Shinichi had no other choice.

The ropes binding them were very strong, and with their strength as children, they couldn't break free.

"Listen, Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, Genta!" Kudo Shinichi, pinning his hopes on that idea, whispered to his classmates. "We can't be sure the person in the shadows is a good guy, but our only option now is to hope they'll help us."

Asking a criminal for help was something Kudo Shinichi never imagined he'd do, but if they didn't seize this chance, who knew if the person in the shadows might decide they were in the way and kill them too?

At least for now, Shinichi was relieved that the person hadn't harmed them yet.

"But what should we do?"

Hearing Mitsuhiko's question, Kudo Shinichi looked at Ayumi.

07 First, Scare Him

These elementary school students, calling themselves the Junior Detective League, were a bit bratty, but compared to their peers, they were undoubtedly much smarter.

Even so, it didn't change Kurumi's complete lack of fondness for them.

Not quite dislike, but definitely not likable.

In the shadows.

Kurumi pulled a thin piece from her pocket, the size of a five-cent coin and the same color as her skin, and stuck it to her throat.

This was a piece of black tech she'd exchanged from the system shop long ago. This tiny gadget, once attached to the throat, was hard to notice, and more importantly, it could mimic any voice you wanted.

And because of its unique function, its price far exceeded the weapons in the shop that had decent killing power.

Thinking over the voice she wanted in her mind, Kurumi controlled King Crimson outside and said coldly, "I know what you're planning."

A stern male voice came from King Crimson's mouth.

On the other side, hearing the man's voice, Shinichi's heart skipped a beat, sensing something was off.

"You really are clever, little brat." Kurumi chose to speak to them in the voice of Diavolo, the master of King Crimson from JOJO: "In your eyes, because I chose to take out those scumbags the moment they tried to kill you, you started to think that, to some extent, I wouldn't hurt you. Am I right?"

Hearing the man's icy words, the brats shivered without exception.

The stranger's words were exactly what Conan had quietly told them earlier—that this man didn't seem cold-blooded enough to kill children.

And they had believed that too.

"What do we do, Conan?" With their thoughts laid bare, the children, who had just begun to feel a glimmer of hope, started second-guessing themselves.

So, they all turned their gazes to the calmest among them, Conan.

"But, Uncle, you still haven't killed us right now, have you?" Unlike the flustered brats, Conan flashed a confident smile after hearing the man's words.

He had already confirmed that the man behind them wouldn't hurt them.

"Oh?" Kurumi asked with interest: "You're that sure?"

Truth be told, Kurumi really wanted to walk over and see the brats scared out of their wits, but unfortunately, her King Crimson couldn't reach that far.

Quietly mouthing 'don't say a word' to the elementary school kids beside him, Conan continued: "Uncle, look, the robbers' gold coins are right here. If you untie our ropes, we'll leave here without looking back, and these gold coins will be yours. How about it?"

Though making such a deal with a criminal made Conan feel both stifled and furious, to protect himself and the children, he, Kudo Shinichi, had to set aside his pride as a detective and his sense of justice to negotiate with this man.

After all, there was an old saying: a wise man adapts to circumstances!

There was no shame in this!

As his words fell, the surrounding atmosphere fell into silence.

The brats waited anxiously for the man's answer.

Agree.

Then they'd scram quickly and call the police.

Disagree.

Then they'd just have to wait for death.

"Hahaha!"

The man's laughter broke the deathly silence.

"Fine, I can let you go. After all, I won't stain my hands with a child's blood." Though he said this, Kurumi had never intended to hurt them from the start.

Hearing the man's answer, Conan and the others finally let out a long sigh of relief.

Controlling King Crimson to throw another flying knife and cut the knot of the rope, Kurumi said viciously: "Alright, I've cut the rope tying you to the pillar. Stay like this and leave here. Remember, don't let me see any funny business!"

······

Watching the brats scurry away faster than rabbits, Kurumi waited until she confirmed they had indeed run off without looking back before emerging from the darkness.

Walking over to the several bags full of coins lying on the ground, Kurumi had King Crimson grab them all with one big hand and left the dark, abandoned building through another exit.

Meanwhile, the brats who had just escaped death's door rushed to a nearby police box. When the officers on duty saw the kids still tied together with rope and heard them chattering about what had just happened nearby, the police didn't hesitate to report the situation to their superiors and had colleagues untie the ropes from Conan and the others.

'Damn it! I never thought I'd make a deal with a criminal like this!' The sense of justice in his heart made Conan seethe with indignation.

But there was no helping it. In that situation, the fact that the strange man only wanted money and didn't hurt them was already the greatest stroke of luck. And he was sure that by the time the police got there, they'd only find the three robbers' bodies.

As for that man...

Conan was certain he was no ordinary person.

With the precision and power of those flying knives, far beyond what any normal person could achieve, this wasn't something a run-of-the-mill gangster or anyone could pull off.

'Damn it. First those Black Organization guys who turned me into this, then a monster like this. When did Tokyo become like this?'

Meanwhile, unlike the conflicted Conan, Kurumi was in a fantastic mood.

In one night, she had not only earned the two hundred points for completing the mission but also left those brats with a psychological scar they'd remember for life.

At the meeting point she had arranged with the lower-level field operatives of the Organization, Kurumi strolled leisurely down the street and spotted a black car not far away, along with two men in black suits smoking beside it.

Using the arm of King Crimson attached to her left hand to carry the bags, from the outside, since the Stand was invisible, Kurumi looked like she was effortlessly hauling several dozen pounds of bags.

Completely at odds with her delicate appearance.

"Lady Bloody Mary, we are the operatives Lady Vermouth arranged to receive the goods here."

When Kurumi approached the two, the field operatives, who already knew what she looked like, immediately greeted her respectfully.

"May I ask, the goods..."

Originally, these two Organization members thought Kurumi would lead them to pick up the 'goods,' believing that a woman like her couldn't possibly carry bags full of gold coins alone.

But when Kurumi casually tossed the several tied-up bags of coins in front of them, the heavy thud of them hitting the ground left the two frozen in place.

Ignoring them, Kurumi spat out the gum she was chewing and said: "The stuff's right here. Just find a way to turn it into cash."

The Organization didn't care about the collectible value of these gold coins—they weren't collectors.

So, rather than letting these coins sit uselessly in a warehouse, it was more practical to take them to the black market, find a collector willing to pay the highest price, and turn them into cash.

08 Vermouth Is My Dearest~ Big Sister!

That night, in a great mood after completing her mission, Kurumi returned home.

Vermouth turned on the living room light, and Kurumi-chan swiftly stripped down to her underwear, then sprawled out carelessly on the soft sofa, letting her delicate, fair skin be exposed to the air.

For Kurumi-chan, since she was living alone here anyway, she could dress however she wanted on a daily basis without a care.

Sometimes, when summer came and the heat annoyed her, Kurumi-chan would even just wear an oversized T-shirt and lie on the sofa, idly watching the old-fashioned TV and the equally boring programs on it.

There was no helping it—the era Kurumi-chan was in now was still the mid-90s, and technology was far from reaching the heights it once had.

Her phone was a personal handset, useless except for a couple of outdated little games.

As for computers and the internet?

Although Kurumi-chan had seen some games online, as a player used to all kinds of polished masterpieces, she really couldn't accept those games with crude, rough graphics.

So, on ordinary days when she had no missions and nothing to do at home, Kurumi-chan could only lie in bed staring at the ceiling or watch boring TV shows to pass the time.

Of course, possessing the appearance of her favorite beautiful girl, Kurumi-chan had also indulged quite a bit in those blush-inducing, thrilling, and pleasurable games.

And even more excitingly, Kurumi-chan had discovered another use for Stands.

As for what that use was...

~Heh~

King Crimson refused to say more.

Listening to the clichéd, cheesy TV drama, Kurumi-chan picked up her phone and dialed Vermouth's number without caring about the time difference between them.

After waiting a short while, the call connected.

"Kurumi-chan, you did a wonderful job!"

On the other end of the line, Vermouth, who had already learned from her subordinates that Kurumi-chan had obtained the gold coin, praised her in that same lazy, seductive tone.

Vermouth absolutely adored Kurumi-chan.