An Outlaw in Conan's World, Tokisaki Kurumi

Especially Kudo Shinichi, whom Vermouth regarded so highly.

Just as the mustached robber slowly curled his index finger around the trigger, King Crimson moved.

Three pitch-black throwing knives flew from King Crimson's hand like bullets fired from a gun, swiftly and precisely piercing the foreheads of the three robbers. They did not even make a sound before the blades buried themselves in their brains.

With the brains controlling their bodies destroyed, the three lifeless men collapsed to the ground without a word.

In front of them, the children, who had shut their eyes in despair and given up as death drew near, heard bodies hit the floor and pistols clatter to the ground. Only then did they open their tear-reddened eyes—all except Kudo Shinichi.

"What happened? Were we saved?"

"They're dead? How?"

Looking at the three robbers sprawled on the ground, the children who had narrowly escaped death were ecstatic with shock and joy.

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

Unlike them, Kudo Shinichi's delighted expression was mixed with surprise.

Noticing the knife handle embedded in the forehead of the mustached man before him, he immediately realized that someone mysterious had to be hiding in the darkness.

"Conan, we're saved!" The only girl among the children had not realized that the danger had not truly passed. With tears streaming down her face, she happily spoke to the shrunken Kudo Shinichi.

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

Since his body was still tied up with rope, the freckled boy could only crane his neck toward the corpse in front of him. He also noticed the black knife handle in the man's forehead.

"Huh?! They're dead?"

Hearing the boy's words, the chubby child, who could rival a sumo wrestler in size, instantly turned pale.

At the end of the day, they were only children. They liked adventure and wanted to become detectives, but when a living person truly died before their eyes, they were still frightened.

Especially the little girl. After everything she had just gone through, she immediately let out another piercing scream.

"Stop screaming, Ayumi. There's someone else here!"

The calmest one, Kudo Shinichi, scanned the surroundings uncertainly. Upon hearing the girl scream, he hurriedly warned her.

Hearing Kudo Shinichi, who was using the alias Conan, the three little troublemakers finally forced themselves to calm down.

They were still tied together and unable to move. If the person hiding in the dark wanted to harm them now, they would truly have no hope at all.

Their bodies still trembled in fear. Compared to having guns pointed at them earlier, the strange silence and uncertainty now felt even more unsettling and terrifying.

The eerie silence lasted several minutes. Kudo Shinichi's body was already drenched in cold sweat as his brain raced.

Who exactly killed them? Killing people almost instantly with throwing knives isn't something an ordinary person could do.

Was it a hitman here to rob the robbers? Or someone else?

Though Kudo Shinichi was only a high school student, the knowledge in his mind far surpassed that of ordinary people—especially his knowledge of the underworld that ordinary people knew nothing about.

But if he's from that side, why did he only kill the robbers and not hurt us? Was it simply for the money?

Kudo Shinichi could not figure it out.

But one thing was certain: the person hiding in the darkness did not seem to want to harm them.

And judging from the silence in the corridor, the other party should still be hiding somewhere nearby. He probably wanted these troublesome children to leave so that they would not see what he looked like.

If that was really the case...

At this point, Kudo Shinichi had no other choice.

The ropes binding them were extremely sturdy. With the strength of a few children alone, they could not possibly break free.

"Listen, Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, Genta!" Placing his hopes on that possibility, Kudo Shinichi quietly said to his classmates beside him, "We can't be sure that the person hiding in the dark is a good person, but our only option now is to hope that he can help us."

Asking a criminal for help was something Kudo Shinichi had never imagined doing. But if they did not seize this chance, who knew whether the person hiding in the dark would decide they were a nuisance and kill them too?

At least for now, Shinichi could take comfort in the fact that the man had not harmed them yet.

"But what are we supposed to do?"

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

First, Scare Him a Little

Although these elementary school students who called themselves the Junior Detective League were a little bratty, they were undoubtedly much smarter than children their age.

Even so, it did not change the fact that Kurumi had no favorable impression of them whatsoever.

It was not quite hatred, but she simply could not bring herself to like them.

In the darkness.

Kurumi took a thin, coin-sized piece the same color as her skin from her pocket and stuck it to her throat.

This was a high-tech item Kurumi had exchanged from the system shop long ago. Once attached to the throat, this tiny gadget was not only difficult to detect, but more importantly, it could imitate the voice of anyone she wanted.

And because of the voice changer's unique function, it cost far more than the weapons in the shop that possessed decent destructive power.

After considering the voice she wanted, 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, Shinichi's heart skipped a beat when he heard the man's voice. He had a bad feeling.

"You really are clever, brat." Kurumi chose the voice of Diavolo, King Crimson's owner from JOJO, to speak with them. "In your eyes, because I dealt with those pieces of trash the instant they tried to kill you, you started to believe that, to some extent, I wouldn't hurt you. Am I right?"

Hearing the man's icy words, the little troublemakers all shuddered.

What the unfamiliar man said was exactly what Conan had just quietly told them: that this man was not cold-blooded enough to kill children.

And that was what they thought too.

"What do we do, Conan?" Their thoughts having been exposed, the children whose hopes had just risen began to panic again.

So, they all looked toward Conan, the calmest person there.

"But, mister, you really haven't killed us yet!" Unlike the flustered little troublemakers, Conan revealed a confident smile after hearing the man's words.

He had already determined that the man behind them would not harm them.

"Oh?" Kurumi asked with interest. "You're that confident?"

Kurumi really wanted to walk over and see these little brats scared out of their wits, but unfortunately, her King Crimson could not move that far away.

Quietly mouthing "Don't speak" to the elementary school students beside him, Conan continued, "Mister, the robbers' gold coins are right here. As long as you untie us, we'll leave without looking back, and the gold coins will be yours. How about it?"

Although making such a deal with a criminal left Conan deeply frustrated and angry, to preserve his own life and the lives of these children, Kudo Shinichi could only set aside his dignity as a detective and his pride in justice to make this deal.

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

There was nothing shameful about it!

Once he finished speaking, silence fell over the area.

The little troublemakers waited anxiously for the man's reply.

If he agreed.

They would leave immediately, then call the police.

If he refused.

They could only wait to die.

"Hahaha!"

The man's laughter shattered the deathly silence.

"Fine. I can let you go. After all, I won't stain my hands with the blood of children." Though she said that, Kurumi had never intended to hurt them from the beginning.

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

Controlling King Crimson, Kurumi threw another knife and sliced through the knot in the rope. Then she said viciously, "All right, I've cut the rope binding you to the pillar. Leave while you're still tied together like that, and remember—don't let me see you try anything."

Watching the little brats dart away faster than rabbits, Kurumi only emerged from the darkness after confirming that they had indeed fled without looking back.

She walked over to the several bulging bags on the ground, had King Crimson carry them in one large hand, and left the dark abandoned building through another exit.

The little troublemakers, who had just escaped death's door, hurried to a nearby police box. When the officers on duty saw that the children were still tied together and heard them chatter about what had just happened nearby, they immediately reported the situation to their superiors and had their colleagues untie Conan and the others.

Damn it! I never thought there'd be a day when I'd make a deal like that with a criminal! Conan's sense of justice left him deeply indignant.

But there was nothing he could do. In that situation, the unfamiliar man seeking only money and not harming them was already the greatest stroke of luck. And Conan was certain that by the time the police got there, they would find only the corpses of the three robbers.

As for that man...

Conan was certain that he was no ordinary figure.

With just the accuracy and power of those throwing knives, this was not something an ordinary gang member—or anyone ordinary—could accomplish.

Damn it. First there was the Black Organization that turned me into this, and now monsters like this. Since when did Tokyo become like this?

At the same time, unlike the conflicted Conan, Kurumi was in an extraordinarily good mood.

In one night, she had not only earned two hundred points for completing the mission, but also left those little brats with a lifelong psychological scar.

At the meeting place she had arranged with the Organization's low-level field agents, Kurumi strolled down the street and spotted a black sedan in the distance, along with two men in black smoking beside it.

King Crimson's arm, attached to her left hand, carried the bags. Since the Stand could not be seen from the outside, Kurumi appeared to be effortlessly carrying bags weighing dozens of pounds.

It was completely at odds with her delicate appearance.

"Lady Bloody Mary, we were sent by Lady Vermouth to receive the goods."

When Kurumi approached, the field agents, who had long known what she looked like, immediately stepped forward respectfully.

"May we ask where the goods..."

Originally, the two Organization members thought Kurumi had come to lead them to the "goods," because they did not believe a woman like her could carry bags containing so many gold coins by herself.

However, when Kurumi casually tossed several tightly tied bags of gold coins before them, the heavy thuds as they struck the ground left the two men frozen in place.

Ignoring them, Kurumi spat out the gum she had been chewing and said, "The goods are here. Just find a way to exchange them for cash."

The Organization did not care how valuable these gold coins were as collectibles. After all, they were not collectors.

So rather than letting the coins sit uselessly in a warehouse, it was more practical to take them to the black market and sell them to the collector willing to offer the highest price.

Vermouth Is My Dearest Big Sis!

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

After turning on the living room lights, Kurumi swiftly stripped down to her underwear and sprawled carelessly across the soft sofa, leaving her delicate, fair skin exposed to the air.

As far as Kurumi was concerned, she lived alone here anyway, so she could wear whatever she wanted.

Sometimes in summer, when she found the weather too hot, Kurumi would wear nothing but an oversized T-shirt while lying on the sofa, boredly watching equally boring programs on an old-fashioned television.

There was no helping it. The era Kurumi was in was still the nineties, and technology had not yet reached anything close to its former heights.

Cell phones were little more than pagers. Apart from one or two primitive little games, they were utterly useless.

As for computers and the internet?

Although Kurumi had seen some games online, as someone used to playing all kinds of polished masterpieces, she simply could not accept those crude games with their rough graphics.

So when she had no missions and nothing to do at home, Kurumi could only lie in bed spacing out or watch boring television programs to pass the time.

Of course, possessing the appearance of her favorite type of beautiful girl, Kurumi had also played quite a few of those blush-inducing, heart-pounding, comfortable, and exciting games.

And even more excitingly, Kurumi had discovered another use for her Stand.

As for what that use was...

~Eek~

King Crimson said it did not wish to elaborate.

While listening to the cliché, tacky drama playing on the television, Kurumi picked up her phone and called Vermouth without caring in the slightest about the time difference between them.

After waiting a little 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 had obtained the gold coins, still praised her in that lazy, seductive tone.

Vermouth absolutely adored Kurumi.