BONUS CHAPTER#3
Vermouth took a moment to digest the two phone calls she'd just made, organizing her thoughts.
—Cool Guy was still alive, just bite-sized now thanks to APTX4869. And Ouzo knew. Not only that—he was protecting him. Shielding this supposedly "dead" detective while he darted around solving cases like nothing happened.
A "failed assassination" and a "target who not only survived but also de-aged" were two very different beasts.
The former could be chalked up to Ouzo thinking something like, "Even if Shinichi Kudo's alive, he's useless against the organization by himself," and letting him go out of nostalgia.
But this? This went way beyond nostalgia.
Vermouth stood in silence for a beat. No cadre loyal to the organization would hide something this critical…
So this so-called "promising talent" Gin kept raving about—turns out he had a whole closet full of skeletons. Poor Gin. His taste in people was somehow even worse than his fashion sense.
Still… childhood friendship? Was it really that strong?
Vermouth didn't recall Cool Guy and Jiangxia being that close back in the day. Something must have changed when she wasn't looking.
A new thread of curiosity unfurled in her mind.
Until now, she'd claimed to be investigating Ouzo, but in reality, all her energy had been spent chasing the ghost of Shinichi Kudo. Her understanding of "Jiangxia Tongzhi" had been strictly collateral.
That was about to change.
She wiped the last two call records from Jiangxia's phone, stepped out of the bathroom, pried open the connecting door, and tossed the device back inside the room like a casual grenade.
Inside, Ouzo was still sprawled on the bed, completely out cold.
Vermouth left without a sound.
The two parent ghosts clinging to Jiangxia's legs watched her go, quietly exhaling a sigh of relief.
…
The elevator began its slow descent, carrying Vermouth further and further away from Jiangxia—and his ghosts.
Her relaxed brow twitched, then furrowed again.
She scowled.
Seriously, she'd had way too much to drink.
Just because Ouzo seemed friendly with Cool Guy and Angel, was that really a reason to let him stay so close?
This was someone neck-deep in the organization. Someone Gin and Vodka described as… mentally unique.
For all she knew, Ouzo's reason for protecting Shinichi Kudo might have nothing to do with friendship.
Maybe he just found the idea of "a grown man shrinking" fascinating and wanted a front-row seat.
Maybe the real thrill came from secretly doing things behind the organization's back.
—How else could she explain why Jiangxia, who'd barely interacted with Shinichi as a kid, suddenly became his loyal guardian post-shrinkage?
What if, to Ouzo, Cool Guy was just a particularly rare collector's item?
And if that "toy" ever came close to being exposed—threatening him in the process—what was to stop him from smashing it to pieces and leaving behind just enough remains to fulfill the "Kudo is dead" narrative he kept repeating?
That image chilled Vermouth. Especially when paired with the memory of her own antics just moments ago—using Ouzo's phone to call Ran Mouri and Shinichi Kudo, poking and prodding both with their own voices like she was doing voiceover improv.
…Hadn't she just triggered every single condition in that worst-case assassination scenario she'd imagined?
A cold sweat trickled down her back.
She was starting to feel a bit like a typical gullible woman.
How had she ever mistaken Ouzo for a harmless high schooler?
That was someone even Gin found hard to handle.
The elevator dinged open on the first floor.
Vermouth stood there, unmoving.
The front desk clerk blinked at her in confusion.
She gritted her teeth, slapped the button, and sent herself straight back to Jiangxia's floor.
—She couldn't leave a potential threat like this lying around.
While Ouzo was still drunk, she'd go back and finish him off.
…Of course, everything she'd just thought was speculation. Maybe Ouzo did see Shinichi Kudo as a friend.
Or maybe he saw him as a really cool ant farm.
Either way, Vermouth wasn't going to gamble Angel's or Cool Guy's life on it.
It wasn't exactly fair to Jiangxia.
But she had things she couldn't afford to lose.
The elevator began to rise again, its doors sliding shut with a faint ding.
Vermouth pressed her fingers to her temples, trying to sharpen her resolve.
"…Tch."
The fact that the idea of killing Ouzo made her hesitate?
Yeah. She'd clearly been out of the organization's business for too long.
She was getting soft.
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 31 - 90 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 20/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:3/10*