Yesterday when Conan returned, he naturally had a large chunk of his hair scorched by a bullet, which made Professor Agasa's heart race with fear. The bullet had grazed almost right past his scalp—just one centimeter away, and Conan's clever little head would have been gone.
There was no way he could return to the Mouri Detective Agency looking like that, so he urgently asked Professor Agasa to help him trim his hair. They cut off the burnt parts and tried to style it to make it look like he had just gotten a haircut, hoping to fool those around him, especially Ran.
Unfortunately, Professor Agasa was an inventor and scientist, not a craftsman at all. After cutting off the scorched sections, he had no idea how to proceed further.
So, after discussing with Ai Haibara, they simply took clippers and gave someone a buzz cut. Clean and neat, making it look exactly like he had just come out of a barbershop.
The plan worked, and it was perfect. But…
"Hahahaha, I can't take it…" Qianben Xixi laughed until her stomach hurt.
Others might have just been momentarily stunned and found it a bit amusing when they saw Conan suddenly sporting a buzz cut. But Qianben Xixi was different—she had seen Detective Boy before, and now, suddenly seeing him like this, the shock was just… hahahaha.
But she quickly realized that this had happened… all because of her butterfly effect.
It seemed to be her masterpiece from last night. She had seriously reflected on it—in the heat of the moment, she hadn't thought that much, only focusing on completing the Organization's mission while ensuring Conan's safety. So she had shot right along his scalp… after all, she couldn't slack off too obviously.
"Hahaha, I told you earlier, Conan's new hairstyle is too ugly." As if caught up in someone's infectious laughter, little Mitsuhiko couldn't help but clutch his stomach and laugh out loud. Even Ayumi secretly covered her mouth and giggled.
"Hey, hey, hey, that's enough from all of you," Conan retorted with a half-moon eye. "Buzz cuts are great. What's wrong with a buzz cut, right, Genta?"
Conan turned to seek support from his teammate, as Genta had always sported a crew cut, which was similar to a buzz cut.
"Buzz cuts are fine," Genta thought seriously and said, "but Conan, you with a buzz cut is really… kind of funny."
Conan: …
Whose side are you on?!
He felt his heart stabbed once again. Why "again"? Because he had already been stabbed several times.
The worst part was that even Ran said his buzz cut looked strange, adding, "It's cute, but don't get it cut like this again."
Ahhh, was it his choice to get it cut? Damn that Sniper!
"Alright, it's actually not that bad. It's just a bit hard to get used to at first," Qianben Xixi held back her laughter but couldn't resist patting Conan's little head. It was fluffy and felt quite nice.
"I'd be a fool to believe you," Conan grumbled, pushing away the hand that kept taking advantage of him. Only Ran was allowed to touch his head.
"Alright, alright, you guys have fun. I'm getting ready to leave. Oh, by the way…" Qianben Xixi took out the bento box in her hand and said to Conan, "I brought some breakfast for the Professor and Haibara, but I didn't know you'd be here, so there are only two portions. Come by my shop another day to eat."
"Got it, go ahead." Conan took the bento and waved impatiently, "I'll let them know, don't worry."
Qianben Xixi nodded, then bid farewell to the children and left alone.
"You guys can play some games if you want." Conan pointed to the items in his hand. "I'll go deliver these to Professor Agasa and Haibara first."
"Do you want me to come with you, Conan?" Ayumi asked.
"No need, I'll be right back." Conan said as he carried the bento downstairs.
He arrived at Haibara's room and knocked on the door. "Sister Natsuya brought bento, do you want some?"
Ai Haibara sat on the floor hugging her knees, motionless.
"Why didn't you come out earlier?" Conan walked in curiously. "Is your wound hurting again?"
Although someone had been slacking off and assisting yesterday, affecting Gin's performance, Haibara still took a bullet to the shoulder. Fortunately, it wasn't serious and would heal quickly.
Only when Conan approached did Haibara mumble, "No."
"Then what's wrong?" Conan was puzzled but suddenly thought of something and quickly asked, "Is there an Organization member nearby?"
"Not exactly." Ai Haibara still sat on the floor with her arms wrapped around herself. "Maybe I'm just being sensitive. The moment she came in, I had that feeling of facing the Organization, but it wasn't strong and disappeared quickly. I don't know either…"
"You mean Sister Natsuya?" Conan was surprised but then sighed helplessly. "Hey, last time when I said she was suspicious, didn't you say there was no Organization feeling at all and mocked me for being paranoid? That was you, right?"
Ai Haibara: "…"
"Alright, if she really were from that Organization, we would have been discovered long ago." Conan reassured her. "We made it through yesterday's danger unscathed, and besides, I'm here."
"Yeah." Ai Haibara nodded firmly, finally showing a smile.
…
Qianben Xixi, who had already left, had no idea she was once again being suspected by the Red Side. Even if she knew, she wouldn't be too surprised.
Haibara's Organization radar was indeed sharp. Back when she didn't know she was an Organization member herself, she truly treated Organization activities like school club events and saw her superior Gin as a senior…
Well, let's ignore that dark history.
Now that she knew she was a bottle of "wine" and had just participated in yesterday's operation, she still carried a faint trace of killing intent. It was only natural for Haibara to sense it.
After leaving Professor Agasa's house, Qianben Xixi headed straight to a music store in Mihana Town's Third District.
As for why she was going, it wasn't because she wanted to buy an instrument. Rum had stored a gun for her at this music store, and she was now going to retrieve it to avoid any complications.
"Hello, I'm here to pick up an instrument." Qianben Xixi entered the store and directly stated the agreed-upon content from the email. "It's a cello, custom-made by hand in Italy."
"Of course, please wait a moment." The store clerk opened his registration book. "May I have your name?"
"Qianben Xixi."
"Alright, found it." The clerk quickly located the name and confirmed. "Please wait here while I retrieve it from the back room. Feel free to rest for a bit."
"Thank you." Qianben Xixi nodded and glanced around the store. Noticing a sofa seat beneath a row of guitars hanging by the window, she walked over, sat down, and began playing on her phone.
Just as she was about to take out her phone from her pocket to send an email to Rum, the young man from the inner room suddenly let out a scream, followed by the clattering sound of goods falling to the ground.
"D-dead… someone's dead…" The shop assistant stumbled out of the inner room, shouting in a trembling voice.
Qianben Xixi: …
What's going on? Another incident? Could it be that she had also been infected with Conan's incident-prone constitution…
Just as Qianben Xixi was about to stand up to check, she saw a young elementary school student with a crew cut rush in from outside, shouting as he ran, "What happened?"
Seeing Conan enter, the shop assistant didn’t care that he was just a child and immediately began babbling incoherently.
In summary, someone had died inside, the cause of death being String Throat Slitting, and the scene was gruesome.
"Got it, call the police right away!" After saying this, Conan felt that the panicked shop assistant was useless, so he turned and shouted to the others in the shop. "Call the police!"
Xia·one of the others in the shop·xi: …
"I know, I’ve already called the police," Qianben Xixi said. She had already reported it to the police and sent an email to Rum informing him of the situation. If the gun were taken as evidence to the police station, it would be very troublesome.
Just as Conan was about to nod in satisfaction and leave to examine the body, he suddenly froze. Wait, this voice sounded familiar. He turned around in surprise.
"What are you doing here?"
"To pick up the violin," Qianben Xixi replied with a restrained and elegant smile. "So, why are you here?"
Didn’t you say you were going camping today? Why are we still running into each other!
At that moment, her phone vibrated, and a new email popped up.
Thinking it was a reply from Rum, Xiaxi quickly opened it, only to find it was from Gin.
【Need help? —Gin】
See, even her boss could sense the despair she was feeling right now.
But to prevent the situation from spiraling out of control, Qianben Xixi politely declined, tearfully writing: 【Don’t worry, I can handle it. —Asti】
However, moved by the gesture, she thought about her boss’s injuries from yesterday and added: 【Take care of yourself, rest well, and don’t overwork. —Asti】
Gin, upon receiving the email: …