The next morning, Ran awoke feeling a little shy and guilty. Ryuji had already gotten up and prepared breakfast for her.
Sitting at the table, breathing in the aroma of the meal, Ran felt awkward and self-conscious. By all rights, she should have been the one cooking but no matter how she looked at it, Ryuji's skills were far superior.
And when she saw the bowl of red bean rice he served her… she couldn't help but cover her face.
"Um… thank you."
Ryuji chuckled softly and placed a bowl of red bean rice in front of himself. But then he spoke, and his words pierced Ran's heart straight through.
"So, today… should we go meet my mother-in-law and father-in-law?"
"Yes! N… no…"
Ran felt a wave of confusion. She was nervous about her parents knowing that she and Ryuji had already slept together and that they were planning to marry. After all, she had known him less than a week. No matter how she looked at it, it was far too sudden.
The thought made her even shyer. She covered her face with her hands and spoke in a soft, gentle voice.
"I... I want to tell my parents later, when the time is right. And Ryuji, I can't stay here tonight. My parents will worry."
When she said this she felt a little uneasy because she knew what Ryuji wanted, but seeing Misato's annoyed expression beside them, made her less worried about his needs.
To Ran, it looked like Misato might be Ryuji's woman.
Ryuji smiled softly. Ran's reaction made it clear she was different from Erina: she was more like an ordinary girl... although an ordinary girl definitely did not have fighting powers like her.
"Alright. Tell me when you're ready. I can come anytime. Also... this weekend, let's shop for a ring or something."
Ran immediately bowed her head and answered softly.
"Okay."
After she agreed, the three of them began to eat, but the table atmosphere stayed awkward... because Misato kept giving Ryuji contemptuous looks that spoiled the mood.
When Ryuji was about to walk Ran to school, she suddenly received a phone call from Eri. She hurried down the street in a panic and climbed into her mother's car without letting Ryuji follow.
Clearly, she still feared her mother finding out.
Ryuji watched as Eri drove Ran away and shook his head.
"She's still a little girl, after all."
As soon as he finished his comment, a sarcastic voice cut in.
"Yeah, especially since this little girl fell into the hands of a beast…"
Misato sighed, waved, and waved for a taxi.
"If you have time, you should get a driver's license. It's a hassle to forge one... I'm too lazy. Throw in some cash and you can have one in a month… or just buy a bike or a scooter."
She truly didn't want to bother with the trouble of forging documents; she also didn't know if Ryuji had ever driven a car, so getting him a real license seemed the safest option.
"All right," Ryuji replied.
They would wait for the other world power to show itself or for Misato to get into the police system and dig through files.
Although Ryuji still felt this plan wasn't all that reliable, the truth was that the twisted world power was just too troublesome to deal with. And given Misato's strength, this was the only method available to her... the most efficient one she could pull off.
But for him, things didn't have to be this way.
"It's about time to send the Black Organization to hell."
Ryuji had no intention of letting that menace linger much longer. He planned to test it with Miyano Akemi and Miyano Shiho first. If neither of them worked, then he'd go straight to Conan and expose his identity as Shinichi Kudo.
And he had to act quickly. The moment Shinichi found out that Ryuji had taken Ran away, he might not care all that much but he definitely wouldn't like it.
Ryuji wasn't sure whether Shinichi truly loved Ran, though he cared for her deeply. Ryuji knew very well that stealing Ran from him was the kind of move guaranteed to earn him hatred.
But…
"Looks like Conan really will have to grow up all over again in this life…"
In the past, there might've been a chance of him turning back with Haibara Ai's research. But now, that seemed unlikely.
If Ryuji acted fast enough, Shiho might not even realize her sister was already considered dead by the Organization.
"Alright then, time to move."
Ryuji smiled at this thought and then glanced toward the surveillance cameras.
He'd taken note of their positions while wandering the streets yesterday. Now, that knowledge would come in handy.
The plan was simple: disguise himself completely, steal a car from a local gang, bring Akemi along to track down Shiho, then use the two of them to track members of the Black Organization in Japan or Gin himself.
If the Miyano sisters couldn't make use of the compass, he'd move on to Shinichi.
And if Shinichi failed as well…
"Then I'll just sit back and wait."
Ryuji figured there wasn't much else he could do.
Ryuji let out a short laugh. Without lifting a finger or even glancing at the nearest security camera, a chunk of ice slammed into it, shattering the lens in an instant.
After that, he quickly suited up in his professional disguise: a baseball cap, sunglasses, mask, height-boosting shoes, two layers of work gloves, and a hooded jacket...he looked the part.
Then he outfitted a bewildered Akemi with the same sort of disguise before leading her out the door.
As for finding a gang to rob…
That was easy enough. Just one street over, there was a securities trading company run by a yakuza group called the Takemura Clan, supposedly connected to the Yamaguchi-gumi.
Not that Ryuji cared about the details. He only needed to rob them.
Ryuji slipped into their office under the cover of his Observation Haki. Without anyone even realizing he was there, he struck... leaving the gangsters groaning on the floor. In the chaos, he grabbed what he wanted, then hijacked a Honda parked out front.
With Akemi in tow, he sped onto the main road.
"Take this."
Ryuji pulled his pocket watch out of thin air and shoved it into Akemi's hands. At the same time, he asked her,
"Do you have any family left?"
Akemi had no idea what he was doing, but she instinctively chose to lie.
"No. It's just me."
But the moment the words left her lips, the compass needle jerked sharply in a fixed direction... then froze in place.
"Lying isn't a very good habit."
Ryuji chuckled, snatched the compass back before Akemi realized what was happening, and immediately turned the wheel toward that direction.
An driving for an hour, he pressed the compass back into her hands.
"Your little sister must be quite the beauty, right?"
The words had barely left his mouth when the compass in Akemi's hands began to spin wildly again, its needle locking onto a new direction.
Ryuji chuckled, glanced down at the map in his hands, adjusted course slightly, and pushed the car harder. He racked up several traffic tickets along the way and nearly got pulled over by the police.
Just as he was about to say something to Akemi, he groaned in frustration.
"Not knowing the traffic rules here is such a pain…"
Still, despite his complaint, Ryuji drove without hesitation.
By now, Akemi had realized something was wrong. Staring in shock at the compass, she instantly understood... it could expose her sister's location.
She wasn't stupid. She knew where some of the Organization's strongholds were.
"Damn it!"
She tried desperately not to think about her sister, but it was impossible. The harder she resisted, the more clearly the compass pointed toward Shiho.
With a grim resolve, she raised her hand to hurl the compass out the window but before she could, streams of water coiled tightly around her arms and legs, freezing her mid-motion.
"Don't play games with me. I can still reunite you with your sister."
Ryuji's voice was calm but sharp as he hummed, keeping his eyes on the compass while driving onward.
Not long after, he followed the compass and arrived in front of a building.
Akemi was useless now, so he didn't bother taking her along. Instead, he bound her with rope, gagged her, stuffed her into a sack, and tossed her into the trunk.
For good measure, he slipped her a couple of sleeping pills and pressed a chloroform-soaked cloth over her mouth and nose.
Much more effective.
"Alright then… time to stretch my legs."
Ryuji rolled his shoulders, loosening his neck. His Observation Haki was weaker in this world, but it was still enough. He grabbed the two handguns he'd taken from the yakuza and strode toward the building without hesitation.
It couldn't be helped... heavy weapons had all been left behind in Hong Kong. After all, sneaking firearms onto a plane without insider help was impossible.
The only exception was Misato, who somehow always managed to get her hands on firearms from the most mysterious places.
The moment he stepped through the entrance, several guards spotted him. At the sight of his suspicious disguise, their hands instinctively went to their waists.
That was all Ryuji needed to know, these weren't ordinary guards.
Ordinary security guards didn't carry guns.
"Get out of here!"
When Ryuji ignored their warning, the guards instantly drew their pistols aimed at his chest and started shooting.
Ryuji had no reason to hold back anymore. As he dodged, he fired back, two bullets piercing clean through two men's skulls.
He didn't let his guard down. Rolling across the floor, he narrowly avoided two sniper rounds that ripped through the spot he'd just been in.
"Ten stories up in the building across the street… and sixth floor in this one."
Ryuji had sensed their positions from the very start. Ryuji raised his pistols and fired, shattering two sniper scopes before the men could react. The bullets drilled through the lenses and into their eyes.
"Too easy."
So-called Sharpshooters? To someone like Ryuji, with supernatural powers, they were nothing more than amateurs who had practiced a little longer than most.
And today, he had no intention of using his fire or water abilities...
He had come here to bully them.
Without another word, he charged deeper into the building. At once, waves of armed men poured out to meet him, geared up with full equipment... even submachine guns. For the first time, Ryuji gained a deeper understanding of the Black Organization's reach.
But it was useless.
A dozen gunshots rang out, yet the guards never even had the chance to see where their enemy was before Ryuji killed them. Although there were still some left, it was merely because he had run out of bullets.
They went berserk, unloading a storm of fire in his direction. But Ryuji showed no fear. He charged straight into the hail of bullets, weaving through the chaos with precision, until he reached a safe angle. Snatching up a submachine gun from the ground, he swung it up and emptied the entire magazine into the rest.
In the blink of an eye, every last one fell, leaving nothing but corpses behind.
Ryuji strolled calmly among the bodies, selecting equipment from their gear.
"Hm.... they all look like antiques. But, even antiques like these are restricted weapons… How the hell does they have so many? Even grenades... every single one of them had one."
He muttered as he examined a piece of gear. If he remembered right, the design dated back to the Cold War era.
"Forget it. Doesn't matter anyway…"
Sensing more enemies rushing in with his Observation Haki, Ryuji smirked. He scooped a grenade off the ground, pulled the pin with a flick, and tossed it into the incoming group. The next second, the fresh batch of guards was sent flying in a fiery blast.
"Just a rabble," he sneered.
Walking leisurely through the hall, past the severed limbs and blood-stained walls, as if on a casual stroll. Ryuji seized a few terrified lab technicians cowering like quails... he asked a couple of questions. That was enough to find Shiho's location.
A shame, though. He had been willing to spare them. But when they tried to shoot him in the back, Ryuji had no choice but to return the favor and put them down.
"Wouldn't it have been easier to just stay alive?" he muttered, stepping into Shiho's laboratory.
There she was Miyano Shiho, holding a silver pistol pointed at his head. Her face was pale, her body stiff with fear, but her finger trembled on the trigger.
Ryuji smiled faintly, though she couldn't see it beneath his disguise.
"I'm here to reunite you with your sister."
Shiho's eyes went wide. She had only just learned of her sister's death.
To reunite them…? Didn't that mean...
She pulled the trigger without hesitation. But the spray of blood she imagined never came.
Ten minutes later, Ryuji carried Shiho.... now dressed in the same outfit just like her sister Akemi back to the car. He placed her beside her sister and then stood calmly in the center of the compound, waiting for Gin to arrive.
And Gin did come.
But, he came in a helicopter.
~~~~~~~~~~
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