Chapter 38: Mizunashi Rena Seizes Her Future
"What exactly are you trying to do?"
Rena's expression had turned deeply unpleasant.
She felt like she'd been dropped into the deep sea, watching the light above her drift further and further away as her body kept sinking, pulled deeper into the abyss.
That fear buried deep in her heart, that helplessness—it was only growing stronger.
"It's not about what I want to do. It's about what you're willing to give up."
"If I'm not mistaken, you're operating under a double mandate right now."
"One more order, straight from Gin!"
Makoto said with an easy smile.
It had been almost a week since The Shinkansen's Bomb Case.
He hadn't reached out to Gin, and Gin hadn't reached out to him either.
And yet Higashino Makoto's influence across all of Japan just kept growing.
In no time at all, his name had practically become synonymous with "hero."
The Black Organization's reach ran through every corner of Japan—business, politics, media, entertainment—with representatives planted in every industry.
Naturally, they weren't about to pass up someone like Higashino Makoto, a star in the making with this much potential!
"That's right."
"Gin had me reach out to you too, hoping I could talk you into joining the organization."
Even, if it came down to it, using her looks as bait!
That last part was what Rena hadn't managed to say out loud.
An order that ruthless—this was the first time she'd ever received one like it.
Short of absolute last resort, she really didn't think she could bring herself to carry out the organization's command that way.
"You should have used your Kir identity first, to try to talk me into joining the organization."
"If I turned out to be on the side of evil, I imagine you'd have had plenty of ways to make that work."
"But if I turned out to be on the side of good, and that approach failed, you'd switch to your CIA identity and try to persuade me a different way."
Makoto said with a smile.
"This..."
Rena froze on the spot.
She hadn't even considered that.
Makoto's rapid-fire words just now had nearly broken through her mental defenses completely, leaving her unable to think even of a solution this simple.
She'd slipped up!
In front of a man she'd only just met today—a man nine years younger than her—she'd made a mistake this serious, this careless.
"Still, your CIA isn't exactly the side of good either."
"The things you people have done are no better than the Black Organization's."
"If anything!"
"You've done far worse!"
Makoto said with a cold sneer.
Kudo Shinichi, or Edogawa Conan, and all his friends and family—Hattori Heiji, Kaitou Kid, Dr. Agasa, even his own parents.
They were all Japanese, after all, and in front of America, some part of them just instinctively deferred, taking it for granted that the CIA and FBI stood on the side of justice.
But!
Makoto was different.
In his eyes, in a certain sense, the Black Organization was the one standing on the side of justice.
After all, the CIA's enemies were, quite conveniently, his friends.
"Since you already know everything, I won't waste any more words."
"So tell me—what's your choice?"
Rena took a deep breath, trying her best to look like the adult in the room.
"Aren't you the one who's got this backwards?"
Makoto asked, frowning.
"I've got it backwards?"
She asked, puzzled.
"Right now, the one who needs to make a choice isn't me."
"It's you."
"Mizunashi Rena. Hondou Hidemi. Kir."
Makoto said with a cold smile.
"Don't forget—your life, and your brother's life, are both still in my hands."
"I could help the CIA take down the organization. Or I could help the organization take down the CIA."
"Given my current standing, whichever side I go to, I'll end up outranking you."
"And if I handed you over to the organization, I imagine Gin—maybe even That Person—would be very pleased."
Under Rena's stunned gaze, Makoto pulled off his bandages and walked around the room like a perfectly ordinary man.
In fact!
He bent down and picked the gun back up.
He toyed with it the way a child plays with a brand-new toy.
Then...
He pointed the muzzle at her head.
"You..."
Rena, who'd only just managed a shaky sort of composure, panicked all over again in an instant.
He even knew about "That Person"!
That Person's very existence was one of the deepest secrets in the entire organization, let alone the CIA—almost no one knew of it.
Even she herself had only learned of it a few days ago, by chance, overhearing a conversation between Gin and Vermouth.
Looking at that young, handsome face, she suddenly realized she was the one who looked like a child here.
A foolish, ignorant, powerless child!
"Please..."
"Please..."
"Don't do this!"
"At least—please don't hurt Eisuke!"
"He's still so young—just an ordinary high schooler!"
Rena bowed her head, her voice nearly a sob, begging in the most humbling terms she had.
Her mother was gone. Her father had died a horrible death.
Her little brother, Hondou Eisuke, was the only family she had left in this world.
If anything happened to him too, she genuinely had no idea what reason she'd have left to keep living.
"Is that how you beg someone?"
"You're Japanese—don't tell me you don't even know how to perform a proper dogeza?"
Makoto stood before her, asking with a cold smile.
"Thud!"
Instantly, Rena dropped to her knees before him.
Both hands flat on the floor, forehead pressed tight against it—performing the most self-abasing ritual the Japanese had, showing him her total surrender.
"Look up!"
Makoto ordered.
"Yes!"
Rena scrambled to lift her head, gazing up at the man before her.
"Your future—your brother's future—it's right here!"
"Grab hold of it, and you'll grab hold of your future!"
In an instant, that delicate, beautiful, tear-streaked face went completely blank.
Time seemed to freeze; the very air seemed to solidify.
She had no idea how long passed—maybe a second, maybe a full minute.
At last, Rena reached out a trembling hand, biting down on her lip.
She had seized her future.
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Higashino Makoto — Protagonist. Transmigrated.
Hondou Hidemi — Undercover girl. Series: Detective Conan.
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Translated by CheapBiscuit.
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Throw those power stones here, lemme catch them!
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