Detective Conan: Becoming a Tycoon in Tokyo! [9]

“The one who took Shinichi away is a guy named Shōichi.”

“I know him. He’s not right in the head—probably an accident. He shouldn’t know anything about Shinichi’s situation.”

“Then what do we do?”

“Keep going. Shinichi still hasn’t learned his lesson. We can’t abandon the plan now.”

“All right, I’ll go pick him up again.”

...

When Conan left the police station, he again saw that smiling, chubby woman.

To avoid implicating Mouri Kogoro and Ran, he said his goodbyes and climbed into her car.

He’d tried to fight, but the chubby woman quickly subdued him. A knockout drug later, and he’d been unconscious until now.

Conan woke up groggy and overheard two voices outside the room. Peering through a hole in the wall, he watched the chubby woman talk to a masked man.

“What are you planning to do with this brat?” she asked.

“Kill him, obviously,” the man replied.

The woman protested, “I already got orders from upstairs to bring him back alive for experiments.”

“He knows the Organization’s secrets—do you think I’d ever let him live?”

“But—”

“Enough!” The man leveled a gun at her. “One more word and there’ll be another corpse here.”

“Fine.” She backed down.

The man holstered his gun. “Get some sleep. There’s a deal tomorrow. After it’s done, we’ll blow the buyer sky-high with a bomb.”

Conan heard every word.

A deal tomorrow…?

...

“Shōichi-sama, Haibara-san, please get up for breakfast.”

Early morning, Yuuko-san knocked on Shōichi’s bedroom door after preparing breakfast.

Haibara sat up bleary-eyed and glanced at the man beside her, mind blank. What was I even doing last night…?

“Get up, don’t laze around.” Shōichi hauled Haibara out of bed.

As she stepped out and met Yuuko-san’s gaze, Haibara wanted to disappear. Would Yuuko think I’m some weird kid?

Breakfast tasted like sawdust to Haibara. Shōichi, on the other hand, ate as if nothing had happened.

When she remembered trying to kill him last night and instead ending up handing him a knife and begging for hugs, a wave of shame washed over her.

Endure. I’ll avenge you someday, Sister.

“Come on, I’ll take you to school.”

...

After breakfast, Shōichi drove Haibara to school. On the way they ran into Miyamoto Yumi; he stopped briefly to greet her. Now that his driver’s license had arrived, Shōichi could finally drive legally.

At the school, Shōichi accompanied Haibara to meet the principal. Standing beside him was a female teacher—presumably Haibara’s homeroom teacher.

“Sensei, I’ll entrust Haibara-san to your care,” Shōichi said.

“Please rest assured. I’ll make sure she doesn’t have any hardships at school,” the teacher bowed respectfully.

Shōichi patted Haibara’s head. “Listen to your teachers. Follow Sensei back to class.”

...

At Teitan High, Class 2-B—

Sonoko stared dreamily toward the teacher’s office. “Ran, I just saw a super-hot guy go into the office! Miyahara-sensei went in too—do you think he might transfer into our class?” Sonoko clung to Ran’s arm.

Ran, still gloomy after Conan left, forced a smile and told Sonoko to stop daydreaming. None of the hot guys you meet turn out decent.

Soon Miyahara-sensei entered the classroom alone.

“Quiet down. Announcement: we have a transfer student joining our class today. Please treat her well.”

“Sensei! Can the new student sit next to me?” Sonoko immediately raised her hand.

“Of course,” Miyahara-sensei said.

“Come in, Haibara-san.” Miyahara-sensei beckoned at the door.

Just hearing the name “Haibara” made Sonoko swoon. “Haibara… what a beautifully melancholic name! He must be a cold, distant type—”

But when Haibara walked in, Sonoko froze. Wait—where’s my hot guy? What’s with this little kid? She must be his little sister, right…?

“Hello, I’m Haibara Ai,” Haibara introduced herself briefly.

Ran blinked at the new classmate’s age, then laughed softly to Sonoko, “You were right—cold and distant. Just… not a hot guy.”

Sonoko’s heart shattered.

After Haibara sat, Sonoko leaned over to chat, steering the conversation to the man who had dropped her off.

“That was your older brother earlier, right?” Sonoko asked casually.

“No.” Haibara shook her head coldly.

Sonoko frowned. Then maybe her father…? A married man? That’s acceptable, too.

“Did he go home after dropping you off?” Sonoko pressed.

Haibara looked at the lovestruck girl and thought, Shōichi’s not a good man. Stay away from that fire. You couldn’t handle someone like him.

“He went back. He’s mentally ill—can’t stay out of the psychiatric hospital for long.”

...

The torturous half-day finally ended. Haibara found the students painfully immature. Besides Sonoko, who lived in dating fantasies, and Ran, who worried endlessly about Kudō Shinichi, there were a few shady girls obsessed with cute things trying to cozy up to her. This school is a disaster.

“Not used to the new school?” Yuuko-san emerged from the car, waving kindly at Haibara.

“Yuuko-san?” Haibara said.

Yuuko smiled. “Shōichi-sama won’t be back for lunch—business. I came to pick you up. How did you get on with your classmates?”

“Fine, I guess,” Haibara lied. She had nothing in common with those silly students. She’d spent too long in the Organization—she’d forgotten how to act around ordinary people.

...

“Manager Shōichi, I truly can’t thank you enough. Without your help our company never would’ve gone public so quickly.”

“Not at all—I just helped a long-time client of our bank.” Shōichi accepted the suitcase of thanks with a satisfied air. It hadn’t been a waste to help this guy.

“Watch out!”

A boy suddenly barreled out, knocking Shōichi to the ground, snatching the suitcase, and sprinting away.

---

This is a fan translation of 柯南：我在东京当财阀 by 倒霉的菜狗. Rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!