Conan: I'm a zaibatsu in Tokyo

Inside the hospital, Rena Mizunashi leaned against the headboard of the bed, holding a copy of the day's Asahi Shimbun and flipping through it.

Vermouth, who should still be unconscious, had long since given up on maintaining her coma.

She lay sprawled across another bed, completely undignified, holding an apple and taking a big bite out of it.

"Click".

The crisp chewing sounds were particularly clear in the quiet ward.

“I say, Kiel,” Vermouth said lazily, chewing on an apple, “don’t you feel like your bones are going to rust from lying around like that all day?”

Rena Mizunashi didn't even look up, simply replying, "I'm injured, so it's normal for me to be hospitalized."

She has no plans to be discharged from the hospital until Gin and Shoichi's relationship improves.

If Gin continues to make her go against Shoichi, won't she continue to get into car accidents and be hospitalized?

Kiel asked Vermouth, "Then why aren't you planning to go out?"

“Me? I’m still unconscious,” Vermouth said.

She was just caught red-handed by Gin, so it will be troublesome for her to go out.

She's really upset right now. Gin must be investigating her past. She hasn't been in contact with Shinichi and Ran for a long time, so Gin probably won't be able to find anything about them.

But what Vermouth was most worried about was that bastard, Shoichi.

That high school student who looks like Shinichi was definitely hired by that bastard Shoichi.

She was terrified that Seiichi would suddenly go mad and lead Gin to search everywhere.

Just then, a slightly flustered sound of footsteps and a nurse's questioning came from outside the corridor.

"Mr. Okiya, are you alright? Does your wound still hurt?"

"Ah... I'm sorry to have troubled you."

Upon hearing the sound, Vermouth abruptly stopped biting into her apple.

She threw the apple on the ground, then rolled over and lay flat on her back, folded her hands over her abdomen, closed her eyes, and instantly switched to a deep coma.

The ward door was gently pushed open.

Shuichi Akai walked in, supported by a nurse.

A conspicuous bandage was pasted on his forehead, his right arm was in a cast, and there was still a faint smell of gunpowder on his body.

"what!"

A nurse accidentally stepped on an apple that Vermouth had dropped on the ground, causing Shuichi Akai to fall to the ground as well.

Shuichi Akai clutched his broken arm, a pained expression on his face.

Rena Mizunashi's lips twitched.

Vermouth has absolutely no manners.

How could you litter like that?

The nurse quickly helped Shuichi Akai up, then looked at Rena Mizunashi accusingly.

Rena Mizunashi glanced at the unconscious Vermouth, her eyelids twitching: "I didn't throw it."

"Is there anyone else besides you?" the nurse asked.

Rena Mizunashi shook her head, too lazy to explain.

“It’s alright, I’m fine,” Shuichi Akai said.

"How about I take you for another check-up?"

“Really, it’s not necessary. I didn’t hurt myself.” Shuichi Akai shook his head again.

Seeing his insistence, the nurse gave him a few instructions, turned around and went out to find the doctor, closing the door behind her.

With a soft click of the door lock, the ward fell silent once more.

Shuichi Akai stood still, his eyes behind his glasses slightly narrowed, his gaze sweeping over Vermouth, who was unconscious on the hospital bed, and then over Rena Mizunashi, who was leaning against the headboard with a calm expression.

"Looks like being a member of this organization is a high-risk profession; everyone's ended up in the hospital," Shuichi Akai said with a smile, pushing up his glasses.

Rena Mizunashi put down her newspaper and glanced at him indifferently: "And what's going on with you?"

"It exploded." Shuichi Akai sighed and slowly walked to the chair next to him and sat down.
"When testing the heat resistance of the new bulletproof material, I accidentally set the temperature too high. Although the explosion was not very powerful, it still affected me."

"Bulletproof materials?" Rena Mizunashi raised an eyebrow. "What have you guys been busy with lately?"

"I'll do whatever I'm told to do." Shuichi Akai then looked at Vermouth, who was still unconscious.

Is she pretending to be asleep?

Vermouth's eyelashes trembled slightly, and then she opened her eyes with great reluctance.

She picked up an apple from the bedside table and continued eating it.

Shuichi Akai's lips twitched at the sight, as if he knew who had thrown the apple on the ground.

Vermouth mumbled a complaint: "Bourbon is so stingy, the apples he sent aren't sweet at all."

As she spoke, she put the apple back.

Just as Vermouth was complaining about Bourbon's stinginess and the fact that the fruit he sent wasn't sweet, footsteps sounded outside the door again.

The footsteps were still slightly dragging, indicating that the person who came was also injured.

"Squeak-"

The door was pushed open.

Bourbon was wearing a slightly disheveled shirt, his left arm was in a sling, and there was gauze on his forehead.

"Oh dear, it seems I've come at the wrong time." Bourbon was slightly taken aback: "I didn't expect it to be so lively here."

Vermouth was eating fruit, Gil was reading a newspaper, and Subaru Okiya was sitting in a chair, lost in thought.

There are three members of the organization in the small ward.

No, there are four now that you include him.

"Bourbon? What are you doing here?" Kiel asked in surprise.

Bourbon shrugged and slowly walked to the only empty chair in the ward and sat down. The movement aggravated his wound, causing him to frown slightly.

"It's a long story."

Bourbon sighed: "Gin has been getting more and more suspicious of me lately. Today, when I was at the docks dealing with a shipment, he deliberately sent me to deal with a traitor, and it turned out that guy had a bomb strapped to his body... I was accidentally caught in the crossfire."

Vermouth nodded.

Yes, that's a perfectly normal reason.

Vermouth asked, "Was it intentional or accidental?"

Bourbon met her gaze, his smile unchanged: "Do I look like the kind of person who would joke with their own life? And why would I deliberately get hurt?"

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the three people in the ward.

He did indeed intend to avoid the limelight.

Gin is keeping a close eye on him now, and his movements are greatly restricted. It's better for him to stay in the hospital to avoid suspicion during this period.

I just didn't expect there to be so many people in the hospital.

……

"bump!"

Vermouth slammed a red card heavily onto the makeshift folding table.

Thirty thousand.

"Oh dear, sorry, I won again. Bourbon, you played that card too hastily."

Bourbon sighed helplessly and pushed his cards aside: "Your luck is too good, isn't it? Three hands in a row."

Rena Mizunashi stared at Vermouth expressionlessly: "You cheated, didn't you?"

In just a short time, she had already lost millions.

Even if the organization's salaries are not low, we can't afford to lose like this.

“What do you mean by cheating? This is called skill.” Vermouth raised an eyebrow smugly.

Shuichi Akai shuffled the cards slowly and deliberately: "Science shows that probability can indeed be biased in the short term, but Vermouth's bias seems a bit too stable."

"What do you mean by that?" Vermouth narrowed her eyes.

Just as someone was getting desperate from losing, footsteps suddenly came from outside the corridor. "..."

All four of them stopped moving at the same time.

"It's Gin!" Vermouth's expression changed, and she shoved the cards on the table with lightning speed.

Bourbon immediately stopped smiling and lay back down on the bed.

Rena Mizunashi immediately lay down, closed her eyes, and pretended to be asleep.

Shuichi Akai picked up a book from the bedside table and pretended to look down at it.

The entire ward returned to normal in 0.1 seconds.

"Squeak-"

The door was pushed open.

Zheng Yi's gaze swept over the four people in the ward, and finally noticed the mahjong tiles on the table that hadn't been cleared away in time. His lips twitched slightly.

Wait, you guys are actually playing mahjong in the hospital?
The ward was silent for two seconds.

Then, all four of them breathed a sigh of relief.

Vermouth slumped back in her chair and patted her chest: "That scared me to death. I thought Gin had come."

Rena Mizunashi sat up again, but she looked at Masakazu with a slightly embarrassed expression.

Ai stood behind him with her hands in her pockets, her face full of resistance.

She didn't want to come, but Zheng Yi insisted on dragging her along to visit her former colleagues who were hospitalized.

We've come all this way, but is it really just to watch these people play mahjong here?
Shoichi said to them, "Don't worry, Gin went to Osaka to commit heinous crimes and doesn't have time to deal with you for the time being."

"He went to Osaka?"

"Hmm." Zheng Yi nodded. "I heard there's some big business deal over there, and he's personally overseeing it. At least for the next few days, he won't have time to deal with you guys."

He looked around at the four people in the ward.

“Oh, right.” Zheng Yi suddenly spoke up: “Ai, let me introduce you to some people.”

Ai looked up, a hint of doubt flashing in her eyes, but a bad premonition welled up inside her.

“Say hello,” Zheng Yi said matter-of-factly. “Don’t you greet your elders when you see them?”

Zheng Yi pointed at Bourbon and said, "Come on, call him uncle first."

Ai's lips twitched slightly.

She glanced at Bourbon, then at Zheng Yi, and then lowered her head again.

Bourbon's lips twitched slightly.

But looking at Ai's age, and thinking about how I'm not young anymore, it seems like I'm really at the age where I should be an uncle.

He felt a surge of emotion.

Shoichi then pointed to Rena Mizunashi and said, "This is the older sister."

Ai Haibara continued to lower her head, remaining silent.

A smile appeared on Rena Mizunashi's face.

This title is alright; it seems I look much younger than Bourbon.

Seeing that Ai was ignoring him.

Zhengyi then pointed to another one: "This is Uncle Okiya Subaru."

Ai still didn't open her mouth.

Shuichi Akai's lips twitched.

According to kinship, he should be called cousin.

If he acknowledges this as "uncle," how can he discuss seniority with Zhenchun and the others?

Vermouth watched the spectacle with amusement until it was her turn, at which point her smile vanished.

"...Call her Grandma."

Vermouth's smile froze instantly.

She turned her head abruptly, her eyes filled with disbelief: "What did you say?!"

He looked at her without changing his expression: "Is there a problem?"

"How do I resemble a grandmother?!" Vermouth's tone carried a hint of gritted teeth.

“You’re older than all of them,” Zheng Yi said calmly. “Others may not know your age, but do you think I don’t?”

"You're talking nonsense!" Vermouth glared angrily at Zheng Yi.

She's not that old!!!
Ai, Gil, Bourbon, and the others looked at Vermouth with curiosity, quite interested in her age.

Judging from what Zheng Yi said, is she older than Gin?
Vermouth glared at Ai, saying, "Try saying that once."

Ai pouted.

Zheng Yi said you're old, why are you glaring at me?
If you can't afford to offend Zheng Yi, then just glare at me.

All the people in the organization are the same kind of people; they're all cut from the same cloth, bullying the weak and fearing the strong.

"As expected, she's getting older, and her temper is getting worse." Zheng Yi tugged at Xiao Ai and pulled her behind him to prevent Vermouth from bullying her.

"...Fine." He sighed. "If they don't want to call me that, they don't have to. They're not good people anyway."

The four of them twitched at the corners of their mouths. They hoped that next time you were talking badly about them, you would do it behind their backs.

Right and wrong.

He said sarcastically, "You guys are living much more comfortably than Gin."

Rena Mizunashi revealed her bandaged arm and smiled helplessly: "Mr. Shoichi, what are you saying? We've never had a comfortable life."

They are all patients with injuries or illnesses.

"No?" Zheng Yi raised an eyebrow, his gaze sweeping over the four people: "Kier, have you forgotten that you work for my company?"

Rena Mizunashi remained silent.

Although she holds a position at Zhengyi Company, she doesn't receive a salary.

Can't I even ask for leave?
“And you,” Zheng Yi said to Vermouth, “I think my entertainment company is also run by you, right?”

Vermouth shrugged, looking completely innocent. "But you were there, weren't you?"

Shoichi turned his gaze to Amuro Tooru: "Bourbon, you too. Even though you work part-time at the car company, you've hardly ever been there, have you?"

Bourbon remained silent; he had no obligation to attend work, nor was there any need for him to go to work.

Finally, Shoichi's gaze fell on Shuichi Akai.

Shuichi Akai said gently, "Mr. Shoichi, although I am often not in the company, I do participate in projects remotely."

Although he has been in the organization longer, he has not yet left Zhengyi Company and is still officially registered in that group.

“Remote participation?” Zheng Yi raised an eyebrow. “Your project proposal last time didn’t seem to be written by a professional. It seemed like it was ghostwritten, and of very poor quality.”

Shuichi Akai smiled slightly.

His skill level is limited, there's nothing that can be done about it; he's already writing very diligently.

Zheng Yi looked around, his tone full of emotion: "Look at you guys now, you don't even have to go to work, but you still get your salary and bonuses. I'm so envious of you."

No one paid any attention to Zheng Yi's urging them to hurry up and go to work.

Rena Mizunashi stared at the ceiling.

She doesn't have any bonuses or salaries from that company, so Zheng Yi definitely isn't pressuring him.

Bourbon looked out the window.

He had long forgotten that he had a part-time job at Zhengyi Company because he had never been paid.

Shuichi Akai stared at the floor.

His salary had already been deducted, so he couldn't understand what Zheng Yi was saying at all.

Vermouth yawned.

Her salary at Zhengyi Company has been in arrears for several months; Zhengyi can only be envious. (End of Chapter)