The Phantom Thief of Heart! But Conan.

"That's too much! You're not here to play games..."

"Why, you don't like pink dolphins? Then I'll paint you a different color when I get back."

"That's not what I meant."

Ai Haibara pushed away the white-capped dolphin that Tang Ze handed to her, and looked at the key chains dangling in his hand, feeling both amused and helpless.

Tang Ze is no longer here to purchase goods, he is here purely to buy at the bottom.

Not only did he win all the keychains hanging in the store, but when the clerk said he couldn't put together the last set and asked if he wouldn't mind taking the unpainted white film so he could paint it himself, Tang Ze's eyes lit up again. He asked the clerk bluntly how many white films he had left, then won twice as much and left...

"Even if you take them back and paint them one by one to give away, isn't this a bit too much?"

"Will it? 20 or so should be a good gift." Tang Ze flicked his fingers, which were covered with keychains. "Besides, I don't think the colored version is very good-looking. It would be more meaningful to process it."

Although painting and drawing are not the same concept, Karasawa's artistic skills come from Kuroba Kaito, who is considered to be an expert in art. To be able to paint a small keychain, his level must be extraordinary.

"Why don't you start from scratch?"

"This is a souvenir from the amusement park, it has a different meaning. And don't you think throwing other people's dartboards is particularly effective in improving your proficiency?"

"Huh? You really are..."

"puff--"

Haibara Ai stopped talking to Tang Ze who was squatting in front of her and talking nonsense, and turned to look at Curacao who was laughing.

Perhaps it was due to her memory loss, but this woman, whose dart-throwing technique alone made it clear she was no ordinary person, looked so purely happy when she smiled naturally that it was hard to disturb her.

"You two have such a good relationship." After laughing, Curacao expressed his envy very sincerely, "I wish I had brothers and sisters."

Her expression didn't seem fake, and Huiyuan Ai quickly caught a hint and asked, "Don't you have other playmates of your age in the orphanage, Sonya?"

"Not many people stay in the welfare home. Occasionally, we have to go out and find food. I'm basically the only one there."

"Don't welfare homes provide basic food?"

“Yes, but I can’t get it. I’m so hungry, so I go out and find a way.”

Haibara Ai blinked rapidly several times.

There was no need for a detailed description; just these few words made her heart tremble slightly.

She was only responsible for research work and didn't know much about the specific origins of the "patients" she handled. She could probably guess that many of them were marginalized people, a group whose disappearance would not cause any problems. However, when she heard the parties explain their origins frankly, she still couldn't help feeling uneasy.

Whether it is experimental animals or humans under the scalpel, the difference is indeed huge.

"...Then when were you taken to the hospital?" Huiyuan Ai turned around and looked at Curacao who was constantly fiddling with the blank dolphin in her hand. She lowered her voice and asked, "Did someone take you away from the orphanage?"

"Well, I'm not sure. The nun said I was being sent to a place where I could get enough food. I took a nap and woke up in my room."

"Are there others sent there often?"

"Occasionally. However, not everyone can go. The nuns say it's very difficult to be selected."

Haibara Ai tightened her fingers a little, holding the pink dolphin wearing a straw hat in her palm.

Similar situations happen regularly, so much so that everyone in the orphanage accepts that they will happen. Some children even regard this as a way to a better life.

That means that the welfare home itself is not clean. It did not happen by chance. It was most likely established directly by some institution related to the organization.

Thinking of this, Huiyuan Ai lowered her voice, as if she was worried that speaking loudly would disturb the people in front of her: "Then why do you hate hospitals so much? Did something happen after you came to the hospital?"

"Hmm..." Curacao tilted his head, frowned, and answered slowly, as if thinking hard, "I don't know either."

After being taken to the hospital, her life did get much better.

I had a warm bed where I could lie down properly, enough food to eat, and new clothes.

She didn't know if this was what storybooks called a "happy life," but she figured it was pretty close.

But when the word "hospital" was mentioned, she couldn't help but feel an unconscious urge to tremble, to escape, to avoid all gazes and touches...

"There are so many people watching. I don't want to lie there. I don't want to be..." Curacao's voice trailed off. "Open your mind."

Haibara Ai opened her eyes slightly and looked at Tang Ze quickly.

Curacao was not a case she handled, but even though she had no clear idea of ​​what had happened to this girl, she had some guesses.

Just as he was about to open his mouth to hint at something, the noisy voices of Kojima Genta and his companions came over.

"Ai! Big sis! We've asked!"

"No one recognizes this sister at this stall." Yoshida Ayumi pointed to the row of tourist stalls on the side square.

"I also went to the souvenir shops in the north to ask. They all said they had never seen it." Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya wiped his sweat and gave the same answer.

"The staff in the elevator and at the aquarium over there also said that they didn't know the big sister." Kojima Genta's answer was also not surprising.

Perhaps it was because Tang Ze's peashooter-like uniform-speed ten-ring darts were too shocking, and the stall owners, worried that he would cause trouble, politely asked the group of people who returned with a lot of goods to leave.

In order not to cause panic among the vendors, Tang Ze was placed here to guard Curacao, and a few children were sent out to inquire.

Looking at the photos of Curacao's face and side profile that he had taken on the phone, Conan shook his head and could only draw a temporary conclusion.

"From what I can tell, Miss Sonia may not have actually been to the amusement park. As for her memory issues, she'll probably need a brain CT scan at the very least, and perhaps an MRI..."

"No, we can't do that." Huiyuan Ai interrupted him and objected directly, "Her case is very special. We can't risk leaving any medical records."

From the few words that Curacao said about his past life, Haibara Ai had already roughly figured out the general situation.

Even though there are other children of the same age, if they have no playmates or even do not have enough supplies, they will be driven out and have to find ways to beg or scavenger to survive.

The orphanage did not worry about Sonya, who was less than ten years old, getting lost. Instead, they had the caregivers teach Sonya the basics of reading, writing, and literacy.

In order to prevent the still confused Curacao from hearing anything, Haibara Ai switched to English and whispered to Conan and Karasawa.

"Channels that meet these characteristics are rare. Sonya, I'm afraid that in the past, children were abandoned because they had rare diseases."

----

"I understand the value of children with rare diseases in medical research, but what's the point of raising them and not providing them with enough food or water, leaving them starving and cold?"

Conan looked at Curacao, who was being led by the children, standing on the conveyor belt, observing the marine life behind the glass on both sides of the tunnel with bright eyes, and asked Haibara Ai beside him.

The flow of people in the Dongdu Aquarium is acceptable, but it is still some distance away from being shoulder to shoulder, which allows them to keep a few meters away from the excited children in front of them and discuss some content that is not suitable for children to hear.

Many patients with rare diseases, especially children, will die if they do not receive careful care. Selecting such children and then abusing and letting them run wild is no different from taking their lives directly.

Putting aside the cruel part that goes against human nature, what is the point of doing this?

"Some abandoned children may be due to illnesses. Families can't afford treatment, so they abandon them... I think the organization screens based on this. They don't have to have any rare diseases; it depends on what they actually need. As for the starvation part... it's like domestication, you understand? If you really just want these children to die, their chances of survival will be very low after they leave the orphanage. It's like herding sheep, making the lambs accept that the sheepfold is where they belong, and leaving means starvation and cold."

Perhaps because of the mention of experiments related to children, Haibara Ai became very depressed. She unconsciously wrapped her arms around herself, and her tone was filled with an uncontrollable coldness.

"Sonia has experienced such severe memory loss after the trauma. I suspect the lesion may be in her brain."

"In other words, she may have had memory abnormalities due to a disease, which made her so easily damaged in this area after the trauma?" Conan quickly understood Haibara Ai's logic and began to ponder.

"...You have to understand, Kudo." Huiyuan Ai glanced at him and lowered her voice, "Tang Ze is also a child with a rare disease."

Conan suddenly looked up and looked at Tang Ze, who was standing behind them and obviously heard what Haibara Ai said.

"What Ai said is correct." Tang Ze nodded, confirming the statement. "Of course, my condition may not be an organic disease, and it may be different from Miss Sonia's. However, my developmental disability is congenital, but it was not discovered until I was two years old."

"Sonia, could it be an organic disease?"

"It's very likely. If Sonya is a member of the organization, as you claim, then the information she's revealed so far is enough to reveal her experiences. She must possess inherent value, for an orphan like her to become a member of the organization. The fact that she suffered memory loss as a direct result of trauma also proves this. Perhaps she also has some special abilities related to memory."

"You know, some conditions inherently make people more 'gifted.' For example, some people call bipolar disorder a genius disease because some people are very creative and inspired during their manic phases due to the high excitement and active hormones. Some people with high-functioning autism may have talents in certain areas that others don't have... This is not an absolute factor, but it does happen probabilistically. I think they are looking for people like this."

What Tang Ze said was both a theory and a fact that happened in Curaçao.

Curacao's memory is not simply a kind of genius or IQ, it comes from Curacao's congenital brain disease.

This disease caused Curacao's appearance to be different from that of ordinary children and became the source of all her tragedies.

And from her, Tang Ze clearly saw what the organization was longing for.

"In other words, if I hadn't been lucky enough to meet loving parents, and if I had been abandoned at birth due to a disease like Sonia, I might have become a 'lamb'." Tang Ze pointed to his temple. "In the end, the facts proved that they were right."

It is patients like Tang Ze who have shown a unique talent for mask-making and can verify the theory of event cognition.

Based on this, Tang Ze finally understood the common characteristics of so-called liqueurs.

Previously, based on Superyou's information, combined with Curacao and Vermouth, as well as the characteristics shown by Hoshikawa Teru, who was given the code name Kumel after providing a blood sample, that is, he was easily captured by warmth and turned to the light. He speculated whether the common characteristics of the liqueur series might be related to this part.

But if we analyze it this way, it would seem a bit hasty.

After all, the code names of the code-named members almost all come directly from the organization's boss. Even if there is a tendency to be detected, the boss will definitely consider each person's situation when issuing a name.

Just like the whiskey in "All Rebels", these three liqueurs are labeled as special individuals that have undergone organizational drug transformation.

To say that they are easily moved by redemption is not so much a character trait as it is because victims of human experimentation, as a vulnerable group, naturally lack warmth and protection, and it is almost inevitable that they will be moved by the slightest exposure to the brilliance of human nature.

If we ignore these issues and only consider objective factors, what do these three people really have in common?

"That idiot Rum always wants to pry into these secrets, but the truth is not complicated. Liqueurs are all 'deformed products'. They are aliens that shouldn't have survived." Vermouth slowly exhaled a puff of smoke, her voice hoarse and hot from the smoke, as if she were crying. "Our talents are not favors, but come from our congenital defects. We are like apples with a bite taken out, incomplete from the beginning. There are many things about this guy Shuichi Akai that are annoying, but I don't hate the name he gave me."

An apple that looks shiny on the outside but is completely corroded on the inside. This is probably what she really looks like.

"This void can never be filled, and we will always be incomplete. Kumail, I'm glad you understand this."