Conan and Gin are both my brothers, what's wrong with meeting them once?

Conan's idea is very simple.

On his way to Xianqiao Station, he first used his laptop to check the contents of the software on the floppy disk. If it was used to do something that seriously harmed others, he could call the police and have them set up an ambush.

To his surprise, he also needed to enter a password to open the disk.

Without accessing the software, there was no evidence to warrant a large-scale police response; moreover, he couldn't be sure whether Vodka would come alone or with a number of his organization members, who were armed. Under these circumstances, without a large police presence, it was all just empty talk.

Conan was a little conflicted.

So...should we notify Mr. Akai at this point?

But it seems he's all alone...

"This is so frustrating!" Professor Agasa said anxiously. "We know they'll send someone over. If they can't open the software, are we really helpless?"

"Actually, there's another way..."

Conan's expression and tone were still a little tense, but his eyes quickly filled with excitement: "However, this method will be a little dangerous..."

Professor Agasa hesitated, "Shinichi, you're not thinking of going directly to meet them, are you? Or even if you bring Kazuma along, at least that child can guarantee your safety."

Conan slowly shook his head: "If Kazuma knew, he would never let me take the risk. Besides, he's still sleeping right now. He's not feeling well, so I shouldn't disturb him."

"Don't worry, it's not that easy for a child to arouse suspicion if he's there. Besides, I have other preparations—if only Vodka is there, I'll contact you through the Detective Medal, and then you can contact Inspector Megure."

Of course, in reality, if Vodka were the only one there, he would contact Shuichi Akai directly.

At Conan's insistence, Professor Agasa had no choice but to take him to Shizukashi Station.

However, Conan had no intention of letting Professor Agasa go with him into danger. He got off the train one stop away from Shizuhashi Station and ran there on his own.

When Conan arrived, he placed the floppy disk in locker number 0032, which Vodka had specified, and secured it with tape. He then inserted the check diagonally into the locker door and hid in a corner, waiting for Vodka's arrival.

Not long after, Vodka arrived precisely at four in the morning. Since no one was waiting, he wandered around for a while, but when he got impatient, he went to locker number 0032 and saw the check clipped to the locker door.

"This check is exactly the same amount we gave to that guy Itakura."

Vodka opened the cabinet door and found a disk lying inside.

"This must be the software that Itakura guy designed, right?" Vodka scoffed, mocking, "That idiot not only didn't dare deliver the goods in person, but he also left the check here..."

He casually spat out the cigarette butt from his mouth, took off his gloves, and started peeling off the tape from the hard drive.

Conan, sitting in the corner, was somewhat excited, but for a moment he was also speechless—was this vodka really just as Ichima had described, a complete idiot?

Now that he has the DNA and fingerprints, if You Zhen is around, he can't easily mess with Gin, but he can certainly mess with Vodka, right?

Conan was getting excited when he suddenly heard a deep, menacing voice: "What are you doing?"

As if a bucket of cold water had been poured over his head, Conan couldn't help but grit his teeth.

Damn it, what is Gin doing here?

He hadn't forgotten Gin's keen observation skills when he helped solve the case; this guy wasn't as easily fooled as Vodka.

"Who gave you permission to move the trading time forward without authorization?"

"Um... Brother, Itakura said he doesn't have time tomorrow. If we can't trade earlier, we'll have to wait until his surgery is over."

"Idiot! Itakura is dead! Didn't Tanpo tell you where to get it?"

Vodka's voice was full of grievance: "No...no...and he didn't say anything about Itakura dying..."

As he was talking, a question suddenly came to his mind: "Itakura is dead? Then who exactly made the appointment with me to postpone the time?"

Gin: "..."

Conan, hiding in the corner: "..."

Gin had probably been trained by Kazuma Kudo. Although he was so angry that he wanted to kill Vodka, he still gave a simple explanation: "You've been set up."

"After he arrives, he deliberately hides and doesn't show himself. You get so anxious waiting for him that you can't help but smoke and leave saliva on the cigarette butt."

"They use tape to stick the floppy disk inside. If you want to take it off, you have to take off your gloves and peel off the tape, which will leave fingerprints."

At this point, Gin snorted coldly: "Although the fingerprints on the floppy disk case have been wiped off, it's still slightly warm in this cold weather, indicating that the person wasn't far away. And you've been here for a while now, so..."

Vodka finally realized: "That person is still here?"

Gin: "..."

If Danpo's physique weren't too poor, making him unsuitable for missions in the middle of the night, would he have been fooled by Vodka's stupidity?

Seeing that Gin didn't speak, Vodka lowered his head in embarrassment, finally realizing his previous foolishness, and quickly began searching among the rows of lockers.

Conan had a bad feeling ever since Gin came in.

Seeing that Gin had exposed his plan, Conan couldn't help but wonder if he would pretend not to know Gin's identity and say that he had come here on a whim, and if Gin would let him go this time because he was a real "younger brother" and they had defused a bomb together at Tokyo Tower.

After hearing the sound of a bullet being chambered, he abandoned the idea—rather than gambling on whether Gin would have a change of heart, he'd rather gamble on whether he could dodge it…

The footsteps grew closer, and after a moment's thought, Conan simply shrank back and quietly hid in the locker behind him.

"Strange, why is no one here?"

After searching everything, Vodka was completely dumbfounded and could only turn to look at Gin.

Gin, however, seemed to have thought of something, snorted, and reached out to open a storage cabinet.

empty.

"Big brother?" Vodka was taken aback. No, people can hide in here?

How young a child would have to be to do that?

Gin ignored all of that and simply opened one storage cabinet after another at a leisurely pace.

As he opened and closed more and more lockers, his fragmented yet rapid breathing became increasingly noticeable.

When they reached the bottom cabinet, Gin opened it slightly and immediately heard a sudden, noticeable panting sound.

He sneered and casually closed the cabinet door.

"Even an adult who has practiced bone-shrinking techniques wouldn't hide in a place like this. It seems I was just overthinking it."

The footsteps of Gin and Vodka faded into the distance, leaving only Conan's panting breaths in the cupboard.

"Let's go. We need to settle accounts with Danpo tomorrow. He's forgotten what he's supposed to be doing since we haven't fought him for a few days..."

If he can't beat up a primary school version of Shinichi Kudo in front of Vodka, can't he at least pin down Danpo and beat him up?