A group of people dressed up as Conan characters, and I guaranteed the Black Team's advancement

The smell of disinfectant in the private hospital ward was much milder, with a faint hint of sweetness. But even so, Jiang Jin still disliked the smell.

He leaned against the stark white wall of the ward, watching the doctor examine Matsuda Jinpei, whom he had just thrown over his shoulder. The doctor, Dr. Matsushita, adjusted his glasses and said to the two men, "The patient may have a minor fracture, but it's not serious. He just needs a cast and two weeks of rest."

Jiang Jin thought to himself, "I knew it shouldn't have been his fault, right? He came all this way and ended up with a new injury."

After the doctor left, Matsuda Jinpei leaned against the hospital bed and said, "Although it was a misunderstanding, at least it made you stop avoiding me."

His words were light and tinged with sarcasm, it was unclear whether he was referring to Jiang Jin or himself. But Jiang Jin reacted strongly: "Who's avoiding you? I've been incredibly busy lately, swamped with work."

Matsuda Jinpei propped up the pillow and leaned back in a comfortable position: "Is that so? Then thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to come and see if I'm going to commit suicide."

Jiang Jin: ?

This kind of opportunistic approach isn't Matsuda Jinpei's style, is it?

"I didn't do that," Jiang Jin said awkwardly. "The hospital called me because someone was looking for trouble with me, so I came here to hide."

Matsuda Jinpei stared at Jiang Jin, his dark blue eyes looking very serious, and said, "You don't need to be like this. This incident is my own fault for not being vigilant enough. This kind of thing is quite exciting. It's been a long time since I've felt this excited since leaving the Metropolitan Police Department."

"Bullshit!" Jiang Jin blurted out in perfect Mandarin, "Haven't you encountered enough exciting things yet?"

Although I didn't understand what Matsuda Jinpei said before, I could tell from his expression that it wasn't exactly polite language: "So, what's there to be conflicted about? Let's just let this go, and we'll go back to how things were before..."

"Never mind." Matsuda Jinpei paused, then heard Jiang Jin say coldly, "Let's just pretend we've never met."

Matsuda Jinpei remained silent, continuing to listen to Jiang Jin say, "Amuro is right, we really shouldn't get too close."

"Only now do you think to listen to him?" Matsuda Jinpei's eyes darkened slightly.

“It’s not too late now. After all, you might really die next time.” Jiang Jin didn’t look into Matsuda Jinpei’s eyes, his gaze vacant and casually fixed on something else.

Matsuda Jinpei curled up the corners of his mouth. Jiang Jin didn't look at him, so he couldn't tell whether his smile was carefree or some kind of extreme emotion: "It doesn't matter. I'm not afraid of death. I chose bomb disposal as my major because I like this kind of adrenaline-pumping thrill."

Jiang Jin seemed to have finally lost his patience. He turned his head, his tone even colder: "Fine, I'm afraid of dying, okay? I don't want this to happen again..."

"Then I won't accept your apology," Matsuda Jinpei said, his gaze shifting to the purple hyacinth on the bedside table. "A stranger has dragged me into this mess, and you think a bouquet of flowers is enough to get rid of me?"

"Heh, take it or leave it!" Jiang Jin laughed, hands on his hips, "I'll pay for all the hospitalization fees, surgery fees, and all the other miscellaneous treatment costs at this private hospital."

Matsuda Jinpei leaned against the bed, his tone still calm: "It's only right, consider it your compensation."

Jiang Jin hadn't expected Matsuda Jinpei to be such a different person today, and for a moment he felt a strange unease. Jiang Jin could have accepted these words from anyone else.

"Great, great, that's perfect!" Jiang Jin paced back and forth in the ward a couple of times, then strode over to the bedside table to pull the flowers out of the vase.

"What are you doing? I already received these flowers; they're part of the compensation. You can't touch them," Matsuda Jinpei said seriously. "Even close brothers have to keep clear accounts. Besides, you and I are just... future strangers right now. Don't touch other people's things."

Jiang Jin choked up. When had he ever suffered such a verbal humiliation? Given Matsuda Jinpei's current state, if he hit him, he would have to spend more on medical expenses. If he didn't hit him, Jiang Jin was really a little annoyed.

"When I first met you, I should have killed you and that blind bomber together!" Jiang Jin said viciously, turning his head.

Matsuda Jinpei retorted, "Me too. I shouldn't have listened to so much of what you said back then. I should have just handcuffed you and locked you up in jail."

The ward door slammed shut with a loud "bang!", making the hyacinths in the vase tremble.

After a while, the door to the ward opened again.

Furuya Rei strolled in leisurely, and Matsuda Jinpei wasn't surprised to see him: "I knew he was coming so quickly. Looks like he tried to contact you, but couldn't."

Rei Furuya had a tacitly agreeing expression on his face.

"When did you arrive?" Matsuda Jinpei, probably feeling thirsty from arguing with Jiang Jin, reached for the water bottle on the bedside table. Furuya Rei went over, poured a glass of water, and sat down on the chair by the bed. "Probably when the doctor said you had a fracture."

Matsuda Jinpei: That means I heard the whole thing.

"I didn't expect you to be so sharp-tongued, leaving Jin speechless," Furuya Rei teased. "I saw him walk away with a livid face; it was quite interesting."

Matsuda Jinpei didn't understand what was so interesting. He drank some water, and as he put down his glass, his gaze lingered on the flowers in the vase. Furuya Rei followed his gaze; the hyacinths were still in full bloom, clearly having been well cared for these past few days.

"He even sent flowers to apologize. That alone makes him better than all the boyfriends my female colleagues complain about." Matsuda Jinpei found Matsutani's tone a bit strange, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it, so he simply ignored it and said, "Well, you didn't see how he looked like he was going to tear these flowers to pieces."

Rei Furuya's greyish-purple eyes resembled those of a purple hyacinth—calm and silent. He raised his hand and sprayed water on the flower: "Didn't I tell you? He's the kind of person who responds better to gentle persuasion than force. Why bother arguing with him? It won't do you any good in restoring your relationship."

Instead of answering, Matsuda Jinpei asked, "Amuro, you weren't like this before. Why the sudden change?"

“The situation was different before,” Furuya Rei said. Matsuda Jinpei pressed him, “How was it different?”

Previously, Matsuda Jinpei was on the sidelines, but now Furuya Rei has declared that Matsuda Jinpei is one of his men, so he is naturally considered half one of his own.

In a sense, Duago did achieve his initial goal. However, the process and method of achieving it were not quite what he had expected, and the guy ran away first as a result.

But that's not the problem.

Because Furuya Rei would help him keep Matsuda Jinpei firmly in his grasp, he believed that as long as there were enough people like Matsuda Jinpei, they would definitely be able to influence Toyago's heart to some extent and keep him tied down.

Rei Furuya has recently come to feel that Toago is a very unreal person, as if he could disappear at any moment. He has tested others, such as Vermouth and even Gin.

The former thought he was overthinking it, and the latter... well, let's not talk about it.

On the rooftop that time, Furuya Rei clearly couldn't feel his pulse, but Duyako did indeed come back to life. And there was also what the other party had said: if the higher-ups were to target the two of them in the future...

In critical moments, ignore him.

All of this aroused Rei Furuya's suspicions, so he decided to make arrangements in advance, secretly, like boiling a frog in lukewarm water.

When the baptism was discovered...

Matsuda Jinpei had no idea what Furuya Rei was thinking; he just felt increasingly unable to understand this classmate of his as he looked at his expression.

"Let's talk about the future after I'm discharged from the hospital."