[Upon hearing this, Sparkle burst into a crisp, silver-bell-like laughter as if she had heard a lame joke: "Wonderful! It's time for my favorite 'dead duck with a stiff mouth' segment again—you still don't know anything, do you?"]
[Aventurine shook his head gently: "No no, I have already proven through various signs that it does exist. That's enough. As for the answers to these two questions, seventeen… no, sixteen system hours will be enough for me to settle everything."]
["Sixteen system hours, huh? Is that really enough? Then let me add some fuel to the fire, shall I?"]
[Sparkle suddenly pulled out a petal-shaped button from behind her and handed it to Aventurine: "Here, take it. This is my treasured [Mutual Assured Destruction] button. I have an identical one. As long as one of us presses it, the other will immediately blow up along with the entire Penacony."]
["If you really want the Company to take over Penacony so badly that you can't stand it… then flipping the table isn't a bad idea. At worst, we can just start over! That's what the Company is good at, right?" Sparkle giggled. "When you're truly desperate, just press it. Of course, you can also contact me. Consider it my [hospice care]!"]
——
Chainsaw Man.
"Hey hey! This thing isn't real, is it?"
"So the girl Denji likes is a terrorist… People who like terrorists have to be locked up in jail, you know!"
"Jail…? Will there still be buttered bread for breakfast? If there is, then it's not impossible…"
"…You idiot, even I can't save you."
Denji propped his eyelids open, seriously appreciating the cute girl with twin tails on the Celestial Screen. Although her words were unpleasant and deserved a beating, it was fine… As long as she was cute enough.
If he could make a wish, it would be best if such a cute girl liked him. He couldn't refuse a girl who liked him at all.
Speaking of which, the last girl who said she liked him also liked bombs just like Sparkle.
"By the way, Power… Don't you have anyone you like on the Celestial Screen?" Denji lay bored on the sofa. There had been quite a few handsome guys and beautiful girls appearing on it. Just the girls he liked were enough to surround Public Safety. Did Power really not have even one?
"Hah? What kind of idiot question is that?"
Although she called him an idiot, Power still put on a serious thinking face. She thought for four or five minutes before finally coming to an answer: "Whoever gives this great one blood to drink, that's who this great one likes."
"You don't care about looks at all?"
"That kind of thing is useless, right? But if I really have to say who I like… This great one quite likes Aventurine. This guy looks smart. If I drink his blood, this great one should become smarter, right? Maybe I can even join the Genius Society? Then… hehe, Denji, this great one will ask Nous to grant you an Emanator position~"
Upon hearing this, Aki Hayakawa, who was drinking water nearby, nearly choked to death and started coughing violently: "Power, do you know how powerful an Emanator is?"
"They should be more powerful than the Japanese Prime Minister… and about the same as the American President?"
——
["So dangerous… I guess the Family didn't take your words seriously, right? Otherwise, how did you manage to smuggle it in?"]
[Sparkle smiled lightly: "Hehe~ You just need to know that I have this ability."]
["I'm afraid I'll have to decline your proposal. Who knows if this little toy actually works? By the way, I don't plan to go find the [other mute friend] you mentioned, but I'm very glad to hear that this person is still in Penacony."]
[Before leaving, Aventurine looked back at Sparkle one last time: "I'll handle the rest myself: I will prepare a grand unveiling performance for the Family's collapse. When it reaches the climax, the high walls will crumble, people will awaken, and those who cannot speak will open their mouths again—"]
["—When that time comes, please press the button and set off a big firework to celebrate for me. See you, Fool."]
[With that, Aventurine turned and left.]
["At this point you still have the mood to talk big… But, it's a deal." Sparkle watched Aventurine's departing back, the corners of her mouth curving into a pleased arc. "You absolutely must not disappoint me, okay?"]
——
Detective Conan.
"Here, the coffee you wanted."
Haibara Ai placed the mug on the table beside Conan. She sat on a nearby stool, holding her own coffee and asked calmly: "You still think Aventurine has a hidden trump card he hasn't played? Save it… He's already played all his cards."
"I don't believe it."
Conan rested his chin on his interlaced hands. Aventurine's words from earlier were looping in his mind. "He must still have a chip he hasn't played, otherwise… where does his confidence come from?"
"Maybe it's just bluffing?" Haibara Ai took a sip of coffee. "He's a gambler and a businessman. When out in the world, how many trump cards he actually has isn't important. Whether he even has any trump cards isn't important either—what matters is making the opponent 'believe' he has them. Otherwise, his gamble can't continue."
"Think carefully. If he showed even the slightest bit of panic or helplessness in front of Sparkle, what would happen?"
Haibara Ai put down her cup, the ceramic and glass producing a crisp sound. "Sparkle would immediately lose interest in him… The fun Sparkle gets from toying with him comes precisely because he is the Company's P45, an elite above tens of thousands. But the moment he shows a weak side, he instantly falls from elite to ordinary person."
"Besides, everything needs evidence… Kudo, you understand this principle better than anyone. If you think Aventurine has a trump card, then where would that trump card be? In that empty gift money bag?"
"..."
Conan fell silent. Indeed, he currently had no evidence. He was only making a simple guess based on Aventurine's attitude.
The [other mute friend] he mentioned undoubtedly referred to Firefly, and the Trailblazer was currently investigating Firefly's whereabouts. If he really found Firefly, it might provide decisive evidence to help him bring down the Family… but he deliberately didn't want to look for her. Honestly, he could no longer understand Aventurine's behavioral logic at all.
——
[In the cold and gloomy prison, the blond youth stood in the shadows behind the iron bars. The scarlet code on his neck emitted a glaring red glow in the dimness, like a curse embedded into his flesh.]
["You're back, No. 35. Do you like your amulet?" The indifferent man's voice.]
["…Can a product code even be used as an amulet?"]