Gin warned Alhaitham coldly, "This will be your laboratory from now on. Whatever you plan to research, whatever resources you need—submit your requests in advance. I hope you can produce some results as soon as possible. Otherwise…"
Gin did not finish the sentence. He merely fixed Alhaitham with an icy stare before continuing, "Oh, right. The boss heard that you're quite capable in a fight. In the future, you may occasionally be required to cooperate with the operations unit."
Hearing this, Alhaitham refused outright.
"I believe I already said this. I'm just a physically weak academic. Field operations shouldn't fall within my scope of work."
Gin replied flatly, "Then pray that you can produce research results quickly enough, earn a codename from the boss, and become a core member. Only then will you have the qualifications to refuse missions."
Having said everything that needed to be said, Gin turned and left without hesitation. He had no intention of wasting time listening to irrelevant chatter, leaving Alhaitham behind to familiarize himself with the laboratory environment.
—
While Alhaitham was engaging in a battle of wits with the Black Organization, Natsuyu—through sheer diligence and perseverance—was finally close to saving up enough Primogems for a ten-pull.
Just as Natsuyu was hoping more tasks would refresh so she could gather the remaining Primogems in one go, a world quest that hadn't appeared in a long time finally triggered.
That day, Natsuyu was in the middle of a daily commission—looking for a lost cat.
"Paimon, don't you think it's strange? Why do cats go missing every single day?"
Paimon replied, 「Hmm… maybe it's because cats are naturally curious creatures. I heard that just a few butterflies are enough to lure a cat away. And at times like these—hehe—it's finally our turn to shine! Detective Traveler makes a grand entrance! After all, you're really good at finding cats, Traveler!」
Natsuyu was somewhat speechless at Paimon's praise.
"Paimon, don't you think Diona would be even better with cats? If I manage to pull Diona, wouldn't all future cat-finding jobs just be handed over to her? Then the first floor would finally have a purpose, and we could even make money. One stone, multiple birds."
「Mm-hmm, when you put it that way, Diona really does sound useful. But—」Paimon deliberately dragged out her words, 「that's assuming you can actually pull Diona, Traveler. Honestly, I'm not very hopeful about your luck. Tsk, tsk.」
She shook her head as she spoke.
Just as Natsuyu was focused on searching for the cat, a young girl's voice suddenly called out from behind her.
"Big sister!"
Natsuyu turned around and saw the three children from the Detective Boys whom she had met at the amusement park before. There was also an extra boy this time—this one must be the child version of Kudo Shinichi.
Looking at him like this, he was actually kind of cute. At the very least, he didn't seem nearly as smug as he had at the amusement park.
Conan was equally surprised to run into the witness from the amusement park again. She had left too early last time, and he hadn't even learned her name. Moreover, she had appeared in such darkness and yet managed to clearly perceive others' movements. Conan was deeply curious about her profession and decided to use this opportunity to gather some information—perhaps even see whether she had any connection to that organization.
That said, Conan himself felt the likelihood was low. She simply didn't give off the aura of someone who had killed in the darkness.
Coincidentally, Ayumi asked the very question he was thinking.
"Oh, right! Big sister, you didn't tell me your name last time at the amusement park."
Natsuyu crouched down.
"It's you, Ayumi. That was my fault—I left before I could introduce myself. My name is Natsume Natsuyu. You can call me Sister Natsuyu."
She then looked at Conan.
"Hm? There's an extra child today. Is he a new friend?"
"Yes! Conan just transferred here," Ayumi said, pulling Conan closer. "Big sister, Conan is really smart!"
Seeing Conan's helpless expression as he was dragged over, Natsuyu felt a mischievous urge rise within her. Wanting to tease him a little, she stared straight at him and said,
"Oh? Conan just transferred? Funny… you look kind of familiar. I feel like I've seen someone similar a few days ago."
Conan, who had already been curious about this mysterious woman who could see so clearly in the dark, immediately felt cold sweat break out.
No way… we only met a few times at the amusement park. And back then I was an adult. There's no way an ordinary person would connect the two, right?
He desperately reassured himself, yet still stammered as he explained,
"I—I don't think I've met you before, big sister. Your hair is really distinctive—if I'd seen you before, I'd definitely remember."
Seeing how flustered Conan looked, Natsuyu decided to let him off this time.
"Mm, you're right. It was probably just my imagination."
Conan continued to observe Natsuyu's reaction discreetly. Seeing that she didn't seem suspicious, he finally let out a quiet sigh of relief. His earlier desire to probe her vanished entirely.
Meanwhile, Mitsuhiko and Genta were unhappy after hearing Ayumi praise Conan.
What's so smart about this transfer student anyway? He even got the treasure code wrong earlier!
As soon as Natsuyu finished speaking with Conan, Genta quickly pulled out the scrap of paper that had been blown over by the wind earlier and held it up excitedly.
"Look, Sister Natsuyu! This is the treasure map we found! When we find the treasure, maybe we'll have so much eel rice we can't finish it all! We'll invite you to eat with us then!"
Hearing Genta's bold declaration, Conan felt helpless.
Hey, hey… we don't even know if this treasure map is real yet. There's not even a clue, and he's already thinking about how to spend the treasure?
Natsuyu smiled.
"Mm-hm, then thank you in advance, Genta. But you kids are searching for treasure on your own? That's impressive."
She clapped a few times encouragingly.
Seeing her reaction, Conan thought, As expected… she's not taking the treasure map seriously. She's just humoring them.
After all, who would believe that a treasure map in the hands of a few kids was real?
"Could I take a look at the treasure map?" Natsuyu asked.
"Maybe I can help you a little."
Natsuyu vaguely remembered that there was a treasure-map-related case early on involving Conan, but she couldn't recall the exact hiding place. If she could take a look, maybe she could find the treasure before Conan did.
That would provide the organization with some starting funds.
After all, it'd be ridiculous for an organization to not even be able to scrape together one million yen.
At her request, Genta readily handed the map over.
The moment Natsuyu saw the symbols on the paper, the long-dormant world quest finally refreshed. She took a moment to check its contents:
[World Quest — The Metropolitan Cipher Map Incident]
[A band of thieves who robbed gold coins can no longer locate their ill-gotten gains. The leader recorded the route to the treasure on a map, leaving behind the message:
"If you want everything I own, come to the end."]
[Objective: Decode the treasure map and locate the hidden treasure.]