That night, after John and Conan had
gone off to bed, Ran sighed at her Biology homework. Gene regulation in prokaryotes, she thought. I don’t understand a single thing, and I wish I could call Shinichi,
but he’s on his case right now. I guess I’ll have a clearer mind tomorrow
morning. With that thought, she immediately fell asleep.
“Ohaiyo gozaimas!” I announced,
while walking out of the room yawning. I looked around, “Ran-neechan isn’t
awake yet? That isn’t like her. I think I’ll go wake her up.” Conan nodded his
head. I knocked on the door and a voice replied, “Come in!” I entered and I saw
her trying to figure out her homework. “Ran-neechan? We’re hungry,” I reminded
her. “Oh, gomenesai, John-kun. I got caught up with my homework,” she
apologized. “May I see?” I asked. “Sure, but this is too –– ” Ran suddenly
stopped in her track. She remembered how I was able to do high school math. “Ran-neechan,
daijobu?” I asked. “Ah, nothing. Sure, you can have a look at it,” she smiled. Gene regulation in prokaryotes, it read.
“Oh, the lac operon!” I exclaimed. “You know about the lac operon?” gasped Ran.
“W-well, y-yeah, I h-heard about it on TV,” I stammered. “The substrate, which
is the lactose, first binds to the repressor’s allosteric site, causing the repressor
to change shape and leave the lac operon. Then, the RNA polymerase binds to the
promoter and began transcription of the gene. LacZ encodes for ß-galactosidase,
which splits lactose to glucose and galactose, so that glucose can be used for
cellular respiration. LacY encodes for lactose permease, which makes the
prokaryote membrane more permeable to lactose. Finally, lacA encodes for transacetylase
enzyme that transfers an acetyl group from acetyle CoA to ß-galactosidase,” I
explained. Suddenly, Ran reached out and touched my cheek. “Elementary school
student, right?” she confirmed. “Yeah,” I ensured. “No, you’re not,” she
smirked. “What do you ––” I began. Before I could finish, she grabbed the right
side of her chin and pulled her latex mask off, revealing a blonde woman with
beryl green eyes. “Vermouth!” I gasped. I tried running away but she grabbed my
ear. I yelped in pain. “Conan-kun! Help!” I yelled. Hands in the air, Conan
entered the room as well, but accompanied by a man with long silver hair
wearing a black hat with matching black trench coat, and green turtleneck
sweater. “Gin!” I gasped. Gin darted his eyes towards me. “So this is the spy
in the Organisation from the American branch?” He glared at me. I could feel
the shiver running down my spine. Gin shoved Conan towards me with such force
that he bumped into me. I felt a soft and flexible object slipping down my left
pocket. I realised that Conan was not wearing his usual glasses. Gin pointed
his gun at Conan and commanded Vermouth to tie my hands behind my back, which
made it easy, as Conan was not wearing his Power-Enhancing Kick Shoes.
Powerless to fight back, Conan obediently allowed Vermouth to tie his hands
behind his back as well. We left Mouri Detective Agency and entered Gin’s Black
Porsche 356A.
In Agasa’s Residence, Ran was
exploring Conan’s glasses. “Conan-kun,” she sobbed. “Mouri-san, have a ––”
Haibara froze when she saw Conan’s glasses. The tray fell onto the floor. The
teapots and teacups broke. “No no no no!” Haibara rushed towards Ran and
snatched the glasses away. “No! It can’t be!” gasped Haibara. Ran sank to her
knees. “He must be alive! He must be somewhere!” Haibara put the glasses on and
activated the tracking feature of the glasses. Her eyes widened as she saw two
dots moving away. “I’ve found them! Hurry! Call the police as well! Hakase,
let’s go!” commanded Haibara. Conan-kun,
John-kun, we’re coming. Ran was clutching her phone tightly and frowning at
the same time during the undetected chase on the Black Organisation. Haibara’s warning
suddenly interrupted her thoughts, “Mouri-san, I hope you understand that what
you are about to face is a very dangerous situation. These criminals are unlike
the culprits you had fought before –– they won’t hesitate to open fire.” With
that said, Ran’s eyes widened, and tears began to flow in her eyes. Conan-kun, John-kun, hang in there.
Meanwhile, Conan and I were bound in
shackles. “Guess I’m not so lucky this time. I escaped the American branch, but I’m caught in the main
branch,” I sighed. “Nope. I think it’s a mistake to be solving murder
cases. This had their attention, and not to mention that the Detective Boys had
become well known for solving cases as well,” Conan sighed back. “Well, at
least you gave them a good experience of how a real detective works,” I
smirked. I glanced at his feet. He was still barefooted –– Gin and Vermouth didn't give him time to wear his Power-Enhancing Kick Shoes. “I slipped
Power-Enhancing Fingerless Gloves that Hakase made for you into your pocket,
since you said you only know hand-to-hand combat,” explained Conan. We heard
footsteps and Gin came into sight, “Oh, you can talk. Very well. Tell me. Where
is Sherry?” “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” replied Conan. Gin then
turned to me and asked the same question. “I’ve never heard of someone named Sherry,”
I replied. “How about Shiho Miyano?” probed Gin. “Who is Shiho Miyano?” I
asked. “Fine then. Looks like we’ll go the hard way,” sighed Gin. He then
tortured Conan by punching and kneeing him into Conan’s gut up to the point
that Conan spat blood. “Let me repeat. Where is Sherry?” Gin probed again. “I
still have no idea what you’re talking about,” replied Conan. Gin suddenly
pointed his gun at me. “Tell me. I’ll shoot him if you don’t,” commanded Gin.
“S-She is –– ” Conan began. Before he could finish, an army of police officers
came barging in, including Sato and Takagi. “Freeze! Police!” commanded Sato.
Ran came running after them, while Haibara calmly entered the scene.
“Ran-neechan!” Conan and I exclaimed in unison. “Conan-kun! John-kun! Don’t
worry! I’ll get you both to safety soon! Hang it there!” Ran called out. We
both nodded our heads. “Our Detective Badge,” smirked Conan. Takagi and Sato freed
us from the shackles while the rest of the police force surrounded Gin. “Sato,
Takagi-keiji, arigatou. We’ll leave him to you,” we thanked them. “Takagi, you
take care of him, and the rest of us follow the boys!” ordered Sato. “Hai! You
can count on me!” saluted Takagi.
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