Chapter 133: Destination—Osaka

Half an hour later, Fina emerged from the room alone. With a flick of her fingers across her clothes, the moisture left behind by Ai Haibara’s tears vanished instantly, leaving her attire crisp and dry.

Vernon sat on the sofa, his eyes tracking Fina as she walked toward him. He knew what she intended to say, but he wouldn't agree without a valid justification.

Fina stood before him, and the computer on her arm lit up, projecting a mass of data between them.

"I have just conducted an analysis on Ai Haibara. The results indicate that her parameters meet the standards for establishing an energy extraction array."

Fina pulled up the comparative data. While Ai Haibara’s metrics weren't peak, they fluctuated around the "good" threshold.

"The only discrepancy is that her current biological age falls below the adult standard. However, her condition is the result of an abnormal regression caused by the ingestion of APTX-4869, which qualifies as a special case."

"There is precedent for this. Some professors at the Clock Tower’s School of Spiritualism choose to perform reverse spiritual channeling on their own bodies to indirectly extend their lifespans and restore vitality, while simultaneously completing research projects."

"After successful channeling, a small number of professors had their biological age drop below the adult standard due to improper spellcasting, causing the teaching administration to label them as minors and revoke their teaching privileges."

"These professors who had over-regressed filed a joint appeal, which eventually led to a revision of the regulations. The revised sections are as follows..."

"Stop, stop, stop." Vernon hurriedly interrupted as he looked at the highly professional data and case comparisons. His expertise was in Druidic knowledge; while it fell under the magical umbrella, the divide between it and this was as vast as the gap between physics and mathematics.

"I’ll ask you one thing: are you certain that if you were presented with another person without her specific history, you would still deem them suitable for a set point?" Vernon asked sternly.

Frank, who understood absolutely nothing of the data, sat to the side and offered a gentle smile toward Ai Haibara, who was peering from behind the door crack. If his own daughter hadn't met with an accident, she would be around that age now.

"I swear on my honor as a mage and the glory of the Ouroboros members! I have absolutely not allowed my empathy to override the mission!" Fina replied with equal gravity.

She was sometimes overly empathetic, but she knew how to weigh priorities. If Ai Haibara hadn't genuinely met the criteria, she would never have applied to Vernon, nor would she have revealed her identity as a mage, let alone attempted to fulfill the girl's wish.

"Fine, I agree," Vernon said without hesitation. Why refuse a win-win situation?

Fina beamed and patted Vernon on the shoulder; she knew her captain would agree. Beside them, Frank waved his small fist at Ai Haibara as if teasing a child.

"Frank, what is your opinion?" Vernon knew the outcome, but the proper procedure had to be followed.

"I agree," Frank said, sitting up straight, his face returning to the cold, stern mask he wore when they first met.

"Yay!" Fina waved at Ai Haibara.

"Don't get happy just yet." Vernon looked at the two girls with a hint of helplessness. "Do you know any soul-related spells? Or perhaps spirit mediumship? Besides, it’s been so long since she died; it’s uncertain whether her soul has even dissipated."

"And even if you manage to gather the soul through sheer luck, where would you put it? The resurrection array in the pod locks our soul fluctuations—don't even think about trying anything there."

"I won't, I won't touch the shuttle pod's systems." Fina frowned in thought. "I learned some basic principles of soul summoning during my general training. The magical fluctuations in this world are stable, and there is no place like Hell or Heaven to receive souls, nor are there any death-management personnel like Reapers, so I believe I can try."

"As for the time of death, the timeline in this world is so chaotic—small tremors every day, big ones every three days—so having dozens of Valentine's Days in a year is perfectly normal. Perhaps her sister only just passed away?"

"Finally, as for where to put her: I'll see if I can convert her into a long-term ghost. If that fails, I'll try a land-bound spirit. If that doesn't work, I'll set up a soul-nourishing array to buy some time. If that still fails, I'll look for a recently deceased body to use as a vessel. And if even that doesn't work... Captain, lend me a seed!"

"So many 'ifs'... the success rate probably won't be high..." Vernon said, looking at Ai Haibara. He was worried Fina would be repaid with ingratitude. If Ai Haibara caused trouble, it would be quite a headache to handle according to protocol.

Ai Haibara pulled the door open and looked at everyone earnestly. "I am willing to bear all risks and responsibilities. Whether it succeeds or not, the responsibility has nothing to do with Fina!"

"Alright then." Vernon had no further reason to object. He leaned back on the sofa and asked one final question: "So, who knows where her sister died?"

Fina looked at Ai Haibara, who raised her hand. "Gin and his lackey, Vodka—they definitely know."

"No, we cannot actively seek them out, nor can we use spells to spy on them; that would violate regulations," Fina said, shaking her head. "Therefore, if we want to obtain the information from outsiders, they must do it of their own free will."

Ai Haibara searched anxiously for anyone who might know the location of her sister’s death and would be willing to cooperate. Suddenly, a name came to mind—a name she had intentionally changed from "missing" to "deceased."

"Shinichi Kudo!" Ai Haibara blurted out after a moment of thought.

He was the person she had intended to find anyway.

"Shinichi Kudo?"

While Fina pondered, Frank had already pulled up newspaper information regarding Shinichi Kudo. On the surface, he was currently reported as missing.

"He is missing," Frank said. The internet in this world was in terrible shape, and information was highly incomplete. Relying solely on network data, they would never find someone who had vanished from the public eye.

"He's not missing; he's shrunk, just like me," Ai Haibara said. "When I checked his house, I discovered that all his childhood clothes were gone."

Frank operated the system rapidly, pulling up several incredibly blurry surveillance cameras near Shinichi Kudo’s location. By cross-referencing this with Kudo's known social network, they finally locked onto a child who had suddenly appeared at Professor Agasa’s home.

"Conan Edogawa." Frank reported the name as he projected the image, then imported it into the system. The system concluded that the two sets of images were of the same person at different ages.

With the person located, Frank utilized the optical detection system on the shuttle pod, combined with intelligent tracking, and pinpointed Conan’s current location: Osaka.