Chapter 258

His brows furrowed even tighter.

Although there was no one in the room, it was very eerie; there wasn't a speck of dust on the floor or the table.

It was very clean, very tidy, as if someone cleaned it every day.

He looked up at the dark stairs and walked up carefully.

"Oh no, Conan is coming up the stairs."

Akaso Kaze held Yukiko and whispered in her ear.

Then, his mouth curled slightly upward.

Just as expected, Yukiko started to get nervous.

In the bathroom, it was silent, but not without movement—it just didn't make any sound.

Yukiko bit her lower lip tightly, not daring to make a sound.

No, absolutely cannot be discovered by Conan.

She had to endure!

Conan walked on the stairs; although his footsteps were very light, the sound was still very clear in the quiet building.

He observed the floor as he walked.

Nothing, no footprints, no dust.

The stairs were extremely clean, as if they had just been scrubbed.

Conan's suspicion grew heavier and heavier.

Finally reaching the top, Conan first looked at Yukiko's room.

For some reason, he had an intuition that there seemed to be someone inside.

Could it be that his mother had returned?

Conan's eyes lit up, thinking of his parents who had once impersonated the men in black, and thinking of the experience where he was almost scared to death, he couldn't help but pout.

"Hey, stop hiding, Mom, I see you."

He pushed open Yukiko's bedroom door carelessly.

In the bathroom, Yukiko was so scared she covered her red little mouth, barely holding back a scream.

Akaso Kaze also took a deep breath.

This woman is way too nervous.

A little brat scares her like this; is it necessary?

However, it really is quite exciting.

Akaso Kaze looked down at Yukiko in his arms.

Yukiko covered her little mouth, her two watery eyes wide open, her expression pitiful, shaking her head continuously.

Her face was full of pleading.

Akaso Kaze's mouth curled slightly, and he used sound-transmission magic to say in her ear: "What do you want to beg me for? Two words? Or three words?"

Yukiko didn't dare to answer.

Conan was in the bedroom outside; any sound would arouse his suspicion.

She could only bury her head in Akaso Kaze's shoulder and bite down.

"Hiss."

Fortunately, Akaso Kaze's sound-transmission magic was still running.

Otherwise, just this deep intake of breath would have alerted Conan.

Conan looked at the empty room and scanned back and forth with the flashlight on his watch.

Nothing.

The clothes on the floor had long been put away by Akaso Kaze, and he had also used wind magic to go over it.

Any traces had been blown away.

"Could it be that I was suspicious, or did Mom come back and leave again?"

Conan shook his head and turned to leave.

Just as he was about to lift his foot, he suddenly stopped again.

His intuition started to kick in again.

His gaze involuntarily looked at the bathroom door.

"Could Mom be hiding in the bathroom?"

"No way."

He hesitated for a while but still walked over.

He really couldn't rest easy without checking.

Knock, knock.

Conan knocked on the door twice first and asked: "Mom, are you inside?"

After a pause, he said again: "Then I'm coming in..."

Pushing the door open, there was nothing inside.

Conan shone his flashlight around.

Although it was very clean, there were no traces of use at all.

He walked out of the bathroom and closed the door.

Then he suddenly stopped.

No, very wrong!

The temperature in that bathroom was completely different from the outside!

Someone definitely used it!

He had a bad premonition in his heart.

He took out his phone with a trembling hand and dialed.

The call connected quickly.

"H-hello? Mom? Where are you?"

Conan was very nervous.

"Me? I'm at the airport."

Actually, Yukiko was even more nervous.

"Airport? Which airport?" Conan asked with a frown.

"Of course, of course it's the Tokyo airport."

On the phone came Yukiko's panting voice.

"I was passing by today and originally wanted to see you, but who knew there would be an emergency call, so I had to leave overnight."

Along with Yukiko's voice, the airport's flight announcement could also be heard on the phone.

"Oh, so that's how it is."

Conan breathed a sigh of relief. "You must have gone home to take a bath at night."

"Huh? How did you know? Oh my, I won't talk anymore; the plane is about to take off. Let's talk after I get off the plane."

Conan listened to the dial tone coming from his phone and couldn't help but pout.

So all the eerie phenomena during this period were caused by Mom coming home.

Whether it was using electricity, water, or finding someone to clean, it could all be explained.

Speaking of which, she is busy enough now; she didn't even have time to see her son when passing through Tokyo.

However, not meeting is also fine; anyway, meeting wouldn't be of any use, and it would easily expose his true identity.

Conan hummed a little tune, went downstairs, walked out the gate, and headed back.

Upstairs, in Conan's room.

Yukiko lay against the window, watching Conan's back.

"Shinichi, Mommy really can't look after you right now, forgive Mommy..."

The hot breath Yukiko exhaled formed a patch of mist on the glass.

Within the mist, she gasped with all her might, forgetting everything else.

"So, Ms. Yukiko, why did you come back this time? Could it be just because you missed me?"

Akaso Kaze asked with a smile, his movements effortless behind her.

"I, I, I am here to entrust you with a commission on someone else's behalf."

Yukiko finally managed to get a complete sentence out.

"A commission for someone else? Who?"

"Ch, Ch, Chris Vineyard."

Chris Vineyard?

Akaso Kaze frowned slightly.

Isn't that Vermouth?

When did she commission Yukiko?

Akaso Kaze used his Eye of Space to look; Vermouth was currently fast asleep in one of the rooms in his house.

Her body was curled up like an infant's, and her sleeping posture was actually quite cute.

Ever since he had taken Vermouth from the FBI, Akaso Kaze had kept her locked in his house.

This woman was very stubborn and refused to surrender no matter what.

Akaso Kaze felt a bit of curiosity rising.

Logically speaking, Vermouth was the Thousand-Faced Witch, an old demoness who had lived for decades; she certainly wasn't some chaste maiden, so was there any need for her to be this persistent?

This matter seemed a bit strange.

Akaso Kaze was looking for a way to crack her hard shell and see what the soft flesh of Vermouth inside was really like.

A little challenge made things more fun, after all.

"Yukiko, what exactly is your relationship with the Vineyard family?"

Akaso Kaze wanted to obtain more information.

Yukiko's eyes were already somewhat unfocused; she gritted her teeth, and after a long while, she answered intermittently:

"I studied disguise under Toichi Kuroba together with Sharon Vineyard. During that time, we became very close friends. Later, she had a child, and I watched Chris grow up..."

"What? You watched her grow up?"

Akaso Kaze was startled.

This didn't seem right.

Shouldn't Sharon Vineyard and Chris Vineyard be the same person?

"That's right. Although we didn't meet often, we would see each other once or twice every year."

"But what's strange is that as Chris grew up, the mother and daughter became more and more alike, as if they were carved from the same mold."

"Once, I even curiously asked Sharon about it, but she changed the subject and didn't explain."

"From then on, Sharon's appearance began to gradually grow old."

"However, as a fellow student, I clearly knew that it was all her disguise. Sharon's appearance had never changed; it was as if it had stayed at the age of twenty-something..."

"By the way, come to think of it, her appearance was exactly the same as the current Chris Vineyard!"

Listening to Yukiko's words, Akaso Kaze's brows locked tight.

There seemed to be an unusual secret hidden within this.

It seems I don't fully understand this world.

Come to think of it, that makes sense; after all, when I arrived, this manga hadn't finished yet.

Anything is possible...

The next morning, after seeing Yukiko off, Akaso Kaze returned home.

Walking into Vermouth's room, the woman was lying on the bed, blinking her large eyes as she waited for him.

Vermouth wasn't wearing any clothes, but her whole body was hidden under the quilt, wrapping herself up tightly.

Akaso Kaze looked at her with a half-smile.

"As expected of the Thousand-Faced Witch, you really have quite a few trump cards. You actually set up a timed message in advance to have Yukiko Kudo commission me."

"I suppose you also know that I wouldn't refuse a woman's request, especially... my woman."

Vermouth pursed her lips and didn't speak, but there was a faint look of triumph on her face.

Ever since Gin was forced to leave Tokyo, she had known of Akaso Kaze's power.

That was definitely an existence that could not be confronted head-on.

However, no matter how powerful a person is, they have their weaknesses.

In order to find a way to deal with Akaso Kaze, Vermouth had investigated everything about him: his personality, his women, and everything else.

That was why she could formulate one plan after another in advance.

Even if Yukiko couldn't succeed, she still had other trump cards.

The Thousand-Faced Witch Vermouth did not have her reputation for nothing.

So, what will you do, Master Onmyoji?

Vermouth looked at Akaso Kaze with a sense of victory.

Akaso Kaze's lips curled slightly; he came to the bedside and reached out a finger to lift the woman's chin.

The quilt on Vermouth fell away, revealing her fair shoulders.

However, she didn't care at all, only looking at the man in front of her with a pair of charming, large eyes, her gaze like water.

"You really aren't simple," Akaso Kaze said with a smile.

"However, you have no idea who you are facing."

"If you provoke me, you must endure my wrath!"

Akaso Kaze waved his hand, and the quilt on Vermouth flew away.

"I've heard that there is a shortcut to a woman's heart."

"Originally, I didn't want to take the shortcut."

"But now, I've changed my mind."

"So, my little witch, are you ready?"