Because of his high [Soul] and [Spirit] stats, Akako Koizumi sensed Yuu Hoshimiya's uniqueness the moment their eyes met. After a quick magical probe, she discovered his body surged with immense mana—or rather, his [Spirit] level was off the charts.
While Yuu saw these as numerical attributes, supernatural beings like Akako judged them through their own specialized energies. For a witch like Akako, it was Mana. For a shrine maiden, it might be Holy Power or Spiritual Energy. She also noted his mental fortitude was incredibly robust. Such traits weren't rare in a master mage, but finding them in someone with zero signs of cultivation was intriguing. Is he a natural-born genius, born hundreds of times stronger than an average person? Akako wondered, her curiosity piqued.
She concluded he was untrained because her detection spell went unnoticed by him. Yuu, ignorant of magic's mechanics, merely attributed the sensation to the intensity of her gaze. Unlike the cautious Yuu, the young witch had little concept of hiding her nature. Her arrogance gave her absolute confidence; even if she slipped up, she could simply use Suggestion or Hypnosis spells to rewrite a witness's memory.
This pride, however, played right into Yuu's hands. He knew he could slowly win her over through normal interaction, but that would take months—time he didn't have. To conquer this witch quickly, leverage and "force" were the most efficient tools.
Aoko Nakamori, by contrast, was a simpler target. Despite being childhood sweethearts, Kaito Kuroba was a classic immature brat who teased the girl he liked instead of confessing. This dynamic only annoyed Aoko, stalling their relationship indefinitely. Yuu knew that exposing Kaito's identity as the phantom thief would cause a total breakdown in their trust. Betrayal by someone close is the hardest to forgive.
Yuu's priority, however, remained Akako. He needed to conquer her before she raised her guard, then use her magic to secure evidence against Kaito—or learn magic himself. He craved Kaito's disguise techniques, but that was secondary to the girls.
I need to get closer to the witch, Yuu plotted. Should I act interested in magic, or act as if I'm captivated by her beauty? No rush. Moving too fast will expose my goal.
While Yuu played it cool, Akako was already making her move. Aside from Kaito, Yuu was the first man to truly interest her. His pure, deep mana was intoxicating, and his physical charm was undeniable. If her interest in Kaito was a game of conquest, her interest in Yuu was genuine attraction and a sense of finding a kindred spirit. She decided to let her butler investigate his background while she worked on making him obsessed with her.
The school day ended. Yuu returned home through a light drizzle mixed with sleet. "Strange weather," he muttered, shaking the water off his coat. In the world of Conan, erratic weather usually signaled a major event.
At that very moment, in a cold laboratory, Shiho Miyano sat handcuffed to a pipe. In her right hand, she clutched a photo of her sister, Akemi Miyano.
"Sister..." she whispered. The genius girl with strawberry-blonde hair recalled the past few weeks: the house arrest, the lack of contact, and finally, the silence. She had stopped cooperating with the drug research to demand a meeting with Akemi, but Gin had refused.
Today, she had confronted him. Gin, a man too cold to bother with lies, had simply said: "She's dead."
Those two words shattered Shiho's heart. Despite her threats to stop the research, Gin didn't care. Eventually, he explained why she was killed and who did it. Shiho didn't know his name, but she remembered his face—the man she'd met with Gin. The man who had taken her sister away.
Fuelled by hatred for the Organization and the man who pulled the trigger, Sherry—as she was known—terminated the APTX4869 project. After a day of starvation and confinement in the lab, she reached a breaking point.
"There's nothing left. I'll join you soon, sister," she whispered, her eyes dark and hollow. She pulled a hidden APTX4869 pill from her pocket and swallowed it without hesitation.
Agony tore through her body. When she finally opened her eyes, she was gasping for air, her body tiny and fragile. The handcuffs had slipped off her small wrists, and her lab coat was now a massive, oversized shroud. She knew the odds—this was the same "side effect" that had happened to a certain high school detective.
God doesn't want me to die yet, she thought. I will live. I will get revenge.
She deleted the security footage with trembling fingers and crawled into the ventilation duct—a path no adult could take. She emerged into the rainy night, a small, shivering figure escaping the darkness of the lab. With nowhere to go, her subconscious led her toward the only other "equal" she knew: Shinichi Kudo.
By the time she reached the vicinity of the Kudo villa, she was spent. A day without food, the trauma of shrinking, and the freezing rain had pushed her body to the limit. She collapsed on the side of the road, drifting into unconsciousness.
Moments later, a handsome young man holding an umbrella appeared. Yuu Hoshimiya looked down at the fallen toddler with a mix of surprise and genuine pity. In his heart, he had always liked Haibara more than the "perfect" Ran. Her cynicism and hidden vulnerability made her far more real, far more enticing.
He closed his umbrella and scooped her up. Her white lab coat was soaked in filth, staining his own clothes, but he didn't care. He pulled the tiny girl against his chest, trying to use his body heat to warm her.
She's so light... like a little kitten, he thought. Even as a child, her mixed-race features were exquisitely beautiful.
Holding her with one arm, he pulled out his phone and dialed Akemi Miyano.
"Yuu-kun?" Akemi answered almost instantly.
"It's me," Yuu said, noticing the girl in his arms was beginning to burn up with a fever. "Akemi, drive to 2-21 Beika Street. Now. Bring dry clothes and children's fever medicine. Move fast."
On the other end, Akemi didn't ask why. She had felt a sense of dread all day, and Yuu's urgent tone confirmed it. She dropped everything and ran to her car.
Yuu looked down at the shivering Shiho. The hunt was over; now, the real "domestication" would begin.