IW: Chapter 297 - Letting a Phantom Thief Guard a Gem? What a Genius Idea!
"Thank you."
Kanna knelt on the ground, her chubby little legs bending, and her head touched the floor.
She could bend and stretch.
She had indeed made a mistake earlier; she shouldn't have acted without fully understanding the situation.
So she admitted her mistake and was very grateful for Bai Ye's decision to let her stay.
In fact, she had seriously considered that staying here seemed better than going back.
Not to mention whether she could even go back, even if she did, she would probably be alone.
Staying here genuinely seemed like the best option.
"It's alright, Tohru won't be troubled if you stay here."
In truth, Bai Ye could tell that although Tohru's words were resolute,
she couldn't bear to say them deep down.
Well, then.
He had said it nicely, and there was no need to emphasize his other subtle intentions.
"Then, later, I'll take you to meet Ai Haibara; she's just your age right now."
If calculated by age, Kanna was much older than Ai Haibara.
However, since both of them were children now, they should be able to become good friends, right?
Right?
Bai Ye thought about their personalities and felt a little unsure.
But Bai Ye felt it was very necessary to let Ai Haibara and Kanna interact.
"Mm-hmm, okay."
Kanna obediently listened to Bai Ye's words.
Perhaps it was because she had been expelled from there due to her previous mischievous behavior.
Now, Kanna was actually a little afraid of being abandoned again.
"Since Kanna is staying, hurry up and eat."
Tohru placed the cooked meal on the dining table.
She was quite happy that Kanna chose to stay here.
"Oh, right, Kanna, why did you come here?"
Tohru hadn't asked before; she herself came here because she opened a spatial passage.
But logically, Kanna shouldn't have the ability to open a spatial passage.
"Because of mischief."
"As expected."
Tohru had an 'as expected' expression.
Before this, Tohru had guessed that Kanna must have been expelled for this reason.
"Then you can stay here, but you must never play mischievous tricks again!"
Although Tohru knew that Kanna might not be able to change overnight,
there was nothing she could do; humans in this world were weaker.
Although she learned from Bai Ye that there were also some relatively strong humans,
Kanna's mischievous tricks could very likely scare ordinary people to death.
So Tohru decided to remind Kanna.
"Okay."
Kanna very honestly agreed to this.
Being able to stay was already a blessing.
Kanna felt that she would probably starve to death in a few more days.
She was picked up by Bai Ye and brought home.
Although she initially regarded Bai Ye as an enemy who had taken Tohru away,
now it seemed that he was the generous one.
"Bai Ye-sama, do you have any plans for the weekend?"
Tohru asked curiously.
She wanted to go out and play with Bai Ye.
Of course, the premise was that Bai Ye had no commitments.
"Let me think, I should have time in the afternoon."
He still needed to check on the Office during the day.
After all, it was the weekend; he couldn't go when he had classes, but now it was different.
He wouldn't need to go in the afternoon, as Sadako was watching over it.
Recently, due to the internal competition with Tohru, Sadako had returned to her previous state.
This year-round, non-stop state—she truly was a good employee.
"Are you going to the Office?"
"Yes."
"Then I'm coming too!"
Tohru quickly raised her hand, indicating that she also wanted to go along.
"Kanna, are you coming too?"
"Can I?"
Kanna actually wanted to go along just now.
However, she couldn't bring herself to say it, only looking at Bai Ye with hopeful eyes.
The moment Bai Ye invited her, she wanted to go.
"Of course, it's a good chance to introduce that friend to you."
The Office.
When Ai Haibara saw Bai Ye bringing a little girl there,
she couldn't help but remind him, "Are you really going to hire child labor?"
This guy truly wasn't afraid of death.
The Office might have many visitors later, and with child laborers, especially children dressed like that, by his side,
was he really not afraid of being investigated?
"What am I afraid of? This is Kanna; she's thousands of years old."
"Another dragon?"
Ai Haibara's eyes suddenly cleared a bit, and her gaze towards Kanna became somewhat strange.
No way?!
Can you really just pick up dragons anywhere?
How could Bai Ye pick up a dragon just by going out for a day?
"Of course, she's a dragon. She happens to know Tohru, so she came over."
Bai Ye didn't elaborate on how he and Kanna met.
After all, Kanna had initially accused him of being a pervert.
If he really told them about it, those few people might genuinely think so.
Adhering to the principle of avoiding trouble, Bai Ye naturally chose to give up.
"Hello."
Kanna greeted them politely.
After speaking, she also fixed her gaze on Ai Haibara.
"What does that look in her eyes mean?"
Ai Haibara felt like she had seen it somewhere before.
Perhaps at school earlier?
"Bai Ye-sama, is she my friend?"
According to Bai Ye's previous description, only Ai Haibara seemed to fit.
"Hey, hey, hey, what exactly did you say before coming here?!"
Indeed!
Ai Haibara rubbed her forehead; she realized that she was probably set up by Bai Ye again.
"It's just finding a friend for Kanna; you two will probably have things to talk about, right?"
"Us?!"
Ai Haibara originally wanted to say something.
But when she saw Kanna's hopeful eyes, she couldn't bring herself to speak for a moment.
She felt that if she really spoke her mind, this little girl in front of her would probably be very upset.
Calculated by human age, this Kanna should be younger than herself, right?
Ai Haibara actually didn't want many friends.
Because of friends, Ai Haibara felt that her affairs had become a bit too numerous now.
This morning, she received calls from Tomoyo and Sakura.
They were inviting her to hang out together.
This also made Ai Haibara personally experience how annoying elementary school students could be.
"Alright, we're friends then."
Anyway, it was already annoying enough; one more wouldn't make a difference, and one less wouldn't matter.
She didn't know why, but Ai Haibara just couldn't say those words.
"Kanna is a pitiful child; she was disliked by the dragons there because she was naughty."
Bai Ye gave Ai Haibara a heads-up.
Although he felt he didn't need to say this, he thought it might be better to mention it.
Listening to Bai Ye's words, Ai Haibara's attitude softened again.
Perhaps she truly was a bit like a hedgehog.
There was no need to keep protecting herself like this.
Meanwhile, Sadako, seeing this scene, was seething with anger.
She hadn't expected Tohru to have already gone to such lengths in their internal competition.
Tohru had already found candidates for Bai Ye, while she herself had made little progress.
Would Bai Ye eventually think she didn't want to help him?
Or would Bai Ye think she was incompetent, unable to even handle the task of recruiting female ghosts?
No!
Next time, she must properly call all these ghost sisters over!
She absolutely couldn't fall behind Tohru.
Thinking this, Sadako instinctively glanced at Tohru, but as her gaze met Tohru's, she was immediately met with Tohru's challenging eyes.
Good, good!
Since the challenge had been brought to her doorstep, she certainly wouldn't admit defeat.
Although she was behind this time, it was enough to raise Sadako's vigilance.
"Um... do we have a request to accept here?"
Miko raised her hand, breaking the slightly tense atmosphere.
Originally, she didn't want to speak; the current situation was already very clear.
This wasn't something a mere mortal like her should comment on.
But she couldn't stand the awkwardness if she didn't say something at this moment.
She also wanted to report this matter quickly and then leave work.
She couldn't stay here any longer.
She'd come back in the evening.
"Someone finally came looking for me?!"
Bai Ye was a little excited; this was the Office's first order!
He had to complete this mission well.
"Mm-hmm, it's a mission about guarding a gem, not related to the supernatural."
Miko also observed Bai Ye after saying this.
Mainly, she wanted to see Bai Ye's reaction.
Because this didn't originally belong to their type of mission.
Miko knew that Bai Ye liked supernatural and various strange missions the most.
"How did this mission find us?"
Bai Ye's expression was strange.
He had another identity in secret.
Asking a Phantom Thief to help guard a gem?
Speaking of which, the person who came up with this idea was truly a genius.
"Actually, it's probably because the other party learned about your previous case-solving. It's a valuable gem belonging to a collector, and it's been targeted by Cats Eye and Kaito Kid, so they hope to hire you."
Of course, the other party also said they wanted to hire the famous detective Kudo Shinichi.
However, since they couldn't contact him, they hired Bai Ye instead.
Miko didn't dare to say this to Bai Ye.
But thinking about it, it made sense: Kudo Shinichi had been active longer and had a bigger reputation, so hiring him would naturally be the first choice.
As for Bai Ye, if it weren't for the last case, Miko wouldn't even know that Bai Ye could solve cases.
"Isn't this a matter for the police?"
Bai Ye said, a hint of a dark line flashing in his eyes.
He hadn't expected this matter to find him.
Speaking of which, wasn't this a police matter?
"I'm not sure. The other party doesn't seem to trust the police much. You know how they were played by the Phantom Thieves of Hearts, right?"
Not just the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.
Cats Eye, Lupin III, Kaito Kid.
These phantom thieves seemed to disregard them one by one.
Anyway, the other party's idea was that instead of finding the police to guard it, it would be better to find a detective.
At least detectives seemed more reliable than those people, right?
"Speaking of which, I do know..."
How could he not know?
He was the one who played them.
But to have himself protect a gem?
Bai Ye stroked his chin, considering whether to accept this mission, which seemed to pose no difficulty for him.
"Give them an answer. Tell them I accept!"
Bai Ye didn't overthink it and ultimately chose to accept the mission.
The main reason was that it was their Office's first mission.
If he refused the first request, it would somewhat make him seem unprofessional.
"Boss, about this... can you really catch phantom thieves?"
Although Miko knew it was a bit rude to question Bai Ye,
what was it called?
Specialization.
If it were about catching ghosts or doing other things, she wouldn't doubt him.
But Miko found the methods these phantom thieves used for their heists completely incomprehensible.
"They play magic, and I play sorcery. What do you think?"
Bai Ye smiled at Miko.
It seemed Miko was a bit unclear about the difference between sorcery and magic.
Not to mention that he was also a phantom thief.
Even if he wasn't, what was magic compared to sorcery?
It didn't matter if he didn't understand; keeping this gem was no problem at all.
"This..."
It actually made a lot of sense!
Miko suddenly realized that she had been worrying too much.
How could magic compare to sorcery?
"So I'll agree?"
"You can."
After receiving Bai Ye's answer, Miko immediately sent a message to the other party agreeing to the invitation.
The other party instantly sent the time and location.
This time, a confrontation with Kaito Kid and Cats Eye?
Lupin III didn't come?
Speaking of which, as an international master thief, Lupin III rarely just steals a single gem that simply.
This time, Bai Ye also didn't plan to use sorcery immediately.
He would first see what methods these phantom thieves would use to steal the gem.
He still preferred to try with more conventional methods first.
"Bai Ye-sama, can I go?!"
Tohru raised her hand, ready to go and help.
"No, just wait for me at home."
If Tohru went, Sadako would probably want to go too.
Bai Ye couldn't even imagine the panic that would ensue if a tall girl with horns and a tail suddenly appeared in front of other people.
That might still be explained away as cosplay.
But a female ghost crawling out of a television set—Bai Ye truly couldn't explain that.
So Bai Ye wouldn't allow those two to go.
Especially with so many phantom thieves present, there would definitely be many media outlets arriving.
Bai Ye naturally didn't want to become the center of attention.
"Alright..."
Tohru pouted, rejected again just like before.
Meanwhile, Sadako, who had originally intended to bring up the same thing, also abandoned the idea.
Since Tohru was rejected, she would most likely be rejected too, right?
"Nothing to see here. I'll take a call first."
Bai Ye waved his hand, picked up his phone, and after seeing Vermouth's call, a hint of confusion flashed in his eyes, but he still chose to answer: "Interested in a mission?!"