Chapter 20
The Idea of Conflict
Seeing Jonah, who remained unmoved by his and Professor Agasa's persuasion, being coaxed into sitting down by Ai Haibara with a piece of cake, Conan Edogawa's eye twitched violently. For a moment, he didn't know whether he should say something to complain.
Jonah set the nail gun aside, picked up the cake, and began to eat it fork, his eyes still fixed on Conan Edogawa, waiting for him to speak.
"Jonah, how should I explain this?"
Scratching his hair, Conan Edogawa knew that things had come to this point and he could no longer hide it.
With a sigh, Conan Edogawa began to explain how he transformed from Shinichi Kudo into Conan Edogawa, why he stayed at the Mouri Detective Agency, and why he didn't tell Ran Mouri the news.
"So, neither you nor Haibara are super genius children?"
"...No." Conan Edogawa opened his mouth, wanting to defend himself, saying that he was quite smart and that Ai Haibara was also extraordinary, able to conduct drug research at such a young age. But then he thought that even if he said these things, Jonah probably wouldn't understand, so he could only grit his teeth and admit it.
"oh."
After finishing the last bite of cake, Jonah, under Ai Haibara's watchful gaze, picked up the milk he didn't particularly like and gulped it all down in one go.
"Jonah, aren't you going to ask anything else?"
Seeing Jonah remain silent after hearing his astonishing news, Conan Edogawa couldn't help but ask a follow-up question.
"So, Conan, you are actually Shinichi Kudo, and Ai Haibara also shrunk. That drug is very important, and that organization is very dangerous."
"That's roughly the idea."
With a slight nod, Ai Haibara took over the conversation, cooperating with Conan Edogawa's request for Jonah to keep it a secret.
After all, Jonah is sometimes quite naive. If he accidentally reveals to the organization that they have taken drugs to shrink, it could cause a lot of trouble.
"So Jonah, we want to ask you for a favor..."
"I see."
Before Ai Haibara could finish speaking, Jonah nodded seriously and spoke earnestly in front of Conan Edogawa, Ai Haibara, and Professor Agasa.
"I will protect you!"
"...Jonah, you child, really." The oldest, but also the most sentimental, Professor Agasa couldn't help but take off his glasses and wipe his eyes with the back of his hand when he heard this firm and simple statement.
The three people present could tell that Jonah didn't really understand much of what Conan Edogawa had just said. He only knew, through his expertise, that they were being threatened by a group of very dangerous criminals with guns, and that they were at risk of being killed at any moment.
But even under these circumstances, Jonah did not hesitate or back down in the slightest. With a firm attitude that everyone could see, he said he would protect them.
Not to mention Professor Agasa, even Conan Edogawa was moved and sniffled. Ai Haibara also pursed her lips and blinked repeatedly before finally raising her hand to touch Jonah's hair.
The previously tense atmosphere relaxed as Jonah agreed not to tell Ran Mouri about the matter at the request of Conan Edogawa and Ai Haibara.
Although Jonah felt that this kind of deception was wrong, he also felt that Conan Edogawa and Ai Haibara's explanations made a lot of sense. Jonah, whose small brain couldn't handle so many things, decided to trust Conan Edogawa after all.
"Jonah, you're staying at my house today too, right? It's still early, want to play my newly developed game?"
Seeing that the important matters had been discussed to a sufficient degree, Professor Agasa, beaming with delight and with his pregnant belly protruding, turned on the TV, connected the controller and floppy disk, and was about to bring up a game for Jonah to try out.
Compared to Conan Edogawa and Ai Haibara, who are both fake children, Jonah, the real child, always brings Professor Agasa happy feedback with his enjoyment and reactions when facing games.
"Wait a minute, Doctor, we have other things to do before we start playing the game."
Interrupting Professor Agasa's invitation, Conan Edogawa crossed his hands on his knees and looked at Jonah with a serious expression: "Jonah, shouldn't we talk about what happened with that nail gun?"
"...I found it."
"Jonah, you just said that lying is not a good habit."
"It's okay, I'm not a good kid either."
"...Never mind, forget I said anything." Looking at Jonah, who was clearly going to put up a stubborn resistance and was unlikely to hand over the nail gun, Conan Edogawa pinched his brow and gave up on the idea of forcibly taking the nail gun from Jonah.
Conan Edogawa dislikes forcing others to do things against their will, mainly because he can't beat Jonah.
"Jonah, you must promise me you will never kill anyone, understand? You must say goodbye to your old life."
"Even if you're in danger, about to die in the next second?"
Jonah looked at Conan Edogawa with puzzlement, not understanding why Conan cared so much about this kind of thing.
For Jonah, nothing was more important than himself and the lives of others that he cared about.
"Alright, let's leave this topic here. Jonah, just remember to be careful with your actions, or you'll run into trouble."
Interrupting Conan Edogawa from saying something, Ai Haibara got up from the sofa, pushed Jonah to the TV so he could play games with Professor Agasa, and then walked back to the sofa, looking at Conan Edogawa who was standing there with his arms crossed, looking sullen.
"Kudo, do you really want to discuss with a child who was a child soldier and who, until recently, was taking lives to survive, whether justice or life is more important?"
"I know, but I'm genuinely worried that Jonah might one day..."
"Murder?" Ai Haibara stared at Conan Edogawa and uttered the word that Conan Edogawa was unwilling to say.
"I believe that even if such a thing were to happen, Jonah would definitely be doing it to protect us. If it comes to that, the ones who should be blamed are not Jonah, but us adults who failed to keep an eye on this good child!"
"Well then, now it's my turn to ask you that question you just asked, Kudo."
"If your sister Xiaolan would die if you didn't kill her, would you have done it? Don't give me any high-sounding words. I'm not Jonah, and I won't be easily fooled by you."
"...I won't let that happen." He gritted his teeth and gave the answer, but all Edogawa Conan got in return was a sneer from Haibara Ai.
"So you're afraid to face this question head-on, aren't you? Well then, let me answer that for you. If Professor Agasa is in danger and I have to kill someone to make sure he's safe, I will not hesitate to do so."
"If you really don't want to see that day come, then use your genius brain to figure out a way to stop it from happening."
"The righteous detective."