𝐁𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐒𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐬

file 043 | confrontation

episode 345 — head-to-head match with the black organization: a dual mystery on a full moon night

Suzume jolted into an upright position when her phone started to ring, the wet cloth on her forehead falling onto her lap. Without looking at her, Hiro tossed her phone over and she caught it.

"Hey, Ran," she greeted. "What's up?"

"Dad just got this weird off-season Halloween party invitation," Ran said, worried. "And the sender called themselves 'Vermouth'."

Hiro froze and looked over at Suzume, who pursed her lips and signed Shuichi's name at him, making him nod and pull out his phone. He didn't need to do much since Shuichi walked into the room at that exact moment, waving a certain invitation in his hand with a frown.

Suzume sighed. "Thanks, Ran. I'll talk to you later."

She hung up the phone and Shuichi handed over the letter, raising an eyebrow.

"Did your girlfriend's father get an invitation too?" he asked.

She nodded, pulling up a familiar number and pressing the call button. "Looks like I'm gonna have to improvise." She glanced at Hiro. "Get my mom. I'm gonna need her expertise in disguises in a bit."

~ — — — ~

"So, are you going to sneak onto that ship?" Ai asked.

Suzume gave Agasa a short, unimpressed look before looking back at the shrunken scientist. "Yeah," she replied. "The sender is rubbing me the wrong way. Vermouth. Similar to Gin and Vodka, it's a liquor."

"Do you know anything about it, Ai-kun?" Agasa asked.

Ai shook her head. "No. Besides, I don't know much about liquor."

Suzume sighed. "It's liquor from Italy. Vermouth is the English spelling. In Japan, it's called Bermutto."

Ai gasped and Suzume's suspicions were confirmed. The girl curled in on herself as she shook in terror.

"Just as I thought," Suzume murmured. "Vermouth is definitely a member of the Black Organization."

"Then you mean that invitation is from..."

"Yeah. A member of the Organization is inviting me out to a Halloween party on a ship," Suzume said. "Maybe they got tired of waiting or they're underestimating me, but I can't let this opportunity slide."

"Don't go."

Suzume got up and walked over to Ai's bedside.

The girl looked up at her with eyes filled with terror. "Don't go! Stop, I tell you! It's a trap, and if you go, you'll be killed." She was cut off by a fit of coughing from her shouting.

"I know it's a trap," Suzume told her, reaching for her watch.

"Then why..." Ai's eyes slid shut as she was hit by the tranquilizer needle, slumping forward.

Suzume caught her and set her back so she was lying in her bed, pulling the covers up to her chin.

"Oi, Suzume, you didn't have to do that," Agasa said, surprised.

Suzume ignored him, staring down at the unconscious girl. "Sorry, Ai," she murmured. "With how things are going, I can't have you getting hurt."

"But I wonder if it's okay for you to leave Ai-kun here like this and leave just like that," Agasa said.

"I'll have eyes on her while I'm gone," Suzume said. "Besides, I'm sure this Vermouth already knows that Ai is the escaped scientist Sherry."

"But isn't it strange? If they have that much information already, why aren't they here raiding us?"