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Chapter 9 - "The Ghost in the Travel Photos."

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The real reason he let Silver Fox go was simple—Silver Fox had done him a huge favor. He'd shown him how to get into the assassin world. And while Hana Fumei never thought of himself as a good guy, he wasn't the type to stab someone in the back after they helped him.

"You're totally out of your mind!" Conan shouted at Hana Fumei, clearly pissed off, which kind of ticked Hana Fumei off too.

Professor Agasa jumped in, startled. Conan must've lost his mind, yelling at a hitman like that. What if the guy got annoyed and just… did something? That thought made him hurry to play peacemaker."Okay okay, no fighting! Let's all sit down and talk this out, alright? Hey, Ai, didn't you just mention something about a disk with drug data on it?"

That finally pulled Conan back to his senses. He shifted his focus to something way more important.

Hana Fumei had heard about it from Ai Haibara before. Years ago, her sister had sent her a disk with travel photos on it. Ai had used the lab computer to look through the pics, then mailed the disk back. But later, she realized the travel photos were still with her—the disk she'd actually mailed was the one that had all the data on APTX4869.

"We could try searching your sister's old apartment," Professor Agasa suggested, steering the conversation in a better direction.

Ai shook her head slightly. "It's no use. After my sister died, the Organization gave up the apartment. I'm sure they went through it top to bottom. But… I remember my sister saying that the disks were made by a professor from the university who went on that trip with her. It's possible she gave the disk back to him afterward…"

"Do you know who this professor is?" Conan asked quickly. This was a huge lead—something that might help him get his real body back.

"Professor Masaki Hirota from Nanyang University. But I don't know where he lives."

When Ai mentioned the name, something about it tugged at Conan's memory."Masaki Hirota?" He frowned. That name… sounded kinda familiar. No matter how much he thought about it though, he couldn't place it, so he let it go and looked up."If he works at Nanyang University, we can just ask them for his address."

"Alright, I'll go call them now," said Professor Agasa, already walking off to find the number.

After a few calls and a bit of back and forth, they finally got in touch with the man himself—Professor Masaki Hirota.

"What? A disk with travel photos on it?" Professor Hirota was surprised by the question. "Wait—who are you?"

"Uh… well…" Professor Agasa fumbled, glancing nervously at Ai before whispering, "What was your sister's name again?"

Ai answered coolly, "Akemi. Akemi Miyano."

Agasa quickly said he was a friend of Akemi's. Hearing that, the old professor's tone immediately warmed up."Oh, Akemi's friend! I see. Well, I already gave all the travel photo disks back to the people who went on the trip with us."

Just as they were about to get disappointed, the professor added,"But there was one weird disk mixed in."

"A weird disk?" Agasa blinked.

Conan's eyes lit up. That had to be it!

"Do you think we could come pick it up?" Agasa asked.

"Sure. I've got a couple of guests coming in a little while, but after that I'm free."

"Great! We'll be there in about three hours."

After hanging up, Agasa turned to Hana Fumei."You coming with us?"

Hana Fumei shrugged lazily, resting his head on one hand with a bored look on his face."What for? You want me to kill someone or something?"(Later on, Hana Fumei would be super glad he didn't go—because when that professor ended up dead, they would've suspected him first thing…)

"....."

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