51 Chapter 50: Auction roster

Having blasted her rapist's brain all over his office window after discovering the invitation on his desk, Sonoko teleported herself home, to get some much-needed sleep, as her sleep suppression pills wore off. Having spent the rest of the day yesterday sleeping, she takes out the invitation she borrowed from the now deceased heir.

Reading the invitation once again, she starts cleaning her weapons with a cleaning set. After having experienced a cartridge get stuck inside of her handgun on her second kill, which resulted in her having to strangle her target to death, Sonoko started to take care of her weapons. Reading the words once again, she still is unable to exactly say what it is that attracts her interest.

Allowing her mind to tap into the unpleasant memories of her 'Training Sessions', she finally figures out what exactly it is that is bugging her. It is the crow circled crest in the corner of the invitation as most of her former 'trainers'/ 'customers' had been wearing badges with the exact same creat. One especially nasty man even had it tattooed over his heart.

Feeling the memories once again overwhelm her, Sonoko prevents herself from remembering more details. Unconsciously she had been bending her cleaning brush, that suddenly broke apart as past was about to get a hold on her once again. Finding herself once again very sweaty, Sonoko decides to take a warm relaxing bath.

Teleporting herself right into the open air bathroom, Sonoko starts undressing. Still wearing her combat outfit from yesterday's fight, as she didn't bother to undress before falling asleep. Throwing her tank top into the nearest laundry basket, she loosens the knot in her combat boots and slips right out of her green army pants.

Checking out her body condition from a purely medical perspective, Sonoko is impressed by how good her body has healed from the wounds inflicted on it by her former 'owners'. Feeling the muscles under her smooth flat belly, get thought upon her own touch, she has to admit that despite her body healing and her mind evolving into a more logical and refined state, the emotional trauma of being 'trained into a good pet' still remains present.

Using the good to deal with the bad, Sonoko tries to remember having sex with Conan and being with Ran as detailed as possible. Feeling her belly muscles relax, she starts removing her underwear before walking to the bathtub. The tub is connected to a natural hot spring is always filled with warm inviting water.

Looking at her own reflection on the surface, Sonoko reminds herself that she is no longer a victim or pet, but a survivor and warrior. Having a strong body and a bullet wound to prove it, she removes her bandages and checks out said wound. Having discovered a neat little skill while preventing herself from sleeping yesterday, her body's regenerative ability can become accelerated, if focused upon a specific wound.

Finding the wound already starting to scar, Sonoko doesn't even care about this imperfection on the body. As it would have caused the girl of the past to most likely fear for her future marriage prospects, the woman of today wears it as a badge of honor. In an unconscious part of her psyche, she even wished that all her 'Training Sessions' would have had some lasting visible scarring.

As she enters the warm embrace of nature, Sonoko still feels cold, as flashbacks try to manifest themselves in her mind. Feeling lonely, she decides to later contact Ran, as her best friends voice and companionship might just be able to ward off the bad memories.

Emerging her body fully into the warm water, Sonoko simply seals her emotions for a time, as she reevaluates her last kill and picks out her own flaws.

While Sonoko is reevaluating her last kill from a cold and purely tactical point of view, Ai makes her own evaluations on herself and the others. Having had a nearly 24h orgy thanks to Erin not being able to control her ability for hours, Ai is surprised to discover, that not only is everybody aside from Conan, but whos passive ability might also just have gone into shutdown after being excessively used to refill his stamina.

Aside from that, everybody seems to be in tip-top shape. Since Erin is now able to mostly control herself from charming everybody around her to have sex, they were able to discover Satos and Rans abilities. To Rans displeasure, Sato's primary ability turned out to be not only superhuman strength but also superhuman reflexes. In addition to her passive ability of invulnerability, the police officer has aside from the ability to fly and her short hair become Wonder Woman.

Contrary to Satos easy to figure out and testability, Rans is a very tricky one. At first glance, her acting ability is simply to turn invisible, but upon further testing, her ability makes in His eyes no sense what so ever, as the moment she turns invisible she seems to vanish out of existence. Not that people forget that she exists, seeing that she has no psychic skill what so ever, but ever physical evidence of her just vanish.

The even tested the universal rule that no two objects can occupy the same space, with the result, that in Rans case the rule does not apply. Ai wouldn't have as frustrated as she currently is if she had found any indication as to what Ran's secondary ability might be.

Having spent most of the morning trying to learn anything beyond the obvious about Ran's ability package, Ai finally gives up for the day, stating. ''Ok. You can stop. These tests give no indication for your passive ability what so ever.''

Reappearing out of thin air, Ran asks. ''Oh, come on you were able to figure out Satos invulnerability limits in half an hour. How come you can't even determine my passive ability?''

''Your abilities are fundamentally different...'' Ai says, already leaving her laboratory. ''... The two of you are fundamentally different. If Satos ability can be compared to a diamond, yours is like a sound wave.''

Tilting her head Ran asks faking an innocent expression while following close behind Ai. ''So I am refined and lovely and Sato is crude and ugly?''

As Ran and Ai go upstairs, the find Erin and Sato sitting at the long dinner table. Finding the long sturdy mahogany still overkill, Ai sits down beside Ran, opposite Sato who herself is sitting next to Erin. Having Conan sit at the head of the table in between mother and daughter, Ai can only envy the two women for being the first to have become Conan's woman.

She specifically envy Ran for taking Conan's virginity and Erin for figuring out the whole harem system and managing it professionally. Having studied human relationships in the past, Ai is especially impressed by Erins dedication to have everyone feel loved and welcome, despite protecting her daughter's status as a future wife.

As Emanuel starts to place the dinner on the table, Ai spots Conan's childish figure some downstairs. Looking a bit haggard and dehydrated, all four women can't keep a straight face. Having been very willing and even more active recipients of Conan's work last night, everyone either starts to blush like Ran or smile a knowingly smile.

While Emanuel reveals the dinner, the whole dining room gets enveloped by a smell beyond divine. Having rightfully predicted the woman's hunger, the Italian chief simply skips the advertiser and presented the main course right from the get-go. Being proud of his talent, the cook reveals a huge smile, as he sees everyone, even the normally very foot conscious woman full heartedly dig in.

One again without him knowing, his living arrangement in the pool house lets him blissfully unaware of the real reason everyone is in dire need of food. As Emanuel gets ready to present the woman's favorite part of every meal the dessert, he hears Conan ask. ''Emanuel! Do you know where my father has gone? Oh, and where is the mail?''

Taking the mail from the kitchen counter, while carrying out the first dessert for the Madam, the cook says, mainly repeating Yusaku Kudos words unaware of their actual meaning. ''Mr. Kudo as left the mention last night to and I quote 'let off some steam, as he mentions seems to be to activate at night'...'' Seeing all four woman blush and his employer cove all of a sudden, Emanuel simply hands Conan the mail. ''... And her is the mail.''

Smiling once again delighted about his fellow country men's unique way of handling otherwise awkward situations, Conan thanks him by saying. ''Thank you, Emanuel. You may continue to serve the deserts and maybe a second for the Madam.''

Conan says the last part while finding Ran's ice cream desert already gone.

Bowing the cook says. ''As you wish, Sir.''

Flipping through the male Conan discovers a black unmarked envelope. Opening it, Conan finds an invitation for an auction taking place in a few days on a cruise liner. What attracts his attention is the family crest of Renya Karasuma in the top right corner.

Below the very formal invitation, he finds an email address and login information. Taking his tabled, while everybody else is devouring their desert, Conan logs into the email server and finds a simple email addressed to him. Opening the document, he is surprised to find a register with around a hundred names on it. Finding price tags in the right side, he realizes that this is the actual auction roster of items auctioned off

Checking the roster, Conan is quick to realize, that the actual goods are a woman. Included in the list of names are familiar and unfamiliar names to Conan, most notably his mother Yukiko Kudo, Heijis childhood friend Kazuha Toyama, the world-renowned idol Yoko Okino as well as Sonokos mother and sister, Tomoko and Ayako Suzuki.