[Detective Conan] The Distillery's Pillar Fails to Strike

A note up front: This is a serious story about a true villain. The protagonist is an extreme, calculating self-interest maximizer, and she remains evil to the end. There will be no redemption.

This is part of my series, "Finish writing a silly story, then reward myself by writing a serious one." I'll start it after finishing Life Exposed. The protagonist is Shimizu Chiaki, and the timeline is the first life of Rei Furuya in Life Exposed. As stated in the blurb for Life Exposed, Shimizu Chiaki, aka Sangria, still dies by suicide at the end of this story.

I'm bad at writing introductions, so this one is pretty awful. Please bear with me.

Every member who joined the Organization had heard Sangria's fearsome reputation, to one degree or another.

She was the Organization's blade, its sharpest dagger, its most useful weapon.

She disliked having a partner and was used to acting alone. She was used to choosing ruthless methods and completing the Organization's missions with maximum efficiency.

But very few people knew the name Shimizu Chiaki.

She wanted to be an ordinary little girl, young woman, and adult woman. She wanted to rest and occasionally do what she wanted.

But she was too clever. She knew she could never take a different path from the life she'd lived before. So she was forced to stay where she was, numb, seeking her last sense of existence through praise.

Shimizu Chiaki had met many Organization members, and many unyielding undercover agents.

To each of them, she introduced herself by her codename: "Sangria."

Yes, Sangria's identity was impressive enough to let her live well. Continuing down this path was the most self-serving and profitable choice.

--So Shimizu Chiaki didn't matter all that much anymore.

Content warnings:

1. I'll say it again: this is a true villain story, with no redemption. So this time I won't save the police academy group. It hurts me, too.

2. This story has angst. There will be no happy undercover-agent life of sweet kisses and cuddles. I'll write about the choices everyone truly makes within the Organization. Don't expect Hiromitsu Morofushi to use his motherly instincts to reform Shimizu Chiaki. The ending is already stated up front. I believe it's the inevitable fate of a true villain, and a choice that fits Shimizu Chiaki's personality.

3. It follows the original. The basic timeline won't change much from the Detective Conan anime, and Shimizu Chiaki will have almost no influence. She won't do anything.

4. Sangria is very capable, extremely so. She's skilled at hand-to-hand combat and sniping, and she's intelligent and clear-headed. These qualities are what allow her to become Sangria and a high-ranking member of the Organization. So the female lead is very strong throughout, within limits, of course. She still can't beat Makoto Kyogoku, for example. But within those limits, she is leagues above the rest.

5. Shimizu Chiaki is an extreme, calculating self-interest maximizer. She only lives for herself, even if she doesn't know how to live for herself.

Theme: People must learn to live for themselves.