I readily agreed.
If it was Ran's mother, there was no reason to refuse.
All the mothers of the characters in Conan were beautiful, so I wanted to et them at least once.
Plus, she was a capable lawyer.
"That's a relief."
"I was worried you'd feel pressured."
"And it's a secret from Dad."
I already knew from the original story that Kogoro and his wife, Eri, were separated, but I pretended not to know and asked.
"Why not the detective?"
"Well... we had a huge fight a while back and we're separated."
"I see."
"I understand, I'll be careful."
"Thanks."
When the day of the promise arrived, I was about to tell Kogoro that Ran and I were going out to have fun, but that kid Conan kept trying to follow us.
He probably thought we were going on a date just the two of us.
Or not?
In a way, this was similar to eting the parents, so should I say he has good instincts?
"I want to go play too!"
"No, Conan."
"Be patient today."
"In return, Noona will buy you sothing delicious when I get back."
Seeing that, Kogoro grabbed Conan and said.
"You brat!"
"You shouldn't get in the way when the two of them want to enjoy a cozy date!"
"Hahaha, it's not like that."
"I'm eting Sonoko today too."
"Really?"
I only said that to reassure Conan because he kept bothering , but I actually did have a date promised with Sonoko at the café we agreed to et at.
"Well, in that case..."
When I brought up Sonoko, Conan seed to give up on following, but after Ran and I said goodbye to Kogoro and left the office to head to the eting spot, I could feel Conan secretly following us from behind.
He was a Conan who never knew when to quit.
"Jin, why did you use Sonoko as an excuse?"
"Ah~ I just had a feeling we'd et her today."
"An onmyoji's intuition is scary."
"We'll probably run into her."
"Is that kind of thing accurate too?"
"Onmyoji are amazing..."
"Then, after we et Mom, should we go sowhere with Sonoko?"
"Sounds good."
We arrived at the promised café and went inside.
"Welco."
"Table for two... Huh? Jin??"
When I entered the café, the staff seed very surprised.
Because of that, all the custors in the café looked over.
"There are more people coming."
"And please seat us sowhere inside so we don't disturb the other custors."
"Ah, understood."
"This way, please."
Whisper whisper~
"It really is Jin!"
"He's super handso."
"Should we ask for an autograph?"
"The girl next to him must be his girlfriend."
Ran and I followed the staff's guidance and sat in an empty seat inside.
Ran seed to have heard the voices around us and quietly said to .
"Being famous must be hard."
"It was like this last ti when we went to the departnt store together to shop."
"I don't really mind that stuff."
"Really?"
"Celebrities and famous people seem to have a hard ti going around because of people's stares and reporters following them."
"I guess it's not like that for you, Jin?"
"I think it's more accurate to say I've just gotten used to it."
"I see."
If it were Arica or Europe, I might have worried about paparazzi and guns, but at least in Japan it was manageable to get around.
And the places I go are fixed, so the people I et there are always the sa faces, and they don't particularly bother just because I'm famous.
We ordered simple drinks and were chatting when I saw Conan peeking through the café window from outside.
"Ran, I think Conan followed us?"
I pointed at the window and told Ran.
Then Ran frowned and said.
"What? Conan's here?"
"I told him not to co today..."
Ran looked at the window with an angry expression, spotted Conan, and imdiately got up, went outside, and dragged Conan back.
"Conan!"
"I asked you not to today."
"Ahaha... well... I was bored."
"Sigh~!"
"You're really impossible~"
"Noona will buy you cake or sothing, so take it and go ho quietly, okay?"
"Got it, Conan?"
When Ran spoke strongly to Conan, he had no choice and said he'd go back.
"O-okay..."
Even as he answered, Conan gave a look as if he was asking for help.
'This guy is only going to suffer if he stays here.'
'Choosing hell for himself.'
I decided to help Conan and spoke to Ran, who was about to get up to buy cake.
"Ran, it's almost ti for the appointnt, so let's just keep him with us."
"Given the situation, we don't have a choice."
"If you go buy cake now, we'll definitely be late."
"But..."
"Sigh..."
"Can't be helped, I guess."
Ran had no choice and asked Conan to keep it a secret from Dad since we were eting Mom.
"Then why did Hyung co out?"
"Ran's mother asked to see ."
"What!?"
Conan's face stiffened as if he'd only just grasped the situation.
Just then, 'Kisaki Eri' happened to walk into the café.
"Ran, I think she's here?"
A woman who looked like Ran at a glance walked in.
If you added dignity and chicness to Ran, made her more mature, and gave her brighter hair, she'd be exactly Kisaki Eri.
She was a considerable beauty.
To the point I thought she was wasted on Kogoro.
Ran and I stood up and greeted Eri.
"Mom~"
"Nice to et you."
"I'm Jin."
Eri also saw and Ran and greeted us.
"Nice to et you."
"I'm Kisaki Eri."
We were about to sit back down, but Eri spotted Conan and asked Ran.
"Who's this little boy?"
"Ah~ This is Conan, Professor Agasa asked us to look after him for a bit."
"Conan, you should greet her too~"
"Ah, hello."
"Nice to et you, Conan."
Conan seed a little scared of Eri.
That made sense.
Ran and Conan had been scolded by Eri a lot since they were little, so his body automatically reacted with rejection.
After greeting Conan, Eri sat down and looked at Ran.
"You wore that again."
"I told you not to wear miniskirts because they make your stomach cold."
"Mom, co on, you always say that."
"Stop treating like a kid already."
Eri looked at and said.
"Anyway, I've heard a lot about you from Ran."
"That's why I was curious and asked to et this ti."
"I was looking forward to it too."
"I was curious what kind of person you'd be."
"Oh my, you were looking forward to it?"
"So what do you think?"
"What's your first impression of ?"
"I was wondering why Ran was such a beauty, and it turns out she takes after her mother."
"You're quite the beauty."
"If it weren't for the wedding ring, I think a lot of n would be lining up to ask you out."
I said exactly what I felt.
At my words, Eri seed pleased and spoke with a smile.
"Hehe, you flatter ."
Just then the staff ca to take our order, so Eri asked for coffee, and Conan started to say co... then asked for orange juice.
"To be honest."
"I don't believe in onmyoji arts."
"So I thought you might be trying to sweet-talk my naive Ran with lies, and I wanted to et you in person to judge for myself."
"Ah~ I see."
"I understand."
"Then let tell you sothing simple so you can believe ."
"There will be a murder in this café today."
"Wh-what did you say!?"
Eri was extrely flustered by the sudden murder prediction.
Conan and Ran also looked startled.
"I did a reading before coming here."
"I'm certain."
"What do you an..."
"Jin-kun, that joke is a bit much."
At that mont, a scream ca from the café bathroom, and when people went into the bathroom, another scream was heard.
The case seed to be starting now.
'As expected, people die here every day.'
'Who could say this isn't the Conan universe?'
We also went to the bathroom, confird the body, and stopped people.
anwhile, Eri contacted the police.
Not long after, the police arrived, and this ti too it was Inspector gure.
"Jin, it's been a while."
"It's a sha we keep seeing each other at cases like this."
"Indeed."
"Anyway, nice to see you."
"Thank you for securing the cri scene."
"Did you find anything?"
I didn't want to drag it out.
"Yes, I've even identified the culprit."
At my words, Conan and Eri looked at in shock.
Of course they did.
We had to preserve the scene until the police arrived.
There wasn't much to see.
"Oh~ is that so?"
"As expected of Japan's greatest onmyoji."
"Then tell us."
"First, after the deceased woman entered the bathroom, three people went in after her."
I pointed out three people in the café.
The second person to enter after the deceased woman was a graduate student, 'Yuichi', the third was a university rugby club coach, 'Juzo', and lastly, 'Shiro' who worked at an advertising agency and discovered the body and scread.
Hearing that, Inspector gure called the three over.
"So you're saying the culprit is among these three."
"That's right."
"But there's sothing peculiar."
"The stall the deceased woman was in was locked."
"On top of that, the murder weapon, the knife, strangely has marks where sothing was tied to the blade and blood even on the handle."
"If you stabbed soone while holding the knife, there shouldn't be blood on the handle."
At that, everyone checked the knife.
Just as I said, there were marks where sothing had been tied to the weapon and blood on the handle.
"So you're saying they tied a string here and killed the victim?"
"No."
"As you saw, Inspector, the body was stabbed very deeply."
"It's impossible to stab that accurately and deeply in this narrow space by connecting a string to a knife."
At that, Inspector gure seed frustrated.
"Then how was it done?"
"The culprit didn't kill her inside the stall. He killed her outside, then threw the body inside."
"Then he pulled the string he'd already connected to the weapon to retrieve the knife, making it look like she was killed inside and he escaped through the bathroom stall window."
"Blood got on the knife handle in that process."
"The blood sared on top of the stall door is proof of that."
"The culprit probably wanted it to look like the work of a petty thief after valuables."
Hearing that, Inspector gure nodded as if he understood.
"I see!"
"So that's why the victim's belongings were scattered around the bathroom!"
"Then who's the culprit?"
I pointed straight at the rugby club coach, 'Juzo'.
"It's that man right there."
"Got it!"
"Take this man to the station right now!"
Then Juzo said urgently to Inspector gure.
"Hey!"
"Wait a minute."
"Did you see harm that woman?"
"Can you just arrest without evidence?"
At that, Inspector gure was briefly flustered and turned to look at and asked.
"Uh, Jin, you have evidence, right?"
"Of course I do."
"The position of the bandage wrapped around his finger changed from when he went into the bathroom to when he ca out."
"He used that bandage when pulling the knife out."
"There's probably the victim's blood on the bandage too."
Hearing that, Inspector gure looked at the bandage wrapped around Juzo's finger and said.
"Let us see that bandage wrapped around your finger for a mont."
When the situation turned against him, Juzo suddenly tried to run.
"Move!!"
Thud! Thud!
"Ugh!"
"Argh!"
The police hurriedly blocked him and tried to catch him, but Juzo was a university rugby coach, so he was big and strong, and just pushed through with force to try to get out of the café, but Eri blocked his way.
"Get out of my way!!"
Juzo threw a punch at Eri who blocked him, but Eri calmly dodged the fist, grabbed the arm that swung the punch, and threw him with an over-the-shoulder throw.
It was a judo technique she learned from Kogoro.
Thud!
"Ugh!"
I could have caught him, but I left it alone because I really wanted to see this scene.
'Wow~ girl crush, so cool!'
The police sward the fallen Juzo, arrested him, and took him to the police station.
Inspector gure thanked Eri and and then left.
"That was impressive."
"Did you learn that throw from Detective Mouri?"
"Well... yeah."
"All I got from that man was that throw and Ran."
"I see."
Eri now spoke to casually too.
"By the way, how did you predict there would be a murder?"
"Like I said."
"I did a reading."
"I can't believe it..."
Ran also ca over and helped persuade her.
"It's true."
"Jin's readings have never been wrong."
"Then, the part about marrying you must be true too?"
"Th-that's... probably right?"
At that, Ran blushed as she answered.
Seeing that, Eri sighed and said.
"Sigh~ Seems like you've already fallen for him."
"And from what I see, Jin doesn't seem like a bad person."
Ran was flustered and hurriedly tried to change the subject.
"Th-that aside, it's been over 10 years since you left ho, so please co back to Dad."
Eri said firmly.
"No!!"
"I absolutely hate lazy, ssy, womanizing, drunk, and unreliable n!!!"
When she said it so firmly, Ran started trying to persuade Eri.
"Then why did you marry him?"
"Because of a bad fate growing up as childhood friends!"
"What about the wedding ring?"
"That's to chase away clingy n, just like Jin said."
"Sigh~ Stubborn!"
Ran eventually gave up on persuading her.
Eri looked at Ran, who was sighing, and warned her.
"Ran, I'm telling you this for your future, so listen well."
"Make sure you avoid childhood friends and detectives."
"They're no good."
At that, Conan made a face like he'd bitten into crap.
"...Yes."
Eri smiled and said to Ran.
"But Jin seems okay."
"R-really?"
"Hehe."
Just then Sonoko waved at us and ca over.
"Ran~ Jin~ I see you all here."
"Oh, Auntie!"
"It's been a while!"
"It's Sonoko."
"It's been a while."
Since Sonoko was also Ran's childhood friend, she knew Eri, Ran's mother, well.
"But what happened here?"
"I see police too?"
"Well..."
Ran told Sonoko about what had happened.
"What!?"
"A murder!?"
"Yeah."
"I had a date here at this café, it's ruined..."
I decided to warn Sonoko in advance.
"Is the person you're eting a guy in his early 20s with long hair who looks like a punk?"
"I can't agree with the 'looks like a punk' part, but he is in his early 20s with long hair."
"That guy was sitting at the table in front of us and I heard him on the phone saying he can play with girls however he wants."
Hearing that, Sonoko asked again with an angry expression.
"Is that true??"
"Yeah, I'm not the only one who heard it."
Then Ran agreed with , as if she'd heard it too.
"Yeah, I heard it too."
"As a woman, it felt gross."
"But to think the guy was the one eting Sonoko..."
At that, Sonoko looked shocked.
That long-haired guy was 'Shiro', the one who was last to enter the bathroom and discovered the body.
"Ah~ Sonoko, since there was a sudden incident at the café, let's go sowhere else and..."
Speak of the devil — Shiro saw Sonoko and ran over.
Smack~!
"Hmph!"
"I'm not an easy woman!!"
"S-Sonoko!?"
Shiro was flustered after suddenly getting slapped for no reason he understood, and Sonoko imdiately left the spot.
Seeing that, Eri said.
"Sonoko almost got involved with a weird guy."
"She needs to et a good man next ti."
"Indeed..."
"Anyway, I should get going now."
"I still have a lot of work left."
"You're that busy?"
"Yeah."
"Anyway, rember what I said."
"I will."
Eri also said to .
"Jin-kun, I'm counting on you to take care of Ran."
"Understood."
We said our goodbyes to Eri and parted ways.
"Jin, your reading said we'd et Sonoko today, but with the situation like this we can't hang out."
"No, when sothing like this happens, friends should go hang out together."
"That's how you get over it faster."
"Really?"
"Okay."
"But how do we find Sonoko who left?"
"Leave that to ."
I pretended to do a reading to find Sonoko.
In truth, I already knew where she went with [Kenbunshoku Haki].
"Huh, how did you guys find ?"
Sonoko was at a fast food place, frowning and tearing into a burger by herself.
She was taking out her earlier anger on the food.
"With Jin's reading..."
"Um, Sonoko, if you're okay with it, want to go hang out sowhere together..."
When Ran carefully brought it up, Sonoko thought for a mont and answered.
"Okay!"
"Let's go to karaoke."
"I need to have fun today!"
"Okay~"
That day Ran and Sonoko sang at karaoke until their stamina was drained.
Conan had a face like he'd eaten crap until he went ho.
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