Chapter 118 The Eve of the Party
Chapter 119 The Eve of the Party
Saturday afternoon.

"Dad, hurry up. We'll be late if we don't go now." In the Mouri Detective Agency, Xiaolan, who was wearing a red sleeveless dress, was complaining to Kogoro who was still shaving.

"I know, I know. Why are you in such a hurry? We don't have a car." Kogoro complained with his eyes narrowed. Ever since his family bought a car, Kogoro instantly became lazy. He even planned to drive to buy groceries this morning, but was severely scolded by Xiaolan. "By the way, where are those two brats?"

"Oh, Conan said he wanted to go to the doctor's house for a while, so he went out in the morning. He just called and said he would be back soon. Xiaoxun went to the market after lunch." Xiaolan recalled.

"Huh? Went to the market? What was that kid doing there?"

"I heard from Xiaoxun that she wanted to eat sashimi for dinner, so she went to the market. Maybe she went to buy ingredients? Judging from the time, she should be back soon." Xiaolan looked up at the clock on the wall.

"Well... it seems like that kid always spends money recklessly. No, we can't let him do that anymore. Xiaolan, when that kid comes back, you have to take good care of his pocket money. Although his family is rich, it's not good to let a child spend money recklessly like this." Kogoro said seriously.

"No, Dad." Xiaolan smiled and waved her hand at Kogoro, "Xiaoxun's money was all taken from me. And when I washed clothes for Xiaoxun yesterday, there was no money in his pocket, only less than 1,000 yen in change."

"Is that so? Okay, but we still have to keep an eye on them. Children from wealthy families may spend money lavishly." Kogoro said as he tied his bow tie. "But aren't we going to have dinner at the Suzuki Zaibatsu's anniversary party tonight? Why do we have to buy ingredients for dinner?"

"Because Phantom Thief No. 1412 is going to attend the party." Just as my dad was wondering, my voice was heard at the door, with a lot of ingredients in my hands. "I'm back."

"Ah, welcome back, Xiaoxun." Xiaolan took the basket from my hand and took it into the kitchen. "Hurry up and change your clothes. We will leave when Conan comes back."

"Well, I understand, Sister Xiaolan, but I'll just wear this outfit." Now I'm wearing the sleeveless vest that Jingliu picked for me. Xiaolan has already washed the windbreaker. But after a little feeling, I think it's more suitable to wear a windbreaker. Although this outfit looks good, it's not convenient to take the gun out of the necklace with such a vest. I'll send a message to Jingliu later and ask her to ask Ningxue to get me a few more sets of clothes.

"By the way, what does the appearance of Phantom Thief No. 1412 have to do with our dinner?" Kogoro bent down and said to me in a questioning tone.

"Well... with the appearance of Phantom Thief No. 1412, we don't know if this dinner can go on safely. If something happens in the middle, we might be sent back before we even see the dinner table, so I thought of buying some ingredients just in case. And I also want to eat sashimi, hehe." I smiled at my dad sheepishly. Oh, it feels so difficult to act like a child.

"Well, that seems to make sense. Whatever, since you've already bought it, it's fine to have it as lunch tomorrow." Dad quickly compromised with my opinion. "Well, then we can set off after Conan comes back. But when will that little devil..."

"I'm back~" Before his father finished speaking, Conan pushed open the door of the office.

"Ah, welcome back, Conan." Xiaolan also came out of the kitchen. "Well, Dad, let's go. If we don't go now, we'll be late."

"Ah? Oh. Let's go." He didn't wonder why Conan came back so late, because he looked at the watch on his wrist and saw that time was running out. So, the four of us got in my dad's newly bought Renault and drove all the way to the port of Yokohama.

————The scent of orchids, the scent of lavender, the scent of home & the wings of angels, the wings of demons, the wings of guardians————

"Xiaolan, come here~" In the banquet hall of the Sally Beth, a girl in a green dress and short straight brown hair was waving happily at Xiaolan.

"Ah, Sonoko~" Xiaolan also waved to her friend, and then led us over.

"Lan, I won't go over there. You take the two little brats and play. I have to go say hello to the police." Dad looked at the noisy situation at the banquet and found that many police officers had changed into plain clothes and were whispering to each other, so he walked over to them and started his work.

"Oh, I see. Let's go, Conan, Xiaoxun."

"Hi~~"

"Hi~~"

"Really, Xiaolan, why are you so late?" Walking to the girl who greeted Xiaolan, the girl said to her as if complaining.

"Hey, sorry, Sonoko, we were a little late because of my dad, but luckily we made it." Xiaolan put her hands together and apologized to the girl named Sonoko. And the fact was just as Xiaolan said. On the way, my dad deliberately passed by several familiar shops and couldn't help showing off his new car to them, especially the shops of several mamasan he often visited. My dad didn't miss any of them.

"It's okay, it's okay. Come on, I just met a lot of handsome guys at the banquet. I'll introduce them to you." Sonoko didn't care about what Xiaolan said at all, but pulled her arm and was about to rush into the crowd.

"Wait, wait a minute, Sonoko." Xiaolan said in embarrassment. "Conan and Xiaoxun are following me here."

"Well, just let Conan go to the restaurant inside to eat delicious food. As for Xiaoxun... Xiaoxun? Who is Xiaoxun?" Sonoko, with an excited look on her face, finally calmed down and realized my existence.

"Well, let me introduce you. This is the child who just came to stay at my house yesterday. Her name is Ming Yaxun. Hey, Xiaoxun, this sister is Suzuki Sonoko. Come and say hello to her."

"Oh, hello Sister Sonoko, I'm Mingya... Woo woo woo." Before I could finish my words, a sea of ​​green instantly drowned me out, followed by Sonoko's voice, which was several times louder than mine.

"Wow! This kid is so cute! Is the pale blond hair dyed? Eh? It's actually her natural color! But you look like a Japanese. Are you mixed blood? Your eyes are purple. It's great to have the same eye color as Ran!"

"Yuanzi! Don't do this, you'll scare Xiaoxun." Xiaolan smiled helplessly. Seeing Yuanzi's obsessed look, Xiaolan was too embarrassed to dissuade her.

"I can't help it, this child is just too cute." Yuanzi said as he reached out and stroked my face. I could only squint my eyes and helplessly accept Yuanzi's teasing. I knew Yuanzi was a bit of a fan, but I didn't expect that he would not even let go of children.

"Puchi... Hahaha." Beside me, Conan couldn't help but burst into laughter when he saw me being kneaded by Sonoko. Then a huge chill swept over him. Looking at my almost frozen face, Conan hurriedly took a step back, scratching his head and smiling awkwardly. "Then, Xiaoxun, you can follow Conan over there to eat something first, but you have to come here to find me after the banquet starts." A few minutes later, after we introduced each other, Sonoko finally turned her attention to the group of handsome guys she called. In the end, Xiaolan couldn't beat Sonoko and had to go with her.

"Really, it feels so inconvenient to have a smaller body." I squinted my eyes and watched Xiaolan being taken further and further away by Yuanzi. I couldn't help but sigh.

"Well... don't say that. It's already good enough that Sonoko doesn't try to make you her boyfriend given her that kind of personality." Conan grinned, baring his teeth.

"Hmm? By the way, you were smiling just now, right?" I turned to Conan with a gloomy face. A cold current invaded Conan again.

"Ah... Well, don't be angry, Xun. I was just kidding." Conan apologized hastily. "But it's just right. While Xiaolan and the uncle are not here, let's quickly prepare to catch Kaito Kid."

"We?" I wondered.

"Of course, any problem?" Conan asked back.

"I have no interest in this Kaito Kidd. You are a detective and I am a killer. You can come to me for things like killing people, but of course you have to go alone to catch people." I spread my hands.

"Hey, hey.. why is this happening?" Conan complained.

"Come on, great detective. I'm good at killing people, not finding people. And as a detective, shouldn't you have a strong ability to distinguish people?" I squinted my eyes and said to him as if I was angry that he had just laughed at me.

"That's different. I have no idea now. You used to be a killer, so your intuition in identifying people must be stronger than mine, so please help me." Conan clasped his hands together and smiled at me with his white teeth bared.

"Really? I'll give you some advice." I spread my hands helplessly. "Do you remember what you told me on the way about the confrontation between you and Kaito Kidd on April 1st?"

"Yeah, of course." Conan nodded excitedly.

"Like you said, Kidd may be only around twenty years old, but he can make the voice he wants without a voice changer. And you also told me that he escaped that night by disguising himself as a policeman. So, everyone here now is a suspect." I said calmly.

"Uh... that doesn't mean I didn't say it." Conan looked at me with his half-moon eyes narrowed.

"Even though the entire ship is a suspect, you can rule them out." I said easily. "First of all, his height. You've seen him, so you should know how tall he is, right?"

"Well... although I didn't see him for a long time, he seemed to be about the same height as me before I became smaller, probably around 1.75 meters. His body shape was also similar to mine," Conan recalled, holding his chin.

"Yes, so anyone between 1.4 and 1.6 meters tall, and anyone over 1.8 meters tall can be ruled out."

"Eh?"

"Well... generally speaking, the length of a person's calf is more than 40 centimeters. So even if he kneels and walks on his knees to pretend to be an old man, his height will not exceed 1.4 meters. People between 1.7 meters and 1.8 meters are the most likely suspects, because if they bend their knees, they can pretend to be women in skirts. If they raise their shoes, their walking posture will be obviously inconsistent after they are over 1.8 meters tall. So they are also ruled out." I shook my finger. "Plus, you said that he can disguise himself as a policeman in an instant, so I believe that his attainments in disguise should be at a professional level. So the scope cannot be narrowed down, both men and women are possible. But some people can also be ruled out."

"Huh? What should I say?"

"For example, people who bring a lot of friends with them. Or people from abroad." I explained. "People who come with friends will basically chat with their friends along the way. It is very dangerous to choose such people as a disguise. If you are not familiar with them, you will be exposed. The second is foreigners. What was his accent like when you talked to him last time?"

"Authentic Kanto accent."

"Well, so it is certain that Kaito Kidd will not imitate foreigners. After all, this is a place where celebrities from all walks of life gather. As soon as he opens his mouth to speak a foreign language, he will expose himself in an instant." (Japanese pronunciation does not have VR and other sounds)

"Is that so?" Conan said excitedly. "This way we can rule out a lot of people. I'll go check some of them now." Conan wanted to run out.

"Wait a moment, great detective." I shook my head. "The banquet is about to start, you should slowly eliminate them at the banquet." I raised my chin towards a distance. Following my instructions, Xiaolan and Sonoko had already returned, chatting and laughing.

"Tsk... I really want to catch him right away." Conan said a little frustrated.

"Well... don't be so eager to win. It's not important to have the clues. What's important is to use the known clues to create a small advantage for yourself and then cause the opponent to have some flaws, so that you can catch him in one fell swoop." I shrugged. "There's still a lot of time. The whole party is more than three hours in total, which is enough for you..."

"Ahem. Today is the 60th anniversary of the establishment of our Suzuki Group. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone for their support and encouragement to our group. I hope everyone can enjoy this grand event here!" I haven't finished speaking yet. On the stage, the chairman of the Suzuki Group, Shiro Suzuki, has already started his speech at the party. However...

"Hey? What a bold choice." Looking at Suzuki Shiro on the stage, I couldn't help but smile. "Huh? What did you say?" Conan asked in confusion when he saw me talking to myself.

"No, nothing." I replied. "Well, the party has already started. Enjoy your detective game, Kudo." I smiled wickedly. Then I turned around and focused on the stage again.

"Of course. I'm looking forward to your performance, too. Kaito!"

(End of this chapter)