Chapter 452 Sakura House
Chapter 453

"Huh? Heiji? Why are you here?" In the evening, when we came out of Sannoji Temple, we met Hattori who had brought Conan back along the way.

"What a coincidence! I met Gong.. er, Conan on the way. I thought this kid was smart, so I solved the puzzle of the picture with him, so I took him for a walk."

"So, what's the result? Was it solved?" Yuanzi had a sly smile on her face. She thought that these two people must have gone traveling together.

"Not yet. That puzzle is quite difficult. Hahaha." Heiji touched the back of his head and smiled awkwardly.

"By the way, has uncle solved the puzzle?" Although he didn't have much hope, Conan still asked.

"Hmph, speaking of this old man." Xiaolan looked displeased.

Just now, we went back to Sannoji Temple to look for my dad, but we learned from the host that my dad was invited by Master Ryuen to drink at the teahouse "Sakuraya" in Pontocho. This was Ryuen's treat for my dad.

So, we went to Pontocho together to look for people. Along the way, Conan whispered to me what had just happened to them.

"That afternoon, Hattori and I met a man who was good at using bows and arrows on the road. He killed Hattori directly. We suspect that he was the murderer who killed the members of Genji Ying."

"But what does this have to do with Hattori? Why do you want to kill him?" I asked, tilting my head. "If he wanted to kill the detective investigating this case, shouldn't he have gone after my dad first?"

"That's what I'm curious about." Conan held his chin, "Logically speaking, Heiji should have nothing to do with this case. If they were the same murderer, then they shouldn't have targeted Hattori."

"You have a grudge against Hattori?"

"Who would have a grudge against the son of Osaka Police Chief?" Conan complained.

"Or does Hattori have any important evidence or clues that can threaten the criminal?"

"That's the only possibility." Conan nodded. "Tomorrow we're going to go to the streets again to investigate and see if we can get any new clues. Do you want to come with us?"

"I can't." I refused directly. "The doctor will bring the children over tomorrow, I want to go shopping with Xiao Ai."

"Hey, hey..." Conan rolled his eyes. "I was asking you to protect Hattori."

"If I can shoot, the murderer will probably be shot dead on the spot the next time he shows up. Can you accept that?"

"We are not murderers." Conan gave me a sidelong glance. "Just a uniform will do. And if the police find gunshot wounds on the criminals, things will become more troublesome."

"Let's talk about it later. You will be in the city tomorrow and won't go too far. The criminal won't follow you all the time. I'm going to accompany Xiao Ai tomorrow. Just call me if you have anything."

"Hiss... Are you thinking of something else?" Conan looked at me suspiciously. "When it comes to business, I don't think Huibara will affect your judgment of the incident. Did you accept a mission?"

"What nonsense are you talking about? I don't have that many missions to take. I'm not short of money right now." I rolled my eyes at Conan. At the same time, I complained in my mind. "Of course I'm not going to take the mission. My job tomorrow will be even more difficult than taking the mission!"

"Well, if anything happens on our end, I'll call you."

"Ah."

After a brief conversation with Conan, we arrived at Pontocho where my father was. Today, Monk Ryuen invited my father to a banquet, which was considered as a reward for my father, so we came to the place where fellow kendo lovers often drink together, commonly known as the "Gourd Hall to Listen to Music".

As soon as we entered the room, we heard dad flirting with a dancer, which made Xiaolan yell and run over. Dad was so scared that he sprayed the wine in his glass out.

"Xiao...Xiaolan? Why are you here?" Dad's face was full of horror.

"The abbot told us." Yuanzi laughed. She was very happy to see the frivolous father of her best friend being caught and humiliated by her daughter.

"Haha, so it was the abbot who said that." Monk Long Yuan quickly came out to smooth things over. "In that case, everyone come and sit together."

"Excuse me~" Yuanzi looked excited. She had not been to this kind of pub often. Besides, this was a private room of the pub where men and women could sit down.

"Huh? You're not the one from Miyagawa-cho..." As soon as he sat down, Hattori greeted the dancer who was pouring wine for his father. It seemed that he knew her.

"Yes, my name is Chika Suzu, thank you very much for last time." The dancer thanked Hattori dignifiedly and politely, as if Hattori had helped her before. However, for this little episode, except for He Ye, no one else would care, after all, this city is not big. And we paid more attention to Xiaolan teaching her father a lesson.

"Really? You messed up when I wasn't paying attention." Xiaolan said with an unhappy face as she sat next to her father. "Haha, Xiaolan, don't blame your father. After all, we invited Detective Maori to come here."

"Yes, we are here to listen to Mr. Maori's reasoning stories and how to deduce the case of Genji Ying, right?" Sakura Masazou said while holding a glass of wine to help his father. As the proprietress of this place, the female owner of Sakura House would naturally help to change the topic.

"I heard that every member of the Genji Ying has a copy of Yoshitsune in their hands, right?"

"Hahaha, I have one in my hand too. It's a really good book. Right, you're the one selling used books." Sakura Masazou joked to Nishijo Taiga next to him.

"Ah, hahaha, that's true." Being suddenly asked, Saijo Taikawa had to express his opinion, "But I don't really like that book. Although it's called Yoshitsune Ki, the timing makes it basically a book about Benkei."

"I like it very much," said Noh actor Mizuo Harutaro. "Especially Benkei from Ataka."

The topic was successfully changed, and everyone sat together and talked. I slipped out of the room to the bathroom and called Xiao Ai.

"Shiho, it's me."

"Well, what?"

"It's okay. I missed you."

"You want to ask me when I'll arrive tomorrow?" Shiho mercilessly exposed my thoughts. "I brought the enlargement potion. If nothing goes wrong, I'll be there around 10 am tomorrow."

"Well, okay~"

"Any news from Mary?"

"Well, Mary will contact me at noon tomorrow. I will only bring the medicine to prevent any emergencies. I will deal with it according to the situation." What the FBI said before still shocked me. According to the original plot, Vermouth returned to the headquarters to report to the boss after the full moon incident, but now Vermouth was arrested by the FBI. This makes me very confused. If I hadn't appeared, the plot would not have changed. The current scene must be related to me. Only the fluttering wings of my little butterfly can affect the future development.

However, I don't know what the reason is. Bombing the FBI headquarters? Cultivating Ling? Perhaps it should be one of these two lines? And Vermouth is Ling's direct superior at this time. If there is still a traitor in the organization, this news will definitely be passed to the FBI. But... Why arrest Vermouth? To force Ling out? Because Ling and the FBI are mortal enemies?
A series of reasons made me think a lot.

"If possible, avoid taking that medicine. It has not been tested yet, and everything is theoretical. Including drug resistance. Once the body produces antibodies, it is not a matter of increasing the strength of the medicine if you want to transform back. And the worst thing is that if you take the medicine, it is very likely that you will get sick directly, a severe cold, or even a fever. Even... organ dysfunction."

"Let's see what Mary will say tomorrow." I didn't answer Shiho directly, because if what the FBI said was true, then the rescue of Vermouth would definitely be carried out by Ling. No matter when, it would be like this. This was the FBI's method of besieging a point and attacking the reinforcements. The problem was that if Ling went, she would be caught in a trap. If she didn't go, Gin would also put half of the responsibility on her for Vermouth's death.

"Unfortunately, we can't do biological experiments. Unless we return to Alcatraz."

"No, the theoretical data is not yet fully understood, so there is no rush to use living organisms." Shiho's voice was somewhat resistant. It seemed that she no longer wanted to use living organisms for experiments as she had imagined before.

"Okay, I'll listen to you." I didn't say much, just said a few words and hung up the phone.

"Xiaoxun, where have you been?" Xiaolan's voice was heard outside. Following the sound, it turned out that Xiaolan, Ye and Yuanzi came to the first floor and sat outside the courtyard, looking at the cherry blossoms and the moon outside.

"Boy, come and sit with the sisters, and ignore those stinky boys." Yuanzi seemed to have drunk some wine, her face flushed, and she patted the cushion next to her to motion me to come over.

"Hi~" I sat over on the pretext of something. Hattori and Conan must be discussing the case at this time, and I didn't want to be asked all kinds of questions by them.

Sitting next to Xiaolan and the others, I looked at the melancholy faces of the three young girls. I knew without guessing that the three girls had started talking about boys.

"That stinky Hattori, I don't think he's trying to solve the case, but to see that dancer. It really pis ...

"But I still envy you, He Ye." Xiaolan's face was full of sadness. "At least you can still meet him anytime."

"Yeah, even though Zhen and I rarely meet, we still see each other, but Kudo... ah." Sonoko held her chin with her hand, looking worried. "You are still the best boy, you can always accompany the sisters, unlike those boys, who are either solving cases or thinking about weird things all day long." Sonoko held me in her arms and kneaded my face while speaking.

"After all, that's what they're interested in. Unlike me, I'd just feel bad for her... No, I'm only interested in eating." Ignoring Yuanzi's kneading, I continued to pick up the food on the table with chopsticks. At the same time, I stopped caring about Xiaolan.

Yes, not only Kudo, when will Xiaolan and I be able to meet each other?

　No reason to pretend to be dead, don't blame me

　　
　
(End of this chapter)