Conan: Science Cartoonist Kudo Yuji

"I thought you were trying to exploit me, but it turns out you were telling the truth..."

Inside the rented house's dining room, the group of people gathered around the table stared at the plate of charcoal steak that Kuroba Jintaro had brought out. No one wanted to try it; none of them believed that eating it would be of any benefit to them whatsoever.

“Unless one of you wants to install a filter in your stomach,” Yuuji reminded Marina, urging her not to be too kind and eat to comfort or encourage Juntaro.

“In that case, this piece of charcoal is too big. You’ll have to bite it hard to break it.” Kuromaru Yata sat on the sofa with a newspaper in his hands, noticing that the Shizuoka local newspaper was also reporting on missing children. There were quite a few children in the area whose whereabouts were unknown.

“I say, we should do something after we finish eating.” Shiota Heihachiro, the only sober adult among them, took a sip of tea. He was very satisfied with “Ms. Miyano’s” fried chicken nuggets, which were much tastier than many of the fried foods made in Kyoto.

"If you're free, you can go wash the pots and pans." Yuuji saw Shiota's gaze turn towards Lake Hamana outside the window and knew that he must be thinking about those blonde beauties from earlier.

"If the guy upstairs wakes up and finds out you're trying to take us to chat up strangers while he's sleeping, I guarantee you'll be able to run all the way to Tokyo on your own two feet tomorrow."

To buy the ingredients for this lavish meal, the group of shoppers practically scoured all the high-end grocery stores in the vicinity, emptying Yantian's wallet.

"Stay in the house and don't cause any trouble. Just rest properly. We'll check out of the house and hit the road once Kenzo wakes up." Kuromaru Yata looked at the only television in the room. He knew that Marina loved American Tom and Jerry and watched it almost every time.

"That's true, trouble never comes knocking on your door..."

Jintaro, who was washing dishes, poked his head out of the kitchen. Before he could finish speaking, the doorbell rang abruptly, interrupting him.

"Dangdang."

The windows that could just see Lake Hamana a moment ago now only show a few figures standing at the door. "We've come to your door." Kuromaru Yata gestured for Shiota Heihachiro to open the door, while he himself rose from the head seat and moved to the position of a child in a typical family home.

"Hey, you can't just walk into someone else's rented house like that, even if we're only renting it for a day!"

The shouts of Kyoto police officers came from the entrance hall. Shortly afterward, three adult men entered the restaurant. Two of them were Japanese, and the third was identified as a European or American.

“Be polite, you defeated nation.” The Westerners were rather arrogant: “I want to ask you where Kyle and Lina are.”

"Who are those people? I've never heard of them before. And who are you two?"

Shiota followed the other two Japanese men in. He knew that talking to the European would not elicit any meaningful response, so he could only try to speak to the Asians first.

“The police from Lake Hamana are responsible for local security.” A man with a mustache said helplessly to Shiota, “This gentleman reported that his female companion had gone missing. Before she disappeared, she was taking a walk along the shore of Lake Hamana. The last thing he saw before he left them was you looking in their direction.”

"Just because we looked over there, you're saying we kidnapped his friend? Are you sure he's mentally sound and not on drugs?" Yuuji felt a surge of anger rising within him as he saw the guy staring at him with such amazement.

“I think they’ve probably gotten lost. They’ll be back tonight.” The man suddenly changed his mind, which made everyone look at “Ms. Miyano” whom he had seen.

"But miss, I think you should talk to me about what Kyle and the others were doing before. Otherwise, the police will always suspect innocent people; the Japanese are just so useless." (End of Chapter)