Conan: Science Cartoonist Kudo Yuji

"It's done."

Officer Nishimura returned to the room and closed the door tightly. He looked at the two adults and one child sitting around the coffee table and repeated what he had just said in imitation of Kogoro Mori's plan.

"According to what Detective Mori said, I divided the local people in Hakodate into five groups, and they all revealed different locations."

Since it was the insider who leaked the information to Brian, if a false news was fabricated that Kaito Kid was planning to return the knife at the hot spring hotel, it makes no sense that the insider would not tell others the location he knew.

As long as there are traces of Brian in the corresponding hotel, Nishimura can easily confirm which group the traitor is in.

"But since Officer Nishimura is willing to say that there are bad guys in the police force, that proves that you must have someone you suspect, right?"

Maori Kogoro pinched his chin, thinking of those people from Brian and shook his head: "It would be great if we could deal with them first."

Living in the same hotel with a group of gangsters, I felt uncomfortable all over.

"The bad guy must have let them come because they haven't done anything to get arrested. Uncle, this idea is impossible."

Conan lay straight on the coffee table, and out of the corner of his eye he noticed his father-in-law Kidd, who was fidgeting.

Ginzo Nakamori was still thinking about the injured Kid. He took out his cell phone and noticed that the message he sent to Kaito had not been replied to. He hesitated for a moment but still did not call.

"Ah, sorry, I've been asking you guys for advice."

Officer Nishimura also noticed something unusual about Nakamori. Except for Conan, none of the four people in the room had ever taken a bath, so he embarrassedly asked Maori and Nakamori to take a bath first, and he planned to ask the proprietress for a bottle of sake.

"Those guys just have to bear with it for now." Nishimura pointed in the direction of the steam. "Although the weather is cold, soaking in the hot spring and having a drink is a very enjoyable thing."

The three of them left Conan in the room. After they left completely, the elementary school student took out his mobile phone, took a few photos on the coffee table and sent them to Hiroki, asking him to check whether Kuroba Kaito's name was in the records of several hospitals in Hakodate.

Walking in the corridor of the hot spring hotel, Conan headed towards the single room. As he said just now, he was not worried that those guys would suddenly attack him, because since Brian dared to send people to the police, he would never let them do anything illegal.

"They wanted to find Kidd by observing the people around Officer Nakamori. If that guy was still here, they would have succeeded."

Conan walked around the front desk and went to his and Xiaolan's room and was about to open the door, but he heard the dissatisfied and urging voice of a girl in the next room.

"Hurry up, the store will be closed if it's too late."

……

"takeout."

Hakuba pushed Kuroba Kaito who was lying in the quilt. He was wearing a pink yukata. The room was very warm now. She moved the coffee table against the wall to the middle of the room and urged Kuroba Kaito to put the food on the table.

"Let me see……"

The magician wrapped in a blanket slowly moved closer to the coffee table. Looking at the ramen, dumplings and fried chicken on the table, he stared at Bai Ma helplessly.

"What...what?"

"Tsk, you guy, you only look good on the outside."

The white horse who always looks classy in the class is eating ramen. At least he should order some western food...

"You are such an idiot. How can a high-end restaurant do takeout? They don't even have enough business in the store." Hakuba sat cross-legged opposite Kuroba Kaito with disdain: "If you hadn't been unconscious, I would have booked a restaurant long ago."

"Hey, hey, I got a portion of ramen after ordering it. Thank you, Master Hakuba."

[This guy is really infuriating! ]

Baiba stared with dead eyes, snorted, snatched the chopsticks handed to him by Kuroba Kaito, and urged him to explain the situation quickly.

"That Brian is so cruel. He just chopped at me."

Touching his still aching shoulder, Kuroba Kaito placed his chopsticks on the ramen bowl, picked up three knives on the side, and put the blades together. "It is indeed a five-pointed star."

Although it is not complete yet, the three knives are enough to understand the secrets hidden in the knives.

"We should probably go to Goryokaku to have a look."

"Mr. Nan said that the Axe family used a knife as a secret code to hide the treasure in Hakodate, but the five-pointed star doesn't necessarily refer to Goryokaku, right?"

Hakuba took two sips of soup from the bowl, then picked up some fried chicken and ate until his lips were shiny. Only then did he realize that Kuroba Kaito was staring at him.

"If you want to eat, just pick it up yourself. I won't pick it up for you."

"You're still holding a grudge against Dorobiga Paradise." Kuroba Kaito rolled his eyes: "I just think you've adapted pretty well."

"For the so-called hot spring that can lift the curse, I have been soaking in a hot spring almost every hour these past two days. My body has gotten used to it."

Bai Ma waved his hand, then propped up his face and looked a little sleepy: "Really, what that old man said is not reliable at all. I have almost finished soaking in the hot springs in Hakodate, and there is no sign of returning to normal."

If this continues, she will almost forget what it feels like to be a man.

"No, I can't sleep yet."

He slapped the coffee table and startled Kuroba Kaito who was eating noodles. Hakuba made a fist and said, "The small hot springs in the room all come from the same source, but the big hot spring opposite is not. We have to soak in the hot springs of this hotel tonight."

"Didn't you just take a bath?"

"Then soak it later."

Hakuba remembered that there was a shop selling hot spring steamed buns not far away, so she urged Kuroba Kaito to go buy some with her after he finished eating.

"You can just go by yourself, right?"

"Silly boy, if you stay here alone, it will be troublesome if the people in the hotel find out that you are so badly injured."

Suddenly realizing what was going on, Kuroba Kaito nodded, saying that he hadn't figured it out because of a lack of blood flow to his brain.

"Then why don't you just not eat the hot spring buns?"

"I wanted to, too." Bai Ma held his forehead and sighed, "But after becoming a girl, my appetite has increased. When I think of hot spring buns, my stomach starts to growl non-stop."

"Even though you just ate so much food?" Kuroba Kaito narrowed his eyes and said, "Hakuba, you just think that this body won't matter after you change back, right? I didn't feel that way at the time."

"You're just being long-winded. That's just because you have stronger control. The same is true for magic practice. If you don't overcome your laziness, you won't be as good as Kidd."

She stood up by holding onto the floor, walked to the door and began to put on clothes over her bathrobe.

Contrary to what Kuroba Kaito had judged, after becoming a girl, Hakuba really had no resistance to sweets and snacks. In fact, she couldn't control herself when she passed by the hot spring manju shop before coming to this hot spring hotel.

"Hurry up, the store will be closed if it's too late."

"Wait a moment."

After cleaning up the leftover dishes on the coffee table, Kuroba Kaito put on his clothes, picked up the garbage and walked out of the room with Hakuba who opened the door.

"Eh?! You bastard!"

"Ok?"

Following the direction of the voice, the magician turned around and looked at the dazed detective. The two similar faces froze in place at the same time. (End of this chapter)