Conan: The Man Behind the Romance

Chapter 395: Hotaru and Kisaki Eri, there is no turning back
Tokyo International Forum, Hall A.

In the center of the broad and towering white ceiling, a crystal chandelier shines brightly. Steel structures are widely used in the surrounding design. The entire space looks like some kind of postmodern inverted dome.

Outside the aisle at the back row of the second-floor auditorium is a whole glass curtain wall. The bright neon lights from the outside world are shielded from a large amount of light pollution and become quiet and gentle.

The night scene of the city and the stars in the night sky are intertwined and fall into those blue eyes, which is particularly charming.

There was a long-lost...even unprecedented light in Kisaki Eri's eyes.

She herself couldn't tell whether it came from this beautiful world or from the bottom of her heart.

Or rather, she didn't think about those things at all at this moment.

"The musical is about to begin."

A gentle voice came from beside me.

Suddenly, she felt as if her heart was being gently stroked by the softest feather. Subconsciously, Kisaragi raised her right arm slightly to the side.

The soft touch immediately became clear, and when Kisaki Eri finally realized what she had done, she found that she had already been walking hand in hand with Hotaru on the red carpet between the audience seats.

A vague feeling of guilt immediately lingered over her body, and Kisaki Eri's steps became a little sluggish.

But when he cast a concerned look at her, Kisaki Eri's eyes trembled slightly, and she instead held Yingsheng's arm tighter and continued walking towards the end of the red carpet.

Sitting in the front row facing the center of the stage on the second-floor auditorium, Kisaki Eri leaned back, as if she wanted to sink her entire body into the soft crimson seat.

"Your face is a little red. Are you feeling unwell?" Yingsheng sat next to her and asked with his head tilted.

"No, it was probably because of the glass of red wine in the restaurant." Kisaki Eri smiled slightly, "Come to think of it, your glass of wine was only a little less at the end. Are you still a good kid who strictly abides by the rule of 'No drinking for minors'?"

"Because I'm already intoxicated enough without drinking, and I still have to drive afterwards." Yingsheng smiled.

Kisaki Eri's cheeks became even redder, and the lights in the theater gradually dimmed, and the hall slowly fell into darkness.

There are only some bright little lights around, casting a faint fluorescence here like the morning star.

The hall gradually became quiet.

Two bright lights shone on the center of the stage, and a thick crimson curtain slowly rose.

"What show is on tonight?" asked Eri Kisaki.

"The Phantom of the Opera." Yingsheng looked at the curtain.

The opening prelude of the musical sounded, with soft string music and organ sounds interweaving, the curtain rose completely, and the light and shadow on the stage changed, revealing an ancient opera house.

A white mask hung in the air, slowly turning with the rhythm of the music and gradually fading away along with the sound on the stage.

"Oh!"

A crisp sound spread throughout the venue, and under the black curtain in front of the opera house, an English gentleman wearing a black top hat struck the auction hammer.

"Sold! Your number, sir?"

This is an auction, the prologue to a musical.

The general plot of The Phantom of the Opera is:
An ugly but talented musician lives in seclusion in the maze under the opera house due to various misfortunes. He is deeply in love with the opera actress Christine and secretly helps her improve her singing skills, making her a star of the opera house.

The musician wearing a white mask is the Phantom. Christine is grateful for his help, but is deeply attracted to Rawl, the sponsor of the opera house.

The Phantom took a series of measures to win back Christine, but in the end, Christine rejected his love.

The love between Christine and Rawl redeemed the Phantom, and he finally understood that if he loved someone, he should set her free.

"The night sharpens and intensifies all the senses."

"The turmoil of darkness awakens boundless imagination."

“The senses are quietly disarmed.”

"Slowly, softly, the night reveals its splendor."

"........."

As the musical gradually came to an end, the Phantom softly sang the final aria.

The Music of the Night

In front of him, the starting point and end point of everything, is a golden paper hurdy-gurdy music box with a monkey in a Persian robe playing cymbals.

The back of Yingsheng's left hand, which was placed on the armrest, suddenly felt soft. He tilted his head and looked, and saw Kisaki Eri also looking at him, with ripples in her blue eyes.

"Is there something you want to tell me?"

Kisaki Eri's voice was very soft, just like the night in the music.

Yingsheng turned his left hand slightly, held her hand, and asked softly: "The theater here sells the same souvenir as that music box. Do you want to buy one later?"

Kisaki Eri's eyes trembled, and she turned her head to look at the ending on the stage, but did not respond.

Of course she understood what Yingsheng meant.

This is just a dream.

The night is over and it's time to wake up from the dream.

but,

but……

Instead, Kisaki Eri's hands clenched even tighter.

The song ends and people disperse.

Eri Kisaki took Hotaru's arm and left the theater, and naturally did not buy the souvenir. When someone came to the square outside the theater to sell the Phantom mask, she just took a look and took Hotaru away.

The musical lasted two and a half hours. When Kisaki Eri stood beside the fountain in the square and looked up at the night sky, it was already 10:30 in the evening.

The bustling crowd passed by her, as if time accelerated, and the square was soon empty.

The surroundings gradually became quiet, with only her breathing and the breathing of the people around her who had also turned into reefs.

"Guess what I'm looking at?" asked Hibiki Eri.

"You are waiting for the shooting star that I missed to streak across the night sky again," Yingsheng said.

"Why put so much emphasis on 'missing'?"

"I'm just stating the facts."

"The musical just now was great. Do you know which part I liked best? Which song?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know."

"You should know."

In the end, Kisaki Eri didn't wait for the shooting star, but her eyes were still bright. She looked down at Hotaru and repeated it again.

"You always knew."

Yingsheng smiled softly, "It can't be "Overture", is it? The horn of Carthage is sounding again?"

"........."

Kisaki Eri was originally feeling extremely complicated, and after hearing this, she was still speechless.

At this moment, Yingsheng took her arm and walked towards the parking lot, "It's too late now, I'll take you home."

As Hibari followed his steps, her complicated thoughts became clearer and she couldn't help but sigh softly.

"You are indeed too skilled. Everything is under your control."

"Ha, I'll take this as a compliment. Don't you know that I'm a top gigolo and the best at deceiving women?" Yingsheng's words were still full of hints.

"No wonder so many people have fallen for it. How do you charge in Kabukicho?" Kisaki Eri asked as if she was simply curious.

"In fact, I'm no longer a gigolo." Yingsheng realized that someone was closing in on him.

"So today's date..."

"After all, I drank some wine before. In order to avoid being caught by the traffic police, let's take a taxi back." Yingsheng interrupted.

"...The alcohol in your mouth will dissipate with just a breath. If you don't want to drive, I will." Hibiki Eri took Yingsheng's arm and continued to move forward, her tone a little unhappy, "Let's get a taxi now. We live quite far from each other, so we can each get one, right?"

“It does sound more convenient.”

"..."

"Come to think of it, why didn't you drive this afternoon? Did you take a taxi to the cafe?"

"Because a lot of people know my previous car, and if we meet..."

"We're here. Wait here for a moment. I'll drive the car out and take a breath first." Yingsheng pulled his hand away.

Hibiki Eri stepped forward before him and said, "The parking space here is not that narrow, and your car has no smell since it's a new one. Besides, wasn't it agreed that I would be the one driving?"

"...Forget it, where do you live?" Yingsheng had no choice but to follow and opened the car door with his key.

"An Yue Apartment, Beika-cho 1-chome." Hibiki Eri got on the passenger seat, opened the player on the car screen and searched for songs.

Hotaru got in the driver's seat and took a look. Seeing that Hibiki Eri had just lost "The", he immediately spoke:
“I want to listen to Take a Look Around.”

"Play this next song. I don't hate you, nor do I think the world is changing too fast." Kisaki Eri said this, but she still stopped typing and looked at Yingsheng, "Don't you know which song I like?"

There are a few lyrics in "Take a Look Around":

Now I Know why you wanna hate me.

Now I know why you hate me.

Cuz hate is all the world has even seen lately.

What you hate is that the world is changing so fast that you don’t even notice it.

What Yingsheng expressed was very clear. He thought that Kisaki Eri was too impulsive and had completely lost her rationality. The situation between them had heated up too much tonight.

He chose to refuse, and if Kisaki Eri wanted to hate him, then let her hate him.

However, Kisaki Eri's meaning was even clearer, making it difficult for Hotaru to continue pretending to be stupid.

However, Yingsheng shrugged and started the car. "There are too many singles and albums starting with 'The'. Is it related to The Phantom of the Opera? I'm not sure about these."

Looking at Yingsheng's profile, Kisaki Eri sighed softly, without speaking a word or singing a song.

Just turned his head and looked out the window.

In the neon lights that seemed so close yet so far away, and in the thin lines of light and shadow interwoven by countless car lights, the carriage was silent all the way back to the downstairs of Anyue Apartment.

"arrive."

Yingsheng looked at Kisaki Eri, ready to use [Illusion] as soon as she turned her head to make her forget some things.

[Illusion] Unable to delete the memory violently, and in order to avoid gaps in Kisaki Eri's memory, Hotaru plans to turn everything that starts in the cafe tonight into a dream for her.

And the Danqingsheng in the dream was really just a painting from her own hands.

Today's date is to put an end to everything.

If [Illusion] can have a good effect on me and make me forget that Miss Ryu Kaede is Kisaki Eri, then they can continue to chat on Skype later.

If not, the Miss Liu Feng in his heart will never appear again from now on.

However, the hypnosis derived from [illusion] is still based on the principle that "others see the things they most expect and subconsciously approve of them." Yingsheng estimates that the latter possibility is unlikely.

Because after Yingsheng used [Illusion] on himself, the only person he would see was Xuantian.

And Xuantian, who is the most supreme, holy and ruthless, would never tell him such a thing in such an anthropomorphic way.

The logic simply doesn't work.

To put it in the simplest terms, a hypnotist cannot hypnotize himself in front of a mirror.

This made Yingsheng inexplicably sad, but for Kisaki Eri, he had no choice but to do this.

do not.

Miss Liu Feng.

Kisaki Eri didn't turn around or get off the car, and Hotaru didn't speak again, just waited quietly.

The background of the car window is the dark glass window of a bakery, and in front of the window is a street lamp with dim light.

The three-dimensional world suddenly overlapped on a plane. Kisaki Eri looked at the fireflies under the streetlight and said softly, "Thank you. I haven't been as happy as I am today for a long time."

"It's my honor." Yingsheng said.

"By the way, you're really good. Music, opera, literature, photography, it seems like you know everything about anything we talk about."

"I am actually greedy and unstable. I am knowledgeable but not thorough in many things. I am able to chat with people, thanks to everyone's tolerance and not embarrassing me."

"You won't contact me again, right?" Kisaki Eri didn't turn her head, just looked at Hotaru's reflection.

"Of course I will keep in touch. Will you be at home after four o'clock tomorrow afternoon? I will come to see you." Yingsheng also kept looking at Kisaki Eri's profile, watching her long eyelashes tremble slightly.

"Why tomorrow afternoon?" Hibiki Eri chuckled. "You must be tired from driving. Do you want to go up and have a cup of tea?"

"No, I have water in my car." Yingsheng also smiled, "We will definitely see each other tomorrow."

"That's it..."

Kisaragi spoke in a distant tone, and after a while, she finally laughed softly and tilted her head away from the car window.

Yingsheng waited for her gaze to turn around, and used [Illusion] to end it all.

But what came first was a sentence.

"If you're coming to visit me with Xiaolan tomorrow, forget it."

"!!!!!!"

Yingsheng's heart was suddenly shocked, and when he saw Kiyori's blue eyes looking at him calmly, he was speechless for a long time.

Click——!
Kisaki Eri opened the car door.

Before she could turn around, Yingsheng hurriedly grabbed her wrist and asked, "Do you know about this?"

"I'm Xiaolan's mother. Although I'm incompetent, there are things I should know, of course I know." Hibiki said calmly, "You're dating her, right?"

"This... you..."

Yingsheng's eyes were complicated, "You knew about this, but you didn't slap me in the face this afternoon and then just turned around and left?"

"Because I have no shame..."

"wrong."

Yingsheng let go of her hand, leaned forward slightly, closed the passenger door, and his face returned to calm.

"You probably only had some guesses about this matter before, and you weren't completely sure until I reacted so strongly just now."

Hibiki Eri had a blank expression on her face. "Why do you say that?" "First of all, of course, it's because of your character. If you knew about this from the beginning, you wouldn't have sat down and had coffee with me. You would have just poured it on my face." Yingsheng sighed. "The same goes for the conversation afterwards. You definitely..."

"Do you think you know me well?" interrupted Kisaki.

"I think it's okay." Yingsheng said without any modesty.

"What if I say that everything I did today was to test you, to see if you are worthy of Xiaolan's entrusting her life to you."

"If that's the case, when I reached out my hand to you in the cafe, you should have thrown me over your shoulder, poured coffee on my face, and told me that I didn't pass..." Yingsheng paused, "I know, that sentence of mine made you suspicious."

"I said then that from this moment on, I would only treat you as yourself."

"It means that you have to be stripped of other social attributes, including being the wife of Maori Kogoro and the mother of Xiaolan."

"I just said it casually, thinking that you could only think of the attribute of 'wife' at most."

“But now it seems like there’s more to it than that.”

"You should know some other things, so you can piece together the general idea."

Fei Yingli was silent for a moment. "Is there any point in saying this now? I am Xiaolan's mother, and I have confirmed that although you have behaved inappropriately, you do love her."

"...That sounds weird, and it's still not a good thing to say." Yingsheng looked helpless, "So you just wanted to pretend to be confused?"

Click——!
Kisaki Eri pursed her lips, pushed open the car door again, and ran out at an extremely fast speed.

Yingsheng was wearing a seat belt. Seeing her expression just now, he didn't expect her to avoid him like this. He was a step slower and only grabbed her light blue sweater.

Fortunately, this place is just at the steps of Anyue Apartment, so there is no need to cross the road and there is no traffic risk.

Hotaru looked at Kisaki Eri's back. She was walking up the stairs quickly. Her figure looked particularly thin against the silhouette of the dark building, and the collar of her chiffon shirt trembled slightly in the night breeze.

The sweater in his hands still had some residual warmth. When Kisaki Eri's back completely disappeared behind the stairs, Yingsheng's palms suddenly tightened.

He took a deep breath, unbuckled his seat belt, got out of the car, closed the door, and walked towards Anyue Apartment.

At the same time, I dialed Xiaolan's number and waited for about ten seconds before Xiaolan answered.

Just as Yingsheng was about to speak, Xiaolan said:
"I'm sorry, Hotaru, I can't go back tonight. I'm here at the Mori Detective Agency, and I'm sleeping with Ms. Yuko tonight. She's mentally fragile and needs someone to keep her company."

"Does she remember what happened before?" Yingsheng asked as he walked up the stairs.

"I remember most of it, but... they were all not-so-nice experiences." Xiaolan's tone was a little regretful, but still hopeful. "But Ms. Aida is here now. With her help, Ms. Yuko should be able to get over it."

"That would be best."

Hotaru saw Kisaki Eri's back again, but in a flash, she disappeared in the bright lights of the first-floor lobby.

Yingsheng couldn't help but pinch his brows, "Lan, do you think Lawyer Fei noticed when we were doing something at the sushi restaurant at noon?"

"Eh? That shouldn't be the case. Mom didn't say anything at the time." Xiaolan said uncertainly, "Why are you talking about this all of a sudden? What did she hint to you this afternoon?"

"The main reason is that I think it's unrealistic to hide it from her." Yingsheng said, "Ms. Aida was Mr. Maori's psychiatrist before. During the incident at Beihua Central Hospital, Lawyer Hime should have met her. Now she is the president of our detective agency. They are completely connected."

"That should be okay. I haven't heard my mother say anything about it. I even tried to comfort her by saying things like 'If I fall in love, I will definitely be independent.'" Xiaolan said.

"...Is it possible that she knew about it, but in that situation, it was not easy for her to expose you?" Yingsheng felt that Xiaolan might be acting as some kind of catalyst.

"Well... I pay quite attention to it, and my mother is not very annoying... What?" Xiaolan's voice suddenly became a little distant, and came back after a few seconds, "That's it, Hotaru, Miss Yuko needs me. When my mother is in a better mood, we will go visit her together..."

"Wait! I have something to say too!" Yingsheng interrupted quickly, "I'm out tonight too..."

"what!!!"

Yingsheng's words were interrupted by another high-pitched scream.

"Dad! You're not allowed to come over! You scared Miss Yuko!" Xiaolan shouted angrily, and then said to the phone, "Hina, you said you were out too? Oh, so you called to say you won't be home tonight either?"

"No, I'm not sure yet. The situation is a little troublesome. Anyway, I apologize to you first, a very serious apology." Yingsheng breathed a sigh of relief and finally said it.

"Hey, may I ask which beautiful lady has kidnapped my Hotaru again?"

"It's Miss Liu Feng, she...she..." Yingsheng was still speechless and hesitated at the door of the hall.

"Is she a beautiful older sister?" Xiaolan asked curiously, "The situation is very troublesome, um... is it the kind of Yuanzi? She has deep feelings for you."

"..."

Yingsheng didn't know what to say again.

But Xiaolan really had something to do and didn't have that much time to wait, so she added, "I know what you're worried about, Ying. You're worried about letting me down. Let me go back a little bit. I just hung up the phone without waiting for you, so I didn't know about this."

"That's it. See you tomorrow."

Xiaolan hung up the phone after she finished speaking.

Yingsheng was stunned on the spot. The sound in the receiver disappeared and the phone screen went off, but he didn't move.

No, this...

Suddenly, a faint voice sounded beside him: "Brother, you are not Japanese."

Yingsheng turned his head and saw the security guard with an experienced look on his face. He sighed, raised his hand and threw out a card.

"Go after her quickly. I just saw her crying. Don't let her down."

Yingsheng took it and saw that it was an elevator IC card. His expression became even more strange and he asked, "What did you mean by that just now?"

"Literally, bro, haven't you seen the statistics?" The security guard lit up a cigarette, took a deep puff, and looked far away. "Just among the statistical samples, half of the people are willing to admit that they have cheated in their marriages. If you include those who deny it, I'm afraid two-thirds of them have cheated in their marriages."

"You are so young, you are definitely not married yet, so this doesn't matter."

"Youth, isn't that what it is."

"Calling your girlfriend to report your affair before you cheat on her. Hey, I've never seen anything like you."

"Besides, if you don't want to cheat, you shouldn't have flirted with her in the first place. What's the point of stopping at the last step?"

Yingsheng was speechless again. "Actually, I have a perfect solution. I just didn't have time to use it before. Now I'll go up and comfort her first. If that doesn't work..."

"Stop! Stop!"

The security guard looked Yingsheng up and down and said, "Brother, you are not a stoic, are you? Your girlfriend didn't care just now. I guess she is definitely a local of Tokyo."

"........."

Yingsheng didn't want to argue with him anymore, so he gave him a 20,000 yuan tip, walked towards the elevator, and waved his IC card.

"Thanks."

"Hiss! Brother, you are so generous. Let me tell you something that will definitely make you relax." The security guard quickly came to Yingsheng and whispered, "There is a homeowner in our apartment whose husband often goes to nightclubs. One time, he spent too much and had no money, so she ran to the nightclub to help pay."

"...What do you want to say?"

Could this be Lawyer Fei?

"I'm telling you, brother. It's normal for men to be unfaithful." The security guard sighed. "You don't know, that man got drunk in the nightclub. His wife paid for him, and it was his underage daughter who carried him home."

"People like this still have the nerve to live in this world. Brother, you are so handsome, so loyal, and so generous..."

"Stop!" Yingsheng stuffed two more Fukuzawa Yukichi notes into his chest pocket and stepped into the elevator. "Which floor does the owner you just mentioned live on?"

"3001, she's very beautiful!" The security guard's tone became more and more enthusiastic. "Brother, if you have time, you can definitely save her. That's not cheating, it's helping others..."

"This is getting more and more outrageous. Go and help me park the car under the stairs." Yingsheng threw the car keys through the closing elevator door.

"Order!"

The security guard took the key and saluted on the spot.

Yingsheng smiled, and his chaotic mood was slightly alleviated, and he understood Xiaolan's thoughts a little bit.

Perhaps it was due to past experiences, the influence of Maori Kogoro, the influence of the rules of the Ogasawara school, and the overall trend of Japanese society...

and many more.

She was actually quite accepting of this aspect.

But when Yingsheng thought about this, he not only did not feel relaxed, but felt more and more that he should go to hell.

Just because others are generous and kind, you can hurt her without hesitation?
What a scumbag logic!

At this time, Yingsheng even had an idea. As soon as he saw Kisaki Eri, he would use [Illusion] on her, and then kill all the people including Hanayei at night!
However, before he even got out of the elevator, he received a message from Xiaolan on Telegram:
"I'm jealous. I'm really angry right now."

Yingsheng couldn't help laughing and replied:
"You wouldn't have thought of any bad direction by using this software to send messages."

Xiaolan replied:

"Well... because you are Tianshu and Liuying, and Shuiyue Yingsheng really loves me."

"So I can barely accept you being with other women, and you don't have to feel too guilty."

"And isn't Miss Liu Feng special?"

"Even if you can't do what you said in Singapore and end it after just one meeting, you can still do the same with the other person whose name you don't want to tell me."

"By the way, speaking of this, you've cheated on me several times before, and this is just one more time."

Firefly:

"Lan, you've gone crazy. Go find Miss Aida to get some psychological counseling."

Xiaolan:

"But I was telling the truth, otherwise you should tell me the identity of the other person."

"Also, a man who hesitates will lose his charm, so show your enthusiasm."

"Go activate Firefly Mode, Pikachu!"

Firefly:

"........."

Xiaolan:

"Look, I'm speechless now."

"It's not realistic to want to have multiple relationships at the same time without feeling guilty."

"But speaking of it, you told me this kind of thing several times. Does that mean you are getting closer to humans?"

"Living a life full of entanglements, this is what human beings are like."

Yingsheng was silent for a while, and only replied after walking out of the elevator on the 30th floor:

"You don't have to make excuses for me."

"I've already arrived."

Xiaolan replied immediately:

"I know you want to change your scumbag nature, but you don't have to do it all at once, and you don't have to be too nervous."

"I'll just assume you're going to drink wine."

“No killing.”

Yingsheng smiled and put away his phone.

To be honest, he was even more confused now.

But after being interrupted by Xiaolan, the previous thought faded a little.

Yingsheng walked to the door of 3001 and pressed the doorbell. Ten seconds later, a slight electric sound came from the speaker on the doorbell, but no one spoke.

"It's me." Yingsheng said.

The sound of electricity on the speaker disappeared, no one spoke inside the door, and the door was naturally still closed.

Looking at the heavy door, Yingsheng hesitated for a moment and searched for a song on his mobile phone.

His thumb stayed on the play button for a long time, and Yingsheng finally closed his eyes and pressed it.

“Once you embark on a road of no return, never look back.”

"The game between us has now come to an end."

“Say goodbye to those questions of ‘maybe’ and ‘when’. Resistance is futile.”

"Let go of all your worries and let the curtain of dreams fall..."

The beautiful voice penetrated the heavy door and did not float far before reaching the ears and heart of another person.

Kisaki Eri leaned against the door, her body slowly sank, and gradually sat on the ground.

"What sweet temptation lies before us?"

“Take the path of no return and cross the final threshold.”

"What kind of warm secret words will meet us?"

"On this road of no return, on the other side of the starting point..."

The music continued, and Kisaki Eri slowly closed her eyes, a drop of crystal falling to the ground.

Unable to suppress the unspeakable feeling in her heart any longer, Kisaki Eri looked at the bottle of sleeping pills in her right hand.

"Guide me, save me, from the sea of ​​solitude..."

"Say you want me, to be with you forever, to never leave you..."

pat--!
The medicine bottle fell to the ground.

Kisaki Eri finally made her choice.

Yingsheng, who had been listening to the noise outside the door, finally sighed softly and took out a thin wire from his pocket.

Five seconds later, he pried the door open.

Seven seconds later, in the painful look of Kisaki Eri, Hotaru leaned over and kissed her forehead gently, just like a priest kissing a believer.

Nine seconds later, Hotaru picked up Eri Kisaki and walked towards the bathroom.

"You idiot, don't you know that it's painful to commit suicide by taking sleeping pills? And there's vomiting in them, so you can't die at all."

A faint smile appeared on Kisaki Eri's pale lips.

"Don't you know this very well?"

The song that is still echoing is called "The Point Of No Return".

The literal translation is: the point of no return.

To put it more faithfully and elegantly, it is: the point of no retreat, the point where one can no longer stop, the point of no return.

(End of this chapter)