Rebirth from Conan

Chapter 20 Accepting a Disciple
Ramen Ogura.

Xia He ordered three large bowls of seafood ramen, sat by the window, and enjoyed it deliciously.

There was no choice but to take a bus with Shinichi and the others to Haido Town early in the morning, solve puzzles, and run. After doing something heroic, I was taken to the police station to take a statement...

It's already two o'clock in the afternoon and I haven't had anything hot to eat. I'd be surprised if I wasn't hungry.

And during the moment when he was showing off alone, the diners around him also looked sideways and focused their attention on Xia He.

First, I was surprised at Xia He's appetite and curious whether this child could finish so much noodles.

Secondly, I think that it is too irresponsible for parents to leave such a young child here alone.

"Thank you for your patronage. The total is 3600 yen."

About twenty minutes later, the waiter brought the bill and looked down at Xia Hedao who was picking his teeth with a smile.

However, Xia He pointed at a fat and strong middle-aged man at the next table and said, "Ask him to pay."

Fat uncle: "?"

"Little boy, do we know each other?" Seeing the waiter looking at him, the fat uncle immediately asked.

"Don't you know me?" Xia He grinned, "Didn't we agree to meet here before three o'clock?"

After these words were spoken, the noodle shop fell into silence.

About ten seconds later, the guests' discussions began to be heard again.

"Why would that person ask a child to meet alone?"

"He looks very wretched, could he be a bad guy?"

"Should we help call the police?"

Fat uncle: “.”

After taking out his wallet and paying the bill for Xia He, the fat uncle sat down opposite Xia He.

"How did you know that?" he asked.

"posture."

"posture?"

"Ah."

Xia He nodded.

He was not concentrating on eating noodles just now, but was secretly observing every customer in the store with his peripheral vision.

"When you walked in from the store just now, you exposed yourself just by the way you walked."

Xia He said as he drank up the remaining noodle soup in the bowl. "Hiccup! People who are fat to a certain extent don't just swing their forearms when walking like normal people do. Instead, they swing their entire upper limbs, and sometimes even their shoulders. This is because obesity causes an imbalance in the center of gravity, so they need to increase the amplitude of their arm swings to adjust their body's center of gravity. Furthermore, when fat people walk, they often land on the ground with their entire soles, but you first use one-third of your soles, and then the other two-thirds of your soles follow... In summary, you are not a fat person at all."

"Is that so? Looks like I was negligent."

The "fat uncle" stared at Xia He with interest.

Then, he took out the black card with "?" written on it from his pocket, placed it on the table and said, "Then how did you figure out this code?"

“This thing is even simpler.”

Xia Hexin said, I've seen this episode, how could it not be simple?

But he still explained seriously: "Port, ruins, water gate, post office, Beihua Middle School, city hall... Draw the place where you put the code with the marking symbols shown on the map, and then follow the S→W written on the last note, and flip it from south to west. In this way, you can get the word 'OXHIDE', which means 'cowhide'. So here we can conclude that the answer is hidden in the cowhide wallet you gave to Shinichi at the beginning."

He simply repeated what he recalled in his mind as inference.

Looking at the fat uncle... Oh no, looking at Heiyu Daoyi's stunned expression, Xia He suddenly felt a sense of accomplishment.

No wonder Shinichi likes to help the police solve cases so much.

However, Heiyu Daoyi's mood at this moment seemed a little complicated.

This was originally a puzzle he designed specifically for Kudo Yusaku, but he didn't expect... that it was actually solved by a little kid.

Should he say that his level of riddle-solving is low, or should he say that Xia He has a high IQ?
But right now, these are not the most critical things.

"One last question, do you know who I am?" Kuroba Toichi continued to ask. You know, he challenged Kudo Shinichi as Phantom Thief 1412, but Xia He gave the black card to his son...

Doesn't this mean that my identity has been completely exposed?
As expected.

"Of course, Kaito 1412... Oh, sorry, I think I should call you Mr. Kaito Kidd now."

When Xia He said this, Heiyu Daoyi's eyes became sharp.

[You completed the mission: The Embarrassment of Phantom Thief No. 1412]

[Rewards: Strength +1, Agility +1, Constitution +1, Spirit +1]

[Trigger the follow-up task: Magician's Apprentice]

[Become a disciple of Phantom Thief 1412 and unlock your talent]

[Current progress: Not completed]

"I don't quite understand what you are saying." Hei Yudao raised his head and stared at the chandelier on the ceiling.

"Playing dumb is not a smart move."

Xia He showed his teeth, blinked his eyes, and looked at Hei Yu Daoyi with a smile that couldn't be more innocent: "Now you have two choices. One is that I will go to the police station right now and report to the police that the world-renowned magician Hei Yu Daoyi is Kaito Kid... Even though I am just a child, at least they will take my words to heart because I just did something brave.

If the police come to search your house and find some weird things, your reputation will be ruined."

"What about two?"

"Second, if you accept me as your apprentice and teach me magic, I can keep this a secret for you."

After saying this, Hei Yu Dao Yi couldn't help but smile.

So you've gone through so much trouble just to get me to take you in as my apprentice?

"But kid, did you know that the police can't just go into someone's house and search for things? They need a search warrant."

"Ah?" Xia He looked at Hei Yu Dao Yi with a confused expression, "What is a search warrant?"

Of course he knew what a search warrant was.

The reason why he said that was just to retreat in order to advance, and he wanted to try his best to interpret the character of "although he has strong reasoning ability, he is essentially still a reckless kid who is ignorant of the world" in order to win the other party's favor.

As it turned out, Hei Yu Daoyi really fell for it.

Seeing that Xia He no longer had the confidence he had in his previous reasoning and became panic-stricken, the dissatisfaction that Hei Yu Daoyi had felt when he was previously exposed and "threatened" also disappeared for the most part at this moment.

Instead, there was the kind of teasing that elders would do when they wanted to tease the younger ones.

He has never accepted many disciples.

In the more than ten years since his debut, apart from his son Kuroba Kaito, he has only taught the art of disguise and voice changing to two other people.

However, this kid has sharp observation skills, is smart enough, and even has great skills...

He is indeed a good candidate for practicing magic.

So, after thinking for a while, he replied: "I will give you an answer in three days."

After he finished speaking, he stood up, and according to what Xia He had just said, he increased the amplitude of his arm swings and walked away very naturally.

Xia He was left sitting in the ramen shop, watching his back disappearing out the door, muttering to himself.

Do I consider this a success?
……

three days later.

Xia Hegang opened the door as he returned home from school.

Meatball rushed to him, holding a black card with Kidd's portrait on it.

[You have completed the follow-up task: Magician's Apprentice]

[Talents obtained: Unscientific voice, magic genius]

(End of this chapter)