Conan: Chief of Rice Flower's Science Points

Chapter 487 The High School Girl's "Adventure"

Poirot Apartments, located at 41-chome, Beikacho, has been rumored to be haunted for the past six months.

This area used to be a cemetery, and four years ago, a charred female corpse was found in the park next door...

Therefore, it can be said to be a very suitable place for hauntings!
Generally speaking, police officers wouldn't pay attention to this kind of thing, especially since this was a dilapidated apartment building that was on the verge of becoming a dangerous building, so the landlord didn't make a fuss or call the police.

However, during the recent investigation, the patrol officers in the vicinity wrote down the rumors of ghosts in their records—after all, the chief had said that not only corpses, but also any "strange things" should be reported.

In fact, there are dozens of similar strange tales in the patrol police's investigation reports!
The people of the eastern island nation have always been fond of "ghost stories," and Beika Town is often a breeding ground for them...

The reason why Shiraishi noticed this "ghost story" at a glance was quite simple—the case of the charred female corpse discovered four years ago had not yet been solved!
After taking office at the Beihua Police Station, Shiraishi immediately focused on memorizing the unsolved cases in the area. When he saw this somewhat familiar address, he immediately took notice.

Of course, whether this is someone with malicious intent pretending to be a ghost, or just ordinary ghost-playing, or... there really is a ghost, Shiraishi is not sure at the moment.

"Director, should we have the Regional Division make some arrangements?" Yuanwei seemed puzzled by Shiraishi's question about this matter.

After all, Mado doesn't remember any of the unsolved cases in the department. In her opinion, this is just "another strange story that is no different from the others."

However, since Shiraishi had specifically mentioned it, Mado asked for instructions on whether to focus on it later or conduct a thorough search now.

This is a commercial apartment...

The rumors of ghosts must be giving landlords a real headache, and they would probably be happy to cooperate if the Mihua Police Station were to conduct a search.

However, Shiraishi shook his head upon hearing this and said, "No need to trouble yourself..."

Shiraishi didn't say much, but he made up his mind—he didn't have any dates after get off work today, so he might as well go check it out.

Since it's just a "ghost story," it's not appropriate to conduct a large-scale search. As for having "patrol officers pay routine attention," that's just a formality. If they could find a problem, they would have found it already!

……

After getting off work that evening, Shiraishi drove to 7-chome 41...

I spotted the Poirot Apartments at a glance—a two-story, dilapidated building that looked like it was on the verge of collapse.

The external environment is actually not bad, after all, it's next to Meitou Park—although it's not big, it's still a space for activities.

However, the area next to the park, directly opposite the apartment building, is somewhat disappointing – it's an unfinished building!
Bai Shi had also seen it in the patrol officers' risk assessment report before.

As a typical "abandoned and deserted location," this unfinished building had, of course, been patrolled by police officers before.

However, nothing special was found; it was just some ordinary traces of homeless life.

Since there are already quite a few homeless people in the eastern island nation, the patrol officers didn't bother to find the person since no one was around.

They simply took away the personal belongings they saw and left a notice—of course, this kind of building is not allowed for homeless people to live in, and their personal belongings were to be taken away. However, the notice also stated that they could pick them up at the Mihua Office and apply for assistance.

……

Just as Shiraishi was about to get off the bus, he suddenly saw four familiar figures...

One of them, in particular, looked very familiar at a glance.

Three Teitan High School girls' uniforms, one shrine maiden outfit... it's no wonder they stand out!
That's right, the most eye-catching one is Ayari Mayoi—Shiraishi has already sent her to Teitan High School this week, as for the school uniform issue…

Because this is indeed a custom of "Kurain no Sato", and Ayasato Mayoi is the head of the family in this generation, Shiraishi made a special application.

The reasons are also quite valid...

Religious reasons!

Teitan High School, given the reason, especially since it was Shiraishi who personally applied, naturally made an exception and approved Ayari Mayoi's use of her "religious attire" at all times.

Although the principal and the dean of students thought to themselves, "This looks like something out of an anime," they didn't say much after actually seeing it, and Ayari Mayoi really does refer to herself as a "spiritual medium."

In short, out of respect for Director Mika, they didn't expose him despite their disbelief.

As for the other three girls wearing standard school uniforms, Shiraishi recognized them all...

It was Sonoko, Ran, and... Ayano—Ayano Ujimoto, who once impersonated Sonoko and was kidnapped. She even actively cooperated with the kidnappers in an attempt to extort money from the Suzuki Group. It was later proven that her father was an employee of a construction company under the Suzuki Group. Because of a work injury compensation dispute, she acted recklessly and ended up in danger herself.

Fortunately, she was saved by Shiraishi, who was then given the nickname "Red Hair of Rice Flower".

After being rescued by Shiraishi, the Suzuki family announced irregularities in the subsidiary company, launched an internal investigation, compensated Ayano Ujimoto, and assisted her in enrolling in a school in Tokyo, thus salvaging public opinion...

Ayako had previously told Shiraishi that Ayano Ujimoto had been settled and that he shouldn't worry. She had mentioned it a few times before. Ujimoto would also enroll in Teitan High School and be in the same class as Sonoko, and they would become good friends.

Shiraishi also knew...

She's a fan of celebrities!
It seems like he really likes Yoko Okino.

When Shiraishi saw the four of them arrive, he was speechless—none of them lived here!

Furthermore, judging from Ran walking behind and clearly making excuses, yet being pulled along by Sonoko and Ayano, while Mayoi stands to the side with an arrogant and domineering demeanor, one can basically guess what's going on...

This is definitely an "adventure"!

This is indeed the case.

The reason was that Ran caught a cold a few days ago. Since Ran has always been afraid of ghosts, and Conan, that little devil, is always sneaking around investigating something and always paying attention to Ran, Ran always feels that there is a zashiki-warashi (a type of Japanese house spirit) causing trouble in her house when she is weak...

Naturally, Sonoko laughed at him for saying that, and later, when Sonoko heard that the place was haunted, she dragged Ran there to test her courage.

Ran was naturally unwilling to come, but Mayoi became very interested after hearing about it. She took it upon herself to say that if there really was a ghost, as a "spiritual medium," she couldn't stand idly by and had to help it pass on!

With Ujigen egging them on, the four of them ended up coming together after school...

Shiraishi reluctantly opened the car door and got out. He then approached the four men from behind and suddenly asked, "Why aren't you going home? What are you doing here?"

"Ah!" the four exclaimed.

Approaching silently, Shiraishi suddenly spoke, startling the four, especially Ran, who immediately jumped out, feeling as if she was about to break through the limits of human endurance...

"It's my brother-in-law..." "Officer Shiraishi?"

"Brother Shiraishi! You're here too? Could it be... that my sister was coming?"

Upon discovering it was Shiraishi, the four breathed a sigh of relief, except for Ujigen, who immediately became even more spirited... lowered his head, blushed nervously, and seemed lost in thought.

At this moment, Sonoko and Ran also failed to notice her because...

Mayoi's words are a bit strange!
Others might not know, but Sonoko and Ran did: Mayoi's older sister was the lawyer Ayato Chihiro, who had recently been murdered. It was because of this that the three of them made a special effort to get in touch with Mayoi, who had transferred to the school midway through the semester.

But she just said...

Chihiro's figure had indeed appeared at this moment, and she looked at her "foolish little sister" speechlessly.

Snapped--

Bai Shi decisively flicked her forehead, while correcting her, "Your sister has passed away, and it wasn't her who appeared in my dream."

"Brother-in-law..." Sonoko was a little anxious when she saw this, feeling that Shiraishi was being too direct—Mayoi was hallucinating... was it really okay to be so blunt with her?
However, Mayoi, clutching her forehead, pitifully replied, "Oh."

Shiraishi flicked it lightly, but Mayoi's forehead was still red from the flick!
"By the way, brother-in-law, how did you end up here? Could it be that this place is really..." Sonoko seemed to have thought of something and became a little scared.

“Yuanzi…” Xiaolan looked at her best friend speechlessly—didn’t you come here to prove to me that it was all just “faking it”?

Sonoko always manages to show her "brave yet cowardly" side in every aspect.

"Yes, I came to check it out because I heard that someone was spreading rumors here, trying to disrupt the peace of Beika Town," Shiraishi said sternly.

Mayoi glanced at the empty space next to Shiraishi, then at the dilapidated apartment in front of her, and nodded firmly, saying, "That's right, I didn't detect any 'spirit' aura either!"

Of course, the other three people present just thought she was indulging in a chuunibyou phase and was still trying to create a persona for her.

Just then, a short, square-faced old man walked over, stared at Shiraishi, and said, "Oh my, oh my, this is really... I didn't expect that Chief Mika would actually come in person?"

"Hello, are you a resident here?" Shiraishi asked, striking up a conversation with him.

“That’s right, I’m the resident of room number five here, Otonashi Hoichi.” Otonashi said, then added with a sigh, “When those patrol officers came to ask, I thought they were just going through the motions, but I didn’t expect the famous Chief Beika to actually come in person…”

Clearly, the "ghost rumors" that the patrol officers had heard about came from Otonashi!

"For the peace and tranquility of Beika Town..." Shiraishi sang a high-pitched line, then looked at the four girls in front of him and said, "Besides, if this problem is never solved, it will continue like this, and some young people will even take it seriously and come to explore."

"I'm sorry." Sonoko, Ran, and Ayano bowed in unison to apologize.

As for Mayoi...

Mayoi, of course, wouldn't apologize!
She's a "spiritual medium" who only came to help because she heard there might be ghosts, so why should she apologize? Shouldn't she be thanking her?
Others may not believe it, but she herself never felt that she was there to join in the fun or cause trouble.

"It's okay, it's okay. It was about half a year ago, when the haunting first started, that this place was lively for a while, with young people always coming. But later, not only did many of the old residents move away, but no young people came anymore. It's actually quite lonely now," Yin Wu said matter-of-factly.

"Eh? Grandpa, haven't you seen the ghosts that are rumored to exist here?" Sonoko asked curiously.

"No... if I had to say, I was the first person to see a ghost here," Otonashi said matter-of-factly.

"What? There... there really are ghosts here?" Xiaolan immediately became timid.

"No, I didn't sense any spirits!" Mayoi reiterated, while looking at Otonashi with some dissatisfaction—spirit mediums all dislike using the dead to perform supernatural tales.

"Spirit? Oh... what you call this is... Cosplay, right?" Otonashi looked at Mayoi and said in his super trendy tone.

"I……"

Before Mayoi could explain further, Ran couldn't help but ask, "Since you knew there were ghosts, why did you...?"

"Hahaha, what am I afraid of when I'm practically halfway to my grave?" Otonashi said, shaking his head. He then gave an example: "If a ghost wants to harm someone, there's no point in choosing me. After all, if I were to die from being scared, wouldn't I become a ghost too? We'd end up fighting each other..." Otonashi sighed.

He wasn't particularly old, only 68. According to the average lifespan of the Eastern Island nation, he could easily live for another ten years or so. However... he was very open-minded about it.

Whether it's ghosts or not, it doesn't matter. Anyway, who knows, one day I might become a "ghost" myself.

"Are you the first person to have seen this place haunted? Excuse me, could you tell me what happened back then?" Shiraishi asked immediately upon hearing this.

"Sure... Come in and talk. I have some tea and snacks at home, but they're just things that older people like." Otonashi looked cold, but he spoke very warmly at this moment.

"Huh? Really?" Sonoko asked, seemingly unaware of the concept of politeness, and her interest was piqued.

"Sonoko...aren't you scared too?" Ran said helplessly.

“Afraid? How could I be?” Sonoko said, with an air of righteous indignation… hiding behind Shiraishi’s left hand.

Ayano, who was standing nearby, also hid behind Shiraishi's right hand without saying a word...

Xiaolan: ...

"You two aren't afraid, are you..." Xiao Lan rolled her eyes and said—you clearly just think that "Director Mihua" can ward off evil spirits!

"Don't worry, Ran, I'll protect you!" Mayoi said confidently. Perhaps afraid that Ran wouldn't believe her, she emphasized, "Even if there's some spirit hiding its presence, I'll appease it the moment it appears!"

"Th-thank you..." Xiaolan replied helplessly.

Even if she didn't believe it, Ran couldn't bear to waste Mayoi's kindness, as she seemed to genuinely believe she was a shrine maiden.

The five of them then entered the apartment together with Otonashi...

Well, there's not much difference between the inside and outside; the inside is quite dilapidated!

The creaking floorboards and the rotten smell made it a perfect "haunted" apartment.

It has two floors, four rooms on each floor, and a shared toilet on each floor—typical features of a budget apartment…

(End of this chapter)