Conan: Rice Flower Spring

Chapter 348, Section 342: A "Date" with Ran Mouri

Is Conan's deduction exciting?

That was incredibly exciting. The entire mystery unfolded like a dialogue, allowing Conan to have a conversation across time with Nakamura Misao's deceased grandfather.

Even the ladies' watch studded with precious gems hanging on the clock pigeon pales in comparison to Conan's brilliant deductions.

The ingenious code, the silent riddle, and the hidden clues throughout the room all tell of the extraordinary final gift this old man left for his granddaughter and for the world.

Conan ultimately did not put Ran Mouri into a "sleep" state, nor did he choose Nakamura as his scapegoat.

When he spoke in a soft, childlike voice, his reasoning was expressed with exaggerated surprise, it seemed that he had already made some kind of preparation.

However, Ran Mouri seemed to ignore Conan's reasoning and acted no differently than usual.

It's as if she tacitly agreed that Conan, being a child, should make this deduction at this time?
Or perhaps, after being influenced by Kogoro Mouri for so long, it's not surprising that Conan occasionally solves a riddle?

Conan didn't know whether he should be glad or not; he did lack the courage to be honest with Ran Mouri.

If Ran Mouri discovers his identity, he might just admit it directly.

But I want him to take the initiative to reveal his identity to Ran Mouri.
That's not very realistic.

Ran Mouri. What is she waiting for?
-
"How am I supposed to know what she's waiting for? And why do you think I should know what a high school girl is thinking?"

Am I really that much like a pervert?

Inside the Kuroba residence, Ryoma Lin gave Kaito Kuroba a disgruntled look. Recently, due to the income from Scorpion, Shiratori had been extremely busy.

It was either arresting people or interrogating them, or arresting and interrogating each other. As a cadre of the "Zoo" organization, Shi Kaobing knew a lot about the organization.

What's most useful to Shiratori are the arrangements made by some zoo organizations in Tokyo, such as secret bases, safe houses, and outposts.

There are also connections within the "zoo" organization hidden in Tokyo—given that each of them carries a gun, these guns and people couldn't all have entered the island nation through legitimate channels.

While smuggling and illegal firearms were not within the scope of the Shiratori task force's investigation, this did not prevent Shiratori from using these inexpensive but beneficial actions to cultivate relationships with people in different departments.

(I chose Shiratori as the superintendent of the First Investigation Division because he really shares the credit with everyone when he gets something done!)

In short, Shiratori is very busy now, and only Ryoma Hayashi and Kaito Kuroba are relatively free in the three-person team.

And so, these two idle people got together to gossip about Conan.

When Kaito Kuroba heard Ryoma Hayashi relay the story, he thought that Ran Mouri would immediately launch an attack after seeing Conan's deductive reasoning.

Unexpectedly, Ran Mouri, who witnessed all of this, seemed to have seen nothing. She went home when it was time to go home and took care of her troublesome old father.

Even when it was time to cook for Conan, Conan's meals were never neglected.

This perfectly normal behavior was extremely abnormal in the eyes of Ryoma Hayashi and Kaito Kuroba.

Perhaps compared to a detective like Conan, Ran Mouri's reactions are a little slower.

But how many people can be like Conan, becoming suspicious because of a word, action, or even a glance from someone else?

The problem is that even if she's slow to notice, shouldn't Ran Mouri have noticed something's off about Conan, who's clearly different from ordinary children?

Unless this is Ran Mouri deliberately "ignoring" Conan's strange behavior.

"You're saying that doesn't make sense," Kaito Kuroba said, turning into a contrarian and relentlessly arguing with Ryoma Hayashi. "We all saw how much Ran Mouri paid attention to Conan when we went to the Kosaka family's castle."

Those eyes practically practically grew onto the kid's body; it's obvious they're suspicious of Conan's identity.

Although Ran Mouri doesn't know Kaito Kuroba, Kaito Kuroba knows and even understands Ran Mouri.

Ever since he learned that Conan was an oddball in the Mouri Detective Agency, Kaito Kuroba has thoroughly learned about the agency's "members".

He initially thought it was a story of a childhood sweetheart taking in a child in distress, but it turned out to be a case of a morally depraved child hiding his identity and lingering at the childhood sweetheart's house.

What else could Kaito Kuroba say?

He originally thought that he was already a beast for peeping under girls' skirts and sneaking around in the women's changing room.

I never expected there to be an even bigger mountain – it has to be you detectives who have the tricks up your sleeve!

Kaito Kuroba wouldn't even dare to dream of watching a show like this!
Because he had some prior knowledge of the subject, Kaito Kuroba felt he had the right to speak. Ran Mouri had been frantically searching for Shinichi Kudo back then.

Is she really going to let Conan off so easily now?
That doesn’t make sense!

A girl's thoughts are always so hard to fathom. No matter how Ryoma Hayashi and Kaito Kuroba analyzed it, they couldn't figure out what Ran Mouri was thinking.

Just when they were at their wits' end, Lin Longma's cell phone rang.

"Is this... Ran Mouri's number?"

Lin Longma stared in surprise at the screen display. Wasn't that Ran Mouri's number?
This is what they mean by "what you keep in mind will eventually come to pass."

Upon hearing Ryoma's words, Kaito Kuroba rushed to Ryoma's side and shouted, "Turn on the loudspeaker! Turn on the loudspeaker!"

Lin Longma didn't do as Kuroba Kaito said. He rolled his eyes at him and walked aside to answer Ran Mouri's call.

"I am Ryoma Hayashi. Are you Ms. Mori?"

"It's me, Uncle Lin. I hope I haven't disturbed you by calling." Even though it was just a phone call, Lin Longma could still sense the anxiety and unease of Moli Ran on the other end of the line.

"It's alright, I'm not busy right now." Lin Longma reassured Ran Mouri a little before asking:

"So, is there anything I can help you with, Miss Mori?"

"It's like this, I have some questions I'd like to ask you, Uncle Lin, but I can't seem to get through them over the phone."

"Understood. In that case, shall I go to the firm?"

"No, Uncle Lin. If it's convenient, how about we go to a coffee shop? I know a coffee shop that makes really good desserts."

Although Ran Mouri isn't particularly skilled at deduction, she is ultimately a meticulous girl. This is evident in everything she does, whether it's entertaining Ryoma Hayashi at the agency.

Whether she was traveling with Lin Longma during outside events, she noticed that Lin Longma really liked desserts.

"Go to a coffee shop? That's fine. Send me the address later and I'll go straight there."

After Lin Longma hung up the phone, he saw Kuroba Kaito standing in front of him, making strange faces.

"No, what are you doing?" Lin Longma subconsciously took a step back and asked with great disdain.

(End of this chapter)