Traveling back thirty years to Conan, intercepting Princess Eri

"Distressed?"

Eri Kisaki seemed to have heard something amusing. She didn't respond to Hideaki's words, but instead focused her gaze on the mountain of warmth emanating from him.

The girl stretched out her slender fingers and began to count the items one by one, her tone calm yet carrying an invisible pressure.

“One, two, three blankets…and a pillow.”

"Wow, Young Master Lin! In such a short time, someone has brought you three blankets and a pillow! This treatment is even more comfortable than sleeping in the guest room!"

Eri Kisaki snorted coldly, her jealousy and dissatisfaction almost overflowing.
"It seems that even if I hadn't come, you were destined to sleep very well tonight!"

"These were actually given to me by Liuli just now..."

Almost reflexively, Lin Xiuyi wanted to shift the blame to Mouri Kogoro again.

However, before he could finish speaking, Eri Kisaki interrupted him impatiently.
"Do you think I didn't know when Liuli came out?"

The girl crossed her arms, her gaze behind her glasses carrying an all-knowing understanding.

“Our guest rooms are right next to each other tonight! I saw her sneak out the door all the time!”

"Uh……"

Lin Xiuyi raised his hand to cover his forehead in frustration, not expecting that Eri and Ruri's rooms were next to each other!
"That girl, really... once she has a boyfriend, she loses all her principles and stances!"

Eri complained to Ruri again, her tone tinged with disappointment, seemingly disdainful of her friend's easy betrayal.

Kogoro Mouri, who had been lying next to her pretending to be asleep but actually eavesdropping, could turn a deaf ear to Eri Kisaki's previous accusations against Shuichi Hayashi, but now that he heard her talking about his girlfriend again, his protective instincts immediately took over.

He couldn't help but peek his head out from under the covers, a mischievous smile on his face, and interjected,
"Eri, you wouldn't have... been hiding behind the door the whole time, debating whether or not to come and check on Shuichi, which is why you heard Ruri leaving the house so clearly, would you?"

"What did you say?! I didn't!!"

Eri Kisaki reacted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, instantly bristling with anger!

She is very sensitive and can't stand having her little schemes exposed to her face.

The girl's fair cheeks flushed red rapidly, spreading to her ears and neck.

She no longer cared about maintaining her cold demeanor and immediately went forward to confront Kogoro Mouri.

"Calm down, Eri."

Lin Xiuyi quickly reached out and pulled the girl back from her rage.

"Kogoro was just talking nonsense. Why are you taking it so seriously? Doesn't that just make him even more smug?"

"Exactly!" Kogoro Mori immediately seized the opportunity, mumbling in agreement from under the covers, "Shuichi's right! Eri, your excitement just makes you seem guilty, doesn't it? Did I really hit the nail on the head?"

"Hmph! What do I have to be ashamed of!"

Eri Kisaki gritted her teeth in anger, but reason told her that she couldn't dwell on the issue any longer, otherwise things would only get worse.

"I'm not some curly-haired fox!" Eri Kisaki scoffed, her gaze sweeping meaningfully over the new pillow on Hideaki's chair and the blanket Yukiko had just laid down, her tone sharp.
"All she does all day is pretend and think about how to seduce men! She's quicker than anyone else at being attentive!"

She grew angrier and angrier as she spoke, as if she had found an outlet for her emotions, and began to launch into a long, unending tirade.

"I saw it all! Curly-haired fox also took a blanket and pillow out! These extra blankets and pillows of yours must have been for her too, right?!"

"That vixen, she just loves to act weak in front of men, really..."

……

At the same time, under the dining table.

After Yukiko rushed in without thinking, her eyes hadn't fully adjusted to the darkness when, by the faint light filtering through the tablecloth, she saw three pairs of eyes filled with the same surprise and embarrassment.

Reiko, Midori Orikasa, and Chikage Tomizawa!
She wasn't stupid; she instantly understood the true origin of the blankets on Lin Xiuyi's chair.

It wasn't some glass that was given to him because he had taken too much! It was clearly secretly given to him by these three "traitors"!

Just now, I was outside, and I actually foolishly believed Kogoro Mouri's full of blunders in his lie!
Just as Yukiko was about to angrily question the three of them, she could clearly hear Eri Kisaki pushing open the door and speaking from outside.

She immediately swallowed the question that was on the tip of her tongue, and like the other three girls, held her breath and began to nervously eavesdrop on the conversation outside.

Unexpectedly, as she listened, Eri Kisaki steered the conversation towards herself and began to relentlessly and harshly criticize her, calling her a "curly-haired vixen," a "pretentious woman," someone who "likes to seduce men," and someone who "fawns over others"...

Yukiko clenched her fists in anger and squeezed out a sentence through gritted teeth in a very low voice.
"That despicable girl with glasses! How dare she badmouth me behind my back! She's so mean!"

When Orikasa Midori and Tomizawa Chikage, who were squatting next to her, heard Yukiko's indignant whisper, they both showed extremely strange expressions, their eyes clearly saying: You seemed to have done the same thing outside just now, didn't you?
Only Reiko gave a thumbs up and whispered her support: "Yukiko-neechan! What you said outside was so right! Eri-neechan is just petty!"

When Yukiko heard Reiko's praise, she was first taken aback, and then suddenly realized what she meant.

These three people in front of me have been hiding under the table from the very beginning!

His brilliant performance outside just now, those statements like "it was all the glasses girl's insistence" and "I had no choice," and his skillful shifting of blame and accusations...

They definitely heard every single word clearly!
A huge sense of embarrassment instantly swept over Yukiko!
She felt her face burning hot! This was a complete social disaster!

Yukiko instinctively wanted to get up and escape from this cramped space that made her feel ashamed. Even facing Eri's mockery outside would be better than being looked at like that by three "insiders" here!

In her haste, the girl forgot that she was under the low table and instinctively looked up.

"boom!"

A dull thud, accompanied by a slight sway of the wooden dining table, echoed in the small space.

"Ouch!"

Yukiko's head slammed hard against the bottom of the table. The intense pain made her forget everything for a moment, and she couldn't help but cry out in pain!
……

Over here, Eri Kisaki, who was launching into a long list of Yukiko's "crimes," suddenly stopped speaking. (End of this chapter)