Traveling back thirty years to Conan, intercepting Princess Eri

Tears blurred Ono Kayoko's vision once again. This time, the tears contained not only sadness, but also emotion and a glimmer of hope.

She sniffled, choking back tears, and said, "But...but I've already done so much. I broke the railing, and I even did something to Mito Shinzo...have I already committed a crime?"

“You only had the intent to commit a crime, but you didn’t cause any actual consequences,” Hattori Heizo comforted softly. “And you came to your senses in time, so it doesn’t count as a crime.”

"Really?" Ono Yoshiko looked up, a hint of uncertainty in her eyes.

“Of course it’s true.” Hattori Heizo nodded, a rare smile appearing on his face. “Alright, stop crying. It’s all in the past now. What we need to do now is gather evidence as quickly as possible and make Mito Shinzo pay for what he did. We will help you, trust us.”

Looking at Hattori Heizo's determined eyes and then at Konoe Taishi's encouraging gaze, Ono Kayoko finally nodded slowly.

Perhaps Hattori Heizo is right; revenge is not the only way out, and she has other options.

……

The next morning, Lin Xiuyi was fast asleep.

In a daze, there was a gentle knock on the bedroom door, the rhythm neither hurried nor slow, but enough to wake him from his sleep.

He rubbed his sleepy eyes, let out a long yawn, and dragged his slightly lazy steps to the door, opening it.

Standing outside the door was Ikebo Shizuka, dressed neatly.

Today she changed into a neat light-colored casual outfit, and her long hair was tied into a ponytail, making her look refreshing and capable.

Seeing Lin Xiuyi's sleepy, disheveled, and loose-fitting bathrobe appearance, a mischievous smile flashed in the girl's eyes, but it was quickly replaced by serious business.

"What's wrong? Why so early..."

Lin Xiuyi couldn't help but yawn again, his voice thick with nasal tone, leaning against the door frame, seemingly not fully awake yet.

"It's getting late, it's already 8:30." Ikeba Shizuka raised her wrist and tapped the watch face with her fingers. "Uncle Si just called, there's new progress in the Mito family case."

"Oh?" Lin Xiuyi's drowsiness dissipated slightly upon mentioning the case. He straightened up and gestured for Ikeba Shizuka to continue.

“The police have made a breakthrough,” Chibo Jinghua relayed clearly. “They spent a day searching around the Riverview Hotel and finally found a key witness, a clerk who works the night shift at a nearby convenience store.”

"This shop assistant confirmed that in the early hours of the night before last, after the Minamino Momoko incident, he saw Mito Shinzo rush back to the hotel alone and rummage through several trash cans in the back alley of the hotel looking for something."

Ikenami Shizuka paused, then her face lit up with excitement: "This basically confirms your speculation from yesterday. It's highly likely that during the three hours that Mito Shinzo disappeared after leaving the police headquarters, he returned to the vicinity of the hotel to search for and take away the wire saw that Mito Hayato had discarded."

She paused, then added, "By the way, Uncle Gangsi also said that Mito Shinzo woke up last night and has now been taken to the Osaka Police Headquarters for questioning."

"He's awake?" Lin Xiuyi paused slightly, his brows furrowing involuntarily. "Judging from his behavior at the hospital yesterday, he should have continued to feign unconsciousness to evade responsibility. How could he suddenly wake up?"

Shizuka Ikenami couldn't help but laugh, her eyes crinkling as she explained, "This is all thanks to that dark-skinned Hattori Heizo. He came up with a plan to have Ono Kayoko, who is usually not very talkative, disguise herself as a nurse and impersonate an assassin to sneak into Mito Shinzo's hospital room, pretending to poison him."

"Mito Shinzo was so frightened that he forgot all about pretending to be unconscious and jumped up on the spot, which exposed his pretense."

"Disguised as a nurse... impersonating an assassin..." Lin Xiuyi repeated these two words in a low voice, feeling vaguely that something was wrong.

"What's wrong? Is there a problem?" Ikeba Shizuka had initially thought this was an interesting and effective method, but judging from Lin Xiuyi's reaction, there seemed to be another reason. "...Nothing." Lin Xiuyi shook his head, suppressing his doubts.

Although he knew there must be something hidden, since Hattori Heizo had already resolved the matter properly and successfully woke up Mito Shinzo to cooperate with the investigation, he didn't need to meddle any more.

Seeing that he was unwilling to say more, Ikeba Shizuka stopped asking and instead brought up another matter: "By the way, Uncle Gangsi also said that the search warrant has been applied for."

"He's about to take some men to search Shinzo Mito's residence, and he specifically asked if you wanted to come along, since you're also involved in this case."

"I……"

Lin Xiu hesitated for a moment, about to answer, when a cold voice suddenly came from behind him.

"Of course we're going! It'll be a good opportunity to see what that Tokugawa family samurai sword that was stolen by Mito Shinzo looks like."

"Uh……"

Lin Xiuyi's lips twitched involuntarily. She turned her head and saw that the person speaking was none other than Eri Kisaki.

Behind her were Yukiko, Reiko, Chikage Tomizawa, and Midori Orikasa.

"How do you..."

Lin Xiuyi was somewhat surprised, not expecting that they had all gathered outside her door so early in the morning.

"Of course I'm worried that you'll sneak away without a word again, like yesterday, Onii-chan!"

Lingzi walked up with a grin, grabbed Lin Xiuyi's arm, and said with a hint of reproach, "We've been guarding the door since dawn."

"Ha ha……"

Lin Xiuyi smiled helplessly, looking at the expectant faces before her, a warm feeling welling up in her heart.
“Alright, let’s go together then. It’s a good opportunity to see the Mito family’s collection and see what’s so special about that stolen katana.”

Just then, the door next door creaked open, and Kogoro Mouri walked out yawning, his hair disheveled and his eyes still wet with sleep, clearly having just woken up as well.

He was startled to see so many people standing at the door and instinctively took a step back.
"...What are we doing gathered here so early in the morning? Are we heading back to Tokyo?"

"We're going to search Shinzo Mito's mansion. Are you coming?" Lin Xiuyi asked casually.

"Go! Of course you want to go!"

Upon hearing the word "search," Kogoro Mouri instantly perked up, rubbing his hands excitedly as he exclaimed...

"How could I, Kogoro Mouri, be absent at such a crucial moment in solving the case? I'll go wash up now and set off immediately!"

After saying that, he ran back to his room in a flash, leaving everyone with only suppressed laughter.

"I'll go call Ruri." Eri Kisaki turned and headed towards her best friend's room. "She was too tired from playing with Kogoro yesterday, she's probably still asleep." (End of Chapter)