Traveling back thirty years to Conan, intercepting Princess Eri

"I really have no other feelings for her..."

Lin Xiuyi explained with a completely innocent expression.

His expression was sincere, his eyes earnest, and his tone was filled with utter helplessness.

He spoke from the bottom of his heart; he truly only had friendship with Tomizawa Chikage and had no intention of overstepping any boundaries.

However, neither of the two girls seemed to believe this.

Eri pushed up her glasses, the lenses reflecting a sharp light, and her lips twitched slightly, her expression clearly saying, "Keep making things up."

Yukiko rolled her eyes, crossed her arms, and gently swung one leg, her face full of sarcasm that said, "Nobody would believe you."

Lin Xiuyi felt a sense of helplessness as she looked at their reactions.

He was telling the truth, but after that series of misunderstandings, whatever he said now sounded like he was just making excuses to the two girls.

Just then, a rapid telephone ringing came from not far away.

The sound came from the direction of the izakaya on the first floor, sounding particularly jarring in the quiet afternoon, as if urging something on.

Lin Xiuyi's eyes lit up instantly, as if she had grasped a lifeline. The helplessness and despair on her face vanished, replaced by a barely perceptible joy.

He quickly chuckled awkwardly, rubbed his hands together, glanced cautiously at Eri and Yukiko, and tentatively said, "How about I take this call? It might be something urgent."

After saying that, he turned around impatiently, wanting to escape this place of trouble that made him feel so uncomfortable, even if it was only temporary.

But the moment he moved slightly, he was interrupted by Eri's cold voice.

"I'll come pick you up. I wonder which beautiful lady will be looking for you this time..."

Eri Kisaki snorted coldly, gave Yukiko a wink, then stood up and walked towards the izakaya.

Lin Xiu froze on the spot, her smile frozen.

"Don't even think about running away." Yukiko glared at him, her eyes like those of a kitten guarding its food, wary and serious.

Lin Xiuyi looked at her, then at Fei Yingli who had already disappeared at the shop entrance, and suddenly sighed.
"I wish you two could get along this well all the time."

This statement startled Yukiko.

She blinked, a faint blush appearing on her fair cheeks.

"When did I become friends with the girl with glasses?"

Yukiko turned her head away, muttering softly, her voice tinged with awkwardness.

"This is just... a temporary truce."

Although the girl's tone was stiff, her shifty eyes and slightly reddened ears betrayed her true emotions.

Lin Xiuyi knew that the subtle competitive relationship between Yukiko and Eri Kisaki had a long history, and that being able to temporarily put aside their prejudices and join forces against him was a kind of "achievement".

"Yes, yes." He nodded helplessly, not daring to say anything more.

Just then, Eri Kisaki suddenly poked her head out of the shop door and shouted, "Come answer the phone! It's the police calling."

Will another case occur?
Lin Xiuyi's heart tightened, and she quickly walked over.

Yukiko blinked, puzzled, and quickly followed.

Lin Xiuyi went to the telephone.

Eri Kisaki had already put the receiver aside. When she saw Shuichi Hayashi coming over, she said in a low voice, "It's Inspector Megure on the phone."

Inspector Megure? Lin Xiuyi frowned slightly and picked up the receiver.

"Hey?"

"Lin Jun!"

The familiar voice of Inspector Megure came from the other end of the phone, tinged with obvious urgency and a headache.
"Great, you're really back! Are you available now? Something's happened in the shopping district, and we need your help!"

"What happened?" Lin Xiuyi asked. "A murder." Inspector Megure's voice turned serious. "There was a murder at the coffee shop in the shopping district. The victim was a middle-aged man who was stabbed in the back of the neck, in the spine. We're investigating at the scene, but we're completely stumped..."

He paused, his tone tinged with relief.

“The Orikasa family’s flower shop is nearby. Little Midori came over to see what was going on and, seeing that we were at a loss, suggested that I ask you for help.”

"I only found out when I asked that you had already returned from Osaka, so I called you right away."

"Lin-kun," Inspector Megure's voice was earnest, "please come quickly. We have absolutely no clue about this case. There are no eyewitnesses, no surveillance footage, and we haven't found the murder weapon. If this continues, we'll miss the golden window for solving the case."

"I'm coming right away," Lin Xiuyi said, and then hung up the phone.

He turned around and found that Eri Kisaki and Yukiko were both staring intently at him.

“A case has occurred in the commercial district,” Lin Xiuyi said truthfully. “Inspector Megure asked me to go and help with the investigation.”

"I also need to go!"

The two girls' voices rang out simultaneously, in unison, as if they had rehearsed countless times.

After they finished speaking, they glared at each other in unison, clearly annoyed that the other person had said the same thing.

Lin Xiuyi helplessly touched his forehead, pretending not to have seen what was happening.

"Let's go together then."

He walked towards the door first, followed by the light footsteps of two girls and the soft sounds of them competing with each other.

……

The shopping street is not far from Hayashi Hideichi's izakaya, only about a ten-minute walk away.

The commercial street was bustling with people in the afternoon, and the summer sun made the street bright and dazzling.

But at this moment, the once bustling street corner was filled with an unusual tension.

The entrance to a small shop called "Coffee Time" was cordoned off with yellow police tape, and several uniformed police officers were maintaining order.

The area outside the police cordon was crowded with onlookers.

Elderly men and women craned their necks to peer inside, housewives whispered among themselves, and young people took photos with their phones.

The buzzing of voices, like a swarm of bees, hovered over the street corner.

"I heard it was a man who was killed?"

"Could it be some kind of heartless man getting revenge? I heard the owner of that coffee shop is quite pretty..."

"It looks like a robbery? I just saw the police going through the victim's wallet."

"Tsk tsk, murder in broad daylight, what a world..."

……

Lin Xiuyi and her two companions squeezed through the crowd and headed towards the coffee shop entrance.

“Senior,” Midori Orikasa pushed her way out of the crowd.

Lin Xiu nodded without saying anything and continued walking inside, with the three girls following behind.

Discussions came from all directions, and information, both true and false, floated in the air like bubbles.

As he walked, he kept an eye on the sounds, trying to sift through them for any potentially valuable clues.

The guards at the entrance of the coffee shop were Kitano and Yoshioka, police officers from the nearby police station.

Both of them were old acquaintances of Lin Xiuyi.

While patrolling the shopping street, he often stopped at izakayas (Japanese pubs) for tea and a break, and thus had some acquaintance with Hayashi Shuichi. (End of Chapter)