The Pirated Onmyoji of the Detective World

"..."

Even the waitress standing next to the table taking orders couldn't help but gape in surprise.

Looking at the group of guys around him, whose expressions were all different but had become strange, Aragaki Yuzai smiled and waved to the waitress, saying, "Okay, just kidding. Just a glass of lemonade, please."

"Um... okay..." The waitress's eyes twitched slightly as she looked at the marks on the receipt that she had made repeated alterations to.

If it weren't for the fact that this young man was handsome, she would have definitely slapped the receipt in her hand into his face.

"But Ms. Takayama, is this really okay?" Mitsuhiko, who was eating ice cream with gusto, seemed to remember something. "Don't we all practice harmonies before the concert?"

“Yes, that’s how it was supposed to be.” Mentioning this, Minami Takayama’s expression suddenly turned troubled. “But he hasn’t come yet, my partner hasn’t arrived, and he’s not answering his cell phone. I don’t know where he’s gone again…”

After saying that, Minami Takayama adjusted the hat on her head to make sure the other guests in the family restaurant wouldn't recognize her before continuing, "That's why I ran out to look around in a few places."

"Then why don't you try calling the cell phone again?" Conan, who was standing nearby, immediately became interested in finding the person and suggested to Minami Takayama.

"That's what I wanted to do!" Minami Takayama said, sticking out her tongue a little embarrassedly. "But I accidentally left my phone in the dressing room backstage."

Then, Minami Takayama pointed to the man who had been standing by the phone in the family restaurant for a long time and explained, "And the phone in this restaurant has been occupied by that person since just now."

"It's okay, you can use my electricity if you don't mind..."

Amidst the expectant gazes of everyone, Yusuke Aragaki was about to take out his phone when he realized that because his clothes didn't have pockets, he had put his phone in Akemi Miyano's bag. "I'm so sorry, I don't have my phone with me either."

"What bad luck!"

"correct."

The children in the Junior Detective Club couldn't help but sigh at how many unfortunate things had happened at the same time.

“However…” Takayama Minami took a sip of tea and couldn’t help but sigh, “Speaking of bad luck, I’ve been acting strangely lately.”

"Something's weird?" Conan looked at Minami Takayama, puzzled.

"Yes." Minami Takayama nodded and explained to everyone, "The locks on our office lockers were recently broken, and the locks on the apartment doors also show signs of being pried open by patients."

"Hmm?" Conan, hearing this, also began to realize that things were starting to get strange.

He involuntarily narrowed his eyes, as if he could sense something amiss.

"That's not all. We also get prank calls every day, and every time it's a strange man repeating—'Don't sing!'"

The boys in the Detective Boys were all startled by the sinister voice that Minami Takayama imitated.

Chapter 400 Sound-Deaf

Afterwards, the members of the Junior Detective Club all volunteered to help Ms. Takayama Minami investigate the matter.

Just as Conan frowned at this, Aragaki Yu, who had been staring at the man on the phone, finally turned his gaze to Takayama Minami and asked, "When did these annoying things start?"

“Well…” Minami Takayama tapped her chin with her index finger as she recalled, “It probably started last Sunday, when we were recording a live radio program.”

"Ah, I listened to that program!" Ayumi said excitedly.

“I heard it too!” Yuan Tai quickly added.

Mitsuhiko added with a hint of anticipation, "I remember that was a practice tape of your own new song, right?"

"This is the practice tape you were talking about, right?" Minami Takayama took out a tape recorder containing the tapes from her handbag and showed it to everyone. "If you want to listen, I can let you listen to the whole thing!"

"Really?!"

Upon hearing Minami Takayama's words, the expressions on the faces of the Junior Detective League members clearly became excited and surprised.

Minami Takayama blinked and said with a smile, "Here, this is a one-of-a-kind cassette tape in the world!"

Next, Minami Takayama took out several pairs of headphones from her bag and distributed them to everyone.

Because of the limited number of earphones, Conan unknowingly shared the same earphones with Ayumi, despite Ayumi's expectant gaze and Mitsuhiko and Genta's envious and jealous looks.

Mitsuhiko and Genta could only complain about sharing a pair of shoes.

After putting on one earphone herself, Minami Takayama proactively handed the other earphone to Yuu Aragaki.

As the catchy melody began, everyone was immersed in the music.

Yu Aragaki has to admit that it's no wonder TWO-MAX has become so popular among young people recently; their singing skills and timbre are indeed very distinctive.

Because they were sharing a pair of headphones, Minami Takayama couldn't help but get very close to Yuu Aragaki.

Looking at the boy's face so close to hers, Minami Takayama's cheeks flushed slightly.

However, Yuu Aragaki didn't notice this. Besides focusing on the music, he kept an eye on the man who was still talking on the phone.

Seeing the other person's furtive expression and the occasional glances he was getting, Aragaki Yu was also a little concerned.

According to the snow woman who secretly went over to eavesdrop on what the other party was saying, the man was talking to someone on the phone, but the content of the conversation made Aragaki Yu's expression strange.

“I’m right next to her right now. Yes, that woman is eating with a bunch of kids right now.”

"Turn right at the end of the street where the Budokan is located, and then walk along that street to the end. That's where you'll find the shop."

"Yes, that woman is in the store right now, but there are many other customers around. Try to get her to come out later."

"That's right..."

From these words, Aragaki Yu was almost certain that the woman the man was talking about was Takayama Minami, who was standing in front of him.

Judging from the man's words, if he wasn't a die-hard fan of Minami Takayama, he was probably someone who had his eye on her and wanted something from her.

The man continued speaking until he hung up the phone and walked out of the store as if nothing had happened.

"How was it?" Minami Takayama asked with a smile as she noticed that the song had almost finished playing.

"Both the lyrics and the melody are so beautiful!"

"That's right!"

The boys in the Junior Detective Club eagerly answered.

"What do you think?" Minami Takayama originally wanted to ask Yuu Aragaki for his opinion directly, but after hesitating for a moment, she first looked at the boy named Conan who had been absent-minded since the song started.

Conan hesitated for a moment before replying, "This tape doesn't record any strange sounds at all, except for the music!"

His focus was clearly different from that of the other children in the Junior Detective Club.

"Seriously, of course!" Minami Takayama complained somewhat discontentedly.

Seemingly noticing the frustration in Minami Takayama's eyes, Yuya Aragaki, who had taken off his headphones, smiled and explained for Conan: "What this kid means is that he's ruled out the possibility that the person making the prank call was harassing or threatening you because your practice tapes accidentally recorded some inappropriate sounds!"

"So...so that's how it is!"

Upon hearing this, Minami Takayama paused for a moment, then looked at Conan with some apology.

She had just thought that Conan was looking for other sounds besides the song because he found his song too boring.

Little did they know, Conan truly had no interest in it whatsoever.

For ordinary people, who would be very interested in listening to "themselves" sing?

"So what do you think of the piece?" Minami Takayama continued to ask.

"Huh?" Conan, who hadn't been paying attention to the song the whole time, was taken aback and could only say perfunctorily, "I think it's... alright!"

"Oh, right!" Mitsuhiko, sitting opposite Conan and Minami Takayama, suddenly spoke up as he watched Conan and Minami Takayama talking to each other. "I finally know!"

"Huh?" Conan was startled by Mitsuhiko's sudden interruption and blinked in confusion.

"Could it be that you've solved the mystery?" Genta asked Mitsuhiko, who looked excited beside him, with a puzzled expression.

"No, that's not it!" Mitsuhiko waved his hand at Genta and explained with a smile, "I was talking about the sound! I just felt like something was off."

Then, Mitsuhiko looked at Conan and Minami Takayama with shining eyes and said, "Minami-neechan's voice and Conan's voice are exactly the same!"

"Huh!?" Minami Takayama and Conan blinked simultaneously. "Hehehe, how is that possible!"

The two spoke in unison, their voices sounding exactly the same.

"Really!" Ayumi and Genta were also somewhat surprised to realize that they couldn't tell who was saying those two sentences.

"The correct pronunciation is exactly the same!" Mitsuhiko corrected himself at this point.

"Then if I catch a cold in the future, please take my place!" Minami Takayama teased Conan beside her with delight.

"Hehehe~" Conan scratched his head a little embarrassedly.

"No way!" Ayumi muttered shyly, "Because Conan is tone-deaf!"

Chapter 401 She hasn't paid the bill yet!

When Minami Takayama finally noticed that the man on the other end of the phone had left.

She got up to go over, but found that a middle-aged man had gotten there first and reached the telephone. She could only smile wryly and sit back down on the sofa.

Conan, who was standing nearby, noticed this scene. As if remembering something, he patted his pocket and took out a small item, handing it to Minami Takayama. "By the way, Minami-neechan, I have an earring-shaped cell phone here. You can call Nagano-nii first!"

"An earring phone?" Minami Takayama curiously took the unique earring from Conan's hand, and upon closer inspection, she realized it was a machine with a dial pad.

“That’s right, this was specially made for me by a friend of mine, the inventor Professor Agasa…” Conan explained.

"I really should wear this on my ears!" Looking at the exquisite earrings that were still made of telephone, Minami Takayama couldn't resist putting them on.

"Wait, wait a minute, I think you should use it to make a phone call first..." Conan was about to stop him.