Conan: What alias? That's my struggle!

The moment the woman lunged at Lin Ye, Lin Ye had already lifted his foot.

That wasn't a panicked, haphazard kick; it was a calculated move, executed with terrifying precision. The sole of his foot struck the woman squarely in the center of her chest!

"Snap!"

The power traveled from the soles of her feet to her sternum, and then to her spine.

It was accompanied by a muffled "bang".

The woman was thrown forward, her back slamming hard against the café wall. The decorative paintings on the wall were knocked askew, and the glass in the frames shattered.

The fragments fell to the ground with a crisp sound.

"How... this isn't scientific." Blood trickled from the corner of the woman's mouth as she slid down the wall and collapsed to the ground, her chest heaving violently. Lin Ye hadn't broken her bones with that kick; he had controlled his strength, but it was enough to keep her unable to stand for the next few minutes.

The coffee shop was deathly silent.

Everyone was looking at Lin Ye.

Lin Ye remained in the position he had just finished kicking, stunned for a second.

Then he did something that silenced everyone even more.

He turned around, ran quickly behind Inspector Megure, hid behind his broad back, poked half his head out, and shouted in a terrified tone.

"Officer! She tried to attack me! You saw it! I was acting in self-defense! I was acting in self-defense!" Lin Ye cried out, her voice trembling with tears.

It even trembled slightly.

He looked exactly like an ordinary citizen who had been terrified.

"??????" Inspector Megure froze on the spot, his expression incredibly complex—his lips twitched, his eyes twitched, and even his mustache seemed to tremble slightly.

"This..." Takagi Wataru, who had just arrived, stared with his mouth agape, looking at the woman slumped against the wall and then at Hayashi, who was hiding behind Inspector Megure.

His lips moved, but he didn't say anything.

"Is this the power of Madeira?!" Miyano Akemi sat in her seat, her eyes wide open, looking at Lin Ye as if he were a creature from another planet.

"He's such a good actor, he's even trembling!" Miyano Akemi was deeply shocked, and her understanding of the formal organization members deepened.

The other customers in the coffee shop were also staring at Lin Ye. The three women in the group of girlfriends had their mouths agape in the same "O" shape, like three sculptures frozen in time. The middle-aged man in the suit had his coffee cup hanging in mid-air, forgetting to put it down and forgetting to drink it.

No one speaks.

Even the air dared not speak.

"Um..." Takagi Wataru finally found his voice, "Dr. Hashimoto, you..."

"What happened to me?" Lin Ye peeked out from behind Inspector Megure, looking completely innocent. "I'm just an ordinary citizen who was attacked by thugs. I'm so scared."

Takagi Wataru opened his mouth, then closed it again.

He wanted to say that an ordinary citizen couldn't possibly kick someone several meters away. But after looking at Lin Ye's expression and then at the woman slumped against the wall, he ultimately chose to remain silent.

Inspector Megure took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled.

He turned around, looked at Lin Ye who was hiding behind him, and spoke in an extremely complicated tone.

"Brother Hashimoto."

"exist."

"Could you... come out from behind me first?"

"Oh, okay." Lin Ye obediently walked out from behind Inspector Megure, stood to the side, put his hands in his pockets, and his expression returned to its previous calm.

He acted as if nothing had happened.

Looking at his innocent face, Inspector Megure suddenly felt his blood pressure rise.

but.

He's a detective.

Every detective has a point that raises their blood pressure; just bear with it and it will pass. Inspector Megure turned to the woman slumped against the wall and waved.

"Take her back and examine her fingers."

Two officers stepped forward, much more cautious this time. They lifted the woman up from either side, their movements as careful as if they were defusing a bomb.

The woman didn't resist, not because she didn't want to, but because the kick to her chest made it difficult for her to even breathe. As she was being lifted up, she looked up at Lin Ye.

There's so much in that one glance.

There was hatred, resentment, surprise, and an inexplicable confusion, similar to "who did I fall for?"

Lin Ye met her gaze for a second, then looked away.

It wasn't because he was afraid of her, but because he didn't want to see his own reflection in her eyes.

He had seen that kind of reflection far too many times in the training space.

The woman was taken away.

The atmosphere in the coffee shop remained somber.

But the tension of being suspended in mid-air finally dissipated somewhat.

The guests began to talk quietly, the police officers were cleaning up the mess, and the waiters were starting to tidy up the overturned tables and chairs and the broken glass.

Inspector Megure walked up to Lin Ye and looked him up and down for several seconds.

"Dr. Hashimoto," he began hesitantly, "that kick of yours, was it trained?"

Lin Ye blinked: "What kick?"

"That kick."

"Oh, that!"

Lin Ye scratched the back of his head, looking embarrassed. "It's a self-defense technique I learned in high school PE class. I never thought I'd actually use it; I was quite surprised myself."

No one would believe that reason, but Inspector Megure chose to believe it, staring at him for several seconds, his lips twitching slightly.

He didn't ask any further questions.

It wasn't because he believed the nonsense about "high school physical education classes," but because he knew that asking further wouldn't yield any results, and leaving a good impression would make it easier for him to activate his abilities later.

"Alright, that's settled then." Inspector Megure sighed. "You might need to come to the police station to give a formal statement about what happened today."

"No problem!" Lin Ye nodded, and then added, "I'll do it when I give my statement for yesterday's case tomorrow."

Inspector Megure paused for a moment: "You haven't taken the statement from yesterday's case yet?"

"No!" Lin Ye scratched his head sheepishly, not at all like a violent maniac. "After you guys left yesterday, I went back to sleep, and then today..."

He paused, glancing around at the coffee shop that had been turned into a mess.

"We're going on a date today."

That reason is indeed useful.

Inspector Megure glanced at him, then at Akemi Miyano who had been sitting quietly beside him, and once again gave him that "I understand" look.

"Brother Hashimoto," he sighed earnestly.

"Your life is truly colorful."

Lin Ye didn't know how to respond to that, so she just smiled.

Inspector Megure and his men left.

The coffee shop finally fell completely quiet. The waiters began cleaning up, the manager apologized to the remaining customers, some left, and some stayed to continue drinking coffee.

Lin Ye returned to his seat, picked up the glass of lemonade that had gone cold, and took a sip.

"Let's go find your sister."

He spoke to Akemi Miyano again.