Conan: The Romantic Daily Life of a Ghost Detective

I found that Xiaolan was already waiting there. Today, Xiaolan was wearing a light blue off-shoulder tank top and super short denim shorts.

Her slender, snow-white legs, glistening like jelly in the sunlight, were adorned with sandals featuring a bow pattern, giving her an overall summery vibe.

However, the color of the vest reminded Wen Shui of the sea salt lemon flavored ice cream advertisement in the subway.

Standing next to Xiaolan, I felt a cool breeze.

Unlike Wen Shui, who preferred to focus her gaze on Ran's graceful curves, Haibara Ai curiously glanced at the fashionable women's backpack Ran was carrying, which had a capital "B" on it.

"This isn't cheap..." she muttered to herself.

Wen Shui knocked on the door, and then the group was warmly received by Kazama Aoi's father and led to the living room.

The Kazama family lived a comfortable life, even considered a high-income family. The house was a detached house, and the interior design showed that the original female owner had put a lot of care into it.

In addition, the family also has a cow cat named "Dafu".

Like most middle-aged office workers, this man named Kazama Toru is somewhat obsequious even when facing younger people. When talking about his deceased wife, a deep sadness flashed in his eyes.

“It was raining heavily that day. Aoi kept asking her mother, Yumi, to buy cat food for Daifuku. When Yumi went out, she was accidentally hit by a passing truck.” When talking about this topic, the light in Kazama Toru’s eyes was even weaker than before. “So Aoi felt very guilty and her mood has been not good lately.”

Wen Shui nodded.

"Is it convenient for us to go and talk to her now?"

"Of course you can, you are her saviors." Kazama Tetsu led everyone to Kazama Aoi's room, gave a brief introduction, and then left his daughter's room.

Wen Shui keenly noticed that the father and daughter hadn't exchanged a single word since meeting, suggesting that their relationship wasn't harmonious.

He then stood in the room and looked around, feeling that it was very different from the room of an ordinary junior high school girl.

First of all, there's a large magic circle drawn in white on the tatami mat under your feet, making you feel like you could transform into a magical girl just by standing on it.

In addition, Aoi Kazama's room is filled with plush toys.

The most common items are bear plush toys, available in white and brown, as well as some more abstract designs. Besides these, there are also many animal figures such as raccoons, squirrels, rabbits, and dogs.

The black and white cat seemed worried that the warm water would be bad for Kazama Aoi, so it followed her into the room and sat on the desk, watching everyone.

Kazama Aoi was wearing a white dress and had long, flowing hair. She also had a sleep mask shaped like a pig's nose on her forehead.

Her skin appeared sickly pale from staying indoors for so long, but judging from her complexion, her fever had probably subsided.

Since this was the first case the detective team had accepted, Wen Shui and the others had planned beforehand to speak with Kazama Aoi separately, mainly to give everyone a sense of participation.

"I'm so sorry to have disturbed your sleep."

Wen Shui was the first to appear, giving the girl a friendly smile. He planned to use a gradual approach to conversation to obtain information.

Kazama Aoi pointed to the sleep mask on her head: "This is a crown with supreme divine power. Only by wearing it can I avoid being corrupted by the evil power emitted by the toys."

The first thing they said was incredibly cringeworthy and immature.

Wen Shui thought to herself, "This investigation might not be as easy as I thought."

Wen Shui quickly gave up, mainly because as a man, he found it difficult to have a conversation with a wary girl. Although Kazama Aoi was very grateful to Wen Shui for saving her yesterday, that polite gratitude couldn't open her heart.

Xiaolan followed closely behind, picked up the calico cat, and gently stroked its head: "Is its name Dafu? It's so cute, it doesn't resist being touched."

"Meow!"

As soon as she finished speaking, the cat jumped off Xiaolan, who scratched her head awkwardly.

Kazama Aoi said sadly, "The real Daifuku has already left with Mom. The current Daifuku is just a clone..."

Seeing this, Ran looked distressed and took Kazama Aoi's small hand, beginning to tell her about her childhood experiences in an attempt to gain her trust.

About ten minutes later.

Xiaolan knelt on the tatami mat, clutching a dinosaur doll, sobbing uncontrollably: "The day Mom moved away, I hid all the supermarket discount coupons she had saved, but she still left me and Dad without hesitation..."

Kazama Aoi, standing next to her, looked somewhat shocked.

She seemed a little confused as to why this older sister was so fragile and sensitive.

Wen Shui poked Xiao Lan's back repeatedly, thinking, "We're here to investigate Kazama Aoi, right? Why are you crying even more sadly than her?"

Besides, discount coupons are obviously not a way to keep Eri Kisaki.

Sonoko Suzuki also quickly lost the match. Besides her back pain and poor performance that day, Sonoko Suzuki herself is not particularly close to children.

Although in the original work she often took Conan and the Junior Detective League to the villa for team building activities, judging from her attitude towards Conan and the others, she would have been similarly drawn to anyone else.

Less than half an hour had passed.

The hopes of the Suzuran Detective Club have all been pinned on Ai Haibara alone.

Ai Haibara, with a cold expression, picked up a bubble puppy plush toy and shook her head: "It's a limited edition, but I can't understand why anyone would buy something so ugly."

The three of them, Wen Shui, all showed expressions of shock.

Even when facing a little girl with a tragic past, the wicked woman showed no mercy and attacked.

Kazama Aoi snatched the doll away and retorted, "Her 'ugly-cute' is her defining characteristic! Besides, you underestimate the charm of the 'Queen of the Night.' Even though this is a reprint, it's still very popular."

It seems that "Queen of the Night" is the model number for this doll.

As for the meaning of "reprint," Wen Shui thinks it probably means that the official production is resumed, but the value is not as high as the first edition.

Ai Haibara's expression remained unchanged as she picked up another bubble puppy next to the pillow. This one was much larger than the previous one and looked even more exquisite: "If we're really talking about rarity, this should be a very rare limited edition. I remember that only 20 were released back then."

A hint of surprise flashed in Kazama Aoi's eyes: "Huh, you actually know about this? This is a collectible that I finally managed to find."

To everyone's surprise, Ai Haibara actually started chatting with Aoi Kazama.

Moreover, the topics they discussed finally started to be more realistic, and were no longer in a chuunibyou (middle school syndrome) style.

Wen Shui and Xiao Lan exchanged surprised glances.

What a brilliant tactic! First, she deliberately made an offensive gesture, and then gained the target's trust by expressing emotional agreement. Throughout the subsequent conversation, Ai Haibara consistently showed her approval of Aoi Kazama.

This led to Aoi Kazama, as if she had found a kindred spirit, bringing out all the collections in the room to show Ai Haibara as the conversation progressed.

She truly lives up to her reputation as Sherry, the genius scientist of the Black Organization.

However, for some reason, Wen Shui suddenly found her way of winning people's hearts to be somewhat familiar.

Oh, right! Ai Haibara initially pointed a gun at him, threatening to kill him, then forced him to sign an unequal treaty. Later, she brought him lovingly prepared bento boxes and even went to his house to cook for him...

Has he already fallen into the trap of a bad woman?

Wen Shui and Shu Xin suddenly felt a little uneasy.

For the next two hours, Ai Haibara chatted with Aoi Kazama about all sorts of whimsical topics, and the atmosphere in the room became more relaxed.

After learning that Wenshui and the others were detectives who came to help her investigate, and that they believed her claim that the toys could come back to life, Kazama Aoi gradually opened up and told her some details of the previous night, as well as the fact that she discovered the toys in the room could come back to life.

While taking notes of what Kazama Aoi said, Wen Shui used [Insight lv2] to search for other useful clues in the room.

Ran, who was still holding a dinosaur doll, was immersed in the grief of her parents' separation. Sonoko Suzuki comforted Ran, supporting her back.

Everyone in the Lily of the Valley Detective Club is working hard to solve the case.

.

At noon, Kazama Tetsu wanted to invite Wenshui and the others to stay for lunch, but Wenshui and the others declined because they needed to go home to celebrate the Ghost Festival with their families.

Before leaving, Ai Haibara made a promise with Aoi Kazama to go to the bubble puppy sales event together in a few days.

After saying goodbye to Kazama and his daughter, Wenshui and his group walked towards the nearby bus stop.

Because Aoi Kazama was present at the scene of the Slit-Mouthed Woman murder case, everyone decided to return to Nukumizu's house first to avoid the news leaking out, and then discuss the clues they had just discovered and their speculations about the toy resurrection incident.

"You're really amazing, Wen Shui-kun." Ai Haibara suddenly praised Wen Shui as they walked.

Wen Shui looked at her warily: "Why are you suddenly praising me?"

"Huh, you don't like it?" Ai Haibara tilted her head, looking puzzled. "Are you the kind of guy who likes being scolded by girls?"

Warm Water: "Please don't give me any random character settings."

"Hey, can you two watch yourselves? We're investigating a case right now," Sonoko Suzuki said, displeased.

Wen Shui retorted, "People who always try to profit from chaos have no right to say such things."

Sonoko Suzuki glared at him through gritted teeth, making a hissing sound like a kitten.

Ai Haibara looked at Sonoko Suzuki, who had suddenly interrupted their conversation, and then glanced at the black strappy sandals on Sonoko's feet that matched her own, a thoughtful expression on her face.

At this moment, Xiaolan suddenly pointed to the other side of the road:

"Look, what's that?"

Wen Shui and the others thought that Xiao Lan had found a clue related to the case, so they looked in the direction her slender arm was pointing and found an advertisement with light blue as the main color on the wall of the apartment building across the street.

Judging from the title, it should be a promotional advertisement for a novel contest titled "This mystery novel is amazing!"

Many people are standing under the billboard, carefully reading the submission requirements.

"Ran, are you thinking of writing a novel too?" Sonoko Suzuki's eyes suddenly lit up. "That's right, why don't we just write about what we're investigating?"

Ai Haibara poured cold water on the idea: "That can't be written for now, it's illegal."

Sonoko Suzuki immediately lost interest.

Wen Shui asked Xiao Lan suspiciously, "What's wrong? Is there something wrong with this mystery novel award contest?"

"Don't you think that woman wearing a mask looks familiar?" Xiaolan pointed to the tall woman with her back to them, wearing sunglasses and a mask.

Chapter 30 Gin's Porsche 356A

Hearing Xiaolan say that, everyone shifted their attention from the advertisement for the mystery novel competition to the suspiciously dressed woman in the crowd.

The woman had her back to them, wearing a mask and a baseball cap with the brim pulled low, almost completely obscuring her face.

Moreover, she was wearing a beige long trench coat, which, although it was a spring/autumn style, still gave people the illusion that a sweltering heat would hit them just by looking at her in the middle of summer.

As a result, the other contestants kept their distance from her, and there was no one within several meters of her.

Wen Shui moved closer to Xiao Lan.

I wanted to cool off by wearing Xiaolan's outfit today, which looks like sea salt ice cream, but I accidentally bumped into the cream filling inside the ice cream.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Xiaolan was startled and jumped away like a frightened rabbit.

Her fair and delicate skin visibly turned light pink, as if she had accidentally bitten into the strawberry filling of an ice cream.