Conan: I'm Really Not Tokyo Ghost Story

It brought back some unpleasant memories for Conan.

Okay, enough complaining, let's get down to business.

Inspector Megure quickly shook Wataru Takagi again to fully wake him up, and then asked him if he had seen Sano and if he knew where he was.

Takagi Wataru looked around in confusion, then suddenly snapped back to reality and clutched his head in terror: "He hit me! Sano hit me on the head with a hammer!"

"what!?"

Before Inspector Megure could even grasp the logic behind that statement, Wataru Takagi's gaze fell on the half-wrist cuff on his wrist.

"Ahhhh!!!"

"Officer Sato's handcuffs... how could they be... it must be Sano!!"

Looking at Takagi Wataru, who was shouting and yelling like a madman, Ai Haibara, who had already retreated, curled the corners of her mouth again: "Just as I thought."

"Ok?"

Conan noticed Ai Haibara's mutterings to herself, turned his head, and squinted.

"Haibara, do you know something?"

"What's wrong? Is our great detective out of sorts today?"

Ai Haibara raised an eyebrow and said sarcastically, "We couldn't figure out the arsonist's intentions before, and we still can't figure out the specific situation between Inspector Takagi and Sano now."

However, Ai Haibara didn't keep anyone in suspense and directly told Conan her speculation.

"...Officer Takagi didn't want to damage Officer Sato's father's belongings, so he wanted to use a more troublesome method to escape. Perhaps he was afraid of the trouble, or perhaps he didn't have time. In any case, Sano knocked out this burden, then broke the handcuffs and took him away from the fire."

After hearing this, Conan nodded thoughtfully.

"So you knew from the beginning that it was Sano who rescued Takagi?"

Conan, somewhat speechless, once again gave a deadpan look: "If that's the case, why didn't you say so earlier? You even slapped Officer Takagi twice to confirm it with him personally?"

"Speculation is speculation, but facts require sufficient evidence."

Ai Haibara said matter-of-factly, "Otherwise, how many of the people present would truly believe that the probability of Sano dying in the fire is relatively high?"

"...That's true."

Conan nodded, then looked at the bright red slap on Takagi Wataru's face.

But I still couldn't help but find it a little funny.

……

The next day arrived.

After getting up, Sano washed up and went to school.

Midway through, a loud shout stopped Sano.

"Uncle!!!"

The voice sounded very familiar.

Turning my head, I saw the little girl, just as I expected.

At this moment, it was sprinting towards Sano.

That guy ran off without even turning back, as if a tiger was chasing him.

After running to within a meter of Sano, the little girl pounced on him like a hungry tiger, leaping up and grabbing his leg, shouting with her eyes closed, "Uncle, marry me!!!"

...What the heck?

Sano looked completely bewildered.

Just as Sano was completely confused, another figure hurriedly followed her out of the same gate through which the little girl had run out.

"Even if you're getting married today, you still have to go to school!"

A roar like a lioness from the east of the river confirmed to Sano that the one chasing the little girl was indeed a tiger.

Yes, a tigress is still a tiger.

Having roughly figured out what was going on, Sano glanced at the sign next to the gate.

Futaba Kindergarten.

...Or maybe we could go in and see if there are any potato devils or something?

Sano let his thoughts wander for a moment, then turned his attention back to the tigress.

"Are you her mother?"

The young woman then noticed Sano, quickly composed herself, smoothed her hair, and said, "Oh, I'm sorry to trouble you, sir. I'm not her mother; I'm a teacher at this kindergarten."

She turned out to be a kindergarten teacher.

Sano instantly lost interest in women and turned his attention to the little girl who was clinging tightly to his thigh and wouldn't let go no matter how much her teacher pulled.

Although Sano had predicted long ago that the little girl's happiness wouldn't last long.

I never expected it to happen so quickly.

Hmm, he's definitely a promising student for the back row... no, wait.

There doesn't seem to be anything here, according to the students in the back row.

After a few more seconds of wild imagination, Sano reached out and tugged at the pendant on his leg.

“Hey, it’s no use hugging me. I have to go to school too. You’ll be going to school with me anyway, and high school is much more painful than kindergarten.”

Hearing Sano's words, the little girl, who had been clinging to him as if he had grasped the last straw and refused to let go, froze and then let go.

"Go to school?"

The little girl, pale-faced, asked tremblingly, "Uncle, you're so old already, why do you still have to go to school?"

"You're being a bit rude. I'm not so old that I don't need to go to school."

Sano clicked his tongue, then a smile suddenly appeared on his lips: "But even if I get six years older, I'll still have to go to university. In fact, I might even be doing graduate school in ten years, and then there's the doctoral and postdoctoral studies. Don't worry too much. Anyway, you're destined to go through this process in the future."

Upon hearing this, the little girl instantly turned black and white.

My bad premonition came true.

Damn it, kindergarten was scary enough, but now there's an even scarier school waiting for me. Will this never end?!

The little girl squatted down and started drawing circles on the ground against the door.

The teacher standing to the side had a deadpan expression and a twitching mouth... What kind of person is this, deliberately saying such things to scare kindergarten children?

Before the kindergarten teacher could comfort her student...

Sano then moved closer to the little girl and took out two lollipops from his pocket: "Alright, stop thinking about it. Life goes on after you eat some candy. Here, I'll give you an extra candy this time, just like I promised you last time."

The little girl pouted and took the two lollipops.

Although I still felt a little hopeless about life, I got up as usual and bowed to Sano to thank him.

This surprised the kindergarten teacher standing nearby.

So these two know each other. She had originally thought that her student had randomly picked a lucky passerby from the street in front of the gate.

Did you receive the chocolates I left at your door a few days ago?

Sano asked again.

"Ah, I received it. My mom told me to thank you, but I haven't run into you yet. However, the daifuku that my mom bought is at your doorstep."

The little girl said this.

This puzzled Sano.

"Great fortune? What great fortune?"

Sano suddenly remembered the "gift" his subordinate had given him, but then felt something was off.

Didn't that guy move in before I delivered the chocolates?

...And Sano didn't think that Ito Taka would be so shameless as to give him something from his own doorstep as a gift.

After checking the time with the little girl and finding no clue, Sano had no choice but to give up for the time being. He left her a lollipop, waved, and left.

After attending a class at school, Sano went off to complete two missions.

When Sano returned home that evening, he was surprised to see the little girl sitting at the top of the stairs, staring blankly at a pair of red woolen gloves.

"What's wrong."

Sano glanced at the gloves on the little girl's legs. They looked brand new, with the tags still on. They were probably bought by her mother.

You just received new gloves, shouldn't you be happy? Why do you look so gloomy and downcast? Are you still thinking about what happened during the day?

"Ah, good evening, Uncle."

The little girl greeted Sano somewhat absentmindedly, but did not answer his question.

Seeing this, Sano sat down next to the little girl.

...Luckily, this little girl has a small bottom.

Otherwise, with such a narrow staircase, two people might not even be able to squeeze in.

"Actually, there's no need to worry about going to school. If you don't want to, you can choose not to go to school at my age. Of course, I don't recommend it because firstly, it's not good for your future life, and secondly, once you enter society, you'll find that school days are actually quite easy."

"Of course, if you can maintain a strong will and an open mind, whether you read books or not really makes little difference to your life."

After listening to Sano's "enlightenment," the little girl remained silent for a while before tilting her head in confusion: "Ha... but I don't want to care about that right now."

Sano tilted his head: "...Then what do you care about?"

"It's a charity sale that our kindergarten is going to hold in three days."

The little girl sighed and said, "Because the teacher said that in order to make it meaningful, our parents should knit some things to sell, and then donate the money. I told my mom, but she is very busy and has never had time to knit, so in the end she bought this for me to sell."

"Oh……"

Sano nodded, finally understanding.

"What, are you embarrassed because you feel like you're faking it?"

Sano, resting his chin on his hand, said, "Sometimes you have to learn to turn a blind eye and not be too rigid, otherwise you'll live a very tiring life."