Conan: What's wrong with my Yan Shuangying's painting style?

Sure enough, it is useless to find Haibara at this time. She will not help with this kind of problem at all. If only Heiji was here, he would definitely be able to convince the uncle and Xiaolan to let him stay here and continue the investigation.

However, just when Conan couldn't think of a suitable reason to stay, the phone rang again.

Jingle Bell----

Kogoro Mouri, Ran Mouri, and Ai Haibara all looked at Conan's pocket at the same time.

There is no doubt that the phone ringing this time was in Conan's pocket, and someone was calling Conan at this time - but who would call Conan at this time?

It is now late at night, which is the early morning of the next day.

Those children in the Junior Detective Team who were not used to staying up late were already lying around, leaning against each other, sleeping in a ball, maintaining a rare case atmosphere. Conan's friends would never call him at this time.

A hint of doubt appeared in Kogoro Mori's eyes.

The Shinigami Elementary School Student subconsciously reached for Kudo Shinichi's phone, ready to refuse the call before Maori Kogoro asked who was calling.

However, to his surprise, it was not Kudo Shinichi's phone that rang this time.

————This is strange. Conan thought that he had just called his father, Kudo Yusaku. After Kudo Yusaku talked with his uncle whom he had never met, his uncle called to inform him of the situation.

Conan breathed a sigh of relief and took out the new cell phone he had bought after staying at Maori's office. Without even looking at the incoming call information displayed on it, he pressed the call button directly. Suddenly, the familiar Kansai accent sounded at this time.

"Hey, Kudo, what are you doing? Are you still awake? I have something to tell you..."

"Eh? This seems to be the voice of that brat Hattori. What did he just say?"

Kogoro Mouri didn't quite hear what the other person was saying in his low and unclear Kansai accent, but he vaguely decided that the word Hattori Heiji said sounded familiar, as if he had heard it often before.

And the voice of Kogoro Mouri was transmitted into Conan's mobile phone.

When Conan was hit hard by Hattori Heiji's words "Kudo", Hattori Heiji suddenly changed the subject and said with a smile.

"Well, I took a ferry to travel to Hakodate. The dinner on the ferry was really delicious. I guess you definitely won't be able to eat it tonight. Hehe, let me show it off to you."

————The word "Kudo" has a similar pronunciation to the name of a dish in Kansai dialect.

Suddenly, Conan breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that the matter was temporarily over.

He quickly greeted Mouri Ran and Mouri Kogoro, then ran to the stairs to continue the call.

However, the Shinigami Elementary School Student had just survived the crisis of his identity being exposed, and his brain, which had almost crashed, had just resumed functioning. He was still unable to react to what Hattori Heiji had just said, so he just leaned against the wall and asked mechanically.

"Hattori, why are you calling me at this time?"

Hattori Heiji's voice suddenly rose in pitch.

"Huh? Didn't you hear me? I mean, I'm on the ferry to Hakodate. I came to see you. Didn't you take a flight to Hakodate today? I think it was flight SKJ865..."

"Yes, it's the flight that was forced to land tonight due to a mid-air accident, and then was attacked by terrorists during the landing, causing the landing to fail. So, what do you want to talk to me about?"

Conan replied expressionlessly.

This was a rather serious and tragic experience, and Hattori Heiji couldn't handle it.

After a while, Hattori Heiji coughed twice and spoke seriously.

"Let's not talk about that for now. Since you can still answer the phone and are calm, there shouldn't be any big problems. What I want to say is that the ferry I was on, on a small island near Hakodate... rescued another Kudo Shinichi."

"You should know who I'm talking about, Shinichi Kudo, right?"

Chapter 378 My New Father I Have Never Met

———Another Kudo Shinichi?

A hint of surprise appeared in the eyes of the Death God Elementary School Student.

However, in connection with what Inspector Megure just said, I immediately realized that the other Kudo Shinichi that Hattori Heiji was referring to was probably Kaito Kidd who had previously detached from the plane using a hang glider and was subsequently shot down!

But did Kaito Kidd actually prepare his disguise mask? No... maybe he didn't need to.

Conan touched his chin gently, recalling what Kudo Yukiko had told him.

Kuroba Toichi, the disguise teacher of both Kudo Yukiko and Sharon Wynyard, seems to be able to disguise himself on the spot without having to prepare a disguise mask in advance. (Note)

It is not surprising that Kaito Kidd, a master of disguise magic like Kuroba Toichi, can do this.

But why did she have to disguise herself as him? If she simply wanted to take advantage of a passing ferry and leave the island, she could have disguised herself as anyone, right? Disguising herself as him was problematic.

After all, if the "Sherlock Holmes of the Heisei era" who hadn't appeared in Tokyo for a long time suddenly encountered a shipwreck in Hokkaido, was stranded on a small island, and was finally rescued by a passing ferry and taken to Hakodate, that would be on the news, right?

Since Kaito Kid has been sniped by someone who is specifically targeting him, the sudden appearance of Kudo Shinichi will probably make the sniper think that Kudo Shinichi is the Kaito Kid who is still alive in disguise, and thus attack Kudo Shinichi again.

"Hello? Kudo, why are you suddenly silent?"

"I say, what's going on over there? It's been so long, and you still haven't revealed your identity to your childhood sweetheart? It's not good to hide it all the time. It's better to make it clear as soon as possible."

Hattori Heiji's Kansai accent was still unclear, but he joked about his affairs in a very relaxed manner.

However, Edogawa Conan's face darkened a little because of this.

He didn't tell Xiaolan his true identity for a reason. As for the specific reason, it is not something that can be told to outsiders. Even Hattori Heiji would not tell the reason easily.

Let’s not talk about this topic, Conan said seriously.

"How long will it take for your ferry to arrive in the Hakodate area?"

"I'm very interested in the emergency in Hakodate and plan to investigate the specific cause of this emergency, but Uncle and Xiaolan both want me to go back tomorrow. I think I should just ask you to come and pick me up."

"Huh? Just go back if those two from your family tell you to."

Hattori Heiji said it easily.

"Although I said I came to see you, I actually just wanted to find something for myself to do. Don't worry, I'll take care of Kaito Kidd. I'll also investigate the situation in Hakodate. I'll fax you the details when the time comes."

"By the way, my ferry is estimated to arrive at four or five. I don't think your two would be willing to let you come out to see me at this time even if I wanted to. As for me picking you up, that has to be tomorrow morning, right?"

The famous detective from Kansai lowered his voice.

"You're the famous detective Kudo Shinichi, who's as famous as me, known as 'Kansai's Hattori, Kanto's Kudo'. If you really want to investigate, can't you even overcome this little difficulty?"

"Alright, alright, I'm going to hang up now. Kaito Kidd will start to get suspicious of me."

Hattori Heiji hung up the phone without waiting for Conan to say anything else.

This made Conan curl his lips slightly and feel a little speechless.

Why does this guy always like to switch the subject of that sentence? It's clearly Kudo from Kanto and Hattori from Kansai. Damn it, if he really had a solution, why wouldn't he ask Hattori from Kansai for help?

————Wait, it seems that there is not no solution.

Conan's eyes lit up.

His cheap uncle is in Hakodate, and he has never met that cheap uncle, let alone his uncle and Xiaolan. Why not just let that cheap uncle come and pick him up to the hotel, and he can go find Hattori himself tomorrow?

Just need to find some other excuses...

For example, Kudo Shinichi hopes his uncle will come to pick up his friend's younger brother and take care of him for one night until his friend comes to pick him up.

That magician crow shouldn't refuse, right?

After a little thought, he quickly made a decision.

The Death God Elementary School Student peeked over and saw Ran Mouri and Kogoro Mouri still chatting in the hall. He immediately opened the address book again, searched for the name of the magician Crow in the address book, and then pressed the call button.

However, to his surprise, Magician Crow did not answer the call.

The phone is mechanically sounding to remind you that you are on the phone————

It was a bit strange. Who else would send a message to Magician Crow other than his father Kudo Yusaku at this late hour?

"I say, are you really going to stay here and investigate?"

Haibara Ai's voice suddenly rang out.

Conan was startled. He raised his head guiltily and looked around. When he found that only Haibara Ai came over, he breathed a sigh of relief and answered casually in a bad mood.

"Yeah, you won't be able to help anyway, so why don't you just go back to Tokyo with them tomorrow."

"Although I brought you out this time to relax and unwind, Hakodate is in such a mess right now. Even if there's something special there, it'll seem dangerous and won't let you relax, right?"

"Just now you said that your research has reached a critical stage and requires further research. You don't have time—"

"If you stay, then I'll stay with you."

Conan was surprised by what Haibara Ai said.

The Elementary School Student of Death was just about to complain as usual, but when he heard these words, he died before he could even finish his complaint. He looked at Haibara Ai in disbelief, and then asked.

"You said I should stay, so you should stay too? Why? What are you going to do?"

Conan's eyes were a little wary.

"Hey, hey, you're not thinking about the same old things again, are you?"

————Although Conan didn’t say it explicitly, Haibara Ai also knew what Conan was talking about.

She shook her head slightly and just spoke calmly.

"I have my reasons, you don't need to ask."

"If you have a reason to stay, then take me with you—"

"I forgot to tell you, Detective."

Ai Haibara turned her head to look at the uncoordinated and strange little girl Mayuna who was leaning against Ayumi among the members of the Junior Detective League who were sleeping in a ball.

"There are more children left behind than just you and me."

Chapter 379: If Kuroba Toichi also drove a Maybach on a rainy night...

"Hattori Heiji? I've heard of that name... a famous high school detective from Kansai, right?"

Kuroba Touichi's voice was calm.

His hand was on his phone which was against his ear as he was talking to someone in another location.

————Obviously, this [someone] can only be one person.

That is Kuroba Kaito, who is currently on the ferry from Osaka City to Hakodate.

The second-generation Kaito Kidd was carefully hiding aside at this moment, holding his phone, explaining the current situation to Kuroba Toichi, and not forgetting to glance at Hattori Heiji's position——

To be honest, he couldn't understand why Hattori Heiji suddenly found a reason to disappear.