Conan: Science Cartoonist Kudo Yuji

"Hey, walking so fast in slippers is too dangerous!"

She walked from the small path to the main intersection near the hot spring hotel. Because it was downhill, even though Bai Ma's speed was slightly faster, she still couldn't brake in time at the intersection.

"I told you everything!"

Grabbing Hakuba's arm fiercely, Kuroba Kaito hastily pulled the girl into his arms, just in time to save her from the tragic fate of being hit by a dump truck.

"so close!"

Hugging the girl unconsciously, Kuroba Kaito's eyes were still on the rear of the dump truck, until he smelled the scent of the hotel's shampoo, he awkwardly let go and his eyes fell on Hakuba's feet.

There was a big hole in the front of the cloth slippers. On the muddy road, the front half of the girl's foot was firmly on the ground, but the tender pink color of the instep was somewhat out of place with the black road surface.

"Ah, after all, the hotel slippers are not convenient for walking too far."

Kuroba Kaito told Hakuba to wait for him at the intersection, then he quickly crossed the road to the souvenir shop across the street and bought two pairs of wooden clogs. He put them on himself and then carried them back to Hakuba.

"You guy, don't really treat me as a woman!"

Bai Ma glared at Hei Yu in dissatisfaction, then took the clogs and threw them on the ground, stepped on them silently, and the two continued downhill along the road.

"Hot spring buns, this is it."

After walking for more than three minutes, Bai Ma looked at the shabby shop front, took out a thousand yen from his wallet, and bought a white snack.

In front of Hei Yu, she tore open the snacks one by one, took out the slips of paper from the fillings inside, and read: "The third pool, the eighth pool, the sixteenth pool."

"what?"

Kuroba Kaito looked at her in confusion.

"Hot spring."

Bai Ma pointed to a small hill not far away: "The story of the hot springs here says that the hot springs are irrigated by small pools. Different pools have different effects. Some bring good luck to people, while others bring wealth to people."

"So what you just reported is the hot spring pool that can break the curse?"

Accompanying Hakuba to the hot spring mountain, Kuroba Kaito realized that the hot spring buns were just Hakuba's excuse, and she was still here to lift the curse of the hot spring.

"Because these hot springs are open-air and unprotected, that's why you have to come with me."

Bai Ma snorted, "You actually think I'm a greedy guy."

As punishment, Kuroba Kaito received a box of torn hot spring buns, and to avoid wasting them, he ate them bit by bit. "Is that so? Then let's go quickly so we can get back to the hotel earlier."

"Stupid, the place must be packed with people at this time." Bai Ma pointed at the hot spring mountain: "We have to wait until at least the second half of the night."

"Huh? It's actually going to be late at night..."

While chewing food, Kuroba Kaito saw Hakuba walking towards a small dart game shop and had no choice but to follow him.

"Throwing darts?"

Standing in front of the counter, Hakuba's eyes were fixed on the prize rabbit. The living creature in the cage kept jumping around, as if asking the two people in front of it to rescue it from the store.

[What? After becoming a girl, you also like cute, fluffy animals...]

Kuroba Kaito saw Hakuba mumbling, and after listening carefully he realized that what this guy was saying was "Watson hasn't hunted rabbits for a while."

"Wow, you guy, you said something so horrible looking at a cute animal."

Kuroba Kaito immediately rolled up his sleeves, handed the money to the boss, and took the three-needle dart: "I have to get it before you win the rabbit."

"Then let's see."

Bai Ma also bought three darts and walked to the target on the other side.

"Whoever throws the highest number of points gets the rabbit, okay, boss?"

"It's okay with me, but are you sure you want to throw it like this?"

The boss behind the counter glared at the boy who was standing upside down with the dart caught between his face.

[I thought you rolled up your sleeves to get ready to throw it, but it turns out you were getting ready to do a handstand?! ]

To the boss's surprise, Hakuba coughed twice and Kuroba Kaito turned around with a click of the tongue.

[Higher difficulty? Do you need to go to this extent to coax your girlfriend?! ]

When the boss saw the satisfied girl, he felt sympathy for the boy and a little proud at the same time.

【Fortunately, I don’t have a girlfriend. 】

(End of this chapter)