Conan: Science Cartoonist Kudo Yuji

"Miss, the seat you reserved is table number six."

At the Yuanjing Hotel not far from Hakodate Goryokaku, Mao Lilan, who was wearing a denim jacket and long skirt and tights, took off her thick outer clothes and handed them to the waiter. According to the address left by Kudo Shinichi, she came to the dinner place chosen by the two.

The restaurant is located on the 22nd floor of the building, but it serves Japanese food. Looking at the solid wooden chairs covered with white tablecloths, Mao Lilan walked to table number six and stared at the man reading a newspaper opposite her.

"You took off your disguise?"

"Yeah." After folding the newspaper and putting it back in the basket by the wall, Kudo Shinichi showed his usual handsome face and pushed Conan's glasses, which he deliberately wore on his nose.

"I have completed all the tasks assigned by the uncle."

Kudo Shinichi took out ten letters of authorization from the briefcase behind him, placed the contracts on the table, and pulled out four of them.

"These six are all about finding cheating or something like that." He pointed at the other four and said, "These are a little more special. They are about investigating others after accepting a commission."

Today, Kudo Shinichi is much more confident than he was half a month ago. He is sure that he can support his family by relying on detective reasoning, and there is always a smile on his face.

"Excluding work expenses, I earned a total of 1.4 million yen."

"Yeah, Shinichi is really awesome." Xiaolan gave full emotional value.

Kudo Shinichi patted his head and said, "But it is also related to Hakodate."

This place is too remote compared to Tokyo and there are no outstanding detectives, so he can make a lot of money in just a few days, but Tokyo and Osaka are completely different.

And another thing is that he received these commissions after running all over Hakodate. Even if he runs around again, there probably won't be so many people who need detective help in a few days.

Kudo Shinichi now understands a little bit why Uncle Mori likes to have a drink at home when he has nothing to do. After all, staying at home and eating and drinking is really the most cost-effective thing to do.

Seeing what Shinichi was thinking at a glance, Xiaolan clenched her fist politely and kindly, and reminded her boyfriend in a gentle voice.

"If you want to imitate your father, I will beat you up."

"No, no." Kudo Shinichi explained with a smile: "Let's eat quickly."

"Oh, that's right." Ran Mouri immediately looked around the restaurant vigilantly with her peripheral vision, observing the people at other tables.

"That guy Yuuji must have followed us as well."

"Yuji, he probably isn't free right now."

With a slight smile on his lips, Kudo Shinichi squinted his eyes, supported his chin with his hand, and looked far away at the residential buildings in the west.

……

"So, you sneaked to Hakodate by yourself? How is that possible!"

Yuji knew all of Kudo Shinichi's whereabouts, what orders he took, and how much money he made. So when the boy received the news that his brother had booked the Yuanjing Hotel, he immediately asked someone to book a table for him not far away.

"Shinichi is a guy who has gained experience through practice."

Yuji sat in the car, squinting at the shivering little loli who had just been picked up from the bus station, and gently pinched her ear with his hand.

"You knew you had boarded the long-distance bus and came here by yourself, but you didn't tell me until you were almost there."

Feeling guilty, Kuroba Rize did not resist and buried her head even deeper. After learning from Kaori and Yuzuki's phone calls that her father was safe and sound, she was so angry that she didn't eat all night. But the next day she couldn't help wanting to see him, so she secretly ran to the Tokyo bus station and bought a bus ticket directly to Hakodate.

"You came here out of nowhere, your family must be worried sick."

"sorry."

Tears began to well up in the corners of Rize's eyes, and the hand that had been released from her ear seemed to be about to rise. The girl, mistakenly thinking that she was going to be beaten, closed her eyes, but when she felt that the old man next to her seemed to be fiddling with her mouth for fun, she opened her eyes again in confusion.

"You must be hungry after sitting in the car for so long."

"No...no, the driver and the conductor on the bus were very enthusiastic and even bought me rice balls." Rize couldn't help but recall the conductor who was applying lipstick in front of the mirror but was actually secretly looking at her, the driver who habitually looked back in the driver's seat, and the other passengers who kept silent throughout the bus.

"He should be... a good person..."

Rize nodded affirmatively and wanted to say that she didn't want to eat and wanted to go see Kaori and Yuzuki first, but when she noticed her father looking a little weak and haggard, she whispered, "Let's eat first."

"Well, there's something exciting tonight. They've already become suspicious, and taking you with them can help them disguise themselves."

He signaled the driver to stop at the department store in front, and Yuji, holding his daughter's hand, walked into the mall, still carrying his own suitcase in his hand.

"Are you really not angry?"

Rize lowered her head, actually still hoping that her father would scold her or teach her a lesson, because most parents would be angry if she came to such a dangerous place talking to herself.

[But... Mr. Kudo doesn't know that I'm his daughter, so... it doesn't matter...]

The girl felt a little sad in her heart and her nose also felt sour.

"Well, disobedient children do need to be punished." Yuji frowned, "But I'm reasonable."

The girl suddenly raised her head and looked at Yuji with some surprise: "I will be good, Dad...Mr. Kudo, I can do anything to punish you."

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"Oh, any punishment is fine..."

Yuji looked at his daughter meaningfully.

Time passed quickly. After buying the punishment clothes, they agreed to meet again at the entrance of the women's restroom. Kuroba Rize noticed that people passing by were looking at her, and she covered her face in shame.

"Mom, why did that sister come out wearing bear pajamas?"

"…Because it's warm?"

A mother and son passed by, which made Kuroba Rize want to go into the women's restroom, but Kudo Yuuji's punishment for her was to count until two hundred people passed by here, and now it was only one hundred and forty.

"Oh my, I thought you were going to sneak into the bathroom."

The strange voice immediately alerted Lise. She stepped back suddenly and touched the alarm that Chris bought for her, but she froze when she saw the person in front of her.

"So... so beautiful..."

It's not that she hasn't seen beautiful women before, there are all of them in her house, big and small, but none of them is as beautiful as the woman in front of her.

The person looked to be about 26 years old, with long black hair down to her waist. She wore a khaki suit jacket, a skirt that reached above the knees, slightly reflective tights and small leather boots, and she smelled pleasant.

"What's wrong with you?" Kuroba Rise held the alarm carefully. "I'm waiting for my family, not a lost child."

She seemed to know why she thought this person was beautiful, because she also had long black hair. Rize felt that the woman in front of her was her ideal self.

[Come to think of it, this lady looks a bit like me...]

She seemed to know where the vague sense of familiarity came from.

"Well, if you want to sneak into the hotel and observe those two guys, you have to disguise yourself."

Amidst Kuroba Rize's shocked expression, Kudo Yuuji very skillfully used his fingers to circle the ends of the wig and played with it. If you didn't think too much, you would find that she was a more outstanding young lady than Yuzuki and Kaori.

"So Rize and I will pretend to be mother and daughter later."

"...Mom?" Rize blinked.

Before becoming father and daughter with my biological father, I became mother and daughter first.

(End of this chapter)