Conan: I'm really not the mastermind behind the scenes

Chapter 119 Use

Kotomine Joanna.

Toyoka Hojo had almost forgotten her, until the night of the car accident, she logged into the chat room and received a message from [Colombo's Masked Superman].

——The car accident was on the news, and she came here to comfort her.

Toyoka Hojo actually has a good impression of this fan who has given her gifts and drawn comics for her, and at the same time, she is very confident in her skills.

So after a few test sentences and making sure that the other party really gave up the trouble of finding change, she agreed to meet her and asked her for something.

Hojo Toyoka thought of this and got up from the bed.

She walked to the table and opened one of the drawers, and took out a jewelry box. When she opened it, she found a pair of Mibiki pearl earrings.

This is a gift that Kotomine Qiao Na asked her sister to send to her at that time. She will bring this to the meeting tomorrow.

……

The next day, at two o'clock in the afternoon.

The place where Kotomine Qiao Na arranged to meet was a well-known dessert shop. The decoration style was very sweet and full of girlishness. Most of the customers in the shop were young women, and the few male compatriots were brought here by their girlfriends.

When Tojo Hojo arrived, she saw a man hesitating at the door, looking like he wanted to enter but didn't dare.She didn't see his face and he turned away.

Maybe you think it’s weird for a man to eat dessert alone?

Toyoka Hojo didn't take this strange man to heart and opened the door and entered the store.

Kotomine Qiao Na had arrived a long time ago. She was sitting in a corner and could not be seen through the outside window. There were two menus on the table.

"Hojo-sensei."

As soon as she saw Hojo Tooka, Kotomine Qiao Na immediately stood up and said hello.

"Have you been here for a long time?"

Hojo Tooka opened the seat opposite Kotomine Qiao Na, and when he sat down, he looked at her expression.

This fan whose will has been modified is wearing a pearl necklace, a friendly smile on his face, and seems to be in a good mood.

It’s no wonder that the day before yesterday, the police finally found the red-haired serial murderer.

He was the former pursuer of the first deceased. He killed the person after his pursuit failed. He was not satisfied with this, and he took revenge on other red-haired people. When the police found him, he had already committed suicide. The landlord smelled the stench and called the police. , the police determined his identity and crime through a suicide note.

...Although he was not the real murderer, his death was somewhat of a comfort to her, right?

"I just arrived too." Kotomine Qiao Na pushed a menu to her, "The pudding and fruit cake here are very good, teacher, you can try them."

Hojo Toyoka had no objection: "Just order these."

The two called the waiter and each ordered something good.After the waiter left, Toyoka Hojo went straight to the point: "I'm asking you to do something..."

Kotomine Qiao Na quickly opened her satchel and took out a file bag.

"This is the basic situation of the Uchiyama Consortium, including the chairman, other board members, and consultants... Because something happened to the chairman and his wife, the son went in, and the heir was chosen from the outside... There are also negative news about the consortium in recent years."

Uchiyama is the surname of the perpetrator, a large Japanese consortium.Toyoka Hojo asked Kotomine Qiao Na to use her contacts as a reporter to collect their information.

Toyoka Hojo took the file bag and suddenly noticed that Kotomine Qiao Na looked a little nervous. At the same time, she glanced outside uneasily as if she was afraid of something.

"What's wrong with you?" Hojo Toyoka asked.

Kotomine Qiao Na smiled bitterly, "When I visited the victims before to investigate negative news about other consortiums, I found that some of them had been secretly followed and harassed. There were other investigative reporters..."

She paused and looked at Tojo Hojo: "Have you heard of the little angel incident? - I think as a mystery novelist, you must pay more attention to that kind of bizarre case than me, right?"

what is that?
Toyoka Hojo was confused. Facing the admiring eyes of Kotomine Qiao Na, she said harshly: "Ah...well, I know a little bit."

"That case involved some big names. Those who wanted to investigate further were stabbed several times and their bodies were thrown into the sea. The murderer has not been caught yet..."

Speaking of this, Kotomine Qiaona shuddered.She gritted her teeth and looked at Tojo Hojo seriously, her expression gradually becoming unbearable.

"Teacher... I know teacher, you are sad to lose your brother, but I don't want you to do anything stupid... After all, that is something we cannot afford to offend."

"..."

Hojo Toyoka was speechless.

But after all, this was a kind reminder from the other party, not malicious, so she comforted: "It's okay, I can handle it."

Kotomine Qiao Na still looked at her worriedly.

At this time, the waiter brought what they ordered one by one. Toyoka Hojo ordered fruit pudding and persimmon Basque cake, and Jona Kotomine ordered a relatively large sponge cream cake.

Kotomine Qiao Na took a fork and divided the cake into two parts. Hojo Tooka put away the file bag, picked up a spoon and started eating directly.

Poison murders often occur in Conan, and she is not afraid at all. The protective aura given by the system not only allows them to resist most physical damage, but also makes them immune to poisons.But only poisons, sleeping and narcotic drugs are not included in the defense scope.

"how have you been?"

With the help of fans, Tojo Hojo also showed interest in each other's current situation.

"My parents have plans to immigrate...or return to Ireland. My dad met my mom when he went there to study."

Kotomine Qiao Na slowly ate half of the cake: "I want to go with them, but before that, I have to do the job at hand first."

"Interviewing scientists?" Hojo Tooka asked.

"Not entirely." Kotomine Qiao Na said, "I also visited Professor Moritani Teiji of Architecture before. He is... Next, I have to interview an expert in pharmacology."

"He is a member of the Japanese Academy of Sciences and a foreign academician of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. He has won many medical awards and is at the top of the world in cancer research... But he has an eccentric personality, and all other reporters who wanted to interview him were turned away. Besides, I don’t know if I can succeed.”

Toyoka Hojo asked curiously: "After you go to Ireland, will you still be a reporter?"

"No, I'm going to be a painter."

As Kotomine Qiao Na said, she took out another thick book from her bag. She opened it to the last page, handed it to Hojo Tooka, and smiled sheepishly at her.

"This is my latest work. I really like the extra stories you wrote, teacher, so I drew their characters without permission..."

Hearing the extra story, Tojo Hojo felt a little guilty for no reason, and she glanced at Kotomine Joanna.

——There was no change in the expression on that pretty face, only the eyes were shining. She looked at herself expectantly.

Tojo Hojo looked at the album again and breathed a sigh of relief after seeing the characters clearly.The names of several characters are marked below, and their appearance is completely different from their appearance in reality.

Although the style of painting is not as exquisite as the comics in the chat room, this is normal. The uploaded comics must have been refined. The pictures in front of you are just hand-drawn.

"It's beautiful." Hojo Toyoka was very happy.

----

Kotomine Qiao Na looked at the pair of pearl earrings that were close at hand and matched the necklace around her neck, and her internal organs seemed to be violently mixed together.

Anger flowed through every corner of her body like blood, but there was still a smile on her face.

The pictures that Tojo Hojo looked at were drawn by herself.

She not only replaced her sister with another name, she was also trying to imitate her sister's abilities.

When doing these things, Kotomine Qiao Na did not feel like she had become her sister's shadow. Instead, she was very happy, because doing this made her sister come alive in her body...

Her throat was blocked, but her voice was normal: "Teacher, will these extra stories be published?"

Tojo Hojo shook his head: "I don't have any plans for the moment. The editor said that the sales volume of my last book was too low, and I may not be able to do it in the future..."

Kotomine Qiao Na smiled. This was the most sincere smile she had ever shown when she stepped into this dessert shop.

"Have you ever considered printing at your own expense?"

Seeing Toyoka Hojo's puzzled expression, Kotomine Qiao Na explained: "It's the kind you see at comic exhibitions. You do the typesetting yourself and find a factory to print it. Under normal circumstances, just a few dozen copies are enough. Only among the fans in a small circle. circulated among them.”

"I know this, I've bought it before."

Hojo Toyoka frowned: "But I don't know how to do it, proofreading, typesetting, book cover design, how many copies to print... I used to leave it all to the editor, and I'm very busy recently."

"I can help you."

She ate only half of the cake and left the other half.

……

The door to the dessert shop opened again.

People who were too timid to enter before finally came in for the mission.He sat in a position where he could hear them but not be seen by them.

At the same time, he couldn't see Kotomine Qiaona. He didn't notice that the smile on her face deepened.

……

The two young women talked for a long time about self-publishing, and it didn't end until Tojo Hojo handed over a series of tasks to Kotomine Jona.

By the time the two left the dessert shop, it was already dark.

This dessert shop is located in a relatively remote location, at the back of a commercial street, with not many passers-by around.

As they walked further and further, Joanna Kotomine, who was walking in front, suddenly stopped and glanced at the glass outside the convenience store, with a tremor in her voice.

"——It seems like someone is following us."

(End of this chapter)