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

"Haiyuan..."

"…Graybara?"

Huihara Ai looked up suddenly.

Conan Edogawa and Professor Agasa were looking at her together. They were standing at a door with the word "Lounge" on it. It turned out that they had arrived on the 20th floor.

Dr. Agasa asked worriedly, "Ai, what's wrong with you?"

Conan Edogawa also looked at her curiously. He had already discovered that Haibara Ai had been distracted since she met the waitress. The only reason she didn't get lost on the road was because she walked between him and the doctor.

Huiyuan Ai shook her head: "Nothing."

Seeing that she refused to speak, Edogawa Conan did not force her and quickly followed Suzuki Sonoko and Mori Kogoro who had already walked in.

As soon as he entered, he heard a dissatisfied female voice: "How self-indulgent! Do you think you will be targeted?"

Edogawa Conan hurried over. This lounge was very large. As soon as he crossed the aisle, he was greeted by a strong smell of perfume. He clearly saw the scene in the room -

A long-haired girl was sitting at the table wiping her tears. Another short-haired girl was comforting her while glaring at another girl with a hairband leaning against the wall. The middle-aged woman I had seen in the office before was standing next to them. The person in charge of the competition was trying to dissuade them. Maori Kogoro and Suzuki Sonoko looked embarrassed. Besides that...

Conan Edogawa looked at a familiar figure who was talking in a low voice with someone next to him, and immediately ran over.

"Mr. Aoyagi."

Aoyagi Akimitsu, the police liaison officer, is also here.

He saw Edogawa Conan and smiled: "Conan? I didn't expect Mr. Maori to bring you here."

"Mr. Qingliu, they are..."

Edogawa Conan instinctively passed over Maori Kogoro and planned to ask the more reliable Aoyagi Akimitsu a question, but before he could finish his words, the short-haired girl retorted:

"Can't Chengxiang be worried? Unlike you, you said it was calm, but secretly asked your mother and Mr. Miura to find a detective to be your bodyguard!"

The girl with the hairband raised her eyebrows and was about to fight back when the middle-aged woman suddenly shouted, "Hualian! Don't be disrespectful in front of the guests!"

The scene fell silent after her yelling, and Edogawa Conan shrank his neck.

It turns out that the girl wearing the headband is Hua Lian, the second daughter of the client's wife, and also the contestant with the greatest hope of winning the final.

The person in charge, Miura Daigo, secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He took out the handkerchief he had used in the morning to wipe his sweat, and said to the people around Suzuki Sonoko and Aoyagi Akimitsu with a smile, "I'm sorry that you saw these little episodes."

Only then did Edogawa Conan see clearly the person sitting next to Aoyagi Akimitsu.

She was a blonde foreign woman. She was probably not a contestant, but she was just as pretty as them and very tall - judging by the looks of her, she was about the same height as Aoyagi Akimitsu.

He thought she looked familiar. Huiyuan Ai, who was standing nearby watching the show, suddenly whispered, "This is Miss White. She is the daughter of the founder of White Films and is now the largest shareholder."

As soon as Edogawa Conan heard the surname, he remembered it - the American tycoon who was killed by Scoobing was named White. Aoyagi Akimitsu had drafted a will for him and later captured Scoobing for him.

He whispered back, "How did you know?"

The Japanese side only mentioned Mr. White's death and his donation of artworks. Could it be that she was paying attention to the news in the United States?
Haibara Ai was about to answer when the person in charge asked them to sit down - he was a little surprised by the arrival of Professor Agasa and the two children, but didn't say much - when she saw that she was interrupted, she naturally shut up.

The person in charge began to introduce them dutifully: "This is Mr. Maori, the detective recommended by Ms. Suzuki. Mrs. Shou and I have handed the matter of the threatening letter to him for investigation."

Kogoro Mori nodded slightly, his eyes swept over the young women present. He was very happy in his heart, but maintained his composure on the surface.

"Mr. Maori, these three are the contestants this time. This is Shouhua Ren, she is the champion of the Tokyo regional competition; and these two are the champions of Nagano and Osaka, Anpei Sumika and Kawada Kagami."

His idea was simple. Since it was a threatening letter to a beauty pageant, the target was most likely among the contestants. Most people would think so. This difference made the two girls look subtle, but they didn't get angry.

The long-haired girl from Nagano said, “Mr. Maori, you also saw the conflict we had just now. I am very worried about this intimidation. I am not being self-indulgent, because I was attacked once during the regional competition…”

Maori Kogoro's expression was stern: "Has the criminal been caught?"

Anpei Sumika nodded: "He was caught, a perverted peeping Tom. My father is very worried about me. This time he is busy with work and can't leave, so he asked a friend of his at the Nagano Police Headquarters to come here to protect me."

"I haven't told the police chief about the threatening letter yet, because if the police knew about it, the game would be cancelled..." She bit her lip, "I've been preparing for so long, I don't want my efforts to go to waste."

Kogoro Mouri and Conan Edogawa were a little helpless.

When they received the commission, they actually asked them whether they wanted to call the police, but were stopped - the reason was that this might just be a prank (similar letters had appeared in previous competitions), and the competition had been prepared in the hotel for so long, if it was suddenly cancelled, they would have to pay a huge penalty.

The short-haired girl Kawada Kagami said, "I'm not that worried. I just accompanied Chengxiang to see Hualian to see if she has any coping methods."

Conan Edogawa noticed her accent: "Onee-san, you're not from Osaka, are you?"

"Did you hear it?" The champion of the Osaka region smiled. "I was born in a remote small town in Tokyo. I moved to Osaka with my parents when I was fifteen, so I don't have an Osaka accent."

"I don't have a bodyguard. The person who came with me this time is my childhood sweetheart. He's been feeling down lately, so I wanted to bring him out to relax."

Maori Kogoro collected the basic information of the other two contestants, and finally turned his attention to the blonde woman next to Aoyagi Akimitsu:
"Then this is...?"

This time, without waiting for the person in charge to speak, Suzuki Sonoko enthusiastically introduced:
"This is Miss White. She is a well-known American model and one of the sponsors of the next Miss World beauty pageant. This time, the organizers invited her to be a judge for the Miss Japanese beauty pageant."

White, whose father had died not long ago, smiled warmly. Perhaps she understood that he was introducing herself, so she turned to Aoyagi Akimitsu next to her and said a few words.

Aoyagi Akimichi said: "Mr. Maori, don't worry about her safety, just focus on protecting these three ladies - let me introduce myself, I am her translator and personal bodyguard on this trip."

Conan Edogawa noticed keenly that when the person in charge heard the word "personal bodyguard", his eyes swept towards Aoyagi Akimichi's face, and the corners of his mouth inadvertently turned down.

This is an expression of disdain.

"..."

Conan Edogawa observed how Aoyagi Akimitsu was dressed today.

His long hair was loose, and he wore a pair of shiny black leather shoes under a black suit. Even the shirt underneath was black, with several buttons undone, revealing a piece of skin at the collar.

Compared to the fierce-eyed Akai detective, he looked even less like a serious detective. His temperament seemed too frivolous and casual. He looked more like a troublesome teenager who would play excessive pranks and laugh loudly at the police as they ran away...

Especially at this moment, the corners of his mouth are raised and there is a smile between his eyebrows, the feeling of being unserious is even more obvious.

Coincidentally, at this moment, Aoyagi Binguang took out his mobile phone. I don’t know what message he received, but he seemed to be in a very good mood.

A smaller detective silently withdrew his gaze.

Mr. Aoyagi would not tell everyone that he is a police liaison officer. Mr. Miura might have misunderstood him as a male star in Miss White's company, or even... a gigolo.

What should he do? Just by looking at his face, he felt that Mr. Qingliu was also very dangerous, and judging from his clothes, he didn't seem to be wearing a bulletproof vest... Damn it, since it was a threatening letter, at least write down the gender and scope clearly...

Edogawa Conan was completely immersed in some weird thoughts.

So much so that he didn't notice that when Aoyagi Akimitsu spoke, Haibara Ai, who was theoretically meeting this FBI agent for the first time, seemed to be slightly stunned.

----

PS: Xiao Ai cannot detect the tissue aura on the protagonist. (End of this chapter)