Inside the wooden house at the foot of the mountain

The group sat down in their chairs. Kōyū, holding a steaming cup of water, said to Conan, "Serves you right. Who told you to make me deduce for you all the time?"

After saying that, he brought the cup to his lips, blew on it to cool it down, and took a small sip.

“I had my reasons. My uncle never left, and there are many things that don’t make sense.”

Conan sat on the other side, arms crossed, and explained, "Originally, I was supposed to drop the evidence, but that would easily arouse Ran's suspicion. Since you're free, I'll ask you to help out. I just didn't tell you beforehand. Was it necessary to expose me?"

“It’s necessary.” Guangyou nodded seriously. “I’m going up with you simply to pass the time, not to show off my deductions in front of others.”

"Standing out of the limelight? That's not the point. Besides, reasoning isn't about showing off. Reasoning is about getting the criminal to confess their crimes and protecting the rights of the victims."

Conan turned around and defended himself, "Don't you think it's very satisfying to deduce the culprit's identity and methods from clues and then bring the culprit to justice?"

I don't think so.

With a blank expression, Guangyou slowly raised his hand like an old man, took a sip of water, and said slowly, "If it were the old me, I would probably check the criminal's information first. If the criminal has a high bounty, I would just tie him up and sell him on the black market."

Upon hearing this, Conan was speechless: "Hey, isn't this already illegal?"

"Don't worry about the details," Guangyou waved his hand and said, "What I mean is, I don't like standing there rambling on and on. The main point of what I just said can be summed up in four words: simple and direct..."

After taking a sip of water, Guangyou continued, "Compared to the vague sense of accomplishment, the information about incoming funds is definitely more appealing."

"..." Conan didn't quite understand Mitsuyu's thinking. He could also simply point out the culprit, but if he didn't deduce, no one would believe him!

"Don't make that face. After all, I'm different from you." Kōyū glanced at Conan, then quickly looked away, and comforted him, "Normally, the other party will provide information about the target before I consider whether to take the job or not, but you can't."

“That makes sense.” Conan nodded in agreement. He and Mitsuyu had different experiences, so their perspectives on things were naturally different as well.

However, because of Kouyu's words, Conan suddenly thought of a question: "What if the other party doesn't provide any information?"

“If no information is provided, I will use a small portion of the deposit to issue a bounty.” Guangyou calmly sipped his water, while explaining to Conan, “After the bounty is issued, someone as honest and simple as you will soon take the job and help me investigate the target’s information.”

"You were trying to insult me ​​just now, weren't you?" Conan noticed the words in her voice. "You were probably trying to use the words 'honest and simple' to cover up what you accidentally said, right?"

Even if he was right, Guangyou would not admit it. Instead, he would change the subject: "Anyway, my experience is different from yours, and my style of doing things is different. You don't need to care so much."

If he were to perform missions in Conan's style, he would have died countless times by now.

“You’re right…” Conan pondered for a moment, then suddenly sensed something was wrong. “You’re changing the subject again.”

"Speaking of which, the weather is really nice today." Kōyū turned his head and asked Ai with a smile, "Ai, what do you think?"

"It's actually quite nice." Ai smiled and nodded slightly. "It's perfect for hiking."

"...."

Seeing the two of them working together to change the subject, Conan was speechless. As for why he asked Mitsuyu to help him deduce the truth...

The reasons mentioned above are part of the reasons, and another small part of the reasons are these two guys, but he can't bring himself to say them.

"Oh, right, let me say hello first." Conan took a breath, calmed himself down, and said calmly, "If I ever need your help with my deductions in the future, don't act like you did today."

Guangyou nodded without much thought and agreed immediately: "Okay, I'll try my best to cooperate with you if you need it in the future."

Actually, it wasn't a big deal, but Conan hadn't informed him beforehand, so he dragged Conan into the mess with the idea of ​​"sharing the burden."

If Conan had given him a heads-up earlier, the outcome would have been different.

He would take Ai away from the vicinity of the cabin, allowing Conan to deduce the truth on his own.

Of course, this was just a joke. If Conan had given him a heads-up beforehand, he could have helped out, since it wasn't a difficult task.

Thanks...

"Gurgle~"

Just as he finished thanking Conan, his stomach growled in protest, making him a little embarrassed: "Speaking of which, is there anything to eat? I only had a piece of bread this afternoon, and I'm a bit hungry."

"Yes, wait here." Guangyou got up, walked to his backpack, poured all the snacks inside onto the table, and waved his hand generously, "These are all for you, eat as much as you want!"

"...."

Conan fell silent as he looked at the single bag of potato chips on the table.

When he first heard that sentence, he thought Guangyou had brought several bags of snacks, but it turned out there was only a small bag of potato chips.

There weren't many chips to begin with; he could probably finish them in a bite or two.

"Well, something is better than nothing. Let's go to the hot spring later and buy something to eat."

With this thought in mind, Conan reached for the potato chips, tore open the packaging, and started eating, making a crunching sound. "These potato chips are pretty good... Hmm, what flavor is it?"

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