"What's wrong?" Hattori Heiji asked, puzzled, after hearing Conan's words. "What just happened?"

"There's nothing to say." Conan didn't intend to tell Hattori Heiji what had just happened; he'd seen it all before and was used to it.

"Kudo, you're not hiding something from me, are you?" Hattori Heiji looked at Conan with suspicion.

Hearing this, Conan rolled his eyes at Heiji Hattori.

Ignoring Conan's eye roll, Heiji Hattori looked around and, seeing that no one was paying attention to them, moved closer to Conan.

He then whispered to Conan, "Kudo, you tell me, I won't tell anyone."

"There's really nothing to say," Conan sighed.

Why is this person so curious?

"Then tell me about it." Heiji Hattori patted Conan on the shoulder.

Are you sure?

"Um."

"Alright then."

Seeing that Heiji Hattori still wanted to hear, Conan didn't insist any further.

Anyway, for him, that incident was over quickly.

Looking back now, it doesn't seem like a big deal.

Conan even thought that he could go ride the carousel someday.

Of course, he couldn't go play alone.

"Then come closer." Conan gestured for Heiji Hattori to move closer.

After Hattori Heiji approached, Conan recounted what had just happened to him.

At first, Hattori Heiji had a slight smile on his face.

But as I listened, that hint of a smile gradually disappeared.

"I already told you, there's nothing more to say." Conan clearly saw Heiji Hattori's changing expressions.

He reached out and patted Hattori Heiji on the shoulder, then shook his head helplessly.

"I'm sorry to bother you." Hattori Heiji sighed. If he had known it was something like that, he wouldn't have asked.

However, he quickly calmed down; he couldn't keep such a thing on his mind forever.

"What should we do now?" Xiaolan took out a map, looked at it, and asked He Ye, "Or should we continue exploring?"

If you ask Conan and the others, the most likely response you'll get is, "You guys decide, I'm fine with anything."

So Xiaolan skipped them.

“Okay, we still have time anyway,” Kazuha nodded in agreement.

After receiving Kazuha's response, Ran looked at Kousuke.

"Let's keep browsing."

After checking the time, Guangyou said to Xiaolan, "If you don't see any attractions you want to play, let's find a place to have lunch."

"Okay, sure." Xiaolan nodded after hearing that.

The group didn't linger long in front of the carousel. After discussing their next plans, they strolled along the path through the theme park.

"Ran, it seems your teru teru bozu (a Japanese doll that brings good weather) is actually quite effective." Kazuha walked beside Ran and teased her with a smile, "Is it because you were thinking of Kudo-kun when you prayed for it last night?"

"How could that be!" Xiaolan's cheeks were slightly flushed, but the blush wasn't very noticeable under the sunlight.

"Only you know the answer to that." Kazuha raised an eyebrow at Ran, but didn't say anything more.

The two spoke softly, but because there were many people around, the group wasn't very far apart.

Therefore, this conversation also reached Conan's ears.

"Kudo, hehe..." Hattori Heiji had long forgotten what happened before. He looked down at Conan, chuckled twice, but didn't say anything.

"You bastard..."

Looking up at Heiji Hattori, Conan blushed slightly and whispered to him, "Watch how you address people, it won't be good if Ran and the others hear you."

"Don't worry, he won't hear you." Heiji Hattori grinned, looking very confident, but Conan really didn't trust him.

"Ran has heard you call me 'Kudo' quite a few times before," Conan said, calming himself down.

This is no joke. It might be easy to get away with it once or twice, but if it happens too often, Xiaolan will definitely become suspicious.

"Don't worry, I'm the best at pretending to be clueless in all of Japan!" Hattori Heiji said seriously, his smile fading.

"Hehe..." Conan didn't say anything.

Heiji Hattori was indeed faking it the previous times, using homophones to get away with things, such as "hard work" or "long-winded".

"Don't worry, nothing will happen," Heiji Hattori waved his hand, reassuring Conan.

Behind the two, Kōyū held Ai's hand, drinking the remaining half-cup of milk tea while chatting with her.

The topic of conversation was not decided; we just talked about whatever came to mind.

Even if they only saw a rather sturdy cherry blossom tree by the roadside, the two could still strike up a conversation.

"Those Girls' Day dolls were buried under a cherry blossom tree. That cherry blossom tree was quite interesting; there was a hole in the middle of it."

Recalling what he saw at the time, Kōyū said to Ai, "The tree hollow was full of letters. Although I didn't read the contents of the letters, I felt that most of them were prayers for that cherry blossom tree."

Even without reading the contents of the letter, one can guess the gist of it.

After glancing at Kōyū, Ai said, "Most of the people who put letters in the tree hole are probably women, and they probably pray that their love life will be smooth."

This was the first time Guangyou had shared the details of that incident with her.

When she asked, Guangyou, in order not to make her overthink, simply explained the process without going into the details.

Thinking of the silly but adorably silly Kōyū from back then, Ai felt a warmth in her heart, and a faint smile appeared on her face.

Only Kōyū would run all over Tokyo's cherry blossom groves just for those few Girls' Day dolls.

He did all this just so that she could receive blessings from her parents on Girls' Day, just like other normal girls.

I never thought about what I would get in return for doing these things.

His behavior, which seemed unnecessary to others, touched the softest spot in her heart.

“Hmm.” Guangyou nodded in agreement. “I wonder how many people’s prayers came true and how many people’s prayers failed.”

"This behavior is just a hopeful expectation for the future, and I don't know if anyone takes it seriously." Ai said with a smile, but her tone was very calm.

"Yeah, let's talk about feelings." Guangyou continued only after confirming that the two hadn't fallen behind in their conversation.

"Whether a relationship goes smoothly depends not only on luck, but also on the factors of both parties."

No one is perfect; everyone has flaws to some extent.

"Relationships are a process of mutual tolerance. If you tolerate each other well, things will go smoothly. If you don't tolerate each other well, things will definitely not go smoothly."

“Yes.” Ai nodded, confirming Kousuke’s statement. “So, praying for blessings is just an expectation for the future.”

After saying that, Ai turned her head to look at Kousuke and muttered to herself, "Sometimes, things go smoothly even without praying for blessings."

...