Chapter 8 The guardian is actually a complete idiot...
Wrong time, wrong place
Super sleepy, back to bed
Even though he went to bed early last night, Zhuge Tongzhi now feels more exhausted than ever before, as if he has lost some important and wonderful qualities.
The girl lay face down on the table, her uneven hair hanging down the back of her head. An indescribable, translucent, ghostly white substance floated out of her slightly open mouth like a demon baring its fangs, and her whole body visibly lost its color.
Sitting next to her was Ayumi, who was completely different. The girl was radiating pink flowers all over her body, and she answered the teacher's questions with a smile. Every strand of her hair was full of vitality.
Conan immediately knew that the Junior Detective League needed to recruit more members.
Although the person being recruited will most likely be unwilling, her resistance will be futile.
Even he, the savior of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, was forced to join.
The black-haired, blue-eyed boy adjusted his slightly slipping glasses, listening with a hint of boredom as his English teacher lectured on first-grade textbook material. He felt he should really follow Ai Haibara's example and bring some interesting books to read.
For example, watch Sherlock Holmes stories again.
Conan, who has watched the movie countless times since childhood, suddenly felt something hit his back. The boy with glasses sighed softly, unsurprised, and quietly bent down to pick up the crumpled paper that had rolled to his feet, keeping an eye on the teacher's movements.
'Conan, Ayumi said she wants Zhuge to join the Detective Boys! —Mitsuhiko'
He knew, he knew, anyway, the professor had prepared quite a few badges for emergencies. Conan took out a pen from his pencil case, intending to write an "um" to get by.
I had just started writing when a second crumpled piece of paper flew over.
Conan's eyebrows twitched, and he put down his pen to pick up the crumpled paper that was a bit off-center. The crooked and even slightly misspelled words were clearly written by Genta Kojima.
"Conan, to welcome Zhu Ge to the new club, let's go eat eel rice today!"
It's Zhuge Liang, not Zhuge!
Conan's lips twitched as he took a pen, crossed out the misspelled word, wrote the correct version, and then replied with a clear refusal: 'No, Genta, you ate eel rice five times last week.'
Also, don't use the welcome as an excuse to go eat. Conan helplessly finished writing the reply and turned slightly to throw the two crumpled papers back.
The moment he turned around, a white shadow rushed straight at his head. Before Conan could even figure out what it was, he was struck on the forehead.
"Oh no!"
Conan was caught off guard and his head fell back, while the white figure also bounced back, leaping high into the air and landing on the table of Zhuge Tongzhi, who was still feeling sad. After rolling around for a while, it hit the girl's nose.
It turned out to be another crumpled piece of paper.
Conan rubbed his forehead and looked up to see Ayumi Yoshida with an "OvO!" expression on her face. The girl who met his gaze was frantically gesturing under the table, seemingly trying to get him to pick up the crumpled paper.
But it was too late. Zhuge Tongzhi had already slowly opened his eyes, propped himself up on the table, and shakily straightened up, unfolding the crumpled paper that had walked right into his trap.
Conan saw densely packed text in one corner of the unfolded paper, and could tell that Ayumi had many questions and things she wanted to say.
He glanced at Ayumi, whose face was flushed and looked like she was about to cosplay a kettle with her head steaming, and the two behind her who were also covering their faces with their hands and looking shocked as they threw small pieces of paper. He thought helplessly, "Come on, there's still a little while before lunch break."
The girl with black hair and black eyes, and a calm face, propped her chin up and carefully read the secret message that filled an entire sheet of practice paper in front of her. Under the tense gaze of the people around her (the clueless Ai Haibara: ?), she suddenly burst out laughing.
Just then, the bell rang, and the English teacher clapped her hands and raised her voice to attract the attention of the whole class, loudly announcing the classwork.
"Attention everyone—remember to prepare your English names for the next class!"
"Did you understand—?"
"Hi----"
With a smile on his face, Zhuge Tongzhi crumpled the paper into a ball again, covered it with his hand, and responded to the teacher's instructions in a drawn-out voice along with his classmates.
"Okay, get out of class dismissed!" The English teacher strode out of the classroom.
The Junior Detective League quickly surrounded Zhuge Tongzhi. Conan turned to look at Zhuge Tongzhi, who was deliberately covering up the crumpled paper and not returning it to Ayumi. He felt that Zhuge Tongzhi's mood had improved a lot after reading the crumpled paper.
"Ugh, give it back to me, Zhuge!" Ayumi's face turned as red as a tomato as she reached out to take back her crumpled paper, but Zhuge Tongzhi dodged her hand and refused to return it.
"Huh?" Zhuge Tongzhi feigned confusion as he unfolded the paper ball, stroking his chin thoughtfully as he asked, "Didn't Yoshida call me Tong-chan? How did it become Zhuge-kun?"
"Ah ...
"Well, I've been waiting for Yoshida to call me Kiri!"
"But I'll keep this safe." Zhuge Tongzhi carefully folded the slightly crumpled paper and stuffed it into his schoolbag.
She pushed back her chair, stood up, took Yoshida Ayumi's hands and shook them, a bright smile spreading across her delicate and lovely face. "Can I call you Ayumi-chan?"
"Yes, of course." Ayumi Yoshida was a little shy but also a little happy, and for a moment she didn't care that her crumpled paper had been confiscated.
"I'm so glad Ayumi-chan invited me to join the Junior Detective Club!" Zhuge Tongzhi looked at the cute yet nervous girl in front of him. His originally closed-off heart, which had been resisting joining the detective's daily life, was gradually opened up by the childlike handwriting on the paper.
She didn't keep them in suspense and said loudly, "I'd love to join you!"
"Yay!" Ayumi jumped up and excitedly pulled up Ai Haibara, who was engrossed in reading and ignoring everything else. She then helped the short-haired girl with brown hair to her feet and introduced her to her new friends.
"Hey, Kirito, this is Ai Haibara. She's also a member of the Detective Boys!" Ayumi's cheeks were flushed as she shook Ai Haibara's hand, who looked helpless. "Ai, this is Kirito."
"Hello." With a soft sigh, Ai Haibara extended her other hand, which wasn't being held by Ayumi, and shook hands with the new transfer student in a very mature manner. "I'll bring you the badge tomorrow."
The girl living in Professor Agasa's house spoke succinctly, unlike the excited Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, and Genta who were shouting for eel rice.
But Zhuge Tongzhi accepted it well, "Thank you, can I call you Ai-chan?"
"Whatever." The young girl, who had experienced so much, didn't care much about these things.
"Ah, Zhuge." The homeroom teacher appeared at the classroom door as promised and waved to her.
"Hi—I'm coming right away!"
Zhuge Tongzhi raised his hand, thought for a moment before walking over, and turned to Bu Mei, saying, "I cut my own hair, it's not a trendy hairstyle. I cut it because long hair really gets tangled in tree branches."
"Huh?" The elementary school students present all looked at each other with wide eyes. Why would long hair get tangled in tree branches? The trees and bushes on both sides of the sidewalks in Tokyo are all very well maintained.
Last night, because he didn't know the way home and had to be led by O-D navigation, Zhuge Tongzhi stubbornly turned around and went back through a parkour-like journey up and down mountains.
Without uttering a word about the breakdown of cleaning the twigs and leaves from her long hair after getting home, she left behind only a proud, aloof figure with dog-chewed hair ends, and ran towards Wakasa Rumi who was waiting at the door.
"See you later!"
…
On the way to the office
Zhuge Tongzhi was being led by Wakasa Rumi with one hand and dangling the other by his side. He appeared calm on the surface, but inwardly he was cursing O-Drug Navigation for being so despicable.
The girl's eyes inadvertently glanced across the void, where the newly generated daily routes had been updated.
"Daily path has been generated"
Stop along the way: Teitan Elementary School, Grade 1-B (Arrived)
"New waypoint: Hikaru Midorikawa's office"
"Daily route completion rate: 25% - changed to -20%"
Well done, O De! Zhuge Tongzhi stared at the new pathway point, grinding his back teeth against it.
She had initially hoped that perhaps the man was just taking a moment out of his busy schedule to visit her, and that she could find an excuse to avoid the meeting.
But now, forced by her daily route, she can no longer avoid Midorikawa Hikaru even if she wants to.
How exactly are these locations defined? Looking at the unique office location with blue background and white lettering, Zhuge Tongzhi immediately thought of yesterday's "Poirot Cafe sandwich." Are you defining the location or the person?
Despite my reluctance, I ended up standing at the office door.
Under the encouraging gaze of Wakasa Rumi, Zhuge Tongzhi took a deep breath, placed his hand on the old wooden door, and slowly exhaled the air from his lungs as he pushed open the door that led to an unknown destination.
He could only say that he hit his head and couldn't remember anything.
The girl was quickly crafting a script when she looked up into the office.
Behind the door, a man standing by the window gazing at the campus turned around.
The tall man had short black hair, but the ends were deliberately left long, and he tied a thin braid at the back of his head, which swayed slightly as he turned his head.
The man who turned his head revealed a face with dog-like eyes, looking to be in his early twenties.
Contrary to the image of an older man I had imagined, the man in front of me, dressed in a gray-blue hooded sweatshirt and jeans, was young and handsome, exuding the vibrant energy of a college student. He was currently scratching the back of his head somewhat awkwardly.
He took the initiative to greet her, saying, "Ah, you must be Zhuge Tongzhi."
The unexpected conversation caused Zhuge Tongzhi to pause. The black-haired, black-eyed girl looked up at her nominal guardian who was walking towards her, and, following the flow of the conversation, asked in a low voice with a puzzled expression, "Excuse me, are you Mr. Midorikawa?"
Wakasa Rumi glanced at the two strangers in surprise, then stood behind the girl facing Midorikawa Hikaru, and asked the question that Zhuge Tongzhi was wondering: "Excuse me, Mr. Midorikawa, is this the first time you have met this child?"
"Ah, yes, I'm still studying at the University of Tokyo. I had to ask a friend to pick up my child from the airport. I was really negligent..."
Upon hearing this, the man, whose eyes were naturally droopy, lowered his gaze further, his sorrowful eyes reminiscent of a puppy abandoned in the rain. "My elder sister went abroad to study and start a family at a young age. Since her... accident, this is the first time I've met her child."
"Ah, I'm sorry to bring that up, Mr. Midorikawa!"
The homeroom teacher, who had inadvertently touched on a painful memory of one of the students' uncles, quickly apologized. Midorikawa Hikaru, who seemed to have already moved on, waved his hand, indicating that it was okay.
He took a few steps forward and walked up to the girl with black hair and black eyes, squatted down and looked at the calm-faced child at eye level.
"Hello, Kirishi-chan." Midorikawa Hikaru's voice was gentle, and his eyes were equally gentle and sorrowful.
To onlookers, this young man, who was also a student but had lost a loved one, seemed to see his own sister who had died unexpectedly through the girl, his expression unconsciously filled with longing and reluctance.
But he quickly adjusted his mood, gave the girl a positive and sunny wink, and coaxed the shy and silent girl like a big brother who was meeting her for the first time: "Nice to meet you, you are such a lovely young lady."
Wow.
Zhuge Tongzhi blinked, carefully examining the man's natural expression, especially his unusually sincere, droopy dog-like eyes. If they were slightly more elongated, they would remind her even more of a police officer she had just met.
And then, add this wink... um...
Damn it! Don't just copy your friends' settings like that!
Looking at the man in front of him who seemed to have eaten a whole dozen Kenji Hagiwara, Zhuge Tongzhi revealed a half-moon eye.
In the void before us, new navigation prompts are updated in real time.
"Waypoint: Hikaru Midorikawa's office (Arrived)"
Daily route completion rate: 40%
"Target detected. Emergency contact added for you: Hikaru Midorikawa (Kagemitsu Morofushi)"
Midorikawa Hikaru, or rather, Morofushi Kagemitsu in disguise, looked at the girl who suddenly burst out laughing with a natural look of confusion on his face.
The composed man silently assessed the other person's current state, but his blue-gray eyes, befitting his persona, were filled with a smile. He tilted his head and looked at the girl questioningly, "Tori-chan?"
Upon hearing this, Zhuge Tongzhi smiled even more broadly.
What kind of name is this?!
After O-De exposed the other party's red team identity, the girl, who suddenly relaxed, laughed until her stomach hurt. She barely raised her hand to wipe away the physiological tears from the corners of her eyes and looked at Midorikawa Hikaru, who was probing her.
"Soga! Are you my uncle?"
Zhuge Tongzhi raised his head to look at his guardian and steadily accepted the script setting from Morofushi Kagemitsu.
The girl with black hair and black eyes playfully ran past the people to a desk, gestured to show the height of the desk, and said, "My mother showed me a picture of you. You were only this tall back then!"
"And the braid isn't even this long."
Some of the shy girls approached, and after receiving Midorikawa Hikaru's gentle permission, they slowly reached out and pinched the long, thin braid at the back of the other person's head, which looked incredibly realistic.
"Is that the longevity braid?" Zhuge Tongzhi put down his hand, smiled at the gentle yet resolute undercover agent, and solemnly responded to the other party's initial greeting like a little adult.
"Nice to meet you, you're such a lovely adult too."
It's a pleasure to meet you, Morofushi Kagemitsu. You're such a big idiot who shot yourself in the heart after your own identity was exposed, all to protect your childhood friend's identity from being discovered!
A note from the author:
----------------------
About short hair
Zhuge Tongzhi: It affected my parkour speed (I cut my hair myself after dealing with a hair loss, but I still look cool).
Regarding the longevity braid
This is my blessing for Hiro —
May you overcome all difficulties and live a long and healthy life.
...
Having eaten a dozen of his contemporaries, Morofushi Kagemitsu: Observing...
Zhuge Tongzhi, who has seen the official character design: trying not to laugh.
(Upon hearing Xiaotongzhi's name): *chuckles*
SOS, the name-related joke still hurts me in this other world.
…
QAQ
I just signed the contract and two adorable people already voted for me! I'm so touched!
I've received so many comments from everyone! I'm so happy!
So he diligently wrote the article.
(Sending love to everyone by bringing up Conan again)
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