115

Backstage at the theater, Xiaolan and Sonoko were chatting with Kazuha from Osaka. Kazuha suddenly seemed to have thought of something and asked:

"By the way, where is Kudo Shinichi? You should have invited him." The girl, who had previously misunderstood this high school detective, has always been curious about Kudo Shinichi.

"I didn't invite him specifically." Xiaolan waved her hand nonchalantly, causing Yuanzi to say helplessly:

"Really? You invited your friends, neighbors, and even police officers from the Metropolitan Police Department to come, but why didn't you invite your husband?"

"It turns out you invited more than just me, Sister Xiaolan." "Conan", who had just arrived at the backstage, was wearing a mask and spoke with a hint of sarcasm in his tone.

"Conan, you're here too." Xiaolan immediately looked at Conan and said, then she saw the cartoonist who rarely went out behind the boy, wearing a light gray windbreaker, waving at her, with a surprised smile on his face, "I didn't expect you to be here, Kong."

"After rehearsing with you so many times, how can I not come and see the results in person?" Noel said, pointing at Conan and said, "This kid came even though he hasn't recovered from his cold yet. Everyone is looking forward to it."

Xiaolan was a little worried when she heard this, so she squatted down and asked softly, "How are you, is your cold better?"

"I'm fine." The boy looked at Noel for some reason and found that he was looking at something.

What's wrong?

"Conan", or rather, Xiao Ai who disguised herself as Conan, felt a little confused. She followed the other person's gaze but only saw a man, Dr. Arata.

"Don't force yourself if you can't hold on." The girl's worried voice brought Ai back to her senses. She was about to say something but was suddenly interrupted by the voice.

"Xiaolan, can you come over here for a moment?" the gentle doctor asked the girl, glancing at the calm cartoonist and adding:

"I want to discuss the opening lines with you."

Upon hearing this, Xiaolan looked at everyone apologetically, turned around and ran away. The others naturally didn't want to disturb her, so they said "come on" and returned to the audience, looking forward to the performance later.

"Is the person who just came here the friend you mentioned earlier, Xiaolan, about whom you want to practice spar with?"

"Well," Xiaolan smiled and said, "I think the new doctor is busy and it's not good to disturb him, so I'll leave it to Brother Kong."

"It seems you are very familiar with him?" the doctor said kindly. Seeing that Xiaolan did not deny it, he did not ask any more questions and prepared for the upcoming performance.

After all, it is more appropriate to find the person involved.

———

It's the teacher...

Noel sat on the chair, drinking juice and thinking. He just deliberately took advantage of Uncle Maori's scene to go backstage to take a look. It turned out to be Vermode's new skin, and it was obvious that the other party also noticed that something was wrong with him.

There was no way to avoid it this time. Noel sighed in his heart as he drank up the juice and prepared to get up for another glass.

"Let me help you, Xiaokong." The sudden voice from behind startled Noel. He turned around with a dead heart and saw a police officer in plain clothes sitting in the back row behind him. He also knew the two people sitting on his left and right. They were all from the police academy team.

"No..." Before Noel could refute, Hagiwara Kenji asked, "Coke, juice, or coffee? It should be juice. I'll help these two too. And Xiaoguang, what do you want to drink?"

"Coke is fine, thank you, Hagiwara brother." Morofushi Kagemitsu, who had been sitting quietly for a long time, responded. The words "Hagiwara brother" successfully caused shock on Noel's face. He did not have time to refuse Hagiwara Kenji but stared at his "brother" with wide eyes.

How can you call him brother???

Noel questioned with his eyes.

You can't just call me uncle, right?

Morobushi Jingguang responded with his eyes, saying that he could barely accept calling his classmate brother, but calling him uncle? How could that be possible? It was good enough that he didn't ask the other party to call him dad.

"Long time no see, Xiaokong." Yi Dahang, who was standing quietly at the side, greeted him, "I heard Hagiwara mention several times that he hadn't seen you. And this one, is your name Xiaoguang right?"

Date Kou looked at the boy who had the same cat eyes as his classmate and couldn't help but sigh, "They really look alike."

"But those bastards naturally don't have time to come here." Matsuda Jinpei said with a disgusted expression. Although he was also invited by Mouri Ran, he actually wanted to refuse. After all, he has never been interested in drama and the like. He was just forced to come here by his two classmates who had a rare vacation. Hagiwara Kenji even used the words "The class monitor finally can't go on a date today because Natalie is busy with work. We shouldn't rush in and take advantage of this opportunity" to make him agree, and... it really makes sense.

So the three of them wore casual clothes and came to the garden party. It must be said that it felt like reliving their youth.

"So many people came at the same time. Isn't the Metropolitan Police Department busy recently?" Noel asked very seriously. From what he knew about the Metropolitan Police Department in comics, they were always on the way to work. Frankly speaking, Noel, who never went to the crime scene, was surprised to meet Hagiwara several times.

"Do you think the police are on duty all year round?" Jinpei Matsuda turned to look at Noel and asked, but got a serious nod from the other party. Obviously, the other party really thought so.

Matsuda Jinpei was a little confused for a moment, then said: "It's time for Hagi to teach you some common sense..."

"What common sense?"

Kenji Hagiwara came back with a bunch of drinks and asked while distributing them with one hand.

"Some people seem to think the police are on duty 24/7..."

"How is that possible? I'll be exhausted." Hagiwara Kenji pretended to be surprised and asked, "Is Xiaokong implying that I'm too busy to see you?"

"That's what Natalie said when I didn't have time to date her because of work." Ida Hang added at the right time, which was met with Noel's horrified and disgusted denial.

"How is that possible?"

"Really? Why are you so arrogant like Xiao Zhenping...hiss——"

Jinpei Matsuda promptly took the Coke from Hagiwara's hand with one hand and punched him in the abdomen with the other hand, successfully interrupting his increasingly annoying words.

Noel also fell silent, and even looked at Matsuda Jinpei with some awe, his eyes revealing a hint of excitement that he wanted to learn this as well.

Morofushi Jingguang felt a little nostalgic when watching his friends' stories, but Noel mixed in without any incongruity. This reminded him of the thought that had popped up countless times in his mind: if there was no organization... maybe this would become a daily routine.

Suddenly feeling a strange gaze, Morofushi Kagemitsu looked back and found that it was Haibara Ai who was dressed as Conan in the front row, with a thoughtful look. Morofushi Kagemitsu smiled back, which surprised the other person.

Do they know each other?

Haibara Ai was familiar with Morobushi Kagemitsu's eyes, just like the look the detective always had when he looked at Mouri Ran who was chatting with her friends. It was a familiar yet unfamiliar look that she had seen on the detective's face countless times.

She knew those three people. Having been working with the detective team for so long, she had already encountered the police officers headed by Hagiwara Kenji and Date Kou several times. She even met Jinpei Matsuda from the security team because of a bomb that did not explode. It must be said that the number of police officers she had met during this period exceeded the number she had encountered in the 18 years she had been in the organization.

So, is this person also from the police?

The look that Haibara Ai gave the boy was quickly noticed, but the other party just smiled gently, and seemed to have no malice at all. However, Haibara Ai's sixth sense made her confirm her guess that this man was most likely a police officer.

So the question is, how did Noel get to know this suspected police officer, Mitsuru Natsukawa? After all, it seemed that the other party had known Noel for a long time, and Noel no longer had any suspicion of him, just like a tamed beast. The happy scene of the two of them would be a picture of hell in the eyes of any member of the organization, and the same was true for himself at the beginning.

"You've been eyeing that guy since just now, do you want to go play with him?" Maori Kogoro, who was sitting in front of Haibara Ai, knocked on Conan's head, then picked him up and threw him to Noel behind him, saying, "Boy, this guy is for you to see, and I have to cheer for Xiaolan."

After saying that, Maori Kogoro concentrated on the state of an old father waiting for his daughter's performance, and took over Haibara Ai's Noel, helplessly placing her on his lap. Feeling her restrained movements, he whispered, "How about you switch places with Xiaoguang?"

"No need." Huiyuan refused. She just couldn't adapt to the sudden gazes of the three police officers. As for being shy? Frankly speaking, she couldn't imagine why she would be shy about a man she had seen countless times on her operating table. Was it because he saw the bones?

"Conan, are you feeling better?" When Hagiwara Kenji saw the boy's strange expression, he didn't think much about it. His mind was full of the previous scene where the other party was shot. His expression returned to normal, but worry flashed in his eyes. He couldn't help feeling guilty for not rushing in time.

"It's okay, I just have a cold." Huibara Ai coughed twice while wearing a mask, and looked at the guilt in the police officer's eyes with some helplessness. She had a good impression of this police officer. He was a very meticulous and reliable police officer, and his actions were restrained to keep a comfortable and non-offensive distance. She certainly didn't want this incident to leave a shadow on the police officer.

"Don't worry, Conan has a very strong vitality." Noel interrupted Hagiwara Kenji's further concern and said in a subtle tone. After all, seeing that the other party recovered to a lively state after being shot only a few days ago, he suddenly felt that there was nothing special about his broken body.

"The performance is about to begin." Zhu Fu Jingguang reminded from the side. After hearing this, everyone naturally quieted down and began to enjoy the performance.

Noel looked at Xiaolan dressed as a princess on the stage and couldn't help but sigh that even though he had helped rehearse several times and knew the plot, he was still amazed.

Really good.

In fact, the plot was very ordinary, but Noel, whose face was blurred by Xiaolan's angel filter, sighed like this, until the masked knight appeared and diverted his attention.

The one in there should be Kudo Shinichi. This time there is no murder case to interrupt the show, so we can watch the whole performance of Shin Ran Tang...but the kind with kissing scenes!

“Sizzle, sizzle—”

The drama was suddenly interrupted by a shrill broadcast voice, which was obviously using a voice changer, announcing grimly:

"I have planted a bomb here. If you don't want to die, stay where you are."