Chapter 49 A Bolt from the Blue
It just so happens that Polo Cat Cafe is celebrating its anniversary.
To match the celebratory atmosphere, the owner ingeniously designed a set of outfits for the waiters that better suited the restaurant's theme:
Cat ears, cat ties, uniforms and gloves printed with cat patterns, even shoes are cat-shaped.
"The dog managed to dodge Jing's chef's hat, but couldn't escape this fate!"
Amuro sighed, reluctantly changed into his new clothes, and mustered his spirits to prepare for the grand opening.
Since he came here, the cat cafe's business has been much better than before.
Especially with the appearance of the cat-eared waiters these past two days, the guests have become even more enthusiastic, which inevitably puts Amuro in a bit of a predicament.
The compliment he heard most often was, "Those cat ears look like they were born that way!"
This is no exaggeration. The two golden cat ears were fixed to his head with a headband, and their color was almost identical to Amuro's hair.
His ears are hidden in the hair on both sides, making him look like a golden cat from a distance.
Around noon, the cat café welcomed two unusual guests.
When the two guests entered, Amuro's standard polite smile froze instantly. He stood frozen in place as if struck by lightning, as if the blood in his body had stopped flowing.
The two guests' reactions were quite interesting; they seemed somewhat prepared, but the result was still a huge surprise.
Two eyes facing four eyes.
In the end, it's unclear whether it was someone who reacted first or both sides speaking at the same time: "Welcome to Polo Cat Cafe!"
"Two in total."
"Please come in, both of you!"
Amuro pretended to be calm and composed, ignoring the two men's malicious snickers, suppressing the urge to beat them up, and exuding a polite demeanor in every gesture.
Aside from using "slight" force when helping Matsuda with his cane, Amuro felt his performance was perfect.
Matsuda's injury had not fully healed, and he found it troublesome to use a wheelchair, so he used a cane when he went out.
The Matsuda family's house wasn't very close by, and Amuro didn't know why they had come here for lunch.
But one thing is certain: this is definitely not a coincidence.
There were other customers and staff in the cat cafe, so Amuro couldn't act out, nor could he show that he was familiar with these two bastards.
He mentally whipped those two men a thousand times over, then respectfully handed them the menu.
However, Hagiwara and Matsuda didn't seem to think that way. Instead of avoiding the topic, they acted as if old classmates were getting together and should have a good chat.
Hagiwara familiarly leaned closer, admiring the former top student of the police academy up close. Only when Amuro's face was almost as black as coal from Hagiwara's stare did Hagiwara ask, "Young man, this is our first time here. Could you tell us about your specialties and signature dishes?"
Amuro held back his words, "Don't you know how to read the menu?" Adhering to the professional ethics of "the customer is always right," he patiently and meticulously explained the various dishes and drinks of the restaurant to the two of them.
Hagiwara and Matsuda listened very attentively, nodding repeatedly.
Just as they thought Amuro was about to order food after his introduction, Matsuda made another request: "Introduce us to the cats here too!"
"Matsuda Jinpei, are you looking for a fight?!"
Amuro's eyes widened in disbelief, while Matsuda was smug, his face beaming with the joy of revenge.
Amuro had no choice but to start introducing the cats again.
By the time he finished speaking, his throat was dry, and he had no idea how much time had passed.
However, just when Amuro thought the two guys could finally order, the cat cafe welcomed two more customers.
One of them had an expression very similar to Hagiwara's when he first entered, while the younger one exclaimed in surprise, "Isn't this Mr. Amuro? I never expected to run into him again!"
"Officer Takagi, what a coincidence!" Amuro said with a smile, but in his heart he was thinking, "They must have planned this!"
Compared to Hagiwara and Matsuda, Date was practically a great philanthropist.
While the former was still struggling to figure out what to eat, Date had already decisively ordered lunch for him and Takagi.
The objective reason, of course, is that Hagiwara is off work today, and Date and the others are just here for a simple working meal and to celebrate Date's promotion.
"Wow! I can't believe Officer Date got promoted to inspector at such a young age. I'm impressed!" Hagiwara exclaimed with admiration.
"Are you two friends of Date-senpai?" Takagi asked curiously.
“We’re classmates. We were able to catch the culprit in that bombing case a while ago thanks to Date’s help. Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Kenji Hagiwara, and this is my partner, Jinpei Matsuda.”
"So you two are the seniors from the Virginity-Exploding Class! My apologies for not recognizing you!"
Amuro watched the four of them chatting animatedly, and while preparing food according to the menu, he wondered: what was the purpose of their visit?
Just as Amuro was scratching his head and racking his brains, Takagi's words reminded him: "Speaking of which, Mr. Mori's office is upstairs. He must be a frequent visitor here, right?"
"Yes! But Mr. Mori went to watch the horse race, Ran went shopping with her friends, and Conan went camping in Nagano with his friends. There's no one upstairs today!" Amuro said.
Hearing this, Takagi's brows relaxed and he said with obvious satisfaction, "That's wonderful!"
"Huh? Why do you say that?" Amuro asked curiously.
"Ah, please don't misunderstand. I didn't mean any disrespect to Mr. Mori. It's just that I don't know why there's always a case that happens whenever I run into him, which is a bit of a problem for me..." Takagi scratched his head sheepishly.
"The source of your distress likely lies with the person behind your Mori senior."
The police academy group collectively muttered their complaints.
It was at this moment that Amuro realized why all his classmates had coincidentally gathered together.
Who else could be the mastermind behind this?
Of course it's that little detective!
Originally, according to Amuro's wishes, the fact that Conan Edogawa was Shinichi Kudo was to be kept a secret.
Unexpectedly, Conan accidentally let slip that Hagiwara was suggesting in the group chat that they bring in some fresh blood to their private five-person group.
The reason for the creation of the "Yingyingying" group (also known as the "Yingyinghuicui" group) was Natalie's pregnancy.
The class monitor, who is the same age as the student, is about to become a father, which is quite a shock to the other four single men who have never even had a girlfriend.
To enhance friendship and daily communication among classmates, Hagiwara proposed and Kagemitsu provided technical support to develop software to create a private group chat.
As for why it's "嘤" instead of "樱", the group leader explained that it was to highlight the contrast and convey the wish to always maintain a childlike heart and youthful spirit.
Adhering to the guiding principle of not interfering with work and life, the daily atmosphere of this group is like this:
The group owner, "Cat Demon," shared photos of delicious food.
"Dad" posts photos of his baby and shows off his love.
"Cigarette" handmade work.
A "friend of women" shares photos of her childhood friend.
The busy "Golden Hair" usually chooses to stay in the background and doesn't check group messages much.
In order to uphold the principles of fairness and impartiality, Jingguang, as the group administrator, decided to fully consider the opinions of all parties and hold a vote on whether Conan should join the group chat.
However, because the golden retriever missed the voting time, it forcibly turned its veto power into an abstention.
In the end, Conan successfully infiltrated the police academy group, adding a bright spot to the group chat: "Holmes' disciple" showed off the cats and dogs at the cat cafe downstairs.
Amuro was resentful because the group admin hadn't reminded him of the voting time, and also because the little detective had been making memes out of his dirty secrets ever since he joined the group.
Amuro was furious and even more unwilling to look at the group messages.
Amuro guessed that Conan must have posted something in the group chat yesterday, which is why all these guys rushed over.
Because yesterday, the little detective secretly laughed for a long time when he saw those cat ears.
He opened the group chat and, after scrolling through a long section of information entropy chat history, finally found the source of all evil: "Holmes' disciple" posted a photo of Amuro wearing cat ears from behind.
The caption read: "Poirot Cafe has new cats! Everyone is welcome to come and pet the cats!"
Pah!
Amuro was furious and could only glare at them. He looked up and saw Hagiwara and Matsuda with enigmatic smiles on their faces: "Young man, when will the food be served?"
"Just a moment, it will be ready soon."
Amuro rallied his spirits, straightened his back, and served the food: "Please enjoy your meal."
After taking a small taste, everyone praised Amuro's culinary skills.
However, Amuro sensed a possible ulterior motive in these effusive compliments.
Sure enough, Hagiwara said to another waitress, Azusa, in a fawning manner, "Miss, could you help us take a picture with this guy? His cooking is absolutely amazing!"
Xiao Zi readily agreed, while Amuro's face twitched with laughter.
Not content with just one photo, Matsuda insisted on taking pictures with every single cat in the cat cafe.
When it was the last one's turn, Amuro wanted nothing more than to throw the cat at Matsuda's face.
Of course, the reason he didn't do that was definitely not because he felt sorry for the wounded.
The only saving grace was that, in order to maintain his dignified image in front of his juniors, the class monitor did not join Hagiwara in causing trouble.
After finishing his arduous work under the camera's lens, Amuro was finally able to free up some time to greet the other guests.
However, he still kept one ear open and listened carefully to the conversation of the four people.
Hagiwara said, "Mr. Amuro's cooking skills are so superb. If he were to become a food blogger one day, he would definitely be able to surpass that Uncle Meow!"
"Hey, what are you talking about? How can Uncle Meow compare to Mr. Amuro's cooking skills? Those internet celebrities' food is only for looking at, not for eating, and after they finish making it, who knows whether they'll eat it themselves or feed it to the dogs!" Matsuda said disdainfully.
"Uncle Nyan's food must taste pretty good, right? I can make a decent bento box by following his instructions." Takagi, the only honest person in the room, argued for her idol. "Besides, Uncle Nyan has never had any pets, has he?"
“Brother Takagi, you don’t know this. Uncle Meow has a dog, a big golden retriever!” Hagiwara said with a grin.
“I’ve even seen him walking his dog!” Matsuda chimed in.
Amuro, who was tidying up the table nearby, heard this and gave the other person a threatening look: "You two bastards, don't take this joke too far! I don't need to rely on Kei to support me!"
"Jing never walks me; if anyone's going to be walking someone, it's me walking him!"
"I didn't expect you two to know Uncle Nyan! He actually owns a golden retriever? I always thought Uncle Nyan preferred cats," Takagi said in surprise. "Does Date-senpai know Uncle Nyan too?"
The class monitor, who had been mostly silent, skillfully stroked the cat and calmly said, "I don't know it."
Amuro breathed a sigh of relief, feeling very pleased with the class monitor's answer.
But Date added insult to injury: "I have a cat at home, and I'm allergic to dogs."
The injured golden retriever ran off to the side, looking dejected.
The air in the store seemed to become more cheerful.
However, an urgent phone call ruined the pleasant atmosphere.
Fate is like a mischievous little devil, always ready to slap you in the face or pour cold water on you when you're happiest.
By the time you realize it, it has already sped off to find its next target.
"Date-senpai, what's wrong?" Takagi asked worriedly, noticing that the other person's complexion had suddenly turned very bad.
Date snapped out of her daze, looked blankly at the several pairs of concerned eyes, and said indistinctly, "I'm sorry, something came up at home, I have to go. Takagi, could you please ask for leave for me..."
Immediately afterwards, Date stuffed some money into Amuro's hand, left with the words "Keep the change" and hurriedly departed.
"What happened to the class monitor's family?"
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