Chapter 42
When Conan followed Ran Mao Li to the detective office, the art giveaway at the cafe downstairs had already ended. Along the way, they met many customers holding paper with their own cartoon characters drawn on it, and they looked at them repeatedly with satisfaction, and occasionally exclaimed in praise.
"Strange, why do they all hold a cartoon portrait?"
Conan noticed that there were stickers of the Poirot Café on the back of the drawing paper, and guessed that these were all from the handwriting of Hoshikawa Kazuaki. So Mao Lilan was surprised:
"Is this a work that Senior Hoshikawa gave to a customer as a gift? Senior Hoshikawa is really generous to give away paintings on the spot."
When Mao Lilan looked at those cartoon characters, her eyes revealed an undisguised envy.
After all, what girl doesn't want to have a super cute cartoon portrait of herself? Especially when the artist is the famous manga artist Hoshikawa Kazuaki.
Conan then spoke to comfort him:
"If Xiaolan wants a painting, she can go downstairs and ask Brother Xingchuan. I think Brother Xingchuan will not refuse you, Xiaolan."
Mao Lilan was somewhat tempted, hesitated for a moment, and finally agreed:
"Okay then, we'll go to the cafe and try it out. By the way, I'd like to thank Senior Hoshikawa for picking out the exercise book for you. It's really useful. Today, thanks to Conan's advance reading of the contents of the exercise book, I was able to help Officer Takagi by coincidence. So Conan, you have to thank Brother Hoshikawa later."
"yes!"
Conan smiled and agreed in a particularly obedient manner, but he was so depressed that he almost lost the desire to complain.
Ever since Hoshikawa and Ming gave her the exercise book, Mao Lilan has been urging herself to do more exercises. She said that it was to help her understand more clearly what kind of situations are dangerous and how to avoid danger.
However, Conan Edogawa only realized one thing, that is, Hoshikawa Kazuaki downstairs is a big devil who must not be offended.
In just one night, Edogawa Conan had done so much homework that he felt like throwing up whenever he saw his exercise book. Today, whenever he saw something the same color as the cover of his exercise book, his body would start to shake nervously.
It can be said that the status of Hoshikawa Kazuaki's exercise book in Edogawa Conan's heart has been tied with Kisaki Eri's cooking skills for the top spot on the "list of things I least want to try", and it has also tied with the Black Organization for first place on the "list of things I most want to get rid of as soon as possible".
However, just now, Conan Edogawa encountered a case again, and the tool man Kogoro Mori was not at the scene.
So Conan familiarly told the important clues to Takagi Wataru who rushed over in a cute way, and when asked how he knew so much, he suddenly had an idea and replied:
"I learned this from a book that Brother Xingchuan gave me. That book contains a lot of knowledge that I can't learn normally. It's this thick!"
Conan spread out his two hands and made a gesture of extra thickness. Combined with his deliberately drawn-out tone, it made people feel that it must be an extremely thick encyclopedia, and the content must be all-encompassing.
If this is the case, then it doesn't seem strange that Conan knows so much.
However, unexpectedly, just because of this reason, Mao Lilan insisted that Hoshikawa Kazuaki had been a great help in the child's education, and she insisted that Conan come to her house again today to express her gratitude.
Conan showed half-moon eyes, he just made up an excuse to cover up his identity, what about Xingchuan and Ming's exercise books. But he couldn't really tell the truth, so he could only hold his nose and admit it.
It makes me angry just thinking about it.
When we were about to reach the cafe, a few familiar-looking high school students came towards us, chatting while holding cartoon portraits.
Ran Mouri and Conan recognized him at a glance. He was a third-year student at Teitan High School and a classmate of Hoshikawa Kazuaki.
"I didn't expect that after just a few months of not seeing us, classmate Xingchuan wouldn't even recognize us. This is really embarrassing," someone said.
"It's not that surprising actually. Hoshikawa is usually very aloof. Even if he meets an acquaintance on the street, sometimes he will just leave without even saying hello. He seems a bit arrogant," another person agreed.
"That's not the case. Xingchuan is not arrogant. He is actually very gentle when he is with others. He is just not very good at socializing." Another girl defended him.
"Yeah, it's actually surprising that he's doing this now. He actually took the initiative to give a portrait to someone. It seems like a big change."
After passing by several people, Mao Lilan lowered her head and whispered to Conan:
"I didn't expect that Senior Hoshikawa was actually like that before? It's easy to be isolated with a personality like that."
Conan thought, no wonder Hoshikawa didn't seem to have many close friends, it would be strange if he wasn't isolated with such an eccentric personality.
But he thought again that it was a bit strange. From his recent experience, Xingchuan and Ming didn't seem to have such a hard time getting along. But his classmate didn't look like he was lying.
So why are Xingchuan's personality and habits so different before and after?
Moreover, according to what those people said, he couldn't even recognize his former classmates. It was really hard not to care about such a weird behavior.
When the two arrived at the Poirot Cafe, Xingchuan and Ming just came down the stairs of the detective agency. When they saw each other, they were both stunned.
"Senior Xingchuan, you were at my house just now?"
"Yes, I discussed the comic collaboration with Mao Li."
Xingchuan Heming looked at Mao Lilan's expression of wanting to say something but not knowing what to say, thought for a moment, and then asked with a smile:
"Miss Maori, do you also want a cartoon portrait?"
"Ah! Was my expression so obvious?" Mao Lilan was a little embarrassed.
"Of course not. I just happened to guess. Then please come and sit in the cafe for a while. My painting supplies are all there."
Hoshikawa and Akira then lowered their heads and looked at Conan.
Conan was swept by his malicious gaze and immediately showed an expression as if he wanted to vomit.
Oh no! Whenever I see Xingchuan and Ming, I can't help but think of that damn exercise book!
No, we have to stay calm and never offend this big devil again!
Conan suppressed the urge to vomit, then raised his head and gave Xingchuan and Ming a sweet smile, saying in a cute voice:
"Hello, Brother Xingchuan." She looked very well-behaved.
Xingchuan and Ming were happy inside, but they said with concern:
"Did you sleep well last night, Conan? Did you finish the exercise book I gave you?"
Conan's smile froze, and the frighteningly thick exercise book immediately popped up in his mind. He couldn't laugh anymore.
"Oh, by the way! Conan, why don't you thank Brother Xingchuan. Thanks to the exercise book he gave you, you were able to identify the criminal's method today."
After being reminded by Mouri Ran, Conan's face turned even darker.
Using the exercise book as an excuse was annoying enough, but now he had to thank him in front of Xingchuan and Ming?
For some reason, he suddenly had the urge to throw that damn exercise booklet at Xingchuan and Ming's faces right there and then.
Xingchuan and Ming were laughing in their hearts.
After the previous prank-like revenge, he had actually let go of his dissatisfaction with Conan. But when he saw the young detective in trouble again, he couldn't help but laugh.
To be honest, eating the melons of Little Detective really makes people feel happy both physically and mentally.
However, at this moment, Conan's cute tut-tut voice came from below.
"Thank you, Brother Xingchuan, for giving me the exercise book. Is Brother Xingchuan sick? I just heard from a big sister passing by that Brother Xingchuan couldn't even recognize his classmates. It says in the exercise book that this is a symptom of Alzheimer's disease. If you don't get treatment quickly, you will drool and wet the bed. Brother Xingchuan must get treatment quickly! Otherwise, you will wet the bed!"
Bed-wetting...
Bed-wetting…
This time it was Xingchuan and Ming's turn to freeze.
Ran Mouri kept apologizing, but Conan Edogawa hid behind her and smiled at Hoshikawa and Akira.
Xingchuan and Ming glared at him fiercely.
Arriving at the cafe, Hoshikawa Kazuaki skillfully arranged his painting tools, sketched the lines, and painted a detailed portrait of Mao Lilan in no time. The portrait was vivid and full of charm, and Mao Lilan praised it immediately after she received it.
"This is such a great drawing! Senior Hoshikawa is indeed a famous high school manga artist. He drew me so well in such a short time!"
Azusa Enomoto also came over to take a look, and echoed what he said:
"Hiroshi's paintings have always been great, and he works so hard, so it's only natural that he's popular. And in order to improve the comic effect, Hoshikawa has recently changed his painting style, which is really a big change compared to before. He must have put a lot of effort in private, right?"
Conan Edogawa, who was looking up at the painting, turned his head and asked curiously:
"Eh? Is the change really that big?"
Azusa Enomoto nodded vigorously:
"Yeah! It's really big. At first glance, it looks like it was drawn by two people."
Hoshikawa and Ming were packing up their painting supplies nearby. After hearing this, they suddenly had a bad feeling.
He turned around and saw Edogawa Conan staring at him with an inquiring look. When he saw him turn around, he immediately ran away with his head down and a smile.
Xingchuan and Ming rolled their eyes and ignored him.
Conan ran to the side and began to think seriously.
First, suspected members of the organization were lingering downstairs of his house, and then some classmates said that he didn't recognize his former classmates at all, and even his personality and habits of treating people were different from before. In addition, he suddenly changed his painting style, and it was as if he was painted by two different people.
Even if his memory is really that bad, a person's personality and habits are difficult to change. Not to mention something as personal as a painting style, which is even more difficult to change easily.
If only one of them existed, it could be said to be a coincidence, but with so many suspicious points added together, isn't it worth doubting?
So what kind of reason would cause such a big change in a person?
Conan immediately remembered Dr. Shinde who was once impersonated by Vermouth.
His heart suddenly tightened. Could it be another disguise?
Conan suddenly turned his head to look in the direction of Hoshikawa and Ming, and his mood became extremely heavy as he looked at the cartoonist who was joking with him just a moment ago.
Xingchuan Kazuaki, who are you at this moment?
The author has something to say:
Just when the relationship between the two people had eased, Conan found something suspicious again. Conan is not really finding fault, it can only be said that it is not that easy for one person to completely replace another person.