Chapter 222 Sixteen Gachapon

While Akae Nanazuki was on a half-day tour in Kyoto, it was lunchtime in Edogawa Conan. The kids from Teitan Elementary School were sitting in the hotel cafeteria chattering while eating lunch. Conan, who was sitting at the same table with the Young Detectives, was peeling a boiled egg and yawning in boredom.

"We have free time in the afternoon. Where shall we go to play?" Ayumi asked her friends excitedly.

"Let's go eat eel rice!" Yuan Tai suggested happily, biting the spoon, "This hotel's cafeteria doesn't serve eel rice, even though it's the eel season recently."

"Yuanta, this hotel is not a buffet restaurant. How can you get whatever you want?" Guangyan's mouth twitched. "But, we can't go too far during our free time, right?"

No matter how mature they are, it cannot change the fact that they are still first graders in elementary school. It would be strange if the teacher would agree to let them wander around Kyoto like this.

Huiyuan, who was drinking coffee beside him, said calmly, "Not necessarily. Teacher Kobayashi said that as long as an adult is with you, you can go somewhere far away and move around freely."

The three children looked at each other and cheered. Conan's eyes widened, as if he saw that one of the unlucky teachers on the team would be kidnapped by these energetic and sociable children to be a 'free activity witness'.

But it was still unfortunate for him, because the kids would definitely drag him along...ah, he really would rather sit down and read a detective novel for an afternoon than run around with the curious young detective team.

While he was worrying, Ayumi and the other two were already carrying their clean plates of food and preparing to look for the teacher who could be their 'sucker', but Mitsuhiko, who was standing there waiting for his friends, was suddenly bumped from behind.

"Oh, sorry!" The one who bumped into him was Sota from the next class. The little boy quickly bowed and apologized, "Well, I was distracted and didn't see it... Sorry!"

"It's okay." Mitsuhiko waved his hand generously, "But Kusata-kun, you look distressed. What happened?"

The Junior Detective Team was still in its early stages of development. The three kids were well aware of the principle that "business is earned by oneself", and they would often enthusiastically ask others at school if they had any cases to entrust to them.

So Souta didn't think there was anything wrong. After hesitating for a moment, he nodded and pinched the corner of his clothes nervously: "I made an appointment with an older brother, but I suddenly felt unwell. My father will come to pick me up and take me back to Tokyo. I can't meet my older brother..."

"Eh?! Why is that..." The three kids felt sad, and then looked at each other, "If you don't mind, Souta can talk to us? We'll help you meet the big brother and tell him that Souta also wanted to see him, but something unexpected happened!"

The child's eyes lit up: "Is it really possible? Will it be too much trouble for you?"

"It doesn't matter, because we are the young detective team who enjoys helping others." Yuan Tai patted his chest and said proudly.

Conan, who had been watching for a long time, twitched his lips and complained quietly: "How can this be a detective's job? This has clearly become a jack of all trades, right?"

"Oh, does Edogawa, who plays detective games with the kids all day, have any ideas?" Huibara next to him said to him leisurely.

Conan recalled how he got excited when he was solving cases with the Junior Detective Team: It was totally irrefutable!

At this time, Cao Tai was also invited by the three people to sit next to their table, and began to tell the story of himself and the older brother in a low voice.

At this time last year, Souta came to Kyoto with his mother to view cherry blossoms. Somewhere they met an older brother with a very nice voice. The older brother was in a hurry and accidentally bumped into his ice cream, but there was no store nearby.

So in the end the older brother told Cao Tai that if he encountered this situation again this year, he would buy Cao Tai ten ice creams and share one with his little friend.

What a trick to trick children... Conan complained inwardly.

"Then Souta, do you still remember what that older brother looks like and what his name is?" Ayumi asked curiously.

Souta looked thoughtful, and after thinking for a while, he said firmly, "I don't know!"

"..."Even Huibara couldn't help but turn her head away and suppress her laughter.

I don't know why you still want to say that you know it?

"The older brother was covering himself tightly at that time. He was wearing sunglasses, a mask, and a hat. I couldn't see what he looked like," Cao Tai said honestly.

Conan suddenly felt something was wrong.

It's mid-April now, the season of spring and blooming flowers, so there's no need to cover up so strictly, right? Could it be that the older brother has hay fever?

He held his forehead in silence and said: But if you have hay fever, why do you still want to go to see the cherry blossoms? Are you committing suicide?

"Although I don't know what big brother looks like, but big brother's voice is very nice." Cao Tai swung his legs happily and said, "Also, big brother's friends seem to call him..."

"Zero." Kusata was embarrassed: "Because this name sounds really cool, I have remembered it until now."

The four real kids over there have already started to exclaim how interesting this code-name is, while the two fake kids over here are completely frozen in their expressions and movements.

Because they happen to have a big brother codenamed 'zero' who might be fully armed when he goes out.

"Wait a minute, Souta!" Conan tried his best to sound as relaxed as possible, "Does that big brother have any other characteristics?"

For example, her skin is whiter than normal people, or something else? If it was Zero, he might indeed make such a weird but cute agreement with the children, Conan thought.

"As for characteristics, big brother has dark skin, like a foreigner, and beautiful golden hair! Does this count?" Kusata said hesitantly.

Conan's expression became subtle.

Wait, what did you say? Who? Huh?

Oh, that's not Zero. His brother is obviously white with black hair. But why does this description sound so familiar, blond hair and black skin...

Conan remembered the blond man who was pointed out by Haibara as a member of the organization, the man who called himself Toru Amuro.

He frowned deeply, thinking that it was impossible for such a coincidence to happen. However, when he remembered that Zero seemed to have been undercover in that organization, he felt that there might be nothing wrong.

Maybe he was using Zero's name as a disguise? Or maybe Zero also said in his self-introduction that "Furiya Zero" was just the name that impressed him the most.

Conan thought deeply: If he was the one who was hunting down Zero, Zero would remember his name deeply, and it would be logically perfect and justifiable to use it now, right?

I'm not sure if this is true, but it's too bad, Mr. Amuro!

"Are you sure that the older brother's friend called him by this name?" Regarding Akae Nayue, Huibara also asked seriously.

Souta nodded in a positive tone: "That's it! The older brother's friend has a nice voice and is carrying a guitar bag! They should be in some band, right?"

Conan was now even more certain that the man might be Toru Amuro, and he muttered to himself: That's not necessarily true, a person carrying a guitar bag might also have a sniper rifle in the bag.

"But will that big brother really come?" Yuan Tai pouted, feeling that this commission was not as interesting as he had imagined. "It's been a year, maybe it was just a coincidence that he came here last year."

Souta nodded more affirmatively.

"Big Brother will definitely come." The little girl nodded, her hair fluttering in the air. "Because Big Brother said that he and his friend came to Kyoto to visit another friend of theirs, so he will definitely come this year. I believe in Big Brother."

Ayumi poked Genta, and then asked Souta seriously about the most crucial information: "So, where did Souta-kun meet big brother?"

The child was lost in memories and struggled to find the relevant fragments from his mind: "It seems to be on a mountain. I went to see cherry blossoms with my mother. By the way, I saw the sea of ​​Maizuru Port on the mountainside. It was beautiful!"

At this point, his shoulders slumped. "But my mom wouldn't let me run around. She said it was rude... I wonder why I would be rude on a deserted mountain? Is this adult etiquette?"

Wait, I would visit my friends once a year, and I would dress up and wear sunglasses to prevent the children from running around...

The two more mature pseudo-children had some guesses in their minds.

"Huh? Why does big brother go to the mountains to visit his friend? Is his friend living in a nursing home? Nursing homes are usually what you would find in the mountains." Even Guangyan, who had much more knowledge than the kids, was confused.

"Which mountain?" asked the brown-haired girl, resting her chin on her hand.

Conan next to him raised his phone screen and pointed it at the children. He pushed up his glasses and said, "I think it's here. Mt. Tsukimi is the only mountain nearby that has a large cherry blossom forest and is high enough to see Maizuru Port."

Cao Taizi looked at it carefully for a long time, then nodded in affirmation and surprise: "This is it! My big brother and I made an appointment here."

He pointed to the location on the mountainside on the satellite map and said, "I saw that my mother had a map like this. My memory is great, right?"

Indeed, it is rare that he can remember things that happened a year ago so clearly, considering that he is only seven years old... It seems that Sota is indeed a very amazing child.

Conan shook his head and got rid of the strange thoughts. His guess was basically confirmed.

After all, there is no sanatorium on Mount Tsukimi. Rather, what is there is the Tsukimi Cemetery, a cemetery with a view of the sea.

I just don't know whose grave Mr. Amuro and his friends cleaned at Tsukimi Cemetery?

…

At this moment, Akae Nazuki, who had just been dragged into a curry shop by Hagiwara and Matsuda and fed the two children, Hattori Heiji and Toyama Kazuha, until they cried and admitted defeat due to the spicy food, sneezed outside the shop.

He glanced at his hands in confusion.

I've been sneezing a lot lately. I don't think anyone has noticed this, but I think I have a cold, right?

"Ah, Reidan!" Hattori Heiji, who didn't know why he suddenly started calling him that, also came out of the store and finally found some private time to discuss with Akae Nazuki. "I want to ask, Kudo should have been invited to this detective party, why didn't he come?"

Akae Nayue thought back and indeed saw an invitation to Kudo Shinichi in the pile of letters, but...

However, Kudo Shinichi himself is currently on a field trip as an elementary school student in Kyoto.

So the black-haired detective thought for a moment and said, "Because he went to collect folk songs."

Hattori Heiji slowly typed out the question mark.

What kind of style is the detective picking? A corpse? ? ! Pure hell style? Huh?