Ran Seemed to Understand Something

The four-story building across from the Mori Detective Agency.

In the dim room, Fujino stared at the photos on the wall, cut from newspapers and connected by red string. His dark eyes were filled with confusion.

From his memories, he seemed to have transmigrated into the world of Detective Conan...

He now lived in the legendary crime-ridden city of Beika Town. He was eighteen years old and a detective!

Fujino withdrew his gaze and walked out of the dim room. He glanced at the front-page report on the coffee table titled "Heisei Era's Sherlock Holmes," narrowing his eyes.

His name in this world was Fujino Doji, not too different from his original name, Fujino. About a year ago, his parents had been caught up in a case and died. With no relatives and no savings, he had become a detective just to survive.

The only problem was that he was a rather terrible detective.

Unlike Kudo Shinichi, who seemed to encounter deaths wherever he went, Fujino rarely came across murder cases. After muddling through for a year, he still had no reputation to speak of.

His only usual income came from mundane jobs like finding cats and dogs. Every client even hired him for far below market price, and forced by circumstances, he accepted every job that came his way.

He left early and returned late. During his year as a detective, he was either looking for cats and dogs or on his way to look for cats and dogs, until he finally could not endure it any longer.

Already mentally exhausted, he had spent an entire night in the rain while investigating an affair yesterday. With the cold on top of that, his fever rose above forty degrees Celsius. After returning home, he suddenly died.

"He had it pretty rough..."

Fujino muttered, feeling some sympathy for the man's ordeal.

Judging from his memories, the original owner of this body should not have needed to live so miserably. With his diligence, he could have lived comfortably even while renting a place in central Tokyo.

But he happened to own a four-story building in a commercial district, inherited from his parents.

Japan had a fixed property tax. For the four-story building currently in Fujino's hands, the annual tax alone was one million five hundred thousand yen. At the current exchange rate, that was roughly 150,000 yuan.

Even though he was a minor, the people at the tax office would not show mercy. As long as the house was under his name, he had to pay taxes!

Yet judging by the fact that he earned fifty thousand yen per commission, and sometimes not even that much,

after living expenses, it was already difficult to make up the annual tax bill. Saving anything was even harder.

Japan's taxes were truly vicious. They would not even spare a pitiful, helpless eighteen-year-old like him!

As for renting the place out, the original owner had naturally considered it. But that triggered another bug: without a guardian, he could not lease the property...

Ding-dong!

At that moment, the doorbell rang.

Fujino's heart tightened when he heard it...

Could it be someone coming to collect the management fees?

Come to think of it, he only had one million yen left. If that was taken too, life would become even harder from now on...

With no other choice, Fujino crossed his over-one-hundred-square-meter apartment, where he lived alone, and arrived at the bedroom door.

When he opened it, the person before him was not a property manager in a suit wearing an ugly expression, but a girl in a dark blue school uniform with horns growing from her head.

Mori Ran looked at the thin, wary young man behind the half-open door and gave a faint smile. She even bowed politely. "Hello, Senior Fujino. My name is Mori Ran. I live across from you, and we're in the same class... I'm terribly sorry for suddenly disturbing you, but you haven't come to school for a month, and we couldn't reach you by phone either. So the teacher could only arrange for me to come and check on you..."

Same class, Senior, Mori Ran?

Right. The high school the original owner attended seemed to be Teitan High School. Because he had run off halfway through to become some kind of Full-time Detective, his grades had plummeted, and the school eventually made him repeat a year. He should be in the same class as Mori Ran now.

Because of that, the original owner, who had already given up on school, became even more of a slacker. In order to make money, he basically did not go to school for one or two months at a time...

"I'm truly sorry. I've been busy taking all sorts of commissions these past month, so I really couldn't get away."

Fujino gave an awkward smile and explained himself.

His first impression of Mori Ran was quite good.

She was a very polite girl. Her smile was sweet, her manner gentle, and she even spoke to him honorifically.

"Senior Fujino, are you a High School Detective?"

Hearing the word "commissions," Ran asked in surprise.

"It would be more accurate to say I'm a Full-time Detective..."

Fujino corrected her. "After all, this is how I make a living. I'm different from a High School Detective."

"I see."

Ran nodded and looked at Fujino, whose face was slightly pale and who looked malnourished.

Through the crack in the half-open door, she could vaguely see cheap instant noodle cups piled all over the floor.

At once, she seemed to understand something.

"Our family just finished making dinner. I was wondering if Senior Fujino..."

"Since you've already delivered Mori's message, I won't keep you any longer. If I have time, I'll go to school. Goodbye."

Before she could finish, Fujino politely replied. With that, he closed the door.

"Huh?"

The gentle smile on Mori Ran's face gradually stiffened. After composing herself, she sighed.

Senior Fujino must have been having a hard time since losing his parents. Otherwise, he would not have skipped school just to take commissions and earn money.

Tonight, Senior would probably have to eat that kind of unnutritious food again.

Honestly, he was already so malnourished!

One day, she absolutely had to treat Senior to a proper meal!

Shaking her head, Ran felt a trace of regret.

After closing the door, Fujino walked to the balcony. He watched Ran return home, silently resting a hand on the railing.

In the end, Ran was merely a stranger living across from him. He appreciated the thought.

But even after transmigrating and changing souls, the financial hardship the original owner had faced could not be escaped.

In any case, going to school was impossible. He would rather work himself to death outside than set foot on a campus again in this life!

**Ding! System Task detected!**

Please maintain your student status and avoid being expelled! Reward upon completion: Detective profession binding, 100,000 yen in cash!

This was a system?

Fujino stared blankly at the voice in his ears and the system screen that had appeared before his eyes.

A moment later, he accepted the existence of the system. After all, he was a transmigrator. It would have been stranger if he did not have one.

Still, this system's reward was really generous!

One hundred thousand yen was equivalent to the pay from two high-paying commissions. He had originally planned to sell the building and give up entirely, but this system had suddenly appeared and was even going to reward him with one hundred thousand yen!

It could only be said that it was offering far too much!

He had to go to school. He absolutely had to go to school—even if Jesus himself came today, he would not be able to stop him!