Magic Lovers' Gathering

When Fujino drove back from the crime scene, Sonoko and Ran had already been waiting for him at Beetle Cafe for a long time.

Ran wore a dark yellow sweater dress with a black shirt underneath and a pink coat draped over her shoulders. Sonoko wore a green sweater and a black knee-length skirt, with a brown fur coat draped over her shoulders and black socks covering her calves.

"By the way, where did Mr. Amuro go?"

As soon as Fujino Beetle Cafe, he heard Sonoko asking in confusion.

"I haven't seen Mr. Amuro for a long time either."

Ran glanced around and replied in this way.

Upon hearing this, Fujino twitched his chin, finally realizing what was happening.

It seems like he hasn't seen Amuro Tooru for quite some time.

The last time he saw Touko was probably not long before he met Kuroba Kaito at the ski resort.

After thinking for a moment, he walked up to Enomoto Azusa, who was sweeping the floor, and asked, "Miss Enomoto, where is that waiter who looks like me? I haven't seen him in a long time."

Enomoto Azusa is a female employee at Beetle Cafe. She has long, straight black hair, blue eyes, and a baby face, giving off a friendly older sister vibe. She usually wears casual clothes, and most of the time she wears a white apron over them.

"Fujino- kun, are you referring to Mr. Amuro?"

Enomoto Azusa pondered for a moment, "He recently said he found some other high-paying job, so he quit..."

"Did you resign?"

Fujino twitched his chin.

Is the Working Emperor quitting his job and resigning?

It's likely that the Alcohol Company abandoned its investigation into him.

Fujino was a little confused.

Since the other side was willing to send a dump truck to assassinate him and even dispatched Amuro Tooru, an intelligence agent, to investigate him, it shouldn't end like this...

If they really killed his parents, then they shouldn't have let him go so easily.

"Brother Fujino, Ran to you."

Before leaving, Mori Kogoro leaned over and whispered, "I'm really worried about her going to a party with a bunch of strangers."

"Leave it to me."

"Thank you for your help, Fujino- kun."

Mori Kogoro patted Fujino on the shoulder.

"Sister Ran! I want to go to that party too!"

Just as Fujino was about to turn around, get into the car, and drive off, he heard Conan's delicate voice beside him.

Fujino turned his head and saw Conan acting cute and coquettish in a sickly and weak manner.

"No!"

Mori Kogoro walked over and grabbed Conan, saying, "You're sick and you still want to go out? Aren't you afraid of making your cold worse?"

Conan immediately started acting like a spoiled child, throwing a tantrum. "No! No! I want to be with Ran- neechan! I want to go to the villa on the mountain to see the snow!"

Fujino stood aside, quietly recording the scene with his Vision Enhancement Glasses.

The current Conan is like a primary school student with some intellectual disabilities.

It doesn't seem like an act at all.

I bet some of those stories, once they started, just became real.

Many years later, the videos he recorded using Vision Enhancement Glasses will be released.

It's highly likely that Kudo Shinichi will suffer a direct social death.

I bet when they wake up in the middle of the night and recall that embarrassing moment, they'll yell, "Braised!"

"Dad, why don't we let Conan come with us?"

Ran looked at Conan, who was weak and pitifully acting like a spoiled child, and her soft heart couldn't bear it.

"Don't cause trouble for Ran and the others."

Seeing that his daughter had spoken up, Mori Kogoro couldn't say anything more and instead gave Conan a scolding.

"But the snow scene..."

Fujino looked up at the dim sky.

Snowflakes are falling.

Winter has arrived before we knew it...

He remembered that it was still summer just a few days ago.

Well, as expected of the Conan World.

On the way to the agreed-upon villa on the mountain.

Fujino, sitting in the driver's seat, glanced at Conan, who was sitting in the back looking sickly. "Is Conan sick again?"

"He probably caught a cold when he went to Izu a few days ago."

Ran explained, "I suddenly caught a cold after I got home from school last night."

Fujino glanced at Conan.

Is this kid catching a cold again?

Could it be some strange side effect of aptX4869?

He remembered the last time he went bowling, this kid had been catching colds way too many times.

Or is it because it's possessed by an evil spirit?

He had previously come into contact with things like souls.

For example, the soul lotus root.

The Soul Lotus is a gold-tier item, possessing abilities far exceeding those of most gold-tier items. Furthermore, the Lotus Medal that comes with the Soul Lotus can even absorb the Soul Power of the deceased to strengthen the Soul Lotus.

He still doesn't understand the concept of the soul.

However, judging from the current situation, there shouldn't be any ghosts or similar things in the Conan World that can affect physical entities.

And even if there really were ghosts or spirits, Conan wouldn't get involved with them.

It was less about provoking and more about fear.

After all, what soul would be so blind as to provoke the Shinigami Elementary School Student?

"Having a cold is one thing, but to actually come to this party with us..."

Suzuki Sonoko, sitting in the back, complained, "Why does this brat always cause us trouble when he's sick?"

"Cough cough..."

Conan coughed. "Because people are curious about magic and stuff."

Sonoko glanced at Conan speechlessly, then ignored Conan.

She took out a handkerchief, a red string, and a ring from her pocket and began to perform magic tricks with Ran.

It's a magic trick where the ring is covered with a handkerchief and then threaded through a knotted red string.

The method is simple: it takes advantage of people's belief that the ring can only be threaded onto the red string by passing it through both ends of the string.

Conan quickly saw through this tactic.

"You little rascal, you're such a nuisance."

Sonoko angrily put away the magic items and looked at Conan with a resentful expression, arms crossed.

Don't take it to heart.

Ran chuckled and smoothed things over, saying, "This child has been sullen ever since I told him I wanted to attend this magic party."

Could it be that she's jealous?

Fujino chuckled lightly, making a sly remark.

Conan's little face under the mask suddenly looked panicked and unsure of what to do.

"Hmm, I think it's possible."

Sonoko nodded in agreement, "That brat Conan seems to follow Ran every time Ran goes out to play. Ran is practically his nanny."

"How could that be? Conan is still just a child."

Ran chuckled and changed the subject, "But Sonoko, how did you suddenly start going online and become obsessed with magic and stuff?"

"It's because I met a wonderful person."

Sonoko covered her face.

"A great person?"

Ran seemed a little confused.

"His name is Doi Takuki, he's 21 years old, and I met him in a chat room."

Sonoko's face lit up with a lovesick expression. "His words are always so polite, his jokes are sharp and witty, and he occasionally says something arrogant. In short, he must be a wonderful guy..."

"A great guy."

Fujino narrowed his eyes and began to imagine a scene of a boy who was afraid of fish peeping into the women's changing room.

Soon, the group drove to the vicinity of the agreed-upon villa.

Fujino was the first to open the trunk and get out of the car.

"Even as a friend, is it really okay for me to attend this party?"

Ran opened the car door, her words revealing some hesitation.

"Of course it's okay."

Sonoko gave a meaningful smile, "After all, I said I was going to bring my girlfriend along, so of course they agreed."

"Girlfriend?!"

Ran looked at Sonoko with a strange expression, her face flushed, and she swallowed.

"Actually, my hidden identity in the chat room is that of a boy."

Sonoko smiled, interrupting her best friend's unfounded and absurd conjecture.

"But, once they saw your name, Suzuki Sonoko, weren't they immediately exposed?"

Ran seemed somewhat puzzled by Suzuki Sonoko's words.

"Of course not, everyone in the chat room uses screen names."

Sonoko explained, "My online name is 'The Disciple of the Magician,' while Doi Taku uses the Red Herring.'"

As she spoke, she looked at Fujino, who had just opened the trunk. "By the way, Fujino 'Senior hidden identity is a middle-aged office worker with the online name Sun Xiaochuan."

"Sun Xiaochuan?"

Ran looked at Fujino with a strange expression.

"It's just to hide my identity."

Fujino coughed lightly, took a long travel bag from the trunk, and then looked at the location of this gathering, the agreed-upon villa in the mountains.

The villa has three floors and is made of wood. Surrounding the wooden villa is a coniferous forest. The snow weighs down the green pines, which stand tall and straight.

There is a wooden suspension bridge in front of the villa.

This suspension bridge reminded Fujino of the villa that Sonoko's family used to live in.

They are all wooden suspension bridges, and they are all located in the mountains and forests.

These rich people have really strange hobbies.

After crossing the wooden bridge, Fujino and his group arrived at the entrance of the villa.

When the doorbell rang, a kind-looking middle-aged man wearing a brown sweater and blue trousers opened the door shortly after.

"You must be the Disciple of the Magician, right?"

The middle-aged man asked with a smile, recognizing Sonoko's identity at a glance.

"That's true..."

Sonoko looked puzzled. "But how did you know I'm a woman?"

"I can tell from your choice of words: 'You clearly look like a girl, but you're trying to act like an old man.'"

The middle-aged man smiled, then turned to the man and woman in the entryway and asked, "Is that right, you two?"

"Yes."

A woman with round-framed glasses, a single ponytail, a red dress, and black stockings covering her calves, whose innocent voice sounded slightly mature, chuckled, "Whenever I see her putting on that act, I can't help but chuckle to myself."

"Me too."

The man in the white suit standing next to him echoed this sentiment.

Upon hearing Sonoko, Sonoko blushed, and an embarrassing vaporwave almost burst out.

"In that case, this must be the 'girlfriend' you were talking about, right?"

The woman wearing glasses looked at Fujino and felt that he looked somewhat familiar, but she didn't think much of it.

"No... he's actually a member of the chat room too."

Sonoko blushed and waved her hand, pulling Ran behind her over. "This is the friend I brought."

"Also a member of the chat room?"

The woman pondered for a moment, then asked with some surprise, "He wouldn't happen to be Sun Xiaochuan you brought in a while ago, would he?"

"Sun Xiaochuan?"

Suddenly a female voice came from behind.

A woman wearing a light blue cardigan and a dark blue skirt, with a mature appearance and a beauty mark on one side of her chin and mouth, walked over. She seemed a little surprised. "I thought Sun Xiaochuan was a middle-aged man in the workplace. I didn't expect him to be so young."

"Ms. Tanaka, your disguise is not bad either."

The man in the white suit joked.

"If you ask me, you're the best at disguising yourself, aren't you?"

The woman wearing glasses looked at the man in the white suit and said, "I always thought you were a woman, but I never expected you to be a man... I even had to discuss things like underwear and perfume with you, how awful."

"How can you blame me... You're the one who came to talk to me about it."

Amidst the lively atmosphere of teasing each other, everyone began to introduce themselves.

The woman wearing glasses is named Kuroda Naoko, and her online name is Phantom. The woman who looks slightly mature is named Tanaka Kikue, and her online name is Ikasama Douji. The man in the suit is named Hamano Tatsuya, and his online name is Vanishing Pani.

That's right, this guy is one of the two who criticized Fujino a few days ago.

As for the middle-aged man, his name was Ara Yoshinori, and his online name was the Taciturn Ventriloquist.

That is, the child is the one who is a fan of Detective Fujino.

This villa was provided by him for the gathering.

Besides, there was a man dressed all in black.

The man wasn't one of the people in the chat group; he was a college student hired by Ara Yoshinori to work for them.

"Ahem."

Fujino cleared his throat lightly. "Hello everyone, I am Sun Xiaochuan, my real name is Fujino."

Damn, this username still feels a bit off-putting.

I should have chosen a different online name.

Reeds, it seems, are not a bad option either.

"Fujino... could you be the Great Detective Fujino?"

Kuroda Naoko murmured, then looked at Fujino with a glint in her eyes. "I thought it was just a resemblance, but it turns out it really is."

"Great Detective?"

Upon hearing this, Tanaka Kikue was stunned for a moment, her expression stiffening slightly, but the stiffness only lasted for a moment before disappearing without a trace.

"Just call me Fujino."

Fujino waved his hand, his gaze lingering on Tanaka Kikue, and he narrowed his eyes.

"What a coincidence! No wonder Ms. Suzuki spoke up for Detective Fujino back then."

At that moment, Kuroda Naoko suddenly teased Hamano Tatsuya, "Speaking of which, didn't someone recently write a long critique of Detective Fujino in a chat room?"

"Forehead..."

Hamano Tatsuya's expression immediately turned strange. "I didn't know that Detective Fujino was also in the chat room at the time."

Q: What should I do if I've been making boastful remarks online, but then I meet the person in a live gathering who happens to be the one who raids and destroys a criminal gang's hideout?

Urgent!

"Haha, it's okay."

Fujino's lips curled up slightly, and he enunciated clearly, "Ignorance is no excuse."

"That expression..."

Conan shuddered at the fake smile on Fujino's face, and unpleasant memories flooded back.

He knew Fujino's style.

That's the kind of person who won't confront you to your face, but will stab you in the back later.

When you cut it open, not a single piece is white.

He suffered greatly from it.

Thinking of this, he looked at Hamano Tatsuya with eyes full of sympathy.

"Speaking of Doi... where is the Red Herring?"

Just then, Sonoko, who had been looking around for a while, suddenly spoke up, "Could it be that he hasn't arrived yet?"

"He has arrived and is upstairs unpacking his luggage."

Ara Yoshinori pointed to the building behind him.

Footsteps approached, Fujino looked up to see a fat man in a blue hoodie walking down the wooden stairs from upstairs.