Excellent Matchmaking

The laws in the Conan World are a bit of a mess.

Criminals have a variety of reasons that can lead to a reduced sentence.

For example, committing crimes while intoxicated...

In his memory, there was a case where someone, after getting drunk, pushed a child down a flight of stairs to their death, but in the end, the court only sentenced them to five years, and even gave them a suspended sentence...

Even more outrageous is that when the child's parents sought revenge, they were chased by Conan and ended up being imprisoned as well.

Does being drunk mean that one's actions are unconscious?

Whatever he did could be considered manslaughter, or at least he could be given a lighter sentence.

Fujino couldn't understand how such a brain-dead way of making a judgment came about.

"My Lord Mermaid! Can you grant me the power of a mermaid?"

Looking down, Fujino saw Kadowaki Saori sitting on the ground in front of him, looking at him expectantly.

Fujino: "..."

No...

And so they believed he was a mermaid.

And she even wants to ask him for the Mermaid Power?

To be honest, he had some doubts about whether the woman was mentally sound.

Kadowaki Saori, however, thought differently.

At this moment, she was staring intently at Fujino's body.

He would occasionally swallow hard, looking like a big bad wolf eyeing a little lamb, Tigress staring at a teenage boy.

Kadowaki Saori didn't feel any pain from the few blows she received, and the cool breeze on her bottom didn't make her feel ashamed.

On the contrary, she was extremely excited and was thinking about how to obtain the mermaid's blessing of immortality.

In Japan legends, eating mermaid flesh grants the power of immortality.

There's a similar legend on their island: it's Life Lord only by eating mermaid flesh can one live to be a hundred years old...

In other words, as long as she eats the other person's flesh, she can gain the ability to live forever.

The temptation was quite strong; clearly, in her eyes, Fujino had become a living Tang Sanzang.

Kadowaki Saori decided to take a gamble.

Ever since the Life Lord three years ago when her beloved was burned to death in a fire but miraculously revived the next day, she has firmly believed in the existence of mermaids and has become a devoted believer in them.

As a devout follower of mermaids, she naturally wouldn't let this opportunity slip by.

Even if I get beaten to death today, I will still bite off a piece of flesh from the Mermaid.

She suddenly stood up and pounced on Fujino.

At the same time, it opened its mouth and viciously tried to bite off a piece of flesh from Fujino's body.

"Crack!"

Fortunately, Fujino reacted quickly, slapping her across the face and sending her flying about a meter away.

"This madman... does he want to eat my flesh?"

Fujino took two steps back, looking with lingering fear at Kadoya Saori, who had been Kadowaki Saori away not far away, her brows furrowed slightly.

If it were an ordinary person today, they would probably have had a piece of flesh bitten off.

"This woman actually wants to eat human flesh in order to achieve immortality... Has she become so superstitious about mermaids?"

Fujino felt a chill run down his spine. After a moment's thought, he decided to play along. "Do you really want to live forever?"

"Yes!"

Seeing that her surprise attack had failed, Kadowaki Saori immediately became respectful again, quickly turned over and knelt on the ground as if begging for alms. "I am willing to pay any price for immortality."

"Okay, okay..."

Fujino looked at Kadowaki Saori, his eyes narrowing slightly beneath his hood. "Close your eyes first, and I'll give you the mermaid's blessing."

"Really?!"

Kadowaki Saori appeared unusually excited and immediately closed her eyes.

"That's definitely true..."

Fujino silently picked up the Electric Baton and slowly and cautiously walked towards Kadowaki Saori.

"Sizzle..."

"Ah—please be more intense~"

He's probably a masochist.

Fujino was afraid that he felt like he was rewarding her.

The crackling of electricity mingled with screams drifted on the Tokyo evening breeze.

Although Fujino did not have the ability to turn people into mermaids.

However, it is still possible to turn a person into a mermaid through physical means.

Mermaids, huh...

It's simply a matter of not having legs, which is very easy to do. He has used Iron Pipe and other similar tools to help many criminals become 'mermaids'.

Actually, he has another way to become a mermaid.

That method is just too bloody; if not handled properly, it could kill someone.

His method of directly breaking his legs and turning him into a humanoid 'mermaid' is still more reliable.

The next morning.

Ai Haibara prepared breakfast early in the morning, and after eating, she changed into a warm light pink fleece-lined windbreaker.

Akemi Miyano was also dressed a bit warmer, in a light blue sweater shirt, a knee-length skirt, and black stockings...

Fujino brought the ski equipment he and Ran had bought last time, and drove the two of them to Professor Agasa's house.

As soon as he arrived, he noticed that several little ones had also arrived at the same time.

"Oh, you've arrived."

Professor Agasa pushed open the door, his voice a little strange. "Have you had breakfast? Want to grab a bite here...?"

"We've already eaten."

Akemi Miyano chuckled lightly and responded, then looked at Professor Agasa with a puzzled expression. "By the way, your voice sounds a little strange? Do you have a cold?"

"Not at all! I just caught a chill last night."

Professor Agasa said firmly.

Before he could even say two words, he coughed lightly, and then snot started running down his nose.

The group entered the house.

"In that case, let's go another day."

Conan glanced at Professor Agasa and then continued, "In this situation, Professor Agasa, you simply can't drive. If you do, you're likely to cause an accident."

"Uh-huh."

Ayumi nodded and agreed, "If you have a cold, you should rest at home."

"If it gets serious, things could get really bad."

"That's right, you might even need to be hospitalized."

Genta and Mitsuhiko chimed in.

"It's not that serious..."

Professor Agasa found a handkerchief, blew his nose, and felt somewhat helpless but also warmed by what he was being told.

For an elderly man living alone without children, such care is very heartwarming.

However, being a stubborn old man, Professor Agasa has no intention of giving up the opportunity to go out and play with the children.

Because Professor Agasa caught a cold, his usual Volkswagen Beetle was sealed away.

To prevent any unforeseen circumstances, everyone had no choice but to use buses as their mode of transportation.

The train platform.

"But speaking of which, Professor Agasa, you're usually in good health, so how come you catch a cold so easily?"

Conan was bored while waiting for the bus.

He looked at Professor Agasa and asked in confusion.

In his memory, Professor Agasa was in very good health and rarely caught a cold throughout the year.

Professor Agasa turned his head and blew his nose. "I stayed up late last night... and I caught a cold without even realizing it."

"It's better to avoid staying up late. Professor Agasa, you're already quite old. You can't stay up late anymore. If you're not careful, you could have a stroke."

Fujino, who was standing nearby, offered his advice. "Once we get there, I'll take the kids out to play. You can relax at the ski resort hotel."

"Then I'll leave it to you, Fujino- kun."

Professor Agasa nodded, but felt somewhat uncomfortable.

Although he doesn't seem to care much about age, it's still a bit hard to accept that he actually says he's old.

Soon, the bus arrived at the station.

After boarding the bus and paying their fares, the passengers found their seats one after another.

Fujino put his ski equipment under the seat, and then sat down next to Professor Agasa and Conan with Ai Haibara.

During the journey, Fujino sat in a seat on the outside, looking at the street scene outside the window with a myriad of thoughts in his mind.

The situation is a bit chaotic this time. Jodie, Vermouth, and Shuichi Akai will all be getting on this bus soon.

Besides these few people, two more robbers will come up together.

The FBI, the Black Organization, several people who took drugs and turned into elementary school students, the time traveler himself, and two robbers.

It was quite a lively scene to have such a pair of amazing people crammed into a small bus.

However, those two petty thieves really weren't anything special.

In Mihua's excellent matching system, encountering such a large number of unlucky people is truly unfortunate.

Not to mention Jodie, Vermouth, and that man.

Even Conan could subdue them with a soccer ball or a Tranquilizer Dart.

If it were him, he could take them all down in no time.

"Oh, you guys are here too?"

Just then, the bus pulled into the station, and a familiar voice suddenly came from behind, sounding somewhat surprised.

At the same time, Fujino suddenly felt a warm touch on his fingertips.

Turning around, I saw Tomoaki Araide, who was wearing a black wool sweater and a green suit.

To be precise, it should be Vermouth in disguise as Tomoaki Araide.

The warm touch came from Ai Haibara.

The moment Ai Haibara saw Tomoaki Araide, her organizational radar was triggered again.

Despite having learned from past experiences, the sudden triggering of a biological warning radar while riding the bus was still quite unpleasant for her.

She instinctively grabbed Fujino's hand, trying to find a sense of security.

"Well?"

Mitsuhiko also noticed Tomoaki Araide and then exclaimed in surprise, "He's the same teacher I had my internal medicine check-up a few days ago!"

However, the little ones quickly noticed the crucial point.

Behind Tomoaki Araide Jodie, who was wearing a red sweater and a magenta trench coat.

Genta's lips curled into a mischievous grin, as if he were watching a melon. "So Doctor Shinide out on a date today."

"Is this Doctor Shinide's girlfriend?"

Ayumi looked at Jodie and gave a little girl's smile, "So pretty."

No, that's not it.

Tomoaki Araide an awkward smile, "This is just my English teacher at Teitan High School, not someone I'm on a date with."

"Hi!"

Jodie greeted everyone and soon noticed Fujino sitting next to her, "Fujino- kun, so you're taking this bus too? What a coincidence."

"Ms. Jodie."

Fujino nodded and greeted him.

"Fujino- kun, is this someone we know?"

Akemi Miyano was behind, noticed the two people in front and asked Fujino curiously.

"Yes, they are teachers at our school."

Fujino turned around and looked at the two of them again. "But you and Doctor Shinide..."

"Hehe, I was actually going on a date with him at the Ueno Museum."

Jodie smiled and cheerfully introduced herself to the people around her.

Fujino looked at the two of them, his gaze simply pausing.

Two women went on a date; it had a bit of a lesbian feel to it.

"Don't talk nonsense..."

Tomoaki Araide found a seat next to Conan, sat down, and said with an embarrassed smile, "We just met at the bus stop."

"Snort..."

Jodie snorted and stepped forward, saying resentfully, "You're really making girls lose face, aren't you?"

"But it would be bad if rumors started circulating at school."

Vermouth's acting was superb; she feigned an honest and timid demeanor and said awkwardly.

"Oh! I think so."

Jodie exaggeratedly covered her mouth, then sat down neatly beside her.

"Bang, bang!"

At this moment, Ai Haibara's heart pounded even harder.

She gripped Fujino's fingers tightly, not daring to look up.

Because after removing the aura of the Black Organization, she sensed another one, which was slightly weaker and somewhat strange.

The source of the scent had already boarded the vehicle.

It was a tall man with black hair, wearing a knitted hat, a mask, and a light blue trench coat.

The man was bundled up tightly, but in this winter, it didn't seem inappropriate at all.

The reason why Ai Haibara sensed that strange aura from him was not for any other reason.

This is because this man is Shuichi Akai, who once worked undercover in the organization and was known as "that man".

After getting into the car, Shuichi Akai began to scan his surroundings out of the corner of his eye.

His purpose in boarding this train this time was not for anything else.

This was precisely to help Jodie complete the FBI's mission.

However, calling it cooperation is not entirely accurate.

Strictly speaking, it should be called surveillance.

After scanning the area, Shuichi Akai quickly spotted Fujino.

He had some impression of Fujino and had also looked at his photos.

Since he didn't know him, he couldn't offer an evaluation.

He glanced at it for a fleeting moment, then immediately looked away and continued to observe.

However, when he saw what came next, he was clearly taken aback.

The person in sight was none other than Akemi Miyano sitting behind Fujino ...

Shuichi Akai stared in astonishment at the unfamiliar yet strangely familiar face.

Immediately, he thought of Akemi Miyano had already passed away.

Is it just because they look alike?

But this familiar feeling is indeed very similar.

Shuichi Akai's astonishment lasted only a moment. He quickly suppressed his strange emotions, then sat down in the back of the bus, intending to concentrate on completing his mission.

His every move was observed by two suspicious eyes.

Conan sensed something strange about this man.

Fujino kept his eyes slightly narrowed as he watched the other person sit down.

As if sensing that someone was watching him, Shuichi Akai did not do anything unusual. He simply coughed twice, then opened his eyes, revealing dark green eyes.

After taking a quick look, Conan didn't follow any further and turned to observe other things.

Fujino continued to stare at the other person until their eyes met.

At that moment, Shuichi Akai also noticed that Fujino was watching him.

He felt something was off.

After all, the two had never met before, so this situation shouldn't have happened.

Could it be that my disguise has been exposed?

Or perhaps the other party noticed something...