Little Night Owl

"There will only be more and more branches in the future, and they will grow larger and larger. At that time, we will have to hand them over to President Akemi to handle."

Fujino straightened up, looked ahead to the future with a serious expression, gently patted Akemi's soft shoulder, and smiled, "Actually, this branch is for you to learn and practice. There's plenty of funding, and I'll help with hiring and site selection. President Akemi, you can rest assured."

"Oh--!"

Akemi was completely absorbed in the repeated calls of "President," her eyes sparkling with a hint of light.

She envisioned herself becoming the female president of a listed company in the future.

Ai Haibara: "..."

Fujino is such a wicked guy!

Even someone as clueless as Sister Akemi was given empty promises...

Ai nearby, couldn't help but twitch her eyebrow at the inspiring scene before her.

But then she turned her eyes around and looked everything over.

She also felt that Fujino's pie-in-the-sky promises might not be entirely impossible.

To generate ten million yen in such a short time... that's already very fast.

Can these beverage shops really achieve widespread distribution across China and overseas?

So, could she also be a mascot or something?

It was almost noon.

The issues concerning the branch stores were left entirely to Akemi to resolve.

Meanwhile, Fujino was in his room, catching up on the original Kamen Rider tokusatsu series.

"Ring ring!"

The phone suddenly rang.

Fujino turned his gaze away from the Kamen Rider who had kicked the monster, took out his phone and glanced at it, only to find it was an unfamiliar number.

"Moshi moshi".

Fujino answered the phone and greeted the person on the other end, "Who is this?"

A childish voice came from the other end of the phone. "You're that guy who's really good at finding people... Wild, right?"

"It's Fujino."

Fujino held his phone, his eyes looking lifeless.

Judging from the voice, the other person should be a child around seven or eight years old.

And the title of being particularly good at finding people... seems to belong to the client.

But if he can't even remember his name and he's just a kid, is he really a serious client?

His expression softened, and he didn't bother arguing with the child with the baby voice. He spoke as usual, "Since you're so good at finding people, you must have a request to find someone... and you were introduced by someone close to you, right?"

"That's right."

The person on the other end of the phone replied, "I came to you because I heard you're particularly good at finding talent."

"That's absolutely right."

Fujino nodded slightly in agreement. "My detective agency is in 5-chome. You can come over if you have time. It's better to discuss the case in person... Do you have time tomorrow?"

"My daily routine indicates that I have plans for tomorrow, so I can't do it tomorrow."

The child on the other end of the phone sounded unusually mature, "The 13th, I think, I'll have time then."

"Okay, okay, come over when you have time. No rush, just call me then."

Fujino hung up the phone immediately, feeling that this kid was being way too arrogant.

He didn't think that the kid would have any daily schedule, much less money to pay the commission fee.

But let's call him over and ask him first.

What if it's a rich young master?

"Knock knock knock!"

Just then, there was a knock on the door, and Ai Haibara's voice came from outside. "Fujino, are you in the room?"

"Here I am."

Fujino stood up, put away the phone, opened the door, and looked down to see Ai.

During holidays, Ai Haibara sometimes comes to Snow King Ice City to help out.

So at this moment, she was wearing a brown apron and looked up at Fujino: "Summer vacation will end in a few days. Those guys who just came from Snow King Ice City said that Professor Agasa is planning to take us camping in the suburbs tomorrow, and they asked me to ask you if you want to come along."

"How many more days until it's over?"

Upon hearing this, Fujino noticed the key point and frowned.

He remembered that summer vacation had only started a few days ago, right?

Is it almost over?

But considering the way things have been going on in the Conan World lately, he wasn't surprised at all...

"Um."

Ai Haibara nodded, immediately realizing that Fujino had gotten the time wrong again. She then pretended to talk to herself and said softly, "Counting today, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, and the day after that, school starts. I need to prepare my summer homework properly."

She paused, then looked at Fujino and asked, "The day after tomorrow, you high school students should be going back to school early to clean, right? Have you prepared your school uniforms and everything?"

"Everything is ready. I'll go and tell them about the camping trip in person."

The next day, in the morning.

Fujino drove Ai Haibara and Conan to Professor Agasa's house.

The three little ones were already waiting there, having changed into their camping and adventure clothes.

"Hasn't Professor Agasa come out yet?"

Fujino, dressed in a black tracksuit, got out of the car and glanced at the little ones.

"Yes!"

Mitsuhiko glanced at his watch. "It's already past the scheduled time."

"Could it be that he hasn't gotten up yet?"

Genta chimed in, "For example, being so excited about camping that you can't sleep."

"It's not that bad..."

Conan laughed and said, "Professor Agasa isn't a child anymore."

Meanwhile, Ayumi was lost in thought, seemingly preoccupied with something.

One moment he seemed to have mustered up his courage, and the next he seemed dejected.

The change in his expression was quite obvious.

"They're probably working on some invention again."

At this moment, Ai Haibara got out of the car and yawned. "Or maybe I accidentally caused the invention to explode, making a mess of my lab, and I'm still cleaning up now..."

"Good morning, sigh..."

Ayumi hesitated, wanting to say something, but in the end, the words caught in her throat and she couldn't say them.

"Um?"

Ai Haibara, her eyelids drooping, glanced at the Ayumi with a puzzled look.

"It's nothing."

Ayumi gave an awkward laugh and said in a sentence that started with a Japanese homonym, "You're still the same as always. You look listless, like you haven't slept well."

"Yeah, after all, I'm a night owl..."

Ai Haibara nodded, readily admitting her identity as a night owl.

As a researcher of science fiction, staying up all night is the norm.

Before she shrunk, she was a night owl who often drank coffee.

Basically, I consume one can a week, to the point where I'm almost developing caffeine resistance.

Even after shrinking, she retained her previous lifestyle habits.

The Little Night Owl's daily routine is roughly like this: on school days, he will go out to play with the Junior Detective League if he has something to do, and when he has nothing to do, he will go home after school to help Akemi and then procrastinate until late at night to study A-drug.

During holidays, he would sometimes go out with the Junior Detective League. If he didn't go out, he would continue to help Akemi, or go to Professor Agasa's house to use the equipment to conduct in-depth research on A-drug, and then continue to research A-drug at home in the evening.

Yes, my lifestyle is very stable.

From a big night owl to Little Night Owl.