Mentally ill? This is a genius!

Conan adjusted his glowing glasses, looking at Guchuan Ning with a wise expression.

Actually, Guchuan is quite an impressive detective too!

The fact that he can accurately identify the culprit in such a short time proves his strong deductive reasoning. Because he possesses extraordinary intellect, he behaves differently from ordinary people.

Just like himself, some of his actions when solving cases are misunderstood by Ran and Uncle Mori.

Sigh! It's an occupational hazard for geniuses.

And his act of stealing the armor was entirely due to a possible psychological disorder.

There's a fine line between genius and madness. I'm a genius, but Guchuan is leaning more towards madness.

Little Ai glared at Guchuan, annoyed. How did I end up being picked up by a psychopath?

Spending too much time with this psychopath, she doesn't know if she'll be mentally unstable, but she'll definitely be infuriated to the point of her blood pressure soaring.

The thought of potentially getting high blood pressure at such a young age made Little Ai feel utterly miserable.

"Young Master Guchuan, would you like to contact Mr. Guchuan Yuan first?" Fukuyama Shien asked.

"Why would I contact him?"

"To handle your admission procedures."

"I'm not sick!" Guchuan angrily stomped his foot on the stool.

"Young Master Guchuan, I've seen plenty of patients like you," Fukuyama Shien said calmly.

"Psychopaths always say they're not psychopaths," Little Ai chimed in ominously from the side.

Hit by the boomerang, Guchuan exasperatedly ruffled Little Ai's hair.

Little Ai gave him an annoyed look, pouting but not arguing with the "patient." Just don't expect to eat my cooking once we get home.

"Brother Guchuan, can you tell me how you figured out Curator Ochiai was the culprit?" Conan ran up to Guchuan, asking in his unique childlike voice.

Guchuan frowned.

What's with this brat? He was just arguing with me, and now he's acting all familiar and asking questions.

"A hunch," Guchuan answered dismissively.

"But Brother Guchuan, you looked so certain, like you had plenty of evidence," Conan pressed on relentlessly.

"If you say so."

Damn it!

Conan gritted his teeth. Being a kid really is too inconvenient.

Given Guchuan's aloof personality, he wouldn't bother explaining so much to a child.

"Brother Guchuan must be in a lot of pain, right?" Conan said.

If I want to communicate with a genius like him, I have to show how extraordinary I am. And I, Shinichi Kudo, am also one in a million. As long as I show a hint of my brilliance, I can easily gain the qualification to communicate with Guchuan as an equal.

Guchuan Ning: ??? Why would I be in pain?

Little Ai: ??? Would that heartless guy feel pain?

Though he didn't know what Conan was imagining, Guchuan didn't speak up, so as not to make Conan too awkward.

"Brother Guchuan possesses far greater wisdom than ordinary people, so you seem out of place among those around you. You can't communicate with people you view as very foolish. You have your own understanding of this world, which is why you live in it so solitarily." The more Conan spoke, the more he felt he was right.

"And Brother Guchuan, your actions of speeding and stealing things, are actually you trying to mimic the behavior of 'normal people' as you understand them, aren't they?"

Guchuan was greatly shaken and couldn't help but applaud.

He truly is Conan, whom I consider to be cut from the same cloth. He's even whitewashing my illegal activities. Looks like I should spend more time with Conan in the future; with him, all my actions have a reason!

"Little friend, may I ask who you are..."

"I'm a detective, Edogawa Conan." Conan flashed a knowing smile.

Little Ai sneered, mocking him mercilessly.

"You say such illogical things and still have the nerve to call yourself a detective?"

Conan, mocked, was very displeased. "That's because you're a little kid who doesn't understand geniuses!"

"Heh heh, I don't understand geniuses, but I understand chuunibyou very well." Little Ai's words made Conan's face turn red.

Before Conan could say anything else, Ran picked him up in her arms.

"Alright, Conan, rein in those wild ideas of yours," Ran said, holding Conan.

Conan's face was flushed, either from anger over his argument with Little Ai or from shyness in Ran's embrace.

Fukuyama Shien walked over to Ran and handed her a business card.

"Mr. Fukuyama, is this..." Ran was a bit confused.

"I feel like your child also needs to come to our hospital for a check-up," Fukuyama Shien said, somewhat excitedly.

Who knew that one outing could bring so much business to my hospital?

Conan's face darkened, and Ran's expression wasn't very good either.

"Conan's just got an active imagination, that's all." Ran said coldly, pulling Conan away. Conan, too, glared furiously at Fukuyama Shien.

Fukuyama Shien looked a bit awkward, and Guchuan considerately came over to comfort him.

"You quack doctor, if you don't know anything, don't go around treating people randomly. Mentally ill? I'm clearly a genius! Don't label me as mentally ill just because you can't understand my thoughts."

Sure enough, after receiving comfort, Fukuyama Shien was no longer awkward, his face now twisted in anger.

The farce was over.

Guchuan returned the stolen goods and went home, holding Little Ai's hand.

Although Yumi Miyamoto was very unwilling, she could only watch as Guchuan wrote a letter of repentance and then left nonchalantly.

"Little Ai, our car is gone," Guchuan said sadly, looking at the yard.

"You don't even have a driver's license, so that car wasn't stolen by you, was it?" Little Ai's scalp tingled.

Little Ai remembered Gin having a car of that model.

She could only hope now that the car Guchuan stole wasn't Gin's.

"'Stolen' is too harsh a word. I just saw that car parked there all alone and felt sorry for it, so I brought it home."

"Heh," Little Ai scoffed.

"Let's move."

"Why?" Guchuan asked, puzzled.

"The original owner drove away the car you stole, and they also know where you live. You're still living here, aren't you afraid of retaliation?" Little Ai looked at Guchuan helplessly.

This troublemaker might have provoked The Organization this time.

Their previously 'peaceful' life might be gone forever.

"Me, afraid of retaliation? Don't you even know who I am?" Guchuan said with the arrogance of a second-generation rich kid.

"What if you provoked some hotheads?" Little Ai said with a worried frown.

"That's fine too, my combat skills are really good."

"What if they have guns?" Little Ai continued.

"Little Ai!" Guchuan patted Little Ai's shoulder, then said earnestly.

"Japan is a country governed by law; we won't be in that much danger. Plus, I'll protect you."

Little Ai looked at Guchuan noncommittally.

Of all the people she had encountered since childhood, including Guchuan Ning, not a single one was truly law-abiding.

Japan, a country governed by law? She didn't quite believe it.

As for Guchuan saying he'd protect her? Little Ai believed it even less.

You'd better protect yourself from getting beaten to death first.