Little Ai, You're Being Gloomy Again

As Guchuan was closing up, he happened to run into Conan, who had skipped school.

"Guchuan, why are you at the Art Museum again?" Conan looked at Guchuan curiously. When he noticed the keys in Guchuan's hand, he became even more surprised.

"I just bought this Art Museum. I'm planning to use it to store some of my collection." Guchuan slipped the keys into his pocket and took Little Ai's hand.

Little Ai did not greet Conan either. She simply turned and left with Guchuan.

Conan stared thoughtfully at their retreating backs.

Art Museum, murder, corpse, art, collection. The only thing that seemed to connect those words was a deranged serial killer.

Guchuan had seemed rather fond of yesterday's artistic murder. Not only had he taken that suit of armor away, he had even added the Art Museum itself to his collection.

Could he be planning to use artistic methods to commit murder in the future?

Conan's eyes widened. The more he thought about it, the more reasonable his deduction seemed. Geniuses and madmen often went hand in hand, and judging by Guchuan's behavior, he seemed more like a madman. Nothing he did would be surprising.

Guchuan held Little Ai's hand as they headed toward the amusement park.

"Little Ai, this is my first time taking someone to an amusement park. I thought my first time would be with my girlfriend, but it ended up going to you."

Little Ai remained expressionless throughout, though inwardly she was mocking him like crazy.

Someone like you could only get a girlfriend if she was after your money and face.

You can't exactly expect a normal person to fall for a lunatic, can you?

"Aren't you honored, Little Ai?"

"With a brother like me, you're unbelievably lucky, Little Ai."

"I'm so jealous of you. Why didn't I have such a great older sister back then?"

"Say something, Little Ai."

Guchuan was the only one chattering all the way there. Little Ai's silence made him feel ignored.

"You're so noisy." Little Ai put on her hat to block out some of the noise around her.

"Guchuan!" Conan ran over, panting heavily.

"Conan, what are you doing here?" Guchuan asked with a frown.

"Where are you going, Guchuan?"

"To the amusement park," Guchuan said.

"Can I come too?" Conan asked with a smile.

Guchuan smiled as well, but ignored Conan.

Are we that close?

Guchuan tightened his grip on Little Ai's hand.

Little Ai glared at Guchuan, then looked impatiently at Conan.

"Why are you, an annoying little brat, following us around? I'm going to the amusement park with my brother. I don't want flies buzzing around us," Little Ai said haughtily.

Conan looked embarrassed.

This little girl has a really sharp tongue.

"Sorry, Conan. My little sister doesn't have the best temper," Guchuan said kindly.

"Haha, it's fine." Conan gave an awkward laugh but stubbornly refused to leave.

With Conan following him every step of the way, Guchuan was starting to get irritated. Why is this elementary school detective following me around? It's not like I'm one of his clients.

Conan carefully observed Guchuan's expression.

He was very curious about Guchuan now. There had to be a deeper reason why Guchuan had bought the Art Museum. As long as he followed Guchuan, he would definitely uncover the truth.

Guchuan took out his phone and typed up an email, then casually looked at Conan.

"Conan, today's Friday, right? Why didn't you go to school?"

"School's closed today for the anniversary celebration," Conan smoothly made up a lie.

"Oh." Guchuan nodded.

"By the way, Guchuan, why doesn't your sister go to school?" Conan asked curiously.

The little girl beside Guchuan looked like she was elementary school age too.

"Oh, her? She just came back from America, and her transfer paperwork hasn't been completed yet," Guchuan said dismissively.

When they arrived at the amusement park, Guchuan took Little Ai to the masked theater and watched the performance onstage with great interest. Little Ai stared at the stage in boredom. What was so entertaining about such an awkward performance?

"Conan!"

Conan jumped in fright and turned around, only to see a fist the size of a sandbag.

"Ow!"

Conan clutched his head and looked sheepishly at Ran.

"Ran."

Ran was not fooled by Conan's innocent expression.

"Don't make that face. If Mr. Guchuan hadn't emailed me, I wouldn't have known you skipped school again!" Ran glared angrily at Conan.

Conan glanced at Guchuan.

Guchuan wore a righteous expression.

"Conan, how could a school anniversary possibly mean a day off for students? Next time you make up an excuse, come up with a better one. I've always despised bad students like you who love skipping school."

"I was just—"

"Enough excuses. Come back with me and apologize to your teacher." Ran grabbed Conan by the ear.

Guchuan watched Conan with a cheerful grin. Go to school, great detective.

"Guchuan, how do you have Ran's email address?" Little Ai tugged on Guchuan's sleeve.

"I emailed Kogoro Mouri. It's easy enough to get the email address of a detective who's recently become famous." Guchuan gave a wicked smile.

Little Ai nodded.

"By the way, shouldn't someone your age be in college? Don't tell me you couldn't get into one?" Little Ai wore a teasing smirk.

"Heh, I'm an outstanding graduate of Harvard University," Guchuan said proudly.

Although the university had been attended by the original owner of this body, the honor belonged to him now.

"You got into Harvard University?" Little Ai's face was full of mockery. No matter how she looked at him, Guchuan did not seem like someone with excellent grades.

"I had a recommendation letter."

"That makes sense." Little Ai withdrew her mocking gaze.

"Getting a recommendation letter is part of my ability too. Otherwise, why would they recommend me instead of someone else?" Guchuan said shamelessly.

"Heh, of course it's because you have a good father."

"You don't need to be jealous. You have a good brother now too." Guchuan comfortingly patted Little Ai's head.

Little Ai's mouth twitched. Can't you tell I'm mocking you?

Seeing Guchuan's concerned expression, Little Ai kept quiet and did not say anything to ruin the mood.

For some reason, Little Ai felt a little upset as she looked at Guchuan's face.

There was no such thing as love without a reason. Guchuan treated her so well only because he "wanted a little sister." If he no longer wanted one, then all this tenderness would probably disappear.

And if it had been another girl instead of her, Guchuan might have treated "her" even better.

"Little Ai, you're being gloomy again."

Guchuan messed up Little Ai's hair, pulling her out of her wild thoughts as well.

"I've told you so many times, stop messing up my hair." Little Ai unhappily swatted at Guchuan's hand, and the two began bickering again.

Hmph. It's not like I can't live without this awful guy.

Once they both got sick of each other, they could just go their separate ways.