The World of Conan, I'm Genta's Cousin

Chapter 2: The World of Conan, I'm Genta's Cousin

One month later.

In the bright hospital room, the light green curtains had been drawn open, and one of the windows stood half open. Air carrying the earthy fragrance of the outdoors drifted in, considerably diluting the smell of disinfectant.

Under a white blanket, Shu Yunwen lay comfortably in bed, wearing a hospital gown.

A bouquet sent by someone sat on one of the bedside tables, while the other held some fruit.

Voices could be heard faintly from outside the door. On the stool beside Shu Yunwen's bed, a little brat with drool dripping from his mouth stared at the strawberries and bananas in the fruit bowl, drooling nonstop. "Brother Yunwen, can I have a strawberry from the fruit bowl?"

"Sure... If you want one, go ahead. Who's going to stop you?" Shu Yunwen replied casually. The little brat immediately grabbed a strawberry from the bowl and started eating. He was quite the glutton. No wonder he was so fat.

With his hands behind his head, Shu Yunwen pondered his current situation.

He'd been thinking about it whenever he was awake for the past month, but he still couldn't quite make sense of it.

He remembered that he should have died in a car accident. Yet, in a daze, he'd woken up again, taking over this body and replacing its original owner to live on.

This was Japan, in the 1990s.

The guy whose body he'd "possessed" was also called Shu Yunwen. He was of mixed Chinese and Japanese heritage, with a Chinese father and a Japanese mother.

Two years ago, the family of three had been on a trip when they got into a car accident on the way home. His parents had both died, and he was the only survivor. After being unconscious for two years, Shu Yunwen woke up. The original owner of the body seemed to have left for good, leaving behind only scattered, incomplete memories.

That was right. Everything around Shu Yunwen felt strange to him.

Take Kojima Genji, who'd been looking after him, his wife Kojima Mie, and the little Kojima Genta in front of him, who was happily stuffing himself with fruit.

These names sounded somewhat familiar, and Kojima Mie was even the younger sister of Shu Yunwen's cheap mother. Still, he only had a vague impression of them.

Then there were Tsukamoto Kazumi, Seko Kunishige, and Mononobe Masao, who had visited him earlier. They'd all said they were his high school classmates, but he couldn't remember them at all. Still, the girl named Tsukamoto Kazumi seemed pretty. And for some reason, he felt that his past self and Tsukamoto Kazumi had had a somewhat unusual relationship.

Of course, it didn't matter if he couldn't remember. The doctor had said that the car accident had caused gaps in Shu Yunwen's memory, so it was perfectly normal for him to have forgotten everything. And being able to remember his family's situation already counted as pretty good. He could slowly regain his lost memories over time.

As for his plans for the future?

When Kojima Genji and Kojima Mie had chatted with Shu Yunwen earlier, they'd brought up the subject.

Kojima Genji and Kojima Mie wanted Shu Yunwen to return to school and go to college. Shu Yunwen himself wanted to take over his cheap father's spirit-medium agency. That was right—his cheap father had been a fake mystic. In Japan, they called people like that exorcists or onmyoji, or something along those lines. It was all pretty much the same.

Based on his past self's memories, Shu Yunwen was sure that his late, cheap father had been a complete fraud. He'd made a living off a book of Maoshan Daoism that he'd brought with him when he'd illegally entered Japan, along with a few useless talismans. Well, the reason his cheap father had been able to marry his beautiful mother was that, while "exorcising" her, the fake mystic had ended up in bed with her...

In short, his cheap father had been a con man.

However, Shu Yunwen's cheap old man had been pretty good at conning people.

With his "useless" Daoist arts and talismans, his cheap old man had somehow fooled plenty of important people and built close ties with certain politicians, major financial groups, and influential figures. With their support, he'd run an exorcism agency with more than fifty employees. He'd been a major figure in the exorcism world. In fact, just two days ago, a guy who claimed to be a member of the National Diet had come to visit Shu Yunwen.

Those were connections that Shu Yunwen might be able to take control of in the future.

Neither side had managed to persuade the other in their argument over whether he should go back to school or inherit the exorcism agency. In the end, they'd reached a compromise: Shu Yunwen would return to school as normal, but he could continue running the agency in his spare time.

That was the compromise they'd settled on.

After all, Kojima Mie had cried her eyes out, and Shu Yunwen just couldn't take it!

She was the one who'd worked tirelessly to care for this body for two years straight, and she was its only living relative. He couldn't bring himself to turn his back on her and do whatever he wanted.

With a creak, the hospital room door opened, and the doctor, Kojima Genji, and Kojima Mie walked in.

Kojima Mie spotted Kojima Genta stuffing his face and immediately went over to grab him by the ear. "Genta, those are gifts from Brother Yunwen's friends. How can you eat them?"

"Ah! My ear's going to fall off! My ear's going to fall off!" Kojima Genta yelped in pain.

Shu Yunwen quickly said, "Aunt Mie, I couldn't finish them, so I told him he could have some."

Only then did Kojima Mie let go of Kojima Genta. "Yunwen, I'm so sorry. Genta's been bothering you."

"Aunt Mie, don't mention it. I'm the one who's been troubling you."

Kojima Genta rubbed his ear beside them, looking as though he'd "finally been rescued."

The doctor smiled. "Shu-san, your recovery over the past month has been nothing short of a miracle. Your body's only a little weak, and you need to take it easy, but there's nothing else wrong. You can leave the hospital whenever you're ready."

Kojima Genji said earnestly, "Yunwen, we've already talked it over with Dr. Tanaka. You'll rest at the hospital for one more day. Tomorrow, Dr. Tanaka will give you another thorough examination, and then you can go home. Of course, you'll still need to come back to the hospital for a checkup every week..."

"I understand, Uncle Genji."

"Also, Yunwen, you'll need to prepare for going back to school. Given your age, Genji and I think you should enroll in the second year at Teitan High School... You had excellent grades back then and even taught yourself the entire high school curriculum. Do you remember?" Kojima Mie asked with concern.

I was almost done with college in my previous life, for crying out loud!

Shu Yunwen complained inwardly, but said, "I still remember all that."

He really did remember his past self's knowledge.

"That's good." Kojima Mie nodded. "I'll contact Teitan High School and arrange your entrance exam. If your health is fine, you should be able to start school in about half a month."

"...Heh."

He'd almost graduated from college, and now he had to go to high school in Japan. All Shu Yunwen could do was say, "Heh."

Dr. Tanaka said, "You can start studying again during this time, Shu-san, but don't overexert yourself."

"I understand. Thank you, Dr. Tanaka." Shu Yunwen thanked him.

Kojima Genji chimed in as well. "Yunwen was unconscious for two years, so he's a little out of touch with the world. It'd be best if you read more newspapers and watched the news during this time."

"Got it, Uncle Genji."

Kojima Genji and Kojima Mie had things to do, so they left first. Kojima Genta stayed behind to keep Shu Yunwen company.

After eating two more pieces of fruit, Kojima Genta went out and came back with several newspapers. He placed them in front of Shu Yunwen. "Brother Yunwen, these are today's newspapers. Dad said you should read more!"

"Uh..."

Shu Yunwen rolled his eyes.

What a little brat!

He picked up a newspaper and opened it. It was packed with Japanese text, but thanks to the memories he'd inherited from his past self, he could read it easily.

The front-page headline was about a student.

"Kudo Shinichi, the Sherlock Holmes of the Heisei era, the police's savior..."

Kudo Shinichi?

Shinichi?

Shinichi-kun?

Washing Machine?

What the hell was going on?

He hadn't exactly been an anime fan in his previous life, and he'd always fast-forwarded through the shows he watched. Still, he knew the famous "Washing Machine"!

He was a character from the manga Detective Conan, wasn't he?

Detective Conan was Uncle Gosho's most successful work, running for over twenty years, with countless fans and accolades...

And now it seemed he'd crossed over into the world of Detective Conan—

Are you kidding me?

Wait!

As if he'd just thought of something, Shu Yunwen turned to look at the little brat beside him...

Wasn't this guy called... Kojima Genta?

"Genta, do you know someone named Ayumi?" Shu Yunwen asked.

At the same time, Shu Yunwen kept muttering to himself, I don't know her. I don't know her...

Kojima Genta pulled his hand back from the banana. "Huh? You mean Yoshida-san? Yoshida Ayumi's my classmate and one of my best friends. But I don't think I've ever told you about Ayumi, Brother Yunwen. How did you know about her?"

"Heh... I saw her in the anime," Shu Yunwen said, his mouth twitching.

Well, he'd crossed over into the world of Conan, and his cousin was a member of the famous Junior Detective League.

You've got to be kidding me!

Kojima Genta didn't understand. "Anime? I like Kamen Rider best! Kamen Rider, transform~~ Boom, boom, boom..."

Boom, boom, boom...

Boom, boom, your sister! Stop going boom!