Conan gave a dry laugh. "You make it sound like I'm the one who brings cases with me. It's not like I'm Jiang Xia..."
After that brief tangent, the mini elementary school student cleared his throat and brought up the matter at hand. "Oh, right. A new curry place opened nearby, and Uncle Mouri is planning to take me and Sister Ran to try it—chances like this don't come often, so you guys should come too!"
In any case, flaking on the tennis match had left Conan feeling a little guilty.
Fortunately, the children in front of him weren't the type to hold grudges. Still, just to be safe, it was best to treat them to a meal, in case the Detective Boys suddenly got some wild idea at a crucial moment, ran off to tail him, and ended up in danger.
"Still, now that I think about it, this is kind of unreal. Tomorrow I'm going to that Hongmen Banquet, but today I'm still eating out with a few kids." Conan scratched his head and muttered inwardly:
"Uncle Mouri too. No matter how I tried to persuade him, he wouldn't listen. He insisted on living exactly like usual... Has he even taken tomorrow's weird Halloween event seriously at all?"
Just as he was thinking that, a rumble of engines suddenly approached from far away, roaring closer.
Conan looked up warily and saw a man in a bodysuit and helmet riding an exaggeratedly styled white motorcycle. With a screech, he braked at the shrine entrance.
The three children waiting with Conan at the shrine entrance for the Mouri father and daughter saw the man too. Their eyes lit up. With a "Wow!" they sprang to their feet in delight. "Assault Police Squad!"
"Assault Police Squad?" Conan froze, then remembered: they