After this case, Hikari Yuki didn't remember much about the following event and went to do her own work.
The next day, she went to the convenience store to buy some snacks when she saw three people leaning against the glass in front of the convenience store.
Hikari Yuki: ?
How come she kept on bumping with these people when she least wanted to.
Also… she was also a member of the organization and she met with Jodie?
Tsk, tsk.
"Sister Yuki!" Suzuki Sonoko brightened when she saw Hikari Yuki appearing. If she was not wrong, Hikari Yuki was very observant and might be able to help them solve the case.
"Hello, Ran, Sonoko, and this beautiful lady," Hikari Yuki greeted them gently, pretending she didn't know that Jodie was actually an FBI agent. Her expression was flawless and there was not even any trace of other unnecessary emotions from her expression.
"Sister Yuki, this is Jodie Sensei, she used to be the English teacher in Teitan High School," Mouri Ran introduced Jodie to Hikari Yuki. "Jodie Sensei, this is Hikari Yuki, my neighbor sister."
"Hello Ms. Jodie," Hikari Yuki greeted with the same gentle tone.
Jodie nodded and looked at Hikari Yuki curiously. In the past few weeks after she became Mouri Ran's teacher, she had never met with Hikari Yuki at all. But seeing the girl chatting enthusiastically with Mouri Ran and Suzuki Sonoko, she could only press down her curiosity.
"So, you're trying to solve a case?" Hikari Yuki blinked her eyes and then looked at Mouri Ran with a right amount of doubt.
"Well, Jodie Sensei said that we should try to solve the case on our own because those whom you can rely on can disappear any time," Mouri Ran's voice became smaller at the end.
Hikari Yuki blinked her eyes.
Well, Jodie's intuition was right or if it was referring to her own past, then it was not wrong either. After all, Akai Shuichi was barely present…
*cough*
As she had thought, she should have shaved his hair a bit more.
Let's do it in this confrontation when she's helping Vermouth.
"That's true in a sense." Hikari Yuki smiled helplessly. "But deduction has never been your strong point, Ran. If you really need it, there's nothing wrong with asking for help. Humans are not built to live alone after all."
Mouri Ran looked at Hikari Yuki and felt moved. "Sister Yuki…"
"In that case, can you try to help us solve the case, Sister Yuki? I remember Shinichi said that your deduction is quite good!" Suzuki Sonoko stepped forward and hugged Hikari Yuki's hand tightly as if she wanted to force Hikari Yuki to agree.
Hikari Yuki: "..." wait!
Damn that brat.
She had already lost a lot of brain cells to make up the schemes for her work just half an hour ago and now she has to solve the case again?
Hikari Yuki started to feel that her work was not for human.
Uh wait…
Since this is a case for Mouri Ran, the difficulty shouldn't be too high, right?
"S… Sonoko, don't do that!"
"I'm not a detective, Sonoko." Hikari Yuki sounded helpless. "If you want me to help, how about if you recount what happened? Perhaps, you can also get some ideas when recounting things. In the meantime, I also want to buy some snacks."
"Ah, okay!"
In this way, the two girls told the story about Aya.
There was a theft in the convenience store and the loss of goods only occurred on days when Aya was working, that surveillance cameras failed to reveal wrongdoing by a customer, and that theft occurred at times when only Aya was present in the store. The manager further reveals that a myriad of items have been stolen: game softwares, CDs, DVDs, beverages, box lunches, candy, and etc.
The manager stated that he cuts the footage during closing hours to lower operating costs, adding that the hall to the bathroom is also left dim for the same reason. Aya tells them that she noticed three suspicious customers: a university student who comes to the store to read gaming magazines until closing hours, usually buying fast-foods and instant noodles; a very quiet office worker who never starts a quarrel even when cut in line, usually buying toothbrushes, towels, and batteries; and an elderly woman who likes spending as little money as possible, often lecturing the manager on how to save electricity, usually not buying anything at all. Lastly, Aya adds that all three suspects frequently use the store bathroom.
"So, the cameras are cut after the closing hour, all suspects like to use the bathroom, and there's no surveillance footage of the culprit?" Hikari Yuki pointed out the few things that stood out.
"Why do you focus on these things?" Suzuki Sonoko was confused.
Hikari Yuki smiled as she carried the few things that she wanted to buy. "Shinichi should have said the same thing. When there is a case, it is almost certain that once something deviating from the norm happens, and such deviations, no matter how insignificant, are clues that can be found by careful observation that form the cornerstone of a deduction."
This case is very simple.
So simple that it was unbelievable.
Then again, this might be because her skills had increased and Hikari Yuki immediately noticed everything that stood out from their description. Added with her long term career as a 'criminal' and countless training from agents from various countries… Hikari Yuki knew the truth easily.
She guessed that this should be a case she had read too before she came to this world.
Unfortunately, her memory back then was too poor to remember such a case clearly.
…there were simply too many cases in Conan's world.
She paid for the things she bought and when she saw the manager confront Aya again with Mouri Ran looked thoughtful.
Hikari Yuki lowered her eyes.
She would not steal the limelight from Mouri Ran.
"Teacher Jodie?"
When they came out, Jodie was rubbing her forehead and Hikari Yuki looked at the old glasses, her eyes flickered slightly. It should be the glasses that was left from Jodie's father's case because Vermouth killed him.
Heh.
After joining the organisation, Hikari Yuki knew very well that many of them couldn't even pick their mission and any threat against their organization had to be nipped in the bud. Whatever means are allowed as long as it doesn't reveal the organization's existence.
"Hey, what was that famous line of Holmes?" Mouri Ran suddenly asked.
"Huh?"
"Shinichi always said it… something about getting rid of the impossible…"
"Whenever you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." Jodie said.
Mouri Ran seemed to understand something and looked hesitant.
Hikari Yuki looked at this from the side and when she saw that there was a phone call from Shinichi to Mouri Ran, she knew that the matter was settled.
She will only watch the continuation as a bystander.
So in the next period of time, she saw Mouri Ran gain some confidence and then calmly entered the store and into the empty bathroom. She prepares herself before loudly screaming about a fire. A few moments later, the bathroom door violently flung open and a man rushed outside. The office worker finds himself at the entrance to the storage room, staring out at a confused group of shoppers.
Ran declares the office worker to be the culprit, stating that he managed to avoid detection because he has been living in the space above the bathroom ceiling. He has been surviving off of the food he stole from the convenience store, taking roughly three days worth of food each trip—perfectly lining up with Aya's shift. Ran answers that he let others cut in the line leading to the bathroom, ensuring he is always the last person to enter it. Finally, he only steals after Aya's shift because she was the only worker who would neatly order the boxes before the morning shift, clearing a path from the bathroom to the store.
"But he can just push those boxes to get through." Sonoko said from the side.
"That's true…" Mouri Ran was stumped.
"That's because if he pushed any of those obstructing boxes, it might be noticed by the store employees, who will be able to infer that something is wrong with the bathroom, so it'll be a matter of time until the attic could be discovered." Hikari Yuki added calmly when she saw this and shook her head helplessly.
Conan, who was listening from the phone, was stunned when he heard Hikari Yuki's voice.
She's also there?
Afterwards, it was an apology by the office worker who explained his course of action. And then the two people apologized to Aya who had been wrongly accused.
"Heeyy, Miss Detective."
"Sorry Shinichi, what did you want again?"
"Ah, well it's nothing too important, but have you come and cleaned my house recently?"
"Eh? No I haven't, why?"
"Nah, if you haven't, that's fine. Sorry to bother you."
Hikari Yuki listened to their conversation and guessed that Kudo Yukiko should be present and will help Conan next. She was not sure whether Kudo Yusaku was also here or not, though. After all, she couldn't remember everything.