Conan was surprised that Lucy still remembered him. He paused for a moment, then nodded and gave a childish smile. "Yes, hello, Lucy-nee! I didn't expect to meet you here."
Taking this opportunity, Conan couldn't suppress his curiosity. He looked up and asked in an innocent tone. "Lucy-nee, what is 'Sons of Calydon' that you were just talking about? It sounds so cool! Is it an organization? I'm also in an organization, called the Detective Boys."
Hearing Conan's question, Caesar and Piper, who were standing nearby, both showed a slight change in expression, but neither spoke, only looking at Lucy.
Lucy seemed to have anticipated being asked. She straightened up, twirled a strand of her golden side ponytail, and replied with a forced casual smile. "Oh, you mean that. It's nothing big, really, just a motorcycle club."
"A motorcycle club?" Conan blinked, continuing to play the curious child.
"That's right," Lucy nodded, her tone casual, "It's just a small group of friends who love racing and customizing motorcycles, and we formed it together. We gave it a cool-sounding name, 'Sons of Calydon.' We usually just go for rides together and figure out how to make our bikes go faster, stuff like that."
She shrugged, trying to downplay the matter.
Conan nodded.
He was a bit surprised that Lucy, a young lady, would have such a hobby.
However, recalling Lucy's previous rebellious 'delinquent' attire, he understood.
Conan pretended to have an epiphany and said in a childish voice. "Wow! That sounds amazing! So, Lucy-nee, Caesar-nee, and Piper-nee all met because you love riding motorcycles?"
"Something like that." Lucy smiled, seemingly not wanting to talk much more about the topic. She turned and looked around, "Alright, since nothing happened, that's good. Caesar, is your snowboard okay? Can you still ski?"
Caesar checked her equipment and mumbled. "It should be fine... just a bit embarrassing."
Piper nodded repeatedly beside her, yawning. "I'm feeling a bit sleepy again."
Just as Lucy was checking Caesar's snowboard, a figure skied to a stop neatly near them, kicking up a small cloud of snow.
"Lucy? Caesar? Piper? What a coincidence, are you here to ski too?"
Rin greeted them with a smile, her gaze sweeping over the three before landing on Caesar, whose hair and clothes were still covered in snow.
"Caesar, are you alright? I think I saw you fall earlier?"
Caesar seemed a bit embarrassed to see Rin, and awkwardly patted her chest. "You saw that? It's nothing, nothing! Just a slight mishap. It's mainly that I'm so unaccustomed to sliding on snow with these two sticks, it feels so restrictive!"
She complained, her tone expressing her dislike for skiing, "If only I could ride a motorcycle directly on the snow! Now that would be exhilarating!"
Rin's eyes lit up slightly at her words, as if she remembered something: "Hmm, speaking of motorcycles... I think I saw an area over there that specifically rents out snowmobiles, and it seems like they're holding a snowmobile racing competition!"
She pointed to a more open snowy plain on the other side of the ski resort, "It sounds quite interesting, do you want to go and check it out together?"
"Snowmobiles? A race?!"
"Really?!"
"Sounds good!"
Almost simultaneously, Caesar, Lucy, and Piper's eyes all lit up, and their faces showed eager expressions.
For them, this was clearly much more appealing than simply skiing.
"Where is it? Quickly take us to see!" Caesar said impatiently, her earlier frustration from falling completely gone.
"Okay, follow me."
Rin smiled and nodded, skillfully adjusting her snowboard's direction, leading the three towards the rental area.
Conan, Haibara, and Dr. Agasa also followed out of curiosity.
Upon arriving at the snowmobile rental point, they indeed saw that it was much livelier than the skiing area.
Several rows of rugged-looking snowmobiles were neatly parked, and a sign stood nearby, displaying "Snowfield Adventure Race - Entertainment Experience" and a simple route map.
Staff members were introducing the rules to interested tourists.
As Rin had said, this was an entertainment-focused activity at the scenic spot.
The race used two-person snowmobiles, requiring two people to team up.
One person acted as the driver, responsible for controlling the vehicle, the other acted as the navigator, holding a simple snowfield map, responsible for guiding the driver along the pre-set route and avoiding simple obstacles.
The team that completed one lap along the route and returned to the starting point first won, with prizes of ski resort souvenirs and some vouchers.
The rules were simple, emphasizing participation and experience.
After understanding the rules, the Sons of Calydon's enthusiasm grew even higher.
"Great! Now this is more like it!" Caesar rubbed her hands together.
"Hmph, finally something decent." Lucy's lips curled into a slight smile.
"Oh? This seems a bit interesting." Piper also perked up a little.
However, a problem immediately presented itself -
All three of them wanted to be the driver, and none wanted to be the navigator who just looked at the map.
"Of course I'm driving! I'm the boss!" Caesar asserted.
"With your skiing skills just now? It's safer to leave it to me." Lucy retorted unceremoniously.
"I want to drive too." Piper stated lazily.
Seeing that the three were about to argue again, Rin quickly intervened: "Well, since everyone wants to drive, why don't we form separate teams? Anyway, this competition allows multiple participants."
She looked at Ran, Ellen, Conan, and Haibara nearby, "Many of us here are interested too!"
Finally, after some simple negotiation and a game of 'rock-paper-scissors,' the teams were decided.
Caesar and Rin formed one team, Lucy and Ran formed another, Ellen and Haibara Ai formed a third, and Piper and Conan formed a fourth.
Dr. Agasa chuckled and said that he was too old for such exciting activities and would be responsible for taking photos and cheering everyone on.
Some other tourists also teamed up to participate in the race.
After the staff distributed maps to each team and explained the basic precautions, all participating teams mounted their snowmobiles, engines roaring, and arrived at the starting line.
On the vast snowfield, the roar of engines rose and fell, and the atmosphere instantly became lively.
"Is everyone ready?" The staff member raised the starting flag, "Snowfield Adventure Race - Start!"
The flag waved down!
Several snowmobiles shot out like arrows from a bow, roaring forward and carving intersecting tracks across the white snowfield.