"Hoshino, what games are you good at? I'll let you choose." On the way to the arcade, Hattori Heiji was insufferably arrogant.
"Shooting games," Kurosawa Hoshino said. Then he paused, looking at a man handing out flyers to passersby on the roadside. It was Amuro Tooru.
Hattori followed his gaze and froze—not for any special reason, but because he noticed the man's dark skin. The two of them looked quite similar.
"It's Mr. Amuro!" Ran recognized him immediately.
Amuro Tooru also spotted Kurosawa Hoshino and the others. He smiled and walked over, handing them a flyer. "Kurosawa-kun, didn't expect to see you again. Want to take a look? Holmes Travel Group."
"Holmes? I want to see!" Conan, a die-hard fan, jumped up and grabbed the flyer, beaming at the contents.
"Mr. Amuro, changed jobs again?" Kurosawa teased.
Amuro waved a hand. "No, no, no. This is a part-time job, not a job change."
He then looked at Hattori Heiji, a glint in his eye. "You're Hattori Heiji from Osaka, right? A high school detective, like Kurosawa-kun. I've seen you in the newspapers. Hello, my name is Amuro Tooru. I'm actually a detective too."
"Detective?" Hattori's eyes widened. He looked at Amuro's current job, recalled Kurosawa's comment, and immediately concluded that the man must be a third-rate detective. Otherwise, why would he be working part-time jobs everywhere?
He breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. I thought there were no bad detectives in Tokyo. Turns out there are."
Amuro's sixth sense was sharp. He squinted. "Hattori-kun, you're not thinking anything rude, are you?"
Hattori felt a chill run down his spine. He laughed awkwardly. "No, no, Mr. Amuro. Nothing like that."
Perhaps feeling that wasn't enough, he reached out and took a flyer from Amuro's hand, glancing at it. "A Sherlock Holmes tour group? That looks really good."
"You guys want to go?" Amuro checked his phone. "Departure time is soon. There's still time to sign up. And I have a special privilege—I don't need the boss to verify that you're die-hard Holmes fans before letting you join."
"I'll go! I'll go!" Conan immediately volunteered.
"I don't mind." Hattori shrugged, looking at Kurosawa and the two girls.
"What about you?" Kurosawa asked Ran and Sonoko.
"I'll go with Ran," Sonoko said, hugging her best friend's arm.
"I'll call Dad." Ran pulled out her phone and dialed Kogoro Mouri's number.
After a few minutes of chatter, she hung up and smiled. "It's fine. Dad said he can eat out tonight."
"Alright." Amuro put away the flyers. "Come with me. I'll drive you to the tour's final destination."
In the blink of an eye, darkness had fallen.
By the time the sun had completely set, Amuro Tooru had led everyone to their destination: a hotel perched on a cliff by the sea.
Quite a few people were already waiting at the hotel. When Kurosawa Hoshino and the others walked in, the place became much livelier. Introductions were made.
Four men: Fujisawa Toshiaki, Kawazu Ikuo, Kanaya Hiroyuki, and Toba Kento.
Four women: Shimizu Nanako, Toda Maria, Iwai Hitomi, and Kinoshita Ayako.
Among them, Kanaya Hiroyuki was the hotel owner and the organizer of this tour. Iwai Hitomi, like Amuro Tooru, was an employee here.
After the introductions, it was Kurosawa Hoshino's turn.
When they heard the names "Kurosawa Hoshino" and "Hattori Heiji," the others looked surprised.
The chubby boss, Kanaya Hiroyuki, dressed as Sherlock Holmes, asked, "Kurosawa Hoshino—isn't he the high school detective who's become very famous in Tokyo recently? And Hattori Heiji—isn't he also a high school detective from Osaka?"
"That's right, boss. They are." Amuro Tooru nodded.
Kanaya Hiroyuki's expression grew conflicted. "Amuro, are you sure they're all Holmes fans?"
Kurosawa Hoshino cut in. "I may not be a Holmes fan, but I have Conan with me."
"What? Conan?" The group's eyes lit up. They couldn't wait to ask who Conan was.
Kurosawa didn't waste words. He simply brought Conan forward and told them to talk to him.
Conan didn't mind. Chatting about Sherlock Holmes with a group of fans was a wonderful thing.
Why was Conan so well-received? Because the author of Sherlock Holmes was commonly referred to as Conan Doyle.
Mentioning "Conan," combined with his childlike appearance, instantly made him endearing to the adults. They were even more delighted to hear him talk about Holmes.
So they stopped caring whether Kurosawa Hoshino and his group were Holmes fans. Even though two of them were high school detectives, no one was particularly interested.
"Hey, Kurosawa, not bad." Hattori muttered. "You actually managed to get rid of them like that."
"Mm." Kurosawa nodded, then continued pondering the events of this trip.
If he hadn't remembered anything when he encountered Amuro Tooru earlier, he certainly did now that he was here.
Wasn't this the episode about the "Holmes Fan Murder Case"?
"Ahem, everyone, listen up." Kanaya Hiroyuki spoke loudly, seeing the atmosphere was right. "It's evening now. Please go rest. Tomorrow morning, breakfast at 9 a.m., lunch at 1 p.m., dinner at 8 p.m. After dinner, we'll have the highlight of this tour: an ultra-difficult mystery quiz. Those who answer all the questions correctly will receive a rare first edition of Conan Doyle's A Study in Scarlet."
Iwai Hitomi cooperated, taking out the obviously old book for everyone to see.
Conan and the Holmes fans were thrilled.
But the story didn't end there.
Next, they began distributing the questions: a thousand short questions about Sherlock Holmes.
They were also told their phones and related books would be confiscated. Each room had cameras and listening devices. Cheating would disqualify them from the final quiz.
The deadline was tomorrow night. A score of 990 or higher was required. Otherwise, they couldn't participate in the deduction quiz after the banquet and wouldn't receive the book.
"Do we, who aren't participating, have to hand in our phones too?" Kurosawa Hoshino asked casually.
Kanaya Hiroyuki thought for a moment. "You don't have to. But you can't contact the participants. If the cameras see you chatting, the person who contacted you will be disqualified."
He wasn't saying this to Kurosawa, of course, but to the other participants. They took it seriously, nodding in agreement.
"Heh." Kurosawa chuckled, saying nothing. If he hadn't seen the anime and known that the cameras and listening devices were fake, he might have been fooled just like them.