That evening, dinner was at the Mōri Detective Agency.
Afterward, Kurosawa Hoshino walked Haibara home.
On the way to 2-Chome, the streetlights cast their glow across half the road, stretching long, slender, crooked shadows behind them.
Scattered lights shone from residential windows. The faint sounds of televisions and arguing couples drifted out, making the street seem even quieter.
She's really good at holding back, Kurosawa thought, glancing at Haibara, who hadn't spoken a word the entire way. Finally, he gave in and started a conversation.
"Ai, I don't know if it's just my imagination, but I feel like I've seen your hair color and face somewhere before."
Hearing this, Haibara remembered meeting Kurosawa Hoshino at the coffee shop before she'd shrunk. The corner of her mouth twitched slightly.
But then she thought of her sister—either truly missing or already assassinated—and her mood plummeted. She said softly, "No. We've never met."
"Ai." Kurosawa's tone suddenly grew more serious.
"Huh?" Haibara looked up, puzzled.
A large hand pressed down on her head. A mischievous grin spread across his face. "Ai, you have to call me Hoshino-nii. Got it? I've noticed you're acting like a little adult. Who taught you that?"
Her fist clenched. Her small hand tightened, trying to calm her churning emotions.
In that moment, she secretly vowed to find an opportunity to drain as much blood from Conan as possible, hoping to get the antidote soon.
Conan: What did I do to deserve this?
"Come on. Say it."
Faced with Kurosawa's expectant expression, Haibara had no choice but to bow before the evil force. She took a deep breath and spoke in a very soft voice. "Hoshino... nii..."
"Good. Very obedient." Kurosawa withdrew his hand, satisfied.
Haibara didn't want this guy to take advantage of her any longer. She quickened her pace and strode ahead.
Kurosawa chuckled and shook his head. He knew this was her way of responding to him, but he had to follow. It wouldn't be good if something happened to a little girl alone on the street late at night.
Ten minutes later, they arrived at Professor Agasa's house.
Kurosawa had completed his escort mission. He waved goodbye to the little girl. "Ai, bye-bye."
Haibara didn't speak. She glanced back at him once, then opened the door and went inside.
After closing the door, she took out the phone Professor Agasa had bought her and started sending messages to Kurosawa Hoshino using her old account.
[IDontDrinkSherry]: You've been doing well lately. Solved quite a few cases.
On the other side, walking back, Kurosawa heard his phone ring. He took it out, opened the screen, read the message, raised an eyebrow, and typed a reply.
[IDidn'tCheat]: What do you mean? "Quite a few cases"?
[IDontDrinkSherry]: Heh. Kurosawa Hoshino, you think you're so good at pretending? I actually recognized you a long time ago. I was just messing with you. Now I'm free, and I don't have to pretend in front of you anymore.
"Heh." Kurosawa laughed, already imagining Haibara holding her phone with a smug expression.
Unfortunately, she had no idea that he already knew her identity. He was just playing hide-and-seek with her.
[IDidn'tCheat]: So what if you know? Fine, I'll stop pretending. I'm coming clean. I am Kurosawa Hoshino. How about that? Knowing a famous detective like me—you can brag to your friends now, right?
[IDontDrinkSherry]: Hmph. I've never seen anyone with thicker skin than you. Chatting online, praising yourself, bragging about yourself, discussing yourself with others. Does it feel good seeing other people praise you?
[IDidn'tCheat]: Everything I said is true. Is there anything wrong with what I said online?
[IDontDrinkSherry]: Whatever. Anyway, I know your identity. You don't know mine. That must be frustrating, right? For detectives like you, things you don't understand feel like ants crawling all over you.
[IDidn'tCheat]: ...
Kurosawa didn't know what to say, so he just sent six dots to express his speechlessness.
Ai is so sharp-tongued these days. I really want to expose her identity.
But he held back. It was just a joke. He wanted to tease her a little longer. Revealing her identity so early would take away a lot of the fun later.
Heh. Serves you right for bullying me.
Haibara waited a while. Seeing no reply, she nodded in satisfaction.
She changed into her slippers and entered the living room. Immediately, she smelled the strong aroma of instant noodles. Her gaze fell on Professor Agasa, sitting on the sofa, eating a bowl.
"Professor, you—"
"Ai, you're back just in time." Professor Agasa interrupted her. "Tomorrow I'm taking Ayumi and the others to meet an old friend. You can come along too."
Haibara knew who Ayumi was. The girl had been quite persistent at school today, incredibly overly familiar.
"Professor, I won't go."
"No, Ai. You should go out and have some fun. Relax a little."
"Sigh... fine." Haibara couldn't really refuse the old man who had taken her in. She had to agree.
Downstairs at the Mōri Detective Agency, Kurosawa Hoshino returned.
He glanced at the lit window on the third floor, took out his phone, and dialed Ran's number.
"Ran, is Conan upstairs?"
"Yes."
"Tell him to come down. Time to go back and sleep."
"Right away." Ran finished speaking and ended the call.
Kurosawa played with his phone. Two minutes later, Conan finally came downstairs slowly.
"Hoshino-nii." Conan greeted him obediently, like a child.
"Let's go." Kurosawa uttered a single word and walked across the street.
Conan sighed and followed slowly.
He looked at Kurosawa's back, thinking about when the other had first transferred into his class.
Back then, Kurosawa Hoshino was no different from his classmates. But after Conan had shrunk, everything changed. The boy who was just handsome before had suddenly become a master detective—even surpassing his own abilities. It truly puzzled him.
Why didn't he solve cases back then?
Right. It seems like he didn't encounter any cases for the month before he arrived. No—he also survived three attacks.
I was careless. Judging from the fact that he dodged three attacks, he's no ordinary person. I can't believe I didn't think of that back then. My fixed mindset really made me complacent.