Disclaimer: Detective Conan is not mine. This fanfic is a translation.
Enjoy Reading!
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August 18th, 10:30 AM.
Ritsu drove Shiho from the research institute to the address provided by her sister, Apartment 11, Block 2, Toriya Town.
He parked the car in a small alley beside the apartment building, and the two got out and walked toward the old, ordinary-looking structure.
It was five stories tall, with six units on each floor. Judging by the spacing between the doors, the rooms inside were probably quite small.
As they climbed the stairs, Shiho was still wearing her lab coat. Since Ritsu had used the excuse of "needing her help with a task" to bring her out, she hadn't even bothered to change.
"What are we doing in a place like this? Are you secretly keeping a mistress here?" she asked.
Ritsu nearly missed a step at that remark. He gave a wry smile. "Can't you think of something a little nicer?"
They stopped in front of Room 502 on the fifth floor. Raising his hand to press the doorbell, he said, "I brought you here to meet—"
Before he could press it, hurried footsteps sounded from inside, and the heavy security door swung open with a loud bang.
Bang!
Seeing her sister inside setting off a party popper, Shiho first felt a surge of joy. But when she noticed Nanase standing there with colorful confetti all over his head, she burst out laughing.
"Pfft."
"…"
Akemi looked apologetic, clasping her hands together. "Sorry, Nanase-kun! I thought Shiho was the one ringing the bell."
Still not fully processing that this was a birthday surprise for her, Shiho raised an eyebrow with a smile. "Oh? So this prank was originally meant for me?"
"It was supposed to be a birthday surprise for you."
Ritsu took out a neatly wrapped Fusae wallet from his coat and handed it to her. "Here, your birthday present."
So the excuse for bringing her out was to surprise her. When did her sister and Nanase secretly plan this?
"Alright, you two, come in quickly. I still have dishes to finish," Akemi said.
She had rushed to the door because there was still food simmering on the stove. After setting down a pair of slippers, she turned and hurried into the room on the left.
A pleasant aroma of cooking filled the air. After changing into slippers, Ritsu asked, "Akemi-san, could you tell me where the bathroom is? I need to deal with this stuff in my hair."
"Second door on the right after you come in!"
"Got it."
Ritsu headed over in his slippers and was about to push the door open when Shiho stopped him.
Tilting his head in confusion, he asked, "What, do you need to use it?"
"Of course not. Just wait at the door for a moment."
Shiho slipped inside and carefully checked every corner. Only after confirming that no feminine products were left out did she open the door again.
When she came out, she saw Nanase staring at her with a strange expression.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" she asked.
"…That's not a very good habit, you know."
"Huh?"
Ritsu coughed awkwardly, his face turning slightly red. Though embarrassed, he still spoke up. "That's not a good habit. You should always flush and wash your hands after using the bathroom."
"Idiot!"
Shiho lifted her foot and kicked him. The force wasn't strong, but the humiliation was immense, her ill-fitting slipper flew off, hit the opposite wall, and then bounced back, smacking squarely onto Nanase's backside.
That slipper really knew how to pick its target.
"I didn't use the bathroom! I just went in to check if there were any feminine items inside!"
So he had misunderstood. Rubbing his sore backside, Ritsu said, "I see… sorry, my mistake."
The tsundere Shiho hopped on one foot to put her slipper back on, then walked toward the kitchen. Before leaving, she let out a huff, it was obvious she was still annoyed.
'Idiot, idiot, idiot. As if I'm the kind of person who doesn't wash their hands after using the bathroom!'
Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, Ritsu removed all the confetti from his hair, washed his hands, and then went to the kitchen. Seeing Akemi busy at the sink, he asked, "Is there anything I can help with?"
They had originally agreed on 11:30, but since they arrived an hour early, Akemi had only started simmering the chicken; everything else was still undone.
"Then please help me slice the pork belly into thin pieces, and cut the green peppers and onions into chunks."
"Sure."
Previously banned from kitchens by certain individuals, Ritsu now set out to "cause trouble" elsewhere. He thought his knife skills were decent, so he volunteered but once he picked up the knife, he had no idea where to start.
After staring at the slab of pork belly for a few seconds, he took a chopstick and pressed it against the top of the meat with his right hand, while cautiously bringing the knife down with his left.
The slices, which were supposed to be under 2 centimeters thick, ended up twice that size. Having witnessed Nanase struggle even with instant noodle water temperature and quantity back at the lab, Shiho had zero confidence in his cooking skills. Watching his bizarre cutting method, she immediately knew he was a complete beginner in the kitchen.
"Do you have some kind of misunderstanding about what 'thin slices' means?"
Ritsu froze, set down the chopstick, and held his thumb and index finger parallel with a small gap between them. "Isn't this thin enough?"
"Heh." Shiho reached out and narrowed the gap further. "It needs to be like this to qualify. And why are you using chopsticks to press the meat? Is it poisonous or something?"
"Don't you think the texture of raw meat is a bit… hard to describe?"
Akemi covered her mouth and chuckled. She had always thought Nanase was polite and serious at all times, but she hadn't expected him to have such an adorable side.
Unable to stand it any longer, Shiho snatched the knife from him. "Move aside. At this rate, I'll starve to death before you're done."
"Slow work yields fine results, you know?"
"The problem is, are you producing fine results?" Shiho narrowed her eyes, pinched a thick slice of meat, and raised an eyebrow.
"…"
Ritsu had no comeback. It did seem a bit thick. To avoid further embarrassment, he slunk off to the living room and sat on the sofa, picking up the fashion magazine Shiho had been flipping through earlier.
Looking at the mature outfits inside, then thinking about Shiho in her casual clothes… yeah, she must be reading this kind of stuff all the time to dress so unlike a little girl.
But…
Ritsu turned his head to glance at Shiho, who was standing on her tiptoes cutting vegetables while chatting with her sister. Had she gotten a bit taller since they first met?
…Nah, compared to him, she was still short.
Ding-dong.
The doorbell suddenly rang.
Ritsu frowned, his expression turning wary. Why would someone ring the bell? Could it be that members of the organization had been watching the area and reported this to Gin?
It had to be said, spending too much time with Gin really made suspicion contagious.
"Ah, Nanase-kun, could you get that? It's the cake I ordered!"
"…Oh."
So it was just a cake delivery.
A false alarm.