The Phantom Thief of Heart! But Conan.

"He said in an interview that every time he comes to Kyoto, he tries to find this girl. Look..."

Toyama Kazuha turned a page and pointed to the photo of Hattori Heiji when he was in the third grade, which he had specially placed in the middle of the magazine caption.

I have to say, the intention of bringing past photos with her when she went to an interview was too obvious. It was obvious that it would be difficult for Toyama Kazuha to deceive herself.

"So it was really all about getting that girl to see the interview and contact him, right?" Suzuki Sonoko leaned in to watch for a moment, her tone changing again. "But then again, he was quite cute as a kid."

Well, she admitted that she just preferred this kind of athletic type with darker skin.

"Really?" Yuanshan Heye's tone became slightly excited when she heard her praise. "Although he had that temper when he was a child, he was really cute... Well, I mean, what he did was also too much..."

"Even if all this is true, it won't affect anything, right?" Mao Lilan skimmed the interview and offered a reassuring compliment. "This is more like a vague affection than a first love. If he hasn't had much contact with this girl, even if he's been attracted to her, it's just a superficial impression, not a question of whether or not there's any affection. You've been with him for so many years, so no matter how you think about it, your relationship is better, right?"

They are not people you have known for a long time. Even if such people do not have a stable emotional relationship, it is easy for them to influence each other's views on choosing a partner for a period of time. After a long time, they are just strangers who pass by each other.

If you are worried about this, it only means that you are very insecure about your feelings.

"He's so determined to find someone. What if he finds her and continues to have feelings for her?" Yuanshan Heye looked indignant. "We grew up together, and suddenly this girl shows up and says she knew him in the past... What the hell is this?"

It would be fine if they just dropped from the sky, but it turns out they were childhood sweethearts. This is the worst possible plot development! Damn it!

"A-choo..." Diagonally across the restaurant, one of the three girls sitting together suddenly covered her mouth and sneezed.

"Alright, calm down, calm down, and have some red bean rice cake soup." Mao Lilan pushed the untouched dessert in front of Toyama Kazuha. "In this case, it would be better if you really let him find it."

"Huh? Why?" Yuanshan and Ye were stunned for a moment.

"This kind of vague fantasy about the opposite sex in the early stages of sexual enlightenment will be quickly shattered by reality as people actually get to know each other." Mao Lilan said matter-of-factly, "He has fantasies because he is not familiar with the girl. When he really sees her now, that feeling will soon be shaken."

Of course, people will have an intuitive liking for another person because of their appearance or obvious features, but whether a romantic relationship can be established is a complex issue.

Most love at first sight is just an instinctive attraction of hormones. If the two people are not suitable, the subsequent interaction and understanding will quickly destroy the beautiful first impression.

"Will it?" Toyama Kazuha tilted his head uncertainly, but his hand followed Mao Lilan's movements and picked up the soup spoon. "Well, I hope it is what you said."

"That's right. First love is indeed important, but he probably just didn't get to know the other person well, and he feels regretful. Once that regret is truly satisfied, the obsession might dissipate." Suzuki Sonoko nodded in agreement, then poked Mao Lilan's waist mischievously, "Oh, Xiaolan, you have studied these things so thoroughly now? It seems that you and someone..."

"...The progress is pretty good." Mao Lilan's face quickly turned red, but this time she did not completely avoid her best friend's teasing.

Having learned a lot about psychology, she discovered that after facing each other's difficulties, the vague feeling between them seemed to change in another direction...

Simply put, this heart-throb seems to have lost its impulsiveness and immaturity, and has become a truly stable and mature attraction.

It wasn't a bad thing. Now she felt that the distance between them had never been so close.

"Ouch..." Suzuki Sonoko screamed at her expression and rushed over to hug her, "Look at how proud you are! Ah, you two haven't seen each other much. I'm starting to envy that boy Shinichi-"

"Yuanzi, don't be like this, let's eat first..."

"I won't. Tell me now. When did you two secretly hook up behind my back? Tell me now!"

"No, no, it's itchy, don't tickle me..."

The two of them started playing around, and the cheerful atmosphere quickly infected Toyama Kazuha, easing her depressed mood a lot and she also showed a bright smile.

A few girls at the table diagonally opposite were getting up to pay the bill. When they passed by their table, they were attracted by their movements and couldn't help but look at Mao Li Ran and the others for a while.

"...Hongye, Hongye? What are you daydreaming about?" The girl walking on the outermost side took one of the girls' arms and shook her. "You've been absent-minded since the past few days."

"Is it because of Tang Ze's incident?" The third girl also came over and teased, "Everyone said that Tang Ze ignored everyone in the past, but he was nice to you. Could it be..."

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Ooka Hongye retracted her confused gaze from Toyama Kazuha's face and shook her head. "Isn't Karasawa-kun like that to everyone? I just, um, remembered the petition a few days ago..."

"There was quite a commotion that day, but Tang Ze was actually charged with assault. This is ridiculous. Everyone knows that he's in poor health. Who would hurt whom?"

"That's right. That self-proclaimed detective also said that someone in our class bullied him and that's why he transferred to another school. Slander, this is definitely slander!"

"Even if Tang Ze-san never uttered a word, a face like that is still a treasure to admire. How could anyone squander such a gift?"

The two girls on the left and right were discussing the mysterious classmate Ikemura, Tang Ze Zhao, but Ooka Hongye rolled her eyes and did not join in the conversation.

No, her focus is not actually on Tang Zezhao, but she still has to thank Tang Zejun.

Without his entrustment, how could I find the treasure lost in my memory?

----

"Well, so apart from the kimono, playing ball, and singing, you actually don't have any information about the other person at all, you know nothing at all." After showing off half a pot of cooked food, Souji Okita, who was full and satisfied, made a summary for Hattori Heiji.

"That's about right...ah, I do remember the melody of that song." Hattori Heiji touched his head and quickly came up with a new piece of information.

"Why don't you hum a few lines for me to hear?" Okita Souji became curious.

Hattori Heiji recalled carefully for a moment, and soon hummed a few lines according to the melody in his memory.

His voice is not very pleasant, but considering Conan sitting next to him, this simple singing sentence with almost no pitch can be called heavenly music.

After so many years, Hattori Heiji can still hum it so accurately, which shows that he is indeed deeply impressed by this little girl.

Tang Ze shook his head directly and roughly dragged Hattori Heiji, who was about to be immersed in memories again, out: "You are finished, and there is no way you can find it."

"Huh? Why do you say that?" Hattori Heiji frowned.

Tang Ze raised the chopsticks in his hand, beat the rhythm with the tips of the chopsticks, and accurately repeated the melody in his mouth.

"まるたけえびすにおしおいけ、あねさんろっかくたこにしき..."

The melody is not complicated and is arranged into a very standard nursery rhyme style. After Tang Ze received Asai Narumi's inexplicable music education, his excellent pitch and singing style made it very pleasant to the ears.

Hattori Heiji stared at Tang Ze blankly, and his expression gradually became terrified after listening to him sing the entire song.

Wait a minute, he said, wait a minute, this can't be...

"Your look is quite rude." Tang Ze raised his chopsticks and hit Hattori Heiji's chopsticks, which had been raised for a long time without moving. "Don't think of anything weird for now. Almost all the children in Kyoto can sing this song."

"Indeed." Okita Souji, who was clapping along, nodded. "This is Marutake Ishii, or the Handball Song. It's a song that strings together the names of all the east-west streets in Kyoto. It's a traditional nursery rhyme that's been around for hundreds of years, used to help children remember the way."

The road structure in Kyoto is very regular and checkerboard-like, which makes it difficult to remember the names of the streets in each place when the memory of the landmarks is not clear.

Naturally, this nursery rhyme that teaches children to remember place names was born.

"If you're counting on this song to find someone, it's like trying to find Cinderella with a pair of one-size-fits-all crystal slippers." Tang Ze spread his hands. "Every girl of the right age in the city could fit into them, so how are you supposed to find someone?"

"If you really want to say, the most you can do is compare the girl's version to see if it's different," Okita Souji added. "Kyoto has been repairing roads and building new neighborhoods over the years, so there are actually quite a few different versions of the handball song, and every family teaches a different version. That's the only way you can narrow it down."

With an expression of helplessness on his face, Okita Souji spoke with a hint of gloating.

After all, the prince in Cinderella can find people like this because he is a prince. Not everyone can narrow the scope like this.

"Even if you say so..." Hattori Heiji's mouth drooped and he muttered something, but his thoughts extended along the lines of Okita Souji's words.

Are the lyrics different? Yes, the one Tang Ze sang just now was indeed a little different from the one he remembered...

"Is this version you sang also taught by your parents?" Hattori Heiji turned to Tang Ze and asked.

As soon as he said this, Conan, who was sitting cross-legged below, kicked him in the knee.

It's no use bringing up this topic. Tang Ze almost lives alone in Kyoto, so he doesn't have many opportunities to be taught to sing nursery rhymes by his parents.

Realizing that what he said was a bit thoughtless, Hattori Heiji blinked and hurriedly prepared to say something to make amends, but saw Tang Ze nodded.

"Yes, my parents taught me." Tang Ze raised his head and glanced at the cherry tree above his head.

They found a restaurant with outdoor tables and chairs to have lunch. Above the parasols were cherry blossom branches that were about to bloom.

It's not like he has never spent any time with his parents, even though that was when he hadn't recovered yet and his memory was very vague.

He was completely separated from his parents after he was ten years old, including the first few years when he was thirteen or fourteen. Although they were still unable to see him often, the Tangze couple would still try to visit him every few months and spend two or three days with him.

The same was true before he was ten years old. His parents never treated him as a patient, but rather as a child who required more patience to communicate with. They never neglected his education at a young age because of his autism.

The handball song was, of course, also taught at that time. It was like the botanical classification illustrations that his mother Leona read to him bit by bit. It was like a hazy mist that he couldn't see clearly even if he tried hard, but he could at least catch some vague images and sounds.

...Although letting children learn about biological classification atlases is completely beyond the scope of common sense education, the original intention is good.

"Maybe they think that if an autistic child wants to live here, they should understand common sense and memorize it even if they don't understand it, so they don't get separated from their parents and can't find their way back." Tang Ze sighed, feeling a little sad. "Although I still didn't understand what it was saying at the time."

It is precisely because he knows that this song is a very basic nursery rhyme used to teach children common sense that Tang Ze feels particularly emotional when he thinks of it.

While seeking alternative methods to treat him, his parents did not give up on normal means of socialization training. Their ultimate goal was to enable him to live a good life.

The three people who knew exactly what Tang Ze and his wife were facing now exchanged glances, but did not disturb Tang Ze from recalling the past.

These scattered, perhaps vague memories are all the impression Tang Ze has of his parents, and his emotions should not be interrupted.

"Okay, let's not talk about this anymore." Tang Ze lowered his head again, picked up a piece of meat with his chopsticks, and smiled. "We have to go somewhere far away this afternoon. Where are you going?"

"There are still many places we can go." Okita Souji coughed and changed the subject. "Anyway, let's go to Kurama-dera Temple last. It's quite far and a bit out of the way."

"Okay." Tang Ze grinned, looking forward to the next good show. "I've never been there before, so I'll go check it out."

"Hey, you sound like you've only been to junior high school, high school, home, and the mall next door..."

"If you could be a little quieter while you eat, maybe I'd remember to leave you a message before I leave Kyoto."

"Wow, that's really harsh! But never mind, if you don't even leave a message for me, then it means no one left a message..."

Hattori Heiji and Conan, who were sitting opposite, looked at the two Kyoto people arguing with each other, and soon chose to lower their heads and eat in silence.

The battle level is a bit high, it's better not to get involved and become cannon fodder...