The Phantom Thief of Heart! But Conan.

"No, I mean..." Ran hesitated for a few seconds before finally voicing her question, "This kind of thing sounds like it falls under the scope of a detective investigation, so why not ask Dad? Oh, of course, I'm not saying Mom can't handle it..."

Based on her understanding of the current state of Kogoro Mouri and Eri Kisaki, although the two occasionally get affectionate and often bicker, they have basically overcome the difficulties in their business cooperation.

Of course, upon careful consideration, Kogoro Mouri's extraordinary reasoning ability in criminal cases is somewhat exaggerated, and his title as a famous detective is actually a bit undeserved.

However, the one who is truly in charge of the brains is far less adept at handling private detective cases and dealing with people than Kogoro Mouri, who has been navigating the social world for many years. In fact, it is Kogoro who is more adept at dealing with the clientele that Eri Kisaki faces.

If Ran Mouri knew the truth, she might think that the current famous detective Kogoro Mouri and Yusuke Kitagawa are in a similar state. This suit, because it is not operated by one person, is actually operated in a very unique way and seems to have a bright future.

Eri Kisaki blushed slightly, then raised her eyebrows.

She could probably understand what her daughter meant, but she and Kogoro Mouri had been at odds for so many years, and she would absolutely not show weakness in front of her daughter.

However, before she could speak, Tang Ze spoke first.

"It's understandable, Uncle Mori is quite expensive these days." Tang Ze nodded in realization. "But it's different when it's with Sister Fei. After all, she's a long-time client, and we can't charge extra for this kind of incidental consultation service, can we?"

"Huh?" Ran Mouri, who hadn't thought of that, was taken aback.

"That's how it is when you're the service provider," Tang Ze said, sounding quite understanding. "For something that's ambiguous, hiring a detective would cost extra money, while hiring a reliable lawyer you've worked with before would just be a matter of treating them to a meal."

"Oh, I see..." Ran Mouri pondered for a while, realized that this made sense, and quickly understood.

No wonder Mom wanted to invite me to dinner this time; this meal is a service charge for tonight, so bringing a few more freeloaders won't be a loss.

Eri glanced sideways at Tang Ze, who had a well-behaved expression and seemed unaware that she was leading the conversation, and coughed twice: "...Well, that's about it. It would be too formal to make people spend extra money on such a small thing."

The real reason is not that simple, but it's okay for Tang Ze to say that. Guiding extra spending can indeed leave a bad impression on customers. Even if her relationship with Kogoro Mouri improves, she will still do it.

Moreover, judging from Ms. Arisawa Yuko's words, she seemed rather unwilling to communicate with Kogoro Mouri.

According to Eri Kisaki's understanding, this situation is very likely due to the impending divorce, which is why she is more willing to get in touch with her, who is both a lawyer and a woman.

However, it's unnecessary to discuss such private matters, which involve speculation, with the children.

"Look at what you're saying, you're making me sound like some kind of stingy guy."

Just as Eri finished speaking, a voice came from the doorway.

A short-haired woman stood there with her hands on her hips, looking quite dashing, and was observing the other people in the office with interest.

“Ms. Kiyoshi…” Midori Kuriyama peeked out from behind her and whispered, “Ms. Arisawa is here…”

According to normal procedure, her assistant should have called Eri in advance to inform her, but judging from the way she did it, it's clear that she couldn't stop the impulsive Yuko Arisawa.

"Isn't that right?" Eri Kisaki laughed at Yuko Arisawa. "I even left you Kogoro's business card last time, but you still kept making excuses. Seriously, aren't you worried that your husband might actually be in some kind of danger?"

“What kind of personal safety crisis could there be with that little family business? What danger could he possibly encounter?” Yuko waved her hand and looked at Ran Mouri, who seemed to recognize her. “Is this your daughter? She’s so cute. If I were you, I wouldn’t want a divorce. At the very least, I’d get custody of the child, right?”

The two spoke in a casual and relaxed tone, and the other person even knew about Eri Kisaki's true marital situation. It was not hard to see that their relationship was actually closer than Eri Kisaki described.

Upon hearing this, Ran Mouri immediately understood that their earlier discussion about why they didn't recommend the other person to go see Kogoro Mouri was clearly because Eri Kisaki had already recommended him, only to be rejected.

"Mom..." Ran Mouri, feeling a little embarrassed by the scrutiny, looked at her mother, "Why didn't you say so sooner..."

"Why didn't you say so earlier? I should have fought for custody!" Eri Kisaki deliberately misinterpreted her question. "Although your child is not yet a minor, who gets custody should still be up to you, shouldn't it? Or did I misunderstand you? Do you actually not want to live with your father?"

"Mother--!"

Yuko Arisawa watched the mother and daughter talking with a smile, without interrupting, and her gaze naturally fell on Conan.

"You didn't even tell me you had a son. It seems your relationship with the famous detective isn't as distant as you said."

Conan, who seemed to recall hearing the term "second child" somewhere before, froze: "Uh, no, that's not it..."

"And this one?" Yuko Arisawa turned to look at Karasawa. "Could it be Ran's 'friend'? You're quite open-minded, Eri. Your family gathering is more interesting than I expected."

She assumed that Tang Ze was Ran Mouri's boyfriend and that he was brought along to have dinner with Eri Kisaki.

"You've got it backwards," Tang Ze replied with a smile, in a friendly manner.

"Ok?"

Before Yuuko could understand what Tang Ze meant, Ran Mouri, whose face had turned completely red, couldn't stand it anymore and raised her voice.

"No, neither of those. Conan is just a kid staying at my house, and as for Karasawa... Oh dear, Mom, don't you still have work to do?"

It was difficult to explain why Tang Ze, who was not only her classmate and neighbor, but also Eri's client, was standing there. So Ran Mouri simply and abruptly changed the subject.

She was the one who brought two people to have a meal with her mother, but the situation was about to turn into everyone teasing her.

“That’s true, it’s almost time to get off work.” Eri Kisaki teased her daughter for a moment, then stood up to help her out. “Shall we go to your house and meet your husband first? Let’s take care of the important things first.”

She also took the opportunity to observe the way Yuko Arisawa and her husband communicated, and to judge the state of their marriage.

If a breakdown in the relationship or other issues arise, then there will be plenty of room for negotiation regarding subsequent divorce proceedings.

When her husband was mentioned, Yuko Arisawa's smile faded slightly, and when she took her phone out of her handbag, her expression returned to a serious, business-like demeanor.

"Okay, he's about to get off work anyway, I'll call him and ask him..."

It wasn't until she held the phone to her ear and lowered her gaze to wait for the person on the other end to answer that Tang Ze openly turned his gaze to her.

Karasawa remembered this client named Yuko Arisawa, who was also known as Eri Kisaki.

Of course, he didn't care about competitive sports; the main reason he knew about this woman was because she was about to become the murderer.

It's not hard to guess from her subtle changes in attitude that the victim is her husband on the other end of the phone.

To be fair, the method this woman chose wasn't particularly sophisticated, especially among those cunning killers who like to use detectives to create alibis; she wouldn't even be considered among the top.

What impressed Tang Ze most about her was her excessively distorted and painful emotional and marital relationship.

After waiting for half a minute, Yuko Arisawa's call still went unanswered.

She glanced at her watch to check the time, then gave a puzzled look: "Strange, why hasn't he answered yet..."

"Could it be that he had something to do or went to the restroom?" Ran Mouri kindly chimed in, not wanting the atmosphere to become too tense.

The main person involved in this matter is Yuko Arisawa's husband. Everyone is waiting for news from him, and it's quite awkward that they can't get in touch with him right now.

"It shouldn't be that bad, he knows he had plans with Eri today..."

Yuko Arisawa shook her head, and just then, the call was finally answered.

"Ah, you finally answered the phone, honey. Where are you now? Hmm? What did you say? Keeping vigil?"

This unexpected word was thrown out, and everyone else present couldn't help but look at each other in surprise.

If it were any other matter, there would still be room for inquiry and confirmation. But once the topic of a vigil is brought up, one can only think of situations like funerals, and it suddenly becomes difficult to ask and confirm the meeting time.

Yuko Arisawa moved the phone away from her ear and then put it on speakerphone.

Soon, a voice filled with apology and clearly lowered came from the speaker.

"Yes, a friend of mine suddenly passed away in an accident. I just found out and rushed over. I'm keeping vigil for him now... You can hear the chanting, right?"

Not only Yuko Sawa, but everyone else present heard it.

In the background, a deep, rhythmic chanting was playing, accompanied by the regular tapping of a wooden fish drum, interspersed with the occasional clear sound of bells. It was clear that the other party was in a large indoor space.

Everything was done exactly as it should for a ceremonial occasion; there was nothing wrong with it.

Conan frowned slightly at first, sensing something was off.

There's nothing wrong with the noise itself. The problem is, why did Yuko Arisawa choose to put it on speakerphone immediately and without hesitation?

This is not something that needs to be shared with Eri or them. Even if her husband might have to miss the invitation for some reason, he could simply hand the phone to Eri and let them communicate privately.

My husband's good friend passed away, and I went to keep vigil for him, so we couldn't meet. Is this something that needs to be made public so that others can know?

"I'll probably be back very late tonight, so you should go to sleep first, Yuko. You don't need to wait for me to come back."

Since everyone present was very polite and quiet while Yuko was on the phone, the person on the other end of the line was probably unaware that their conversation with their wife was being overheard and continued with their usual conversation.

"Go to sleep first? Wait a minute, but about what you think about someone following you, didn't we agree that Attorney Kisaki was coming to our house today?" Yuko Arisawa looked at Eri Kisaki with a troubled expression.

"Oh, is it today?"

"Yes, I'm at Attorney Fei's office right now. Why don't you just talk to her directly?"

This time, when Yuko Arisawa handed over the phone, she consciously pressed the speakerphone button again.

The faint sounds of the ritual that had been played aloud then subsided again, and Conan and the others could no longer hear them.

Conan, who already felt her behavior was unusual, became even more puzzled.

He suddenly switched to speakerphone halfway through a phone call, and then abruptly switched it off, as if the person next to him had to hear the entire conversation. It's really hard to explain why it wasn't intentional.

Is it really, as she claims, that Ms. Yuko Arisawa came to see Eri Kisaki today just because of her husband's paranoia?

Tang Ze, who had witnessed the entire performance, saw it even more clearly than Conan.

After Yuko Arisawa put her phone on speakerphone, she started playing the couple's conversation aloud. Then, she handed the phone to Eri Kisaki, who began talking to Tsugurou Arisawa on the other end of the line.

Everyone's attention was naturally drawn to the content and information of the conversation, but Tang Ze, who was very clear about the development of the situation, kept an eye on Yuzawa Yuko's micro-expressions.

When she heard her husband say he would be keeping vigil and would be home late, she glanced at her phone, her cheek muscles tensing and relaxing slightly.

This was a small expression that carried malice and was by no means friendly; her true intentions were obvious.

She knew her husband was lying; he was definitely not at any religious ceremony.

Her response was to immediately play the message for those around her to hear, ensuring that everyone heard what Arisawa Tsugurou said, and then have Eri Kisaki speak with him, further reinforcing this message.

This information, that is, that Arisawa Tsugurou was not nearby at this time and was located in a remote area, and that he would not be able to arrive in a short time, was used to pave the way for her next plan.

However, what Yuko Arisawa didn't know was that she knew her husband was lying, and what she didn't know was that her husband knew she knew he was lying.

Her husband did it on purpose, wanting to see how his wife would react after discovering his problem. What he didn't expect was that his wife was going to turn the tables on him and use the situation to give him a little judo championship challenge.

Okay, that's a bit of a convoluted way of putting it, but in short, this couple, who are not much more mature in their relationship than high school students, have still achieved a mutual attraction in a distorted way. How can that not be considered a case of mutual affection?

Tang Ze was about to type "They're a perfect match" in the public chat.