The Phantom Thief of Heart! But Conan.

"Yes, it's me. Oh, not at all... Of course, if it's inconvenient for you, we can reschedule... Yes, okay... then later then..."

Eri, of course, did not receive Tang Ze's teasing and subtle gaze.

She finished her conversation with Arisawa Tsuguro on the other end of the phone as usual, and while handing the phone back to Arisawa Yuko, she explained, "He said he would take care of things over there as soon as possible and would be home around 9:25."

"It's so late and I still have to trouble you to come over. Honestly, how could that guy forget what we agreed on today..." Yuko Arisawa took back her phone and sighed softly, "What an unreliable man."

Sensing a hidden meaning in her words, Conan couldn't help but glance at her expression a few more times, beginning to guess her true intentions for coming today.

Considering that the last time he collaborated with Eri Kisaki, it was also Yuko Arisawa who approached him, and the person involved was also her husband, Conan guessed that in this relationship, the roles they played were probably the opposite of those of a traditional married couple.

No matter what happened, he didn't take the initiative to seek help from professionals. Instead, it was his wife who was running around and negotiating on his behalf. It seems that Yuko Arisawa should be the one who is more assertive and proactive.

Of course, how a couple gets along is their own business. If the couple has no objections, no one has the right to interfere. But judging from Yuko Arisawa's behavior, it doesn't seem like she has no objections.

Could it be that he came here under some pretext, but actually wanted to consult Eri Kisaki about legal issues related to divorce...?

While his mind was wandering, Conan's mouth wasn't idle either. He opened his mouth and asked, "25 minutes? That's a very precise time. Most people would say around 9:30, right?"

“He’s always been very punctual. Unless there’s an accident, he’s never been late.” Yuko Arisawa smiled, but also looked rather helpless. “I’m also surprised that he forgot about today’s appointment.”

Eri glanced at her watch, confirmed the time, and suggested, "It's still early before the meeting. I originally planned to finish your business before having dinner together. It seems we'll have to change our plans now."

This is a subtle reminder.

Logically speaking, for matters that are not suitable for receiving money but involve a contractual nature, gifts or invitations should be given, as there should be some social interaction involved.

Now that Arisawa Tsuguro is late again due to personal reasons, he should make an effort to show his appreciation.

Yuko Arisawa was quick to understand and immediately suggested, "How about we go to a nearby hotel for dinner? My car is parked there. I arrived a little early today, so I'll kill some time by having coffee there, which will save on parking fees."

"That's really kind of you. Is it alright if my daughter and the others come along?" Eri Kisaki said a few polite words, then looked at Ran Mouri and the others.

Bringing along a daughter is somewhat convenient, and adding a primary school student wouldn't cost much, but bringing along a seventeen or eighteen-year-old teenager would raise suspicions of taking advantage of someone who is wealthy.

"It's okay, it's good to have more people, it'll be more lively. My husband doesn't take me out to eat very often, I also want to relax with my friends."

Regardless of what she was thinking, Yuko Arisawa certainly couldn't afford to embarrass Eri at this moment, so she quickly nodded in agreement and led the group outside.

The law firm of Fei Law Firm is located in the CBD, and there are quite a few high-end restaurants nearby. Yuko Arisawa took them to a kaiseki restaurant.

Well, it's not cheap, and you can't get enough to eat, so Tang Ze doesn't really like coming here.

Of course, there are many Chinese restaurants that offer delicate dishes in small portions or similar styles, but Tang Ze has never seen a type of cuisine like Japanese kaiseki that so blatantly uses making you hungry as its selling point.

The term "huaishi" (怀石) originates from Zen Buddhism. The phrase "embracing a stone in one's bosom" refers to the practice of monks who follow the precepts and eat only one meal a day in the morning. When they are hungry and cold at night and cannot bear it, they find a stone, heat it up, wrap it in cloth, and hold it in their bosom to combat the hunger.

This dish originated from the tea ceremony, because the tea ceremony has a process that takes a long time. In case guests couldn't wait to drink tea on an empty stomach, some snacks were provided to fill their stomachs.

As a result, this format was later packaged as a traditional cuisine, with seven appetizers, each of which was complicated and time-consuming to prepare, served one by one, before the soup and main course were served, supposedly to ensure the freshness of the raw food, as everything was freshly killed, taken, and prepared.

So to put it bluntly, it's basically making you wait until you're hungry. After the whole process, an adult male is lucky if he's only 70% full.

As the saying goes, if you queue for two hours, even snow will taste delicious. If you make someone starve to eat, and all they get are a few bites, wouldn't that be exquisite and delicious? How could they possibly eat it all?

Moreover, this process gives you an idea of ​​how expensive it is. Putting aside whether the ingredients are really good or not, with this table turnover rate, the average order value must be high for the store to go out of business.

If I had to point out any advantage to this kind of dining culture, it would be that the long process makes it quite suitable for business conversations.

Just like now.

"Oh, Ran, you won a karate tournament?" Yuko Arisawa asked, holding a drink and looking surprised. "That's amazing! Isn't that a promising career path? I heard from Eri that you've been thinking about pursuing that career?"

"You're exaggerating. It's just a small regional competition, and it's only in the youth group..." Ran Mouri was a little embarrassed by her tone and quickly waved her hand, "Besides, I think I'm far inferior to real competitive athletes."

Learning physical skills as a form of training or for practical application is quite different from pursuing a competitive career.

The former only requires consistent practice to be effective, while the latter requires years of training and constant challenges to one's personal limits, which are merely the basic requirements.

Moreover, the competitive nature of competitive sports inevitably leads to a Matthew effect in the related economy, where the winner takes all. Those who have paid their dues but have not received honors will find it difficult to gain attention or make money.

So Ran Mouri has only given this idea a little thought and currently has no plans to make it her career. She feels it's a bit too late for her to consider a career change at her age.

“How could that be? Your talent is already very good. I’ve never won an award like this before.” Yuko Arisawa laughed when she heard this. “I’m the type to achieve success later in life. I never won any awards before university.”

"Eh, did Arisawa-senpai only start receiving awards and achievements after he became an adult?"

"Yes, it probably has something to do with comprehension. And my peak period was too short. I only played for two or three years before I got injured, and then I retired and got married..."

As Yuko Arisawa spoke, her smile faded considerably, and the curve of her lips clearly began to weaken.

Knowing that the important part was about to be discussed, Tang Ze narrowed his eyes and observed Yuzawa Yuko's emotions.

Even if you have a general idea of ​​what happened, you still need to see the account of the person involved to get the specifics.

"I originally wanted to win the Olympic gold medal. I was in great form at the time, and I hadn't lost to any of the seeded players in other tournaments. I thought I had a chance to make a run for it and prove myself in front of the seniors I admired..."

Eri picked up her teacup and took a sip, finally understanding the source of Eri's subtle dissatisfaction with her spouse.

Yuko Arisawa chose to leave the competitive sports path at the peak of her career after suffering a sudden injury.

Although her meteoric two or three years of competition experience were enough to make her a household name in sports, and she could have lived off that fame for many years to come, with her commercial activities and personal career still quite remarkable, it was still a regret that she fell just short of her goal.

Eri Kisaki couldn't comment on the nature of her relationship with her husband, Tsuguro Arisawa, but the marriage itself was a compromise.

Saying that he was a symbol of compromise and failure for Yuko Arisawa is a bit of an exaggeration, but the meaning is roughly the same.

"An idol you admire?" Ran Mouri asked curiously. "To be someone you admire, they must be a very famous athlete, right?"

“It’s Hajime Kaji, the ‘coach of all of Japan’ right now!” Upon mentioning her idol, Yuko Arisawa’s melancholy expression vanished, and she brought her drink to her lips again. “He was once an invincible gold medalist in the 81kg category! I became interested in judo and started practicing after seeing his matches on TV.”

"Oh, I see. Me too! I really admire Mr. Satoshi Maeda, the Japanese karate champion..." Ran Mouri was equally excited, feeling that they had found common ground.

"I feel like I've heard of him before. I heard he's a really handsome guy?" Yuko Arisawa's expression turned teasing again, her tone full of amusement. "Do you admire him a lot? Is he your type?"

"No, no..." Ran Mouri immediately retorted, glancing awkwardly at Conan and Karasawa, her speech quickening. "I was still in elementary school when Mr. Maeda received the award, and he's been retired for a long time, long since left the industry, and is doing very well as a programmer. Oh, by the way, he got married recently, to his girlfriend of many years with whom he has a very good relationship... Anyway, I don't have those kinds of thoughts!"

Seeing Conan solve so many life-threatening problems, it was rare to see Ran Mouri put on armor like this, so Tang Ze found it quite amusing and ate half a plate of rice while watching the scene unfold.

Oh, and that's partly because kaiseki cuisine itself doesn't involve much staple food.

However, Ran Mouri was telling the truth. Having avenged her great grudge, Akiko Sayama, the girlfriend of Satoshi Maeda who hadn't even been imprisoned yet, had let go of her resentment after that case.

Because she met Kogoro Mouri and others in Izu, although they didn't send an invitation when she got married, they did send a letter and a souvenir. She should be doing quite well now.

Yuko Arisawa was taken aback when she realized that the opponent had used their ultimate skill after just a basic attack, and then burst out laughing.

"It was just a question, Xiaolan is such a lovely child. But it's good that you're so innocent. It's just a longing, a longing. Beautiful flowers are most captivating when viewed from afar. Once you get too close..."

Whether it was a pointed remark or not, Yuko Arisawa lowered her gaze, swirling the bubbly drink in her hand, as if recalling something.

"Idols are often like the sun. If you get too close to the sun, you'll be like Icarus, whose fragile wings will be destroyed by the sunlight. Not only will you fall from the sky, but you'll also bring disaster upon yourself."

The warm sunlight transformed into blazing flames; the real heat burned and melted away all expectations and fantasies, turning everything into something completely different from what had been imagined…

This is absolutely not a healthy relationship, and we hope no one will repeat the same mistake.

----

"Xingchuan, Xingchuan..."

"Ok?"

Hoshikawa Teru, who was absentmindedly looking in a certain direction, turned his head and met Asai Narumi's scrutinizing gaze.

“What are you daydreaming about? That lady named Yuko Arisawa, her husband is already at the restaurant. If we don’t want a tragedy to happen, we should act now.”

As Asai Narumi said this, she glanced out of the corner of her eye towards the opposite door.

Even with an incomplete crew, the Phantom Thieves' distinctive features made them quite conspicuous when they entered the kaiseki restaurant.

So they chose another restaurant across the street, maintaining a certain distance while ensuring timely support in case of any situation, keeping them at a comfortable but not too close distance.

The conversation at Tang Ze's table, which served as their standard for judging the situation, was naturally shared with all of them by Noah, and they heard the entire conversation clearly.

"...What kind of expressions are those?" Hoshikawa Teru's eye twitched. "Hey, hey, I wasn't spacing out about that kind of thing."

"What's wrong? You feel there's a big difference between your thoughts and hers, because you know Tang Ze's true nature very well?" Asai Narumi raised her eyebrows, her expression clearly showing distrust. "I have a feeling that what you've been thinking about lately is also dangerous."

As one of the earliest members, besides Akemi Miyano, he was the person Hoshikawa Teru had the most contact with.

While others might not fully grasp Hoshikawa Teru's hidden emotions, Asai Narumi could discern some of them.

Recently, Hoshikawa Teru has been very motivated, just like always. He still seems to be dragged along by Maki-oh, forced to keep up. However, Asai Narumi has seen him repeatedly adjusting the details of his appearance in front of the full-length mirror several times.

Goro Akechi was modeled after Tang Ze's face, so if any adjustments were needed, it should be Tang Ze who made them. Instead, this guy is neurotically tweaking the details of his hairstyle and facial features. It's not like he's suddenly starting to care about his appearance now...

“Of course I’m different from her.” Hoshikawa Teru waved his hand dismissively. “Please, I had my Hall of Fame before I met Tang Ze. Tang Ze didn’t cause me any trauma that was enough to cause distortion.”

On the contrary, he is the one who is healing.

"Is that the only difference?"

"Why not?"

"Hmph... let's just say that's how it is..."

Asai Narumi shrugged, not delving into the matter, but her hand, hidden under her sleeve, quickly tapped her phone screen a few times and sent a message.

Well, he can't handle this kid. Let the professionals handle the professional matters.