Model worker and his little darling

"What are you thinking about?" The questioner asked, looking at Conan Haibara, who seemed lost in thought.

Haibara glanced at Conan and then shook her head. "Nothing. Did someone contact you about something?"

Conan's expression turned awkward for a moment. He hadn't expected it to be Sonoko's prank, sending him Ran's swimsuit photo. But now, his relationship with Ran was somewhat awkward.

So he sighed and looked up at the sky sadly with Haibara.

seaside.

Xiaolan glared angrily at her best friend, "Yuanzi, I'm going to get angry if you keep doing this."

Seeing Ran's serious expression, Sonoko took Ran's arm. "Ran, don't be angry. Besides, isn't Shinichi your husband?"

Shinichi...

Ran felt bitter inside. Ever since Shinichi confessed to her, she really didn't know how to face Shinichi, or Conan, now.

She felt heartbroken when she heard about Shinichi's ordeal.

But then she remembered that when she first met Conan, she had told him what was on her mind. She even took a bath with him when they went to her father's class reunion. When they went out, she would hold him in her arms and treat him like a younger brother…

He didn't refuse so many times.

All of this really embarrassed her.

Seeing Ran's sad expression, Sonoko cautiously asked, "Did you two have a fight?"

Xiaolan shook her head. "No, I don't know how to face him."

Seeing this, Sonoko grabbed Ran's hand and started running forward, "Come on, Ran, let's go play over there and forget about that stinky detective."

The two left early, missing out on a murder case that would have involved them.

……

forest.

Before Haibara and Conan could be sad for long, Genta came running over in a flurry, "I found Marumushi!"

Conan snapped out of his daze. "Found it?"

So he instantly joined the group and followed along, still somewhat skeptical.

Led by Genta, the group discovered a bathhouse. Surrounded by trees, only the roof was visible, with the words "Marumi Onsen" written on it.

The bathhouse was somewhat dilapidated, and the hot spring sign on the signboard was crooked.

The three children excitedly studied the Marumushi Hot Spring, while Professor Agasa and Ai Haibara, who followed behind, simply smiled without saying a word.

After some investigation, they returned dejectedly, asking Professor Agasa to tell them where the treasure was.

Professor Agasa's heart softened instantly, and he took out the coded message to explain.

However, Ai Haibara stopped Professor Agasa in time, saying, "There's still one person who hasn't surrendered."

Following Haibara's gaze, Conan was still staring at the code in the notebook, deep in thought.

Thinking about this, I started thinking about the evening.

The three little ones, who had been wandering around outside, ran back. "Conan, there's a glowing spot in the forest! Let's go take a look!"

Upon closer inspection, the abandoned Marumi Onsen that I had seen during the day was now brightly lit, and many people were carrying basins and walking inside.

"The village must have bought the hotel to use as a bathhouse."

But this had nothing to do with the code. Yuan Tai started to slack off and lay down on the ground.

Seeing this, Conan said helplessly, "Genta, don't get angry and lie on the ground."

"I'm not angry or embarrassed. Didn't the doctor once say that lying down and thinking about it might help you find the answer?"

Ayumi, who was standing nearby, also remembered Haibara's suggestion to wash her face, so the three of them decided to go to the public bathhouse to wash their faces.

However, Professor Agasa and Ai Haibara, who followed them, said that going to the bathhouse was useless, so the three of them had no choice but to place their hopes on Conan.

Ayumi looked at the bathhouse and suddenly noticed that the hot spring sign had changed from being tilted to being upside down.

"Look, that logo looks like a jellyfish."

Upon hearing this, Conan looked over, and the change in perspective instantly made him understand everything. He then shook his head with amusement, "What's wrong with me? I actually got stumped by this kind of code."

Seeing this expression, the three children immediately surrounded him. "Conan, did you solve the code?"

Conan nodded, and after explaining, Mitsuhiko turned the cipher paper horizontally and held it up to the moonlight.

Under the moonlight, the riddle was instantly solved: "Muramatsu Rinotori".

"The torii gate at the village festival!"

The three children looked expectantly at Professor Agasa and Ai Haibara, who were watching the show from the sidelines.

"The standard answer!"

Running all the way to the shrine, the three little ones found the treasure that Professor Agasa had prepared for them: a large number of rhinoceros beetles and stag beetles gathered on the torii gate pillars coated with tree sap.

Seeing that Conan and Ai Haibara were both in low spirits, Professor Agasa was a little worried. The two of them hadn't been in good condition these past few days, so he thought of taking a group of children out for a walk today, but it didn't seem to help.

Looking at the cipher paper, Conan suddenly thought of Hiraiyoshi, sighed silently, and gazed at the moon with melancholy. He wondered where Hiraiyoshi had gone; he had disappeared for so long.

They wanted to get more information about the organization from Hirakiyo, including that mysterious organization that uses magic. But ever since they solved the case of the Kimono Sleeve God in Yamagata Prefecture, Hirakiyo had vanished without a trace and they couldn't contact him at all.

He had even considered the possibility that Pingqing's identity might be exposed and that he might be assassinated by the organization, since Pingqing had never disappeared for such a long time before. But in that case, the organization would definitely notice that Pingqing had concealed his and Haibara's existence. But now everything was calm, so Pingqing's disappearance was probably not for that reason.

He even contacted Kaito Kid, with whom he had a life-or-death bond after experiencing a plane crash together, but Kid didn't reply to his message.

There was nothing he could do but wait; his strength alone was simply too small. He was also very curious about that mysterious magical world, but unfortunately, he hadn't made any progress so far.

Returning under the moonlight.