Conan: The Man Behind the Romance

Chapter 328: Xiaolan and Yingsheng express their love to each other and start living together!
At 7:50 in the evening, Xiaolan called Yingsheng.

"The news said that the Tokyo Police Hospital was invaded by criminals, who finally escaped using smoke bombs," said Xiaolan.

"Yes, Xiwang and I went there to look for Binga, but we didn't find him." Yingsheng said, "We wanted to look for records to see who took him away, but the security there was too strict, so we had to flee in embarrassment."

"Thank you for your hard work, and thank you Miss Hope."

"I'll tell her what's going on over there. Is it possible that Vermouth will surrender sincerely?"

"I think she really cares about me and Shinichi. The purpose of her action this time is very simple, just to separate the two of us. But she is the Witch of a Thousand Faces. I'm not sure if she is acting or not. I still can't let my guard down."

"How about asking her to act with us tomorrow?"

“Not sure either.”

"Well, then we can only change her hands tomorrow and lock her up somewhere else. Lan, did she teach you how to disguise yourself?"

"I'm just teaching you how to put on makeup. Sorry, Hotaru, I don't seem to have any talent for this."

"Don't worry, take your time. Is there anything else?"

The taxi had slowly stopped, and next to it was Yingsheng's destination for the night, the Bloody Rose.

Xiaolan was silent for a moment: "I have an idea, maybe I can make Vermouth truly surrender."

"what?"

"Just like you planned to do at the institute last Friday, let Shinichi and Vermouth be together for real."

Yingsheng smiled and said, "I didn't expect you to say that."

"how?"

"It's pretty mean, isn't it?"

"But judging from their previous performance, they are actually in love with each other." Xiaolan said, "Even if Vermouth can't disguise herself as Xuesong Qingzi now, it will be the same if they meet again. I can create opportunities for the two of them."

"How to do it?"

"Shinichi already knows that I've read Sherlock Holmes, and he's happy for me to ask him for advice. I can arrange a time with him, and then have Vermouth disguised as me and go over. We'll just monitor the surroundings, and we don't have to worry about her taking the opportunity to run away."

"From what you said, the agreed location is Kudo's house?"

"Yes, isn't this more convenient?"

"It's convenient, but..." Yingsheng paused, "Lan, you must have been stimulated by something, this is not like your style."

"I just think that this is a best of both worlds solution, and all parties will only benefit." Xiaolan said.

"That's not necessarily true for Kudo. From what you just said, it seems like he has rekindled his old feelings for you?"

"On the contrary, I'm completely sure that he doesn't like me." Xiaolan sighed softly, "In fact, didn't he make it very clear when he talked to you on the phone at the gym last Saturday? Now it's just to verify it from other angles.

Whether it is the fake Cedar classmate, the real Vermouth, or me now.

Shinichi doesn't like a specific person at all, but just someone who shares his interest in reasoning and can chat with him about Sherlock Holmes and various cases.

By the way, he is also a little pervert, and I guess his good looks are an important factor.

There is nothing else. He doesn't care who that person is. It doesn't matter if she is called Xue Songqingzi, Mao Lilan, Shirley, Vermouth, or Chris Wynyard. "

Xiaolan's tone at the end was quite sarcastic.

Yingsheng laughed: "It seems that he still offended you. Did he say something wrong?"

"No, I'm serious."

"Let me guess. Maybe you asked him about his recent situation, and he was still as chauvinistic as ever and didn't tell you anything, right?"

"...Well, that's probably it."

Xiaolan snorted, "And what annoys me the most is that during my probing, he seemed to take it all for granted, even my relationship with you was just to piss him off, I am just that love-brained.

Fortunately, he is not the reason why I am like this now, otherwise I would be even more angry.

wrong.

If I hadn't met you, Ying, I might still be that kind of person, and I would probably still be waiting for him foolishly. It's scary to think about it."

"Um……"

Yingsheng said: "I am a scumbag. Many people must have told you about this."

"So what? Can't I tell who is truly kind to me?"

Xiaolan pursed her lips and said, "Scumbag, so be it. Isn't that the charm you have?

Even if they know that you are a playboy and they are not the only one, people can still be willing to do so.

Be it a love-brained person or a person with no self-respect or self-love, no matter what they say, I am just a terrible guy.

Anyway, in my eyes, I only see a person who is wholeheartedly good to me. Is it wrong for me to like such a person? "

When Xiaolan was talking on the phone with Kudo Shinichi before, she noticed that his attitude towards her had changed, and she just wanted to ask him a question.

——"You, what did you do so early?"

As it turns out, I'm not that hopelessly stupid woman. In just two weeks, I've grown to the point where I meet your wishes.

right?

Shinichi.

So, looking back, were you really that busy that you couldn't spare two weeks to accompany me in my growth?
Over ten years...

No, let’s not talk about things that are too far away. Just assume that your mind is not mature enough.

Let’s just talk about your junior high school period, just after your parents left you alone and you started living on your own.

Sometimes it's a week, sometimes it's two weeks, I will go to your house and help you clean.

and then?
What are you doing
You sat next to me reading detective novels, and when I talked to you, you ignored me.

Wouldn’t the total amount of time like this be very little?
In Room 2602 of Ian Apartment, Xiaolan was lying under the wisteria trellis on the balcony, gently rocking on the recliner, looking at the bright moon in the sky with a distant look in her eyes.

To be honest, Xiaolan didn't think there was anything wrong with the way she got along with Kudo Shinichi in the past.

It’s still the same reason, I put myself in the role of the wife in advance.

Aren't all housewives like that in Japan?

However, after Hotaru appeared, everything became different and Xiaolan saw another way of life.

Novelty, freedom, unfettered...

Most importantly, she no longer has to wait.

Dad's change, Mom's return home, Shinichi's official relationship...

In the past, there were so many things she expected and waited for.

And no matter how hard she tried, time and time again, it was always to no avail and there was no glimmer of hope.

When will that long road end?
How long will she be alone?

Garden...

If she hadn't always been by my side, always able to infect me with her vigorous vitality, I would definitely not have been able to hold on.

But, she is a girl after all.

Even though she could always comfort herself, that was all.

Some regrets are ultimately unavoidable.

Take a step, keep taking a step forward, when will the fog in front of you dissipate?

Will it really disappear one day? - "I say, you are too sentimental and petty. Can't you live without a man?"

A sarcastic voice suddenly came from the darkness beside the road.

A ripple gradually appeared in the gray mist of confusion and hesitation.

——"Will anyone really cherish something that is so easily available?"

——"Miss Flower Vase, what are you thinking about? Do you know how to write the word 'licking dog'?"

The sharp words stung her eardrums. Xiaolan finally stopped, clenched her fists, and cast an angry look into the darkness.

——"Unhappy? Then let's have a fight."

——"Punch me straight in the face! Coward!"

Bang——! ! !
The cell phone smashed through the floor and exploded into pieces as fine as dust on the second floor.

In the dust, in the aftermath of her unprecedented roar at her father, a star slowly rose, shone brightly, and dispelled the fog.

The first star of the Big Dipper, Tianshu!

——"You can't keep pretending to work hard like this. It's just useless and purely self-satisfaction."

——"Alice, you must see the essence of the problem, clarify your goals, and exert your subjective initiative."

The first time I drank with a boy;
The first time he did something bad, he beat the Yakuza until they vomited blood, which indirectly caused their death;

The first time I sat on the back of a motorcycle, hugged a boy’s waist, listened to the wind in my ears and the sirens behind me, and thought that it would be nice if time just stopped like that...

Later on, there are even more outrageous things like eavesdropping on his mother, evading the police, ambushing Gin, gun fights in the street, and so on.

Things became more and more out of the ordinary, and gradually, Xiaolan found that she had strayed from her original path.

Love, further education, work, marriage, raising children...

The road that I had walked on for a long time, a road that I thought I would continue on forever, suddenly became so unfamiliar.

But in just over two weeks, the emotions I once had suddenly become somewhat vague.

Xiaolan looked down and saw that the new road only reached her toes.

There is still darkness ahead.

How deep that darkness is, yet how warm, how mysterious and desirable it is.

Behind me, on the road that once had many fellow travelers, a lot of gossip inexplicably appeared, and it was so cold and noisy.

——"I'm sorry, Xiaolan, the atmosphere in the class has changed a little."

——"Let's go out to eat."

——"The cover-up of the winery at your house seemed to have been heard by the neighbors, and they all looked at each other with a strange look in their eyes."

——"I've already asked around. It was the peripheral members of the winery who were asking around that day whether I had brought any boys home. Don't worry about them. I'll be moving out soon anyway."

When Kogoro Mori's growl mixed in, the noise in my ears became louder.

The light of the stars sprinkled around her, Xiaolan smiled slightly, and regarded all the sounds as just the breeze blowing on her face.

She took a step forward.

clatter--

A brand new road appeared under her feet!

Jingle bell bell—

Wind chimes rang under the wisteria trellis.

Xiaolan said softly, "Hina, can you ask me the question you asked me in the evening again?"

Yingsheng chuckled: "I'm not sure if you are just acting on impulse right now, so that question cannot be asked."

"Why? Since you are a scumbag, shouldn't you seize this opportunity?"

"Who knows? Maybe I am more of a rational person."

Xiaolan was silent for a long time and then smiled softly.

"Everyone says you're a scumbag, but I don't think you are."

"Oh, thank you for the compliment."

"Last Friday afternoon after school, Sonoko stopped me and told me that you were actually a gigolo who specialized in deceiving women, Ying. Do you know what I thought at that time?"

"Um……"

Yingsheng said, "It must be that Shuiyue Yingsheng is too bad. We must stay away from him from now on."

"Hey, hey, be serious. If I thought like that, why would I come out in the evening?"

"I am also confused about this, please give me an answer."

Xiaolan snorted softly, "I was thinking, you usually talk so irritatingly, would anyone really ask you to be a gigolo? It's good enough that you didn't get beaten, how could you lie to someone?"

"Haha, it seems I am such a big liar."

"Yes, after that night, I knew why you could become a top gigolo. Then I secretly warned myself in my heart that I must be vigilant against you."

"What then?"

"Then... that's how it happened."

Xiaolan's voice became a little ethereal. "From childhood to adulthood, except for Sonoko, no one has always been by my side. Even Sonoko has her own things to do, and, well... she has a very carefree personality, and I am a very shy guy, so she can't notice many things at all.

Not to mention guiding me step by step on some things and teaching me what to do.

Dad, Mom, Sonoko, Shinichi.

They are kind of the four most important people in my life, but for a variety of reasons, mostly my own, they couldn't do that.

Only you, Hotaru.

Only you.

Just like the wonderful sound you spoke of, you have relieved all my doubts, all my fears, and all my terrors.

At first I just wanted to repay you, but gradually, I really fell in love with you.

This is a normal thing, right?”

Yingsheng smiled softly: "Does this count as good deeds being rewarded? I haven't done many good deeds in total."

"Hmph, don't say that there is no evidence at all for many of Vermouth's accusations against you. Even if everything she said is true and you are an unforgivable villain, I don't care at all. I also have a share of your sins, and we can go to hell together when the time comes."

"Let's go to hell together..."

Yingsheng murmured to himself, and an unprecedented emotion surged in his heart, causing his hand to pause as he was about to push the door and get out of the car.

It seemed as if the bottom of my heart was suddenly filled with wild weeds. The dandelions on the grass stems drifted in the wind and turned into a sky full of pink cherry blossoms under the dome that revealed the purple sky.

Somewhat distraught.

It also feels a bit numb and tingling.

In a trance, Yingsheng seemed to understand something, and it seemed that he was about to die.

"Hatsura, ask again." Xiaolan said.

"Lan, how about we live together?" Yingsheng asked.

"Okay, I agree."

(End of this chapter)