Traveling back thirty years to Conan, intercepting Princess Eri

Chapter 324 The Bullied Witch
The icy tea slid down Akane Koizumi's cheeks, the biting chill making her shiver and jolting her awake from her reverie.

She subconsciously raised her hand to wipe the water from her face, her fingertips trembling slightly from the sudden chill.

"You're despicable!"

Akane Koizumi was so angry that her face turned ashen, and her crimson eyes burned with fury as she stared intently at the girl in front of her.

"Hmph," the little cousin put her hands on her hips and glared back without fear.

Akane Koizumi gritted her teeth, wanting to use magic to teach this provocative little girl a lesson, but then she suddenly remembered how Lin Xiuyi had just beaten someone up, and she couldn't help but feel a little scared.

That brat is that guy's sister. If she makes him angry, my magic won't work on him.
Thinking of this, Akane Koizumi took a deep breath, suppressing the anger surging in her chest: "I'm just telling the truth. This is the result of the divination. Believe it or not, it's up to you!"

"Only a fool would believe your divination," Reiko wrinkled her nose in annoyance, picked up her cup, and turned to leave.

Just then, the door to the storage room opened, and Lin Xiuyi, dressed in a chef's uniform, came out.

Upon seeing him, Akane Koizumi immediately pouted and complained, "Your sister wanted to have her fortune told, and when I told her the truth, she splashed all the tea on my face." As she spoke, she pointed to her wet bangs and school uniform.

"Lingzi?" Lin Xiu raised an eyebrow and looked at her little cousin.

The little girl played with the glass in her hand, then raised her face proudly and said, "Who told her to talk bad about Onii-chan!"

Lin Xiuyi's gaze shifted back to Koizumi Akane, who, recalling the contents of her divination, gave an awkward, dry laugh: "This...this isn't my fault. The divination result was that you should have died more than a decade ago."

"You still dare to talk back!" Lingzi's face turned black with anger, and she made a move to get a water glass to fill up with water again.

Following behind Lin Xiuyi, Fei Yingli also frowned: "Your divination is complete nonsense, it's not accurate at all."

"It's not that my divination was wrong, it's clearly him..."

Seeing that Eri and Reiko were both eyeing her covetously, Akane Koizumi immediately lowered her head in grievance.
"That's the result of the divination, how can you blame me?"

"Lingzi, take her upstairs and dry her clothes with a hairdryer," Lin Xiuyi patted her younger sister's chubby cheeks. "No matter what, she's a guest, so don't be impolite."

"Okay," the little girl replied reluctantly, "Let's go."

Akane Koizumi went out with Reiko, and Hideichi Hayashi rolled up his sleeves and began preparing the ingredients.

"Why does Koizumi always say things like that?" Kogoro Mouri stroked his chin. "She said the same thing when she did a fortune telling for us before."

“There must be something wrong with her divination,” Eri Kisaki snorted, her gaze fixed on the figure busy at the kitchen counter, a gentle look in her eyes. “Shuichi is perfectly fine here, how could he have died so young?”

The real Lin Xiuyi was indeed the result of her divination, and had long since passed away. Listening to the two talking, Lin Xiuyi thought to herself, but even if she said this, probably no one would believe her.

"It's normal to make mistakes in divination," Lin Xiuyi said with a smile. "Don't take it to heart."

“I don’t want to take it to heart,” Eri Kisaki said meaningfully, “but I’m afraid some people will think she’s pretty and insist on taking her to heart.”

"Eri, you're really wronging me," Lin Xiuyi said, looking aggrieved. "If I hadn't had no other choice, why would I have gone to see her today? Have you seen me in contact with her recently?"

After thinking for a moment, Fei Yingli realized that Lin Xiuyi had indeed been deliberately avoiding Koizumi Akane at school recently, and her tense lips relaxed slightly. "Xiuyi, did you really find the person through her divination?" Mouri Kogoro asked curiously.

“Hmm,” Lin Xiuyi stirred the curry in the pot, and the aroma gradually spread. “This afternoon after school, I met Xiao Lü and Xiao Quan Qian at the store entrance. They said that Mei Yue was being held in a dilapidated apartment in Beika with a view of a large chimney, so we went there to look for her.”

"You really found someone there?" Kogoro Mouri's eyes widened in surprise.

Lin Xiuyi recalled the afternoon's events as if in a dream, a dazed look on her face: "Her divination was indeed quite accurate."

"To be honest, she was just guessing,"

Eri Kisaki pouted and gently tapped the table with her slender fingers.

"Didn't you already confirm that the group that clashed with Xiao Lü's friend was in Beihu? The factory area is the most complex area in terms of population flow, so it's not easy to be discovered if they kidnapped someone and hid there?"

"But what about the big chimney?" Kogoro Mouri retorted. "Shuichi, can you see the big chimney from the room where Midori is locked up?"

“Yes,” Lin Xiuyi said, his head down as he focused on stirring the curry. His profile was faintly visible in the steam.

“A tall chimney that’s tens of meters high can be seen from anywhere within a radius of several kilometers,” Eri waved her hand dismissively. “That area covers most of the factory area. She must have been there before to say that.”

"But back in school, many female classmates said that Koizumi-san's fortune telling was very accurate," Kogoro Mouri scratched his head, still unwilling to admit defeat.

"What do you mean by 'accurate'?" Eri Kisaki scoffed, casually tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "Those girls are just asking about love. As long as you go along with what they want to hear, it's bound to be a yes."

“But some fortune telling that isn’t about love is also very accurate,” Kogoro Mouri said, still somewhat unconvinced.

"If her divination is accurate, then Shuichi must have died a long time ago?" Eri Kisaki glared at him, annoyed.

"This..." Kogoro Mouri was speechless for a moment, awkwardly touching his nose. "It was just one mistake."

Seeing that the two were about to start arguing again, Lin Xiuyi quickly tapped the side of the pot with the spatula, making a crisp sound: "Alright, stop talking about this. It's just divination. Whether you believe it or not doesn't affect us."

On the second floor, after taking Akane Koizumi into the bathroom, Reiko ignored her and sat alone on the sofa in the living room, sulking.

Akane Koizumi searched the bathroom for a long time but couldn't find the hair dryer. Unwilling to ask Reiko, she simply closed the door and began to mutter an obscure incantation.

With a flash of crimson flames, the witch's school uniform instantly dried, and even her tea-soaked hair became fluffy and smooth.

She straightened her collar with satisfaction, twirled in front of the mirror, and then walked out of the bathroom with her head held high.

"You?" Reiko blinked her big eyes, looking at the completely transformed Akane Koizumi with confusion.

I didn't hear the hairdryer, so how did my clothes dry? They dried way too fast!

Akane Koizumi gave a smug snort and went downstairs on her own...

(End of this chapter)