Traveling back thirty years to Conan, intercepting Princess Eri

Chapter 334 Turned into a Doll

"Your magic?" The "puppet" looked at himself with disbelief, glancing down at his current body. "Isn't your magic ineffective against me?"

“This…” Akane Koizumi’s eyes darted around, her voice barely audible, “We haven’t tried them all…”

"What exactly did you do to me?"

The "doll" rushed to Akane Koizumi in three quick steps, grabbed the girl's thin shoulders with such force that she frowned slightly.
"How did I become like this?!"

"Don't get excited yet..."

Startled by the sudden movement, Akane Koizumi shrank back, her back pressed against the wall.

"Let's sit down and talk this out..."

How could I not be excited!

The doll released its grip and paced angrily back and forth in the room.

"I'm a grown man, and now I've become neither male nor female!"

“You’ve become like this because your current body is just a doll,” Akane Koizumi explained carefully. “The real you will definitely be fine.”

"What is the real me?" The "doll" suddenly stopped and tilted its head in confusion.

"Actually, it's like this..."

Akane Koizumi chuckled twice and briefly recounted what had happened that evening.
"It's possible that the little doll acted as a medium, summoning your soul to possess the doll's body now. Of course, there's another possibility..."

"What's possible?" the puppet hurriedly asked.

“The real Hayashi Hideichi is still at the izakaya. You are actually just a copy of his consciousness,” Akane Koizumi said. As soon as she finished speaking, the “doll” froze in place as if struck by lightning, and did not react for a long time.

"Are you... are you alright?" The apprentice witch approached cautiously, waving her hand in front of his eyes.

"Do you think I look like I'm alright?" The "doll" suddenly snapped out of its daze, glaring at her angrily, its eyes seemingly spitting fire. "Let's go to the izakaya right now and figure out whether I'm the real me or a clone!"

Akane Koizumi also wanted to find out what was going on, so she picked up the slightly worn flying broom from the corner of the wall.

As soon as she straddled the broom, the "doll" saw this and, without saying a word, grabbed the broom handle.

"No!" Akane Koizumi exclaimed.

She stared nervously at the broom, fearing that this flying device that had been with her for many years would disintegrate instantly because of Lin Xiuyi's peculiar constitution.

Surprisingly, after waiting for quite a while, the broom remained intact.

The "doll" clearly did not inherit Lin Xiuyi's physique; even when he held it tightly, the flying broom did not exhibit any abnormalities.

Akane Koizumi breathed a sigh of relief: "Maybe I should go by myself?"

“No,” the puppet refused decisively, tightening its grip even more. “I have to see for myself what’s going on!”

Akane Koizumi sighed helplessly and reached out to pull the "doll" onto the broom.

One by one, the doll flew out of the study window on a broom, heading towards the izakaya under the moonlight.

Izakaya.

Lin Xiuyi has been in the storage room for some time now, but has not come out yet.

There are still several customers waiting outside for their food; we've already asked them several times.

Kogoro Mouri frowned as he looked at the clock on the wall, then put down the rag in his hand and walked towards the storage room.

The moment he pushed open the door, his pupils contracted sharply—Lin Xiuyi was lying motionless on the floor. "Xiuyi!"

Kogoro Mori lunged forward, his knees slamming heavily onto the floor, ignoring the pain.

With trembling fingers, he probed Lin Xiuyi's nostrils and could clearly feel her breathing.

Then Kogoro Mouri pressed his ear against his friend's chest, and only after hearing the strong heartbeat did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.

However, the other person's tightly closed eyes still made him feel a little uneasy.

"Shuichi, wake up!" Kogoro Mouri shook his friend's shoulders vigorously, his voice hoarse with anxiety. "You scared me to death!"

However, no matter how much he shook him, Lin Xiuyi remained unresponsive, like a puppet.

Kogoro Mori swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down, and fine beads of sweat immediately appeared on his forehead.

He stumbled out of the storage room, his voice trembling as he called for the others.

"Shuichi!"

"Onii-chan!"

"senior!"

The three girls rushed over upon hearing the noise, and their faces turned deathly pale when they saw Lin Xiuyi lying on the ground.

Lingzi was the first to rush forward, tears streaming down her face like broken pearls.

Midori Orikasa stood helplessly to the side, her lips trembling incessantly.

Even the usually calm Eri Kisaki had tears in her eyes and shook Lin Xiuyi's body desperately, as if that would wake him up.

"Don't touch him yet," Kogoro Mouri, who had been panicking earlier, was the first to regain his composure. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and said firmly, "Shuichi will be fine. I'll call an ambulance right now."

A dozen minutes later, the ambulance stopped in front of the izakaya.

The medical staff swiftly lifted Lin Xiuyi onto a stretcher, preparing to send her to Mihana Central Hospital.

The three girls rushed to get on the bus, leaving Kogoro Mouri to handle the business at the shop.

Just as the ambulance was about to leave with its glaring red lights flashing, Akane Koizumi and the "doll" witnessed everything from their brooms above the izakaya.

"Have you figured out what happened?" The "doll" impatiently stretched out its hands and grabbed Akane Koizumi's shoulders, shaking her violently.

"My body was unconscious, and the time was about the same as when you woke up,"

Akane Koizumi was so dizzy from being shaken that she managed to steady herself on the broom before giving a forced laugh and replying.

"I think it might be my magic that summoned your soul from your original self and put it into this puppet now."

"You should have a way to turn me back, right?" Lin Xiu asked through gritted teeth, a dangerous glint in her eyes.

“Well…” Akane Koizumi smiled awkwardly, “You know, I haven’t inherited all of the Red Magic from my mother yet, so…”

"You're not trying to say I can't turn back, are you?" In his anger, Lin Xiuyi grabbed her shoulders again and shook her violently.

The flying broom suddenly began to shake violently in the air, startling Akane Koizumi into screaming.

"Stop shaking! We're going to fall!" The apprentice witch desperately tried to maintain the broom's balance. "Don't worry, even though I can't do it, Mom can! She's a real witch!"

"Then hurry up and go find her!" Lin Xiuyi roared. "I don't want to stay in this doll's body forever!"

"Yes, yes, I'll go find her right now!" Akane Koizumi agreed repeatedly, quickly turning her flying broom around and heading towards her house in 2-chome.
(End of this chapter)