Traveling back thirty years to Conan, intercepting Princess Eri

Chapter 360 Why are you looking at me? I'm not giving you any of mine!
We strolled leisurely along the fine, soft sand, sampling all sorts of random snacks and treats as we walked.

The colorful stalls and the dazzling array of food made everyone enjoy their meal immensely.

"Shuichi, try this takoyaki!" Yukiko held up a skewer of steaming takoyaki and offered it to Shuichi's mouth.

The latter intended to take the bamboo skewer, but Yukiko withdrew her hand and then offered the takoyaki to his mouth.

Lin Xiuyi glanced at Fei Yingli secretly and saw that her attention was on the goldfish scooping stall next to her, so he quickly opened his mouth and took a bite.

"How is it? It tastes great, right?" Yukiko took back the takoyaki and continued to devour it.

"Onii-chan," Reiko, who had noticed Yukiko's actions earlier, also offered her candied apple to her brother's lips, not to be outdone.

"It's too sweet, I..."

Lin Xiuyi wanted to refuse, but seeing the little girl's expression that seemed to say, "You eat what Yukiko-neechan eats, but not mine?", she had no choice but to take a small bite.

"Hehe," the little girl happily took back the apple candy and continued eating.

“…Senior, please try this too,” Midori Orikasa mustered her courage and handed a skewer of grilled squid to Hideaki Hayashi.

Because of the examples of Kiko and Reiko, Hayashi Hideichi couldn't refuse and could only reach out and accept it.

He was about to eat grilled squid when a head suddenly popped out from the side and bit off a large piece of squid meat.

It was Tomizawa Chikage. She chewed on the grilled squid in her mouth and nodded in approval: "Hmm, the taste is alright, but it's a bit bland. It would be better if the sauce were a bit stronger."

So that's one of those tricks too...

Yukiko, Reiko, and Midori Orikasa were taken aback.

"Is it delicious?" Eri Kisaki turned around and glared at Hideaki Lin with a displeased look.

She wasn't deaf. Although she was watching the little girl next to her scoop up goldfish, she could still hear clearly as Yukiko and the others fed Hayashi Xiuichi in turn.

"It's...it's alright," Lin Xiuyi smiled awkwardly, subconsciously looking around, trying to change the subject.

But upon seeing Akane Koizumi, the apprentice witch quickly hid the dumpling behind her back, saying, "Why are you looking at me? I'm not giving you any of mine!"

Lin Xiuyi gave her a speechless look: "Who wants to eat your dumplings? I was asking, where are the others?"

"Kogoro and Ruri went on a romantic getaway," Eri Kisaki said expressionlessly. "Narami and Rei went too. Don't tell me you didn't know?"

Lin Xiuyi chuckled dryly. As night deepened, the tourists on the beach began to leave in twos and threes.

He quickly swallowed the grilled squid in his hand in a few bites: "Alright, it's getting late. Let's go find Kogoro and the others. We should head back to the hotel."

……

Back at the hotel, after learning about the room assignments, the girls didn't object much; at most, Reiko, Chikage, and Yukiko were a little cramped.

On the other hand, when Lin Xiuyi learned that he would be sharing a room with Chengshi, the expressions of the girls immediately became subtle.

Reiko bit her lower lip, nervously twisting her fingers; Yukiko's eyes widened, her face filled with surprise; even the usually calm Eri Kisaki frowned slightly.

"Onii-chan..." Reiko tugged at Hayashi Shuichi's sleeve, glancing hesitantly at Narumi standing to the side, "Is this... really okay?"

Lin Xiu raised an eyebrow: "What's the problem?"

“That… Narumi…” Reiko stammered, unable to finish her sentence.

Seeing this, Yukiko simply said, "How about letting Rei and Narumi share a room? They're about the same age..." Lin Xiuyi frowned and glanced at everyone: "Rei and Narumi are still children, and you all know about Narumi's health condition."

He deliberately slowed his speech so that each word was clearly audible.
"What if there's an emergency at night? Who will take care of us?"

His words made perfect sense, and the girls couldn't object anymore.

Eri Kisaki, the only one who had ever been intimate with Hayashi Hideichi, warned expressionlessly, "Don't do anything excessive to Narumi."

“I’m not a priest, what can I do to him?” Lin Xiuyi spread his hands helplessly and turned to look at Cheng Shi.

But they found that the little one had blushed, looked down at his toes, and his slender fingers were tightly gripping the hem of his clothes.

Under the corridor lights, his delicate face was indeed more refined than a girl's, no wonder Eri and the others were worried.

"Alright, stop worrying about things," Lin Xiuyi said, rubbing his temples and looking a little tired. "We've all had a busy day, so let's all get some rest."

……

Everyone returned to their rooms.

Reiko, however, tugged at Chikage Tomizawa's arm with concern, "Chikage-neechan, Narumi is definitely a boy, right?"

"Why are you asking this?" Tomizawa Chikage asked, amused.

“You take care of him all the time, so you’ve never seen him…” Yukiko hesitated, then stopped herself.

"You guys are really..." Tomizawa Chikage laughed in exasperation at the two of them. "I'm not a pervert, why would I pay attention to those things?"

"So, you're still unsure?" Liuli interjected.

“The hospital gives him checkups every day,” Tomizawa Chikage said with a helpless expression. “They can’t possibly get even the simplest thing—his gender—wrong, can they?”

Her answer was very convincing, and the girls immediately stopped being suspicious.

“He’s a boy, but he looks cuter than a girl,” Midori Orikasa exclaimed. “Naruma really was born into the wrong family.”

“It’s probably related to his childhood environment,” Tomizawa Chikage shook her head sympathetically. “That child has spent most of his time in the hospital since birth, without his parents by his side, which is why he developed his shy and timid personality.”

……

Back in his room, Lin Xiuyi deftly took off his T-shirt, revealing his muscular upper body.

When he sat down on the edge of the bed to take off his pants, he found Chengshi frozen in the doorway like a statue, his fair face flushed red, his eyes fixed on the ground, and even the tips of his ears were tinged with pink.

"Hey," Lin Xiuyi couldn't help but laugh out loud, "You don't actually think you're a girl, do you?"

“…I…I’m a boy!” Chengshi stammered in response.

"Since you're a boy, what's there to be ashamed of?"

Lin Xiuyi walked up to him, squatted down, and looked him in the eye.
"When Kogoro and I were your age, we often played around naked in the bathhouse. Isn't it normal for men to be so honest with each other?"

Narumi's ear tips turned bright red, almost as if they were about to bleed: "But...the nurses at the hospital..."

"Do they often tease you?" Lin Xiuyi asked knowingly.

The little one nodded gently, her soft hair swaying slightly with the movement: "They... always say I'm cuter than girls..."

(End of this chapter)