Traveling back thirty years to Conan, intercepting Princess Eri

Chapter 389 The Two Police Officers' Request

“Mr. Lin, let my son and I take care of the glass in the shop,” Mr. Kojima said, patting his chest. “Although I run a tavern, I often do small things like replacing glass.”

As he spoke, he pulled a tape measure from his pocket.

"I'll go buy a piece of glass right now and replace it for you."

After apologizing a few more times, Mr. Kojima quickly measured the size of the broken glass and hurriedly left.

As for Kojima Genji, he kept him behind and ordered his son to clean up the broken glass in the shop before he returned.

Midori Orikasa and Genji Kojima were clearly very familiar with each other. As soon as Mr. Kojima left, she angrily tapped Genji Kojima on the head.
"You're always talking about justice, aren't you? This time, over a little misunderstanding, you actually smashed the store's windows twice! Is that what you call justice?"

"I'm sorry, boss, I shouldn't have believed the rumors," Kojima Genji chuckled dryly, scratching his head, finally revealing the mischievous expression that a child his age should have.

"Alright, stop scolding him," Lin Xiuyi smiled and shook his head, taking a broom and dustpan from under the counter and handing them to the boy. "Xiaodao, hurry up and clean up the broken glass so that no one can step on it."

“Oh,” Kojima Genji nodded obediently, took the tools, and started working.

He moved very carefully, afraid of missing any shards of glass.

Lin Xiuyi leaned against the kitchen counter, watching the boy busy at work.

Midori Orikasa walked over, her brows furrowed.

"Senior, do you think we can save the shopping street?" The delinquent girl's voice carried an unusual worry. "I grew up on this shopping street. What if it really gets demolished?"

"They're all those bastards from the Shimadzu Corporation!"

Not far away, Kojima Genji swung his fist, and shards of glass rattled in the winnowing basket.

"Don't worry, boss, if those people come to the commercial street again, I'll definitely bring people to drive them away!"

"Clean properly! When adults are talking, kids shouldn't interrupt!" Midori Orikasa glared at Genji Kojima.

"Tch, who do you think you are?" Kojima Genji scoffed.

"You brat, are you looking for a beating?" Midori Orikasa raised an eyebrow and took out a wooden sword from under her skirt.

Seeing this, Kojima Genji, who had been scolded by her many times before, quickly and skillfully bowed his head and apologized.

"Humph!"

Midori Orikasa brandished her wooden sword menacingly before turning to look at Hideaki Hayashi, waiting for him to answer her question.

"Even if you ask me this question, I can't answer it," Lin Xiuyi shook his head helplessly.

Let's set aside whether his time travel changed anything.

Even if nothing has changed, he can't exactly tell Midori Orikasa that the shopping street will definitely be saved this time because Kogoro Mouri will open a detective agency on the second floor twenty years from now.

"I don't know what the Shimadzu Group saw in this shopping street that made them so determined to acquire it." Midori Orikasa slapped the counter in annoyance, causing the condiment bottles on it to shake slightly.

“Real estate is incredibly profitable right now,” Lin Xiuyi explained, while straightening a wobbly soy sauce bottle. “They spend 100 million to acquire land, then build high-rise residential buildings, and can sell them for billions.”

“Houses have indeed become more and more expensive in the last two years,” Midori Orikasa sighed, leaning against the kitchen counter. “Last year, a distant cousin of mine got married and wanted to buy a house in Beika. My mother took them around to look at the houses, and when they came back, she exclaimed to me that house prices now are skyrocketing compared to more than ten years ago.”

The girl looked up at the ceiling.

"And the price changes every day; it keeps going up every day."

Lin Xiuyi nodded silently. In the world before he transmigrated, housing prices were also ridiculously high. He didn't expect that he still couldn't escape this problem after transmigrating.

We probably won't see housing prices fall until more than a decade later, when Japan's economic bubble bursts.

Mr. Kojima was very efficient; he returned with the new glass in less than an hour. The father and son worked together seamlessly to replace the glass in the izakaya.

Mr. Kojima was very skilled, and while working, he taught his son about precautions, treating it as a rare teaching opportunity.

After the glass was replaced, Mr. Kojima took out an envelope and two beautifully packaged bottles of sake and placed them solemnly on the counter.

“This is compensation for the broken glass last night,” he said sincerely and firmly. “These two bottles of sake represent our apology, please accept them.”

Both bottles of sake had labels that were hand-applied and featured the iconic logo of the Kojima Tavern—clearly part of the tavern's collection.

Seeing the sincerity in the other person's eyes, Lin Xiuyi did not refuse and left everything behind.

Once Kogoro Mouri returns, we'll hand these matters over to him to handle, since this izakaya still belongs to the Mouri family.

At six o'clock in the afternoon, the izakaya started to get lively.

Eri Kisaki, Yukiko Fujimine, Reiko, Kogoro Mouri, Akane Koizumi, and others arrived at the store one after another.

The group sat around a large table, eating dinner and discussing the demolition of the commercial street.

Just as everyone was having a heated discussion, a screeching sound of brakes suddenly rang out outside the store.

Immediately afterwards, Officer Matsumoto pushed open the store door, followed by Officer Megure.

Both were dressed in casual clothes, but their expressions were unusually serious.

Just as Lin Xiuyi was about to invite the two of them to sit down for a meal, Officer Matsumoto waved to him, gesturing for them to talk outside.

"What's going on? Why so mysterious?" Kogoro Mouri couldn't help but mutter to himself.

Lin Xiuyi ignored him, got up with a puzzled look, and followed the two police officers out of the izakaya.

"Is there something you need? You all came over last night, probably for the same reason, right?"

“That’s right,” Officer Matsumoto nodded, hesitated for a moment, and then said, “Actually, we have something we need help with at your shop.”

"Looking for someone from the store?"

Lin Xiu frowned immediately.

He noticed that Inspector Megure was nervously wringing his hands, while Inspector Matsumoto's gaze kept drifting towards the izakaya window.

Eri and Yukiko were sitting by the window, looking outside.

"What exactly happened?" Lin Xiuyi's voice unconsciously turned somber.

"...This is how it happened,"

Officer Matsumoto took a deep breath, seemingly organizing his thoughts.

“We are currently investigating two cases of missing high school girls and have discovered that they may have been followed while riding the tram and then kidnapped on their way home.”

"Because after the prisoner kidnapped the person, he didn't demand a ransom or anything like that,"

Inspector Megure took over the conversation, his face filled with worry.

"In addition, he always chose places with few people when he committed his crimes, which resulted in almost no clues in the case. The first girl to disappear has been missing for more than a week, and we don't know if she is still alive."

Officer Matsumoto gritted his teeth and finally got to the point: "So I came up with a plan: find a high school girl on the train and see if we can lure the criminal out."

(End of this chapter)