Traveling back thirty years to Conan, intercepting Princess Eri

Kogoro Mouri took the tissue and carefully patted his forehead, afraid of ruining his makeup.

“Don’t be too nervous,” Officer Matsumoto reassured her, his voice much gentler than usual. “Just take the bus as usual. The criminal may not show up.”

“I’m not afraid of criminals,” Kogoro Mouri chuckled dryly. “I’m worried about running into acquaintances. If I’m recognized, especially by classmates, I’ll never be able to face anyone again.”

"Don't worry," Lin Xiuyi patted his friend's shoulder, "At this time of day, most of the students at Teitan High School are still participating in club activities and haven't left the school yet. No one will recognize you!"

Kogoro Mouri nodded, took a deep breath, opened the car door, and got out.

"We're off," Lin Xiuyi said to the two police officers before getting out of the car and chasing after them.

Kogoro Mouri took a deep breath, and the moment he opened the car door, a slightly warm summer breeze rushed towards him.

He subconsciously adjusted his wig, and almost tripped and fell flat on his face as he stepped out of the car.

"Watch out!" Lin Xiuyi quickly got out of the car and helped him up.

The two police officers sitting in the car exchanged a helpless look upon seeing this scene.

Officer Matsumoto rolled down the car window and whispered to Kogoro Mouri, "Your communicator is on. We have people listening in. If anything happens, just let us know."

"Okay!" Kogoro Mori nodded hastily.

The two walked towards the ticket office together, and Kogoro Mouri couldn't help but complain in a low voice, "This skirt feels so weird. It feels like there's a breeze around my crotch when I walk. When I got off the train just now, I thought I wasn't wearing pants, and that's why I almost tripped."

“You weren’t wearing pants anyway,” Lin Xiuyi shook her head with amusement. “Stop talking. Even if you try to speak in a high-pitched voice, it’s still too rough.”

The two quickly bought tickets for the same train that the previous two victims had taken.

The roar of the tram approaching the station grew louder as it drew nearer.

As the car door opened, Kogoro Mouri's breathing became noticeably rapid.

Although he said he wasn't afraid of the prisoners, his eyes kept darting around the carriage after he got on, and even the tip of his nose was covered in fine beads of sweat, clearly indicating that he was still too nervous.

"Let's find a seat and rest for a while," Lin Xiuyi suggested.

It's not rush hour yet, and the tram is only filled with students heading home.

The two quickly found seats and sat down.

“Shuichi…”

Kogoro Mouri suddenly tugged at his friend's sleeve, his voice extremely low.

"Look at that guy on the right..."

He used the act of adjusting his wig to hide his nervousness.

"He looks so fierce, could he be a criminal?"

Lin Xiuyi followed her friend's gaze and saw a middle-aged man with a face full of scars, glaring menacingly out the window.

"Just because someone looks fierce doesn't mean they're a criminal?" Lin Xiuyi said, both amused and exasperated. "Isn't it obviously a problem with his parents?"

"...That's true."

Kogoro Mouri awkwardly looked away, but accidentally made eye contact with another young man.

The man immediately looked away, but the way he was deliberately observing his surroundings still made Kogoro Mouri's heart tighten.

"This must be the culprit, right?"

Kogoro Mori quickly whispered in his best friend's ear, "Look, he keeps looking around at everyone..."

“That’s a detective from the First Division!” Lin Xiuyi explained in a low voice. “I’ve seen him in the First Division’s office before. I think his surname is Koi or Ishida.”

"A detective?"

Kogoro Mouri scratched his head, a gesture that caused his wig to stick up by his ear.
"Right, I forgot. Officer Matsumoto and the others said..."

"Shh, don't talk, it looks like someone's noticed you," Lin Xiuyi reminded him when she saw a male student of similar age nearby looking over.

Kogoro Mouri froze, and nervously wrote on his friend's arm, "Criminal?"

"I don't know." Lin Xiuyi shook his head slightly, becoming secretly on guard.

After staring at them for a moment, the boy walked straight towards them.

"Lin Xiuyi?" the boy called out tentatively, "It really is you!"

Lin Xiuyi gave a perfectly timed look of confusion: "You know me?"

"We were classmates in elementary school!"

The boy smiled warmly, but his gaze kept drifting to the "girl" who was looking down beside him.
"But back then you always read by yourself, and you hardly ever talked to anyone except Kogoro Mouri and Eri Kisaki."

Lin Xiuyi pretended to suddenly realize something, but actually quietly moved to the side to block the boy's probing gaze: "Sorry, I didn't recognize you at first."

He then carefully examined the man and felt that he looked somewhat familiar, so he was probably not lying.

"I only recently saw news about you on TV and in the newspapers, and that's how I found out that you're such a big celebrity among my classmates,"

The boy chatted with her for a few moments, then, unable to contain his curiosity any longer, he mysteriously pulled Lin Xiuyi aside and whispered, "..."

"That...is your girlfriend? She looks a bit like Kogoro Mouri?"

"Does it look like it?" Lin Xiu initially pretended to be clueless. "Maybe you're mistaken."

"You misremembered?" The boy looked confused. "No way, I used to play soccer with Mori a lot in elementary school, and I still have a deep impression of him."

“This is Kogoro’s cousin, Nanako Mori,” Lin Xiu said without batting an eye, “She just transferred to Tokyo, and I’ve been showing her around the place after school these past few days.”

"I see! No wonder she looks like Mori," the boy said, suddenly realizing. "That really startled me. I thought Mori had gotten plastic surgery in Thailand..."

Seeing that he almost blurted out his true feelings, the boy quickly changed the subject: "I was wondering why you weren't with Eri Kisaki. I remember you two were always inseparable in elementary school..."

After chatting for a few more minutes, the tram arrived at the station, and this elementary school classmate was also getting off.

Watching his retreating figure, Lin Xiuyi finally breathed a sigh of relief. Just as he was about to walk back to Kogoro Mouri's side, he was unexpectedly bumped into by a heavily made-up, fat woman.

"Oops, I'm sorry!"

The woman smiled affectedly, revealing a set of uneven teeth.

Her hands, painted with bright red nail polish, deliberately lingered on Lin Xiuyi's chest.

"The tram was going too fast! By the way, handsome, we're really destined to meet. We met on the tram before, do you remember me?"

Lin Xiuyi frowned in disgust, brushed away the other person's restless hand, and took a step back to create distance: "Sorry, I don't know you."

The woman, however, wouldn't let up, and suddenly cried out "Ouch!" as she tried to fall against him again... (End of Chapter)