Traveling back thirty years to Conan, intercepting Princess Eri

After being scolded by Hayashi Hideichi, the fat woman saw him approaching Yukiko and, preemptively, made a accusation, loudly claiming that Hayashi Hideichi was sexually harassing women.

If Yukiko hadn't declared on the spot that the two were a couple and kissed Hayashi Hideichi directly, he might have been falsely accused of being a pervert.

What bad luck!

Recalling what happened back then, Lin Xiu shook his head speechlessly.

……

On the other side, Kogoro Mouri walked alone in the dimly lit alley.

The afterglow of the setting sun was blocked by the walls on both sides, making the alleyway appear even more secluded.

Kogoro Mouri's own footsteps were exceptionally clear in the quiet alley, while the sound of another pair of footsteps behind him made him tense all over.

"Tack, tick, tick..."

The footsteps grew closer, and Kogoro Mouri's palms were already sweating.

He quietly clenched his fist, and just as the footsteps were almost behind him, Kogoro Mouri whirled around, assuming a standard fighting stance.

"You're insane!"

Standing in front of him was a young girl in a school uniform.

She took two steps back in alarm, scattering the books in her arms onto the ground.

The girl's eyes widened, her lips trembling slightly: "W-what are you going to do?"

Kogoro Mouri then realized he had overreacted, quickly composed himself, and awkwardly bent down to help her pick up the books.
"I'm sorry! I thought you were a bad person."

Kogoro Mouri was so embarrassed that his face turned bright red, and he didn't dare to look the other person in the eye when he apologized.

Do I look like a bad guy?

The girl angrily took the book, warily eyeing the strangely behaving girl in front of her.

Seeing that Kogoro Mouri was stammering and unable to speak, she pursed her lips and hurriedly left, glancing back every now and then, afraid that this strange girl would do something outrageous again.

Kogoro Mouri stood there awkwardly, only then realizing that he had unknowingly almost walked out of the alley.

He hurried to the alley entrance, looked at the bustling street, and breathed a sigh of relief, but also felt a sense of loss.

“Nothing happened,” Kogoro Mouri kicked a pebble on the ground, watching it roll into the drain.

He was both relieved that no kidnappers attacked, and disappointed that he had no chance to be a hero.

Although he didn't usually show it, Kogoro Mouri was naturally a little resentful that his childhood best friend had suddenly become a famous detective while he himself was just an ordinary high school student.

Besides his dream of becoming a police officer, this was also the reason he agreed to Officer Matsumoto's plan.

Just as Kogoro Mouri stood at the alley entrance, looking around and wondering whether he should turn back, someone walked up to him.

"Let's go back. It seems the prisoner hasn't taken the bait."

Kogoro Mouri looked up and saw that the person speaking was Officer Matsumoto. Not far away, another familiar face, Officer Megure, was standing and waving at him.

"What are you doing here?" Kogoro Mouri was so startled that he took a half step back, bumping his lower back against a metal trash can with a loud clang.

“I told you I would protect you,” Officer Matsumoto explained. “Besides the two of us, there were several other officers following you all the way from the station.”

Kogoro Mouri's face flushed red.

So, they saw how stupid I looked posing like a fighter in front of the little girl in the alley!

Recalling his embarrassing moment, Kogoro Mouri chuckled awkwardly to cover up his embarrassment: "Haha, actually, even without you guys with me, I wouldn't be afraid."

Officer Matsumoto raised an eyebrow, but didn't call him out on it.
"Go back, Lin Jun is still waiting for you at the station."

"understood!"

Kogoro Mouri turned and left as if his backside was on fire.

"Fall back," Officer Matsumoto said, taking out his walkie-talkie. At the station entrance, as the rush hour drew closer, the crowd grew larger and larger.

Lin Xiuyi waited for a while and finally saw her friend.

"Let's go, the tickets are already bought."

"You didn't even ask if the criminal was caught?" Kogoro Mouri looked surprised.

“If we really catch the criminal, you’ll come back alone,” Lin Xiuyi shook his head irritably. “Let’s go, take a few more rides before it gets dark, maybe we’ll run into the criminal.”

Just as Kogoro Mouri was about to nod, he suddenly felt his throat become parched.

He licked his chapped lips: "Wait a minute, I'll go buy a bottle of water!"

Before he finished speaking, he had already run towards the convenience store in the distance.

"Hey, there are vending machines in the station."

Lin Xiuyi could only shake her head and sigh helplessly as she watched her friend's departing figure.

At that moment, Officer Matsumoto, Officer Megure, and several officers from the First Investigation Division returned.

The group tacitly dispersed, pretending to be ordinary passersby, and did not talk to each other.

Time ticked by, and Lin Xiuyi kept checking his watch, his brows furrowing deeper and deeper.

"Strange, it's been so long, why hasn't Kogoro come back yet?" Lin Xiuyi muttered to himself, staring at his watch.

As the second hand ticked round and round on the surface, his unease grew accordingly.

He gave Officer Matsumoto a wink and then walked toward the convenience store.

"Senpai, what's going on? Why has Mori-kun been gone for so long?" Inspector Megure asked in a low voice. "Is something wrong with him?"

"Convenience stores are always busy with people coming and going, how could anything happen there?"

Officer Matsumoto shook his head, trying to reassure himself and Inspector Megure, but a bad feeling inexplicably crept into his heart.
"Let's go check it out."

Lin Xiuyi, who arrived at the convenience store first, circled the small store twice, scanning every corner, but still couldn't find Kogoro Mouri.

"Excuse me," Lin Xiuyi stopped a shop assistant, "have you seen a girl who looks like a high school student come to buy water?"

"A girl with an unusual appearance and a rather tall stature did come into the store to buy water just now," the clerk thought for a moment, "but she left a long time ago."

"Already?" Lin Xiuyi hurriedly asked, "How long has he been gone?"

"Him?" The waiter paused, "It must have been about ten minutes."

Oh no… Lin Xiuyi’s heart sank immediately.

At that moment, Inspector Matsumoto and Inspector Megure also came over: "What happened? Where is Mori-kun?"

“Something might have happened to Kogoro,” Lin Xiuyi clenched his fist. “The shop assistant said he left a long time ago.”

"what?"

Officer Matsumoto's expression instantly turned serious. He pulled out his police ID and slammed it on the cashier's counter.

"We are police officers, and we are now searching this place!" With that, Inspector Megure yanked open the freezer door and immediately began inspecting the storage room.

"Hey, you can't do this..."

The shop assistant shrank back in fright, only to be impatiently pushed aside by Officer Matsumoto.

Meanwhile, Lin Xiuyi was recalling what had happened in the previous ten minutes.

He watched Kogoro Mouri walk into the convenience store with his own eyes, and his friend even waved to him at the time.

After that, although Lin Xiuyi would occasionally glance at the newspaper, he would also look up at the convenience store from time to time... (End of this chapter)