The Daily Life of a Salted Fish Assassin in Anime Crossovers

Just as Heiji said, this guy is very mysterious.

Toyama Kazuha muttered this to himself.

"Welcome, welcome! Have you had lunch yet? Would you like to come and have some with us?" With a tour group of several hundred people, they naturally booked the entire restaurant, and of course, they didn't need two more bowls and chopsticks.

Yuanshan and Ye were initially a little embarrassed, after all, it was a large company with hundreds of employees in Jianghang that was so hospitable to the two of them.

Seeing how familiar Hattori Heiji and Jiang Hang seemed, she naturally followed Hattori Heiji and sat down in a spot not far from Jiang Hang.

Then she watched as Hattori Heiji and Jiang Hang started talking about the cipher map again.

Of course, most of these discussions were rather pointless, simply ruling out possibilities, identifying areas where no clues were found, and discussing Hattori Heiji's current opinion on the cipher map.

Even Conan came over to join in the fun. Actually, his main thought was to avoid Ayumi and not want to hear her singing that nursery rhyme in his ear anymore.

Although the melodies of those two children's songs were not bad, and Ayumi's own voice was not bad either, the problem was that she kept forgetting the lyrics and the tune and kept singing them in a mixed way.

Ayumi sang the same song four times, and each time it sounded a little different from the last time. Who could stand that?!

Although Conan knows he is tone-deaf, he actually has perfect pitch; he just can't sing well himself, but he can tell when others are singing.

Upon seeing Heiji Hattori arrive, Conan rushed over as if he had seen a savior, hoping to also find out if Heiji had run into trouble again that morning.

To be honest, although his identity as Shinichi Kudo has not yet been revealed to Heiji Hattori, given Heiji Hattori's intelligence and Jiang Hang's attitude, his identity is basically just a thin veil away from being exposed to Heiji Hattori.

After spending some time together, Conan realized that the other person was someone he could trust.

In addition, Ran's amnesia incident a while ago made Conan a little more open-minded about this kind of thing.

If you can let someone you trust know some of your secrets and form the current tacit understanding while ensuring your own safety, it might not be such a bad thing.

Conan is currently planning to use this method to get along with Heiji Hattori.

Heiji Hattori probably realized this as well, which is why he didn't use the same methods to test Conan during their meeting in Kyoto this time.

“Let’s go to Yulong Temple this afternoon,” Conan said as he walked up to Heiji Hattori. “We’ve considered many possibilities. Either the cipher map is incomplete, or we’re missing some crucial information. Perhaps a trip to Yulong Temple this afternoon will solve the final mystery.”

Hattori Heiji shrugged. Although he was reluctant to admit it, it seemed that this was the only way out.

Kazuha Toyama, however, looked at the child who was talking to Heiji Hattori with some curiosity.

What's up with this kid who seems to know Hattori Heiji so well? It feels like ever since Hattori Heiji went to Tokyo, his social circle has expanded to all sorts of strange places.

"Heiji, who is this child?"

Conan noticed Kazuha Toyama's gaze and wondered if he should act cute in front of Heiji Hattori's childhood friend to make himself known to others.

But before he could react, the other members of the Detective Boys also noticed the unfamiliar older sister, Kazuha Toyama, from Conan's actions.

At this time, the most proactive party was obviously Genta.

Before Conan could speak, he took out the badge representing the Detective Boys from his pocket and introduced himself to Kazuha Toyama.

"We are the Junior Detective League, specializing in solving difficult cases for people. We've solved one, two, three... in short, many, many cases!"

"If you need any help, big sister, just come to us! Our Junior Detective Club will definitely impress you!"

Genta has always kept in mind that he wants their Junior Detective League's reputation to spread beyond Tokyo and become famous throughout Japan. Now that he has the opportunity to build a good relationship with the older sister in Osaka, he certainly won't let it go easily.

Although he still doesn't realize that even if people in other places hear about the Junior Detective League's reputation, these kids have no way to leave Tokyo without an adult, and they might not even be able to leave Beika Town.

"The Junior Detective Club?" Kazuha Toyama glanced curiously at the meticulously crafted badge in Genta's hand. Do kids these days really like mystery and detective stories that much?

Although Heiji Hattori wasn't very familiar with the Junior Detective League, a group of five- or six-year-old kids didn't have any secrets to begin with, so he simply used Conan's identity as Jiang Hang's "disciple" to explain to Kazuha Toyama.

After learning the identities of the children, Toyama Kazuha's attitude towards them became much gentler.

"I don't need your help right now, but if I run into any trouble, I'll definitely think of you first," she said with a smile and nodded to the Gentas.

In her mind, they were just a group of playful children. How could five or six-year-olds really help her? She couldn't possibly ask them to help her find Hattori Heiji, her long-lost first love.

Even if Toyama Kazuha cared a lot about that so-called first love, she would never do something so foolish.

Moreover, judging from the current situation, Hattori Heiji is racking his brains because he can't decipher the secret of that coded image, so he probably won't be in the mood to go find his first love this time.

Thinking of this, Toyama Kazuha secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

However, seeing Hattori Heiji's troubled expression, she felt a little sorry for him.

The best outcome would be for Hattori Heiji to be able to decipher the secret of the cipher map as soon as possible and then return to Osaka with her.

Seeing that the group was still discussing the case, Toyama Kazuha quietly sat to the side and waited for Hattori Heiji and the others to finish their discussion.

However, before Conan could even exchange a few words, Ayumi, who had been secretly practicing for a while and was confident that she would have no problem this time, approached Conan again.

"Conan, let me hear it again. I'm sure I sang it perfectly this time!"

As Ayumi said this, she showed no shyness whatsoever in front of Jiang Hang and Hattori Heiji, and began to sing a cappella in a very open and generous manner.

She sang the horizontal "Marutake Iori" first.

"Marutake Eiji presses the imperial pond, elder sister, Rokkakuta Nishiki..."

Each word represents the name of a street.

The first line of the lyrics represents the names of several streets: Marutacho, Takeyacho, Eikawa, Nijo, Oshikoji, and Oike.

But just as they sang the second line, Hattori Heiji and Toyama Kazuha, who were sitting next to him, almost simultaneously let out a soft "Eh."

Such a reaction made Jiang Hang and Conan look at them with puzzled eyes. Ayumi also thought that she had sung the wrong song, and immediately looked at Hattori Heiji and Toyama Kazuha with a pitiful expression.

Sensing everyone's gaze, Toyama Kazuha, who exchanged a glance with Hattori Heiji, hesitated for a moment before speaking, "Maybe I'm mistaken. In my memory, the second line of the lyrics should be 'The bride is a rokkaku.'"

Hattori Heiji nodded in agreement: "I remember it was also a bridal hexagon."

Ayumi scratched her head in confusion. She wanted to say that's how the tour guide taught her, but seeing the two of them saying in unison that the lyrics were wrong, and considering her own easily swayed nature, she became uncertain as well.

After all, in Japanese, the word for older sister is pronounced "ane," while the word for bride is "hana," so it's not surprising that they might get them mixed up.

"Maybe I remembered it wrong," Ayumi said, preparing to sing it again according to what Hattori Heiji and Toyama Kazuha had said.

But at that moment, Midori Imai, the data expert who had been secretly observing from the sidelines, offered a different perspective.

"Excuse me... um, I just checked the information about this nursery rhyme, and Ayumi's version is correct. The second line does start with 'older sister,' not 'bride'..."

Feeling everyone's gaze shift from Hattori Heiji and Toyama Kazuha to her, a slightly shy Imai Midori handed the information she had just found to Jiang Hang, who was standing next to her.

Chapter 369: Chapter 365: This smells like gossip!

To be honest, Jiang Hang hadn't been paying any attention to what Bu Mei was singing, and he had no idea what those strange lyrics meant.

He blinked as he listened to the two sides suddenly start arguing about things like the older sister and the bride.

Is she the older sister... or the bride?

This sounds like it involves some kind of unspeakable ethical issue. Have children's songs developed to this extent now?

It wasn't until he carefully read the lyrics that Midori Imai handed him that he realized what they were talking about.

"Hmm... looking at it this way, it seems that it should indeed be the older sister. You two must have mixed up the names when you listened to this song together when you were little," Jiang Hang said after finding out what the children's song was. He then matched the names of the streets in Kyoto one by one.

The second line of lyrics refers to the streets Jiexiao Road, Santiao Road, Liujiao Road, Xiaoyaoshi Road and Jinxiao Road. The name "ane san" is formed by Jiexiao Road and Santiao Road, which is the origin of the name "older sister".

Hearing Jiang Hang's explanation, Yuanshan and Ye were still somewhat skeptical until they saw the names of those streets with their own eyes and were convinced that they had remembered them wrong.

"I was taught this song when I was visiting relatives in Kyoto more than ten years ago. I might have misremembered it back then... But Heiji, how come you also misremembered it like me? I don't remember ever singing this song in front of you, did I?" Toyama Kazuha looked at Hattori Heiji with some confusion.

Kazuha Toyama herself wasn't very confident, but she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Heiji Hattori's confident and certain expression.

Unexpectedly, it turned out that the two of them got it mixed up together.

Hattori Heiji's memory is much better than hers. Usually, when she forgets something, it is Hattori Heiji who reminds her. He almost never makes a mistake. How come this time the other person made the same mistake as her?

Heiji Hattori also paused for a moment, glancing at Kazuha Toyama with a strange look. He didn't offer an explanation directly, but instead took the phone from Kazuha Toyama's hand, confirmed that he was wrong, and then returned the phone.

Seeing Hattori Heiji deep in thought, Jiang Hang, who had initially thought it was just a simple case of Hattori Heiji misremembering, suddenly became interested.

Hmm, this smells like gossip!

It seems the two didn't hear the song together; Kazuha Toyama said she heard it from a relative and never sang it in front of Heiji Hattori.

However, Heiji Hattori made the same mistake as Kazuha Toyama in this very place...

It seems like this was just a coincidence, but after a few months as a detective, Jiang Hang has made some progress, especially when it comes to things related to gossip. Human imagination is always much more active than usual when it comes to such matters.

Almost instantly, Jiang Hang recalled what Hattori Heiji had said to him yesterday when they first met—"That little girl was humming a song about the streets of Kyoto while bouncing a ball."

Judging from Hattori Heiji's current reaction, the song his so-called first love sang back then was probably the same one that Ayumi is now singing to Conan—a nursery rhyme known in Kyoto as the "Ball Song."

Since the parts that Hattori Heiji misheard and the parts that Toyama Kazuha misremembered are exactly the same, does that mean that the "first love" that Hattori Heiji met back then was actually Toyama Kazuha, but they hadn't met at that time, or there was some other little episode in between that prevented Hattori Heiji from recognizing Toyama Kazuha?

Although there was no evidence, Jiang Hang wasn't just making wild guesses.

Given the childhood friendship between Kazuha Toyama and Heiji Hattori, and considering the consistent theme of childhood friends being paramount in the Conan series, this unexpected twist of fate that ultimately leads back to the starting point is indeed quite possible.

His gaze fell on Hattori Heiji, wondering if Hattori Heiji was aware of this possibility, and what the next steps would be.

Such a delightful gossip session is a rare treat. If Jiang Hang had sunflower seeds and peanuts on hand, he'd probably be sitting with his legs crossed, munching on sunflower seeds and watching the show.

Conan's expression at this moment was somewhat similar to Jiang Hang's, suggesting that he was probably thinking of the same thing as Jiang Hang.

Just as everyone was waiting to see the gossip, Akemi Miyano suddenly interjected, "Can I see the lyrics to that ball song?"

This wasn't a big deal, but after getting the phone from Midori Imai, Akemi Miyano kept staring at the contents of the screen, and then whispered to Shiho Miyano next to her for a while.

Then Shiho Miyano took the instructions on her phone and started comparing them with the cipher image.

This action immediately caught the attention of Heiji Hattori and Conan.

With their intelligence, they naturally realized immediately that Shiho Miyano was planning to use place names in Kyoto to decipher the secret of the coded map.

This was a completely new direction they hadn't considered before, and looking at the coded diagram, it was a square cabinet.

Kyoto's streets are also square and orderly, and two songs were even composed about it.

However, since they were not from Kyoto, they didn't think of this matter for the time being. Instead, they were focused on arguing with Minamoto no Yoshitsune and the anecdotes associated with him.

In retrospect, it's possible that the leader of the Genji Firefly clan didn't think that much about it when setting the code.

Hattori Heiji immediately took out a detailed map of Kyoto from his pocket and, ignoring the slightly awkward atmosphere, began to examine it.

Conan immediately burrowed into Heiji Hattori's arms, poked his head out, and, holding the cipher map, followed Heiji Hattori in searching for possible matching locations.

Immediately afterward, although the assistant team was a little slow to react, seeing that the Miyano sisters and Hattori Heiji had started studying the map, they naturally did not want to fall too far behind. Kiharu Yuno took out her phone to check the map, Sakaki Shizuka was reading out the street names, and Imai Midori was responsible for matching the patterns with the place names.

On the contrary, Ayumi and Kazuha Toyama were both caught off guard and didn't react for a moment.