Solving cases with Detective Conan's science? No, I'm a cultivator!

Kiriko Busujima asked, "Boss, were those sirens from last time used without any problems?"

"No problem, you did a good job."

The sirens last time were brought by Kitagawa Takizawa, who was also attending the meeting.

Kitagawa Taki sat down on the sofa and casually asked, "Have you encountered any problems lately?"

"No, things have been going quite smoothly lately."

In fact, the Mud Ginseng Association recently encountered a problem, but Kiriko Busujima wanted to handle it herself and didn't want to trouble Taki Kitagawa.

Kitagawa Taki didn't think much of it, assuming that Kiriko Busujima had taken care of it herself.

"Open them and take a look!" Kitagawa Taki pushed the two boxes in front of Busujima Kiriko.

With a puzzled look, Kiriko Busujima unzipped the zipper and found it full of money.

"This...this must be at least seven or eight hundred million yen, right?"

Kiriko Busujima made her judgment based on her experience.

"Wrong, it's one billion yen."

Kitagawa Taki was quite pleased to have gained a billion yen and a beautiful woman for free.

Upon hearing this, Kiriko Busujima's eyes widened. She thought of the recent robbery of the 4M Bank, where the amount stolen was exactly one billion yen.

It is said that a bank employee colluded with someone else to rob the armored truck while it was transferring money.

Kitagawa Taki took in the changes in Tokushima Kiriko's expression and said, "It's about that recent bank robbery. It was done by the brewery, and the organizer was one of their people, but I managed to thwart it in the end."

Upon hearing that it was the sake brewery that did it, Kiriko Busujima felt relieved and didn't think much of it anymore.

Kitagawa Taki said, "Take this money and help me clean it up. Same as always, we'll split it 80/20."

"Boss, how can this be!" Kiriko Busujima dared not accept that 20%, knowing that 20% was 200 million yen.

Kitagawa Taki waved his hand and said, "No need to say more, just do as I say."

There's a saying that goes, "If you want a horse to run, you have to feed it grass."

Kitagawa Taki didn't care at all about the billion yen he got for free.

"That's all for today. Message me when you're done washing."

……

Mouri Detective Agency.

Conan has learned the inside story of the 1 billion yen robbery from Inspector Megure.

Police determined that Masami Hirota, an employee of 4L Bank, committed the crime in collusion with outsiders. Afterward, Hirota shot and killed two accomplices and fled with the money.

After two days of citywide manhunt, the police found no trace of Masami Hirota and gradually reduced their manpower, especially in Beika Town, where murders were occurring every day and manpower was severely insufficient.

As for the police sirens left in the abandoned warehouse, the police did not find any useful clues.

Conan felt as if a layer of fog was blocking his view.

He knew that Masami Hirota must have left with that third person, but unfortunately there were no clues.

The robbery case could only be dropped.

What frustrated Conan wasn't just the robbery; Sonoko had just brought Ran photos of the fireworks festival, and he had looked at them all.

What bothered him most was the photo of the three of them in yukatas. Ran looked really good in the pink yukata, but that wasn't the problem. The issue was that the three of them looked a little too close.

Conan looked at Ran, who was organizing photos, and felt a little lonely.

Since he asked Professor Agasa to help him appease Ran last time, Ran hasn't contacted him on her own initiative.

This gave him a sense of crisis.

Chapter 45 Sonoko: I was here first!

Kitagawa Exorcism Office.

Sonoko's car was parked downstairs, and Sonoko and Ran were chatting inside.

The two had just gone up to the second floor to look for Kitagawa Taki when they found he wasn't there. After calling him and learning that he would be back soon, they decided to wait downstairs.

Because Akemi Miyano and Ai Haibara were on the third floor, the group did not meet.

"Sonoko, this hairstyle really suits you!" Ran noticed that Sonoko seemed to have a completely different aura after taking off her headband.

Sonoko sighed, "Oh, Ran, don't even mention it. My mom and older sister have been asking me about my hairstyle so much these past two days."

Xiaolan asked, "What's wrong?"

Sonoko said with a melancholy look, "My older sister has met Taki. She kept asking me if my new hairstyle was related to Taki. My mom also asked me if I was dating someone. Luckily, my older sister didn't tell my mom, otherwise she would definitely make me bring Taki home."

Ran covered her mouth and laughed, "That's because Sonoko, you've had the same hairstyle since you were little, it hasn't changed at all."

"Lan, you're still laughing. I'm so worried about you."

As she spoke, Sonoko gently patted Ran a few times.

"By the way, have you seen Taki these past few days?" Sonoko suddenly asked.

Ran shook her head and said, "No, I haven't seen Kitagawa at the office these past two days. He's probably busy with some client!"

Sonoko muttered, "No wonder Taki hasn't been messaging me much these past few days."

In reality, Kitagawa Taki has been too busy these past two days; his office hasn't even opened, and he's turned down all the phone requests he's received.

Speak of the devil, and he appears; just as the two were discussing Kitagawa Taki, Kitagawa Taki drove back.

"Hey, Sonoko, Ran, let's go upstairs," Kitagawa Taki greeted.

"Taki, your car is fixed!"

Sonoko looked at Kitagawa Taki's car and could hardly see any signs of repair.

Kitagawa Taki explained, "Yeah, I just went to get the car."

"Sonoko, what are you carrying? It's not a gift for me, is it?"

At that moment, Kitagawa Taki saw the bag in Sonoko's hand.

"These are photos we took at the fireworks festival." Sonoko opened the bag and showed them to Kitagawa Taki.

Back at the office, Kitagawa Taki took the bag and carefully examined the photos.

Kitagawa Taki praised, "They're all very well shot!"

There are still some differences between the physical photos and the photos taken with a camera.

“Of course, I’ve studied photography specifically!” Sonoko said proudly.

Then he asked, "Taki, which one do you like the most?"

“This one.” Kitagawa Taki picked out the photo of the three of them together.

Sonoko was slightly disappointed. She liked this photo too, but she liked the one of her and Kitagawa Taki alone even more, though she didn't show it.

Instead, he raised an eyebrow at Xiaolan and said, "So you and Lan like the same thing!"

Xiaolan smiled a little shyly.

"By the way, Sonoko, Ran, I have two friends to introduce to you."

Since they were going to meet sooner or later anyway, Kitagawa Taki decided to introduce a few people to him.

After saying that, Kitagawa Taki went upstairs to call Miyano Akemi and Haibara Ai.

Ran and Sonoko looked at each other in bewilderment.

Sonoko asked, "Taki, you just said you wanted to introduce us to someone?"

Xiaolan said, "It seems... right."

Sonoko asked again, "And you're even staying at Taki's house?"

Xiao Lan nodded reluctantly.

"Ran, I have a bad feeling about this." Sonoko grabbed Ran's shoulder.

Xiao Lan gave a wry smile; she had the same premonition.

Because Akemi Miyano needed to wear makeup and disguise herself, it took a little longer.

Ten minutes later.

Kitagawa Taki pushed open the door of the agency, followed by two beautiful women, one tall and one short.

Akemi Miyano wore a beige women's suit with flesh-colored stockings. Ai Haibara, having not yet gone shopping for clothes, could only wear Akemi Miyano's clothes as a dress.

Kitagawa Taki discovers that Miyano Akemi genuinely likes shredded pork.

But how can that be? From now on, we must have all kinds of stockings, including black stockings and white stockings.

While Kitagawa Taki was still thinking about the stockings, Sonoko and Ran were already in a state of turmoil.

A mature, intellectual beauty, a little girl who looks somewhat similar to her, and she lives with Kitagawa Taki.

The two exchanged a glance, and the same thought arose in their minds at the same time.

"Taki, is this...is this your daughter?"

Sonoko pointed a trembling finger at Ai Haibara and asked.

"Huh?" ×3

None of the three expected to be mistaken for a family of three.

Akemi Miyano blushed. If Ai was Taki's daughter, wouldn't she be Taki's wife? No, wait, wouldn't she be Ai's mother? How confusing!!

Ai Haibara rolled her eyes. How did she resemble Kitagawa Taki at all? How could he be her daughter?

Kitagawa Taki said, both amused and exasperated, "Sonoko, what are you thinking? This is my assistant, Miyazaki Miho, and this is her sister, Haibara Ai."

"Huh?" ×2

Now it's Yuanzi and Xiaolan's turn.

Sonoko quickly apologized: "I'm sorry, I thought... um, my name is Suzuki Sonoko."