The cross-dressing master in the world of Detective Conan

Even so, they didn't see Professor Agasa's Beetle arrive until they reached their destination.

"Xiao Xun, are you sure we don't need to prepare anything? We don't even need to buy a tent?"

Akemi is a worrier, and Kaoru Kazama only told them to bring toiletries before they came, traveling light and without even bringing some of the necessities for wilderness survival, so it's understandable that she was a little worried.

"It's okay, Professor Agasa said he would prepare a tent for us, so we only need to bring a few things."

"What do you guys think of this place? The environment is pretty good, right?"

Having been in the world of Detective Conan for so long, I've always stayed in Tokyo and haven't even gone out much.

He hasn't even visited many scenic spots near Tokyo.

The only two times I went were to Tsukikage Island and my last business trip to Osaka.

"It's quite nice. The environment here is pretty good. It seems like a lot of people choose to build villas here, probably because the feng shui is very good."

"You actually look quite handsome dressed as a man. Looks like your intensive training in makeup techniques has been quite successful."

"Really? I feel like something's off."

Seeing Kaoru Kazama staring intently at her without blinking, Akemi couldn't help but feel nervous, and a hint of girlishness crept into her expression.

“Mingmei, you need to be careful. You’re a man now. Things like fidgeting with your clothes or looking down shyly are not appropriate. People will think you’re effeminate.”

Kazama Kaoru believed that, for the time being, no one could compare to him in guiding Akemi to pretend to be a man.

After all, he's been a man for twenty-three years, and his experience far surpasses that of that greenhorn, Kudo.

Alas, the past is too painful to recall. Once upon a time, he was a spirited and promising young man, but all of that is now history.

"Hey, I've called you three times already. What are you staring at me like that? Are you thinking about your ex-boyfriend?"

"Ex-boyfriend? How could I possibly have something like that? Besides, my current boyfriend is great, and he even has an adorable sister-in-law."

"Sister-in-law? What's that called? Is it from China?"

Ai couldn't quite understand. Although she was quite knowledgeable, it was mostly in the field of bioengineering. As for Chinese culture, although she admired it, surviving under the Dark Organization meant she couldn't just do whatever she wanted.

"It doesn't mean anything special, I'm just saying you're cute."

"cut"

"I remember, the term 'sister-in-law' is usually used for a wife's sister, right? Given our current relationship, Ai should be the sister-in-law."

"How...how do you know all this so clearly?"

Kazama Kaoru was genuinely surprised. He had assumed that neither of them knew anything about it, which was why they were taking advantage of each other so brazenly. But they had been caught red-handed.

"Oh, my university professor, Professor Hirota, is very fond of Chinese culture. He taught me a lot of basic knowledge about it. Just as he said, Chinese culture is profound and fascinating."

"Really? Your teacher is quite knowledgeable."

Unexpectedly, Professor Hirota, who had already died, still had a role to play, which caught him completely off guard and caused him to stumble.

"Xiao Xun, Ming Hui, Xiao Ai, I didn't expect you to arrive so early. I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting."

"It's okay, we just enjoyed the scenery here, it's really perfect for camping."

"Of course, I carefully selected this place for a long time before deciding on it; there's no better place around Tokyo."

Judging from Professor Agasa's proud tone, you'd think his profession was exploration rather than invention.

Wow, this place is so beautiful.

"That's right, look, there are fish in here! It's incredible."

Children are always carefree. The trio of mischievous kids started shouting and yelling before they even got off the bus, and the last ones to fall behind were the fake kids, Conan and Ai.

"You two can cheer and jump for joy too, just think of it as practice for pretending to be kids. I won't look down on you."

Kaoru Kazama tried to incite Ai and Conan to show their childlike side, but only received two eye rolls in return.

"Doctor, please bring out the tent. Let's set it up before noon so it won't delay the cooking time."

"Okay, it's in the trunk. I'll go look for it."

Three minutes later, Professor Agasa returned with an embarrassed look on his face.

"What's this? What happened?"

Kaoru Kazama had a bad feeling when she saw Professor Agasa's awkward smile.

It seems that Professor Agasa is showing some signs of dementia, but it's impossible for him to forget to bring a tent when he goes camping.

"Uh, sorry, Xiaoxun, I forgot to bring the tent."

"Doctor, are you kidding me?"

Conan was also surprised. He knew that Professor Agasa was forgetful, but he didn't expect him to be this forgetful.

"Hehe, hehe, I was just too excited last night, and I spent ages packing up and ended up forgetting about the tent."

Dr. Agasa scratched the back of his head, looking quite embarrassed, and said, "Most importantly, I assured Kaoru Kazama that she didn't need to worry about me, and this is how it ended up."

"There's no other way. This place isn't too remote, so we should be able to find someone to stay with. Let's go see if we can stay for the night."

Kaoru Kazama looked somewhat unnatural. Living with Conan in the wild was no less than living on the set of a horror movie.

"What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

Ai Haibara noticed Kaoru Kazama's subtle changes in expression, a skill she probably honed by observing Conan at school.

Kaoru Kazama had personally witnessed that after Ai Haibara got home from school, the first thing she did was neither do her homework nor continue researching the antidote.

Instead, it records something called the Conan Research Report, which includes whether Conan's behavior at school is abnormal, whether there are any obvious changes in his food intake and types, and fluctuations in his physical health.

For some reason, when he saw these records, he felt that Ai's research report was no different from the records kept by researchers at natural breeding farms.

Chapter 170 Could it be that spiritual energy has revived?

"Looks like this is the only way. It's all because the Doctor is so unreliable. He even forgot to bring a tent when we went camping."

"And you're unreliable too. You came camping without any preparation at all. It's not surprising that something like this happened."

Ai looked at Kaoru with disdain. Being so lazy as to go camping without bringing anything was quite an oddity.

"There should be some houses around here, after all, the scenery is quite nice, maybe we can find a rich person's villa."

Kaoru glanced at his watch and realized it was only 10:30. Most people should be up by now, so there shouldn't be any awkward silences when he knocked on the door. He then told Ai and Akemi to get in the car and continued driving.

The doctor could only follow suit, but the kids were really resentful, complaining that their holidays were ruined.

The doctor had to contend with the rugged mountain roads while driving, and also had to soothe these unruly children—it was incredibly exhausting.

However, looking at it from another perspective, Professor Agasa is already so old and still doesn't have any children. Most people his age would be about to have grandchildren by now. It's inevitable that he, a lifelong bachelor, would be lonely.

Especially since Kaoru Kazama changed the plot, even Ai Haibara, who was supposed to live with him, didn't come, making him even more lonely. It's not surprising that he prefers to spend time with children.

Even from a short distance along the mountain road, Kaoru Kazama could almost hear the noisy children, and couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy for Dr. Agasa and Conan.

He still politely declined to associate with unruly children.

"It's a good thing you're well-behaved, Ai. If you were just as noisy, it would really give me a headache."

"Actually, Genta and the others are quite cute, it's just that someone is prejudiced and it's inevitable that they won't like them."

It's truly surprising that someone as aloof as Ai Haibara would give the trio of mischievous kids a good review.

Perhaps it was because her previous living environment was too gloomy and the people there were very complicated that she came to like these simple-minded children.

Kaoru Kazama remained noncommittal; he had never had a good impression of unruly children.

Often, it's not the children themselves that cause trouble, but rather the "bratty" parents who spoil their kids without any limits or principles, and who often cover up their children's problems by saying they're too young.

Tsk tsk, without learning their lesson, the kids won't learn their lesson and will only get worse. Unfortunately, he's not their parent and has no right to interfere in their upbringing. He can only stand by and watch.

Kaoru's reverie was interrupted by Akemi's voice, and for a moment he didn't realize that a young man's voice was coming from his car.

It was only later that I realized that the voice was produced by Ming Mei, who was dressed as a man, using a voice changer modified by the doctor.

"Hey, Xiao Xun, look, isn't that a villa over there?"

Mingmei, however, had a sharp eye and spotted the roof of a villa in the rolling hills and jungle. It was still several miles away and hidden in the woods, making it difficult to find.

“Call the doctor and have him come with my car.”

After confirming that it was indeed a villa, Kaoru Kazama immediately asked Akemi to contact the doctor's car.

That Beetle is indeed of great historical significance, but its horsepower is far too low.

After driving on this mountain road for a short while, Kaoru Kazama's car left them far behind, to the point that they couldn't even see the back of the car anymore. Kaoru Kazama could only contact them by phone.

"Xiao Xun, the doctor said they saw it too, and told us not to wait for him, they can get there on their own."

"Really? With Dr. Agasa's severe nearsightedness, Conan must have cheated using his glasses."

"However, why would a castle of this size be built deep in the mountains and forests?"

The castle has an antique design, and even the bricks look quite old, which is why Akemi asked that question.

"Well, during the bubble economy era, many people made a fortune. In order to live a noble life, they would pack up European castles and build them here exactly the same. It's the nouveau riche's perverse taste. When they have money, they want to pretend to be cultured."

"Oh, no wonder you look so out of place."

Such towering mountain villas are rare in island nations.

Because of the high frequency of earthquakes, it is rare to see extremely tall buildings here. Having learned their lesson, the islanders would rather build more houses than increase their height.

After all, if they can't get down, they'll be trapped inside. Given the frequency of earthquakes here, the entire island nation might disappear in less than a hundred years.

The doctor and his team were quite fast, probably because they took a shortcut, and arrived at the villa a few minutes later.

"Wow, this is spectacular!"

"It's just like a Western castle!"

The children exclaimed in surprise as soon as they saw the castle in its entirety. It's possible to remain remarkably calm, since not every father has the means and time to take his children to Hawaii to learn the skills of a savior.

"Genta, what are you doing? Stop right there!"

Kaoru Kazama turned around and saw Genta, the chubby boy, leap down from the big iron gate. His expression froze.

Keep in mind, that was a massive 2.5-meter-high iron gate. Putting aside the fact that this guy climbed it in just a few seconds, considering his size and weight, jumping down from that position would have surely resulted in a broken leg. Yet, he was completely unharmed, dusted himself off, and ran away. How could such a bizarre thing happen? Is this world about to experience a spiritual revival?

"Hey, you little brat, how did you barge in like that? Where did you come from?"