No one understands the laws of Collider better than me.

"Kitahara-nii, can we go in?"

Kitahara Masaki had only intended to check if any unexpected organizations were searching for the 'Miyano Sisters,' so he naturally wouldn't care about trespassing. However, as a police officer, he had to feign reluctance, so he said with a troubled expression:

"Sigh, you did this because you were worried about a classmate's safety... but this must not happen again, and we absolutely cannot let this kind of behavior become a habit!"

Then Kitahara Masaki calmly waited for Conan to go in and check if there were any clues. Then, in the entrance hall, he saw a family photo of the Amamiya family. In the photo, Amamiya Shoko and short-haired Ai Haibara looked very similar. They both had bob haircuts and were hiding behind their parents, appearing somewhat shy.

Wow! Amamiya-san really looks like Haibara-san from back then!

"Mitsuhiko... does Amamiya-san's voice sound the same as Haibara's?"

"No, and she doesn't speak as sharply as Haibara-san."

Haibara narrowed her eyes after hearing this, wanting to refute, but then realized that it was impossible for an elementary school student to speak with the same imposing manner as her.

"Hmm...it seems that in the children's eyes, Ai, you are a fierce-looking yawning woman."

"I'm not some yawning woman, I drink coffee every day!"

Vermouth watched Kitahara Masaki and Haibara Ai's conversation, which seemed like that between friends, and seemed thoughtful.

Chapter 235 The Talkative Traffic Cop

Just as the children were searching for clues at the Amamiya house, a man walked in from outside. He seemed surprised by Kitahara Maki and the others' arrival and asked:

"Who are you people? What are you doing here at the Amamiya residence?"

"Oh, I came with these kids. They said their classmate is missing and they're determined to come to her house to look for her, so I came along. May I ask who you are?"

"I am Hirayama Bungo, the temporary homeroom teacher for Amamiya's class. Because Amamiya did not come to school today, I have been trying to contact her parents, but I have not been able to reach them."

Kitahara Masaki subtly took a step forward, shielding Haibara behind him. Seeing this, Vermouth also stepped forward and took Kitahara Masaki's hand, quietly remaining a still beauty, intending to see what tricks Kitahara Masaki was up to this time.

While observing the teacher, Kitahara Masaki realized that the injury on his forehead could not possibly be faked, so he asked him with concern if he was alright, thus skipping the part where the teacher also had to introduce himself.

"Oh, I hurt my head because I accidentally fell this morning, and I don't know where my contact lens fell out, so now I can only wear my old glasses, haha..."

Then, without much thought, Genta said directly:

"You're so unreliable, teacher."

As a result, this guy actually smiled and apologized to the elementary school students, saying that his cultivation was still shallow and that he needed other teachers to take on more responsibility. If this kind of person wasn't pretending, he could only be described as a pushover.

"Ahem, let's get back to the main topic, the question about Amamiya-san, where exactly is she now?"

"Yes, I came here to check on her. Her parents said she seemed very resistant to being far from home, so they left her here. They've asked the Miike family next door to take care of her breakfast and dinner."

The group headed to the Miike family's house next door again. Ai walked slowly, holding Kitahara Masaki's hand. But when she turned to look at the teacher, she suddenly realized that he was staring at her with narrowed eyes, which made Ai hold his hand even tighter.

"what happened?"

"He seems to be looking at me."

"Yes, he was definitely looking at you, because his glasses looked very old, so the prescription didn't match his current level of nearsightedness."

"So he's looking at me like that because of an eye problem?"

"Why not?"

Through body analysis, Kitahara Masaki discovered that the teacher was just an ordinary person with absolutely no martial arts background, and his gaze was very obvious, without any trace of concealment.

"Oh dear, I thought it was..."

"What else did you think it was?"

Vermouth's voice suddenly rang in Ai's ears, startling her again. After seeing Evelyn, Ai remained silent. She didn't want Vermouth to know that she was Ai Haibara. After all, the Miyano sisters were quite famous in the organization, since they had both escaped from Gin's clutches and hadn't been caught yet.

"nothing."

Kitahara Masaki glanced at Vermouth but didn't think too much about it. If she really wanted to know, Kitahara Masaki would still tell her. It's just that she doesn't seem to hate the Miyano family as much as before.

While the adults were preoccupied with other matters, the children began asking Mrs. Miike next door:

"Do you know where Amamiya-san went?"

"Hmm? Didn't she go to school? She got up very early this morning and came over for breakfast. After eating, she left with her backpack. She said she would come back tonight... Oh dear, the school has called so many times. I was chatting with other ladies and didn't answer... What should we do?"

Kitahara Masaki no longer concealed his identity. He took out his police handbook, comforted the middle-aged woman, and continued to question her, urging her to think carefully about Amamiya's possible whereabouts.

"Sigh, I asked her this morning why she got up so early, and she replied that she was going to the convenience store around the corner... It seems that the child hasn't been sleeping well. I heard that the reason she didn't go to Kyushu with her parents was because she cried and said she didn't want to go far away."

Then, following Mrs. Miike's instructions, the group went to the convenience store. Kitahara Masaki showed the police handbook and was about to give the store manager a photo to ask if he remembered a child who had come to buy something that morning when he suddenly realized that he was investigating a case after get off work, and there was no thoughtful Takagi to hand him a photo.

Does anyone have a picture of Amamiya?

"I have!"

Mitsuhiko found a photo of Amamiya on his phone; both of them were smiling happily.

"Ah! I remember now, that child bought a bottle of juice, milk wrapped in aluminum foil, and a portable knife. There weren't many customers today, so I remember it quite clearly. She was standing at the kitchenware section for quite a while without moving. Oh, right, after buying her things, that child just drank the whole bottle of juice. Kids are really amazing."

After reviewing the surveillance footage for a while, Kitahara Masaki understood what the child wanted to buy, and the items she bought also ruled out the possibility that she wanted to run away from home.

Just as Kitahara Masaki was about to take the group of kids to find Amamiya, a policewoman suddenly walked into the convenience store.

"Ah! The big sister in the patrol car!"

"Hello, everyone. Hey! Inspector Kitahara, what are you doing here? No, good afternoon, Inspector Kitahara!"

Looking at the policewoman in front of him, Kitahara Masaki smiled and asked:

"Are we going to get another ticket this afternoon?"

"Yes, there are three more places to go, and they are all places I don't really want to go."

Three places? Does this mean it's a choice between three options?

Just to be on the safe side, Kitahara Masaki still asked:

Which three places?

"Um, the first place is kind of like a garbage dump, where crows always gnaw on kitchen scraps and leave them everywhere; the second place is in a warehouse, which doesn't look dusty or smelly, but it still makes me sneeze and my eyes water, so I came to the convenience store to buy a mask; the third place is next to my ex-boyfriend's house, which is so embarrassing. Actually, my ex-boyfriend is alright-looking, but he's just too immature, and I said some harsh things when we broke up, so I really don't want to see him again..."

"Ahem, Officer Miyamoto, you don't need to discuss your ex-boyfriend with us too much. We already know everything."

Looking at the crowd trying to suppress their laughter, Miyamoto Yumi wondered why she couldn't control her mouth.

Chapter 236 Couples Arguing

At this moment, Conan seemed to have thought of something and asked loudly:

"Is the warehouse you mentioned nearby, Miyamoto-neechan?"

After receiving an affirmative answer, he turned to look at Kitahara Masaki with a smug expression. This time, he was the first to know the truth of the matter! I wonder what Kitahara Masaki was thinking?

When she turned around, she saw that the atmosphere between Kitahara Masaki, Evelyn, and Haibara Ai seemed a bit off, and the close relationship between the three of them seemed to have become somewhat strained.

"Hey, Kitahara-nii, what happened?"

"It's nothing, kids shouldn't meddle in adults' business."

Conan was speechless after being treated like a brat, but he still decided to solve the case first. He first bought baby formula and then poured a cup of hot water. After that, he asked Miyamoto Yumi to take them to the warehouse.

Conan, carrying hot water, ran around the warehouse. After deciding on the three options, he quickly determined the correct answer, and the truth was hidden somewhere in the warehouse.

"There it is!"

Conan shouted, then took the prepared formula and walked into the gap between the warehouse boxes. This gap was so narrow that only a small child could easily pass through it. Kitahara Masaki tried to go through, but found that his size far exceeded the narrow passage. If he tried to use brute force, he might cause the boxes piled up above to fall over, so he had to give up.

"I'll give it a try."

Vermouth took two steps forward, and as she was very familiar with her body, she realized that she couldn't get through because of a certain part of her body.

And so, Kitahara Masaki and Vermouth were stuck outside, only able to hear the kids shouting things like "The kitten is so cute," but they still couldn't see anything.

"A kitten? Does someone inside keep a cat?"

“I understand now—that kid bought baby formula to feed the cats, because cats don’t have the enzyme to break down lactose, so they can’t drink cow’s milk directly. That kid bought baby formula after he found out about that.”

"Oh, he figured out from Amamiya's behavior at the convenience store that morning that she wanted to buy paper cups and plates, but because they were all sold out, the missing girl bought those things as substitutes for containers, as well as milk for the cat... and then after meeting the policewoman, he deduced that there might be a cat here... Where did he learn his reasoning skills?"

After feeding the cat, Conan said with a smug look on his face:

"These things are all on TV; this is a detective's basic skill!"

Seeing his smug expression, Kitahara Masaki immediately poured cold water on his enthusiasm:

"So, Great Detective Conan, you should have found Amamiya by now, right?"

"Well, there was milk that someone else had prepared beforehand, so she must have been here. But at first I thought she was here taking care of the kittens, but I still haven't seen her... I guess I'll have to go out and check."

Now that he was close to the truth, Kitahara Masaki no longer waited for Conan to solve the case. He took out his cheat gadget, a magnifying glass, and saw scratches on a nearby streetlight that looked like a car accident, as well as debris on the ground that looked like a vehicle had been scraped...

Upon seeing this, everyone thought of a terrible possibility: what if Amamiya got hit by a car after leaving the warehouse?

Kitahara Maki asked Miyamoto Yumi:

"Did you receive any reports of traffic accidents involving pedestrians today?"

"No... Could it be a hit-and-run?"

"Don't be so pessimistic. Although there are signs of collision and sudden braking, there is no blood around. So the driver probably took Amamiya to the hospital but just didn't call the police."

Conan, that kid, immediately stepped in to make his presence known, saying:

"The nearest clinic to here is owned by Dr. Araide himself, Dr. Araide Tomoaki!"

When everyone ran to the fourth location, Kitahara Masaki made up his mind that if there was a fifth one, he would send a patrolman there—only a detective would enjoy running around like this!

However, this incident was quite considerate. After listening to Kitahara Masaki's 'background summary', Shinichi Tomoaki immediately took them to the hospital room where Amamiya was lying. It turned out that the child had become too tired from taking care of and worrying about the cat, so even though he hadn't been hit by the car, he thought he had been hit and was brought here by the driver after passing out.

"Phew, thankfully we're all safe and sound."

Mitsuhiko breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing that his childhood friend was safe and sound. After all, he had come out to find her, initially thinking she had been in a car accident; it seemed he had been worrying unnecessarily.

After solving the missing person case, as Kitahara Masaki and Vermouth were walking home, Vermouth suddenly said:

"Shinichi, if there really were a drug that could reverse aging, what would you do?"

Kitahara Masaki froze on the spot, looking at Vermouth who had suddenly asked the question. She called out Kitahara Masaki's real name, which she only used when discussing serious matters.

“I’m not interested in that. It might be fun to live life all over again, but what’s the point if all my family and friends can do is watch them grow old?”

"Hehe, yes... Actually, when I first met you, I thought the finished product of 'Silver Bullet' was already a success, which is why someone like you, who doesn't fit in with the other children, appeared. Later, when I realized that I had misunderstood, you had already been sent to the desert country."