Ghost Detectives in the Detective World

“If I had an older or younger brother, my older sister and I might have an easier time, but now…” Sonoko stomped her foot angrily, “between my older sister and me, one of us has to be responsible for finding a son-in-law to live with us, while the other one will be married off to someone else through a marriage alliance.”

“My older sister and mom kept it from me, thinking I didn’t know. But actually, when my mom told my older sister these things, I was eavesdropping. I didn’t understand them then, but now I’m gradually getting to know them.”

"According to my parents' arrangement, my older sister was supposed to be responsible for finding a son-in-law to marry into the family, while I was to be involved in a marriage alliance and marry the heir of a conglomerate in the future."

"But if that's the case, Ayako could have just let Officer Matsuda marry into her family, so why did she go on a blind date?" Ran asked, puzzled.

"My older sister did all this for me..." Sonoko kicked the tree trunk next to her in frustration.

"My older sister thought I didn't know anything, but I actually understood a long time ago. She wanted to give me the opportunity to choose a husband who would marry into her family. Although this choice was also very restrictive, it was much more relaxed than choosing a marriage partner from the few heirs of those conglomerates."

"Garden..."

Ran looked at him with pity, as did Conan.

He had always thought of Sonoko as a stupid and irritable rich girl, but he never realized that Sonoko was under so much pressure.

"So, Ayako-nee is giving up on Officer Matsuda..." Ran asked.

“Yes, my older sister has already agreed to go on a blind date with Mom. This should be the last time she meets Officer Matsuda,” Sonoko sighed. “That’s why I want her to have as much fun as possible.”

Seeing Sonoko's troubled face, Ran was about to say something to comfort her childhood friend.

But just as she was about to speak, the bushes beside her suddenly made a "whoosh" sound.

"Who?" Xiaolan immediately stared warily at the bushes.

Just then, the bushes rustled again, and it seemed as if a figure was about to emerge from within.

"Oh no! Could it be a bear!" Sonoko suddenly shouted.

"What?" Xiaolan was also startled, but after looking at the two people beside her, she quickly made up her mind.

"Sonoko, Conan, you two run! I'll hold off the bear!"

After saying that, Xiaolan gritted her teeth, mustered her courage, and raised her leg, delivering a sweeping kick to the bushes that had made the noise.

"oops……"

With a scream, Xiaolan and the other two were all stunned.

"No way? Xiaolan, you actually thought there was a bear?"

Sonoko laughed heartily, her face showing no trace of the sadness she had just displayed.

"I only said that to scare you!"

How could there be bears on such a private island?

Conan sighed. His little Ran was good in every way, except that she could be a little clumsy at times...

"Sonoko! You lied to me again!"

Xiao Lan first complained angrily, then hurriedly ran into the bushes and dragged a person out of them.

It's him?

Conan frowned as he looked at the person on the ground who had been kicked unconscious by Ran.

Conan has already guessed that this person is the culprit who killed Koshimizu's friend.

He also had a deep disdain for this guy's personality and instinctively didn't want him to have any contact with Xiaolan.

Chapter 124 Tokitsu Junya's Little Thoughts

"Sister Xiaolan, this big brother has just fainted. Let's go first. He will wake up on his own in a while."

No sooner had Conan finished speaking than Sonoko punched him on the head.

"You brat, how can you have no sense of responsibility at all?" Sonoko glared at him and scolded, "This guy only passed out because Ran kicked him. No matter what, we should wait for him to wake up before apologizing, right?"

"Who do you think caused Ran to attack randomly?" Conan thought to himself.

After reprimanding Conan, Sonoko carefully examined the person lying on the ground and suddenly exclaimed in surprise,

"Isn't this the detective who solved over 300 cases and got more than 200 people prosecuted? I think his name is Shi... Shi something-? Why is he here?"

"Tokatsu Junya!" Conan said irritably while rubbing his head.

“Yes, it’s Tokitsu Junya!” Sonoko squatted down with interest. “This guy is pretty good, isn’t he? It’s just that his face is no good, too ugly. He can’t compare to Inspector Matsuda at all, and he’s only slightly better than your reasoning maniac.”

"Shinichi isn't mine!" Ran said, embarrassed and annoyed.

Sonoko completely ignored her feeble rebuttal and continued to ask questions.

"By the way, how many cases has that deduction fanatic handled? Is it as many as this guy's?"

“It should be a little more than his,” Ran recalled. “Shinichi’s first case was two years ago on a plane to the United States. In more than two years, he should have solved at least three hundred cases.”

"Tch, I thought he was some kind of genius, turns out he can't even beat Kudo."

Upon hearing this, Sonoko immediately stood up, her face full of disgust.

"Hey, am I that bad?" Conan thought angrily. "Don't you see I'm the recognized high school detective who represents eastern Japan?"

"Are you OK?"

Ran gently nudged the unconscious Tokatsu Junya.

"How can you possibly wake him up like this?"

Sonoko gestured for Ran to get up, then took out the bottled water she had brought, unscrewed the cap, and poured all the unused water inside onto Tokitsu Junya's face.

"Garden!"

Xiaolan never expected her friend to do this, and after exclaiming in surprise,

Just as he was about to stop her, Tokitsu Junya, who was lying on the ground, coughed and then slowly opened his eyes.

"What happened? I was walking along when I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my head, and then I couldn't remember anything."

Tokitsu Junya rubbed his still-reddened cheek and said with a dazed look in his eyes.

"Hey, what were you doing there just now? Were you eavesdropping on our conversation?" Sonoko asked, her eyes wide.

“Sonoko…” Xiaolan hurriedly tugged at her friend, “Perhaps it’s just a coincidence.”

"There aren't that many coincidences,"

Sonoko put her hands on her hips and said loudly,

"The route I'm taking you is a shortcut to the cliffside villa, a route that no outsider would ever know about!"

Hearing her say that, Ran and Conan both looked at Tokitsu Junya.

Could this guy have really been secretly following them all the way here?

"What eavesdropping? I don't understand." Tokizu Junzai frowned. "I heard from the servants in the villa that the scenery over there is much better than that over there on the beach, so I wanted to go and take a look."

"I didn't expect to get lost while walking. Then I heard you talking over here, so I came over to ask for directions. But before I even got close, it was like I was attacked by something and then I passed out."

"Lost? Really?" Sonoko asked incredulously.

"of course it's true!"

Tokitsu Junya hurriedly defended himself: "This island is so big, and it's full of dense forests. It's normal to get lost if it's your first time here."

"That's true,"

Sonoko nodded in deep agreement.

"The villas here were just renovated. My sister and I did get lost the first time we came here."

Are you lost?

Conan thought for a moment, then walked to the bush where he had just heard Tokatsu Junya make that noise.

After crawling inside, he quickly found many messy footprints on the ground.

At first glance, it does indeed look like someone who is lost and anxiously wandering around.

But even if he was indeed lost at first, what he said afterward was definitely a lie.

Conan's gaze was fixed on the two footprints at the outermost edge of the bushes.

From there to where Tokitsu Junya is now, there are no other footprints.

In other words, the place where these two footprints are located is the place where Tokitsu Junya was knocked unconscious by Ran.

But the footprints here are much deeper than the messy footprints next to them.

This indicates that Tokitsu Junya stood here for a long time.

He wasn't knocked down at all, unlike what he claimed, when he heard a noise and went over to investigate!

Tokitsu Junya had clearly heard the noise and had been eavesdropping behind the bushes for quite a while, until he accidentally made a sound that caught Ran's attention, at which point he decided to go out.

Unfortunately, before he could even get out of the bushes, Xiao Lan kicked him in the face and knocked him unconscious!

After confirming that Tokitsu Junya was lying, Conan stepped out of the bushes. He was about to warn the two girls to be careful when he saw Sonoko laughing triumphantly.

Beside him stood Tokatsu Junya, his face full of obsequious flattery.

"I knew it! That kick was so powerful, it must have been Miss Suzuki who did it!" Tokitsu Junya flattered. "Miss Suzuki must have studied judo or karate since she was a child, otherwise her kick would have been so powerful."

"No, actually..." Xiaolan was about to explain when Sonoko quickly tugged at her from behind.

Although Xiaolan didn't know what her friend was planning to do, she tacitly kept quiet.

"That's right, I'm the one who knocked you out," Sonoko laughed arrogantly. "How about it, isn't my karate amazing?"

"To be able to knock me down with a single kick, Miss Suzuki must be at least a third-degree black belt, right?"

Tokizu Junya chuckled and said, "At this age, before she's even twenty, Ms. Suzuki's karate is absolutely unbeatable."

"What's this guy up to?" Ran asked Conan in a low voice.

"This guy... probably overheard what Sonoko-neechan said earlier," Conan said helplessly.

"What did Sonoko just say?" Ran was still a little confused.

"Sonoko-neechan said she wants to find a son-in-law to live with her," Conan replied, barely suppressing a laugh. "This guy probably wants to be the son-in-law of the Suzuki family."

"What? He actually approached the garden for this reason?" Xiaolan exclaimed in surprise.

"Ran-neechan, you'd better remind her, otherwise when Sonoko-neechan finds out she's been tricked, well..." Conan kindly reminded her.