Detective Conan: Developing a younger version of Ran Eri, and the stunning Yukiko.

The three chatted and strolled around, surrounded by many tourists, including some white people.

Xiaolan was drawn in by the lively music, and gently took Shiraishihara's little finger, leading him inside.

To prevent Sonoko from falling behind, Shiraishihara also held Sonoko's soft little hand.

Caught between the two, Shiraishihara suddenly felt a sense of comfort, as if he had two women on his left and right.

Afterwards, Shiraishihara bought a bright red candied apple, and Ran and Sonoko unceremoniously came over to taste it. As a result, the three of them took turns eating the candied apple while leisurely strolling around the shrine.

Many couples attended the festival, but it was rare to see someone as intimately involved with two beautiful girls simultaneously as Shiraishihara. In modern Japanese society, two-timing is unacceptable for both men and women. Therefore, the three attracted considerable attention.

"Shiraishi-kun, I want to play goldfish scooping!"

Xiaolan's face instantly lit up.

"Sure, but if you caught one, would you raise it?"

"Yes! I used to keep goldfish that I caught from festivals."

Xiaolan said.

No. .

100 Yukiko: I'll take you home. The sofa, the kitchen, the bathroom—you can choose whatever you like, or even try them all.

chapter

Shiraishi paid the stall owner and handed two goldfish scooping nets to Sonoko and Ran. Although Shiraishi was poor, he could still afford to play goldfish scooping.

Yuanzi waved her hand: "Huh? I don't play with goldfish, and I don't plan to keep them either."

Shiraishi forced the net into Sonoko's hands, saying, "It's okay, even if you catch something, you can just put it back."

Xiaolan couldn't wait any longer. She rolled up her yukata sleeves, locked onto her target, and carefully placed the net into the water.

"Ah! Ah..."

The goldfish briefly appeared on the paper net, but then broke through the net and escaped.

"How stupid!"

Shiraishi couldn't help but laugh out loud, while Ran puffed out her cheeks in anger.

"Shiraishi-kun, you seem to be really good at this?" Ran recalled how skilled Shiraishi was at playing claw machines before.

"It's so-so. There are skills involved in playing games."

"In that case, Shiraishi-kun, you teach me how to play. I want the black one and the red one."

"Look at this net. The side with the paper pasted on is the front. It's not easy to break if you use this side to scoop it up."

Shiraishi took the fishing net from Ran and began to explain.

"In addition, it's best to place the bowl close to the water's surface while waiting to catch the fish. The net should be lowered into the water at an angle, and then the fish should be scooped up quickly in one go. If you're worried about the net breaking, only put half of the net into the water; in this case, the net will usually break."

As he explained, Shiraishihara locked onto the black, bulging-eyed goldfish and placed the net into the water.

"When scooping them up, try to use the outer frame of the net as much as possible. If possible, only let the goldfish's head enter the net. Look, we've caught one."

Shiraishihara then used the same technique to retrieve the red rujin.

On the other side, Sonoko also failed. Seeing Shiraishihara's performance, she couldn't help but complain, "Wow, that's amazing. If everyone were as good as you, the goldfish scooping shop owner would probably go bankrupt."

After catching the goldfish, Shiraishi returned the net to the owner, who helped put the two goldfish into a bag. The uncle also shyly gave Ran a small bag of fish food, probably as a small bonus.

After resting for a while, the three bought takoyaki, yakisoba, and steamed egg cake, and then sat down on the stone steps.

During this time, Xiaolan repeatedly held up the bag containing the goldfish to her eyes and looked at it happily.

Xiaolan put down the bag of goldfish in her hand and immediately began to eat takoyaki.

Shiraishi Genichi held a box of fried noodles, picked up his chopsticks and started eating. The taste was passable, but after all, it was street food, so it was hard to have high expectations.

"I also want to eat fried noodles."

After taking a few bites of the sponge cake, Sonoko suddenly pointed at the fried noodles in Shiraishihara's hand and said something.

"Oh? But I've already used chopsticks... How about I go and buy you a new set now?"

Shiraishi hesitated for a moment, then put down his chopsticks.

"Look how many people there are... If you go to line up, who knows how long you'll have to wait! Just give me yours, and I can trade you my leftover sponge cake."

Sonoko said casually.

“Alright…” Shiraishi then exchanged the food with Sonoko.

Xiao Lan's eyes widened at the sight, and they exchanged the food they hadn't finished eating, a gesture that usually only happens between couples.

After finishing his own portion, Shiraishi went to a shop to buy three bottles of marble soda, which can only be purchased at tourist attractions.

"It's ramune!"

Ran and Sonoko's eyes lit up immediately, since this kind of soda was becoming increasingly rare on the market, and most stores no longer sold it.

The three of them enthusiastically pressed the marbles from the marble soda into the bottle at the same time.

The bottle was made of plastic, not glass, which made it less atmospheric. However, the bottle that Ran let go of first suddenly burst into a lot of bubbles. She screamed excitedly and quickly brought the bottle to Shiraishihara's mouth.

Shiraishi hurriedly tried to stop the bottle by covering his mouth with his own, but the force of the bubbles was so strong that he choked immediately.

When Xiaolan saw this, she burst into laughter, and Sonoko, who was standing next to her, also laughed non-stop.

Ran suddenly realized that Sonoko's attitude towards Shiraishihara was different from before.

Ever since she started decorating the garden with care, she seems to have undergone a complete transformation.

As the saying goes, "Women dress up for those who appreciate them," and it seems that best friends have all embarked on similar paths.

"The shrine is still the same as always, year after year, it feels a bit boring."

Xiao Lan said with a slightly forlorn expression.

"Huh?" Sonoko was taken aback. "This doesn't sound like something Ran would say."

"I've heard there will be a shrine maiden performance; I'd really like to go see it."

As Shiraishi Hara truthfully stated, this was his first time participating in such an event, and the novelty was quite strong.

"That's perfect, you two stay and watch. I'm going back now, so I can go home and raise the goldfish."

Ran's sudden change in attitude caught Shiraishihara and Sonoko somewhat off guard.

Sonoko quickly grabbed Ran, afraid that she would leave.

"Xiaolan, don't be like this... We're really good friends, how can you go back first?"

"Yes... Xiaolan..."

Shiraishi Hara also hurriedly tried to persuade Ran to stay, as it would be awkward for him and Sonoko to be alone together if Ran left now.

Despite Shiraishihara and Sonoko's earnest attempts to persuade her to stay, Ran couldn't leave early and had no choice but to stay and watch the shrine's performance together.

As night slowly fell, the stage was bathed in soft light, creating a unique atmosphere that was both mysterious and solemn.

In the center of the stage, a huge paper lantern hangs high, its patterns appearing almost lifelike under the light.

As the drums and bells rang out, the shrine maidens, dressed in white hunting robes with their skirts swaying gently, stepped onto the stage with light, graceful steps, each holding a bell and a fan.

The rhythm of the accompaniment gradually quickened, and the shrine maidens began to dance the shrine maiden dance.

The bells in their hands jingled with each dance step, producing a clear and melodious sound that mingled with the sounds of drums and copper bells.

The previously noisy crowd gradually quieted down and began to focus on appreciating the dance.

As for Shiraishihara and the other two, Sonoko and Ran were a bit distracted, their minds not entirely on the dance, while Shiraishihara watched with exceptional focus.

He felt that this shrine maiden dance was a bit like a shamanic dance, and whether it was good or not depended largely on the shrine maiden's appearance.

Anyway, they can't compare to Sonoko and Ran. If Sonoko and Ran wore shrine maiden outfits to dance, it would definitely be more pleasing to the eye.

After the performance, the three of them started their journey home with the crowd. As they were walking down the steps of the Mihara Shrine, they happened to meet three people coming from the other direction.

Kudo Yukiko was dressed in a kimono, holding the hands of a little boy and a little girl dressed in yukatas on her left and right hands respectively.

Yukiko Kudo's appearance instantly caught Shiraishihara's eye; she truly lived up to her reputation as a mature married woman, perfectly showcasing the beauty of Japanese women.

Yukiko Kudo wore a more formal adult kimono. The black silk fabric was light and cool, without any sense of heaviness, and perfectly outlined the voluptuous and graceful figure of the beautiful wife. Her long, wavy hair was styled into an updo, with a simple hairpin inserted gently in the hair, complementing her outfit perfectly.

"Ah! It's Yukiko-neechan, what a coincidence."

Ran immediately waved to Yukiko Kudo.

"It's Xiaolan."

Yukiko Kudo responded with a smile, but when she saw Shiraishihara with Ran and Sonoko on either side of him, she couldn't help but pout slightly.

"The three of you have such a good relationship!"

"Conan, what are you doing here?" Ran looked at the short Conan standing to the side.

"Hmph! It's all Ran-neechan's fault for not taking me out to play, so I had to go to Yukiko-neechan."

Conan's tone was full of dissatisfaction. In reality, he went to Yukiko to complain that Shiraishihara was once again harming Shinichi's older brother.

"Yukiko-neechan, this child is..."

Sonoko was curious about the little girl next to Yukiko Kudo. She had never seen her before, and the little girl looked somewhat like her, as if they were long-lost sisters.

"Oh. Ran, Sonoko, let me introduce you. This is Ai Haibara, the little girl I adopted."

"Ai Haibara is so cute!" Ran's eyes lit up; she was instantly charmed by Ai Haibara.

This child is clearly young and adorable, yet he always acts like a little adult, which is very endearing.

"Hello, Ai Haibara, I'm Ran Mouri. If you don't mind, you can call me Ran-neechan."

Ai Haibara gave a soft "humph," ignoring Ran and maintaining her cool demeanor.

"Why do I feel like Ai Haibara looks so familiar?"

Sonoko was filled with doubt. Although it was the first time she had seen Ai Haibara, she felt that Ai looked very familiar.

"Because Ai Haibara looks a lot like you, Sonoko. Haven't you noticed?" Shiraishi Haru pointed it out.

"what?"

Not only was Sonoko stunned, but everyone else also looked surprised.

"That's really true!"

After carefully examining Sonoko, Yukiko Kudo couldn't help but exclaim, "Especially after you changed your hairstyle and grew bangs, you really look a lot like Ai Haibara."

Ran covered her mouth in surprise: "Sonoko, did you and Ai Haibara know each other before?"

Sonoko shook her head, looking blank: "I don't know her."

Conan started speculating wildly again: "Could it be that Ai Haibara is the illegitimate daughter of the Suzuki family? I've heard that rich families have quite a few of these kinds of melodramatic plots."

Hearing Conan's reasoning, Ai Haibara got a little angry: "That's not true at all! I'm mixed race, okay? My hair color and pupils are clearly different from Japanese people's, and besides, I have an older sister..."

At this point, Ai Haibara's eyes dimmed. Her only sister had turned herself in and was now in prison, with no one knowing when she would be released.

Besides evading the Black Organization, Ai Haibara has been secretly investigating the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.

At the public press conference, one of the pieces of evidence presented by the police was the discovery of the Phantom Thieves' business cards.

She suspects that her sister's surrender is intricately linked to the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.

"Conan, you little brat, don't overthink it. It's just a coincidence that I look like Ai Haibara."

Sonoko Suzuki is convinced that she has no connection with Ai Haibara and that they only look alike.

After all, there are many people in this world who look alike, so there's really nothing to be surprised about.

"That seems to be the case..."

Conan chuckled awkwardly a few times, then slowly walked over to Ran Mouri. He even tried to hold Ran's hand, but Ran completely ignored him.

"Conan, what exactly do you want?" Ran was very wary of Conan. She had long noticed that Conan's behavior was different from that of ordinary children, so she was extremely defensive towards him.

"N-nothing... Sister Xiaolan, let's go back together."

After leaving the Mihana Shrine, the group went their separate ways once they reached the street.

"Well then, see you next time."