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…
—Tokyo Metropolis, Mihana Town.
“Sister Natsuya, can I have an ice cream?” Beside a shop called ‘Happy Snack Stall’ across the street from Teidan Elementary School, Yoshida Ayumi leaned on the counter with wide eyes, looking hopefully at the handsome older sister in front of her, and added in a clear voice, “Strawberry flavor, please!”
Behind her, Mitsuhiko and Genta chimed in simultaneously:
“Sister Natsuya, I want chocolate flavor!”
“Wait, me too! I want curry flavor!”
“Haha, Genta!” Mitsuhiko laughed. “What ice cream comes in curry flavor?”
“Who says ice cream can’t have curry flavor!” Genta retorted, his face flushing red.
“Hahaha, I can’t take it, I’m dying of laughter.”
“Stop laughing, Mitsuhiko!! I—I’m getting angry!”
Seeing his friend on the verge of embarrassment and anger, Mitsuhiko clutched his stomach and quickly stopped laughing. “Why don’t you ask Ayumi? Ask her if she knows about curry-flavored ice cream…”
“Huh? I don’t know either…” Yoshida Ayumi turned around with a thoughtful expression and said, “But I think Conan definitely knows.”
“Tch~~” Perhaps due to a bit of boyish pride, Mitsuhiko and Genta both pouted simultaneously. “Might as well just ask Sister Natsuya directly.”
“Oh, right~ Sister Natsuya!” After saying this, Ayumi suddenly covered her mouth and whispered, “I wonder if Sister thinks we’re annoying.”
“How could she? Sister Natsuya is so pretty!” Kojima Genta was the first to speak up.
“Yeah, Sister Natsuya would never find us annoying,” Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko agreed. “Sister is so beautiful, she must be very kind.”
Yoshida Ayumi nodded blankly but then shook her head, her face tinged with shyness. “But I think Sister is more handsome than pretty, even more handsome than Conan.”
Mitsuhiko and Genta: “No, she’s pretty! And… what’s so handsome about that guy Conan? Ayumi, don’t let him fool you!”
In an instant, the three children had already forgotten about the ice cream and were chattering away in discussion.
Children’s thoughts always jump around like this… It’s quite amusing.
Qianben Xixi, the owner of this roadside snack stall and the “Sister Natsuya” in the children’s mouths, was currently smiling as she watched the energetic elementary school students gathered at her shop entrance, listening with great interest to their heated discussion about her appearance.
Indeed, she was tall—taller than many boys. She had a handsome appearance, more so than many boys. Her skin was fair, with black hair and dark eyes, and her features were slightly more defined than the average East Asian, making her facial features appear even more delicate. It was hard to tell whether she leaned more toward feminine beauty or masculine handsomeness—perhaps a bit of both.
“Ayumi.” Qianben Xixi gently ruffled Yoshida Ayumi’s adorable little head, temporarily interrupting the three children’s debate over whether “Sister Natsuya is more handsome or beautiful” and their unanimous conclusion that “Conan isn’t as handsome as Sister Natsuya.” She smiled helplessly and asked, “Would you like more ice cream?”
“Yes!!” Instantly, all three children raised their hands.
“However…” Qianben Xixi was about to apologize and explain that her shop only sold milk-flavored ice cream when she noticed a blue-clad elementary school student wearing black-framed glasses and a red bow tie emerge from behind the children. He seemed strangely familiar.
“Hey, hey, could you keep it down when you’re discussing things?” The blue-clad elementary school student twitched his mouth, giving them a half-lidded glare as he protested, “The person you’re talking about is right here.”
“Conan!” Yoshida Ayumi turned around excitedly. “You finished your call already?”
Conan: “…I finished a while ago.”
“Ah, Conan, you were here all along?” Mitsuhiko and Genta also turned to look at him.
Conan fell silent: “”
Yeah, I was here the whole time you were talking about me. Hah.
“Conan! This is the Sister Natsuya I told you about!” Just as the atmosphere was turning awkward, the kind-hearted Ayumi quickly stepped in to lighten the mood. She pointed to the small sign behind her that read “Today’s Special: Ice Cream” and said, “They have ice cream today! Come join us!”
“Yeah, yeah!” At the mention of delicious ice cream, Kojima Genta got excited too. He started counting on his chubby little fingers, listing, “There’s strawberry flavor, chocolate flavor… and curry flavor! Isn’t that amazing?!”
Qianben Xixi, standing nearby: “”
She really didn’t sell curry-flavored ice cream. 🙂
“Pfft, what’s with curry flavor? And…” Conan gave them a half-lidded glare and retorted, “This shop obviously only has regular flavors of ice cream.”
“Ah…” Ayumi said disappointedly, “How do you know, Conan?”
“Yeah, yeah.” Mitsuhiko and Genta also looked at him.
Conan glanced inside the shop and said flatly, “It’s such a small shop—you can see everything at a glance. Where would she have strawberry or chocolate syrup, let alone…”
Conan twitched his mouth but didn’t say the word “curry.” He felt it was just too embarrassing.
“Oh, right!” Reminded by Conan, the other three children suddenly realized and looked even more disappointed.
“Sorry, we just opened recently, so we haven’t prepared that many flavors.” Qianben Xixi couldn’t bear to see the children so downcast, so she brought out the freshly made ice cream and offered it to them with a gentle smile. “How about trying the milk flavor today? It’s on the house~”
“Wow, free! Is it really okay?” Ayumi widened her eyes in disbelief.
“Of course~” Qianben Xixi blinked.
“Yay, that’s great!!” The children cheered instantly. “Thank you, Sister Natsuya!”
“Sister Natsuya, you’re so kind!”
“Sister Natsuya, you’re so pretty!”
“Sister Natsuya, you’re so cool!”
“Of course, Sister Natsuya is way cooler than Conan!”
Conan, who was innocently caught in the crossfire: “…”
Hey, hey, you don’t have to go this far with your flattery just for an ice cream. What does it have to do with him? Hah, elementary school kids are such pragmatic creatures. Conan couldn’t help but grumble inwardly, completely forgetting that he himself was now an elementary school student.
“I’m telling you guys…” Conan muttered softly after his internal rant, “Don’t just eat food from strangers. Don’t you think this shop is suspicious?”
“Huh? Where’s the suspicion?” Yoshida Ayumi looked puzzled. “But I think Sister Natsuya is a good person.”
Conan stole a glance inside the shop, then looked at Qianben Xixi, and said helplessly, “What kind of serious person runs a food stall selling only egg pancakes and ice cream? Don’t you think that combination is weird?”
Yoshida Ayumi looked confused by his words. “I-Is it really weird?”
“Conan, how can you say bad things about Sister Natsuya?” Tsuburaya Mitsuhiko said indignantly. “Sister is definitely a good person, not weird at all!”
“Yeah, yeah.” Kojima Genta nodded in agreement between bites of his ice cream. “Conan, are you jealous because we said you’re not as good-looking as Sister? Sister is so pretty, she must be a good person.”
Conan: ?
Pretty people are good people… What kind of twisted logic is that?
Perhaps sensing Conan’s skepticism, Mitsuhiko immediately spoke up. “Just like Sister Ran—not only is she pretty, but she’s also super nice. Don’t you think so, Conan?”
“…” Conan couldn’t argue for a moment and could only force a dry laugh, while a suspicious blush appeared on his face. “That’s different. Sister Ran is definitely pretty, but not all pretty people are good… uh.”
Halfway through his sentence, an ice cream was suddenly pressed against his lips. He instinctively licked it—rich, sweet milk flavor, not bad… Wait, no!
Realizing something, Conan jolted in shock and saw a tall figure leaning down beside him, smiling meaningfully. “A proper elementary school student should happily eat ice cream.”
Conan: !! It’s the food stall owner!
Oh no, he was caught badmouthing her. Conan felt a bit embarrassed for a moment. But he didn’t mean it intentionally—it was just that the moment he saw her, he felt inexplicably dangerous, like the feeling he got from those members of the Organization in black.
Maybe he was just being paranoid lately… But egg pancakes and ice cream use completely different ingredients, and they’re not foods you’d typically enjoy together. Selling them together really is weird. Plus, the shop looks so shabby on the outside, but all the equipment is brand new, and it’s an ice cream machine model he’s never seen before. It’s really, really weird.
The key was, the other party’s words had made him very concerned. What did ‘a proper elementary school student should happily eat ice cream’ mean? Had he accidentally revealed a flaw, making the other person think he didn’t seem like an elementary school student?
Thinking back to the first impression the Black Organization and Qianben Xixi gave him, Conan felt cold sweat breaking out.
“What’s wrong with you?” Qianben Xixi, who hadn’t thought that much at all, asked in confusion when she saw the boy named Conan stiffly take the ice cream and freeze in place. “The ice cream will melt if you don’t eat it soon~”
“O-okay, Sister Natsuya.” Conan snapped back to reality and forced a cute act, then accidentally poked the ice cream onto his nose, causing the surrounding children to burst into laughter.
Qianben Xixi: …This kid must have been scared silly by her.
She really didn’t mean it. It was just that this somewhat strange yet oddly familiar elementary school student had said her shop wasn’t proper behind her back, so she had mischievously wanted to scare him a little.
She swore it was really, really just a little bit. Who knew he would turn pale as if genuinely frightened? Qianben Xixi felt a tiny bit guilty.
Ah, scaring elementary school students is immoral, but it’s really fun.