Shirakawa couldn’t handle Kogoro Mouri’s overly familiar personality, but the Suzuki Sonoko before him gave him an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
In his view, Suzuki Sonoko was a typical “all talk champion.”
She could talk about romance with great authority and had enough theoretical experience to write a book, yet in reality, she had never been in a serious relationship.
This was so similar to his own situation , having read countless doujinshi and possessing enough theoretical experience to instruct the industry, yet never having any real world experience.
She was one of his own!
Plus, since Shirakawa already knew a bit about Suzuki Sonoko and didn’t consider her a complete stranger, his social anxiety didn’t flare up.
Facing Sonoko’s almost “teasing” scrutiny, Shirakawa simply offered a polite smile and asked half jokingly, “Beautiful lady, what would you like to drink?”
To Sonoko, this question was no less than Cupid’s arrow piercing her heart.
Sonoko felt her heart skip a beat, then immediately start racing uncontrollably.
With hearts in her eyes, she cupped her cheeks and said, “I..I’d like a latte made by your own hands!”
“Certainly.” Shirakawa nodded and smiled at Ran Mouri, who was standing to the side.
“And you, Miss Ran?”
“I…
I’ll just have an iced coffee,” Ran Mouri said, looking a bit embarrassed.
Seeing the situation, Shirakawa roughly guessed what was going on.
It was highly likely that Suzuki Sonoko had heard about him from Ran Mouri and, piqued by curiosity, had insisted on dragging her best friend here to see for herself.
“Sonoko!”
Ran Mouri grabbed Sonoko, who seemed intent on sticking to the bar, and pulled her over to a corner table.
She reminded her irritably, “Mr.
Shirakawa is still working!
Don’t cause him any trouble!”
“Ran!
I feel like I’ve met my true love this time!”
“My heart is beating so fast right now!”
“Do you think we should name our future children Shirakawa Ichiro or Shirakawa Jiro?”
Ran Mouri and Conan, who had leaned over from the next booth, both wore expressions of speechlessness upon hearing this.
After all, whenever Sonoko met a handsome guy who looked decent enough, she would say something similar, and they were long used to it.
Meanwhile, Shirakawa, who was being praised by Sonoko as a “top tier hunk,” was calmly making coffee behind the bar.
He considered his appearance plain and unremarkable.
Plus, having been socially anxious since childhood, most girls had actively avoided him, to the point that before he transmigrated, he didn’t even have a single close female friend.
Therefore, even when female customers who had visited the shop over the past few days called him “handsome,” Shirakawa just assumed they were joking or teasing him, and he never took it seriously.
Naturally, Shirakawa also took all of Sonoko’s exaggerated remarks as a joke and didn’t take them to heart.
A moment later, Shirakawa finished making the coffee and carried the tray over to where Ran Mouri and Sonoko were sitting.
Just as Ran Mouri was about to whisper an apology for her best friend’s rude behavior earlier, Sonoko had already made another move.
She pulled out her phone and straightforwardly asked Shirakawa for his number.
“Handsome, let’s exchange phone numbers!”
Shirakawa smiled and readily exchanged numbers with Sonoko.
No sooner had she saved the number than Sonoko enthusiastically asked, “Shirakawa-kun, when are you free?
Let’s go on a date together!”
As soon as the words left her mouth, she realized she had been too direct and quickly corrected herself: “Ah, no, I mean let’s hang out together!”
“My probationary period ends in a few days, and I’ll have two days off.
I should be free then,” Shirakawa answered truthfully.
“Yay!” Sonoko cheered excitedly, as if she could already see a beautiful scene of the two of them running into the sunset.
Watching the relationship between Shirakawa and Sonoko progress so rapidly, a hint of sourness involuntarily welled up in Ran Mouri’s heart.
She couldn’t help but speak up to remind him, “Mr.
Shirakawa, you don’t need to indulge Sonoko so much.
If it’s inconvenient, just refuse her directly; there’s no need to force yourself.” Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
“The probationary period is so tiring; you should really get some proper rest when you have time off.”
Seeing Shirakawa seemingly caught in a dilemma, Conan, sitting at the next table, felt a bit of schadenfreude.
He began to analyze the situation using his half-baked psychology: Ran, the “old friend,” must be feeling uncomfortable seeing the relationship between Shirakawa and the “new friend” Sonoko heating up so quickly.
Now Shirakawa was facing a “choosen one of two” dilemma; no matter whom he chose, it would make the other person unhappy.
There was going to be a good show!
However, Shirakawa hadn’t thought that much into it at all.
He just looked at Ran Mouri sincerely and said gratefully, “The fact that I have a job and can earn money now is all thanks to the help of Mr.
Kogoro Mouri and Miss Ran.”
“If I can spend the first money I’ve earned on hanging out with everyone and bringing you all joy, I would be very happy.”
This response, which unconsciously displayed an incredibly high emotional intelligence, was like a spring breeze that instantly blew away the trace of jealousy in Ran Mouri’s heart.
Only then did she realize that when Shirakawa agreed to “hang out together” with Sonoko earlier, he had assumed it meant “everyone hanging out together” from the very beginning.
Thinking of this, Ran Mouri’s mood instantly turned from cloudy to sunny, and the corners of her mouth curled up involuntarily.
Sonoko had originally only wanted a date for two with Shirakawa, but hearing how Shirakawa’s words were filled with gratitude for the help provided by Ran Mouri, she couldn’t force anything further.
Besides, a man who knows how to be grateful is the most handsome!
Sonoko silently added ten points to Shirakawa in her heart, while not forgetting to take a jab at a certain mystery-solving idiot who was currently God-knows-where.
Unlike that Shinichi Kudo, who only knew how to order Ran around and never once said thank you!
The two best friends, now in a better mood, ordered some more desserts.
Sonoko even generously ordered a fruit juice for Conan.
Shirakawa smiled as he took the order and turned back to continue working.
Watching a “choose one of two” dilemma that had almost turned into a battlefield be so effortlessly defused by Shirakawa, Conan was dumbfounded.
He was certain that this Shirakawa was absolutely a master of manipulating hearts, and everything he was doing now was just playing the pig to eat the tiger!
From now on, he had to be even more careful with his words and actions in front of him; he absolutely could not expose his identity!