The next day, Shirakawa woke up in the storage room of the Mouri Detective Agency.
His head was still heavy with a lingering hangover, and he felt a sense of disorientation from his recent transmigration.
Sunlight squeezed through the gaps in the vent, casting a long, thin sliver of light onto the floor.
Fumbling for his phone, he was startled to see the screen brightly displaying ’10:15 AM.’
He had drunk too much last night and completely overslept.
Just as he was about to get up, he noticed a folded note and two keys by the crack of the door.
He picked up the note and unfolded it, revealing elegant handwriting.
“Mr.
Shirakawa, I have classes at school today, so I’ve already headed out.”
“Breakfast is on the kitchen table on the third floor.
Remember to eat when you get up.”
“These are spare keys for the Detective Agency and the third floor, so it’s convenient for you to go out.”
The lines were filled with meticulous care.
Clutching the note, Shirakawa felt another surge of warmth in his heart.
Ran…
she really is an angel descended to earth, caring for the world with indiscriminate kindness.
But on second thought, Shirakawa couldn’t help but feel a trace of worry.
This kind of unreserved kindness was simply too dangerous.
In this world of unpredictable hearts, what if she met a bad person and was deceived?
Setting aside his cluttered thoughts, Shirakawa walked out of the storage room.
The Detective Agency on the second floor was empty, with only bits of sunlight filtering through the blinds, cutting mottled patterns of light and shadow onto the floor.
Presumably, Kogoro Mouri was also still sleeping off last night’s drinks in his bedroom on the third floor.
Shirakawa went to the bathroom first for a quick wash.
The cold water cleared his head significantly, and then he headed up to the third floor.
Sure enough, a breakfast of simple fried eggs, toast, and a glass of milk was covered with a glass dome on the dining table.
Though simple, it radiated the warmth of a home.
Shirakawa sat down and ate his breakfast slowly, calculating his next move.
The top priority was still to find a part-time job.
At the very least, he needed to earn enough for living expenses; he couldn’t just live and eat here for free forever.
Just as he finished the last sip of milk, a ‘thump, thump, thump’ of knocking came from downstairs.
Shirakawa put down the glass and stood up to go downstairs, somewhat puzzled.
Who would be coming to commission a case at this hour?
When he pushed open the third-floor door and looked down, Shirakawa froze instantly.
An old man and a young boy were standing outside the door.
The elder wore a white lab coat, had a mess of white hair, and a thick white beard on his chin , it was the Dr.
Standing beside the doctor was a little boy wearing oversized black-rimmed glasses, a small blue suit, and a red bowtie, looking around impatiently.
Conan Edogawa.
Shirakawa’s heart skipped a beat.
He hadn’t expected to run into this ‘God of Death’ elementary student so soon.
He steadied himself, invited the two to sit in the Detective Agency, and then went to the third floor to wake Kogoro Mouri.
A short while later, in the Detective Agency’s guest lounge…
Kogoro Mouri sat with hair like a bird’s nest, yawning with sleepy eyes, while Dr.
Agasa and Conan sat opposite him.
Shirakawa tactfully served tea to everyone and then stood silently to the side.
“Detective Mouri,” Dr.
Agasa spoke first, a kind smile on his face, “I’ve come because there’s something I’d like to ask of you.”
He pointed to Conan beside him and explained, “This child is named Conan Edogawa, a relative of Shinichi’s from far away.
His parents recently went abroad for work, and there’s no one at home to look after him, so I thought…”
“No way!”
As soon as Kogoro Mouri heard that Conan was a relative of Shinichi Kudo, the disdain on his face almost overflowed, and he refused without hesitation.
“That brat is running off somewhere himself, and now he wants to dump his family’s dead weight on me?
Not a chance!”
Dr.
Agasa seemed to have expected this reaction.
Unhurriedly, he pulled a check from his coat and pushed it toward Kogoro Mouri.
“Detective Mouri, this is a small amount of child support left by the parents.
I hope you can be flexible.”
Kogoro Mouri was about to continue his rant, but when his eyes landed on the string of zeros on the check, they instantly bugged out.
“One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand…
Two million yen?!”
He snapped his head up to look at Dr.
Agasa, his disdain instantly transforming into a fawning smile as he pocketed the check with lightning speed.
“Ahem!
Since the parents are being so sincere, I, Kogoro Mouri, am not an unreasonable man!”
Kogoro Mouri cleared his throat and puffed out his chest with an air of righteousness.
“Taking care of children is the responsibility of every adult!”
“Leave this matter to me!”
Shirakawa watched from the side, amazed.
With such speed in changing faces, it was a waste of talent not to learn Sichuan Opera face changing.
He also understood that given the Mouri Family’s less-than-affluent financial situation, Kogoro Mouri had no possibility of refusing such a huge sum of money.
Besides, at least Conan paid two million in living expenses to move in.
He, on the other hand, hadn’t spent a cent, purely freeloading…
So, even if Shirakawa didn’t want Conan to move in deep down, he knew he had no right to say anything. This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
There was one more thing that bothered Shirakawa.
According to the plot in the manga, Conan should have moved into the Mouri household on the same day he shrunk—which was yesterday.
But now it was delayed by a day.
Could it be because he met Ran yesterday and comforted her, creating a small butterfly effect?
Shirakawa was lost in thought.
With the matter settled, Dr.
Agasa gave Conan a few more instructions and left satisfied.
Kogoro Mouri held the two-million-yen check, grinning from ear to ear.
With a grand wave of his hand, he announced in a booming voice:
“Shirakawa!
Get ready, we’re going out for a feast at noon today!”
After saying that, he hummed a little tune and went up to the third floor to wash up and get dressed.
In the Detective Agency, only Shirakawa and Conan remained.
The air suddenly became very quiet.
Shirakawa could feel a sharp gaze landing on him without any attempt at concealment.
He turned his head and met Conan’s eyes, which were full of inquiry and scrutiny behind his lenses.
“Who are you?”
Conan’s voice carried a calmness and maturity that didn’t belong to a child.
“Why are you living here?”
Here comes the background check interrogation.
Shirakawa sighed inwardly, but with a gentle smile on his face, he repeated the same story from last night.
When Conan heard that it was Ran Mouri who had proactively invited Shirakawa to stay, his feigned innocent face could no longer maintain its composure.
Shock, bewilderment, and disbelief flashed through his eyes in succession.
“It’s one thing for that idiot Ran, but how could even the old man…”
Conan blurted out subconsciously, only realizing halfway through what he was saying.
Though his voice was small, in the quiet Detective Agency, it reached Shirakawa’s ears clearly.
The smile on Shirakawa’s face faded instantly.
In his mind, he gave this brat a massive middle finger.
Idiot?
You’re the idiot!
Your whole family are idiots!
You’ve provoked such a terrifying enemy like the Black Organization, and instead of finding a place to hide quickly or just fleeing abroad, you insist on shamelessly moving into Ran’s house.
Are you afraid Gin won’t find you and won’t be able to massacre the Mouri Family?
You’re clearly the one dragging them into this, and now you have the nerve to call Ran and Uncle Mouri idiots?