Scream

Yes, there's going to be a murder.

Ichijō Mirai, keenly sensing the vague signals of danger, is motionless and alert to all present, capturing all information, noting the moods and states of all.

For example, Kaori Sekiya and Watanabe Yoshimi, who like Minagawa Katsuhiko, the former was rejected when she confessed her love, and the latter intends to confess her love, such as Tanaka Naomichi who likes Kaori Sekiya, and Wakamatsu Toshihide who likes Mouri Ran but is obviously a little brainless.

Then there's the strange Mrs. Minagawa and Minagawa Sasumu.

The aborigines are interesting, forming a subtle fire, and the beautiful subtle flames are spreading to them, the outsiders.

Ichijō Mirai drained the orange juice in one gulp, picked up his coffee cup, took two sips without raising his eyebrows, and smiled at Conan once more, "Kids your age need to pay more attention to their dental health, and it's probably best to cut down on the cake, or you'll get cavities like that kid just did."

And, "Caffeine isn't good for kids either, too much of it and they might not sleep tonight."

He moved the coffee cup away from Conan and moved the orange juice cup back, "Drink more juice."

He added two more bites of cake for himself.

Ichijō Mirai's attitude was obvious.

Even though he had fished Conan out in a hurry and grabbed him with his bloody mouth, he was clearly not a person who was warm and friendly to children, and even when he touched Conan's head, he had the perfunctory meaning of 'It seems like I need to touch his head here, so I'll just touch his head, I know I touched it, and you know that you're being touched, so okay, the process is finished, let's go'.

It's an attitude that's not hostile to children, but it's not enthusiastic either.

Therefore, Conan didn't expect Ichijō Mirai to stop himself from drinking coffee and cake with a few more words, and froze for a moment, "Okay."

He picked up the glass of orange juice, first focusing on his childish hands before cautiously speaking in a childish tone, "So it's Brother Ichijō's habit, I thought it was because Brother Ichijō didn't like Mrs. Minagawa very much."

"She looked a little sad just now."

"Mrs. Minagawa seems to have misunderstood that you didn't like the cake she made, probably because you rejected it so much because you didn't think the sushi was to your liking either," he watched Ichijō Mirai's expression, noting any signs of rejection, "want to explain that to her?"

No matter what the circumstances, it was a little strange to urge someone to eat food you'd made and keep staring at it.

But Japan was different. Visiting guests was different.

Japan is a place with a lot of rules for a small area, and if you shove the accepted rules into the air, you're afraid that even the air will coalesce into a heavy entity that's more complicated than a pie.

For example, when you're a guest in someone else's home and the host brings out a dessert that he or she has made, it's rude not to eat it and compliment the host on his or her handiwork.

This is not just Japanese social rule, it's a worldwide social rule, and everyone with a normal IQ will taste the dessert first, without being pushed, and praise it appropriately, no matter how ordinary it is.

So, although a little odd on its own, Mrs. Minagawa's behavior was normal for a hostess who had been busy preparing a meal for a gathering of her son and his friends.

What was not normal was Ichijō Mirai's refusal to eat in the face of her host's silent urging.

"Explain?" Ichijō Mirai looked to the kitchen, "No, the truth is better than an explanation, she saw me smiling and tasting the coffee and cake."

The kitchen door was open and Mrs. Minagawa was standing at the counter preparing coffee, she looked over sideways and saw the corner of the living room and Ichijō Mirai who had discreetly taken only two bites of the cake.

Then, with a sigh of relief, her brows unfolded in a vaguely melancholic frown, she nodded and smiled at Ichijō Mirai from afar, and then lowered her head to prepare the coffee again.

Minagawa Sasumu took the opportunity to sneak out of the kitchen, ran happily to Minagawa Katsuhiko, said a few words, was pushed away, ran happily to Ichijō Mirai, and looked over at Conan, "Hello, my name is Minagawa Sasumu, you can call me Sasumu!"

He looked at Conan blearily, "What's your name? Can you be my friend?"

"I don't have any friends these days."

He looked up again, and looked at Ichijō Mirai with what he thought was a secret look of envy and pride, "Your brother is so handsome, and my brother is handsome too, we could be friends!"

Ichijō Mirai pretended not to hear.

Conan controlled his expression, "My name is Conan, Edogawa Conan, you can call me Conan too."

"Brother Ichijō isn't my brother," he explained as he sat to the side to make way for an empty seat, "We just met today."

Minagawa Sasumu got the friendly signal and immediately took the empty seat with a good grace, "Thank you."

Scanning the table and noticing that everyone has a cup of coffee beside them, he reaches out to the extra cups of coffee poured on the table, pulls them in front of him, takes a sip as if tasting them, and immediately covers his mouth because of the bitterness, "Woo!"

"Today, you just met today? Then you should hurry up."

Coffee is very bitter for children, Minagawa Sasumu's face was wrinkled by the bitterness, "Try hard to make him your own brother, or else he'll be taken away from you."

Conan: "?"

Huh? You can try to make someone else your 'real brother'?

Minagawa Sasumu puffed out his chest proudly, "I worked hard to get a handsome brother!"

"Don't look like he's treating me badly, but he actually likes me a lot, he's just not very good-tempered because he's sad, and he usually plays with me and apologizes if he makes me sad."

From the moment they met, Minagawa Katsuhiko had been smoking, looking impatient and bad-tempered, and he hadn't been very nice to Minagawa Sasumu, who was six or seven years old, and didn't really seem to like his younger brother.

Conan looked up at Minagawa Katsuhiko at that, and believe it or not agreed with the child, "Then your brother is a good brother."

Minagawa Katsuhiko finishes his cup of coffee and fumbles for his cigarette case again, halfway through he pauses with his eyes on Minagawa Sasumu, frowns, and stands up again, "I'm going out for a smoke."

He opened his cigarette case as he walked out, then stopped in the doorway, "Tsk, no cigarettes."

"No more?" Wakamatsu Toshihide subconsciously touched himself, "I don't have any."

"Katsuhiko, have you been smoking more often lately..."

Minagawa Katsuhiko interrupted this concern, "Does anyone have a cigarette?"

Excluding the children, herself and Wakamatsu Toshihide, who hadn't brought any cigarettes, there were only two men present.

Tanaka Naomichi, who had been silent, stood up and for the first time spoke positively with extra initiative, "I brought some."

So active that he spoke a little faster than usual.

He handed out a carton of cigarettes, "Here, have a smoke."

"I knew you guys would run out of cigarettes."

Minagawa Katsuhiko took it and walked out of the living room without looking back with a thank you, "Thanks."

Tanaka Naomichi sat down again. 

It was then that Minagawa Sasumu whispered, "My brother smokes and smells bad, but with a little perfume he's a popular and handsome guy."

"And he looks bad-tempered, but he has a soft heart. I worked hard for two or three years, and I got my own brother."

Then he once again looked at Ichijō Mirai and Suzuki Sonoko with what he thought was a very secretive look, and asked in a serious whisper, "That hairband girl likes your brother a lot, doesn't she? She keeps staring at your brother, just like Sister Sekiya keeps staring at my brother."

"But you don't have a 'Brother Naomichi', so it's a bit difficult."

"If the hairband sister confesses to your brother, no one will threaten 'If that guy dares to betray Sekiya, I will definitely kill him', then won't your brother agree? He will no longer be your brother, but the hairband sister's boyfriend, and he will not play with you anymore."

The tone of his voice was cute and childish, so childish that it would make anyone who likes children smile.

But in the middle of his sentence, Ichijō Mirai and Conan stared at him.

Ichijō Mirai raised an eyebrow.

"Mr. Minagawa is not your real brother?" Conan repeats both messages, "Mr. Naomichi said he wanted to hurt your brother?"

He subconsciously looks up from the open door of the living room to the empty courtyard, not finding Minagawa Katsuhiko, and then to Tanaka Naomichi, who has just handed out cigarettes, with some uneasiness.

A kind of uneasiness that was created when he noticed the subtle atmosphere of Minagawa's house not long after he entered, but was only now aroused.

"He," Conan looked at Minagawa Sasumu, who had no idea what he was talking about, and then to Ichijō Mirai, who had also heard those words, "he just took Mr. Tanaka's cigarette?"

No, nothing's going to happen, right?

Next to him, Watanabe Yoshimi, who had been hesitating for a long time, hesitated for a long time, but quietly stood up and tried to walk out as quietly as possible before anyone noticed him, holding a box of chocolates for confessions in his hand.

Ichijō Mirai glanced at Watanabe Yoshimi, who had left the living room from the edge, and then at Tanaka Naomichi, who had hung his head again after handing over the cigarette, and said, without any personal subjectivity, only the truth, "Mr. Tanaka handed over the cigarette in public, and everyone saw it, and if the cigarette was poisoned, the police would know it when they investigated it."

"The lady took the chocolate to Mr. Minagawa."

But more than that: "I remember Ms. Mouri's father was a detective?"

"Your last name is Edogawa?"

Ichijō Mirai looked Conan squarely in the eye for a few moments, "Not bad for a kid who knows detectives, like a little detective."

Even Minagawa Sasumu didn't take it too seriously when he said 'Brother Naomichi is threatening to kill his brother', even a normal adult wouldn't have reacted to that with much more than a frown of concern in case there was a fight later on.

But Conan's first thought was, "Minagawa Katsuhiko took Tanaka Naomichi's cigarette, is something wrong?

It's the kind of reaction that someone who's been involved in a lot of murders would have without thinking about it.

Minagawa Sasumu didn't have that reaction, and was a bit confused: "What?"

"You've been to the hospital for a checkup lately, and you're in good health, but you've been smoking a lot."

He was more concerned than that, "Did Sister Watanabe confess?"

Minagawa Sasumu was much more nervous than the relaxed tone he used when talking about Kaori Sekiya, and almost stood up and ran out to find Minagawa Katsuhiko, "Then brother..."

Before he could make his next move, he heard Mrs. Minagawa's stern voice, "Sasumu!"

Mrs. Minagawa came out of the kitchen with a coffee pot in her hand and sternly reprimanded Minagawa Sasumu, "Didn't brother tell you not to interrupt their party? Why are you sitting down!"

"I just had some sushi and juice in the kitchen, why are you drinking coffee!"

She put down the coffee pot and squeezed out a smile to the others who looked at her at the sound, "Sorry, I got carried away."

Minagawa Sasumu stood up obediently, her head lowered and her voice quickly took on a sobbing tone, "I'm sorry, mom."

Mouri Ran looked left and right and hesitantly spoke up to ease the atmosphere, "Sasumu just had some coffee and no cake, he shouldn't have a toothache, right?"

Mrs. Minagawa sat behind Minagawa Sasumu and sat him down with a smile on her face even though she was still a little upset, "I'm sorry Ms. Mouri for taking care of you, you're obviously a guest but you're still..."

She looked at her child's aggrieved expression and tears in her eyes, and sighed helplessly, "Well, today is my brother's party, so I won't be so strict with you, eating chocolate and drinking coffee, alas."

"Come on, try the cake mom made, don't cry, okay?"

The atmosphere, which had just been tightened by the mother's stern reprimand of her son, relaxed again, as Mrs. Minagawa's voice softened helplessly.

She took a plate of cake, and like countless other mothers who can't do anything about their children, she began to feed her son with the dessert, her eyes getting softer and softer, "I really can't do anything about you."

Minagawa Sasumu, somewhat incredulously, tentatively bit into the cake on the spoon, "Is it really, really okay to eat, mom?"

"Of course you can," Mrs. Minagawa nudged the tip of his nose, "The coffee is so bitter, if I don't let you eat the cake, won't you shed tears of frustration later? Mommy doesn't know you yet."

The atmosphere grew softer and softer, and mother and son became happier and happier.

As Conan watched, his brows furrowed, 'Wasn't the cake sweetened on purpose?'

Mrs. Minagawa had been furious when Minagawa Sasumu took a bite of chocolate, but now she was feeding her son a specially sweetened cake...?

After a few seconds of hesitant observation, Conan scanned the room, unconsciously focusing on Ichijō Mirai: the detective.

He is also a 'young, handsome and super capable detective' certified by Suzuki Sonoko. Although he is not credible at all, he came back from the United States. With this, Ichijō's credibility soared.

Could such a detective have realized something?

With that in mind, Conan observed Ichijō Mirai's reaction.

His ever-present polite smile went offline for a moment, and his red eyes stared at the happy Minagawa mother and child, the shadows of his broken hair cast into his eyes, inexplicably with the ghost of blood in the shadows, like a vampire who can't see the light of day staring at a human being who left the sunlight senselessly.

Just for a moment.

Before Conan's creepy instincts could explode, Ichijō Mirai's eyes moved away from Minagawa and landed on Conan.

He raised an eyebrow and smiled, no hint of alarming sharpness, just a gentle, non-prickly, seemingly good-tempered way of dealing with a prying eye, "Ms. Mouri's looking at you, little detective."

Uh-huh?

Hearing the key word, Conan subconsciously turned his head just in time to meet Mouri Ran's curved aqua-purple eyes.

She gently hugged Conan, and gently whispered, "Did you miss your mommy, Conan?"

A harsh scream of horror rang out, piercing everyone's brain, interrupting Conan's urgently organized explanations and excuses.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"