**Chapter 133: The Hometown That Can Never Be Returned To**
Early the next morning.
Sonoko Suzuki called.
Today was Saturday.
At the same time, light snow began to fall.
Snowflakes gradually descended, covering Beika City in a blanket of white.
Who knows if the pure white snow will be stained with someone's unlucky blood.
But that had nothing to do with Fujino.
As dawn broke, after a full night's sleep, Fujino drove two girls, along with a death god elementary school student, to their destination: the snowy mountain.
Since it was the weekend, there were quite a few people on the snowy mountain.
It seemed they were well-prepared...
To be honest, Fujino still hadn't figured out how these people could grasp the seasonal and time changes in this world.
Maybe it was because he wasn't a native, but a traveler from another world.
However, thinking back to the original owner's memories, the past seventeen years seemed pretty normal.
It was only recently that the seasons and time started to get chaotic.
All thanks to that death god elementary school student.
Fujino cast a look at Conan, who was sitting in the back seat, with a gaze as if looking at a foolish dog.
Conan responded with a similar foolish expression.
They soon arrived at the ski resort.
Entering the ski resort required tickets.
Since they had planned this together, everyone paid for their own tickets.
As for Conan, since he was an elementary school student, he got a half-price ticket.
Of course, the tickets weren't too expensive.
What was actually expensive were the ski equipment and ski clothes.
Ran and Sonoko had their own ski gear; only Conan and Fujino needed to buy or rent theirs.
Conan was easy to deal with; all the expenses went under the "Edogawa family" maintenance fee.
But Fujino had to pay out of his own pocket.
He bought a pretty good set of ski gear, which cost him nearly 150,000 yen.
Fortunately, he hadn't put all his money into the gacha system; otherwise, he would've had to borrow money from Sonoko, the rich girl.
The system's 11% discount saved him quite a bit, costing him a little over 130,000 yen in the end.
Aside from that, there was the cost of staying at a nearby mountain hotel, which was a bit expensive.
But fortunately, it had a hot spring.
Under a big tree at the ski resort.
"Scenes of the northern country, a thousand miles of ice, ten thousand miles of snow drifting..."
Fujino, dressed in a black ski suit and black goggles, holding a snowboard, gazed at the snow scene, murmuring poetry from his previous life.
"Fujino-senpai, what poem are you reciting?"
Sonoko, in a green ski suit and wearing skis, skidded to a stop, kicking up some snow as she curiously asked Fujino.
Fujino recited the poem in serious Chinese, even with a bit of a Northeastern accent, so Sonoko didn't understand.
"It should be, 'Scenes of the northern country, a thousand miles of ice, ten thousand miles of snow drifting.'"
Conan, also in a blue classic ski suit, translated into Japanese, then curiously asked Fujino, "But Fujino, do you know Chinese?"
"Yes, I do. After all, my dad was Chinese," Fujino replied honestly.
Indeed, his deceased father in this world had Chinese heritage; otherwise, why would his eyes be the black color that didn't fit in with the detective world?
However, his Chinese wasn't from the original owner's memory, but from his own fluent language skills from his previous life.
"So Fujino-senpai has Chinese heritage!"
Ran, in a pink ski suit, remarked, "No wonder Fujino-senpai's eyes are black."
"Huh?"
Sonoko seemed surprised, curiously examining Fujino's jet-black eyes, "I just noticed that Fujino-senpai's eyes are black!"
"Hey! You just noticed that?"
Conan muttered to himself.
"But speaking of which, Conan-kun, where did you learn Chinese?"
Fujino suddenly asked, his face full of doting smiles, but in reality, he was being sarcastic.
"I learned it with my dad in Hawaii."
Conan instinctively replied, then realized something was off.
"I see."
Fujino's smile grew darker, "But it's really impressive that Conan-kun can speak Chinese at such a young age."
"Yes, it is!"
Ran nodded, "I didn't know this kid could speak Chinese."
"But speaking of which, since Conan-kun can speak Chinese, that 'comrade' you mentioned before must not have been a mistake, right?"
Fujino smiled at Conan, "Conan-kun, you know what 'comrade' means in Chinese, right? You shouldn't use that term lightly."
To be precise, Conan was indeed not his comrade.
Having Japanese people call him 'comrade' always felt weird.
"Haha, I don't really understand, just know a bit!"
Conan gave a foolish smile, pretending to be a naive child.
No wonder this guy always targeted him...
Turns out he remembered that incident!
Damn!
He thought this guy didn't know Chinese!
Busted!
"By the way, Fujino-senpai, was that poem just now your own creation?"
Ran suddenly asked, "It felt profound and grand."
Fujino thought for a moment and replied, "Well... It's a poem by a great man from my hometown."
"A great man? I've never heard of him."
Ran looked puzzled.
Even Conan frowned.
A character unknown to the 'Holmes of the Heisei era,' the cheat-wielding death god elementary school student?
"That's a dream within my dreams."
Fujino laughed lightly, "A hometown I can never return to."
The two girls looked confused, while Conan frowned, feeling that Fujino was being overly dramatic.
What dream? What unreachable hometown?
Such a poser!
"Eek!"
Suddenly, a scream came from behind them.
Turning around, they saw a girl resembling Ran colliding head-on with a boy resembling Shinichi Kudo.
They weren't strangers; they were Aoko Nakamori and Kaito Kuroba.
At this moment, Kaito, in a blue ski suit and yellow ski pants, and Aoko, in a light blue ski suit and white pants, had crashed into each other, creating a large pit in the snow.
"Huh?"
Fujino looked at the two who had crashed, his mouth twitching slightly.
Wow, even on a ski trip, he bumped into Kaito Kid?
What a coincidence!
Awakened! Frozen fish...
Uh, this time he didn't bring frozen fish.
Oh well, let him experience the thrill of slicing through a power pole with one blow.
(Chapter end)