# Chapter 141: Indeed a Good Person

About ten minutes later, after finishing dinner, it was around eight or nine in the evening.

Miyano Akemi was cleaning up and doing the dishes, while Fujino was preparing to take Haibara Ai home with the bags of clothes they had bought earlier.

In the bathroom, Haibara Ai changed out of the panda pajamas and into clean clothes: a short-sleeved shirt, a gray sports jacket, and gray-black sports pants.

After changing, she looked at the panda pajamas she had taken off. She hesitated, then folded them neatly and put them in a shopping bag before walking out of the bathroom.

It wasn't because they were cute, but purely because they were comfortable!

"Safe travels!" Miyano Akemi, who was still washing dishes in the kitchen, waved to them as they left.

Haibara Ai instinctively turned back to say something but hesitated and ultimately remained silent.

Even though Fujino Akemi did have a resemblance to her sister, she knew that was someone else's sister, not hers.

If she hadn't been involved with that organization, her life might have been like this now, too.

For a moment, she looked at Fujino with a tinge of envy in her eyes.

...

A short while later, Fujino parked his Ford Taurus in front of the Kudo residence.

"This is where you're staying temporarily?" Fujino asked as he opened the car door and glanced at the villa.

The villa was dark and silent, with no lights on inside, making it seem uninhabited.

"..." Haibara Ai got out of the passenger seat, also looking at the villa, and frowned.

In her rush, she had intended to seek refuge with Kudo Shinichi, another person who had shrunk. But she almost forgot that after shrinking, Kudo Shinichi hadn't returned to this villa to live.

This is problematic...

While Haibara Ai was deep in thought, Fujino suddenly spoke again, "I didn't expect you to be a relative of that guy."

"You... you know him?" Haibara Ai asked, surprised, looking at Fujino.

Oh no, she had made up a story and it turned out to be about someone Kudo Shinichi knew. Awkward...

"Not exactly," Fujino explained as Haibara Ai's mind raced to come up with another plausible story. "We were classmates. He's been missing for a long time... and like him, I'm a high school detective."

"Classmates? High school detective?" Haibara Ai was puzzled. "Are you a high school student?"

"Yes, I'm just an eighteen-year-old high school student. Don't I look like one?" Fujino replied.

Haibara Ai: "..."

This guy was the same age as her...

Okay, she wouldn't have guessed. With his mature demeanor and appearance, he didn't seem like an eighteen-year-old at all.

"Two people," came an elderly voice from behind them.

Fujino turned to see a white-haired, balding old man poking his head out from the gate. "Are you looking for Shinichi?"

The old man, wearing a white lab coat, had a shirt stretched tight by his round belly.

Fujino recognized him. It was none other than Dr. Agasa.

This was probably his first time meeting Dr. Agasa face-to-face.

"You must be Dr. Agasa," Fujino greeted him.

"You know me?" Dr. Agasa asked, surprised.

"I've heard about you from Ran and Conan."

"Oh! So you're Fujino Toji!" Dr. Agasa thought for a moment and then remembered the name Fujino Toji.

Yes, that name came up often when Conan talked to him, and quite frequently.

"By the way," Fujino said, taking Haibara Ai's hand, "I heard this child is a relative of Kudo Shinichi, but it seems like no one's home at the Kudo residence."

"A relative of the Kudo family?" Dr. Agasa was puzzled.

He only knew the Kudo family and hadn't heard of any relatives.

Seeing Dr. Agasa's confused expression, Haibara Ai pulled her hand away from Fujino's and walked up to Dr. Agasa, whispering, "You know about Kudo Shinichi taking that kind of drug, right?"

Based on the clues she had, it was likely that after shrinking, Kudo Shinichi would first return home. And with no relatives here, he would probably seek refuge with this old man.

She was betting that Dr. Agasa knew about Kudo Shinichi's transformation.

If not, it didn't matter. She could always pass off her words as a child's ramblings.

"The drug?!" Dr. Agasa's face changed color. How did this child know about that... unless...

"You know about it too, right?" Haibara Ai saw Dr. Agasa's expression and her doll-like face showed a sly smile.

She had gambled correctly. Dr. Agasa definitely knew about Kudo Shinichi's transformation.

"Who exactly are you..." Dr. Agasa began, but Haibara Ai interrupted loudly, seemingly to let Fujino hear, "So, you're Dr. Agasa... We're also relatives, right? I'll come in and sit for a while... you must be happy to tell me where the Kudo family has gone recently, right?"

Dr. Agasa's face turned even more puzzled.

"Dr. Agasa, are you relatives with this child too?" Fujino, who had been watching the conversation from a distance, asked playfully.

"Ah... yes," Dr. Agasa scratched the back of his head after a moment of thought, "Yes, this child is related to me..."

"This child is related to the Kudo family, isn't she?" Fujino continued, pretending to be puzzled.

"Ah... well..." Dr. Agasa stammered.

"The Kudo family, our family, and Dr. Agasa's family are all relatives," Haibara Ai interjected.

"Exactly!" Dr. Agasa nodded in agreement. "Our family and the Kudo family are related..."

"Is that so... quite the family tree," Fujino nodded, not giving it much thought.

He then turned to open the trunk and handed over the bags of clothes he had bought to Dr. Agasa.

"By the way, about this child's clothing... and the medical expenses, could you handle those for me, Dr. Agasa?" Fujino handed a bill to Dr. Agasa. "It's a total of 160,000 yen."

"160,000 yen?" Dr. Agasa was stunned.

He took the bill and looked at the detailed charges listed. He was speechless.

First, he was coerced into becoming the guardian of a strange little girl, and now he had to pay her bills...

Finally, after receiving the 160,000 yen payment, Fujino drove away in his Ford Taurus.

Meanwhile, Haibara Ai watched the departing car, lost in thought.

Although he had carried her home from the rain against her will, it was indeed for her own good.

Given her condition at the time, if no one had helped her, the worst-case scenario would have been passing out in the street and being found and executed by that organization.

To be honest, when she first met Fujino, she thought he had a strange preference for little girls.

Although there were still some suspicions of being a lolicon, after observing him for a while, she realized Fujino Toji was indeed a good person.

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Recommended a book by a friend. If you're interested, take a look.

(End of Chapter)