Gin's car drove away.
Kurosawa Hoshino withdrew his gaze. When he turned his head, he met a pair of big eyes that seemed like they could speak.
He silently took a step back, keeping some distance from Yumi Miyamoto. Seeing her very suspicious look, he smiled. "Officer Yumi, if there's nothing else, I'll be going. Ran and the others are waiting for me."
"Wait, you can't leave." Yumi Miyamoto grabbed his wrist and glanced at her colleague beside the police car. She asked quietly, "Was there something wrong with that car just now?"
"I don't know."
"You don't know?" Yumi Miyamoto's voice rose a bit, then she realized that wasn't good and quickly covered her mouth.
Kurosawa Hoshino could tell this woman also loved gossip. If he didn't give her a proper explanation, she'd probably pester him for a long time. So he thought of an excuse he'd used before. His expression turned serious, and his voice deepened a little.
"Officer Yumi, I have a kind of intuition—a very accurate intuition. When solving cases, I often rely on this intuition to tell who the culprit is at a glance, and I've never been wrong. That black car just now—I had a feeling in my heart that if I got close, something bad would happen. So when I saw you about to go over, I hurried to stop you."
"Really?" Yumi Miyamoto was a bit skeptical. She felt intuition was too unreliable.
Kurosawa Hoshino smiled. "I also indirectly saved Inspector Megure once because of this intuition. If you don't believe me, you can ask him. Or ask Officer Sato. There might already be rumors about this."
"I see..." At this point, Yumi Miyamoto basically believed him. After all, Kurosawa Hoshino was so good at solving cases, almost like he had cheats or had read the script. It was somewhat magical, so she chose to trust his intuition.
"Then, thank you." She patted his shoulder.
"It's nothing, Officer Yumi. Ran and the others are waiting for me, so I won't chat longer."
"Mm, bye."
"Bye."
Kurosawa Hoshino said goodbye and jogged back toward Ran and the others.
As soon as he got there, Kogoro Mouri's complaining voice greeted him. "Brat, does saying hello take that long?"
"I ran into something—" Kurosawa Hoshino explained the excuse he'd just used.
After hearing it, Ran and the others' expressions turned serious.
Ran patted her chest. "That sounds really dangerous. Hoshino, your intuition is so useful. I wish I had it too."
"Yeah, I wish I had it too." Conan didn't doubt this sort of thing. Otherwise, some of Kurosawa Hoshino's actions at times couldn't be explained. But if it was intuition, then it made sense. So he truly envied this ability. He even thought that the reason Kurosawa Hoshino deduced things so quickly and accurately might be related to this intuition and sixth sense.
"Let's go then." Kogoro Mouri didn't want to stay here any longer.
Ran smiled. "Let's still walk around. I want to buy a piece of clothing."
At her words, Kurosawa Hoshino and the other two stared straight at her.
Ran's cheeks flushed at being stared at. She said embarrassedly, "You don't need to pay, Dad. I'll use my allowance."
"What did I say?" Kogoro Mouri glared at Kurosawa Hoshino. "Kid, remember the experience I'm teaching you. When a woman wants to go shopping, there's no such thing as not buying anything."
After thinking a moment, he added, "That includes girls and young ladies too."
"Dad~" Ran's face grew even redder, and she stomped her foot in anger.
Kurosawa Hoshino smiled and nodded at Kogoro Mouri, indicating he'd remember and thanking him for the lesson.
Ring ring ring~
Conan's phone rang. He took it out and glanced at it—it was Haibara Ai. He moved away from the group and answered, "Haibara, is something up?"
"Come." Ai's single word carried a commanding and icy tone.
"..." Conan's mind flashed to the image of being bled with a syringe, and his body trembled. He asked warily, "Dr. Agasa's house?"
"Yes, Dr. Agasa's house."
"What for?"
"Why do you have so many questions?" Ai said quietly. "What, is there someone from the organization there that scares you so much?"
"You're scarier than the organization. If you don't explain why, I won't go to Dr. Agasa's."
"Listen for yourself."
"Huh?"
Conan pressed the phone tightly to his ear and vaguely heard the voices of several children, along with Dr. Agasa's helpless shouts. He recognized the children's voices—they were Ayumi and Genta and the others. Instantly, Conan understood why Ai was calling him: probably to help babysit.
He touched his nose and smiled bitterly. "I'll be right there."
"Better hurry. With them here, I can't do any experiments at all."
"Don't worry, I'll be there within an hour."
After saying that, Conan hung up, ran over to Kurosawa Hoshino and the others, explained that Dr. Agasa needed him for something, then turned and ran toward Tokyo Station to take the subway to Beika Town.
Kogoro Mouri watched his back disappear and muttered, "I've noticed that brat seems busier than all of us every day."
Kurosawa Hoshino thought about how Conan hadn't looked excited when he left—there was even a hint of helplessness—so he figured it wasn't a case. He stopped paying attention.
Time flew.
It was evening.
Third floor of the Mouri Detective Agency.
Kurosawa Hoshino, Kogoro Mouri, and Ran sat around the low table on the tatami, eating dinner.
Kogoro Mouri glanced at the time and said, "Looks like Conan isn't coming back for dinner. Ran, don't save food for him. Bring out the portion you set aside and let's eat it together."
"No. What if he comes back soon?" Ran refused directly.
——
——
"Just ask Dr. Agasa and we'll know."
Kurosawa Hoshino took out his phone and dialed Dr. Agasa's home number. He waited a long time, but no one answered. He flipped through and found Dr. Agasa's mobile number. Just as he was about to dial, a call came in.
"Ai, what's wrong?" Kurosawa Hoshino answered.
"Hoshino-niisan, I ran into a case and wanted to ask for your help. The address is—"
Ai had just finished giving the address when the phone suddenly hung up, as if something had happened. It was very abrupt.
"Ran, Uncle Mouri, you two eat first. I'm going to check." Kurosawa Hoshino suspected Ai might be in danger. He said that and ran out, hailing a taxi downstairs and giving the address he'd heard from Ai.