Nothing much happened for about three weeks.
There weren't any cases related to me, so I couldn't participate, but I figure Conan handled them fine on his own.
And the Mouri Detective Agency was now getting a steady stream of work, so the office situation had gotten a lot more relaxed.
You could tell by how Ran would buy expensive meat when we went grocery shopping.
What else changed was my relationship with Ran. At school, we were practically an official couple now.
We'd walk home together, and I'd eat lunch not with other girls anymore, but with Ran and Sonoko.
Because of that, other female students would look at Ran and Sonoko with jealous eyes, but they couldn't mess with them.
Ran was a famous karate master at school, and Sonoko's family was a conglomerate that everyone who mattered knew about.
During lunch while eating together, Sonoko brought up a thief who was famous these days.
"Phantom Thief 1412?"
"Yeah! I'm talking about that thief uncle who's super popular with young women these days."
"Your dad's a detective and you don't even know that?"
"Hey...! Just because he's a detective doesn't mean I like cases too."
Hearing the story, I thought it was already time for Kaito Kid to show up.
At this point he was still called Phantom Thief 1412.
1412 was an international criminal code, but one day Shinichi's father, the famous mystery writer Kudo Yusaku, scribbled 1412 on a newspaper and it looked like KID, so that name became famous and he turned into Kaito Kid.
"Jin knows, right?"
"Yeah, I know about the famous petty thief."
When I called him a petty thief, Sonoko explained about Kaito Kid.
"He's not just some famous petty thief!"
"Do you know how popular he is with women!"
"And he's famous worldwide!"
"He is a petty thief."
"Other famous thieves had a philosophy."
"For example, in old England, 'Robin Hood' fought against the tyranny of the rich by stealing their wealth and sharing it with the poor."
"'Pancho Villa' in Mexico was the same."
"And he was a revolutionary as well as a thief."
"But Phantom Thief 1412?"
"Does he have that kind of belief or justice?"
"The way I see it, he's just a guy collecting for his own collection."
"Hmm... when you put it that way, I guess so."
"But it's true he's popular."
"I think that's a problem too."
"Back in America, there was an extremely handsome murderer who got caught."
"When his mugshot was on the news, people went crazy, saying he was handsome."
"I heard a fan club even formed later."
"But they don't know."
"They don't know the pain of the victims and their families who suffered because of that murderer."
"They're just empty-headed people who only focus on him being handsome."
At that, Sonoko flared up.
"Fine~ Okay! I'm an empty-headed person!"
"Huh? Don't tell me Sonoko, you're a fan of Phantom Thief 1412 too?"
"Hmph! Yeah!"
"Haha~ You really like bad boys like last time."
"Gah! I do not!"
"Besides, when am I getting a boyfriend like you said?"
"When is it happening?"
"Hmm... let's finish eating first and I'll do another reading for free."
"You promised!! Chow down~"
When Sonoko started eating hurriedly, Ran stopped her.
"Sonoko, eat slowly, you'll get indigestion."
After the meal ended, I pretended to read Sonoko's fortune.
"Hmm... I see something like a uniform?"
"An athlete maybe?"
"What? Really?"
Sonoko seemed to be thinking hard about something.
"And it's still far off."
"It's this year, but it seems like it's a few months later."
"I see."
"Is there anything else?"
"He's like a hot-blooded protagonist from an action manga."
"He's mentally strong and always training himself."
"No way..."
Sonoko seemed to have pinpointed someone.
'Oops... did I spoil too much?'
I worried something might go wrong, but 'Kyogoku Makoto', who'll date Sonoko in the future, is the strongest in the world when it comes to fighting power, but he's terrible at romance, so it probably won't matter.
In the original story, they knew each other's feelings but it took a long time to actually start dating.
"But if you get too impatient, it might not connect."
"I see... got it."
'Well, this should be enough.'
"Ah! Right, the conversation went off track so I couldn't say it, but you know they're exhibiting world-famous jewels at the Museum of Fine Arts right now?"
"Dad asked me to have Detective Mouri and Jin protect our family heirloom that's on display there from Phantom Thief 1412."
"Look, he even sent a notice?"
Sonoko showed us a torn notice.
"I see... but why is the notice torn?"
"Dad got mad when he saw the notice and ripped it up right away."
"Really?"
I carefully gathered the torn notice and pieced it together so the writing was legible.
-On April Fools' Day, when the moon splits two people apart, I'll come as the waves lead me, in the name of the Black Star.
Kaitou.
"What on earth does this mean?"
"It seems like a quiz or something... Jin, do you get it?"
Ran looked at me and asked.
I already knew the answer, but pretended to think and replied.
"When it says the moon splits two people apart, it means the moon is between them, and there aren't many things that can be like that."
"One of the two people is probably the sun."
"And the other one has a hint behind it."
"Black Star and the waves."
"If you think about BS, the first letters of Black Star, and the waves, I think it's probably talking about BS broadcasting signals."
"That means the other one is a satellite."
"Wow~ Amazing!"
"On April Fools' Day, the time when the moon comes between the sun and the satellite is... hmm... probably between 12:30 AM and 4:30 AM when BS broadcasting stops."
"I'd need to check a map for the location."
"Or I could go to the Museum of Fine Arts."
"Really?"
"Then let's go right after school!"
"If Dad finds out we solved this, he'll be so shocked he faints, ohoho~!"
Sonoko was acting all puffed up like she solved it herself.
'Sonoko, I'm the one who solved it.'
Ran and I looked at Sonoko with exasperated expressions.
And today I had an appointment to read for a rich person, so there was no time.
"I can't today, I have work."
"And I think it's better to keep this a secret."
"If too many people know, the phantom thief might not show up."
"Really?"
"Then that means I can't say anything until the day!"
"I don't know if I can hold it in, my mouth is itching..."
I got worried Sonoko would cause an accident.
For now, we decided Ran would make a copy of the notice and bring it to Kogoro, since he needed to see it too.
The next day, Sonoko said there was a delicious bakery downtown, so we decided to go, but it was raining a bit so we left the bike and walked.
This was the 30th.
"Jin, I showed the notice to Dad and Conan, and Dad just glanced at it and threw it away, but Conan seemed to be working hard to solve it alone."
"Really?"
"Well, Conan loves playing detective."
"So did he solve it?"
"No, I don't think he could."
"So I told him you solved it as soon as you saw it, and he looked shocked and was just holding onto the notice late into the night."
"Well, it is a tough problem for kids to solve."
Conan's competitive spirit must have kicked in because I solved it.
Suddenly, Ran stopped and stood still, looking surprised at the crosswalk.
"Ran?"
"Shinichi? Shinichi!!"
When Ran suddenly called Shinichi, I also looked where she was looking.
There was someone who looked similar to Shinichi crossing the crosswalk with a girl, probably going somewhere β most likely 'Kuroba Kaito' and his girlfriend 'Nakamori Aoko'.
Kaito and Shinichi are relatives and look so alike that it's hard to tell them apart unless you look up close.
Sonoko also saw Kaito and mistook him for Shinichi, frowning as she said.
"Huh? That guy is with another girl!"
"Didn't he say he was investigating a difficult case?"
"I heard that too."
"Wow~ I'm really disappointed."
"I didn't think he was that kind of guy."
"I don't care who Shinichi meets anymore!"
"I have Jin, so let's go, Jin!"
"Y-yeah..."
In the original, only Ran saw him, but because I was there, Sonoko saw him too.
It's a misunderstanding, but since it works in my favor, I decided to stay quiet.
We bought slice cake at the bakery Sonoko guided us to and were walking back home.
Because of Ran's serious face, we walked without talking.
Ran wasn't saying anything, but she seemed to keep thinking about what happened earlier.
Suddenly Sonoko poked my side, so I looked at her, and she winked at me with a 'go for it' expression and said to Ran.
"I think I should get going now."
"See you tomorrow~"
"Huh? Ah, okay, see you tomorrow~"
After Sonoko left, the two of us started walking home again in silence.
Then Ran spoke first.
"Jin... I'll be honest... I still think about Shinichi a little."
"So, should we just date?"
"Then I think I won't think about Shinichi anymore."
I was a bit flustered by Ran's sudden confession, but I calmly said.
"Uh... are you sure?"
"Yeah."
Ran seemed to have already made up her mind.
"Got it."
"Then, let's date."
And just like that, it became the 1st.
I held Ran's hand and arrived at the Mouri Detective Agency.
The moment we went in, Conan saw us holding hands, made an angry face, ran over, and chopped our hands apart with a knife-hand strike.
"Hah!"
Thwack!
"Ah! Conan!"
'What? DΓ©jΓ vu?'
Conan questioned us as if interrogating.
"Where did you two go and just come back from?"
"Sorry, you hungry, Conan?"
"Sonoko said there was a delicious bakery, so we went there together."
"Let's eat cake together after dinner."
Ran seemed to misunderstand that Conan was angry because he was hungry.
Today Ran was misunderstanding a lot.
I talked with Kogoro for a bit, then completely beat Conan, who was glaring at me, at Tekken, then said goodbye and went home.
The next day, for the first time in a while, I brought the MCU-made cane sword, dressed in a suit, and went to the Museum of Fine Arts.
Of course, I'd already gotten a sword possession permit a while ago.
There were tons of police forces at the Museum of Fine Arts, probably because of Kaito Kid's notice.
When I went inside the museum, I saw Kogoro, Ran, and Conan talking with Sonoko's father, Suzuki Shiro.
"Hello."
"Jin! You're here~"
When I greeted them, everyone welcomed me warmly.
Suzuki Shiro shook my hand and expressed gratitude for the previous incident.
"So you're the onmyoji Jin."
"Thank you for saving my daughters."
"Not at all."
"Saving a friend is the natural thing to do."
"Oh~ I see."
"Do you have a girlfriend?"
"What do you think of my daughter Sonoko?"
At that, Kogoro laughed and said.
"Hahaha, Chairman, Jin is already set to marry Ran."
"Is that so?"
"That's a shame..."
"Our family only has two daughters, and I don't know why we have such bad luck with men, I've never even heard news of them dating..."
At that, Sonoko shouted in embarrassment.
"Dad!"
I decided to spoil a bit for Chairman Shiro.
"I don't think you need to worry about that problem."
"I read Sonoko's fortune last time, and the reading said there would be a happy event in the family soon."
"I think Aya-ko Noona will get married soon."
"And it also said Sonoko will get a boyfriend this year."
"Oh~ Is that true?"
"If it's Jin's reading, it's famous, so it's trustworthy."
"That's good news."
Because of the previous incident and how famous I was among the wealthy, Chairman Shiro seemed to believe me.
We were guided by Chairman Shiro to see the Suzuki family heirloom that Kaito Kid was trying to steal.
"Oh! So this is the world's largest black pearl, the Black Star!"
Kogoro exclaimed when he saw the black pearl.
"That's right."
"After my grandfather purchased this black pearl, the Suzuki family walked the path of prosperity."
"You could say it's our family's guardian deity?"
"I see."
Chairman Shiro looked at me and said.
"Yesterday Sonoko was bragging that she solved Phantom Thief 1412's notice."
"Can you figure out the location?"
'Sonoko, you couldn't hold it in...'
When Ran and I looked at Sonoko, Sonoko silently made a sorry face, put her hands together, and bowed her head in apology.
"Hmm... BS broadcasting signals transmit at 45 degrees from south to west, and 42.3 degrees above the horizon."
"Based on here, the Museum of Fine Arts, that location would be the rooftop of the 'Baio City Hotel'."
I pointed at a tall hotel building visible from the museum window.
Seeing Conan's shocked face, it looked like he still hadn't solved it.
"Oh~ I see!"
"I need to tell the police right away."
"Let's set a trap."
"I'll catch him for you."