Time passed, and the day of the Queen Elizabeth's departure arrived. I met Ran, Conan, and Kogoro at the port.
"Hello, Detective Mouri."
"You're here, son-in-law."
I greeted Kogoro, then also greeted Ran.
"Ran, that dress suits you really well."
Ran was wearing the dress I had given her, and she had even put on a bit of makeup, so she looked even more beautiful.
"Hehe! Are you in love, Prince?"
Ran was throwing my own joke right back at me.
"Hahaha, Ran got me there."
Hahaha~ Hohoho~
"Well then, shall we go, miss?"
I extended my arm for Ran to hold, and her cheeks flushed slightly as she reached for it — but Conan clung to my arm first.
"Yes! Let's! Go! Big bro!!"
Conan emphasized each word sharply, gritting his teeth. Ran thought he was just fooling around and laughed.
"Oh my! Conan, really~!"
I greeted Conan as well.
"Long time no see, Conan."
"Hmph! Yeah, long time no see."
"Why are you so grumpy? Still sulking because you couldn't win even one round of Tekken against me last time?"
"Yeah!! You'd better be ready — I won't lose!"
Conan said fiercely. I had mentioned Tekken, but I knew full well he was really talking about Ran.
"Hahaha, I'd better practice hard too, then?"
Just then, Kogoro looked at his watch and said, "Hurry up, or we'll be late."
We stood in line to board the ship. Then Superintendent Chaki and Inspector Nakamori, who was in charge of the Kaito Kid case, were talking when they spotted us and approached with friendly expressions.
"Jin! Welcome."
"Long time no see, Superintendent Chaki."
Chaki apologized to me again.
"I'm sorry. It was our fault for letting the thief escape, even after you went through the trouble of setting a trap to catch him."
"Not at all."
"And this is Inspector Nakamori, the one in charge of the Kaito Kid case."
Chaki introduced him. It seemed the name Kaito Kid was now fully established.
"Nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you, Onmyoji Jin."
"Nice to meet you too, Inspector Nakamori."
"I heard you're here on Chairman Shiro's request to protect the Black Star from Kaito Kid."
"That's right."
"Our goals may differ, but we can still cooperate. I look forward to working with you."
"Likewise. I've brought my sword again this time, so I'm letting you know in case it becomes an issue."
I showed them my cane sword.
"Don't worry about that. I'll put in a word."
We finished greeting the police and boarded the ship. The police conducted inspections, but thanks to Inspector Nakamori, we were able to board without delay.
The Queen Elizabeth was an enormous cruise ship. The fact that they were holding an onboard party on such a massive ship showed just how wealthy the Suzuki Group was.
Well, they are a global conglomerate…
In the original story, Kaito Kid disguised himself as Ran to fool everyone, but since I was around, he couldn't do that.
So I expected he would disguise himself as someone else. Honestly, if I used my abilities, catching him would be easy, but that wouldn't be fun, so I decided to just enjoy it.
Just in case, I called Kogoro, Ran, and Conan over to set up a code.
"Is that really necessary?"
"You never know. Kaito Kid is a master of disguise."
"Alright."
"Then… hmm…"
I thought for a moment, then looked at Conan and remembered the author of Sherlock Holmes.
"Right! The author who wrote Sherlock Holmes is Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle. So let's do this: the person asking says 'Arthur,' and the person answering says 'Doyle.'"
"Got it."
This wasn't for my sake, but to make sure the group wouldn't be tricked by Kaito Kid if we got separated.
We boarded and met Chairman Shiro, Sonoko, Tomoko, Ayako, and her boyfriend Yuzo, and exchanged greetings.
"Hello, Chairman."
"You're here. I've been waiting."
Unlike the original story, Kaito Kid hadn't disguised himself as any of them. Probably because he'd heard I could see through disguises and avoided impersonating people I would meet.
This is totally different from the original? Interesting.
We greeted the Chairman's group, and as the guests gathered in the party hall, the event began.
"Um — this year marks the 60th anniversary of the Suzuki Group. This is all thanks to your support…"
While Chairman Shiro was giving his speech from the podium, I was using my [Observation Haki] to observe the people around me.
"Tonight, please forget about petty thieves and enjoy the 60th anniversary party at your leisure."
"Before that!"
Just then, Sonoko's mother, Tomoko, went up to the podium and continued.
"Tonight, we have a special segment. Please open the small box that was handed out to you when you boarded."
Murmuring
The box was the one everyone had received when they passed the police inspection and boarded, with the instruction not to open it until the party. As people opened their boxes, they saw the Black Star inside.
"No, this… this is!?"
After everyone confirmed the Black Star, Tomoko continued.
"That's right! This is our family's symbol — the Black Star that Kaito Kid has his eye on! Of course, only one is real. Only I know who received the real gem. The rest are all carefully crafted fakes."
If they'd left it to me, it would've been safer, but I didn't bother saying that. I already knew where the real one was anyway.
"Now, everyone! Pin the pearl to your chest! Show it to Kid! Let him try to steal it if he can! Of course, that's assuming he can figure out which one is real during the three hours the ship stays at sea."
Hahaha
The guests, finding it exciting, also laughed.
We opened our boxes and pinned them to our chests.
I wonder how Kid will make his move.
The real one was with Tomoko. She wouldn't entrust something so important to anyone else. In the original, Kaito Kid disguised himself as Ran to approach Tomoko and easily steal it.
But Ran was sticking close to me, and I was keeping an eye on Tomoko, so it wouldn't be easy for him.
We enjoyed the onboard party, talking with many people. Since many wealthy individuals were present, I saw quite a few regular clients.
"Long time no see. We really owe you for last time."
There was also George Hatamoto of the Hatamoto family, whom I'd met before, and we exchanged greetings.
"Nice to see you. It's been a while."
"Thanks to Chairman Suzuki and his wife, I was able to expand my restaurant. As a token of gratitude, I prepared tonight's dinner."
"That's wonderful news. I've heard Mr. Hatamoto's cooking is delicious — our taste buds are in for a treat."
"Hahaha, I put extra effort into tonight's menu, so you can look forward to it."
Just then, a handsome man with tanned skin approached us. He was Takaya Mifune, president of Mifune Electronics.
"So you're the Onmyoji Jin I've heard about. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Jin, the Onmyoji."
"But I wonder — does that onmyodo stuff really work? It's hard to believe."
At that, George spoke up. He knew Takaya.
"You're still so cynical, huh? Once you see it for yourself, you'll be blown away."
George had been there during my spirit show, so he had no choice but to believe. But I understood Takaya's position — if I hadn't seen it myself, I probably wouldn't have believed it either, so I didn't say much.
Sonoko was glaring somewhere, so I looked too. I saw her older sister Ayako and Yuzo cuddling.
"They say late love is intense — it's on fire!"
"Hahaha, are you that upset that your sister's in love?"
"It's not that, but still — there's a limit, right? They're together every single day…"
"I'll be sure to say the same to you when you fall in love, Sonoko."
Ran laughed and agreed.
"Hehe! I'll be sure to say it too."
"It's burning up, burning up — I'll remember that!"
"Argh! Are you guys really going to do this? A single person has no hope."
Hahaha~ Hohoho~
Just then, Conan asked Sonoko with a serious face.
"Wha… what did you say? Could you repeat what you just said?"
"Huh? Which part? 'It's burning up, burning up'?"
"No, after that…"
"That… there's a limit…"
"Not that — the next part…"
"A single person has no… oh!"
Sonoko realized her mistake and quickly covered her mouth. But it seemed too late. Kogoro laughed.
"Oh my~ So you've agreed to go out with him?"
Ran quickly put a finger to her lips and said, "Dad, shh!! Shh!! Jin is famous — we agreed to keep it a secret."
At that, Kogoro lowered his voice.
"R-really? Well, congratulations anyway. I suspected it when you gave her the dress. So my prediction was right."
Conan, hearing the truth directly from Ran's mouth, slumped to the ground in despair.
Thud!
"Ah…"
Ran quickly looked at Conan.
"Conan! Does something hurt?"
"No… not really."
"Phew, that's a relief. When you suddenly fell over, I thought you were sick."
Ran helped Conan up and smiled as she asked him,
"Conan, Jin and I are dating, but it's a secret. You can't tell anyone, okay? Got it, Conan?"
"Uh… yeah…"
Conan clenched his fists and trembled as he answered. Seeing this, Ran tried to touch his forehead with concern.
"Are you sure you're not sick?"
Smack!
Conan roughly pushed her hand away and said, "Don't touch me!!"
"Co-Conan!?"
Ran was flustered by his behavior, and Conan ran off somewhere.
"Conan!! Wait!"
Sonoko watched and said, "What's wrong with him? You don't think he's in love with his sister, do you? Hohoho!"
"Sonoko, we agreed to keep it a secret. You're really impossible."
"Sorry… but only Conan and Detective Mouri know, so I'll be careful from now on."
"Still, why is Conan acting like that?"
Ran looked at me and asked, "Hey, Jin, I'm sorry, but can you go find Conan? I don't know why, but he seems mad at me… Please."
"Alright. Don't forget the code."
"Okay."
I stepped out of the party hall to look for Conan. I already knew where he was through [Observation Haki]. Conan was standing by the cruise ship railing, looking out at the sea.
"Hey~ Conan, the girls are worried. Let's go back inside."
"…"
"Conan?"
After a moment of silence, Conan asked me, "How long have you two been dating?"
"About two weeks, I think?"
"I see… Have you ever gotten a prediction wrong, big bro?"
"Hmm… yeah. Once, a long time ago. The future isn't fixed, after all."
"Then, what about that condition? How does that work?"
Conan was desperate.
"I don't know why you're asking, but for example: let's say A and B are fated to marry in two years. But one year from now, the world ends. Then A and B are fated to marry, but in the end, they can't. In that case, the prediction can be wrong."
"So what was the time you were wrong?"
"I gave A a fortune reading, but B died in an accident. So it was wrong. If I had read B's fortune too, it wouldn't have turned out that way."
"What's that?! So you're saying someone has to die or something terrible has to happen?"
"Right. That's why I said fate isn't easy to avoid."
"I see… sigh… Big bro… I have a favor."
"Huh? What is it?"
"Please read my fortune."
I thought for a moment. This was the same as Conan agreeing to tell me his truth.
"Alright."
I figured things wouldn't change much anyway and decided to do it. I placed my hand on Conan's head and pretended to read his fortune.
"Hmm… Huh? Whoa — Shinichi?!"
"Yeah, it's Shinichi."
I acted as surprised as I could.
"That… squid-faced, bad-at-soccer, grumpy Shinichi?!"
"Yeah… squid… what?!"