“So, what did you talk to the poor girl there, Hiro?” Megumi asked as Hiroyuki sits beside her. Hiroyuki looked at her strangely before asking,

“What do you mean by the poor girl, Megumi-san?” Megumi just lets out a small snort.

“If you didn’t notice, look at the bags under her eyes. It is not something that a seven-year-old should have. It makes me wonder if she suffers from insomnia or something similar. And right after you talked to her, she is way too tense. Her body stiffened, showing signs of nervousness and wariness. And you might not notice it, but she tried to steal a glance at you several times. So, what did you do to the poor girl?”

Hiroyuki smiles at Megumi. No matter how bad her mood is, she will always have this so-called mother instinct that cannot see a child suffer.

“I just talked about how troublesome is the glasses kid there.” He pointed his finger to Conan who discussed something with the other three kids. Megumi shook her head in exasperation before she decided to invite Haibara to join their sit.

“Come here, dear.” Haibara seems hesitant to accept the invitation. But seeing as Hiroyuki nodded to her, Haibara convinced herself that it would be okay to join them.

“I don’t know what did you talk with Hiro here before. But I am sorry if he makes you uncomfortable. Sometimes, he is a bit insensitive.” Megumi gives Haibara a kind smile. Hiroyuki just snorted but decided to not make a comment. Instead, he turned his attention to the other children who created a ruckus.

“It takes more than one hour!”

“No, it is exactly one hour!”

The shouts between Genta and Mitsuhiko managed to gain the attention of all the policies there.

“Finally,” Hiroyuki mumbled, gaining the attention of Megumi and Haibara who heard him.

“What do you mean, Hiro-kun?” Megumi shifted her gaze from the Detective Boys to Hiroyuki once again.

“The glasses boy there has already solved the case.” He pointed his fingers to Conan. “But since his teacher stared at him like a hawk since the beginning, he tried to make it so that it is the group effort to solve this case.” Megumi and Haibara gaped in surprise.

“How do you know that it is the glasses boy and not the group effort?” Megumi asked curiously.

“Well, it is because while the other children were here with you most of the time, he is the only one who tried to sneak and eavesdropped on the suspect’s mail voice from the police. If after that then the other children suddenly babble nonsense that miraculously creates a hint for the police to solve the case, you have to admit it is suspicious.”

Megumi nodded at his explanation. Meanwhile, Haibara just sends him a wry smile as what Hiroyuki said is indeed true. They keep watching as the Detective Boys dance around the police, giving a not-so-subtle hint to solve the victim. Hiroyuki just sighed, wondering how could police be this incompetent.

“Hiro-kun!” The sudden call from Megumi snapped Hiroyuki from his thought.

“I am sorry Megumi-san, I wasn’t paying attention. What did you say again?” Megumi huffed in annoyance before turning her attention to Haibara.

“She asked, what do you do for life?” Hiroyuki smirked at Haibara’s question.

‘Trying to gather information, huh?’ He muttered inwardly. But he still answered her question.

“I am a mangaka.”

“Really?” Haibara asked once again. But this time, there is a hint of doubt in her voice. Not that he will blame her when she heard his full analysis of Shinichi Kudo’s identity.

“Yes, really. You will find me as the winner of the Tezuka Award’s last edition. But in case you are wondering, you can say I am the owner of the café that Megumi-san managed.”

“You can visit us anytime if you want,” Megumi added. “It is a café called Megumi’s Den near here.” Haibara nodded, trying to digest the information she received.

----------------------------------------

At the end of the day, Conan managed to ‘manipulate’ the polices with his childish demeanor. The culprit itself is Hinaba, a journalist from the other magazine. It seems they were involved in a report of a politician’s corruption. But Sugimori-san sold the final report to another agency that paid more money than Hinaba’s agency without consulting him.

While Hinaba-san indeed received more money from selling the report, he wanted revenge on Sugimori-san who stole his work. A petty reason to murder someone, Hiroyuki thought. But seeing that Conan Edogawa is here, there will be a lot of murder cases with more ridiculous reasons, so he just has to accept it like that.

After being checked by the police for one last time and receiving an apology from Inspector Megure -with a not-so-subtle glare from officer Sato-, Hiroyuki found himself walking with Megumi-san, the Detective Boys, and their teacher to go back home.

He watched in amusement at the nervous Conan who was stared intently by his teacher, Kobayashi-sensei.

“Hey, I have something to ask.” Conan stiffened a bit, afraid that his teacher will suspect anything wrong with him. However, the question he received caught him off guard.

“Do you guys know about Edogawa Ranpo?”

“Yeah.” Mitsuhiko replied. “He is the one who wrote ‘The Case of the Murder on D. Hill’, right?”

“That’s right! You are like the junior detective squad in his story! I am a huge fan of his!” She said excitedly. “That is why I have one thing to ask..”

“Eh? Is this the part when you ask us not to do dangerous stuff?” Genta groaned.

“Don’t worry, Kobayashi-sensei! We always think before we act!” Mitsuhiko tried to reassure her. But Kobayashi-sensei shook her head to them.

“It is not that. I wanted to ask if I can join your detective group. Can I?” She asked with a flustered face.

“Eeh?” The three kids widened their eyes in surprise. Meanwhile, Conan lets out a relieved sigh at his teacher’s antics.

“Safe..” He muttered before he received a smack on his head.

“Ouch!” When he turned around, he could see Haibara looking at him with an annoyed face and Hiroyuki and Megumi who are still with them holding their smile at Haibara.

“What do you mean by safe, you Baka!” Haibara hissed at him. “Hori-san there managed to figure out your real identity just by seeing your action!” Conan snapped his head in shock at Hiroyuki who gives him a mocking smile.

“What do you mean figure out?” He whispered harshly.

“I mean what I said! He knows that you are Shinichi Kudo and I am on the same boat as you! The only reason he didn’t know about me is that I am not someone as famous as you even in my real identity!”

“How?” He whispered still in shock. It resulted in another smack from Haibara.

“It is because of you, you mystery maniac! You forgot all of the cases you solved under the persona of ‘Sleeping Kogoro’! If he could figure it out, who knows who else?”

“Ai-chan? Conan-kun? Is there something wrong?” Ayumi’s voice snapped their attention. When they turned around, they could see worried faces from Ayumi, Genta, Mitsuhiko, and Kobayashi-sensei.

“Aah.. Don’t worry, Ayumi-chan. We are just talking about restaurants! Yes, Professor Agasa asked us to search for a restaurant to go to the next Sunday, right?” He throws his usual lame excuse to the kids.

“Yes! I want a grilled eel again!” Genta drolled at the image of the foods inside his mind.

“No! I want something different!”

“Yes, Genta! We have eaten grilled eel every time we went out! I want something sweet!”

“Anoo..” Megumi interrupted their bickering, gaining their attention and alarming Hiroyuki who has already thought of the worse scenario. “If you want to eat something, why don’t you go to our café?” It resulted in shined eyes from the Detective Boys and a groan from Hiroyuki.

‘Out of all people, why it has to be them?! Inviting a corpse magnet like Conan will just invite trouble for us, Megumi-san!’

-----------------

Author note:

I am sorry that I skipped the mystery part. But you can read the detail of the cases in Detective Conan Manga chapter 515-517. 

You can also read:

- Transmigrated Into Anime World as Kiyoko Shimizu's Older Brother up to chapter 58

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