"Hello, Ran."
Conan leaned against a telephone pole on the side of the road, looking up at the [Mouri Detective Agency] across the street. He held the voice-changing bow tie and said, "Are you at home now?"
"No… I'm outside right now."
"I see…"
Conan was a little worried that Xiaolan was with Lin Yi, so he asked again, "Are you… free now?"
"No…" Originally, Xiaolan wanted to say she didn't have time, but Lin Yi nodded, telling her to say she had time, so Xiaolan had to say, "If it's not something important, can it wait until tomorrow?"
Conan said seriously, "It's very important! And it's about Lin Yi!"
"About… Lin Yi?" Xiaolan on the other end of the phone was very surprised, "What… what happened to him?"
"This matter… might be a bit of a blow to you, so… please be prepared!" Conan said, word by word.
"What… what is it? Is it that exaggerated?" Xiaolan became more and more curious about what Shinichi was going to say, and Lin Yi, who was eavesdropping, felt the same way.
"This afternoon… I came back to Beika Town for some business, and then went to the supermarket… and I saw something that shocked me."
Conan said, word by word, "I saw Lin Yi and Sonoko shopping together at the supermarket!"
"Oh, that… I know about that," Xiaolan replied casually on the other end of the phone.
"Let me finish!" Conan said with utmost solemnity, "They were actually hugging… it definitely seems like there's something going on!"
"… … … …" Xiaolan on the other end of the phone was silent, not saying a word for a long time.
Conan thought that Xiaolan didn't believe him, so he said, "Xiaolan, I don't mean to hurt Lin Yi or slander Sonoko… but it's the truth! Wait, I'll have Conan send you the photos."
After saying that, Conan used his other phone to send the photos to Xiaolan.
"Ran, have you received them yet?"
Conan's tone was faintly excited!
He didn't expect that being dragged out to play by those three little brats this afternoon would yield such a big gain, accidentally stumbling upon Lin Yi and Sonoko's intimate behavior!
Caught in the act!
Lin Yi!!
You're done for!!
The evidence of your cheating has been photographed by me!
Let's see how you explain it to Xiaolan!!
The other end of the phone was silent for a long time.
Regarding this point, Conan said he could understand. Xiaolan must have been shocked by those photos!
She couldn't accept what had happened for a while.
After who knows how many minutes, Xiaolan's voice finally came from the other end of the phone.
"I… I understand… Shinichi. I… I'll go ask Sonoko!"
Ran was clearly a little flustered.
Conan thought to himself, answering, "Ran! Be careful, don't be fooled by Lin Yi!"
Conan reminded her, "He's not a good person!"
"Okay… I understand, thank you for telling me this, Shinichi. I feel so confused right now… I need to be alone for a bit, sorry, I'm going to hang up now."
After saying that, Ran hung up without waiting for Conan to reply.
Conan let out a long sigh of relief. He silently put his phone back into his pocket, a slight smile appearing on his face: "With these photos, Ran will definitely tear off Lin Yi's hypocritical mask!"
With a triumphant mood, Conan turned and returned to Professor Agasa's house, continuing to watch his surveillance.
— — — — — — — —
"Ah… I got photographed."
Lin Yi looked at the photos sent by Conan with some surprise.
It was the photos of him fooling around with Sonoko while shopping at the supermarket, even with his arm around her waist, making it clear that their relationship was very close.
"I'm done for… I've been caught red-handed…"
Lin Yi looked at Ran with a "scared" expression and asked, "So… Ran, what are you going to do with me?"
"What else can I do?" Ran put her phone aside with a huff, her little fists hitting his chest: "Of course, I'll beat you to death, you big bad guy! Shinichi is right, you're a bad person!"
Lin Yi laughed happily, hugging Ran and giving her a hard kiss.
After that, he asked again, "Then what are you going to tell Kudo about this later? Or do you want to tell him the truth?"
"How can I just tell other people about this kind of thing…"
Ran shook her head repeatedly.
The Japanese are most famous for their strong sense of belonging to a group.
The so-called sense of belonging to a group means that everyone has to be the same. If anyone shows that they are different, they will exclude those outliers.
For example, working overtime together and going out for a drink after work together.
The most typical examples are those foreign immigrants. No matter how long they have lived in Japan, ten years, or even twenty years, they cannot integrate into Japanese society.
The Japanese will not regard them as their own people, and will tacitly exclude the immigrants.
In addition to this, there are also those heroines in adult manga who are isolated by people in their class for some reason, and finally easily fall in love with the male lead after he greets them or helps them.
All manga plots are adapted and created based on real-life stories.
If others knew that Ran and Sonoko were both dating Lin Yi at the same time, it is estimated that others would secretly say bad things about them behind their backs, or even unite to isolate them.
Therefore, neither Ran nor Sonoko want to make this shady relationship public.
"Then… what if I accidentally get photographed by Shinichi again next time?"
Lin Yi asked with a smile.
"You… can't you be a little more careful? Be more reserved when walking on the street, then he won't be able to photograph you, right?" Ran said angrily.
"But he's a famous detective… Maybe he'll find something out."
Lin Yi continued to press.
"If Shinichi really finds out… then I can only be honest with him."
Ran also knew that if things got to that point, there was no other way but to be honest.
"Besides, Shinichi and I are childhood sweethearts, after all. If I ask him, he will definitely keep it a secret for me."
"Is that so? Then how about this, let's tell him now and let him keep it a secret for you."
As Lin Yi said that, he was about to take Ran's phone to call Shinichi.
"No! Don't call!"
Ran said anxiously, trying to snatch the phone back from Lin Yi's hand, but she couldn't get it.
Lin Yi smiled and said, "It's okay if we don't call… Let's play the knight game. If we have fun, we won't call."
Ran's face turned red, but this wasn't the first time, so Ran nodded: "Okay, but you're not allowed to cheat."
After speaking, Ran turned over and stopped being a slave.
------------------------
Thank you for following the story this far.
If you want to read the later chapters in advance, I've uploaded more chapters to Patreon.
You can find them here: [patreon.com/Greyhounds]