A few days later, aboard the Shinkansen.
Kogoro Mouri was taking his daughter—and the little brat who had suddenly started living at his place—on a bullet train to Kyoto to attend a wedding.
"Shinkansen! Shinkansen!"
The carriage echoed with the excited cheers of children running around.
"All right, you've already been on for over ten minutes. You can't be this noisy," Natsuyu said gently, urging Genta and the others to sit down. "Lower your voices—don't disturb the other passengers. And running around on a train is dangerous."
After several days of relentless snack bribery, Natsuyu had successfully won over the Detective Boys.
That was why, on this trip to Kyoto, the kids had invited her along as well.
Ran Mouri smiled politely.
"Miss Natsume, thank you for coming with us and helping look after the kids."
Kogoro leaned back in his seat and snorted.
"Seriously… these little brats are nothing but trouble. And yet we're dragging a young, pretty lady like Miss Natsume into babysitting duty."
Ran shot him a sharp glare.
"What's wrong with that? Their parents paid for the travel expenses."
Natsuyu shook her head.
"It's no trouble at all. I wanted to visit Kyoto anyway—I've never been there before."
Then she turned to Ran and smiled.
"And you don't have to call me Miss Natsume. Just call me Natsuyu. May I call you Ran?"
Ran nodded with a bright smile.
"Of course."
Natsuyu was naturally good at closing the distance with people—especially with someone like Ran, an ordinary high school girl. All it took was chatting about celebrities and movies, and soon they found plenty of common ground.
Watching them talk animatedly about film stars, Kogoro clicked his tongue and chose not to join in.
Though they had only just met, Ran quickly realized how considerate Natsuyu was of others' feelings. When she asked where Natsuyu lived, she was surprised to learn that Natsuyu also lived in Beika Town, Fifth District.
"I can't believe you live so close! And yet we've never run into each other. If we had, we could've met much earlier."
It really was unfortunate.
I'd even wandered near the Mouri Detective Agency on purpose sometimes, hoping to meet Ran and the others sooner—but somehow, I never did. Not until today.
"I knew the detective agency was nearby," Natsuyu said, "but I never expected Conan to be living at your place, Ran."
She glanced at Conan teasingly.
"By the way, Conan's name is pretty interesting—Edogawa and Conan just happen to be the names of two famous mystery writers. When I first heard it, I even thought it was a fake name he made up to fool me."
Ran tilted her head thoughtfully.
"Hmm… maybe it's just a coincidence. Perhaps Conan's parents like mystery novels, and since their family name is Edogawa, they chose Conan as his given name?"
She turned to him.
"Is that right, Conan?"
When Natsuyu mentioned the word fake name, Conan had tensed up instantly. Now that Ran had offered an explanation, he hurriedly agreed.
"Y-Yes! That's right! My parents love detective novels—especially Sherlock Holmes—so that's why they named me Conan."
He wasn't entirely lying. His father was a mystery novelist.
Seeing Conan finally relax after coming up with an excuse, Natsuyu curved her lips slightly. She had no intention of letting him off that easily.
"Then where are Conan's parents now? Why is he staying at your house, Ran?"
Kogoro immediately started complaining.
"They know Professor Agasa. He can't take care of a kid by himself, so he asked Ran to help. But his parents are way too strange—he's been here for days and they haven't even called once! They're way too careless!"
He turned and cast a suspicious look at Conan.
"Ah—uh… th-this…"
Conan couldn't come up with a good excuse. He obviously couldn't say his parents didn't even know what had happened to him.
Just then, Genta and the others came over, unable to sit still, and asked Conan to explore the train with them. Seizing the chance, Conan escaped with them.
"Sister Ran, Sister Natsuyu, I'm going to play!"
"Be careful on the train," Ran reminded him. "Don't run too fast."
Watching Conan flee in panic, Natsuyu couldn't help but chuckle.
Teasing kids was fun—especially ones like him: mature on the surface, yet full of obvious weak points. They were the most entertaining to mess with.
Of course, this only worked in the early days. Later on, Conan would have more and more allies—he wouldn't be this jumpy and amusing anymore.
Paimon couldn't help but mutter,
"Traveler, you did that on purpose, didn't you?"
'Paimon, how could you think that? Of course I didn't…'
Hearing this, Paimon thought she had misunderstood and felt guilty.
"I'm sorry, Traveler, I mi—"
'…I absolutely did it on purpose.'
Before she could finish, she heard the second half of Natsuyu's sentence.
"Traveler!" Paimon shouted in protest.
'Sorry, Paimon,' Natsuyu said, suppressing her laughter.
Suddenly, Natsuyu noticed two men in black walking toward them. Upon closer inspection, their appearance was exactly like the men she had seen at the amusement park—Gin and Vodka.
No wonder Conan had mistaken them at first.
So this was one side of the transaction behind this incident.
Since they had appeared, then…
Natsuyu opened her quest interface. As expected, a new World Quest had appeared:
[World Quest — Shinkansen Grand Explosion Incident
A bomb has been planted on the Shinkansen bound for Kyoto. This journey may never reach its destination.
Objective: Find the bomb on the Shinkansen and prevent it from detonating.]
So her guess had been right—these world quests were connected to the cases Conan encountered.
Natsuyu stared at the words find the bomb and prevent it from detonating, sinking into thought.
If she remembered correctly, in the original story, Conan did find the bomb—but because time ran out, he had no choice but to kick it off the train. It still exploded in the end.
That wouldn't count as preventing the detonation.
Her gaze shifted to the suitcase beside the men in black.
At this point, they hadn't gone to the dining car yet. The deal hadn't happened.
Which meant…
The bomb was still in that case.
Suddenly, an idea took shape in her mind.