Conan: I'm Really Not Tokyo Ghost Story

Page 137

Realizing that his words might have sounded a bit off and could be misunderstood, Sano was about to correct himself when he suddenly noticed Ran Mouri, Sonoko Suzuki, and Miwako Sato, who had just arrived outside the door and were somehow huddled together.

"—You understand what I mean, right?"

Seemingly having heard what Sano had just said, the smiles on the three women's faces froze, their greetings stuck in their throats. Only their eyes slowly moved, looking at the little girl squatting on the ground, and then at Sano.

"Please don't hurt my daughter! I'll give you anything you want!!"

At the same moment, shouts filled with anxiety and panic came from the telephone receiver in Sano's hand.

"..."

Oh wow.

"Senior..."

The bag in Sonoko Suzuki's hand fell to the ground with a "thud." Her eyes widened, her face full of disbelief: "You, how could you do such a thing? If you need money, you can tell me. I can totally support you!"

Sato Miwako's stagnant breathing suddenly became smooth, and her face flushed red as she frantically shouted, "Call the police! Call the police right now!"

Ran Mouri, pale-faced, paused for a moment, then gave a slurred reply. She shakily pulled her phone from her pocket and shakily pressed the buttons: "The police... what's the number again...?"

"It's 110, you silly girl!"

Sato Miwako subconsciously answered Mouri Ran's mutterings, but the next second she realized something was wrong: "Wait a minute, I'm just a police officer, why are you calling the police!"

Seeing the chaotic scene involving the three women, Sano paused briefly before speaking again into the phone, saying, "The police are here. I've handed your daughter over to them."

"Varied……"

Sano hung up the phone immediately, put one hand on his hip, and looked at the three women in front of him who had quieted down a bit and were staring at him as if they were three idiots.

"...We misunderstood you...right?"

Seeing the hint of speechlessness beneath Sano's calm expression, Sato Miwako finally came to her senses—

The lessons learned from the previous stalking incident are still fresh in our minds; we absolutely cannot go looking for trouble and invite hatred this time.

"What do you think?"

Sano raised an eyebrow and asked in return, while Sato Miwako immediately scratched the back of her head and chuckled dryly: "Haha, there's nothing I can do about it. After all, someone just called the police saying that someone is suspected of abducting a child here. Of course, I didn't believe it at first, but you... aren't you saying things that are too easy for people to misunderstand?"

...What kind of thing would abduct a child on its own?

Sano was speechless and choked with emotion: "Why would I kidnap her? She ate a whole bucket of instant noodles for me in one meal. Does she have too much money to burn?"

"This one……"

Miwako Sato gave an awkward laugh: "Anyway, I'm sorry..."

After realizing it was just a misunderstanding, Sonoko Suzuki and Ran Mouri breathed a sigh of relief, then looked curiously at the little girl who was still eating noodles: "Senpai, whose child is this?"

"I don't know, I found it at the entrance."

Sano said casually.

Ran Mouri: "?"

Sonoko Suzuki: "?"

Sato Miwako: "?"

"Alright, is there something you need?"

Sano had no intention of small talk and chose to get straight to the point.

Sato Miwako's arrival could be attributed to receiving a police report and checking on the situation just in case, but the arrival of these two best friends might have had another reason.

"Oh, we're here to deliver homework to our seniors."

Sonoko Suzuki picked up the bag from the ground and handed it to Sano: "Ran and I were planning to go to the school today, but when we got there we found that you hadn't brought your summer homework, so we brought it back for you."

Summer vacation...homework?

Sano looked at the basic homework in the bag and couldn't help but slowly type out a few question marks. When did summer vacation start?

Never mind, it's not a big deal anyway.

Sano casually took the bag and was about to throw it into the corner, but as if she could see what he was thinking, Suzuki Sonoko pursed her lips and said softly, "Senpai, school starts tomorrow, this is for the teacher to check."

Upon hearing this, Sano paused, then glanced at the homework in the bag—six books in total, each quite thick.

Sano looked at Suzuki Sonoko expressionlessly: "So do you think I could possibly finish all this homework overnight?"

Sonoko Suzuki shook her head vigorously.

"Then why did you bring it to me?"

Sonoko Suzuki scratched her head: "Well, I saw it after all, so I couldn't just ignore it. I felt I should tell my senior, but it would feel weird to just tell him I forgot my homework after seeing it, so I brought it with me..."

The general idea is that you've discovered a problem but don't know how to solve it, so you just pass it on to someone else, right?

Even though Sano knew that this statement was not quite right, and that Sonoko Suzuki and Ran Mouri were just doing what they should and could do, she still felt a sense of powerlessness.

Oh well, it doesn't really matter. Anyway, the timeline in this world jumps around. They say school starts tomorrow and homework is due, but who knows...

Sano suddenly fell silent.

This line of thinking seems so familiar. Did I think of this during the last exam?

...Never mind, it's just summer homework, it should be fine—

Sano's train of thought came to an abrupt halt once again, because he seemed to have thought of this before; it was a standard... flag.

"Beep, system task has been triggered."

[Please submit your summer homework tomorrow. Completion will earn you 30 enhancement points. Time remaining for the task: 15:59:59.]

Sano: "...Fake."

"what?"

Sano glanced at Suzuki Sonoko and Mouri Ran, took a deep breath, and pushed the two of them, along with Sato Miwako who was standing next to them, out the door. He then pulled the little girl who was still eating noodles next to Sato Miwako.

"In short, this little girl is in your hands now. She knows her mom's number. I need to do my homework."

"Doing homework?"

Sonoko Suzuki asked, both surprised and hesitant, "With so much homework, are you really going to finish it all, senpai?"

When Sano turned her gaze to her, Sonoko Suzuki immediately realized she had said something pointless again, and awkwardly laughed, "Ha, what I meant was, if you feel a lot of pressure, perhaps Ran and I could help you share the burden..."

"Okay."

Sano tossed a homework assignment to both Sonoko Suzuki and Ran Mouri, saying, "Thank you for your help."

Sonoko Suzuki and Ran Mouri: "..."

"that……"

Sonoko Suzuki swallowed hard, continuing with an awkward laugh: "Even if Ran and I each help you with one book, the remaining four will be difficult to finish. If you don't finish these, then Ran and I will have worked for nothing..."

Looking at the cautious Sonoko Suzuki, Sano naturally understood that she regretted it.

But Sano naturally wouldn't give the other party a chance to regret it. He curled the corners of his mouth in a smug way and smiled disdainfully: "Perhaps you've never heard a saying."

"What?"

"A pen, a lamp, a night, a miracle."

After saying that, Sano slammed the door shut and went back inside to finish his homework.

All that's left is Sonoko Suzuki, who was forced to work overtime because of a casual remark, and Ran Mouri, who was innocently caught in the crossfire and is still unable to react.

Sato Miwako glanced at the little girl beside her, then at Mouri Ran and Suzuki Sonoko.

Actually, the reason Sato Miwako came here was not only because she received a report and came to check the situation, but also because Inspector Megure asked her to do everything she could to get Sano to give a statement.

...The latter now seems impossible to accomplish, and Sato Miwako doesn't want to go looking for trouble with Sano again.

I'll probably get nagged again when I get back.

However, the thought that Ran Mouri and Sonoko Suzuki would have to help Sano with his homework tonight made Miwako Sato feel a little better.

At least I'm not the worst off; it's true what they say, there's no harm without comparison.

Miwako Sato remarked with such emotion.

……

A night passes in the blink of an eye.

At eight o'clock in the morning, Sano arrived at Class 2-B with dark circles under his eyes. There were already quite a few students in the class, including Ran Mouri and Sonoko Suzuki, who also had dark circles under their eyes and were sitting in their seats, occasionally pecking at rice like chickens.

"Ah, senior..."

Upon seeing Sano, the two dazed individuals greeted him.

"Hey senior, have you finished those four homework assignments? If you haven't, then Xiaolan and I have all worked for nothing..."

Sonoko Suzuki said with a hint of resentment.

This is the culmination of my hard work all night. If it all turns out to be for nothing, then there might be another young and beautiful girl on the rooftop of Teitan High School today.

"Don't worry, it's all done."

Sano calmly tossed the four homework assignments to Suzuki Sonoko, then glanced at the two assignments on the table. Unsurprisingly, they were perfectly completed.

Sano only felt comfortable giving the two homework assignments to Sonoko Suzuki and Ran Mouri, because he felt he had a high sense of responsibility towards his best friend.

If it's something that has been explicitly rejected, then so be it.

However, this matter was ultimately taken on by Sonoko Suzuki by a twist of fate, and Sano also gave the two of them obvious "trust." If they didn't complete this task, not only Sano, but they themselves would not be able to live with themselves.

Otherwise, if it were Sano's group of cronies from his past life, he definitely wouldn't believe that those bastards could be reliable in the slightest.

Nearby, Sonoko Suzuki and Ran Mouri also briefly flipped through the four homework assignments Sano had written himself.

I've really finished writing it, but this one character...

Are you sure you're not drawing a talisman?

"Senior... can you even read your own handwriting?"

What words!

Looking at the strange expression on Suzuki Sonoko's face, Sano waved his hand dismissively: "You don't understand, this is called cursive script, wild cursive script."

That's pure nonsense.