"Haha, Hoshino-kun, you've worked hard, you've really worked hard." Inspector Megure arrived, already knowing from the phone call that the case had been solved by Kurosawa. He came over quite easily, without any pressure. He patted Kurosawa's shoulders with both hands. If he wasn't afraid of disgusting Kurosawa, he would have liked to hug him and kiss him to express his gratitude.
"Alright, Inspector Megure, I wouldn't ignore it if I saw it." Kurosawa waved his hand. This was Origin Points—of course, they couldn't be wasted.
"Ahem, I still have to thank you." After Inspector Megure finished speaking, he looked at Kogorō in the room and asked, "Mouri-kun, why are you in the hospital?"
"I'm fine. It's nothing." Kogorō explained what had happened to him.
"Oh~" Inspector Megure suddenly realized. "Well, I can't stay here with you any longer. I have to take Dr. Shirai back to the Metropolitan Police Department first."
"Inspector Megure, take care." Kogorō smiled.
Kurosawa nodded.
A short while later, the once-lively ward was empty except for Kurosawa and the others.
Kogorō yawned, lying down on the bed. "Alright, you guys can go back now. I'm going to sleep. Don't bother picking me up tomorrow. I'll have the doctor check me out after I wake up, and then I'll be discharged."
"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Kurosawa sighed, took out his phone, and dialed Inspector Megure's number.
"Hoshino-kun, is there something you need to tell me?"
"Inspector Megure, don't rush off. Give us a ride."
"Haha, I haven't left yet. I'm waiting for you downstairs."
"Okay. Soon." Kurosawa hung up, called to Ran and Conan, and left the ward, heading downstairs.
Back home, Ran changed into her pajamas, sat on the edge of the bed, hesitated for a moment while holding the phone, and finally dialed Sonoko's number.
The phone rang slowly, and it wasn't answered until almost timed out.
"Ran, it's past midnight. Why are you calling me?" Sonoko's voice was weak and somewhat indistinct, as if she had been woken up by the phone ringing.
"Sonoko, something bad has happened. Hoshino is in serious trouble." Ran said anxiously.
"Hoshino? What happened to Hoshino?" Sonoko's voice suddenly rose several decibels, and she became fully awake.
"Here's what happened—" Ran recounted what Kurosawa had said at Beika General Hospital.
After listening, Sonoko fell silent. After a long while, she slowly said, "Ran, you said Hoshino admitted that there's a murderer living inside him?"
"Yes. He said it himself."
"Sigh, Hoshino must have suffered a lot, otherwise he wouldn't have such thoughts." Sonoko said with a hint of sadness. "You know, I helped Hoshino investigate his background. I don't know who his father is, and his mother passed away later."
Ran didn't speak, quietly listening to Sonoko's analysis.
"Before he transferred to Teitan High School, he never showed any deductive reasoning ability. But ever since I helped him investigate his background, he's started reasoning. I think he definitely wants to become famous so his biological father will know about him. When his father comes to claim him, he might kill him."
"Oh, really?" Ran didn't want to think about it that way.
"Very likely." Sonoko was still reasoning. "He said he has a murderer living inside him. So who do you think he wants to kill? Who else but that unknown father?"
"It seems so." Ran was successfully fooled. She went to the window and stared worriedly at Kurosawa's window across the street.
"Then what should we do?"
"Of course, we should make him happy. Make him joyful. We need to help him resolve his inner conflict. Ran, I've decided to change the ending of the stage play to a kissing scene between the two of you. What do you think?"
Ran's eyes widened. She was speechless. "Sonoko, how did you even bring this up?"
"Is it wrong? Look at Hoshino—he doesn't even have a girlfriend. If you two have a kissing scene, won't he be thrilled? It'll at least have some calming effect."
"But—" Ran's pretty face turned pink. "It's a stage play. It'll be performed for a lot of people. Wouldn't that be too much?"
"Then let me ask you, do you think he'll be happy about this? Won't his heart be filled with joy? It's better than him living with some kind of murderer, right?"
"That's true."
"Don't worry. It's just a stage play. Just a kissing scene. Everyone knows it's fake. It won't make him pregnant."
"Okay then." Ran was finally convinced, but the pink on her face still hadn't faded.
The next day. Early morning.
Kurosawa, who had already gone to bed late the night before, was still half asleep when his phone rang urgently. Resisting the urge to smash it against the wall, he reached out from under the covers, grabbed the incessantly ringing phone, glanced at the screen, and answered through gritted teeth. "Sonoko, you'd better give me a reasonable reason for bothering me so early."
"What? Why are you so angry?" Sonoko said unhappily. "I'm here to tell you some good news."
"What good news?" Kurosawa tossed his phone onto the pillow and closed his eyes again.
"The ending—the stage play's ending. I'm going to change it."
"Wait, why are you changing it?" Kurosawa opened his eyes again. Though he didn't know what the original ending was, there was a kissing scene in the original work. If it were removed, that would be a huge loss.
"What do you mean 'wait'? You don't even know my original ending. Why are you in such a hurry?"
"So what was your original ending?" Kurosawa asked, following her lead.
"Hehe." Sonoko answered smugly. "My original ending was that you two fell in love, but in the end, you would be killed by Ran. How about that? Pretty tragic, right?"
Kurosawa was surprised. Then he thought of the ending Sonoko had just mentioned changing, and an idea struck him. "So what are you going to change it to now?"
"A kissing scene. I'm going to change it to a kissing scene between you and Ran. Guaranteed to shock the whole audience."
"Ahem, that's not a good idea. Should we tell Ran?" Kurosawa pretended to be quite serious.
"Ran agreed. We discussed it last night."
"Got it. Another little secret between you girls." Kurosawa's forced spirits waned once more. He slowly closed his eyes, no longer paying attention to what Sonoko was saying on the other end.
After Sonoko finished talking and realized that Kurosawa had fallen asleep, she was somewhat amused and annoyed. But she didn't disturb him any further and quietly hung up the phone.