After the chat, everyone had become a little more familiar with each other.
Ran asked, "Um, it's time. Why hasn't Teacher Kamimori arrived yet?"
As soon as she said this, the atmosphere in the room became awkward. Kamimori Kaoru and the others couldn't help but look at Komiyama Yuko, who looked very disappointed.
"Did I say something wrong?" Ran asked nervously.
Kurosawa Hoshino stepped forward and patted her on the shoulder, comforting her. "It's alright. I think it must be that Ms. Kamimori did something memorable."
"You're right, Hoshino-kun." Yashiro Kazue, Kamimori Michiko's old classmate, unlike the others, spoke up boldly. "Michiko recently wrote a bestselling French cookbook—it's incredibly popular. But a third of the recipes in it were all painstakingly created by Yuko, and now they're all hers. She'll probably be back soon, since there's a celebration party tomorrow."
"Ms. Yashiro, no need to say anything." Komiyama said softly. "It's because my skills aren't up to par. The teacher revised the content."
"She did revise it a bit, but even so, it's still yours. And you don't even complain. You know, you spent a full five years by her side to write this. How many more five years do you have left?"
This is going to get someone killed. Kurosawa thought to himself. In the world of Conan, if a teacher steals something from a student, they're basically going to die. Moreover, looking at this group of people, he felt a sense of familiarity—especially Kamimori Kaoru, who wore an eye patch over her left eye. He felt he had seen that look in some episode before.
"Ms. Yashiro, this is a matter between Yuko and the teacher. You'd better not mention it," said Nishitani Hiroaki.
Yashiro glanced at him and continued, "Of course you won't mention Michiko. After all, you've been receiving financial support from her all along, and you're even thinking about opening a restaurant recently, right?"
"I—" Nishitani opened his mouth, then suddenly fell silent.
Kamimori Kaoru chuckled lightly, crossing her arms and watching the show from the sidelines, a mocking expression on her face. It was unclear who she was mocking.
Conan's lips twitched as he looked at the four of them, thinking that this was really not a good place.
Vermouth regretted it even more. She should have inquired about the situation here first, causing Ran to learn cooking with such an unreliable group of people.
"How can we learn properly here?" Ran was also worried, having already given up all hope of learning French cuisine on this trip.
Whoosh. The sound of the door being pulled open came from the entrance hall.
"I'm back." A calm female voice rang out, followed by a somewhat plump middle-aged woman walking into the kitchen. It was Kamimori Michiko.
Komiyama and the others snapped out of their daze and went forward one by one to greet her and ask how she was doing.
Michiko nodded in satisfaction, then looked at Kurosawa and the others. Her gaze shifted to Ran and Vermouth. She asked, "Which of you is Mouri Ran—the one I spoke to on the phone this afternoon?"
"Hello, teacher. I'm Mouri Ran." Ran stepped forward and said. "This is Ms. Chris next to me. She also wants to learn French cuisine, so she came along to try it out."
"Hmm. And these two—" Michiko looked at Conan and Kurosawa again. But before she could finish speaking, her body trembled, her chubby face twitched, her eyes widened, and a look of delight gradually appeared on her face. She took a few large strides to Kurosawa and excitedly asked, "Hello, are you Kurosawa-kun?"
"Yes, it's me. Ms. Kamimori, hello." Kurosawa replied.
"It really is you, Kurosawa-kun! I've been reading your news and newspapers all along. I was wondering if I could take a picture with you?"
"Ms. Kamimori, taking a picture is no problem, of course." Kurosawa, remembering what Yashiro had said earlier, already knew what the other party wanted, so he proactively gave a heads-up. "But if you're going to use my photo to promote something like a cooking class, you'd better let me know first. You need my permission. By the way, I happen to know a lawyer named Kisaki Eri—I call her Aunt Kisaki. Aunt Kisaki has a one hundred percent success rate in her cases, so she's quite famous. So, Ms. Kamimori, please don't do that before you tell me. Also, Aunt Kisaki is Ran's mother."
From the middle of the first paragraph, Michiko's expression had already become very unpleasant. When she heard the name "Kisaki Eri," her expression almost completely changed—clearly indicating that she had heard of Kisaki's name. But then, when she heard that Kisaki's daughter was Ran, her face turned completely green.
For a moment, she didn't know what to say. How could this student who suddenly came to her door for lessons be accompanied by a high school detective—and have a mother who was a lawyer with a one hundred percent success rate? All her previous little schemes vanished instantly.
"Ahem, Kurosawa-kun, you're joking. I wouldn't do something so tasteless." Michiko's smile became increasingly fake. As if she had thought of something, she added, "The camera at home is broken. Looks like we can't take a picture together."
"That's a real shame, Ms. Kamimori." Kurosawa shrugged.
"Yes." Michiko nodded, her eyes darting around. She looked at Vermouth, who was wearing a mask and a visor, frowned, and said in a displeased tone, "Ms. Chris, could you please take off your mask? Since you want to learn cooking here, you have to listen to me. I don't like people coming here hiding their faces."
Wait, you big idiot. What are you doing? Kurosawa's lips twitched. He felt that Michiko was in deep trouble tonight for daring to provoke Vermouth.
Vermouth's beautiful eyes narrowed, and a calm voice came from under her mask. "Excuse me, I have some pimples on my face. I don't want others to see them."
"You—never mind. Whatever." Michiko gave up because she knew Vermouth had come with Kurosawa and the others. Targeting her would be the same as targeting them. Although she was sometimes sharp-tongued, she wasn't stupid. She knew very well when to stop.
"Alright, you have ten minutes. Go and prepare all the tools and ingredients." Michiko pulled herself out of her thoughts and instructed Komiyama and the others.
The group quickly got to work.
Nishitani approached Kurosawa and pointed to a large dining table opposite the kitchen. "Kurosawa-kun, I'm sorry, but outsiders aren't allowed to watch the teacher's lessons. So please sit on those chairs and wait. We'll draw the curtains. However, you'll be invited to sample the food when it's finished."