On the way to 2-Chome.
Kurosawa Hoshino carried a bag of cooked food and walked silently with Haibara.
After a while, Haibara asked softly, "Hoshino-nii, where's Edogawa?" She had thought something was off today because she hadn't seen Conan, and only now did she remember.
If Conan knew that his partner had forgotten about him, he would be incredibly frustrated—probably feeling that all the blood she had drawn from him had been wasted.
"Conan will probably be back tomorrow." Kurosawa thought that things over there should be over by now, since it would only take a day or two anyway.
"Oh." Haibara nodded and fell silent again.
The rest of the journey—even after arriving at Professor Agasa's house—Haibara didn't say a word. Only when she reached out to take the bag from Kurosawa did she speak again. "Hoshino-nii, did you not want me to see that Ms. Chris earlier? Is that why you made me leave?"
"No, you're overthinking it." Kurosawa smiled and patted her head.
Haibara's face darkened. She entered the courtyard expressionlessly.
Kurosawa let out a pleasant laugh and also left.
As soon as he left, Haibara stopped and turned around, staring intently at his back, thinking: Something's not right. They were about to invite me to dinner. But as soon as Ran mentioned Ms. Chris, he made me leave. Could it be—
After a jumble of thoughts, Haibara came up with a far-fetched reason. Could it be that they have something shady going on, and it's inconvenient for a child like me to go with them? So they're going to do something adult next? Her face flushed slightly, and Haibara quickly dismissed these thoughts, feeling that she was being too lewd and shouldn't have thought of them in such a dirty way.
Half an hour later, Kurosawa got out of a taxi in front of a restaurant with a sign that read "LaFleur" and strode inside.
A waiter tried to approach him, but he waved them away with a single sentence. "No need. A friend of mine booked a table here."
He then glanced around the lobby and spotted Ran and the others at a corner table. Vermouth had already arrived and was chatting with them, though a book lay beside her hand resting on the table. Vermouth, as always, wore a hat and sunglasses, trying to conceal her face. In the world of Conan, this was considered excellent disguise—unless someone knew her well, they wouldn't recognize her. After all, this world had water depths of tens of meters, and most ordinary people could dive without any equipment, ignoring water pressure. Disguise was simply a matter of being able to do it.
"Sorry I'm late." Kurosawa pulled out a chair and smiled at the three of them.
"It's alright. We didn't wait long." Sonoko waved to the waiter in the distance, signaling that the food was ready.
Ran asked, puzzled, "Hoshino, why didn't you let Haibara come and eat with us? Why did you send her back?"
"Yeah, I'm curious about that too." Sonoko was equally curious about the reason.
Vermouth raised an eyebrow, but unfortunately, she was wearing sunglasses and a hat, so no one noticed the change in her expression.
"I won't tell you for now. You'll find out later." Kurosawa answered with an ambiguous meaning, which was, of course, deliberately feigned. It was best to prevent Vermouth and Haibara from meeting now. Otherwise, if Haibara accidentally revealed herself, Vermouth wouldn't keep it a secret and might even inform Gin, leading to her being taken back.
Before they could ask further, Kurosawa looked at the book next to Vermouth's hand and asked in surprise, "Ms. Chris, why are you carrying a science book? Are you going to study science?" This topic had also piqued Ran and Sonoko's curiosity—they had obviously seen it before but hadn't asked.
Vermouth was actually quite confused herself at the mention of it. She hadn't read the book herself. A few nights ago, when she encountered Gin at the organization's base, she had noticed a fleeting look of worry on his face as he read a psychology book. Vermouth was very curious and remembered the title, so she bought a copy this morning to see what it was about. After reading for a while, she found it was all about how to educate children—how to correct and guide children who went astray during their development. She even briefly wondered if Gin was being sent by someone to teach children.
Vermouth snapped out of her reverie. Facing the three curious gazes, she stopped thinking about Gin—only feeling that the man was somewhat ill—and replied with a smile, "I just saw a colleague of mine reading it, so I bought a copy to try it out. But it doesn't seem suitable for me."
"A colleague?" Kurosawa knew that Vermouth's colleague must be someone from the Black Organization. He hadn't expected someone in the Black Organization to be reading psychology—it just showed how competitive the organization was, requiring everyone to have some kind of skill.
"Ms. Chris, are you a psychologist?" Ran asked. In her opinion, most people who read this kind of book were doctors, and Vermouth had mentioned her colleague—which meant that Vermouth was also a doctor.
"A doctor?" Vermouth paused, then her smile widened. "That's right. I'm a school doctor at a high school now."
Sonoko pressed, "Is it Teitan High School?"
"No, don't bother guessing. Even if you guess right, I won't admit it. Okay, enough talk—the food's here."
Hearing this, the three of them sat down. The waiter pushed the food cart over and began plating the dishes in front of them.
Ran looked at the small, exquisite dishes and said softly, "Actually, I've always wanted to learn French cuisine, but I haven't heard of anyone teaching it around here."
"That's a coincidence. I just happened to find one." Vermouth took out a flyer from her bag and handed it to her. "This is a flyer I received in Beika Town. They teach French cuisine. And Beika Town and Beika Town are close by, so if you want to learn, Ran, it's perfect. You can call and ask."
"Really?" Ran took the flyer, glanced at the information, took out her phone, and dialed the number.
Kurosawa and the others remained silent, listening quietly to Ran's conversation with the person on the other end.