After a long night of hard work, everyone was tired. Even Hanyu Kiyosu and Suzuki Sonoko next door fell into a deep sleep.
Mouri Kogoro was probably very tired, not only physically, but also mentally. He had been worried for so long and his emotions had fluctuated too much, so his snoring was particularly loud tonight.
Conan tossed and turned and couldn't sleep. Finally, he frantically tousled his hair and sat up with dark circles under his eyes. The bright moonlight outside the window shone in the room, which was as peaceful as if there had never been an explosion.
Conan sighed, got up from the bed, scratched his belly, and planned to go for a drink of water, use the toilet, and then come back to see if he could fall asleep.
Pushing open the door, there was a strange noise coming from Mao Lilan's room next door. Conan came to the door in surprise, only to see that the door was not closed, and there was still a small crack.
Conan pushed it open slightly and looked inside. He saw Mao Lilan leaning against the window, holding a cup in his hand and looking out with a melancholy look.
"Sister Xiaolan?" Conan said softly.
"Conan?" Mao Lilan was stunned and quickly put away the things in his hands.
Conan then noticed that what she was holding was not a cup, but a beer can!
"Sister Xiaolan, you..."
Seeing that he had discovered it, Mao Lilan didn't hide it anymore, and said with a smile: "My father misunderstood me drinking before, and I couldn't sleep tonight. I suddenly wanted to try it. How delicious is this thing, and it made him so addicted."
"But after I drank half a can, I didn't feel it tasted any better. It tasted weird..."
Mao Lilan put a finger in front of her lips, "You have to keep it a secret, Conan, don't tell dad."
Conan looked at Mao Lilan's slightly red face, as if she was a little drunk. This was completely different from the Xiaolan he had always known.
Although Xiaolan can be a bit violent sometimes, she is usually a gentle and good girl. Why would she drink?
"Sister Xiaolan, it's better for girls not to drink." Conan walked up to her, took the beer can from her hand, and warned her seriously.
Mao Lilan smiled and said, "Don't worry so much. I won't become an alcoholic like my father. I remember I tasted beer when I was a child and drank red wine before. Didn't your father tease you with wine at home?"
Conan shook his head, "He usually doesn't drink at home. He drinks red wine with my mother at most, but occasionally he comes back drunk from outside."
Well, not only was he drunk, but he also had lipstick marks on his shirt. Conan secretly complained, because my mother often gets mad at this kind of thing.
I don’t know why those women outside admire dad so much...
"Eh? That's really a good father of the Gu family. What are his usual hobbies? Does he smoke?" Mao Lilan looked at Conan with burning eyes and asked.
The faint smell of alcohol hit his face, and Conan was almost drunk. He replied a little dazedly: "I smoke occasionally, but I'm not as addicted as my uncle. I usually prefer reading."
"Is that so... it sounds... similar to Shinichi's father."
"!!!"
Conan suddenly felt a flow of blood rushing to the top of his head. He turned his head to meet Mao Lilan's burning eyes and rosy and hot face, and stammered:
"That's right, it does look a bit like..."
Grain fear
Mao Lilan held Conan's face with both hands and continued to ask: "Tell me more about your parents. I don't know much about them, such as their height, age, weight, appearance, blood type, work, hobbies, habits, and mantras.
Something like that..."
Conan's eyes widened and his scalp felt numb. The hands holding his face were hot and powerful, and his face was almost squeezed into a ball.
"I...I...well..."
Seeing that he was speechless for a long time, Mao Lilan saw a flash of disappointment in her eyes. She let go of her hand, stood up and leaned against the bed again, with a lonely look on her face:
"Before I was rescued by Hanyu-kun, Shinichi said words of concern. I was very happy, really happy..."
"Later, when I finished washing up in Hanyu-kun's courtyard and planned to go back to find him, Sonoko couldn't open the door because Hanyu-kun was not here, so I had to wait."
"When Hanyu-kun finally came back, he said that Shinichi had left alone. But I asked my father and Officer Megure, but they didn't see Shinichi."
"So, Conan, tell me, did Shinichi really come back? Or did I just have a dream?" Mao Lilan didn't look back when she said this, and Conan just bowed his head and remained silent behind her.
Mao Lilan continued to mutter to himself: "Although I am good at my homework, I have never been able to keep up with Shinichi in matters such as observation and reasoning. I originally thought that I might not have talent in this area.
"
"It's just that I didn't expect that one day I would become a mystery writer. I followed my father and he personally experienced those cases again and again, recorded them carefully, and studied them carefully when I came back."
"In the beginning, I really didn't know what to do about the murder plot and logical reasoning. It was Shinichi who helped solve this part, and because of this, the editor suspected that he was a ghostwriter."
"It's just that I recorded more cases and wrote more, and I gradually learned some observation and reasoning methods. This was given to me by Shinichi."
Mao Lilan turned around and gave Conan a sly smile, but Conan couldn't smile at all.
"I remember when you first came to my house, I saw you falling asleep on the sofa and took off your glasses. When I looked at that familiar face, I immediately thought of Shinichi."
"But because this kind of thing was so bizarre, I didn't continue to have doubts in the end. Later, I didn't take it seriously when there were suspicious things again and again."
"But...I can barely be considered a real mystery novelist now. I can no longer pretend not to see these doubts. The appearance of Hanyu-kun has also confirmed that all kinds of things beyond imagination actually do not only exist in the world."
In fantasy.”
"When I was collecting materials some time ago, I happened to read the records of a case. The key to solving that case was that two people who never appeared at the same time were actually the same person..."
"So...I really can't deceive myself anymore..."
"Shinichi..."
Crystal tears welled up from the corners of Mao Lilan's eyes, slowly slid down her cheeks, and fell to the corners of her smiling mouth. Her voice was choked and aggrieved.
Conan hesitated to speak, feeling his throat was extremely dry and unable to speak a word.
Mao Lilan waited for a long time, and the light in her eyes was gradually covered by disappointment. She walked to the bed and sat down, "It's very late and I'm a little sleepy. You should go back to bed early."
"You guessed it right, I..." Conan paused and admitted with some difficulty, "I am indeed Kudo Shinichi, Edogawa Conan is just a made-up identity."
"Why?" Mao Lilan did not react violently, but asked calmly, "Why is this so?"
Conan took a deep breath, feeling a little more relaxed, and explained: "Do you still remember what happened that night? I ran after the two suspicious men in black alone, and then Kudo Shinichi disappeared...
"
Conan didn't dare to look at Mao Lilan's expression. He walked to the window, looked up at the moon, and recounted the beginning of everything and the experience of that night.
From the suspicious discovery of gin and vodka, leaving Mao Lilan to follow, being discovered, being hit on the back of the head, being drunk with poison, shrinking, being unbelievable, calling the police, being treated as a joke, and running all the way to Dr. Ali's house