Chapter 15: The Shinkansen Bombing Incident

A few days later, aboard the Shinkansen.

Mouri Kogoro was riding the bullet train to Kyoto with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠his daughter, a young girl who had recently taken up residence in his home, and a certain little brat who had all but moved in uninvited — all of them heading there for a wedding.

"The Shinkansen! The Shinkansen!..." A child's gleeful shouts of delight came echoing down the car.

"All right, we've been on board for over ten minutes now — no more being this rowdy. Keep your voices down and don't disturb the other passengers." Xia Yu urged Genta and the others back into their seats; roughhousing on a moving train was asking for trouble.

Yes — after several consecutive days of snack offensives, Xia Yu had successfully won over the children of the Junior Detective League.

Which was why, for this trip to Kyoto, the kids had invited her along too.

"Miss Natsume, thank you so much for coming along to help look after the children this time," Mouri Ran said warmly.

Kogoro leaned back against his seat with a grunt. "Honestly, these little brats are nothing but a handful. To think we had to drag along a lovely young lady like Miss Natsume just to babysit them."

Ran shot her father a sharp glare. "What's the harm? Their parents covered the travel expenses, after all."

Xia Yu shook her head. "It's really no trouble at all. I've been wanting to look around Kyoto anyway — I've never been." Then she turned to Ran. "And you don't need to call me Miss Natsume. Just Xia Xia Yu is fine. Can I call you Ran?"

Ran smiled and nodded. "Of course."

When Xia Yu set her mind on getting closer to someone, she ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had plenty of tricks up her sleeve — especially with Ran, an ordinary high school girl. All it took was chatting about a few favorite celebrities, and the two of them found themselves with more common ground than they knew what to do with.

Kogoro listened to the girls' talk of movie stars, curled his lip, and kept his mouth shut.

Ran and Xia Yu got along wonderfully. Though they'd only known each other a short while, Ran had already noticed how considerate Xia Yu was of everyone's feelings. When she asked where Xia Yu lived, she learned to her surprise that they were practically neighbors. "I can't believe you live right nearby in Fifth Block of Beika-cho and we never once ran into each other! If we had, we could have met so much sooner."

It really was a shame. I even made a point of walking past the Mouri Detective Agency from time to time, hoping to meet Ran and the others sooner — but somehow it never happened. Until today. "I actually knew the Mouri Detective Agency was somewhere around there," Xia Yu said. "But I had no idea Conan was living at your place, Ran."

She glanced at Conan and added with a teasing smile, "Though Conan's name is quite the interesting one, isn't it? Edogawa and Conan — the surnames of two famous mystery novelists. When I first heard it, I honestly thought it was a fake name, something this little guy just made up on the spot to fool me."

Ran looked thoughtful. "Hmm... it must be a coincidence, right? Maybe Conan's parents love mystery novels, and since their family name happens to be Edogawa, they gave him the name Conan?" With that thought she turned to Conan. "Conan, is that how it was?"

Conan had gone tense the moment Xia Yu said fake name, but once Ran offered her explanation, he hurried to agree. "Y-yes, that's right! My mom and dad both love mystery novels — Sherlock Holmes especially — so that's why they named me Conan." And technically, he wasn't even lying: his father was a mystery novelist, so claiming his parents loved the genre was fair enough.

Xia Yu watched Conan relax slightly now that he'd found his footing, the corner of her mouth curling upward. She had no intention of letting him off that easily, and pressed on with her earlier line of questioning. "Speaking of which, where are Conan's parents these days? How did he end up staying at your home, Ran?"

At the mention of Conan's parents, Kogoro couldn't help grumbling. "His parents are acquaintances of Professor Agasa's, and the old man can't look after a small child on his own, so he foisted the kid off on Ran. But those parents of his are strange, I tell you — the boy's been living with us all this time and they haven't made a single phone call. What kind of parents are that careless with their own child?" He turned and leveled a suspicious look at Conan.

"Ah— well... um..." Conan couldn't come up with a good excuse on the spot — he could hardly admit his parents didn't even know what had happened to him — so he started casting about for an escape from the topic. As luck would have it, Genta and the others, bored of sitting still, came over to drag Conan ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠off on an expedition through the train cars. He seized the opportunity without hesitation. "Ran-neechan, Xia Yu-neechan, I'm gonna go play!"

"Be careful on the train, and don't run too fast!" Ran called after him, unable to help herself.

Watching Conan scramble away in such a flustered hurry, Xia Yu had to fight back a laugh. Kids really were fun to tease — and this kind in particular, mature beyond his years yet with such an obvious weak spot, were the most entertaining of all.

Still, she could only toy with him like this in the early going. Later on, as Conan gathered more and more allies, he wouldn't be nearly this jumpy — and where would the fun be in that?

Paimon couldn't hold back either. "Traveler, you did that on purpose, didn't you?"

Paimon, how could you look at me like that? Of course I didn't do it on purpose...

Hearing this, Paimon thought she'd wrongly accused the Traveler and felt a pang of guilt. "Traveler, I'm sorry, I just misunders—"

I did it completely on purpose.

Paimon didn't even get to finish before the second half of Xia Yu's sentence landed, and she burst out in loud protest. "Traveler!"

Sorry, Paimon, Xia Yu apologized, barely suppressing her laughter.

Suddenly, Xia Yu spotted two men in black walking up the aisle from the far end of the car. She focused on them — the build, the silhouette, unmistakably reminiscent of Gin and Vodka as she'd seen them at the amusement park. No wonder Conan had mistaken those lookalikes back then. So these were one side of this incident's deal, presumably.

And if they had shown up, then...

A world quest had appeared. Her guess had been right — these quests were tied to the cases Conan stumbled into.

Xia Yu stared at the quest's objective — Find the bomb aboard the Shinkansen and stop it from detonating — and sank into thought.

If she remembered correctly, in the original story Conan did track down the bomb in the end, but with no time to spare, all he could do was kick it off the train — and it exploded anyway. Which meant that outcome wouldn't satisfy ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the quest's requirement of stopping it from detonating.

Her eyes drifted to the case beside the men in black. They hadn't headed to the dining car yet, so the exchange hadn't happened — the bomb was still in that case, right at their side.

Suddenly, an idea came to her.