Albedo's Painting
Even Conan had to admit that the painting Albedo had made was genuinely beautiful — bold in its use of color, masterful in its technique, with almost no flaws to be found.
But watching Ran gaze at another man with admiration in her eyes, showering him with praise without pause, Conan couldn't help feeling a little sour about it.
"Hold on — those red things in the tree... what are those?!"
Sonoko had noticed some jarring patches of red beside the maple tree in the painting, and assuming Albedo had simply made a careless mistake, she lifted her head to point it out to him.
The moment she looked up, however, she saw that the tree before them was draped with red handkerchiefs from top to bottom — an exact match for the scene in the painting.
She hurried over to the base of the tree, and let out a cry of disbelief.
"How is this even possible? The tree's covered in red handkerchiefs everywhere!" Sonoko's voice trembled, already bracing herself for the romantic date she'd planned with Makoto to fall apart.
"That drama was filmed here, I believe — that's probably why so many people have come to tie handkerchiefs," Noelle said. She knew a little of the show's plot, and with Sonoko's earlier explanation, it wasn't hard to guess why things had turned out this way. She watched Sonoko standing there in front of the rocks, her face full of dejection, and felt a flicker of worry for her.
"Well, no wonder there are so many red handkerchiefs around here. Aww, Miss Suzuki — the way things stand, I'm afraid you won't be able to achieve your little goal. Perhaps you'd be better off just giving up." Kaeya's brows lifted slightly, a hint of laughter in his voice as he offered his advice to Sonoko, who was still staring up at the handkerchiefs in the branches.
"But... I already sent the email to Makoto," Sonoko groaned. "I told him I'd be waiting for him beneath the crimson maples of winter."
"What am I supposed to do, Ran?!" Sonoko turned to Mouri Ran for help.
Ran glanced around at their surroundings before offering some comfort. "There are so many handkerchiefs around here that as long as you stay put, he's bound to find you. You don't need to worry about missing each other, so, um..."
Ran's words died in her throat the moment she turned to Sonoko and met a glare brimming with resentment. She froze, a bead of cold sweat forming on her forehead of its own accord.
Clearly, Sonoko refused to accept any scenario other than meeting Makoto beneath the very handkerchief she herself had tied. Anything less would be meaningless.
It was then that Conan remembered something he hadn't gotten around to mentioning earlier, and opened his mouth to tell Sonoko that the maple tree he'd climbed just moments ago had also been tied with red handkerchiefs — dealing her yet another crushing blow.
Now the odds of Makoto finding the handkerchief she'd tied grew even slimmer.
Just as Sonoko was at her wits' end, racking her brain for any possible solution, Lisa's words brought a glimmer of hope.
"You want to meet your beloved beneath your very own handkerchief, just like in that drama, don't you, cutie? Well, I just so happen to have a way~"
My beloved...
The words sent a blush blooming across Sonoko's cheeks, and for a moment she completely lost track of whatever Lisa said next. The instant she snapped back to her senses, her eyes lit up and she leaned in eagerly, hanging on Lisa's every word. "A way? What way? Tell me!"
Ran and Conan turned their attention to Lisa as well, curiosity written across their faces.
"Why, we simply make all the other handkerchiefs disappear, of course." Lisa smiled as she revealed her solution.
"But... there are so many handkerchiefs here. Untying them one by one would take forever, wouldn't it?" Sonoko had to admit Lisa's logic made sense — and though she'd said it half in jest, she'd already resolved that no matter how long it took, she would make those handkerchiefs vanish. Nothing was going to stand between her and her goal.
"Oh, it won't take much time at all. If I've gone to the trouble of suggesting this, surely you can trust that I have a way to save time." With that, Lisa produced a small glass vial.
The vial looked perfectly ordinary — colorless and transparent, sealed tight with a wooden stopper. Inside, a transparent liquid filled a little over half of it, perhaps fifteen or twenty milliliters by eye, looking for all the world like plain water.
Lisa pinched the bottom and top of the vial between her thumb and forefinger and held it out before Sonoko, showing it off as she gestured for her to take it.
"What is this?" Sonoko took the vial with curious fingers, squinting as she held it up close for a careful look.
"This, my dear, is quite the treasure." Lisa's smile turned mysterious. "It can dissolve fabric without damaging anything else. Not every fabric, mind you, but common items like handkerchiefs dissolve quite easily."
"Whoa~ there's actually a miraculous potion like this?" Sonoko stared at it in astonishment, turning the unassuming little vial over in her hands again and again.
"Hey, hey, Lisa — you're really just carrying something like that around with you?" Kaeya's expression bordered on incredulous. "Aren't you afraid of accidentally shattering the glass?"
Conan hadn't thought anything of it until Kaeya's words made the implications click in an instant. He stared at the glass vial, and then — for reasons of his own — his face flushed bright red.
"Where on earth did your mind just go?" Lisa rolled her eyes. "The vial is specially made. There's no way it would break that easily."
"Thank you so much, Lisa. Oh — how much do I owe you?" With the vial confirmed to be sturdy, Sonoko finally relaxed. Otherwise she'd have worried that if the stuff really worked, it dissolving all over her instead would have made her a laughingstock.
Though Sonoko had her doubts about whether the potion was truly as miraculous as claimed, she decided it was worth a shot regardless — anything was better than doing nothing.
"It's free." Lisa raised a hand to cut off Sonoko's objections, explaining with a smile, "No need to feel embarrassed, really. I only finished mixing this potion recently, and I still don't know how it performs in actual use. Today's little situation is the perfect chance to test it — all I ask is to see the results with my own eyes. You won't be paying a single yen, Sonoko, dear."
Once Lisa had put it that way, Sonoko didn't refuse again.
"Then let's head back down to the inn right now and borrow a watering can," Sonoko said, already turning to drag Ran down the mountainside — they could come back and deal with the handkerchiefs afterward.
"One moment, please." Albedo called out to stop them, then lifted the finished painting from his easel and handed it over. "I added a few final touches just now — Miss Suzuki and Miss Ran, the two of you are in it now. I hope you don't mind."
Then he brought up Klee. "I heard from Klee that Miss Mouri has been wonderfully attentive to her whenever she plays with the Detective Boys." At the very least, no explosions had occurred during any of Klee's outings with Ran — and for Klee, that was an exceedingly rare feat indeed.
"So I'd like to give this painting to Miss Mouri, as thanks for looking after my little sister all this while. I hope it brings you both joy."