The Price of Apprenticeship
"There's something else," Amuro Tooru pressed on. "When I spoke with Miss Kamon afterward, she told me that was her first time meeting you. Out of nowhere, you said you needed to talk with her, and she was honestly rather taken aback. Unfortunately, so much happened afterward that to this day she still has no idea what you wanted from her."
He went on smoothly. "And when she learned I was planning to ask Mr. Mouri to take me on as a student, she actually asked me to find out for her. So, Miss Natsume — what exactly did you intend to say to Miss Kamon that day? Would you indulge a detective's curiosity a little?"
Everyone turned their curious gazes toward Xia Yu, who blinked once and answered with perfect composure. "Ah, well, there's nothing I can't share. It's actually quite simple. At the time, I received word that Miss Kamon might very well be Mr. Hanbara's blood sister, so I wanted to speak with her in advance and give her a chance to prepare herself."
"Sadly, I still wasn't in time to stop her from that act of self-destruction in the heat of the moment — though at least we managed to catch her in the end."
"Received word?" Amuro arched an eyebrow. "My, Miss Natsume, you're remarkably well informed."
Ran looked puzzled too. "That's true. Xia Yu, weren't you meeting her for the first time? How could you get hold of something so private about Miss Kamon?"
"Ran, have you forgotten? Didn't Miss Kamon say she had her fortune told by Mona? The reading said she could never be with Mr. Hanbara, and that she would be hurt." Xia Yu folded her hands, utterly earnest. "Mona is a friend of mine, and her readings are always accurate. Since Miss Kamon's wedding is tomorrow, I was a little worried, so I asked her for more details about the result."
"She messaged me later saying that all she could confirm at the time was that Miss Kamon and Hanbara Ryota were siblings — she couldn't say whether they were cousins or full brother and sister."
"But if the reading said they couldn't be together, then there had to be a reason they couldn't be together. That's why I wanted to talk to Miss Kamon."
Xia Yu delivered this explanation with the unshakable confidence of someone who believed, one hundred percent, in her astrologer friend's predictions.
Astrology?
Amuro Tooru could only stare. Watching a girl whose face so closely resembled Cointreau's spout such superstitious nonsense left him feeling off-balance no matter which way he looked at it.
Could this girl — quite possibly Cointreau's own sister — actually put her faith in something so flimsy?
Oblivious to the turmoil in Amuro's eyes, Xia Yu continued her explanation. "Although cousin marriage does seem to be legal in Japan, once I heard that the two of them had the same blood type, the same birthday, and the same life experiences, I combined that with what Mona said and concluded they were almost certainly twins."
As he listened, Amuro's eyes gradually slid into flat little beads. Nobody was going to buy an explanation like that... right?
Then he turned his head and heard the great detective Mouri's own daughter nodding along in agreement. "That's right — Mona's readings are really accurate. It's a good thing you double-checked just to be safe, Xia Yu, or something terrible would've happened to Miss Kamon."
Even the little boy lodging at the Mouri Detective Agency — the same quick-moving, sharp-thinking boy who had seemed anything but an ordinary elementary schooler — wore a thoughtful, pondering expression.
Amuro could scarcely believe it. The family of Mouri Kogoro, the man who had meddled in the Organization's operations more than once, believed in this sort of baseless talk?
Fortunately, the detective himself proved to be of a different mind from Ran and Conan, and raised his objection outright. "Oh, come on. How can anyone trust astrology — it has no scientific basis whatsoever. For all we know, this friend of yours got hold of some information beforehand and just said it to sound impressive."
Mm-hm. Exactly. That's entirely possible.
Amuro nodded inwardly in agreement. Now that's the logical take.
But Ran begged to differ. "Dad, Mona's different. She predicted Sonoko's romance before Sonoko had even met Kyogoku-san."
"Uncle Mouri, didn't you have your fortune read by Mona too?" Xia Yu reminded him. "Just last month — you bought a horse ticket based on her reading, won a tidy sum against all odds, and treated us all to a big dinner. Have you forgotten?"
"Huh? Oh! So that's who Mona is!" The mention of winning at the races jogged Mouri Kogoro's memory at once.
He lowered his head and mulled it over for a moment before declaring, with great gravitas, "Well then. It seems this Miss Mona does have genuine talent. Astrology may have some scientific merit after all."
Watching the detective overturn his own words without a moment's hesitation, Amuro felt the corner of his mouth twitch. But contradicting the man was out of the question, so he promptly broke into a smile and praised Mr. Mouri's penetrating insight.
Judging that Mouri Kogoro was now in good humor, Amuro seized his opening. "In that case — would it be possible for me to stay by your side and learn from you, Mr. Mouri?"
Mouri Kogoro picked up the coffee at his elbow, fully prepared to refuse the apprenticeship — when Amuro leaned in close and murmured in his ear, "As tuition, I'll pay for every single case we take on... Would that be acceptable?"
"R-really?" Mouri Kogoro nearly choked on his coffee in his excitement, and agreed on the spot. "You're hired!"
He straightened his jacket with all due solemnity and pronounced, "From this moment on, you may call me Teacher. Amuro."
Amuro Tooru rose with a radiant smile and snapped off a salute. "Yes, Teacher Mouri."