Can't Think of a Title 2
A few days later, the Teitan High School culture festival arrived.
"Wow, it's so lively!" Xia Yu made her way along the path toward Teitan High's gymnasium, where the roadside was packed with stalls of every description run by the students, vendors crying their wares and handing out flyers at every turn.
"Mr. Mouri, Ran and the others are performing in the gymnasium, right?" Xia Yu checked with Mouri Kogoro. Today, she had come mainly to watch Ran's performance.
"Yep, just a little ways ahead. Let's hurry over." Mouri Kogoro was visibly excited — this was his daughter's performance today, and the last thing he wanted was to be late.
Xia Yu nodded, then crouched down to look at Conan, who was wearing a mask. "Still, Conan, you only just had your surgery, and now you've caught a cold. How are you feeling? Do you want to rest a bit before we walk on?"
"Don't worry, I'm fine. Let's go," Conan replied.
Xia Yu and Mouri Kogoro followed along behind "Conan" as he walked ahead of them.
Privately, Xia Yu marveled. So this was Haibara's version of Conan. There was something coolly detached about the voice, just a little different from Conan's usual bright, self-assured energy.
When they reached the gymnasium, they headed backstage, where they found Mouri Ran, Suzuki Sonoko, and Toyama Kazuha chatting together. This was Xia Yu's first time meeting Toyama Kazuha — supposedly Hattori Heiji's destined partner — so it seemed like a perfect chance to get acquainted.
The group had been talking for a while when suddenly, from a corner of the backstage area where he was reviewing his script, Dr. Araide called out, "Ran, could you come over here for a moment? I'd like to go over our lines for the performance."
Ran hurried over at once, and without Ran in the way, Xia Yu finally got a clear view of the man standing behind her. She remembered that in this part of the story, the Dr. Araide before her was already Vermouth in disguise.
Xia Yu looked over with some curiosity. She wanted to know just how miraculous the art of disguise really was in the Conan world — would she be able to see through it?
The moment she looked over, her gaze met the other woman's — and though it lasted only an instant, Xia Yu couldn't shake the feeling that when Vermouth saw her face, a flicker of shock passed through her eyes.
Strange. Did Vermouth know who she was?
A thread of doubt tugged at Xia Yu, but she set it aside for now. She had reasonable confidence in her own strength these days, and with the organization beginning to take shape, nothing was likely to happen under ordinary circumstances.
Besides, her interest was still fixed on the disguise. Xia Yu studied the man carefully with the naked eye and found, to her genuine surprise, that she truly couldn't spot a single flaw. From his bearing to his mannerisms, he was a man through and through.
Unwilling to accept defeat, she quietly activated her Elemental Sight — and sure enough, the flaw revealed itself.
Discovering that she could, in fact, see through disguises — even if it felt a bit like cheating — put Xia Yu at ease. The last thing she wanted was for someone to wear a friend's face one day and coax secrets out of her without her ever noticing.
Before long, with the performance time approaching, everyone said their goodbyes to Ran.
"Good luck out there, Ran!" With those parting words, Xia Yu left backstage as well, following Kazuha and Mouri Kogoro to their seats to wait for the show.
Before long, the performance began.
With Mouri Kogoro and Toyama Kazuha shouting encouragement from either side of her every so often — slightly distracting, to say the least — the performance was, on the whole, a splendid one.
Soon the story reached the moment Xia Yu had been quietly anticipating all day: the Knight in Black appeared and rescued the princess played by Mouri Ran, and the two of them, per the script, were about to kiss.
Throughout the process, Xia Yu had to help Kazuha physically restrain Mouri Kogoro by the arms to keep him from storming the stage and halting the performance.
"Ahhh—!"
Just as Xia Yu was secretly wondering whether the two of them might actually pull off the kiss this time, a sudden scream — one that was nevertheless exactly what she'd expected — froze everyone in place.
Well then. Xia Yu let go of Mouri Kogoro's arm and sighed inwardly. As expected, they didn't manage to kiss after all. A little disappointing, honestly.
Soon enough, the police arrived at the scene in response to the report.
Xia Yu glanced at her mission panel, and sure enough, the world mission had refreshed as expected. But she had no intention today of solving the case before Kudou Shinichi. It was rare for him to stand before Ran as himself — and she wasn't so heartless as to steal that from him. Let him show off a little in front of Ran while he had the chance.
Besides, it would give Vermouth a good, long look at just how brazen her "cool guy" could be — swaggering about in broad daylight in front of a crowd this large, utterly unafraid that the Black Organization might learn he was still alive and decide to tie up loose ends. She could stand to give him a few more scares in everyday life, really. At the very least, it might teach him a sense of the stakes, so he'd stop charging in recklessly without thinking of the consequences, the way he had today.
What followed was the highlight of the day: Kudou Shinichi, restored to his true form after taking the temporary antidote Haibara Ai had devised — built on the principle that drinking baijiu while sick with a cold could briefly return his body to normal. Together with Hattori Heiji, the two of them worked in perfect sync, not only catching the culprit of the case, but also — through Shinichi and "Conan" appearing in the same place at the same time — dismantling part of Ran's suspicion that Conan and Shinichi were one and the same.
There had been the minor incident along the way where Hattori, powdered up and impersonating Shinichi, earned the wrath of Inspector Megure and Mouri Kogoro alike, but all in all, today's case was resolved without a hitch. Only at the very end did Kudou Shinichi's sudden collapse startle everyone.
Xia Yu helped Ran carry Kudou Shinichi to the school infirmary. Dr. Araide examined him, pronounced nothing wrong, and everyone breathed a little easier.
Sure enough, before long, Kudou Shinichi woke up. His body showed no signs of any real trouble, so the group exchanged farewells with Dr. Araide one by one and took their leave.
Once Mouri Ran and Kudou Shinichi's group had gone, only Dr. Araide remained in the infirmary. He was slowly sorting through the medicine cabinet, and as he turned to return a bottle to its place, his pupils contracted sharply — a figure had appeared behind him, without a sound.
Araide Tomoaki's face registered his surprise as he asked, "Who are you? Are you here for the culture festival too? The festival isn't being held on this side of the school — if you're lost, I'd be happy to show you the way."
It was the picture of a kind-hearted man ready to help a stranger.
Cointreau paid no heed whatsoever to Vermouth's disguise and cut straight to the point. "Vermouth. There's no need to play the fool. You saw it, didn't you?"