Chapter 242 Judy's Secret in the Bathroom
Yuya called Mao Lilan home.
"Huh? Shinichi, you also received an invitation?" Mao Lilan looked at the invitation letter and envelope on the table in surprise.
Conan nodded, revealing an embarrassment: "Yes, so... Ran, I may not be able to accompany you to the hot spring."
Mao Lilan immediately showed a disappointed expression, thought for a moment and said: "Doesn't the invitation say that you can bring a companion? How about I go with you?"
Conan subconsciously wanted to refuse. If he went to the party this time, he might meet people from the organization, and Conan didn't want Mouri Ran to be in danger.
"Xiaolan, are you really going?" Youya suddenly spoke up, grinning, "That party is full of all kinds of monsters!"
"What, what? Monsters and ghosts?" Mao Lilan immediately showed a frightened expression.
She is fearless and can smash electric poles with her bare hands and blow Conan away... No, under normal circumstances, Ran Mouri has a very high fighting power, and the only thing she is afraid of is ghosts.
"Yeah," Yuya pointed at the invitation and said, "Didn't it say that everyone attending the party has to dress up as a monster..."
Mao Lilan subconsciously retreated: "Ah... if that's the case..."
"It's okay, Ran, just go take a hot spring bath! Yuya and I will go too." Conan said hurriedly, giving Yuya a look of admiration. He was still thinking about what excuse he could use to persuade Ran Mouri to back off, but Yuya's casual words made Ran Mouri back off on her own.
"But... didn't he invite Kudo Shinichi? The way you look now..." Mouri Ran was hesitant to speak.
"Don't worry, we have a way..." Youye smiled. Facing Mao Lilan's puzzled look, he raised his finger to make a silent gesture, "It's just a secret."
Mao Lilan snorted and didn't ask any more questions. She said hesitantly, "But there are two invitation tickets. You can't let me go alone? Sonoko and her father are going to the party. How about I invite Mio?"
Yuya quickly said, "No, Mio has to go to the hospital for a physical examination and doesn't have time to go."
"Like this..." Mao Lilan was a little disappointed, "Do I really have to go alone?"
"No, don't worry, someone will go with you." Youya gave her a mysterious smile.
"Okay." Mao Lilan agreed reluctantly.
···
At school, Suzuki Sonoko pulled Mouri Ran aside to discuss helping Mouri Kogoro dress up as a monster.
At this time, the head teacher, Mr. Mizuhara, suddenly came in and announced a bad news. Teacher Judy had some family matters and would leave at the end of the month after finishing this month's English class.
Everyone looked reluctant, but there was nothing they could do but accept the fact.
After school, Suzuki Sonoko took Mouri Ran to find Judy and asked her why she left school and whether something really happened at home that forced her to leave.
"Nono," Judy shook her finger, "That's a reason I made up. Actually, I came to Neon to find a treasure, and I recently found the treasure map, so there's no need to stay."
"Treasure? Treasure map?" The two showed confused expressions, "What does it mean?"
Judy smiled mysteriously, with no intention of explaining.
"Ah! Teacher Judy!" Mao Lilan suddenly thought of something, "If the teacher is leaving, why don't I treat you to a hot spring bath as a farewell?"
Although Youya said that someone would accompany her, Teacher Judy is leaving soon, so I'm going to treat her to a hot spring bath as a farewell party. That person should understand, right?
"Hot springs?" Judy was a little excited.
"Yes!" Mao Lilan said with a smile, "I won two hot spring invitation tickets in a lottery at the supermarket yesterday, and they are the best! There is a separate hot spring pool! Teacher Judy, do you want to go?"
"I see..." Judy thought for a moment, "But aren't you going with Suzuki?"
Mao Lilan sighed and said, "Sonoko and my father have to go to a party, and so does Yuya. They are all busy."
Judy asked, "Where's Tiancang? You didn't seem to mention her?"
Mao Lilan had a regretful expression on her face: "Didn't Mio-chan take a long leave because she was not feeling well? She has to go to the hospital for a follow-up check tomorrow, and she doesn't even have time to accompany You to the party, let alone go to the hot spring with me."
"Really? It's so rare for me to win such a good prize."
Suzuki Sonoko quickly comforted her, "Okay, Lan, at worst I can invite you guys to my villa with a hot spring next time! I'll let you down this time~"
What else could Mao Lilan do? She could only choose to forgive her friends.
"Oh?" Judy's eyes moved slightly, "What about the cool kid, Conan?"
"Ah, Conan, Mio-chan is busy, so Yu took Conan to the party." said Mao Lilan.
"Is that so..." Judy nodded suddenly. If that was the case, wouldn't the girl be home alone? This might be a good opportunity.
"How is it, Teacher Judy?" Mao Lilan looked at Judy expectantly.
Judy looked embarrassed.
Mao Lilan was a little disappointed when she saw this.
Suzuki Sonoko rolled her eyes and changed the subject, "How about this, how about we hold a simple party for Teacher Judy tonight? Just the three of us!"
"Party..." Ran Mao Li looked at Judy.
Judy nodded quickly and declined the offer to take a hot spring bath. It would be too hurtful if she also refused the farewell party.
"Then let's go buy some snacks and drinks." Suzuki Sonoko said, "Let's go to the convenience store in front of the station."
"Are you talking about the company where Xiaoxuan works? Sure, let's go there."
So the three of them came to the convenience store.
However, to their surprise, Xiao Xuan, also known as their junior high school classmate Nanakawa Xuan, was being scolded by the store manager because of constant thefts in the store, and the manager was about to fire her.
Of course, Mao Lilan and Suzuki Sonoko would not believe that their classmate would be a thief.
However, the store manager installed surveillance cameras in the store and did not find anyone stealing. At the same time, yesterday was the time when Qichuan Xuan was on duty. He was waiting outside from the evening until the store opened in the day, and did not find anyone entering the store to steal.
But when he checked the inventory, he still found that the goods and sales did not match.
What was stolen were lunch boxes, snacks, drinks, DVDs and the like, which are very suitable for students to get together and eat snacks while watching movies.
Naturally, he suspected that the things were stolen by Nanakawa Xuan.
Ran Maori has learned a lot from watching Conan/Kudo Shinichi and Yuya solving cases.
Let's fast forward and skip the entire process. With Mouri Ran's well-reasoned reasoning, the thief was successfully discovered without even relying on Conan's help.
The thief was the office worker who often went to the convenience store to buy some bento boxes that were about to expire.
This man was fired from his company and couldn't find a job, so he lived on the ceiling of a convenience store. He took advantage of the fact that no one was in the store after get off work and stole some things to sustain his life.
But he was not that bad. After hearing that Nanakawa Aya was misunderstood by the store manager because of his stealing, he stopped stealing for a while. But later he could not hold on any longer and started stealing things again.
The convenience store manager did not call the police. Looking at this man reminded him of the time when he was unemployed. He then thought that this man was not a very bad person, so he kept him and asked him to work to pay off his debts.
···
After the matter was resolved, the three of them bought some party supplies and went to Judy's house.
Maybe because she was too relaxed, Judy drank alone and got drunk, and fell asleep on the table halfway through.
Suzuki Sonoko complained endlessly.
Mao Lilan smiled and defended Judy, then went to the bathroom.
When washing her hands after using the toilet, Mao Lilan accidentally found a photo sticking out from under the mirror cabinet. Out of curiosity, she opened the cabinet door and was surprised to find that it was full of photos.
They are all pictures of her, Kudo Shinichi, Conan, Yuya, and Amakura Mio (Miyano Shiho).
Among them, the photo of Amakura Mio was placed in the most conspicuous position in the front.
"What...is this?" Mao Lilan widened her eyes in shock.