Night fell, and inside the staff lounge on the second floor of the antique "Yum Cha Xin" teahouse.
Rin leaned back comfortably in a grand armchair, a glistening grape in her mouth, muttering indistinctly: "Red beans grow in the southern land, how many branches will sprout in spring? I hope you gather many, for this is the most longed-for thing…" ( TL: i dont know how to translate this so i just use an AI to see what i got. and i got this, its hard to change a chinese poems TwT sorry because im doing this TwT )
She drew out the last syllable, looking mischievously at Sweety, the owner of Yum Cha Xin, who was beside her.
Sweety, dressed in a cheongsam, smiled back at her words, her eyes conveying a hint of playful reproach.
Her hands, however, didn't stop. She picked up a delicate round fan and gently fanned Rin. "Rin~, that poem makes my heart itch. Are you trying to tease me again?"
"No way~"
Rin narrowed her eyes, smiling, and reached out to grab the head of Nekomiya Mana, the cat-girl beside her, stroking the fluffy cat ears on top of her head.
Her fingers skillfully moved between Nekomiya Mana's soft hair and sensitive cat ears, rubbing her so comfortably that Nekomiya Mana's golden vertical pupils narrowed, and she let out a purring sound.
"Ah--" Miss Ling opened her mouth, gesturing to Ellen who was standing nearby.
Ellen bared her teeth, looking at Rin's imperious manner with an expression of disdain.
But she still accurately picked a peeled grape from the fruit plate and popped it into Rin's mouth.
"Rin, you've fallen," Ellen said with some dissatisfaction, her arms crossed over her chest.
"Are you jealous?"
Rin swallowed the grape, grinning as she released Nekomiya Mana's head, then reached her 'demonic' claws towards Ellen's shark tail.
"Are you perhaps seeing that Nekomiya Mana get her head stroked and now you want your tail get stroked too?"
Unexpectedly, Ellen only gave a symbolic twitch this time, and her tail didn't quickly pull away as usual, allowing Rin's hand to touch her tail.
"Hmph, who, who's jealous!" Ellen turned her face away, though her earlobes were slightly flushed. "I just think you're too lazy right now!"
"Tsundere~"
Rin pinched the tip of Ellen's tail, causing her body to stiffen.
"This isn't falling, Ellen."
Rin withdrew her hand, her face beaming with uncontrollable excitement: "I'm just so happy because of the great Film harvest."
This morning on the train, Gin, Vodka, and Mouri Kogoro all generously exploded with Film for her.
Adding Conan, Korn, Chianti, and the Film generated by other people's emotional fluctuations.
The amount of Film she got today was enough for 200 draws.
To avoid repeating last time draw, where she didn't get many characters but drew a lot of Bangboo, she only did 40 draws this time and stopped, planning to save the remaining Film for later.
In these 40 draws, she pulled the playable characters Nekomiya Mana and Lucy.
Lucy got a good identity. the daughter of an old European noble family.
She's not in Japan currently and will arrive after some time.
Nekomiya Mana had a tougher lot, her identity was that of a pickpocket, and she was summoned directly to Rin's side.
Besides these, she also drew abstract things like the Great Bangboo.
These were temporarily thrown into storage with the other Bangboo, and she didn't choose to summon them.
Just then, Rin's phone vibrated in her pocket.
Taking it out, the screen showed "Mouri Ran".
Rin was a little surprised. She gestured for everyone to be quiet and pressed the answer button: "Hello, Ran?"
On the other end of the line, Ran's voice was a bit hesitant and very low: "Rin-san? It's me, Ran. Um… Is it convenient for you to talk right now? I have something… I want to ask you…"
"It's convenient, go ahead," Rin gestured for Sweety to refill her tea, and then resumed stroking Nekomiya Mana's head.
"It's just… it's just that last time at the video store, you were joking, saying Conan might be Shinichi's father's… um… illegitimate child, right?"
Ran's voice got even softer, as if afraid of being overheard.
"I thought about it carefully afterward, and it actually seems a bit possible…"
"Oh?" Rin raised an eyebrow, glancing at Ellen and Nekomiya Mana who had curiously leaned in, and placed her phone on speaker on the table.
"Listen to me," Ran's voice carried a hint of dissatisfaction.
"Conan has been living with us for several days now. But where are his parents? They haven't called even once! They haven't asked about Conan's situation even once! Isn't that too irresponsible? It's not at all how caring parents should act."
She paused, as if having made up her mind, and her voice dropped even lower: "So just now, while Conan was asleep… I secretly pulled a few strands of his hair… I'm going to ask Shinichi to help me secretly do a paternity test for Conan and Yusaku-san later."
"Pfft--" Rin nearly spat out the tea she had just drunk. "Ran, I was just joking that day, there's no need to go to such an extent, is there?"
Ran was unexpectedly serious and continued: "I can't help it, Conan and Shinichi looked so similar when they were little. If Conan really is Shinichi's younger brother, Shinichi should care about this brother, right? The mistakes made by adults shouldn't be borne by a child like Conan. Conan is truly too pitiful; I want to help him."
Rin took a sip of tea quietly.
Conan, Conan, your troubles seem to be getting bigger and bigger, don't they?
But then again, I'm the type who loves to watch a good show unfold, hehe~.