Ten o'clock at night.
Downstairs from the Mouri Detective Agency.
Kurosawa Hoshino got out of Officer Sato's car. He glanced at Yumi Miyamoto in the back seat, reeking of alcohol and sound asleep, and asked, "Officer Sato, are you sure you'll be okay?"
"Sigh—" Officer Sato sighed and also looked back at her best friend. She said softly, "Yumi is my good friend. Even if there's a problem, I have to make sure there isn't one."
"All right. Bye."
"Mm, bye."
After saying that, Officer Sato started the car and slowly drove away.
Kurosawa Hoshino watched the car disappear into the distance and couldn't help muttering inwardly, You two are the real couple. She gets drunk and you drive this slowly and steadily? How infuriating.
Then he looked up at the third floor and saw that both Ran's and Kogoro Mouri's rooms had their lights on.
Just as he was about to head across the street, he suddenly heard Ran's shout from upstairs.
"No!"
"Are they arguing?" Curious, Kurosawa Hoshino went straight upstairs.
He soon reached the third-floor door. It wasn't locked, so he turned the knob and opened it. At the same time, Ran's voice became clearer.
"No, it's already so late."
"Go, go, go. What does a kid know?"
"Dad, I'm going to get angry."
"You think I'm afraid of you getting angry?"
Kurosawa Hoshino entered the living room and saw Ran standing in the doorway, arms spread wide, desperately blocking Kogoro Mouri.
"What's going on?" he asked.
Instantly, Ran turned around, looked at Kurosawa Hoshino with delight, and pulled him over. "Hoshino, great, help me talk some sense into Dad. He got a call from a woman late at night, and now he wants to go out and meet her."
"Ran, I already told you, it's an old classmate."
"What old classmate meets up late at night?" Ran was so angry her fists were clenched.
Kogoro Mouri said helplessly, "She ran into a little trouble and needs my help."
"Then why did you ask me which tie was appropriate?"
Ran pointed out a suspicious detail.
Kurosawa Hoshino nodded in agreement. "Yeah, Uncle Mouri, if you're just going to help, why ask which tie is appropriate? This looks like a date, not help."
"Fine."
Kogoro Mouri took out his phone, turned, and went back to his bedroom to make a call.
Less than a minute later, he came back out, sat down on the tatami, and said to his daughter, "I just called her inside and told her I couldn't go because something came up. Satisfied now?"
Ran didn't speak. She just held out her hand.
"What?" Kogoro Mouri didn't understand.
"I want to see the call log."
Kogoro Mouri's eye twitched, but to make his daughter believe him, he handed over the phone.
Kurosawa Hoshino moved closer to Ran and watched as she opened the call log. Sure enough, there was a recent call, which proved he hadn't lied.
"Here, take it back." Ran handed the phone to her father.
"Hmph." Kogoro Mouri turned his head away unhappily, like a sulking child.
"Oh, right, Hoshino."
At that moment, Ran seemed to remember something. She smacked her forehead and hurried into her room.
A short while later, she came out carrying a bag.
"Here, for you." Ran smiled and handed him the bag.
"For me?" Kurosawa Hoshino recognized the bag. It was from the shop near Tokyo Station that Ran had visited during the day. He had assumed everything was for her, but it turned out there was something for him too. "Ran, you didn't even mention it. You caught me off guard."
"Hehe, it's nothing expensive. Just a bath towel."
"A bath towel?"
"Yes." Ran explained, "Last time I was cleaning your place, I saw your bath towel in the bathroom. It was rough and had holes. When we were shopping this morning, I saw one and bought it for you. I was going to tell you after dinner, but then you went out."
"Thank you." Kurosawa Hoshino smiled.
Although guys didn't care much about towels and bath towels, not caring didn't mean they wouldn't be happy to receive a new one. He was quite pleased.
"Hey!"
Kogoro Mouri shouted. He slapped a hand on the low table, his face full of grievance. "Ran, why didn't you buy one for me too? My bath towel is rough, doesn't absorb water, and has holes. Why didn't you buy me one?"
"Didn't you say it yourself?" Ran teased. "A long time ago I told you to throw that bath towel away, but you said it was comfortable. Now you're blaming me?"
"I never said it was comfortable. It's not comfortable at all." Kogoro Mouri spoke angrily. If he were a child, he probably would have rolled on the floor.
"Hmph." Ran wrinkled her nose and turned back to her room.
Just when Kogoro Mouri thought his daughter was going to ignore him and was about to glare at Kurosawa Hoshino, he saw Ran come back out, carrying another bag. He was stunned.
"Here, I bought one for you too." Ran looked at her father helplessly, her hand suspended in midair.
Kogoro Mouri stared at his daughter in surprise, his expression a mix of guilt and joy. He wanted to smile but was too embarrassed.
"Hehe, Ran, Uncle Mouri, I'm heading back." After saying that, Kurosawa Hoshino didn't want to disturb the father and daughter any longer and quickly slipped out.
Once he left, Kogoro Mouri felt less burdened. He scratched the back of his head and said softly, "Sorry, Ran. I shouldn't have argued with you earlier."
"Good that you know. Don't trust other people's words late at night. It might be a scam."
"Cough, would someone as smart as me get scammed?" Kogoro Mouri said, taking the bag from his daughter.
"I can't be bothered with you." Ran pouted, turned, and went back to her room, lying down on her bed.
A short while later, her phone rang. It was Sonoko calling.
As soon as she answered, Sonoko's excited voice came through. "Ran, I discovered a secret. Quick, open the photos we took with Hoshino. Any one of them."
"What's wrong?"
"You'll see."
"Okay." Ran opened her nightstand, took out a photo album, and flipped to the photos they had taken with Kurosawa Hoshino.
"See it?"
"I see it. There's nothing wrong." Ran carefully examined the photos. They were all smiling, and there was nothing strange about the backgrounds.
"Didn't you notice? In the photos Hoshino takes with us, he never looks at the camera." Sonoko's tone carried a hint of shyness, but more than that, happiness.
Ran was taken aback and looked more carefully. In photos with all three of them, it might be hard to tell, but in photos with just two people, it was obvious.
She discovered that in every solo photo of her and Kurosawa Hoshino, his eyes were always looking at her.
"This is—"
"You see it, right? In the photos he took with me, his eyes are all on me." Sonoko said proudly.
"Mine too. In the photos with him, he's looking at me as well."
Ran didn't overthink it and simply said what she observed. "Sonoko, this might just be a habit of Hoshino's."
"True." Hearing that, Sonoko's tone calmed down. But even so, her heart still felt a little sweet.