The gold coins were returned in the end.
Everyone had heard Yimi say she had taken the stolen goods, and those hateful kids who looked about the same age as her immediately tattled and told the police the truth.
Although it was only children's testimony, the police still said they needed to go to her home and look for the gold.
Yimi couldn't cause trouble for Kisaki Eri, so she casually found a corner at the scene and put the coins down there.
The last time she had made something appear out of thin air in front of that man in white, she'd frightened him badly. So she couldn't do that this time, even though the man in white had been able to pull things out of nowhere too.
But she still caused trouble.
"Honestly! Do you know how long I looked for you? You actually ran off to hunt treasure? Those robbers kill without batting an eye! You were lucky the police were there this time. If they hadn't been, they might have had to fish you out of the sea!"
Those words were frightening to say to a child, but Kisaki Eri had personally raised one before. She knew that children were the sort of creatures who would do it again next time unless the first lesson scared them enough. Though this girl probably hadn't known there were robbers when she went there.
"Mm."
Kisaki Eri had an extremely powerful, stern presence. Her logic was also perfectly orderly: first list everything Yimi had done wrong, then hit her.
In all the worlds Yimi had visited, she had never taken in a human like this before. After Kisaki Eri knocked her on the head, Yimi felt so guilty she didn't even use her damage reflection.
"You even dared hide the coins. Where would a little girl like you get the strength? If you were an adult, this would be illegal, understand?"
Yimi hugged her head and shrank into the corner. "I picked them up."
"You still want to argue?" Kisaki Eri flexed her fist threateningly.
Yimi whimpered twice and decided not to hold it against her.
Seeing that she seemed to understand her mistake, Kisaki Eri lowered her hand. The little thing must have been terrified when facing an armed robber too. Eri only hoped the lesson would stick without scaring her off.
"Honestly. I had no idea you'd hidden stolen property for so long. You can't just pocket stolen money you find. Someone robbed it from another person, and the victim is worried because their things were taken. If you hide it, then even after they catch the criminal, the victim still can't get their property back."
This child was much more mischievous than Ran had been at the same age, but still much better than that "Kudo Washing Machine" kid next door.
After finishing that last lecture, Kisaki Eri took off her jacket, put on an apron, and walked toward the kitchen.
The one reassuring thing was that Yimi's escape had proven her body was healthy. During some of the lab tests and blood draws, Yimi had simply used Love Train to transfer the process away. Nobody knew whose blood had actually been drawn.
In short, she only had an extra pair of ears and a tail. Otherwise Kisaki Eri wouldn't have dared knock her on the head just now. According to the doctor she'd made an appointment with, though, she had never heard of a case like this. Had this child really never been examined at a hospital before?
Either way, the fact that she had grown up healthy was wonderful.
Thinking that, Kisaki Eri busied herself in the kitchen for quite a while before finally setting the finished meal in front of Yimi.
"Eat." She'd only just finished scolding her. She wasn't about to soften her tone for at least an hour.
Yimi instinctively shrank her neck. Kisaki Eri's cooking was extremely bad.
"Ah-woo~"
But it was still within the category of food and hadn't reached the level of Kyubey meat, so Yimi still cleaned her plate completely.
Kisaki Eri's expression softened considerably.
That alone made her feel deeply gratified. Even a little kid could eat her cooking, so what was that man's problem? Every time she thought about it, the mood she'd finally worked up to ask him about Yimi vanished immediately.
"Ring-ring-ring~"
The landline rang.
"I'll answer." Yimi jumped off the sofa, ran over, and grabbed the phone.
Unlike the flat little slab she had, phones here could actually be this big, and it wasn't even a Transponder Snail. Very advanced.
"Hello?"
"Hello, is this Kisaki Eri?"
"Obviously they're not calling for you, right?" Kisaki Eri helplessly lifted Yimi aside, took the receiver, and began talking about business matters Yimi couldn't understand.
Yimi perked up her ears, clung to the side of the phone cabinet, and tilted her head to listen. No tiny sound could escape her four-channel hearing.
It was really nothing important to Yimi, but at the end, the other person let out a relieved breath and said with a laugh, "Then I'll look forward to the Queen of the Court claiming another victory."
Queen!
Kisaki Eri didn't notice the little girl's sparkling eyes as she stared up at her.
...
Enrollment procedures in this world were extremely simple. With just a few connections, even someone using a false name like "Edogawa Conan" could enroll in elementary school directly.
"Then I'll leave this child in your care."
"Yes. Please don't worry."
To keep her ears from being painfully pressed down, Kisaki Eri had deliberately bought Yimi a soft hat. Unfortunately, it wasn't winter, so wearing a padded hat was inevitably hot.
Hiding the tail wasn't quite as troublesome. Although Kisaki Eri disapproved, Yimi could wrap it once around her waist like a Saiyan whenever Eri wasn't looking.
That was naturally extremely uncomfortable for a cat's tail and could only be maintained by the pressure of her clothes, but Love Train could transfer the discomfort away directly, making some miserable monkeys in some distant region stamp their feet in distress.
Even after giving up skirts, she still had to dress beautifully. On her first day of school, the kitty was still the same cool girl.
"My name is Yimi." Yimi took the chalk and wrote her name on the blackboard.
"It's that girl from before!"
Naturally, her absurdly good luck had placed her in the same class as the children she had gone treasure hunting with earlier.
Unlike the delighted reactions of the other three, Conan only felt his right eyelid twitch wildly. But as a believer in science, he naturally wouldn't be influenced by a superstition that wasn't even local.
"She's so pretty. Why is her hair white?" The classroom buzzed with whispers.
Yimi had only introduced her name, leaving the atmosphere a little awkward. The teacher bent down and asked, "Is there anything else you'd like to tell everyone about yourself?"
They had to take special care of this child. Not only did her unusual body and adorable appearance make people instinctively want to protect her, but the principal had repeatedly instructed them to pay special attention to this prodigy. Apparently she could even write a little in less commonly taught languages.
"Mm?" Yimi turned her head in confusion.
In the schools she'd attended before, she'd only had to introduce herself and that was it. At the temple school, Keine-sensei had even introduced her for her. Why did she need to say anything else?
Yimi glanced toward the door and saw Kisaki Eri standing there because she was still worried. Eri gave her an encouraging look.
Yimi understood, but apparently she understood the wrong thing. She pointed at Kisaki Eri. "I live at the Queen's house."
"The Queen?"
"What kind of queen?"
"She has to be the Queen of Blades."
"No, it should be a Magic Queen!"
The children were extremely interested in the subject, and the classroom immediately became a little uncontrollable.
Kisaki Eri: "..."
Kisaki Eri seemed extremely satisfied with Yimi's confident performance and briskly walked away.
...
Adults were probably under a lot of work pressure. Public safety in this world was clearly terrible, yet elementary school students, even first- and second-graders, still usually went to and from school by themselves. Even without school buses, very few had adults escorting them.
Take the Maple Leaf Gold Coins case from before. A group of seven-year-old elementary students had wandered around outside for an entire day and even eaten hamburgers together for lunch.
The Mouri household where Conan was staying was even less likely to have anyone who could escort him to and from school. Getting Kogoro to wake up early enough to bring him was impossible, while Mouri Ran was a high school student who had to attend school herself.
But Conan really hadn't come alone today. Just yesterday, the little guy had followed a group of friends straight toward the gun barrels of robbers, so, still shaken by what had happened, Ran naturally insisted on bringing him to school.
And then she witnessed something she couldn't understand.
Her mother, who had argued with her father and moved out long ago, was affectionately straightening the collar of a girl about Conan's age and walking her into the school gates.
The bag in Ran's hand dropped to the ground.