"How was it?" Akemi Miyano asked Ai Haibara, perfectly fitting the mood.
"It's not hot," Ai Haibara replied, lowering her head in thought. "Akemi-neechan, it seems like his client this time paid him a lot."
Fujino: "..."
Is that really necessary to react *that* much?
"Doo-doo-doo!"
Just then, a phone rang. Fujino sighed, pulled out his phone from his pocket, and saw a message from Sonoko Suzuki: [Fujino-senpai! I found that magazine... I'll send it to you right away.]
Sonoko: [(Twilight Manor.jpg)]
After a slow loading process, a picture of a massive building under the twilight sky appeared. The picture was a page from a magazine, detailing the location of the Twilight Manor and the legends surrounding it.
"She found it that quickly?" Fujino murmured, staring at the magazine description in the photo. He couldn't help but feel impressed by Sonoko; her ability to collect information about rumors, ghost stories, and the like was simply unmatched. If he had to find it himself, it would probably have been much more trouble.
Yeah, from now on, if there's any weird rumor-gathering needed, he decided he'd just have to call Miss Suzuki.
***
The next day, around noon.
"Ah, driving really *is* more comfortable in this heat!" Sonoko, sitting in the back seat of the Ford Taurus, stretched and sighed as she looked at the heat shimmering outside the window. She wore a light, thin dress that gave her a distinctly youthful and lively vibe.
"You're right," Ran Mouri, sitting next to Sonoko in a blue short, light dress, nodded in agreement. "It's so hot today, if we had walked to the hotel, we'd be completely sticky."
Although both wore dresses, Ran clearly had a more mature and steady feeling about her compared to Sonoko.
*'In this kind of weather, shouldn't we just stay home...?'* Conan, sitting next to Ran, thought with a deadpan expression. He really didn't know what was so great about going to a swimming pool...
"Exactly!" Sonoko agreed, sounding a little regretful. "I wish I could get my driver's license too, but I'm still a year too young!"
"Sonoko, do you even have a car?" Ran noticed the blind spot and asked.
"Well, *I* don't," Sonoko replied without thinking. "But we have plenty of idle cars in our garage. If I can get my license next year, I can drive whichever one I want!"
Ran: "..." *I shouldn't have asked.*
Conan: "..." *Typical Suzuki family heiress.*
"..." Fujino looked up at the rearview mirror, silently sighed, and wanted to honestly say: *Give up, girl!* But he didn't know how to put it.
Well, putting aside Sonoko's learning ability, driving skills, and determination... just considering the fact that this *dog of a driver* (referring to himself?) still has a year left... Sonoko would probably find it very hard to reach the age where she could get a license in this lifetime.
"Screech!"
A sudden, ear-piercing sound of tires scraping against the ground pulled Fujino back to reality. He snapped out of it and saw a small red family car ahead swerving erratically all over the road.
"A female driver?" Fujino's expression turned strange as he clearly saw that the driver, who had fallen asleep, was a woman. He immediately felt a bad premonition.
"Hold on tight, everyone!" Fujino yelled, yanking the steering wheel sharply.
"Huh?!" Before they could even react, the car suddenly drifted sharply towards the side of the road. With a series of screeching tire protests, Fujino activated his "Machine Spirit Descent" (机魂降临 - seems like a skill from the story). Then, the Ford Taurus, in an incredibly tricky maneuver, spun around once and slickly dodged past the red car from the roadside.
"Ah!" Conan, who hadn't buckled his seatbelt, was directly thrown forward by that drift, and his head made intimate contact with the car window.
"What happened?!" Ran, who was wearing her seatbelt, covered her slightly dizzy head. She was still feeling a bit woozy from the sudden swerve.
"The driver in that car ahead fell asleep, we almost hit them," Fujino explained simply. He pulled the car over to the side of the road, then unbuckled his seatbelt and got out.
"Is everyone alright?" A woman wearing a red dress with a pink jacket over it and short brown hair, who looked around thirty years old, quickly got out of her car.
"What on earth was that?!" Sonoko also got out, looking a bit upset. "We almost crashed just now!"
"I am so incredibly sorry!" The woman bowed repeatedly. "I don't know what happened just now, I suddenly felt dizzy and fell asleep."
Fortunately, no one was injured, so the group didn't press the issue further.
After some brief conversation, Fujino learned that the woman's name was Chie Yoshino. She was currently a lecturer at a flower arrangement school in Shizuoka. Today, on her way to work, she suddenly received news that classes were canceled, which is why she was coming back to have lunch with her husband. The agreed-upon meeting place was the very same destination for the group: the Akaprince Hotel. Since it was on their way, the woman, out of apology, invited the group to have lunch at the hotel.
In the lobby of the Akaprince Hotel.
"I'm truly sorry about earlier..." Chie Yoshino covered her head and sighed. "I suddenly got dizzy and fell asleep. Speaking of which, this has been happening to me quite often lately. If my head doesn't feel dizzy, then it hurts terribly."
Sonoko speculated, "Could something be wrong with your health?"
"That's not it," Chie Yoshino explained. "I've been to the hospital, and the doctor said there's nothing seriously wrong with me. It might be due to the weather... After all, it's been hot one moment and cool the next recently, hasn't it? Maybe it's due to being overly tired."
"Hot one moment, cool the next?" Fujino frowned upon hearing this, as if he had discovered something incredible. The crazy weather in the *Detective Conan* world really was like that, hot one moment and cold the next. However, whether it was Ai, Akemi-neechan, Ran, Sonoko, or even Inspector Satou (assuming 평冢静 might be a different name for Sato or another character), they all thought this was perfectly normal. Now, someone finally noticed this point, which deeply moved Fujino...
*He finally met a normal person!* He thought everyone in this world had been led astray by some weird rules!
"Yeah, I feel it's strange too, but that's really how it is." Chie Yoshino's point of focus was clearly different from Fujino's. "When the weather is cool or when school is on break, these symptoms completely disappear."
"Then why don't you let Fujino-oniichan take a look?" Conan, sitting nearby and holding the large bump on his head, looked at Fujino. "Western medicine can't figure out such strange symptoms; maybe Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) can."
"Hmm..." Sonoko thought for a moment and agreed. "Fujino-senpai helped me recover the last time I sprained my ankle too, so maybe he really can."
Chie was clearly interested. "Really?"
"Uh-huh," Ran looked at Fujino. "Senpai, can you help see what illness Ms. Yoshino might have?"
Fujino: "..." *Oh great, they spot a TCM student and just relentlessly exploit them, huh?* He wasn't even sure he was a medical student...
Fujino felt a bit helpless. However, since the other person was a rare "normal" one, it would be terrible if she just died from a minor illness or accident. Thinking this, he looked up at Chie. "Your complexion looks healthy, not bloated... nothing seriously wrong... Ah, by the way, Ms. Yoshino, are you wearing makeup?"
Chie nodded sheepishly.
"Then I'll check your pulse..." Fujino sighed and extended his hand.
"Check my pulse?" Chie Yoshino thought for a moment, then hesitantly extended her hand, seeming a little shy. "Is it like checking a pulse on TV?"
*The latest novels are first released on Liuyuewang!* (This seems like a website plug, not part of the dialogue).
Fujino: "...?" *What are you being shy about, huh?!*
Fujino sighed helplessly, then placed his fingers on her wrist in the three traditional positions. The advantage of having a medical profession skill was learning a lot; both Chinese and Western medicine were recorded in his vast knowledge base. He could certainly do a simple pulse check. As for checking the pulse to diagnose cancer... that was a bit far-fetched, but perhaps it was possible at the peak of the medical profession. However, checking for something like this wasn't a big problem.
After a simple examination, Fujino withdrew his hand and thought. "From the pulse, it seems quite normal. Maybe you've been under a bit of stress lately and have some internal heat. There's also a slight feeling of 'deficient heat' entering the body... Drinking some detoxifying soup should help."
"Internal heat? Deficient heat entering the body?" The others present were slightly taken aback. "What does that mean?"
"It seems there aren't direct translations for 'shang huo' (上火 - internal heat) and 'xu huo ru ti' (虚火入体 - deficient heat entering the body) in Japanese..." Fujino was slightly surprised himself, then slapped his forehead. "Anyway, it's basically like inflammation, similar to tonsillitis, causing restlessness, headaches, and a heavy feeling in the head."
"Wow, that's amazing..." Ran said curiously. "You can tell all that just by touching her wrist?"
"That's a basic diagnostic method in Traditional Chinese Medicine," Conan explained knowledgeably. "By feeling the pulse beat with your fingertips to understand the patient's condition. It's a very profound diagnostic technique."
Sonoko thought about it after hearing this, her eyes gleaming. "Then, Fujino-senpai, can you take a look at me too?"
"Let's not," Fujino chuckled awkwardly. "It's better not to check pulses randomly when you're not sick." He shouldn't just randomly check pulses; he didn't want to know anything weird.
"I really have been under some stress lately, I can't believe you could tell," Chie Yoshino was also surprised, and her tone became much more respectful. "Then, Fujino-san, where can I buy this detoxifying soup?"
"Of course, you make it yourself. It's similar to making soup, but you need to simmer it covered. As for the prescription, it's Huanglian Jiedu Tang (黄连解毒汤 - Coptis Detoxification Decoction)," Fujino thought for a moment and said. "9 grams of Huanglian (Coptis), 6 grams each of Huangbai (Phellodendron) and Huangqin (Scutellaria), about 14 Gardenia fruits. Simmer with two bottles of mineral water until it's reduced to one bottle. Drink it in two doses. Just slowly adjust. If it's too bitter, you can add a little sugar."
"Traditional Chinese Medicine is so profound..." Ran sighed with admiration. "Being able to treat illnesses without injections or pills, it feels almost like cooking."
Fujino thought about it. "It's a little harder than cooking... After all, you still need to pay attention to the heat."
"Chie!" Just then, a man in a brown suit walked over.
"Thank you so much for coming!" Chie stood up and introduced him. "This is my husband, Akio Yoshino."
"Hello..." The group stood up and greeted him.
"This is Ran Mouri-san, Sonoko Suzuki-san, and Fujino-san," Chie introduced them, then said a little sheepishly, "Just now, for some reason, my head felt dizzy again, and I almost hit their car."
"It happened again?" Akio Yoshino asked worriedly. "Are you all right? No one was injured, right?"
"It was nothing serious. Fujino-senpai did a sharp turn and avoided it," Sonoko waved her hand. "We were just startled, that's all."
Ran also added, "Mrs. Yoshino felt bad and even bought us drinks."
Conan: "...?" *And what about me?* My large bump on my head was just automatically ignored, huh?
"I see, I'm really sorry to have caused you trouble," Akio Yoshino breathed a sigh of relief, then turned to Chie with concern. "And you, are you alright? You weren't hurt, were you?"
"I'm fine," Chie smiled. "I feel much better after resting a bit."
"That's good then..."
"Ahem..." Fujino looked helplessly at the couple showing affection, then said, "Well, if that's the case, we should probably go swimming now... Oh, and Ms. Chie, about the prescription I mentioned, I recommend getting the ingredients properly. Don't deliberately increase the dosage."
"Yes, thank you very much," Chie nodded, then picked up her bag and stood up. "By the way, where do you all live?"
Sonoko picked up her bag and replied, "We all live in Beika."
"Oh, I live in Haido! That's quite close then. How about you come visit us sometime?"
"Okay!"
As the group exchanged pleasantries, Akio Yoshino, who was walking ahead, suddenly tripped over a step that blended in with the surrounding color. He glanced back but didn't plan to warn anyone and simply continued walking away.
"Ow, ow, ow... What on earth was that?!" Just then, Sonoko and Chie, who were walking ahead, also tripped. Turning around, Sonoko warned the others following behind, "Ran, Fujino-senpai, there's a step here."
"Hmm..." Ran nodded distractedly.
Fujino followed behind, glancing at Akio Yoshino. Meanwhile, Conan's eyes narrowed slightly, looking at the other person as if he were the culprit.
***
After parting ways with Chie, everyone headed to the swimming pool.
At the pool, Ran changed into a blue swimsuit and sat by the edge, seemingly lost in thought. Sonoko, wearing a light green swimsuit, swam over to the side and asked curiously, "Ran, aren't you coming in? You look spaced out."
Ran shook her head. "I just feel like Mrs. Yoshino and her husband's reactions just now were a little strange."
"What's strange about it? They seemed really affectionate, didn't they?" Sonoko smirked. "I bet you're just thinking about that Kudo Shinichi guy, huh?"
"Sonoko!" Ran looked at Sonoko and shouted helplessly, her voice a little annoyed.
"Achoo!" Fujino and Conan had just returned after buying drinks. Hearing someone mention his name, Conan immediately sneezed.
"You're back," Ran turned and took the drinks from their hands, passing one to Sonoko.
Ran thought for a moment, feeling that her intuition couldn't be wrong. Then, still feeling unsatisfied, she asked the two, "Fujino-senpai, Conan, did you notice anything strange about Mrs. Yoshino and her husband just now?"
(End of Chapter)