Chapter 7 Yoshida Family

            Ayumi led me to her house. It was a two-storey building with a large black gate of 10 feet wide. “Sugoi, Ayumi. You have a big, beautiful house!” I exclaimed. “Arigatou, John,” she grinned. A woman in her thirties came out and greeted us. “Konnichiwa, Ayumi okasan!” I greeted her. “Konnichiwa, boya. Oh, Ayumi, you brought a boy to live with us,” she smiled. “Yes, he’s my boyfriend,” blushed Ayumi. “Oh, how nice. Congratulations, Ayumi, even though it’s not the right time now, but I guess I’ll make this an exception,” congratulated Ayumi’s mother. “Come in, and Ayumi will show you around,” she opened the gate for us to enter. “Arigatou gozaimas, obasan,” I said.

            The kitchen is on the left, immediately after the entrance. The fridge was decorated with pink ribbon fridge magnets and full of Ayumi’s photos with her mother. A stainless steel pot was next to the kitchen sink, with a pink stool underneath. A white, circular dining table was on the right, with three chairs tidily pushed in. “John, this way,” Ayumi called out and I followed after her. The wooden tiled floors were clean as new. There were two rooms at the end of the stairs and Ayumi’s room was unmistakably the second room, which had a tiny pink label stated “Yoshida Ayumi’s Room”. “There are two rooms, and… you’re going to share your room with me?” I blushed slightly. “Yes, and it’s going to be fun, right?” beamed Ayumi. Ayumi opened the door of her room and I was stunned at the mess. “Wait, let me clean up my room,” she rushed in and closed the door behind her. I brought a boy into my house and my room is in a mess, Ayumi’s face was red with embarrassment. Kitchen and dining area are tidy, but her room is in a mess. What an irony, I thought.

            Ayumi was tidying her room for what seemed like hours. “Sorry to make you wait for so long,” she apologized. “I-It’s fine,” I managed, still stunned at the sight of the mess. “We will be sleeping on the same bed as well?” I asked. “Of course! It’s nice, don’t you think?” Ayumi replied sweetly. My face turned as red as tomato. “John, why is your face so red? Are you having a fever?” She felt my forehead with the back of her hand. “I-I’m fine. I-It’s just the hot weather,” I blushed further. I entered her room and placed my bag beside the bed. “Sugoi! Your room is beautiful, Ayumi!” I exclaimed. “Arigatou, John,” she had three shades of red.

            “Lunch is ready!” a voice announced. “Hai~!” Ayumi and I both replied at the same time and went down for lunch. “Itadakimas!” Ayumi, her parents and I announced at the same time. “John-kun, I’ve heard about you,” Mrs. Yoshida began. I could feel adrenaline rushing in my veins. Oh no, I thought. They’ll know that I’m not an elementary school student. “Ayumi told me that you’re a genius and you always solved alongside with Conan-kun. I hope you will protect her as her boyfriend,” finished Mrs. Yoshida. I silently breathed out a sigh of relief. “Sure thing, Mrs. Yoshida!” I promised her. “BOYFRIEND?!” Mr. Yoshida almost choked on his food. “AYUMI YOSHIDA, IT’S TOO YOUNG FOR YOU TO HAVE A BOYFRIEND NOW!” her father bellowed. Ayumi suddenly broke into tears and ran away. “Ayumi!” I called after her. John-kun didn’t use honorifics. Way to go, Ayumi! Mrs. Yoshida silently cheered while trying to calm Mr. Yoshida down.

            Ayumi was sobbing uncontrollably in her room and I gently knocked on her door. “Leave me alone!” she yelled through the door. “Ayumi, it’s me, John,” I calmly called back. “Ok, come in,” she said. I entered her room and gently closed the door behind me. “May be we shouldn’t be dating after all,” Ayumi began. I sat beside her and pulled her close to me, causing her to gasp in surprise. Ayumi finally understood and wrap her arms around me, “Arigatou, John.” “Don’t worry about your father –– your mother will calm him down. Meanwhile, let’s do homework,” I smiled. We both got our homework out and I finished my homework in a flash as usual. I stared at Ayumi’s adorable face while she was doing her homework. Ayumi took notice and blushed hard, “J-John, stop looking at me! I-I can’t focus!” “Ah, gomene, Ayumi. I guess I’ll see if I can give any help to your mother,” I chuckled. “Ah, chotto,” Ayumi began. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “I-I don’t know how to do this question,” she pointed at her question while blushing. What is the probability of rolling an even number from a single die? It read. “A die has 6 sides. It has 3 sides that are odd and 3 sides that are even,” I began. “Oh, you would get 3 even sides out of 6 sides, which is ½!” concluded Ayumi. I nodded. “You won’t forget tomorrow’s date, right?” she reminded me. Oh no, I nearly forgot about tomorrow’s date! I sweatdropped. “O-Of course I didn’t,” I gave a weak smile and went down the stairs.

            Mr. Yoshida was venting about his company’s recent losses. “The total cost for our product is 10,000yen, we have 1,000 packages with 10yen each, and we’re still not making any profit!” he grumbled. “Of course you’re not making any profit –– you only made sure that the company isn’t at loss. However, in business, if a company doesn’t make profit, it’s still at loss,” I began. Two pairs of eyes turned towards me. “According to the Demand and Supply Curve, you’re at equilibrium right now. To get more demands, you would have to increase your supplies, and you would have to decrease your price in order to attract more customers. Therefore, the number of packages has to be more than 10,000,” I suggested. Mr. and Mrs. Yoshida stared at me at amazement. “But don’t have that much materials to increase the amount of packages,” said Mr. Yoshida. “Did you try lowering the price?” I asked. Mr. Yoshida’s eyes lit up. “Well, our price is at its lowest, but I could try lowering the price further. Arigatou, boya!” he said thoughtfully. “Ah, I-I learned it from Kogoro-ojisan,” I chuckled.

“Otousan, can we go watch movie now?” Ayumi’s asked sweetly behind me. “Have you done all your homework?” asked Mr. Yoshida. Ayumi nodded her head. “Alright, let’s go watch Kamen Yaiba,” grinned Mr. Yoshida. I sighed silently, Kamen Yaiba again. Mr. Yoshida’s car was a small, light-grey coated Toyota. “Gomene, John, I forgot that you don’t like Kamen Yaiba,” Ayumi whispered beside me while we were on the way to Haido Town Shopping Mall. “Daijoke daiyo, as long as Ayumi loves to watch it, I’m fine with it,” I reassured her. “Really? Arigatou!” Ayumi grinned from ear to ear. Finally, we arrived at AEON Lake Town, which was a large building with white walls and many large windows. It was decorated with large, hanging colorful balls. “The balls are beautiful, aren’t they, John?” Ayumi’s eyes sparkled. “Of course they are! They looked like soccer balls, and I wish I could buy them for Shinichi-niichan,” I smiled. “Demo, they looked like cotton candy to me,” Ayumi said thoughtfully, causing me to sweatdrop. Yoshida Family and I rode the escalator to the top floor, where the cinema was located. “Hi, how can I help you?” a lady behind the counter greeted us. “Kamen Yaiba, 3:30PM, two adults and two children,” Mr. Yoshida told the ticket lady. “Alright, the total price is 4,800yen,” the ticket lady told him. Mr. Yoshida paid the price and we left the ticket counter. “Otousan, I want to check out that toy store,” Ayumi pointed at the toy store in front of us. “Sure, 15 minutes left. Okasan and I will be waiting for you right here,” Mr. Yoshida said, while taking a seat behind him. “Daijoke, ojisan, I’ll keep an eye on her,” I smiled. Mr. Yoshida smiled and nodded his head. “Come, let’s go!” piped Ayumi.

The toy store was full of stuffed pink unicorns and Barbie dolls as well as playhouse sets. I followed after Ayumi while she explored the store. “John, come here, what do you think of this? It’s so fun cuddling it, don’t you think?” she held up a stuffed pink unicorn and hugged it tightly. “It suits you,” I smiled at her. “But I didn’t bring money with me.” Ayumi scowled at me. “Daijoke, I’ll pay for you,” a feminine voice behind me said. We turned towards the feminine voice, which belonged to a woman in her thirties. She wore a red neck scarf with matching red kimono and had a black curly hair with rainbow-colored nail polish. “Arigatou gozaimas, obasan!” Ayumi thanked her. We left the toy store and returned to Ayumi’s parents, with Ayumi hugging the stuffed pink unicorn tightly. “Why do you have this pink unicorn?” puzzled Mr. Yoshida. “That kind lady over there paid for me,” Ayumi beamed while pointing to the black-haired lady. Mr. Yoshida rushed towards the black-haired lady. “Sumimasen!” he called out, and the black-haired lady turned her head to see a man in his thirties catching up to her, accompanied by the two children she saw earlier. “Thank you for paying for my daughter, ma’am. How much was it?” Mr. Yoshida reached for his wallet. “Oh, no, don’t worry about it,” the black-haired lady smiled. “Arigatou gozaimas. I think we’d better hurry. We have a movie at 3:30PM,” Mr. Yoshida said hurriedly. “Oh, what movie?” asked the black-haired lady. “Kamen Yaiba,” answered Mr. Yoshida. “What a coincidence. I’m watching Kamen Yaiba too!” she exclaimed. “I’m sorry to ask, but why are you watching it too?” asked Mr. Yoshida. “Oh, I’m not watching it by myself –– I’m watching with two other friends. We want to know why the kids love Kamen Yaiba,” the black-haired lady chuckled.

            Yoshida Family, the black-haired lady and I entered the cinema hall after passing through the checkpoint counter and we sat accordingly. The black-haired lady sat at the far end with two other people and the lights dimmed. Suddenly, a figure collapsed forward halfway during the movie and a scream echoed the hall. The movie was stopped and the light went back on. “Someone call the police!” a male voice commanded. Soon, Inspector Meguire and Takagi came into the crime scene while everyone was escorted out of the room. “John-kun, you again!” Inspector Meguire exclaimed when he saw me. “Inspector Meguire,” I greeted him. “The victim is Akiko Amane, age 38, cause of death: silver nitrate poisoning by ingestion,” reported Takagi. “Silver nitrate?” Inspector Meguire raised his eyebrows. Ayumi gasped when she recognized the corpse, “She is the same woman who paid for my stuffed unicorn!” “Oh, you recognized her, Ayumi-chan? When was the last time you saw her?” inquired Inspector Meguire. “Just now, before the movie started,” she answered. “Arigatou, Ayumi-chan,” Inspector Meguire thanked her. The two friends who were with the victim were Aki Fuyuko and Akina Hanae, and they both were called for questioning. “What are your relationships with Akiko-san?” asked Inspector Meguire. “We were best friends since high school,” answered Aki, who wore sparkly pink clothes and applied the same nail polish pattern as Akiko. “Akiko-san said she wanted to know why kids love Kamen Yaiba, so we accompanied her to watch this movie,” explained Akina, who wore green shirt with a matching green mini skirt and a pair of brown leather boots. I left the movie hall and headed towards the snack station. Ayumi caught up with me, “Have you found anything?” “The suspect may be the worker at the snack counter, and they’re somehow related,” I explained. I sneaked into the snack counter area and one of them spotted me, “Boya, you’re not allowed to come in here!” I ignored their protests and rummaged through the huge pile of trash. I smirked when I found a small glass bottle with brown fluid inside. I glanced behind me and noticed that one of the staffs had a brown stain on his index finger. “You’re one of Akiko-san’s friends, right?” I asked innocently. “Yes, she’s not only my friend –– she was my high school crush as well, but not anymore,” he smiled. I smirked as I figured out who the culprit is.

            I phoned Uncle Kogoro to come forward to the crime scene, and I phoned Inspector Meguire using Kogoro’s voice via voice-changing function of my wristwatch that I solved the case. When Kogoro appeared at the end of the escalator, Inspector Meguire rushed to meet him, “REALLY, MOURI-KUN? YOU KNOW WHO THE MURDERER IS?” “Huh? I do?” puzzle Kogoro. The moment he stood away from the escalator, I tranquilized him with my stun-gun wristwatch. “Oh, Sleeping Kogoro!” exclaimed Inspector Meguire. “Sorry, I needed a moment to recall my deduction,” I spoke through Kogoro using the voice-changing function of the wristwatch. “Knowing that Akiko-san always eat ice, the culprit injects silver nitrate into the ice. Silver nitrate appears clear in the beginning of time, but gradually turns brown. The culprit is one of the snack counter staffs named Azuma Haruto, and he’s one of Akiko-san’s friends as well,” I continued. “That is a very nice story, but where is the evidence?” smirked Azuma. “You have a brown stain of silver nitrate on your left index finger. You thought you have washed it away, but since it appears clear at the beginning, you couldn’t have known that the stain is still on your finger until 30 minutes later,” I explained. Azuma sank to his knees, “Akiko-san was my high school crush, but she severely broke my heart by saying that I’m not good enough for her. Yesterday, I met Akiko-san in her house to convince her that I’m the only one for her, as I know she is getting married soon, and she said that I would be the last person she would marry. So I killed her –– and I will be the only one with her!” With that said, he ran towards the railing. “Even if you commit suicide, Akiko-san will not want to be with you!” I yelled through Kogoro, interrupting his suicidal attempt. “There are so many beautiful women out there, why must you force yourself to be with this particular woman? Why don’t you take a step back and open your eyes?” I continued. Akina appeared with tears in her eyes. “Azuma-san, please… stop pursuing Akiko-san… I gave you so many hints that I’m single and have feelings for you,” Akina sobbed, and Azuma’s eyes widened. “Akina-san... you… have feelings for me?” Azuma’s voice dropped to a whisper. Akina walked and hugged Azuma’s arm tightly and Azuma finally realized her feelings for him. “I’ll see you again after you’re released from prison,” whispered Akina.

            Inspector Meguire shook Kogoro hard just as Kogoro became awake, “Mouri-kun, I never knew you know chemistry!” Kogoro paused for a moment to process what Inspector Meguire meant. “Oh, of course! I’m the Great Detective Mouri Kogoro! There is nothing I don’t know! Hahaha!” laughed Kogoro. “Ayumi, do you still want to continue watching Kamen Yaiba?” I yawned. “Ayumi doesn’t mind if Kamen Yaiba is not finished watching,” Ayumi smiled while watching me dozed off. He looks so adorable when he’s sleeping, Ayumi silently chuckled to herself.