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Over the next few days, after clearing his head, Hana Fumei fully embraced his role as an elementary schooler. He even managed to get along with Ayumi, Genta, and Mitsuhiko—the trio of little brats—like they were lifelong buddies.
You'd never guess he had a killer's background. This completely threw Conan and Haibara off.
Of course, Hana Fumei didn't think there was anything strange about it. Even if there was something weird going on, it was all part of "returning to innocence." Nothing he could do about that. Yeah, that must be it!
Today, Hana Fumei received his first assignment from the assassin website.
An old man who'd lost his daughter wanted Hana to avenge her. Without hesitation, he accepted the job—not because he felt sorry for the guy, but purely for the money. After all, he had no connection to the man or his daughter. This wasn't about revenge. It was strictly business.
Even after taking the job, Hana Fumei kept going to school like nothing had happened.
Lately, the weather had taken a weird turn—it suddenly got freezing cold, and huge snowflakes were falling. Everyone was bundling up in extra layers. Watching the kids playing in the snow, Conan sniffled through his stuffed-up nose."Man, kids really are full of energy…"
Haibara shot him a teasing look. "What's wrong? The great detective looks like he's got something on his mind."
"Kind of." Conan rubbed his nose with a miserable expression. "Ran got invited by Sonoko to some magician gathering tomorrow at a villa on Mt. Aoba. I'm worried that idiot's gonna be a bad influence on her."
"Mt. Aoba?" Hana Fumei suddenly froze when he heard that.
Conan noticed his reaction and asked, "What's up?"
"It's nothing." He brushed it off, but inside, Hana was frowning. Isn't that the exact place where my assassination target is staying? What the hell kind of magician gathering is happening there?
Trying to cover his tracks, he asked, "So what's this magician gathering all about anyway?"
"How should I know?!" Conan was already annoyed by the whole thing. "Just hearing Sonoko gush over the phone was enough. I bet the whole magic thing's just a cover. It's probably just a bunch of young people getting together to mess around."
Haibara gave Conan a knowing look. "Ah, I see… That's the real reason you're annoyed."
"Mind your own business!" Conan snorted and turned his head away.
That night, Hana Fumei locked his bedroom door and started messing around with something on his own.
At this moment, he had returned to his adult form and was standing in front of a mirror, smearing some sticky stuff on his face.
He couldn't even remember how many years it had been since he last used disguise techniques. In his previous life, he could just use spiritual power to change his face—no need for any of this. He could still do that now, but the moment he used spiritual power, his body would revert back to that of a child.
In other words, he could only use spiritual power to change his appearance if he stayed in his child form.
Talk about a pain in the ass.
Left with no better option, he had to fall back on the disguise techniques he'd already abandoned.
The next day at noon, Hana left a note and quietly slipped out the door without alerting anyone. Before leaving, he had already returned to his adult form and put on the black outfit that had traveled with him from the other world.
After all, wandering around alone as a kid wasn't exactly convenient—his adult body was way more practical for this mission. Just in case, though, he stuffed his kid clothes into his backpack.
Dressed in black, he flagged down a taxi on the street. After telling the driver the destination, he leaned back in the seat like he'd fallen asleep.
The driver kept glancing in the rearview mirror along the way. He couldn't shake the feeling that his passenger barely seemed to exist, like a ghost. He caught himself almost forgetting someone was even in the car more than once.
"Creepy…" the driver muttered and shook his head, deciding not to think about it anymore. He focused on the road instead.
"....."