area51novel Chapter 1 Are you kidding me? Seven years apart, yet you have a six-year-old daughter?
Chapter 1 Are you kidding me? Seven years apart, yet you have a six-year-old daughter?
Beikacho 5-chome.
Lin Xiuyi stood in front of that familiar three-story building, looking up at the slightly faded sign on the second-floor window: Mouri Detective Agency.
He took a deep breath, a surge of indescribable emotion welling up inside him.
Who would have thought that even that clumsy idiot Kogoro could become a detective...
Memories flooded back: the bully in kindergarten who snatched toys from him, the kid who always followed him around in elementary school, the boy I ran with on the playground in middle school...
Those scenes are still vivid in my mind, as if they happened just yesterday.
It wasn't until he graduated from university and went abroad that the two gradually lost contact.
Standing here now, I have a strange feeling of being in another world.
Hayashi Shuichi knew Kogoro Mouri very well.
This guy is impulsive, thinks things through blindly, and can't move when he sees a pretty woman.
The thought that his usually clueless childhood friend could actually be a detective made Lin Xiuyi chuckle and shake his head.
After standing for a moment, Lin Xiuyi carefully took out a beige envelope from the inside pocket of his suit.
The edges of the envelope were worn, clearly indicating that it had been handled repeatedly.
The sender's name was written in delicate handwriting as "Eri Kisaki," but when the letter was unfolded, there was only one short line of text, the ink even trembling slightly.
"Our daughter, Xiaolan, has had an accident."
"My daughter... Xiaolan..."
Lin Xiuyi murmured these words repeatedly, her fingers unconsciously tightening.
Looking at the name on the envelope, which was both familiar and unfamiliar, he felt a mix of emotions.
Eri and I... actually have a daughter?
The fierce argument from seventeen years ago seemed to echo in my ears again.
Eri Kisaki's reddened eyes, trembling voice, and resolute back as she slammed the door and left.
Enraged, he left Japan and has not returned since.
If we calculate based on the timeline... if the two of them had a daughter, she should be sixteen years old now, a beautiful and graceful age.
I don't know if she looks like me or Eri.
Thinking of his daughter whom he had never met, Lin Xiuyi's hesitation vanished. He straightened his collar and stepped onto the stairs leading to the second floor.
As he approached the detective agency, he was about to knock when the door clicked open from the inside.
The woman who opened the door was wearing a simple beige knit sweater and a dark long skirt, with her hair neatly tied up in a bun at the back of her head.
Compared to the naive girl she was seventeen years ago, she now exudes a more mature and sophisticated charm.
The woman froze on the spot when she saw the person standing outside the door.
Their eyes met, and the air seemed to freeze.
"...Eri." Lin Xiuyi's throat tightened, and he uttered the name that had been buried in his heart for many years with some difficulty.
"You..." Eri Kisaki stared blankly at the familiar yet unfamiliar face in front of her.
The years have left few traces on his face; one can still see the spirited young man he once was.
Her lips trembled slightly, and her eyes gradually reddened, but she held back her tears.
"Eri, I'm back." An overwhelming surge of excitement welled up in Lin Xiuyi's heart, and he opened his arms as if to embrace her. This action had been repeated countless times in his dreams.
However, the moment his fingertips touched the other person's sleeve, Eri Kisaki shoved him away!
"What are you doing back here!" Eri Kisaki bit her lower lip, her voice filled with suppressed anger, her chest heaving slightly with emotion.
"I..." Lin Xiuyi was completely confused and was about to ask, "Didn't you write me the letter?" when a man's voice came from inside the room.
"Eri, who are you talking to?"
Accompanied by a slightly lazy voice, a middle-aged man with a small mustache walked to the door.
He was wearing a slightly wrinkled shirt, his tie hung loosely around his neck, and he was holding a can of beer in his hand.
Upon seeing Lin Xiuyi standing outside the door, the man with the small mustache visibly paused, blinked, and then dropped his beer can with a clatter, spilling golden liquid all over the floor.
"Shui-Shuichi?" Kogoro Mouri exclaimed excitedly, "It really is you! When did you get back?"
"Kogoro..."
Lin Xiuyi's gaze swept back and forth between his childhood friend and his first love.
"You two...really got married?"
"Huh?" Kogoro Mouri blinked, scratching the back of his head in confusion. "Shuichi, what are you talking about? Eri and I..."
"Get out!" Eri Kisaki said through gritted teeth, her face dark.
"No!" Kogoro Mori quickly stepped forward, grabbed Hideichi Hayashi's arm, and pulled him into the house. "Hideichi, you're finally back! Come in and sit down! It's been so many years since we last saw each other! Eri, really, why are you treating an old friend like this when he comes back..."
Just then, the door to the inner bedroom was pushed open, and a gentle female voice came from inside: "Kogoro, what's all the noise about?"
Before she could finish speaking, the woman froze on the spot as she watched Lin Xiuyi being pulled into the room by Kogoro Mouri.
A few seconds later, she covered her mouth and exclaimed in surprise, "Shuichi! It really is you! You're finally back!"
Although many years had passed and the woman's eyes showed the marks of time, the distinctive small mole at the corner of her mouth allowed Lin Xiuyi to immediately recognize her.
"Liuli, it's been a long time."
Ruri Doigaki, the last of their childhood friends in a group of four.
"Ruri, hurry up and talk them down," Kogoro Mouri winked. "These two just met and they're already arguing again, exactly like back then!"
Ruri Doigaki glanced at Eri Kisaki, who was frozen in the doorway with her back to them, then looked at Shuichi Hayashi, whose arm was being pulled by Kogoro Mouri, and sighed helplessly.
"So many years have passed, why are you two still like this? Actually, what happened back then..."
Just as she finished speaking, the door to the inner bedroom was quietly pushed open a crack, and a small head peeked out from behind the door.
It was a little girl, about six or seven years old, with fair skin and long, smooth, black hair. She was looking curiously into the living room with her big eyes.
"Aunt Liuli, I..."
The little girl's soft voice trailed off as she saw Lin Xiuyi standing in the living room, and she froze on the spot.
"Ran, go back quickly!" Eri Kisaki suddenly turned around and walked quickly towards the bedroom, trying to push the little girl back into the room.
"Xiao Lan?"
Lin Xiuyi looked at the little girl in surprise, her heart inexplicably racing.
"She's Xiaolan? Our daughter? Impossible! I've been gone for seventeen years, how could she be so young..."
Before he could finish speaking, a ceramic teacup flew past his cheek.
With a crisp "crack," the teacup shattered against the wall behind him, shards flying everywhere!