In Detective Conan: Intercepting Miwako Sato at the Start

Page 145

"...As we were strolling through the streets of France, we were suddenly surrounded by a large, dark crowd."

"Although we apologized to them immediately, that group of people seemed to be intentionally moving closer to us."

"Miwako was about to make a move when she was easily controlled by the other party."

Then I saw one of the men, a bald man in black clothes and sunglasses, reach inside his clothes with his right hand. I was about to kick forward to stop him from reaching for his gun.

He was then struck hard by his accomplice behind him, and then all the men in black surrounded him. The man wearing sunglasses said something.

Although he couldn't quite understand what they were saying, Yuuki Takada still roughly understood that they wanted him to go with them.

There was no other way but to follow them to a dark corner.

Yuuki Takada stood protectively in front of Miwako Sato and asked her softly, "Miwako, how's your French?"

“I only know a few simple ways to greet people,” Miwako Sato said softly. “These are probably the only simple sentences I know.”

"Well, luckily I brought some French books with me, so I think I understand the general meaning," Yuuki Takada said casually.

The bald man slowly walked towards the two of them, took a cell phone out of his pocket, placed it in front of them, and turned on speakerphone.

"Nice to meet you!" came a fluent Japanese voice from the phone.

“I am Fergus Kruger, the brother of Ariel Kruger, who has been with you recently.”

"Unlike you, I'm in Tokyo discussing a business deal right now, and I must say, Japan really is a great place."

"Talk...talk business?" Sato Miwako listened to these words in disbelief.

"Whatever..." the other party said coldly, "Anyway, these aren't the main points. What's important is the behavior of the two of you. How dare you refuse Ariel's request?"

“Uh…” Takada Yuki was stunned for a moment, not knowing how to answer the question.

Before Takada Yuuki could say anything, a voice came from the other end of the phone: "In this world, the most serious crime is that Ariel sheds tears, and the second most serious sin is that you have disappointed Ariel..."

Immediately afterwards, the men in black behind them involuntarily moved closer to the two of them.

"...If you still want to stay with your girlfriend, I hope the two of you can work together to teach Ariel how to create the perfect romantic comedy manga!"

"I think this kind of thing shouldn't be too difficult for the two of you who work in the Metropolitan Police Department."

"Of course, I should have called your superior, Matsumoto Kiyonaga, beforehand, and I believe he will bring it up with you soon."

Sure enough, within seconds, a phone call rang from Takada Yuki's pocket.

When Yuki Takada answered the phone, it was indeed a call from Chief Matsumoto of the First Investigation Division of the Metropolitan Police Department. The content of the conversation was roughly the same as what the person in front of him had said.

It means they need the two of them to help; if they fail to complete the task, they shouldn't go back with them this time.

"..." Takada Yuki's face darkened.

He never imagined he would end up in such a mess.

……

"So this is ah!"

Yumi Miyamoto was stunned, and it took her a while to find her voice: "...So, you were taken in by a brother who is a siscon and is suspected to be a yakuza leader, and he lives far away in Tokyo."

"A group of burly French men in black kidnapped him on the streets of Paris? Just because his sister wanted to draw a romance comic."

"I never imagined that Miss Ariel's brother would be this kind of person. After hearing what you two said, I really wish I had a brother like that!"

"..."

Yuki Takada and Miwako Sato nodded heavily at the same time, their faces showing a mixture of absurd exhaustion and lingering fear.

Chapter 188 Unexpectedly, we meet again.

"That's pretty much it."

Sato Miwako rubbed her still slightly sore wrist. The black-clad man who subdued her was terrifyingly professional, definitely not an ordinary bodyguard.

This is completely different from Matthew, Ariel's former subordinate who worked with her before. He must be the one secretly monitoring Ariel.

"The man named Fergus sounded polite, but his words were full of threats. He said... if we didn't cooperate, he couldn't guarantee our safety during our trip to France, and it might even affect our colleagues in Tokyo."

Yuki Takada chimed in, his tone bitter: "He also thoughtfully mentioned that he knew Miwako and I were on vacation and should have plenty of time."

"Furthermore, he claimed that he had prepared an ideal creative environment for us." Yuki Takada looked around at the bustling Louvre and said, "We also went through a lot of trouble to get rid of those tails and come here to catch our breath."

"There are too many people at the Louvre, they wouldn't make a move here, would they?"

“This…this is even more bizarre than all the explosions and underground adventures we’ve experienced before!” Yumi Miyamoto sighed, “I never imagined that Ariel Kruger had this kind of hobby.”

"We only found out about his hobby by chance when we met her before."

Sato Miwako said calmly, "My previous opinion of Ariel was that she was just an innocent and naive girl who was extremely obsessed with Japanese culture, especially romance comics and dramas."

"After going through so much with her, my opinion of her has naturally changed a bit."

"But her brother... Fergus has an astonishingly large network of connections. Not only can he make the men in black work together seamlessly and be well-trained, but I feel they are no less capable than many special forces units. They even had an orderly conversation with Section Chief Matsumoto."

Yuki Takada sighed, his gaze once again fixed on that mysterious smile in the distance—the Mona Lisa.

Surrounded by bulletproof glass and a crowd, the smile seemed to carry a hint of mockery, as if ridiculing their current predicament.

I had planned to relax in France this time, but unfortunately I ran into a bunch of messy cases and now I'm forced to become a romance consultant for a shoujo manga artist. This turn of events is so abrupt and ridiculous.

"So what do you do now?" Miyamoto Yumi asked in a low voice. "Are you planning to notify the French police?"

“No.” Yuki Takada immediately rejected the idea. “Fergus explicitly warned against seeking official help, or else we would face the consequences.”

“We are unsure how far his reach extends, and we cannot risk ourselves and our colleagues back home.”

"Besides... who would believe this if it got out? A Japanese policeman being threatened by gangsters in Paris for refusing to instruct a teenage girl on how to draw romance comics?" Takada Yuki himself found it absurd as he said it.

"Given Ariel's identity, do you think the French police will trust their own people, or will they choose to trust me, an outsider?"

After a moment of contemplation, Sato Miwako's eyes hardened: "It seems there's no better option for now."

"We can only go and meet Miss Ariel first to see what she really wants. At least, that's more direct than dealing with her dangerous brother."

Yuuki Takada looked at his partner and knew that this was the most rational decision at the moment.

He nodded helplessly: "Okay. But we need to make a plan; we can't be completely passive."

Afterwards, the three of them left the Louvre and planned to take a cruise ship back to their hotel to rest.

"So, you'll be working with Miwako and that Miss Ariel from now on." Miyamoto Yumi stared at the scene, stunned for a moment, and asked, "How...did it turn out like this?"

Yuuki Takada leaned against the railing at the back of the deck and squatted down. "Well... you're asking me? I'm not really sure either. I just wanted to have a good rest during this trip to France, but I never expected to encounter such a mess."

“I’m sorry…” Takada Yuki turned his head away and looked at Miyamoto Yumi, saying, “This trip has been quite tiring for you.”

A gentle breeze ruffled Miyamoto Yumi's long hair as she waved her hands repeatedly, saying, "No, Takada-senpai, it was indeed dangerous to travel with you, but overall, thankfully we are all safe and sound, which is good."

Soon, evening arrived, and Yuuki Takada and his group returned to the hotel. After a quick shower, Yuuki felt his phone vibrate. It was a text message from an unknown number, containing only a brief French address and a time: "Looking forward to seeing you two at nine o'clock tomorrow morning."

The address is a luxury apartment located in the 16th arrondissement of Paris.

The next morning, after reporting his day's itinerary to Matsumoto Kiyonaga, Takada Yuki turned around and left the hotel with Sato Miwako.

The 16th arrondissement, a famous affluent area in Paris, is quiet and luxurious, seemingly a completely different world from the dark corner where the black-clad men had previously appeared.

This made Yuki Takada and Miwako Sato feel even more that their Kruger family was mysterious and unfathomable.

At 1:50 a.m., the two stood in front of the apartment building indicated by the address.

This is an elegant building with a neoclassical facade and strict access control.

After they gave their names, the heavy, ornate doors slid open silently, and an old butler in a tailcoat with his hair neatly combed was already waiting in the foyer.

"Mr. Takada, Ms. Sato, and Ms. Ariel are waiting for you in the studio."

The butler spoke Japanese with a heavy French accent, but his vocabulary was precise and his manners impeccable.

He led them through a corridor covered with expensive Persian carpets and into a silent elevator to the top floor.

The studio door was pushed open, and the scene before them stunned the two of them once again.

This is less of an art studio and more of a small temple of Japanese otaku culture.

An entire wall of bookshelves is crammed with various original Japanese manga and light novels, ranging from classics to the latest popular works.

On the other wall hung exquisite anime posters and life-size paintings of anime characters.

In the center of the room is a huge digital drawing screen and high-end computer equipment, with drawing tablets and various drawing tools scattered around it.

Ariel Kruger, sitting in front of the drawing screen, wearing a lovely Lolita-style dress, immediately stood up when she saw them enter, her face beaming with a bright yet slightly apologetic smile.

"I never thought we'd meet again."

"Mr. Takada! Ms. Sato! You really came! That's wonderful!" Ariel ran over, clasped her hands together, her eyes filled with anticipation and unease.

"I'm sorry, my brother... he always handles things his own way. I had no idea he would do that!"

"I just... I just complained to him that you guys don't seem very willing to teach me..."

Chapter 189 Let's just leave.

Looking at the girl in front of her who blended perfectly into her surroundings, as if she had stepped out of a manga, it was really hard for Sato Miwako to connect her with the cold and threatening Fergus on the phone.

She took a deep breath, trying to keep her tone calm: "Miss Ariel, we would like to communicate in a more... normal way. Your brother's actions are causing us great distress, even fear."

Ariel immediately lowered her head, twisting her fingers around the hem of her skirt like a child who had done something wrong:

"I'm so sorry! I've already scolded him!"

"But...but I really...really need your help!" Ariel looked up, her purple eyes gleaming with urgency. "My dream is to become a great romantic comedy manga artist!"

"As you all said before, the romantic storylines I drew... were empty and unrealistic. They said my characters could only say 'I like you,' but they couldn't actually fall in love."

She led the two to the drawing screen and pulled up several sketches of the comics she was creating.

The visuals are exquisite, the lines are smooth, and the storyboarding is quite good, but as she said, the interaction between the male and female protagonists does seem a bit deliberate and formulaic, lacking the natural flow of ambiguity and genuine heart-fluttering details.

“Look here…” Ariel pointed to a scene of farewell under a cherry blossom tree, “The editor said this scene should make readers feel sad and reluctant to part, but he said he just felt the male and female leads were reciting their lines mechanically. I don’t understand! I referenced so many classic scenes!”

Yuuki Takada looked at the drawing, then glanced at Miwako Sato beside him, and suddenly understood.

Ariel's technique is impeccable, but what she lacks is the observation and understanding of the subtle emotions in reality.

She lived within the framework of two-dimensional thinking, but never truly understood the complexity and chaos of three-dimensional emotions.