Chapter 227: The Black-Bellied Mao Li

Returning home, Mao Li began preparing dinner.

However, today she wasn't just preparing dinner for herself and her mother; she also had to prepare it for her father and that Edogawa Conan.

"Edogawa Conan... Hmph."

Even now, just mentioning that name made Mao Li feel a surge of irritation.

"Forget it, I don't want to argue with him. Since he has already abandoned his past identity and there won't be any chance to meet directly in the future, I'll just pretend he's dead. Edogawa Conan is simply the second son of Aunt Yukiko and Uncle Kudo."

After a month of reflection, Mao Li had let go of the fact that Shinichi had faked his death to deceive her, and even his attempt to sneak into her home. Likewise, she had also let go of Shinichi, the childhood friend she once liked.

He had abandoned his past identity to avoid being tracked by that organization. Since that was the case, she would respect Shinichi's choice; otherwise, wouldn't his sacrifice of his identity have been in vain?

Mao Li sneered in her heart. She quickly reined in her emotions, and even that feeling of annoyance faded into nothingness.

She composed herself.

After busying herself in the kitchen for a while, the time reached 5:12 PM. It was properly dinner time, and Mao Li had just finished preparing the meal for the day.

The packed meal boxes came in two sizes.

Of course, there was actually more food that hadn't been packed. Nowadays, the amount of food Mao Li needed to eat every day was immense; eating two-thirds of a pot of rice in one sitting had become a common occurrence.

And this was also one of the things she needed to talk to her father about today.

"Alright, time to go."

She left the house carrying the two bento boxes.

The distance between her mother's house and her father's house wasn't actually very far; it was only a four or five-stop ride by car, which was considered quite close.

After spending some time, Mao Li arrived downstairs at the Mouri Detective Agency.

She glanced at the time on her watch: 5:30, which was about the normal time for dinner.

As she walked up the stairs, Mao Li smelled a very strong scent of instant noodles.

It seems Dad has been living on instant noodles since I left. Can't he just go buy groceries and make himself something good to eat?

Sighing, she walked up the stairs step by step, took out her key, and opened the agency's door.

The first thing she saw was two people, one big and one small, sitting in front of the long table in the reception area, slurping down instant noodles.

Perhaps because her return startled them, both of them stopped slurping their noodles.

"Ran?"

Mouri Kogoro was clearly stunned to see his daughter return.

"Why are you back?"

That was a very problematic question to ask.

However, Mao Li knew her father had been living on instant noodles for the past month, so she didn't nitpick those details.

"It's been a month, and I've pretty much forgotten about that guy. A dead person is dead; there won't be any chance to meet again in the future, so there's no point in me dwelling on it."

Mao Li's words left Edogawa Conan frozen stiff.

Indeed, a month was enough time to forget someone. And the person who needed to be forgotten hadn't just gone missing; he had been completely removed from the registry. Even the most sentimental person should start forgetting; after all, the living can't stare at a dead person every day, right?

Although Edogawa Conan knew that the dead person Ran was talking about was him, unfortunately, his current elementary schooler body meant he had lost the conditions to tell Ran the truth.

"As for this child."

Mao Li's gaze locked onto Edogawa Conan. Her eyes held no emotion, only deep helplessness.

"Sure enough, this child still looks too much like Shinichi. I still can't accept this child, but at least now I can separate him from Shinichi. After all, Shinichi has already passed away."

This sentence dealt Edogawa Conan another heavy blow, carving a bloody wound into his heart.

Seeing that his current identity seemed to be accepted by Ran, it was built on the premise that his past identity had been completely and thoroughly abandoned by her.

But what could he do now?

The one who thoroughly killed off his past identity was himself; could he blame Ran for her actions now? No, he couldn't.

Ran had been tormented for a month because of his death, and now that she had finally forgotten the deceased Kudo Shinichi, he couldn't expose his identity in front of her even more.

Fortunately, Ran had never thought of him as Kudo Shinichi... it was just that because he looked so much like Kudo Shinichi in his childhood, it made it impossible for Ran to accept his current identity.

...Could he help looking like himself? Unfortunately, Edogawa Conan couldn't say a word and could only swallow this bitterness.

"Sigh..."

Mouri Kogoro also knew that this would likely be the result. He had no intention of forcing Ran at all.

"Then let it be. You continue living with Eri. I'll take care of this kid here."

Mouri Kogoro could well understand his daughter's feelings; after all, she and that brat had a pretty good relationship in the past. It was normal for her to react this way upon suddenly facing the news of that brat's death; he actually understood it quite well.

"Thank you, Dad."

Mao Li smiled and thanked her father.

"Don't say thank you between father and daughter."

Seeing his daughter's smile, Mouri Kogoro's mood also relaxed a bit.

And watching Ran at this moment, Edogawa Conan's heartache also eased a little, but he still silently blamed himself in his heart.

This is all my fault. If I hadn't been so impulsive, maybe this wouldn't have happened.

After that incident, he had been very careful about getting hit from behind.

But no matter how careful he was now, he couldn't go back.

Mao Li carried the bag to the edge of the long table and placed it on the table.

"Dad, Edogawa, these are comfort gifts. I can't do anything about breakfast and lunch, but when I have time, I will prepare dinner and bring it over."

"Oh!"

Mouri Kogoro's eyes lit up the moment he saw the bento boxes. He opened the boxes in a flash; the food inside was still steaming and had an appetizing fragrance, unlike the instant noodles he had been eating all these days.

"Finally, I can have a good meal these days."

His daughter's cooking made him miss it dearly at this moment; a month of instant noodles was simply not a life for a human.

Now, seeing the dinner his daughter had prepared again, Mouri Kogoro almost burst into tears.

At this moment, even Edogawa Conan couldn't remain reserved.

Because he had also been eating instant noodles for a month, and he couldn't take it anymore either.

— Author's Notes —

PS: New book launch, requesting data.