Detective Conan: I'm a Boy, But They Treat Me Like a Big Sister — Chapter 70

Chapter 70: Don’t Lie to Sister

Ran took a nervous step back, but her retreat was instantly cut short by the hard edge of the kitchen stove pressing against her lower back. She was trapped.

Tōhō Getsukai calmly set his kitchen knife down on the cutting board. He casually adjusted the knot of his apron at his waist, his movements unhurried, before reaching out to grasp Ran’s right arm.

His grip wasn’t rough, but the quiet authority in his touch left absolutely no room for refusal.

With a smooth motion, he pushed her sleeve up past her elbow. The sight made his eyes narrow.

Ugly, mottled bruises painted the outside of her forearm, trailing all the way up to the joint. The dark purple and yellowish hues made it painfully clear—this wasn’t the aftermath of a single, unlucky sparring session.

Tōhō turned her wrist over, inspecting the delicate skin on the inside. An older abrasion sat there, covered by a thin, flaking scab. It was at least three days old. The evidence was damning; this silly girl hadn’t just gotten roughed up today. She had been pushing herself through high-intensity training for days.

“Did Senior Tsukamoto hit you?” he asked, his voice dangerously even.

“Y-yeah!” Ran stammered, her eyes darting away. “It was just… things got a little too intense when I was sparring with her…”

Tōhō released her hand without a word. He turned on his heel, walked over to the medicine cabinet mounted in the corner of the kitchen, and pulled out a heavy glass bottle of medicinal liquor alongside a tube of anti-inflammatory ointment.

“Keep making up stories,” Tōhō said, not looking back, “and I won’t speak to you for a month.”

Panic flashed across Ran’s face. “Don’t! I’ll tell the truth! I added extra training myself! It wasn’t Senior Tsukamoto who hit me! I’ve just been practicing for an extra two hours at the dojo every day after school…”

Sighing, Tōhō guided Ran out of the kitchen and pressed her down onto the soft cushions of the living room sofa.

He unscrewed the cap of the medicinal liquor, the sharp, herbal scent immediately filling the air. Pouring a small pool of the amber liquid into his palm, he rubbed his hands together to warm it, then took her wrist.

As his fingers massaged the bruised skin, he silently channeled his Hamon Breathing. A faint, golden warmth seeped beneath her skin, the soothing current spreading deep into her strained muscle fibers, melting away the accumulated fatigue.

“Hiss…” Ran let out a soft breath, her tense shoulders dropping. “That feels so good…”

“Are there any other places?”

“N-no, there aren’t…”

Tōhō stopped his hand. His gaze locked onto hers, heavy and expectant.

Ran wilted under the pressure. “…There’s a little on my back, too.”

Without hesitation, Tōhō reached out, caught the hem of her school uniform, and lifted it.

Ran nearly leaped off the sofa, her face flushing crimson as she slammed her hands down over her clothes. “S-Sister!! What are you doing?!”

“Don’t move. Turn around.”

“But…”

“Ran Mouri.”

The full-name attack. It was super effective.

Ran instantly snapped her mouth shut. Obediently, she turned her back to him, clutching the front of her uniform against her chest and burying her chin so deep into her collarbone she looked like an ostrich.

Tōhō lifted the fabric up to her shoulder blades, exposing the smooth, fair skin beneath. There, on the left side of her back, sat a nasty patch of blue-purple bruising, its edges already fading to a sickly yellow. She had managed to apply medicine to her arms, but this spot was entirely out of her reach.

Squeezing a dab of ointment onto his fingertips, Tōhō gently pressed it into the bruise.

Ran’s spine arched involuntarily at the sudden cool contact, but as his fingers moved, she slowly melted back into the cushions.

“Mmm…”

“Does it hurt?”

“It doesn’t hurt…” she murmured, her voice muffled. “It’s just… a bit tingly.”

Tōhō’s fingers traced slow, methodical circles along the edges of the bruise. The tension bled out of Ran’s frame. Her head tilted to the side, her breathing growing light and rhythmic. Under the steady massage, her mind seemed to turn to mush.

“Tell me,” Tōhō said softly, breaking the quiet atmosphere. “Why are you suddenly training so hard?”

“It’s just… I want to get a little stronger.”

“Ran, you’re already the Kanto tournament champion. Isn’t that strong enough?”

A long silence stretched between them. When she finally spoke, her voice was barely more than a whisper.

“Sonoko has been complaining lately. She keeps talking about how Shinichi bumped into her at Tropical Land and spilled her cola all over Sister’s shoes. She wants to settle the score with him.”

“But she can’t find him,” Ran continued, her tone shifting to something more subdued. “He hasn’t been to school, his phone won’t connect… he’s completely lost contact.”

“And then?” Tōhō prompted, continuing his steady motions with the ointment.

“Then I started thinking… how can someone just disappear like that?”

The muscles in Ran’s back tensed beneath his fingers, then slowly relaxed again.

“I’m not really that worried about Shinichi. He’s been the type to vanish for days at a time since we were kids playing detective. It’s not unusual for him. But…”

Her knuckles turned white as she gripped her skirt.

“If one day, Sister Tōhō or Sonoko or someone else I care about suddenly encounters something dangerous… I want to have the strength to protect everyone.”

Behind her, Tōhō shook his head, a helpless, dry amusement flickering in his eyes. If only she knew that the great vanished detective was currently squatting at Dr. Agasa’s house, trapped in the body of a grade-schooler.

“When did you notice he was gone?”

Ran let out a small, embarrassed hum. “I didn’t notice at all. It wasn’t until Sonoko started cursing his name every single day that I remembered. But it’s true—since that day at the amusement park, there hasn’t been a single word from Shinichi.”

“Sonoko says she absolutely has to find him, pin him to the ground to force an apology, and make him pay for a new pair of shoes.”

Tōhō chuckled inwardly. Yep. That is very Sonoko Suzuki. Vengeful to the core.

“Sister, don’t tell Sonoko about my injuries, okay?” Ran pleaded softly. “She’ll just worry.”

“Hmm. I won’t.”

With the ointment fully applied, Tōhō helped pull her uniform back down and gave the back of her head a gentle, reassuring pat.

Ran turned around. The tip of her nose was a little red, though her eyes were dry. She offered Tōhō a smile—the kind of bright, stubborn smile that was entirely her own.

“I will control my training volume from now on.”

“You’d better.”

“Sister, don’t be mad…”

“I’m not mad,” Tōhō said, his voice softening into his perfect maiden persona. “I’m heartbroken.”

Ran’s face instantly erupted into a brilliant shade of scarlet. Unable to handle the sudden critical hit to her heart, she scrambled off the sofa and practically fled back to the kitchen to wash the vegetables. The loud rushing of the tap water barely masked the frantic hammering of her pulse.

Tōhō washed his hands at the sink and picked up his kitchen knife. The kitchen settled back into its comfortable, rhythmic harmony.

After about thirty seconds of safe silence, Ran spoke up again, her voice hesitant.

“Sister Tōhō… do you think that perverted kid at Tropical Land… the one who smelled the shoes…”

“What about him?”

“His eyes… don’t they look a bit like Shinichi’s?”

Tōhō didn’t let a single muscle in his face twitch. He pretended to mull it over seriously. “It seems… there is a bit of a resemblance?”

“Right! I thought so too!” Ran giggled, the tension completely gone. “But a kid is just a kid. No matter what, Shinichi wouldn’t actually crawl on the ground to sniff someone else’s shoes… probably?”

Just as the two of them fell into a comfortable, unspoken rhythm of preparing the meal, the sharp click of a key turning echoed from the entryway.

The front door swung open, followed immediately by the chaotic rustling of plastic and paper shopping bags.

“Yuekui! I’m back!”

Yukiko Kudo strutted through the door, her arms loaded with bags of all sizes. Her designer sunglasses were pushed up onto the top of her head, and she looked absolutely radiant, practically glowing with energy.

Then, she spotted the girl by the sink.

“Oh my! Ran-chan!!”

“Auntie Yukiko!!”

Dropping her expensive shopping bags onto the floor without a second thought, Yukiko lunged forward. She grabbed Ran and pulled her into a suffocating hug, pressing the girl’s face directly into her generous chest.

“Auntie missed you so much! Come, come, let me look at you! Have you grown taller?!”

Ran was squeezed so tightly she could barely draw breath, but a muffled, happy laugh escaped her anyway.

Tōhō leaned casually against the counter, watching the two women chatter animatedly in the middle of the living room. Yukiko enthusiastically pulled a vibrant silk scarf out of one of her bags, wrapped it around Ran’s neck, and spun the dizzy girl around three times to admire the look.

Meanwhile, the stove fire burned quietly, and the freshly chopped vegetables sat in neat, perfect rows on the cutting board.

“Where is Eri Kisaki?” Yukiko asked, finally releasing Ran. “Is she not back yet?”

“Yeah, Auntie Eri is still working overtime at the law office,” Tōhō replied with a nod.

“Then let’s not worry about her!” Yukiko declared with a bright grin, already pulling out a chair at the dining table. “Let’s eat first. I’ve been out shopping all day… I’m absolutely starving.”

“Auntie Yukiko is still as beautiful and energetic as ever,” Ran said, covering her mouth to hide a smile.

A short while later, Ran helped bring the hot, freshly prepared dishes to the table, and the three of them settled in for a warm, simple dinner.

“Um…” After the meal was cleared, Ran glanced at the wall clock. She turned her head, looking somewhat longingly at Tōhō. “Is Mom going to be back very late tonight?”

“Probably… yeah.”

Ran lowered her gaze, a faint trace of disappointment in her eyes. She realized she likely wouldn’t get to see her mother at all today. Maybe, she thought, I should just go directly to the law office to find her next time.