By the time Karasawa finally arrived at Beika Station, it was already two hours later.
Before transmigrating, Karasawa wasn't Japanese, but he had stayed in Tokyo before, so he was mentally prepared for how troublesome it was to take the subway in Japan, and how much of a maze Shibuya Station could be.
But the modified subway system in this Conan world still managed to defeat him. He completely underestimated the time it would take, and by the time he found Café Poirot, it was already past two in the afternoon.
Logically, he still had to go to Teitan High School today to handle his enrollment paperwork. This delay probably meant he wouldn't even get dinner.
Silently mourning for his faintly aching stomach for two seconds, Karasawa pushed open the door to Café Poirot.
There were still two or three customers in the shop at this time. Two servers were standing behind the long bar counter chatting with the customers. When they heard the sound of the door opening, everyone turned to look at Karasawa.
"!" Karasawa looked up and saw the two of them, and his heart skipped a beat.
The long-haired girl on the left looked gentle and kind—probably the waitress Enomoto Azusa who was always in the café in the manga. The problem was, the man on the right had too recognizable a face. Tanned skin and short blond hair—anyone who had watched Conan would call out his name without hesitation.
Why is Amuro Tooru here?!
Seeing that Karasawa stood motionless at the doorway after entering, looking completely at a loss, Enomoto Azusa looked him over carefully, her eyes moving from his school uniform to his unique hair color and blue eyes.
"Ah!" She lightly knocked her fist into her palm, as if she suddenly realized something. "You must be the high school student the boss mentioned, Mr. Karasawa Akira."
Karasawa snapped back to his senses and instinctively bowed to greet them. "Sorry, that was rude of me. Nice to meet you. I'm Karasawa Akira, staying here temporarily. Please take care of me."
His almost reflexive, standard polite introduction made Enomoto Azusa smile. He was a little startled and overly tense, looking like a shy, awkward, socially anxious kid.
"Kinda cute, isn't he?" she tilted her head and whispered to Amuro Tooru.
Amuro Tooru was also carefully observing Karasawa. Hearing that, he put on his usual friendly smile and waved to Karasawa. "No need to be nervous. The boss informed us in advance. I'm Amuro Tooru, and this is Enomoto Azusa. We're staff here. Please take care of us."
Looking at his bright and sunny smile, Karasawa silently adjusted his breathing, trying to calm his startled heartbeat, and smiled back at Amuro Tooru as he walked into the shop.
But beneath his calm expression was a stormy sea.
What's going on? Has the Conan plot already progressed a lot? The timing of Amuro Tooru working at Café Poirot… wasn't that after Akai Shuichi became Okiya Subaru?
But he remembered glancing at a newspaper on the way and seeing a headline like "High School Detective Shinichi Kudo Solves Another Case." So Kudo Shinichi is still active!
Then Amuro Tooru…
Not good. His homestay life is already going downhill from day one.
"Your personal belongings arrived yesterday. We've placed them upstairs for you," Enomoto Azusa said, pointing at the wooden staircase behind the bar counter. "You can go up and rest or unpack a bit. If you need anything, just let us know."
Having decided that Karasawa was a bit socially anxious, Enomoto Azusa kindly offered him an excuse to leave so he wouldn't be overwhelmed by the attention of the customers.
"Thank you very much, but I've already been delayed too long. I'm worried I won't make it in time to handle the enrollment. Could I get the proof of residence first?" Karasawa hesitated for a moment, unsure how much Enomoto Azusa and the others knew about his situation, so he only vaguely used the word "residence."
What he really needed was a volunteer guardian certificate for his probationary observation period. Because Karasawa Akira was basically a criminal on probation, he needed a volunteer to act as temporary guardian and communicate with the school, guaranteeing they would supervise him and report regularly. Only then would the high school be willing to accept a juvenile delinquent like him.
"Proof?" Enomoto Azusa repeated, confused, clearly not understanding Karasawa Akira's situation.
But Amuro Tooru picked up the conversation. "Ah, you mean proof of residence, right? Leave it to me. The boss explained it to me. You're transferring to Teitan High, right? It's not far from here. I can go with you."
Karasawa turned his head and met Amuro Tooru's purple-gray eyes. From his warm smile, it was obvious Amuro understood exactly what he was talking about.
Karasawa glanced at the customers in the shop and quietly asked, "It's still business hours. Is that okay?"
"It's fine, I can handle things myself," Enomoto Azusa said quickly, gently pushing Amuro out from behind the bar. "Mr. Amuro, go ahead and take him."
So Karasawa stood obediently at the side, waiting for Amuro Tooru to take off his barista apron and put on his jacket, following behind him like a well-behaved student.
But in reality, Karasawa was gripping the straps of his commuting bag so tightly that his fingers were almost digging into the fabric.
Good grief. Truly, good grief.
Enomoto Azusa might have thought Karasawa just needed some sort of address certificate, but Karasawa knew clearly—what he needed was a guardian to interface with the school. That's not something just anyone could do.
So in the end, his temporary guardian wasn't some never-seen-before mysterious café owner, but Amuro Tooru?!
With this in mind, Karasawa lowered his head behind Amuro and stared fixedly at the shadow under his feet, terrified that his expression might slip and be noticed by this sharp fake Bourbon.
It's over. Shinichi Kudo hasn't even been ambushed yet, but Karasawa Akira has already caught the attention of the Organization.
Yes—definitely the Organization.
No matter what the true goal behind this nested identity was, the moment Amuro Tooru operated in public under this name, it meant his actions were from the standpoint of Bourbon, the Organization's operative.
In the original story, Amuro Tooru worked at Café Poirot to investigate the Mouri Detective Agency.
And Bourbon would never casually become a high schooler's guardian without reason. This means Karasawa Akira must've gotten involved with the Organization somehow and triggered Bourbon's involvement early.
"You seem very nervous, Karasawa-kun?" Amuro Tooru suddenly turned around and spoke, looking at Karasawa, whose head was so low only the top of it was visible.
"Y-yes, sorry," Karasawa continued acting socially anxious, replying in a small voice, and raised his head just 30 degrees, now staring at Amuro's sleeve.
Karasawa's memories of his original self from the past ten-plus years were still vague. Aside from a few fragmented pieces, he couldn't even recall his parents' names. He had no idea what kind of personality Karasawa Akira used to have.
Amuro Tooru definitely knew more than he did. Knowing the way this fake Bourbon operated, he wouldn't have made contact without thoroughly digging into Karasawa Akira's background.
So Karasawa decided to just act based on his own understanding. Anyway, a kid wrongly accused of a serious crime—whether he used to be a social butterfly or not—it would be totally believable if he was now closed-off and withdrawn.
Amuro Tooru still had a warm smile, his tone gentle. "It's okay, Karasawa-kun. I more or less understand your situation. The boss is away long-term, so I'll be the one responsible for your guardianship this year."
Just as he thought.
Karasawa was silent for a moment and didn't follow up. If he let Amuro take the lead in conversation, it would just be a trap-laden Q&A session next. But guess what? Even he didn't know as much about himself as Amuro did.
So he asked instead, "So… Miss Enomoto, or the other people in the shop, they all know too, right?"
He phrased it as a question, but his tone was clearly stating a fact. His depressed voice made Amuro raise an eyebrow.
Amuro might be Organization on the surface, but deep down he was a red-blooded agent of the Japanese police. He had a soft spot for troubled youth. Seeing Karasawa showing this wounded posture, he couldn't keep going with the scripted talk. Instead, he tried to comfort him. "No, the boss only told me. You can feel safe living here. We'll protect your privacy. Don't worry."
During the walk from the café, Karasawa had a full mental brainstorming session and quickly settled on the role he would play going forward.
Now, he was also performing according to the character he had decided on. With a self-deprecating laugh and a low, bitter voice, he spoke out the word Amuro had been avoiding all along: "Makes sense. If people knew a juvenile delinquent convicted of assault was living in the café, it'd ruin your reputation. Business would take a hit, huh?"
Amuro's brows furrowed. "That's not true. Don't think like that, Karasawa-kun."
"I'll do my best not to cause trouble. Please don't worry," Karasawa continued on his own, eyes downcast. Though his head was raised, his gaze remained low. His long eyelashes hid his bright blue eyes. "I'll behave. I just need to get through this year. I won't be a burden to anyone."
This utterly negative, hopeless attitude successfully made Amuro give up on asking the questions he originally wanted to. Instead, he changed the subject to Karasawa's new school, Teitan High.
"Teitan High is a well-known school in Tokyo, with a high college entrance rate. Transferring there isn't a bad thing—it might actually help with future exams." Amuro used softer words now. If his tone at the start was for a middle schooler, by now he was speaking like coaxing an elementary school kid. "The students there are very friendly. You can relax a little."
Karasawa finally raised his eyes and, for the first time on this walk, looked straight at Amuro.
His lips moved, as if disagreeing with Amuro's comment, but he didn't speak. He just firmly pressed his lips together.
What Karasawa was thinking now was: you're just trying to fool outsiders.
Is there any part of Beika Town that actually has friendly social vibes?
Really? I don't believe it. Polite and harmonious Beika Town, huh?
He had already made that face on the train—when he tensed his lips like that, his cheeks puffed up, making him look a bit chubby, like he still had baby fat. Though Karasawa himself was dead serious, others would only think he looked cute.
It wasn't like Karasawa was trying to act cute on purpose—he just wasn't used to this new face yet and didn't quite know how to use it.
But anyway, Amuro couldn't resist reaching out and rubbing his head.
"Relax, there's nothing to worry about. That over there is Teitan High—it's really close, right?"
Karasawa followed the direction of Amuro's finger and saw the engraved school name of "Teitan High School" across the street.
…Come to think of it, the high school the Persona 5 protagonist attended was called Shujin Academy—a pun. "Shujin" and "prisoner" are pronounced the same in Japanese, symbolizing the protagonist's fate as a prisoner.
Teitan High School is a pun too. "Teitan," pronounced teitan, is just the Japanese word tantei (detective) flipped around.
…Am I destined to be haunted by pun names in this life?
Grumbling in his heart, Karasawa still obediently followed Amuro Tooru into this famous 2D landmark.