"He really pulled it off?" Reiko's eyes widened in amazement as she stared at the sounding machine.
"By altering the input voice frequency, you can change the timbre and pitch," Hayashi Shuichi explained, his gaze thoughtfully fixed on the round-faced, chubby young man on stage.
"Pretty cool, huh, kids?"
The young man puffed out his chest proudly, gently stroking the machine's smooth surface. "There's something even better. I'll show you now—but I'll need two volunteers on stage."
As he spoke, his eyes scanned the crowd and settled on Hayashi Shuichi and his sister.
Recalling the little girl's earlier disdain for the science fair, a slight smirk tugged at his lips. Without hesitation, he invited the siblings up.
Reiko, already hooked by the voice-changing device, bounced with excitement. "Onii-chan, let's go!"
Hayashi Shuichi smiled and let his sister drag him onto the stage.
"So, little miss, isn't my invention impressive?" The young man bent down toward Reiko. "Were you shocked?"
"A little," Reiko nodded. "Didn't you say there's something even cooler, uncle?"
"I told you not to call me uncle…" he grumbled, then gestured her forward. "Come on, say something into the microphone."
Reiko thought for a moment, stood on tiptoe, and leaned in. "Onii-chan, I love you the most!"
"Uh—" Hayashi Shuichi awkwardly scratched his cheek as good-natured laughter rippled through the audience.
"I wish I had a little sister who adored me like that," the young man sighed enviously, then adjusted the machine.
With a soft beep, Reiko's words replayed several times louder, echoing through the hall.
"It's just recording… that's not impressive," Reiko pouted, clearly disappointed.
"You'll see in a second."
The young man winked mysteriously, picked up another microphone, and lowered his voice. "Onii-chan will surely love a cute little sister like me, right?"
The words boomed from the speakers in Reiko's exact clear, sweet voice—tone and all.
"W-Wow!" Reiko clapped her hands over her mouth, eyes round as saucers.
Gasps and cheers erupted from the crowd; some kids even jumped in excitement.
Voice recording wasn't new, but instantly converting someone's voice to match another person's in real time? That was astounding.
Hayashi Shuichi wasn't particularly surprised—he'd seen similar tech in his previous life. But the invention, combined with the inventor's signature round face and thick eyebrows, confirmed everything.
Dr. Hiroshi Agasa—the genius inventor of the Conan world, Conan's behind-the-scenes supporter, and the creator of Kogoro Mouri's endless suffering.
"Would you like to try too, young man?" the young Dr. Agasa asked warmly, his round face beaming.
Hayashi Shuichi had been lost in thought and didn't respond immediately.
"Sorry, Onii-chan zones out when he's thinking," Reiko apologized with a smile, nudging her brother's arm. "Onii-chan, your turn."
Snapping back, Hayashi Shuichi leaned toward the prototype voice changer and casually said, "Nice weather today."
Dr. Agasa pressed a button and spoke in Hayashi Shuichi's warm, gentle voice, earning another wave of astonished cheers.
Compared to the other simple experiments, Dr. Agasa's invention was clearly the kids' favorite.
After the demo, a long line of excited children formed, eager to try speaking in someone else's voice.
Hayashi Shuichi didn't disturb the busy doctor. Instead, he took Reiko's hand and continued wandering the science museum.
They soon reached the biology section, where microscopes were set up and children queued to observe cells under guidance.
Reiko was instantly fascinated and tugged Hayashi Shuichi's sleeve, joining the line without hesitation.
"I wonder if we'll see a baby being made," she suddenly whispered into his ear.
"Huh?" Hayashi Shuichi froze, caught off guard.
"You know…" Reiko's cheeks flushed faintly as she lowered her voice even more. "I read in a book… lots of tadpoles compete to become a baby."
Hayashi Shuichi felt heat rush to his face and scratched his head awkwardly. Having a precocious little sister was truly troublesome.
Just as he struggled for an answer, a gentle female voice chimed in: "With regular optical microscopes here, you can see sperm meeting the egg. To see inside the egg, though, you'd need more advanced equipment."
Someone actually answered seriously? Hayashi Shuichi's mouth twitched.
He turned toward the voice. The speaker was an elegant young woman with shoulder-length pale blonde hair, emerald-green eyes behind glasses, and a white lab coat.
Realizing what she'd just explained to a child, the woman blushed and pushed up her glasses nervously.
"Big sis knows so much!" Reiko tactfully changed the subject, looking up curiously. "Do you research biology?"
"I did, long ago," the woman smiled, a complicated flicker in her eyes. "Now I'm a doctor."
"A doctor?" Reiko's eyes sparkled. "Big sis, are newborns really ugly?"
"Not ugly," the woman laughed softly. "Their skin is just wrinkled from being in amniotic fluid too long—like when your fingers get pruny after a long bath."
"Ohh," Reiko nodded half-understandingly. "I thought even if Onii-chan and I had a baby, it'd still be super cute right from the start."
"Eh?" The woman's eyes widened in shock, darting between Hayashi Shuichi and Reiko as if the word "pervert" was written across her face.
Feeling the stare like needles, Hayashi Shuichi hurriedly explained, "We're not blood siblings—we're cousins—no, we haven't—"
The woman suddenly burst into laughter. "No need to explain. I saw you two at Dr. Agasa's booth earlier."
She winked playfully. "Cousin romance is fine anyway. In Japan, cousins can marry."
…There was no saving this now. Hayashi Shuichi buried his face in his hands while Reiko stuck her tongue out triumphantly through his fingers.
"Does big sis have a baby?" Reiko continued.
"Yes, a daughter. She's three now," the woman answered, her face glowing with maternal warmth, eyes brimming with tenderness. "She's absolutely adorable."
"Big sis is so pretty—your daughter will definitely grow up to be a beauty," Reiko said sincerely.
Delighted, the woman bent down and gently touched Reiko's cheek. "If Akemi heard your blessing, she'd be overjoyed."
At that moment, a man in a white coat descended the nearby stairs—broad cheeks, neat beard, round glasses.
Seeing him, the woman ruffled Reiko's hair with a smile. "Little miss, your wish will come true someday."
She walked over to the man. "How did it go, Atsushi? Are they willing to fund your research?"
The man sighed, shoulders slumping with a bitter smile.
The woman understood instantly. She gently took his arm. "Don't lose hope, Atsushi. Someone will recognize your work's value."
"But right now, the only ones offering funding are the Karasuma Group," he said helplessly. "I really don't like their methods. Your sister warned me too—they're not trustworthy."
"If you don't like them, just keep looking. We're still young—we have time," she said lightly, trying to cheer him up. "This science fair is for kids, but there are some interesting things. I should've brought Akemi."
"She's only three. What would she understand?" he replied, but his wife's optimism softened his expression into a warm smile.
The couple walked off toward the other side of the museum, chatting.
Hayashi Shuichi stared at their retreating backs, frozen in place.
When he first heard their daughter was named Akemi, he hadn't thought much of it—lots of girls in Japan are called Akemi.
But then hearing the husband called Atsushi and mentioning the Karasuma Group—if he still didn't realize who they were after watching over a thousand episodes of Conan in his previous life, he'd have wasted all that time.
Elena Miyano and Atsushi Miyano—two pivotal figures throughout the Conan storyline.
Without their "Silver Bullet" research and their younger daughter Shiho Miyano, there would be no APTX4869, the drug that turned Shinichi Kudo into a child.
No wonder Sharon had shown up at the science museum.
An image of the blonde witch flashed through Hayashi Shuichi's mind. At this point in time, was she here to recruit the Miyanos for the Karasuma Group?
His thoughts raced. His gaze locked onto the couple. Reiko, seeing him stare, assumed her brother was smitten with the beautiful blonde woman again.
The little girl stomped her foot in anger. They'd come out to have fun together, yet first it was the foreign teacher, and now this new blonde lady!
"Onii-chan!"
She stomped hard on his foot. Only when he winced in pain did she feel slightly better.
"Didn't you hear what I said? She's married! That man is her husband, and they have a daughter!"
Hayashi Shuichi was completely focused on how to stop the Miyanos from joining the Karasuma Group. If he could prevent the Silver Bullet project at its source, countless future tragedies might be avoided.
He answered absentmindedly, "What does her being married have to do with me?"
Reiko's voice shot up an octave in shock. "Onii-chan, are you seriously into married women now?!"
Her clear, explosive childish voice rang through the quiet hall, instantly drawing every eye in the room.
Curious stares, judgmental glares—and quite a few young mothers with children, upon seeing Hayashi Shuichi's handsome face, suddenly looked interested.
Soon, several stylish young moms "casually" drifted closer, fixing hair or smoothing skirts, conveniently blocking his view of Elena Miyano.
Hayashi Shuichi snapped out of it, about to chase after the couple, only to find himself surrounded by attractive young mothers.
A cloying mix of perfumes filled the air.
Some openly winked; one bold woman even bent down right in front of him to "fix" her shoe strap, showing off her curves.
Hayashi Shuichi broke into a cold sweat. "What is going on?!"
"Hmph, don't play dumb," Reiko huffed, arms crossed, cheeks puffed. "They all heard you like married women and came running."
"I do NOT like married women!" Hayashi Shuichi protested, temple throbbing. "I'm not Cao Cao!"
"If you don't, why were you staring at that blonde lady?" Reiko pressed.
"I recognized their names," Hayashi Shuichi explained simply. "Atsushi Miyano and Elena Miyano—they're famous scientists. I remembered some rumors about them, that's all."
Reiko blinked, thinking back. They really hadn't introduced their family name. Maybe Onii-chan wasn't lying?
"Come on, let's catch up to them." Hayashi Shuichi took his sister's hand and began squeezing through the crowd of enthusiastic married women…
(End of chapter)
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