The next morning.
Still half-asleep, Kurosawa Hoshino felt a tickle in his nose, then as if he couldn't breathe. His mouth opened slightly as he gasped for air.
"Sleep paralysis?"
As his consciousness cleared a little, he recalled this only happened in dreams.
Still drowsy, he struggled to open his eyes, revealing a sliver of vision. Vaguely, he saw a smiling face above him, silently grinning down at him.
Kurosawa Hoshino mumbled,
"Not just sleep paralysis—I'm dreaming about Sonoko too. Has she become a ghost?"
The girl's bright smile froze on her face, then twisted into an extremely angry expression.
Kurosawa Hoshino continued,
"Sure enough, Sonoko is a ghost. What an ugly face."
"Pfft~" A laugh came from beside his ear.
Then, before Kurosawa Hoshino's eyes, another face squeezed in next to Sonoko's—Ran's smiling face.
"And Ran too."
Kurosawa Hoshino slowly raised his hands and placed them on their faces, gently stroking them. He muttered to himself,
"So smooth, so warm. Hmm? Warm?"
Suddenly, his eyes snapped open, and he jolted awake. Looking at the two girls' blushing faces, he finally understood why their faces felt warm.
Slap, slap.
Sonoko slapped away the hands touching her and her best friend's faces, saying with a mix of embarrassment and anger, "You, Kurosawa Hoshino! We came to wake you up, and you dare take advantage of us!"
Ran didn't say anything, just stared at him with her pale violet eyes, unblinking.
"Wait…"
Kurosawa Hoshino rubbed his temples, glanced at the bright sky outside the window, slowly sat up, and looked seriously at the two girls in front of him, asking,
"This is my house. How did you get in?"
"It was Conan," Ran replied. "Conan got up really early today and came to my place. We came to wake you up, but the outer door wasn't closed—it was just ajar."
"That's right," Sonoko nodded, saying smugly, "Your bedroom door wasn't locked either. I just turned the handle and it opened."
"…"
Kurosawa Hoshino's lips twitched. Leaving the front door unlocked was one thing, but of course he didn't lock his bedroom door—there were no outsiders in the house.
He just hadn't expected Conan to get up so early today and not even close the door properly on his way out.
Looking at her expression, Kurosawa Hoshino said irritably,
"What are you so smug about? You came in without knocking."
Sonoko put her hands on her hips and declared righteously, "You're the one who didn't lock the door! And we did knock. You were sleeping so soundly we came in to check on you."
"Really?" Kurosawa Hoshino asked Ran. Sonoko was stubborn and likely lying.
"I knocked once," Ran said softly.
"How's that?" Kurosawa Hoshino's gaze returned to Sonoko.
Sonoko pouted, "Even once counts as knocking. So tell me, did we knock or not?"
"Aren't you afraid I sleep naked?"
"If you sleep naked, we'll just leave. We won't wake you, and you won't even know."
"True."
Kurosawa Hoshino nodded and sighed, "Just now I felt like I couldn't breathe. You must have pinched my nose."
"Hehe~"
Sonoko chuckled, then walked around the room, looking around as if inspecting something. She even carefully examined the trash can.
Recalling Conan's words from the previous morning, Kurosawa Hoshino said calmly,
"Don't think of me with your dirty mind. There's nothing shameful in my room."
"I didn't say anything. Don't slander me,"
Sonoko said, her disappointment evident as she found nothing.
Kurosawa Hoshino was certain that if there had been any adult material in his bedroom, Sonoko would have used it against him in every argument.
Thankfully, he wasn't that kind of person. In his past life, he always used his phone discreetly, leaving no evidence. Even if he were hit by a dump truck, his record would remain clean.
"Alright, you two go out first. I need to change," Kurosawa Hoshino waved them away.
"Go ahead and change. It's not like we'll lose a piece of you if we see," Sonoko retorted.
Despite her words, she left the bedroom with Ran.
"Honestly,"
Kurosawa Hoshino chuckled, shaking his head, then began changing.
But when he finished changing and stepped out of the room, neither girl was there.
"Went back across the street?"
Kurosawa Hoshino thought to himself, hurrying out the door.
As soon as he reached the bottom of the stairs, he saw a stretched luxury car parked by the roadside.
The window rolled down.
Sonoko, inside the car, said with a smile, "Hurry up and get in. Come with us somewhere."
Kurosawa Hoshino opened the door and got in, saying helplessly, "I thought you were genuinely here to wake me up. Turns out you had plans."
As the words left his mouth and the luxury car started moving, he vaguely heard someone shouting from behind.
"I'm not in the car yet! Wait for me!"
Kurosawa Hoshino couldn't help but look through the rear windshield and saw Conan chasing after them with his short legs from downstairs at the Mouri Detective Agency.
For some reason, his words and expression gave him a sense of déjà vu, as if he'd seen it in a movie somewhere.
"Heh."
Kurosawa Hoshino chuckled inwardly, noticing that the two women seemed unaware of Conan chasing them and showed no intention of alerting the driver.
More than twenty minutes later.
The car stopped by the roadside.
Kurosawa Hoshino got out and followed the two women to a shop with a long line.
Looking up at the sign, he muttered, "Oh, it's Fusae."
He remembered this brand—wasn't it designed by Professor Agasa's first love? He recalled that in one of the movies, Vermouth disguised herself as an old woman wanting to buy a brooch from this brand.
"So, are you here to buy a bag or something?" Kurosawa Hoshino asked, standing beside them.
"Brooches," Sonoko replied.
Ran continued, "Fusae recently released a new brooch, but it's a limited edition. Everyone who comes to the store can enter a draw. If you win a voucher, you can buy it; if you don't, you can't."
"Then what am I here for?" Kurosawa Hoshino pondered, stroking his chin.
"You're here to give us an extra chance. Even though Ran's here, we don't really need your chance, but it's like insurance."
Sonoko was clearly referring to Ran's incredible luck in winning draws.
Kurosawa Hoshino asked skeptically, "Sonoko, you're the second daughter of the Suzuki Group. You're going to honestly enter a draw?"
"Of course," Sonoko said seriously. "These things are more fun if you rely on luck. I'm not going to cheat."
"Heh," Kurosawa Hoshino shook his head. "Whatever you say. Do what makes you happy."
Anyway, Ran was here. If the two of them didn't win, Ran definitely would.