Mouri Ran withdrew her hand and smiled, "Have some orange juice, Conan."
Conan, with a swollen bump, holds the glass with a wobbly eye and smiles dryly, "Yes, yes."
He didn't look like he was about to burst into tears and let out a sharp sonic attack.
Ichijō Mirai, half-relieved with a trace of relief, looks up at Wakamatsu Toshihide, who's been eyeballing him, and smiles, "Is there something I can do for you, Mr. Hiroshima?"
Yes.
"That," Wakamatsu Toshihide stammered, "my last name is Wakamatsu."
"Just now... I'm sorry about just now... the boy was so small, I couldn't see out of the corner of my eye, and I thought I was touching Ms. Mouri's hand."
He bowed his head to Conan and apologized, "I'm so sorry."
As a child, Conan justifiably moved closer to Mouri Ran, ignoring the hot-headed thug.
Wakamatsu Toshihide scratched his head, hesitated for a moment, and looked towards the kitchen.
In front of the kitchen, Mrs. Minagawa had already coaxed Minagawa Sasumu to go into the kitchen, holding his hand.
After some thought, he whispered, "Minagawa and I only met in college, but he and Kaori are childhood friends, and little friend, if you think Sasumu is talking strangely, it's probably because they're not..."
The kitchen door opened again.
Mrs. Minagawa stepped out with a tray and greeted her with a gentle smile, interrupting Wakamatsu Toshihide's awkward diversion, "Here's the cake."
The tray was a bit large, and there were nearly ten cupcakes on it.
Ichijō Mirai took the tray, "I'll take it."
He glanced at the cake and said, "You make the whole cake first, then cut it up and package it, right? Thank you for your hard work, ma'am."
Making a cake that could fill at least ten cake pans was a bit of a hassle for a family that wasn't a dessert store.
Mrs. Minagawa smiled warmly." I bake as a hobby, it's not hard."
"I'm not a big fan of sugar, I usually test with less sugar, but this time I've added a little more sugar to take into account your young people's tastes," she recommended in a soft voice, "Try it."
"If it's too sweet..."
She turned back into the kitchen, brought a pot of coffee and poured it around the table, "Try the coffee?"
"It's cold and the juice is cold, it's good to have something hot to warm you up, I remember that you young people like coffee, Katsuhiko's kid just likes the bitter stuff."
When it was time to pour the coffee, Mrs. Minagawa called on Minagawa Sasumu to help her, pouring it herself and letting her children help pass it to the others.
Minagawa Sasumu passes the coffee in no particular order, first to the person who smiles at him, then to his brother's empty seat, and then to the others according to the proximity of their seats.
As he handed out the coffee, he moped a little, "Mom, my brother isn't back yet."
"Brother's not back yet?" Mrs. Minagawa smiled gently at him, "Then Sasumu go downstairs and call him back for everyone, okay?"
"It's too cold outside, he'll catch a cold if he keeps blowing in the wind, let him come in for a cup of coffee to warm himself up."
"Okay!" Minagawa Sasumu nodded her head vigorously and finally smiled, turning her head and running off at once, "Then I'll go get brother first, and then I'll come back later to help mom!"
"Brother! Mom said it's too cold outside and asked you to come back!"
He went away with a cheering voice.
Mrs. Minagawa slowly poured another cup of coffee, pouring the cup until it was almost overflowing before she stopped and looked up to the others with a helpless smile, "Sasumu is still too young to understand, please forgive me."
She put down the coffee pot, her eyes swept over the cake on the table, then she said gently, "It's the first time I tried this kind of cake, everyone try it, if you have any comments you can tell me, next time you guys get together again I can improve it."
"You young people are still good, energetic, watching you party, my mood is also much happier."
Of course, no one was really serious about what was wrong with the cake, but those who tasted it praised it, and even the somber Tanaka Naomichi gave a few compliments, with Wakamatsu Toshihide's voice being the loudest of them all.
Ichijō Mirai didn't move.
The cake and coffee had only just been served, less than two minutes after someone had eaten them, and he had only taken a few moments to look at them before setting his own aside.
Apart from the two who were not there, it was the only one that had not been touched.
So Mrs. Minagawa looked over.
Her eyes swept over the untouched cake, the coffee that she wasn't sure had been touched, and the glass of orange juice in Ichijō Mirai's hand with a somewhat apprehensive expression, "Is it not to your liking, Mr. Ichijō?"
Mrs. Minagawa was gentle, and Ichijō Mirai was even gentler.
"I'd like to finish my orange juice first," he said, raising his glass in a thoughtful manner, "Mrs. Minagawa's been busy in the kitchen and hasn't eaten anything yet, has she? The coffee is still hot, have some to warm you up."
"Have something to warm you up, like sushi or cake."
Polite and considerate, Mrs. Minagawa hesitated for a moment, glanced out and saw Minagawa Sasumu pulling Minagawa Katsuhiko in before relenting, "Thank you for your concern."
She took a few sips from her coffee cup and sipped a small piece of cake with her fork, smiling at Minagawa Katsuhiko who had just come in, "You're back, Katsuhiko, it's cold outside, have some hot coffee."
She put down her cake fork and stood up, "I'll get another pot of coffee."
Ichijō Mirai didn't stop.
He sipped his orange juice slowly, observing the situation at the table.
No one had suddenly collapsed foaming at the mouth, everything was normal, the orange juice and sushi had been used by everyone, except for Minagawa Katsuhiko and Kaori Sekiya, who had been absent for a while, and the coffee and cake had been used by everyone.
Observing, he heard Conan's whispered inquiry, "Bro-Brother Ichijō."
It seemed a little hard to get the name out, but then the words flowed more smoothly, "Are you paying attention to the coffee and cake?"
"I remember you eat sushi when everyone's halfway through, and now you're not drinking the coffee and cake that's just come up, but the juice is right from the start, but you're half an hour ahead of us, and you've already seen everyone else drink the juice."
To summarize: Ichijō Mirai would not move until the others had taken a certain food for a few moments without showing any abnormality.
Is this a normal human habit? Of course not.
Conan made his tone cute and innocent and childlike, "That's weird."
Why?
Ichijō Mirai doesn't blink, "It's a personal habit."
He smiled at Conan, unruffled, "I'm a detective."
"I've seen a lot of murderers, so I don't realize that I have some irrational habits in my daily life, so please forgive me, my little friend."
I'm currently a detective in the eyes of my employer.
It's true that I've seen a lot of murderers in prison.
It's also true that he has some irrational habits, but it's not all because he's seen a lot of murderers.
The three pieces of information that make up this explanation are all true.
Ichijō Mirai didn't feel the slightest bit guilty about lying as he shook his glass, "Ms. Sekiya is coming in."
Kaori Sekiya pushed her way in.
All the party gathered again in the living room.
Under the watchful eye of Ichijō Mirai, Kaori Sekiya took her seat and casually took a sip of her coffee with cake to ease the bitterness in her mouth.
After being out in the wind for a while, she was looking as normal as ever, and she didn't seem to be upset about the rejection of her confession, except that every time she took a sip of coffee, she took a big gulp of it and let the bitterness fill her mouth.
After a couple of sips, Tanaka Naomichi, who hadn't been around much, spoke up, "Slow down, Sekiya."
"Katsuhiko, isn't he..."
There was only half a piece of cake left in front of him, and a third of the coffee.
Wakamatsu Toshihide and Yoshimi Watanabe also had a lot less cake and coffee in front of them, Suzuki Sonoko wasn't drinking much coffee and was eating the cake, taking deliberate bites of the spoon after each bite, obviously in a daze.
Mouri Ran had taken a few bites of the cake and the coffee, but had not eaten any more, and was using a fork to divide Conan's cake into bite-sized pieces that could be eaten straight away.
Minagawa Katsuhiko is frowning as he sips his coffee, having sat down for less than two minutes and almost finished his cup of coffee, but has not touched the cake, which is intact in front of him.
Ichijō Mirai, motionless in his collection of recorded information, looked down again, smiled at Conan, who was quietly probing him, and once again went through the perfunctory process of an adult petting a child's head, "Good boy."
"Don't just stare at what you're interested in like a cat, but observe all the information, like the exam, like Mr. Hiroshima."
And for example... the impending murder.