The atmosphere in the car was subtle.
Conan quietly peeked out of Mouri Ran's arms and looked into the backseat, he looked to his left and saw Ichijō Mirai smiling and talking slowly.
Ichijō Mirai was looking at Suzuki Sonoko, and he was observing her more carefully than usual, as if he wasn't quite sure whether this obvious and undisguised fondness was her cheerful and loving nature for everything in the world, such as flowers, animals, and decorative passers-by, or whether it was a feeling of affection for him.
In fact, there was no need to wonder, all Conan needed to do was to glance at Suzuki Sonoko, even if he could not see the slightest expression on her face, he could tell that it was definitely affection.
Ichijō Mirai's ability to recognize such a thing with a single glance, but he has to observe and confirm it more carefully than a detective investigating a murder clue without a trace?
It seems like Suzuki Sonoko is not in love with a young and capable handsome man, but with a perverted criminal like Hannibal.
Conan grew more and more serious, watching Ichijō Mirai steadily for another ten seconds or so, and had to be sure of one thing: Ichijō Mirai wasn't paying any attention to him at all.
It was all too obvious that Ichijō Mirai's eyes were not fixed on her face the entire time he was talking to Suzuki Sonoko; most of the time his eyes were in the air, or looking at the front rows, but his gaze was fixed on his side, and his attention was not on the majority of his field of vision, but on the side of his body, which was only a small portion of his field of vision.
His apparent eyes moved evenly over the front seat, Mouri Korogō, the window, Mouri Ran in the passenger seat, the other car, and the rearview mirror several times without realizing that Conan was looking back.
Even once the eyes met.
Because the focus wasn't on Conan.
Conan's dead eyes gradually widened and he gazed at Ichijō Mirai, and after a few seconds, he shifted his gaze hatefully to Suzuki Sonoko.
It was probably during today's trip that Mouri Ran couldn't stand it any longer, and quietly revealed that 'Actually, Mirai-san likes you, too... Every time you ask him out, he'll come out... He just seems to have some kind of concern...' Suzuki Sonoko's nervousness and nervousness became even more obvious when she was alone in the small environment, and her eyes swept downward and up and downward as if she were a woman who was in love with Ichijō Mirai. Scanning his eyes downward as if he were scrutinizing the car's wear and tear.
Yes, 'alone', although there were five people in the car, she clearly felt alone with Ichijō Mirai.
Of course, although she's more nervous than usual, Suzuki Sonoko's mouth is still on the line, but it's just a little too on the line, and when she talks to Ichijō Mirai, she almost always picks up without a second's pause, which is obviously going to be the case when she's speaking out of turn, and every time she does that, her face heats up a little bit.
When she's being particularly blunt, she'll quietly look sideways at herself in the car window three or four seconds after she finishes speaking, and then close her eyes, looking like she's been hurt by the boss's big move and is shaking but 'Suzuki Sonoko, what's wrong with you Suzuki Sonoko, snap out of it! She looks like she's trying to be strong even though she's been hit hard by a boss move.
Occasionally, she would look at Mouri Ran in the front seat and stare at him for a few moments to regain some blood.
Of course, she doesn't even notice Conan.
Conan: "..."
But someone was watching Conan: Mouri Ran.
After gazing at the two men in the backseat for a long time without gaining any attention, Conan cleared his throat and was just about to speak when, with a sense of anticipation, he turned his head sideways to meet the eyes of Mouri Ran, who was approaching him.
Mouri Ran smiled brightly, her tone gentle, "What's wrong, Conan?"
She was incredibly gentle, "Want to talk to Mr. Mirai?"
There was a murderous aura in the air.
Conan: "..."
He immediately scrunched his neck and laughed, "Ahahaha, why not, I won't bother sister Sonoko hahaha."
"Okay," Mouri Ran sat up straight with satisfaction and continued to half-turn her body to peek at the back row, "Sister Sonoko is talking to Mr. Mirai, so it's not polite to interrupt... be a good boy."
It's not polite to interrupt, but Mouri Ran obviously didn't smile and tell Conan to shut up just because it's not polite.
After a few seconds of grimacing, Conan, under the threat of an undead but terrifying murderous aura, seized a moment to urgently open the mike and interjected, "Wow, Mirai-brother is awesome!"
Ichijō Mirai and Suzuki Sonoko are talking about a murder case.
If they were talking about anything else, one of them would probably not be interested in it, but in this case, there's a murder case, and Ichijō Mirai is a detective, so I'm sure he's interested in murder cases, and even if he's not interested in it, he won't be offended by it, and it's the perfect topic to raise their goodwill.
And it just so happens that Suzuki Sonoko has a lot of experience with murders. Except for Mouri Ran, Mouri Korogō, Conan and a few kids, no one can say to her, "I have some experience with murders." No one!
Because no one has encountered more murders than them...
Suzuki Sonoko can easily recall a dozen murders with just a few memories, and has enough leverage to keep the conversation going for months.
No one knows her leverage better than Ichijō Mirai, and no one has more respect for her: every time she travels with Conan, there's a murder, and it's nice to be able to talk about Conan like a gentle sister next door, praising her own child's natural talent and temper.
...Like a rabbit.
A rabbit who grew up in a harmless environment, who wouldn't get mad if someone pinched his short, fluffy tail while he was washing his face with his paws and ears buried in his hands, and who would only give him a suspicious glance.
Conan is a tough nut to crack by comparison.
Ichijō Mirai sniffed and smiled politely at the hardened criminal's hedgehog, "Not as hard as you, you're a clever little Mr. Sherlock Holmes who often finds incredible evidence from a child's point of view at the scene of a murder."
He observes this little Mr. Holmes for a few seconds, and meets the implied scrutinizing gaze, outwardly unmoving, his brow more soothing, as if in jest, "I'm guessing that little Mr. Holmes wouldn't choose to be 'impolite' despite the reminder for no good reason, is that what's going on?"
Gee, didn't Conan have a good feeling about him?
Why was he looking at him today with an overall more trusting, but subtly scrutinizing and wary gaze?
It's like looking at every suspect who may or may not be the murderer at the scene of the crime, rather than looking at a fellow detective.
Conan had put away his original expression and replaced it with a childish one when searching for clues at the crime scene. He carefully looked up at Mouri Ran who was staring at him, smiled awkwardly, and then pretended not to notice the chill on the back of his neck. He said to Ichijō Mirai cheerfully, "Brother Mirai is amazing. He can grasp the doubts and deduce the possible murderer from the cases recounted by sister Sonoko. He is just like the legendary armchair detective!"
"I'm curious, did Brother Mirai used to solve cases? He's really good at it. Sister Sonoko's eyes are all starry!"
He's sending out signals.
To Mouri Ran, he's signaling that I didn't intentionally sabotage Suzuki Sonoko's 'alone time' by activating her bear personality.
To Ichijō Mirai, the signal was: yes, I'm not really a child, and it's weird to speak in a childish, innocent tone, but I'm using my childish status as an aid to get you to say more good things about yourself to gain favor with the object of your affections, and, well, that's all there really is to it.
Suzuki Sonoko received the attentive signal of 'Sister Sonoko, I'm helping!', but she looked at Ichijō Mirai and for some reason, she felt that he didn't seem to be relaxed just now, so she crossed her arms and stared at Conan.
Conan smiled back at her and looked at Ichijō Mirai again.
He realized that Ichijō Mirai had a thoughtful expression on his face, and after a few seconds he said, "It's just that I've been involved in murder cases before."
"If you've solved a case, you've solved one? But it wasn't a detective type of case, it was when I was on the street with a friend and accidentally realized that there was a fugitive criminal among the passers-by."
It was the arrest of Tomori Hajime together with Morofushi Hiromitsu.
It was something that Akai Shūichi had also told Conan about after the fire case, so halfway through the conversation he realized what Ichijō Mirai was talking about, and he picked up on it with feigned surprise: "Huh, wait a minute, 'friend'?"
The unspoken words were deafening: friends? What, you actually have friends?!
Ichijō Mirai paused.
He thought slowly: Conan doesn't know about his bad state, does he? Why is he shocked!
Who is it, who is the one who disturbed the harem and sent Conan information involving other people's privacy!
Is it weird that he has friends?!
Well, it's weird that the victims of Kodoku are willing to be his friends.
So Ichijō Mirai nodded without changing his expression, "Well, friends from a long time ago."
He said it briefly, without explaining why the adjective was 'long ago', as if he didn't want to talk about it.
Conan immediately said, "Huh, that, ow!"
"What Conan means is that he's never heard Mr. Mirai talk about friends or anything like that," Mouri Ran manually helped to close the mike and hurriedly explained, "Conan's been struggling with the topic of making friends lately and is curious about it."
She looked down at Conan, hesitated, and then said, "Is he a friend from your former diplomatic service? Mr. Mirai is now living in Japan, so it's not convenient to meet him, is it?"
"No, it's a friend I made in Japan, but it's not convenient to meet now," Ichijō Mirai thought for a moment, swallowed the words 'After I divorced the FBI, both the husband and the wife belonged to me', and changed to a normal and proper speech, "It's easy to meet my friend who worked abroad now. He also came to Japan for work, and he's probably going to settle down there."
It might have been a few months ago, but in reality it could have been forty or fifty years, so how was it not a form of illegal settlement?
He smiled at Conan and said gently, "It's okay, I'm actually surprised I have any friends at all."
Conan rubbed his bulging head, and continued prying with some grudges, "What about family? Mirai never mentioned family."
Though he pried stiffly, he looked at Suzuki Sonoko as he spoke, making it quite clear: I'm asking for Sister Sonoko, I'm an assistant.
Suzuki Sonoko didn't say anything, but first looked at Ichijō Mirai's expression, and not sensing that he was upset by the question, he curiously pricked up his ears.
Ichijō Mirai narrowed his eyes.
Conan wouldn't be prying into his family for no reason, he must be suspicious.
He realized why Conan was looking at him with caution today: probably some guy had said something about 'Satan' when he told Conan that 'Ichijō Mirai is a bad guy, the kind of bad guy who has no friends'.
Conan's current attitude is probably because he was shocked and alert when he heard that the hunter and the werewolf, was actually... ahem, related by blood, and was a twin.
I just don't know how much the snitch said.
Now that 'Satan's' backstabbing was becoming more and more important, Ichijō Mirai was able to accept this strange setup without blinking an eye, and he thought for a moment, pretending to ponder for a few seconds, before saying, "Family..."
"My parents passed away when I was very young, and besides my aunt, I only have one other family member."
Is it 'older brother' or 'younger brother'?
It's all so strange and subtle that it's hard to say!
He paused, before taking out a relatively good name, "Younger brother."
"Younger brother?!"
Everyone in the car shouted in surprise and shock.
Suzuki Sonoko and Mouri Ran, who knew about it for the first time, and Conan, who had already known about it and was just following the crowd with shock, all of them had a particularly surprised look on their faces.
Even Mouri Korogō, who was driving the car, had his pupils quake when he was hard pressed to turn around and turned his head back to drive.
"Well, I have a younger brother," Ichijō Mirai said without changing his expression, "and I haven't mentioned it before, because-"
Because he died because of taking the blame.
This was Mr. Akai Shūichi's arrangement.
But with the existence of time, Ichijō Mirai couldn't catch up with the latest developments in the game, and wasn't so sure that a couple of years had passed, and that Morofushi Hiromitsu and Akai Shūichi, who'd hit it off, hadn't been cricketing behind the scenes to figure out more things.
Like when 'Satan' died.
Like whether or not 'Satan' was a fraud.
Like whether or not 'Satan' swindled his body and then died at some point.
So in the end, Ichijō Mirai opted for a more ambiguous statement, saying in an overly calm tone, "It's just because he past away in an accident a long time ago."