Great Mangaka

November 23, in the afternoon.

The Osaka Port Cultural Center hosts this Detective Conan reader appreciation meeting. It is a small cultural center away from the city center. It is usually used for various book signings or reader meetings.

Takumi arrived by bus at 2:00 p.m., an hour earlier than Shiori had requested.

"Hello, I'm here. Where are you?"

After getting off the bus, Takumi spoke to Shiori on the phone and then followed the directions down the main street. She saw Shiori and her two friends several streets away from the cultural center.

The three girls were sitting on the stone benches on the side of the street. On both sides of the street were planted phoenix trees. The wind was blowing, dragging some fallen palm-shaped leaves. Takumi stepped on the fallen leaves and approached the girls: "Why are they sitting on the street?"

"The afternoon activities have not yet started." Shiori looked up and said, "Hinotori Publishing still needs to prepare, and the museum will open at 14:30."

"Sit down and wait a while!"

She pointed to the stone bench next to her, where no one was sitting.

Takumi removed the leaves from the top, sat down, and asked, "You came this morning, why are there only three?"

I wanted to see Shiori directly at Osaka No. 1 High School after learning piano in the morning, but Shiori left with her roommate early. He said he wanted to participate in fan club activities. But now Takumi didn't see the other members of the club, and he felt a little strange.

"We had lunch separately, not always together."

Shiori said with a smile: "Takumi, you have to pretend to be a boyfriend in the afternoon, those sisters have a piercing gaze!"

"Pretend to be a boyfriend?" Takumi nodded: "I'll do my best."

He smelled a strange smell, like vegetable buns, so he turned his head to look, but found nothing; The smell came from several girls.

"Did you eat buns for lunch?"

He frowned slightly. 'It was a vegetable bun, isn't it too cheap?'

"Did you smell it? Is it very strong?" Shiori and her two roommates were shocked and embarrassed. One of them explained: "We spent a lot of money on the bus, meals and other things these two days."

"The cheapest food outside can also be eaten at school for a day."

Another colleague added: "Anyway, we'll be back in the evening, so there's no problem ordering something for lunch."

"How much did you spend?"

"I spent twelve hundred yen, and Shiori and Han Xuan (Japanese name for roommate, if there is no specific equivalence we can leave it at that or change it to a generic Japanese name like Hiroko) spent more or less the same."

"..."

Takumi thought about it. 'The monthly living expenses of these boarding students can be less than ten thousand yen. It would be an ordeal to spend more than twelve hundred yen in two days.'

He stood up and said, "Come with me. I see that they are not full. I'll take them out to eat something."

"Huh? Are we invited again? No, we are almost full."

"Then buy something to drink. They have to have fun when they go out to play." Takumi smiled and said, "There are a lot of snacks on the street. I'll take them to eat enough."

Anyway, the money is saved, so it's better to spend it. Takumi likes the simplicity of these three girls. He won't be stingy with the boys he admires. Also, they can't eat much.

The three girls couldn't resist Takumi's invitation and eventually went shopping with him. Shiori aside, the other two were impressed by Takumi, the hottest boy they'd ever seen.

When they met Takumi, he didn't make a big impression on them, but with various contacts and understandings, Takumi's image became stronger and stronger. He is talented, generous, handsome, and most importantly, gentle and kind. He only gets angry because he is worried about them; A boy like that is hard to find.

"Shiori is very lucky!"

The two roommates envied him with all their hearts. 'If they had such an exceptional compatriot, they would no doubt rush to go one after another, but Shiori didn't care.'

After half an hour of shopping, the girls feasted, but they ran out of time and walked to the Kobe Port Cultural Center with an unsatisfied appetite.

Many people had gathered outside the cultural center. Among them were young and old, couples, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, but most were young people with excited faces. These young people were divided into groups of different sizes. Some carried Detective Conan's manga flags, others wore clothing with photos of sleeves printed on them, and dressed in a variety of ways.

"My sisters are there!"

Shiori pointed to the right side of the cultural center, where there was a very visible group. Almost a hundred women gathered and laughed, but there were few men.

"I really don't want to go."

Takumi noticed that the few men were very embarrassed to stay among the women, and the girls around them looked at them from time to time. He was reluctant to go.

But he still couldn't refuse, and followed Shiori.

"Shiori!" "Shiori!" "Shiori!"

As soon as Shiori approached, many women immediately surrounded her, greeting her in various ways.

After greeting, Shiori hadn't said anything yet, and these women's gazes were fixed on Takumi. There were dozens of pairs of eyes. Although Takumi was well prepared, he couldn't help but want to rush out at that moment.

"Shiori, is he your boyfriend?"

"It seems to be fine, but it's not worthy of you, Shiori."

The women looked Takumi up and down, as if to dissect him. Seeing this, Shiori was afraid of being discovered, so she quickly approached Takumi, hugged him, and said with a smile, "This is my boyfriend, Takumi. Don't look at him like that, he'll get nervous."

As he spoke, Shiori surreptitiously pinched Takumi, suggesting that he cooperate.

"Hello." Takumi calmed down and said calmly, "I'm Shiori's boyfriend."

"False!"

"It has been discovered, it must be fake!"

"Haha, you don't have your eyes on it, don't lie to us."

But the women kept finding something unusual and laughed. Shiori and Takumi looked at each other. 'His eyes were too sharp. How did they see him?'

"Well, Shiori, you were against precocious love before. This time a boyfriend suddenly appeared, and we all know it's fake." A short-haired adult woman we can call Akari (substituting for Zhou Qian) stood up and said with a smile, "Did you find someone who pretends for the performance?"

Shiori let go of Takumi's hand and pouted.

"Sister Akari, why is it like this? Why didn't he say it if he knew it before?"

"We didn't want to say it, anyway, we need your help for the performance." Akari paused. She and her fellow women around her looked at each other a few times, and then smiled bitterly: "Shiori, I'm sorry, you don't have to participate in this function."

"Hey?"

Shiori was taken aback, and Takumi also frowned slightly.

"Why don't you have to participate suddenly?"

- - - -

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