Aruchi Yuzu’s dessert skills are highly artistic.

She is particularly skilled in sugar sculpting.

Initially, when practicing sculpting human figures, she used photos of herself as a child as references.

Others were afraid of copyright infringement, and as for imagination, it was difficult to imagine creating something from scratch at first.

The easiest way was to start with one’s own photos and sculpt based on their image.

The child she met today resembled a child who often appeared in her childhood photos.

She couldn’t remember the child’s name; it was a memory from before the age of three.

But the boy’s parents were celebrities; she remembered their last name was Kudo.

She couldn’t help but ask, “Little one, is your last name Kudo?”

The two girls were quite surprised by her question, and Edogawa Conan looked even more shocked. He forced a smile to hide his surprise, “My name is Edogawa Conan. Do you know me, big sister?”

He deliberately emphasized the three characters “Edogawa.”

Aruchi Yuzu exclaimed, “Eh? You look a lot like someone I knew when I was little. I almost thought something like ‘I’m still worrying about exams, while my peers have already had children’ happened to me.”

Edogawa Conan felt a chill down his spine.

Mouri Ran curiously asked, “Is the person you know surnamed Kudo?”

Aruchi Yuzu nodded, “Yes, a neighbor from my childhood. He looks exactly like Conan. His mother is a female star, who loves taking pictures. So, although I don’t remember him, he appeared so often in the photos that it’s hard for me to forget his face. If your last name is Kudo, I really thought Aunt Yukiko had become a grandmother.”

Great, even Aunt Yukiko was mentioned. Edogawa Conan was certain she was talking about him.

“My peers are still worrying about exams, but I’ve already had a child” – it’s me.

Speaking of which, he vaguely remembered an old neighbor girl his mother often mentioned, but since he could remember, she hadn’t lived in Mihana Town anymore. The house number hadn’t changed though. It seemed her last name was… Aruchi?

Mouri Ran and Suzuki Sonoko were even more surprised because they also understood who she was referring to.

“Excuse me, is the person you’re talking about called Kudo Shinichi?”

Aruchi Yuzu, “I don’t remember. After all, it was a memory from before the age of three. Do you know them? His father is the mystery novelist Kudo Yusaku, and his mother is the actress Kudo Yukiko.”

Suzuki Sonoko excitedly said, “That’s such a coincidence! It’s the Kudo Shinichi we know! Ran is Shinichi’s childhood friend, but you seem to have known him even earlier.”

Aruchi Yuzu nonchalantly said, “So, at most, we’re… baby bottle buddies?”

Edogawa Conan, Shinichi himself, didn’t want to claim such a strange title.

He felt a strange sense of déjà vu.

Could it really be such a coincidence?

Aruchi Yuzu also thought it was a coincidence, so she introduced herself, “My name is Aruchi Yuzu, a first-year student in the Totsuki Academy hellish training camp. What’s the name of the handsome first-year I want to meet? Maybe I can introduce you.”

Suzuki Sonoko quickly answered, “Takumi Aldini! He’s a blonde mixed-race boy!”

Aruchi Yuzu wasn’t surprised.

Then, Suzuki Sonoko remembered to introduce herself, “My name is Suzuki Sonoko. Since we’ve met under such coincidental circumstances, we’re friends now!”

Mouri Ran also nodded, “My name is Mouri Ran. Please take care of me.”

Aruchi Yuzu exclaimed again, “Ms. Suzuki? The second daughter of the Suzuki Zaibatsu? I’ve heard of you, but I haven’t attended any domestic parties, so you probably haven’t heard of me.”

The hotel was very tall. Even with a high-speed elevator, they hadn’t reached the top floor yet.

Aruchi Yuzu thought for a moment and added, “Keigo should have mentioned me? Keigo Atobe.”

Suzuki Sonoko slapped her forehead, “Ah! I remember! You’re the childhood friend that Atobe mentioned! Damn it, why does that peacock have such a beautiful childhood friend? Why do all those stinky men have such beautiful childhood friends!”

Aruchi Yuzu replied soulfully, “Because he’s handsome himself. When I was in elementary school in England, I was willing to play with him because, besides being from the same country, the main reason was that he was handsome. Otherwise, I wouldn’t even be interested in knowing him.”

Edogawa Conan strongly agreed.

He, Kudo Shinichi, is a universally loved handsome guy.

Putting aside all filters, Suzuki Sonoko admitted that Atobe Keigo was indeed extremely handsome, but, “Yuzu is also a face-picker! Welcome to our face-picker family!”

Suzuki Sonoko looked like she had found her family.

The elevator arrived, and as the doors opened, Edogawa Conan quickly asked, “Yuzu-neesan, do you live here too? Do you have a private room on the top floor, like Sonoko-neesan?”

Damn body, forced to call someone a year younger than him “sister.”

Today’s Edogawa Conan also despised the Black Organization that fed him the drugs.

Leaving the elevator, Aruchi Yuzu didn’t have the mood to chat anymore. She wanted a bath, pajamas, and a bed!

She casually replied, “Yeah, your Yuzu-neesan is a rich lady.”

Then she rushed back to her room.

“Ah, Kusuo, what are you doing here?”

“I…”

“Forget it, play by yourself. I’ll go take a bath.”

Aruchi Yuzu didn’t care why he came; nothing could stop her from wanting a bath after playing in the mud all day.

“I’m here to deliver the dessert spirit…”

Saiki Kusuo stubbornly finished the sentence.

The cream puffs, which had been secretly hidden and planned for a dazzling appearance: “…”

The cream puffs drooped from behind Saiki Kusuo, “biaji” on the back of the sofa, glanced at Saiki Kusuo, looked away, then glanced again, repeating this several times.

Saiki Kusuo: “…”

“I just brought you here. Don’t let your grievances escalate to the level of esper conflicts.”

The cream puffs let out a pitiful baby voice, “I’ve been gone for half a month, and Yuzu hasn’t missed me.”

Saiki Kusuo: “You’ve only been gone for half a month.”

Cream puffs: “I secretly handed over all my work to Honey before I could finally come back, woo woo woo!”

Saiki Kusuo: “There’s another spirit who should be woo wooing.”

The cream puffs glanced sideways: “The esper just ate the coffee jelly I made.”

Saiki Kusuo: “That was a thank-you gift for you bringing you here to find Yuzu.”

The cream puffs slapped him hard with its chubby little hand: “I, made, the, coffee, jelly!”

Saiki Kusuo: “I’m leaving now.”

Cream puffs: “Cof! Fee! Jel! Ly!”

Coffee jelly made with special coffee flower liquid from the Dessert Kingdom!

Saiki Kusuo: “…Yuzu is really too much.”

The cream puffs nodded reservedly.

By gossiping about the same person, the person and the spirit maintained a false friendship.

The hotel provided a full set of bathing supplies. Aruchi Yuzu filled the bathtub with bath salts, bath bombs, and fresh flower petals, and turned the water temperature to the hottest setting.

By the time she finished showering and wrapped her dripping hair, applied some toner, the bathtub was almost full.

Her muscles relaxed with the warm water, and Aruchi Yuzu felt revived.

You can’t soak for too long, especially in hot water. Before her heart rate increased, Aruchi Yuzu changed into her pajamas.

In the living room, Saiki Kusuo sat on the carpet between the coffee table and the sofa, playing a game with a wireless controller.

Aruchi Yuzu waved her hand, “I want to play too.”

It was a MOBA game from the Dream Research Institute. This 5v5 game randomly matched players online, so esper users didn’t have to worry about knowing the game’s direction beforehand.

“Wait until I finish this round.”

Aruchi Yuzu gestured, “Fine.”

“Yu～zu～”

A strange, resentful voice drifted from behind. Aruchi Yuzu patted her chest, “Puff, you sound like a neglected wife. Where’s your little princess image?”

The cream puffs proudly tossed their twintails, “I want to play too!”

Aruchi Yuzu held the cream puffs in her palm. She guessed Kusuo’s purpose; her cream puffs went to find Kusuo because no one was home.

“Okay, okay, Kusuo, after you finish, go home and get the cream puffs’ special controller~”

A miniature controller, custom-made for spirits, from the Dream Research Institute, was at Aruchi Yuzu’s house.

Kusuo’s silence.jpg

Aruchi Yuzu started bribing, “I just heard that we’ll have a buffet-style exam, probably with a free theme. So many people in the whole grade, there won’t only be me making desserts. I’ll get you a ticket; you can eat whatever you want. How about that?”

“The diners are Totsuki’s cooperating suppliers.”

Aruchi Yuzu raised an eyebrow, “Why aren’t we cooperating suppliers? If you weren’t here, I’d be talking to Kousuke-nii about cooperating with Totsuki on equipment.”

“Then I’ll go.”

“Don’t go, don’t go. You’re already here; play games with me~”

Saiki Kusuo stayed, even teleporting to the cream puffs’ small cabinet to get the game controller. As soon as the new game started, Aruchi Yuzu weakly covered her right forearm, “No, my hand is so sore~”

Saiki Kusuo couldn’t believe it, “Don’t joke, it’s just begun. You’re the shooter!”

The cream puffs got excited, “No problem. Let the great cream puffs show you what support turning into a shooter looks like!”

Aruchi Yuzu leaned over, curious, “Can an esper play games with their hands and feet at the same time? Or grow another pair of hands, like Ryomen Sukuna.”

Saiki Kusuo replied speechlessly, “Even an esper can’t play games with their feet. Ryomen Sukuna is a character from a manga.”

Aruchi Yuzu, controlling the shooter, coyly hid behind the support, generously feeding the economy to Kusuo, the jungler who came to the rescue, while still complaining, “Which of your superpowers doesn’t seem like it only appears in manga?”

Saiki Kusuo: “Yes, that’s right. This world is a manga stage built by an author.”

“To make me a qualified protagonist of a gag manga, the author has a perverse interest in setting up tons of disasters around me.”

“To make my cousin, Aruchi Yuzu, a qualified Mary Sue heroine, the author gave her a system and a spirit, but unfortunately, he tried to give too much and it backfired, so he only gave the system to the background board older brother.”

“To make the little boy in the next room the super-bright protagonist of a detective manga, the author uses drugs to shrink people, forcing it into a Kudo-style mystery. I’m sorry, but the other person is within my psychic range, and I accidentally read his heart’s regrets about his one mistake leading to eternal regret.”

“How do you feel about discovering that you’re living in a manga world?”

Saiki Kusuo noticed his shooter wasn’t moving.

He turned his head.

Aruchi Yuzu was sitting on the carpet, her head resting on the sofa, already asleep.

Saiki Kusuo petrified for a second.

“What kind of joke is this! You’re the shooter!”

Saiki Kusuo, while using his character’s ultimate move, also used a shadow clone jutsu to save Aruchi Yuzu’s account’s precarious reputation.

Before leaving, he used his last bit of brotherly love to put her back in bed to sleep.

“Sigh, a man who is tough-mouthed but soft-hearted~” — Princess Cream Puffs at Aruchi Yuzu’s pillow, pulling her small blanket tight.

Goodnight, Yuzu.