Conan: Ran turns into an elementary school student and calls me dad.

Chapter 98 Don't write a love letter like a challenge!

At this point, Midori Orikasa suddenly stopped, her lips moved but she didn't continue, and an ambiguous atmosphere filled the air once again.

Looking at her flushed cheeks and hesitant expression, Lin Xiuyi felt a slight stirring in his heart, thinking that she was about to confess her feelings to him.

But just then, Midori Orikasa suddenly raised her head, her eyes filled with hesitation and trepidation.

"Senior, there's a question I've wanted to ask you for years."

"What's the problem? Tell me."

"I want to know, why didn't you go to keep your appointment after you received my letter?"

Orikasa Midori stared intently at Hayashi Shuichi, her eyes filled with anticipation and unease, her voice trembling slightly.

"Is it because you can't bear to reject me to my face that you're deliberately avoiding me?"

"letter?"

Lin Xiu was stunned for a moment, her face full of astonishment.

He frowned and tried to recall carefully, but he had no recollection of it.

"What letter? I don't remember receiving any letters from you."

"It was the letter I wrote to you a few days before you graduated from Teitan High School!"

Midori Orikasa was also stunned, her face full of surprise.

"I remember I specifically put it on the desk in the student council office, and even weighed it down with books. Didn't you see it, senior?"

Did you write that letter?

Lin Xiuyi's eyes widened, her face filled with disbelief. "I thought that letter was a challenge from some delinquent student, and since I didn't think it meant anything, I just threw it away!"

"Senior! Why is it a challenge letter?"

Orikasa Midori said, her voice filled with helplessness and grievance, with a mixture of amusement and exasperation.

"Th-that's the letter I wrote to ask you out, senior! I originally wanted to... confess my feelings to you."

"But I remember that the letter said, 'This evening, I have arranged to meet you in the woods behind the house. I hope you will come alone. We will settle any grievances with you.'"

Lin Xiu frowned, trying hard to recall the scene from back then, then shrugged and said speechlessly,

"They've explicitly mentioned 'grudges,' isn't that a blatant challenge? Anyone would see it that way, right?"

"what……"

Midori Orikasa's expression froze instantly, her face full of embarrassment. She followed Hayashi Hideichi's words and recalled the scene from back then.

At that time, she mustered up the courage to confess her feelings to Lin Xiuyi, so she wanted to ask him out to meet her first.

She had never written a letter that suggested a date. She wrote several, but tore them up because she felt they were too sentimental and embarrassing.

Later, having no other choice, Midori Orikasa had to find a few of her former delinquent friends.

Everyone gathered around to brainstorm ideas, and after a long time of discussion, they finally managed to write that one letter.

At that time, all she could think about was how to get Lin Xiuyi to meet her. She didn't pay any attention to the tone and wording of the letter. She just felt that writing it that way was more in line with her identity as a "bad girl" and would prevent Lin Xiuyi from laughing at her.

After secretly delivering the letter to the student council office, Midori Orikasa waited anxiously and expectantly in the woods behind Teitan High School from dusk until late at night.

Other friends who were hiding nearby to cheer her on advised her not to wait any longer, saying that Lin Xiuyi was deliberately hiding from her because he didn't want to reject her in person.

But Midori Orikasa was unwilling to give up and stubbornly waited until the next morning. Even when it was fully light, Lin Xiuyi still did not appear.

She returned home silently, filled with disappointment and grievance.

For so many years, that letter has been a knot in Midori Orikasa's heart.

Although she comforted herself countless times, perhaps it was really as her friends said, that Lin Xiuyi didn't come back then because he couldn't bear to refuse her face to face.

Even if it was a rejection, she hoped to hear Lin Xiuyi say it herself, so that at least she could give up completely.

She never expected that, in Lin Xiuyi's eyes, that letter would actually be a challenge!

"Hehe, I see."

Orikasa Midori couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh, her eyes filled with frustration and helplessness.

"If I had known back then, I wouldn't have listened to their advice. I would have just quietly written a love letter myself, and this misunderstanding wouldn't have happened."

She finally understood that even if it was unrequited love back then, she at least had a naive and innocent heart in love.

But her friends were all former delinquents, with nothing but fighting and competitiveness on their minds. They knew nothing about dating skills, so how could they possibly help her with this kind of thing!

What a blunder! What a blunder!

Midori Orikasa deeply regrets her past actions and wishes she could go back in time to write a new love letter.

Seeing her annoyed expression, Lin Xiuyi assumed she was angry with him and quickly apologized.

"I'm sorry, Xiao Lü, I really didn't know that letter was from you back then."

"The letter wasn't signed, and the tone of voice was so aggressive and harsh that I thought it was from some other delinquent students who held a grudge against me for disciplining them and were looking to settle a three-year score with me."

Lin Xiuyi explained helplessly, her tone full of apology.

"If I had known it was you who wrote it, I would have gone there no matter how busy I was."

Midori Orikasa looked down at the chrysanthemum tea on the coffee table. The petals in the cup had already fully unfurled, and the tea rippled gently, just like the turbulent emotions she was feeling at that moment.

After a moment of silence, she suddenly raised her head, her eyes filled with a cautious anticipation.

"Then, senior, if we could go back to those days and I sent you a new letter, clearly stating that I'm inviting you, would you come?"

"Of course I'll go," Lin Xiu blurted out without a second thought, without the slightest hesitation.

Seeing the tenderness and trepidation in Midori Orikasa's eyes, his heart softened inexplicably. He owed this woman so much.

"Then, if..." Midori Orikasa bit her lower lip, a faint blush rising on her cheeks, as the emotions she had accumulated for twenty years surged in her heart.

She finally mustered up the courage to tell him, word by word, the confession she had been unable to say back then.

Unexpectedly, Lin Xiuyi's phone rang at that moment. He took it out and saw that it was Hanai Akiko.

Yesterday, I spoke with Hideaki Hayashi in the counseling room. After returning home, Akiko Hanai immediately looked up information about Hideaki Hayashi.

The information found matched everything on his business card.

This means that Lin Xiuyi's business card was genuine, and he didn't lie to her.

In that case...

The thought that she had hope of avenging her father, and that she could defeat Takei Naohiko in terms of money, which was what he cared about most, immediately filled Hanai Akiko with fighting spirit.

Instead of waiting until the next day—in fact, yesterday afternoon—she had already called Takei Naohiko to resign.

This morning, I went to the office to pack my personal belongings.

Takei Naohiko was naturally furious about her unauthorized resignation and even wanted to sue Hanai for breach of contract.

However, Akiko Hanai was well-prepared for this; with the salary she had saved over the years, she had more than enough to cover the penalties for breach of contract.

After resolving the matter with Takei Naohiko, Hanai Akiko couldn't wait to call Hayashi Shuichi.

"Mr. Hayashi, no, boss, I've already resigned from Takei Naohiko's company."