uh, no, actually not. (To himself) Oh what the heck!
Miss Jodie, is the offer still open? Or were you already looking forward to it, Dr. Araide? "
"No, no, Sonoko!She invited you guys. Besides, I owe more to Jodie an invite. "
For this he earned confused looks from the girls and evil looks from Jodie and Conan.
Jodie: "You are just way too humble, Mr. Araide!
Well, then that's a deal: I'll pick you up at Ran at half past seven, OK? "After Ran's mute approval, she walked up to Sonoko, who was still looking slightly sad.
"Well, it was good that I'm back, right?" she said with a wink.
Sonoko acknowledged it with a smile, but was suddenly startled.
'... Why did Jodie Saintemillion come back to Teitan School ...'

As promised, Jodie picked the three up at the Mori detective agency at half past seven and drove them to the Haido Tower in her sports car. This skyscraper was built by a competing company as a counterpoint to the Beika Center shortly after it was built.
The "Le Grand Succes" made up the entire 33rd floor and offered a panoramic view of almost all the other high-rise buildings in the Tokyo skyline as well as the Bay of Kawasaki in the south."Bonsoir!", It rang out immediately at the entrance, from which she led a waitress named Sayuki Kumino, who Sonoko was well known, to her table. This was on the southeast side on the window front, with a view of the Rainbow Bridge and the harbor behind it.
They were about to sit down when an exaggerated laugh interrupted the otherwise subdued mood. A group of businesspeople, led by a balding man in his mid-50s, who was probably the boss, was dining around a large, central table.
Sayuki didn't seem to care or at least ignore it, while Sonoko only gave a derogatory look.
Ran: "Sorry, do you know this gentleman?"
Sayuki: "Yes, this is a regular here, a CEO. His name is ..."
Sonoko: "Nabuko Higunara. The head of a telecommunications company based in Yokohama."
In response to this explanation, she stared in disbelief.
"My father, the Suzuki Group itself, had a cooperation with this company until about four years ago, when this guy went from vice director to sole director, managing director and chairman of the board.A disgusting disgust from a rude log and eaten away by greed for profit. Back then, it cost our company legal action and billions of yen to terminate the contracts. He went unscrupulous to the extreme. He ran down smaller corporations in similar campaigns and then bought them up. "
You could clearly see the anger and contempt in her words.
Jodie: "A sociable guy, huh?"
Ran: "So that's his board of directors?"
Their faces showed touched embarrassment rather than sharing the joy of their chairman.
Sayuki: "Yes. He drags her here once a week. And not even he pays, but the board of directors, into which, according to one of the others, he never pays himself!"
Conan: 'Yes, a real man of the world.'

"Bonsoir, Sayuki!"
Everyone turned to the side in astonishment because they knew the voice very well.
"Bonsoir, Mademoiselle Bouquet. Bonsoir, Mademoiselle Yuumura."
Mireille and Kirika looked visibly surprised to see Jodie and the others.But they were, at the latest after this greeting by name, ... shocked.
Jodie: "Good evening, Mireille. I wasn't expecting you here."
"Ditto, Jodie. Sonoko. Ran. Conan." was almost her only reaction.
"I wish you a pleasant evening." With that she turned back to the waitress.
"Your table is of course ready, Mademoiselles. I'll be right there."
Mireille went south without another word, while Kirika bowed briefly to say goodbye and to follow her friend.
Jodie: "Don't say now, she's a regular too!"
"Oh, yes. The two of them are here every night."
“Every evening?!?” This time they had gotten a bit loud, but they forced themselves to be quiet again.
"This woman is a colleague of mine. How can she dine here every evening?"
"Well, I guess she's not having her evening meal here." She cleared her throat. In the meantime they could see how Mireille and Kirika took their seats at the table exactly facing south.Conan: "And what does she do here every evening? And why did she have a reserved table?"
Sayuki seemed to put her thoughts in order.
"Well. It happened that she came here for the first time about two weeks ago and made a special donation to the restaurant. She probably owns a winery in the south of France and now she had given 1000 bottles of the previous year to the" Grand Succes "."
Ran: "A THOUSAND BOTTLES? From your own winery?"
Jodie: "Yes, that's right. I had heard that she had inherited such an estate from a distant relative in the Pyrenees almost four years ago. She had also brought two or three bottles with her. However, she had never mentioned that she still had 1000 in reserve would have."
"In any case, she asked to reserve a specific table for her and one other person every evening between eight and ten. The table on the south side."
Sonoko: "But you don't see any of the city's beautiful buildings or monuments there, only the bay."
Conan: "Maybe you just wanted to enjoy the view, the view, like in the Pyrenees, which is otherwise always covered by skyscrapers.I once heard of someone who lives in Paris and didn't like the Eiffel Tower as a structure. Even so, he climbed it every day, because up there was the only point in the city from which you couldn't see the Eiffel Tower. And in Tokyo you have to climb a skyscraper if you want to see anything other than this one. Not true? ", he grinned at Sayuki.
Sonoko: 'Little clever! Who do you think you are? '
Sayuki: "Actually ... it was probably about ... seeing ... the ... moon."
"The moon?" Replied Jodie in disbelief.
"At least that was their reaction when I asked them exactly about it. That's why the lights should always be dimmed there so that they can better see the moonlight."
Sonoko: "Since when has a madwoman been allowed to teach us, Miss Jodie?"
She smiled innocently at her.
"Let everyone do their own thing, Sonoko."
'I can't take it! It is probably exactly like that. Oh yeah, their video game excesses ... '
Ran: "All well and good, but what are you doing here now?""They drink tea and eat cake."
The general astonishment didn't really diminish at this answer.
"They come here every evening at this time, Mademoiselle Yuumura chooses a tea, Mademoiselle Bouquet a piece of cake. Then they sit for about an hour, pay and leave." Sayuki was clearly shown that she understood just as little what it was everything should. But the habit that has meanwhile taken place at least allowed her to reproduce it relatively emotionless and thus to achieve a similar effect on her listeners as Mireille and Kirika.
Conan: 'Whimsy? Sounds more like a kind of ritual, a habit that is worth the price to them. But if it only takes you an hour, why do you take two? '
"Speaking of which, I have to go to the two of them. Madmoiselles et Monsieur! Au revoir!"
Jodie: "Uh, shouldn't she take our order first?"
Sonoko: "No, not in this restaurant and in any large French inns.The meal is so extensive due to the menus and starts with an aperitif anyway, so there is often enough time for it.
But as a regular you can apply for an exception! "
First she looked over at Mireille and Kirika, then at her watch and mumbled softly to herself.
"I should remember not to come here between eight and nine!"
Ran: "Sonoko! You're still wearing that bracelet from this morning!"
"So, well, Ran ... it's like that, I ... had ... no ... time? Yes, no time! Too much to do."
"What do you mean 'no time'? After the ice cream, as you said, you strolled through town. Why didn't you buy a new bracelet?"
She looked down slightly frustrated, didn't want to look Ran in the face now. At first it seemed as if she wanted to put the watch back under her sleeve and hide it under the table, but then she threw her arms up again, put her elbows on the table and rested her chin on her palms."A call." she finally said with a sigh.
"A call?"
"Yes. He came shortly after we broke up earlier." A slight blush rose on her face.
"What - from Makoto?"
Jodie: "Makoto? Who's that?"
Conan: "This is Sonoko's friend. Makoto Kyogoku."
"Oh, the famous karate champion? Is that Sonoko's boyfriend?"
"More than that," he winked at her and she returned her understanding with a hand signal under the table.
Up to this point, Sonoko had made up his mind to nod to Ran's question.
"He hasn't called for a while because he was stressed about the tournament. And suddenly I found myself an hour later in front of our villa ..."
Jodie: "Ah, the young love ... You have to understand that, Ran.
By the way, how long have you been on the phone with your boyfriend, that cool detective? "
"Oh, mostly just ten, fifteen ...
Wait a minute, Miss Jodie, how did you come up with a comparison? Shinichi and I are just friends! "Although the rising blush on her face spoke volumes, Jodie couldn't help but immerse herself in her role.
"No, not? I thought. Sonoko?" She looked at her inquiringly. She leaned over to her and pretended to whisper, knowing full well that Ran would hear her.
"Actually, yes. But I think since he was gone so long because of his case, it has moved on to the younger generation."
"SONOKO !!" Now Ran had to jump up and get loud, even if she sank back into her chair, embarrassed by the looks of the others.
Jodie's gaze fell, following Sonokos, on Conan, who by now had just as red a face as Ran and tried to bend it forward as deeply as possible to hide it.
Jodie: "Oh, how sweet! Like brother and sister."
Sonoko: 'What, does he feel something too - for Ran? And does he even understand that as something that touches him?
... Why does Conan Edogawa practically NEVER behave as childlike as one would expect him to? ... 'The little boy knew he had to somehow change the subject.
"You tell me, Sonoko?" he began,