Jiang Xia waited patiently, but the cat Dr. Agasa promised never appeared. Instead, he noticed that Conan's expression kept shifting like a badly animated flipbook.
After a moment of squinting observation, Jiang Xia understood: Conan was spiraling into one of his mental black holes again.
Understandable. Today had been packed—between a certain black-clad organization and some anonymous shadow group... Tch, Jiang Xia forgot to leave a calling card before fainting. Now Conan probably had no clue what Xiaobai's group was called. Either way, the day had given Conan far too much food for thought.
Conan had nearly fast-forwarded to building a memorial shrine for Jiang Xia. Now that he saw Jiang Xia alive and un-murdered by the Black Organization, he was relieved—but also torn. Should he tell Jiang Xia about the organization? Warn him to watch out?
But then again, that came with risks…
Conan was caught in this moral tug-of-war when he suddenly thought of something alarming.
He paused dramatically, then looked up at Jiang Xia and asked, "...Aren't you curious how I got smaller?"
Now that he thought about it, Jiang Xia had never asked.
Not asking meant one of two things: either Jiang Xia didn't care—which was impossible, since seeing a shrunken adult is hardly something you ignore—or he already knew and didn't need to ask.
That second possibility made Conan uneasy. He stared at Jiang Xia with a growing sense of suspicion… only to find Jiang Xia completely unfazed.
Jiang Xia casually pointed at Dr. Agasa. "Wasn't it just a side effect of the doctor's invention?"
He paused and studied Conan's blank expression. Slowly, his own face grew serious. "Wait, it wasn't? Because when I asked before…"
Dr. Agasa abruptly jumped in, laughing a bit too loudly. "Ahaha, yes! Yes! My invention! Conan just didn't think I'd confess to something so embarrassing." He scratched the back of his head with a sheepish grin.
In truth, Dr. Agasa had no intention of dragging Jiang Xia into the organization's mess. His reasoning—simple, honest, and heavily reinforced by Haibara Ai—was that knowing too much about the organization was basically accepting a death flag.
Jiang Xia nodded hesitantly at the doctor's explanation.
—Back during that KTV incident, when Conan recklessly revealed his identity, Jiang Xia had briefly wondered about the whole "Kudo Shinichi = Conan" thing. But rather than chasing the thread, he let it go. After all, pondering the biological disaster that was "adult becomes child" seemed like a good way to get forcefully recruited into Team Red.
Jiang Xia had no interest in becoming another tool person for the anti-Black Org squad. And he knew that if he asked Conan directly, "Why are you a kid now?", this emotionally loose detective might just info-dump everything and guilt-trip him into joining the fight.
So instead, Jiang Xia chose the roundabout route. While helping Dr. Agasa test a new invention, he casually asked, "Why did Kudo shrink?"—a move that could be interpreted as tactful concern rather than a demand for secrets.
And since Dr. Agasa once told Conan not to reveal his identity to Ran for fear of her getting silenced, Jiang Xia figured the doctor wouldn't spill anything dangerous to him, either. That way, Jiang Xia could go back to his perfectly ordinary ghost-hunting life.
Caught off guard, Dr. Agasa—who was a terrible liar—had blurted out that the shrinking was due to one of his own inventions.
It was a flimsy explanation, sure, but Jiang Xia decided to pretend he believed it. After all, if Conan had faith in the doctor making an antidote to un-shrink him, it wasn't that big of a stretch to believe he'd made the original shrinking drug too. Totally logical. Probably.
And so, the doctor and Jiang Xia—one eager to deflect, the other eager to stay uninvolved—tacitly agreed to this convenient lie.
Eventually, Dr. Agasa got so caught up in his gadgets that he forgot the whole thing… until Jiang Xia and Conan brought it up again today.
Conan, hearing the doctor confirm the story, breathed a sigh of relief… then felt something unexpectedly warm and fuzzy.
Despite Jiang Xia being a sometimes-violent thug who blamed others randomly, this was surprisingly thoughtful. He hadn't pressured Conan directly. Instead, he'd gone through the doctor. That… actually showed a kind of twisted empathy.
Of course, it also meant Jiang Xia suspected something and chose not to press.
Still, Conan felt a twinge of guilt.
He'd been debating whether to tell Jiang Xia the truth about the organization. But now? Forget it.
Jiang Xia was clearly not in the healthiest headspace. This was the same guy who'd once tried to manually reset his life. If he learned about a secret, globe-spanning organization of murderers lurking in the shadows, his sense of detective responsibility would kick in. And then, like he did with Shinichi, he'd start mourning the organization's victims and spiral again…
Too much. Not worth it. Conan swallowed the intel and shut up.
Just then, another client arrived. Conan gave Jiang Xia a casual wave.
"I came to the Metropolitan Police Department to ask about the bombing," he said. "Since your detective agency's nearby, I figured I'd stop in. But if you haven't got anything, I'll go."
Jiang Xia was perfectly content with this.
But he still had to keep up appearances. He fixed his neighbors with a suspicious squint, the kind that said, You're clearly hiding something, but I'm too merciful to pry. Then he nodded gravely. "Come to me anytime if you need something."
The two neighbors left.
Jiang Xia watched them head toward the police department.
He figured Conan would definitely keep tracking the bombing case—but that was a problem for other tool people. Nothing to do with him, Jiang Xia.
…Although.
Gin hadn't asked him to clean up the scene this time. And the way Gin looked at him after Tequila died… it had a certain ominous flavor.
A few days later, Jiang Xia's paranoia paid off.
—Gin emailed him.
Unlike usual, there were no details about the mission. Just a time and location.
Which made it more suspicious, not less. Probably meant the mission was ultra-classified.
Jiang Xia tucked away his phone and sank into thought.
He wasn't sure if Gin's murderous aura had leveled up recently, but when the mission involved Gin, it was usually soaked in blood. High chance of murder. The boss wouldn't disappoint…
…
The meeting was set for that evening.
It was a moonless, gusty night when Jiang Xia slipped out and made his way to the Cupido Building.
Right in the middle of the business district. Even though it was late, the streets were still lively.
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 30 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 35/50(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:1/10*
Glossary:
Team Red– Fan nickname for the main anti-Black Org squad protagonists.