The door was locked. Kimie Tsujimura fished a key out of her bag—attached to a stylish keychain that just so happened to have a hidden needle inside.
She often used her study to receive guests, and it showed. The decor was classy, and the bookshelf boasted all kinds of tasteful knickknacks.
While pretending to "wake" her husband, Kimie Tsujimura cast a furtive glance at the others in the room. They were indeed absorbed in browsing the bookshelf—Jiangxia Tongzhi, the one she feared most, included. Better yet, his back was turned to her.
Luck really was on her side.
Kimie let out a quiet breath of relief. With practiced ease, she jabbed the poison needle into the back of her husband's ear and continued to shake him like she was just trying to wake him up.
Moments later, Isao Tsujimura slumped over and collapsed to the floor, very much dead.
Kimie dove down beside him and let out a theatrical shriek. "Husband! Husband! What's wrong with you?!"
Cue the standard commotion: panicked screams, horrified onlookers, someone calling the police…
While waiting for the police to arrive, Jiangxia casually strolled around the room doing some light clue-collecting.
Hattori Heiji hadn't expected a murder case. He was still reeling from the surprise, but quickly snapped into detective mode. This time, however, he had double duties—not only did he have to investigate the crime, but he also had to keep an eye on Jiangxia.
Unfortunately, this multitasking led to predictable results. When Hattori bent down to inspect a slender needle on the ground, he duang—bonked heads with someone else.
Clutching his forehead, he looked up to find Conan, who was also staring at the needle.
Hattori frowned. He didn't want the kids anywhere near the body. But before he could say anything, he noticed Conan had earmuffs on.
"What's with the earmuffs?" Hattori asked, then immediately remembered Conan "couldn't hear." He reached out to take the earmuffs off so he could repeat the question more clearly.
But Conan dodged the attempt, clutching the earmuffs protectively and bolting away. As he did, he shot Hattori a look of intense sympathy—like someone who had seen a great tragedy and pitied the one yet to see it.
Hattori was left baffled.
Apparently, even the children in Tokyo were sharp. But seriously—if you're afraid of a corpse, wouldn't you cover your eyes? What good is covering your ears?
He didn't have to wonder for long.
After a brief round of questioning, the police started their scene survey.
Hattori was still puzzling over the locked-room setup when he noticed Jiangxia sidling over to Inspector Megure and whispering in a voice that absolutely everyone could hear:
"The murderer is probably Mrs. Kimie Tsujimura."
The entire room froze.
Hattori was stunned too—but not for the same reason as everyone else. They were shocked because "Mrs. Ikemura wanted to kill her husband." He was thinking, "How the hell could she have had time to commit the murder?"
Kimie's expression twisted. Panic, disbelief, and a good dose of "what even" flashed across her face. She was sure Jiangxia had his back to her during the killing. So how the hell—
Jiangxia's eyes flicked toward the shikigami wrapped around Kimie's leg and went straight into fast-forward mode:
"A locked-room murder usually suggests sudden death or suicide. That's part of why killers like to stage it this way—it throws people off the scent. But this case is weird.
"Mr. Tsujimura was killed by a poisoned needle behind his right ear. Looked like a suicide at first, sure. But here's the thing—when we entered, he was clutching his cheek with his right hand. It's less a suicide and more like he was deliberately telling us, 'This isn't what it looks like—look deeper.'
"Because of that, we started digging into the locked-room setup instead of accepting the suicide theory.
"Now, based on time-of-death alone, Mrs. Tsujimura should've been ruled out—she was with us the whole time. But then there were other weird details: the random stack of books on the table, the music turned up too loud, the keychain that shifted position between locking and unlocking the door…
"She used that keychain to hide the poison needle, took it out as she entered, and killed Mr. Tsujimura while we were all distracted by the decorations in the study."
Megure blinked, then glanced at Mrs. Kimie Tsujimura's trembling hand. "Check that keychain," he ordered.
Hattori, still skeptical, peered over an officer's shoulder. Sure enough, the inside of the keychain held a small groove—just big enough to conceal a needle.
It hadn't even been tested for poison yet, but judging by Mrs. Tsujimura's face alone, Jiangxia had nailed it.
Conan, watching from the sidelines, let out a long sigh and finally took off his earmuffs.
They had protected him from hearing Jiangxia's deduction, sure—but not from seeing it. The moment Jiangxia outed the real killer, everyone turned to look at Mrs. Kimie Tsujimura. Conan instinctively absorbed all the visual cues, and... well...
Yeah, the earmuffs were basically useless.
But he couldn't just start blindfolding himself at crime scenes, could he? The thought made him feel exhausted.
Still, he glanced sideways at Hattori, who was clearly going through a silent meltdown. Conan couldn't help but feel slightly better. See? It wasn't just him. All the detectives reacted like this around Jiangxia. It wasn't that he was weak—it's that Jiangxia was terrifying.
…
Hattori had spent this whole case watching Jiangxia like a hawk.
And he was sure now: Jiangxia hadn't spoken to anyone. He'd just looked around the scene.
Actually, now that he thought about it, even before the police arrived—when Jiangxia spotted the tiny needle mark behind the victim's ear—he had been subtly watching Mrs. Kimie Tsujimura…
Hattori's thoughts spiraled.
All those dramatic headlines about Jiangxia solving cases faster than the police? If anything, they underplayed it. It wasn't "Jiangxia identified the killer after reviewing police evidence." No—he solved the case before the cops even showed up. Looking at the evidence was just for backup.
After witnessing this in person, Hattori gave up all lingering doubt.
This wasn't a joke. This kind of genius who could see the truth at a glance really existed.
Wait. Wait a minute.
Could this be why Kudo suddenly disappeared?
Think about it: if every single case you went to, someone else showed up and instantly called out the killer, the motive, and the weapon—all before you even opened your notebook—once is fine. But twice? Three times?
Honestly, as much as he hated to admit it, he'd run too.
This wasn't competition. It wasn't even mystery-solving. It was a one-sided spiritual beatdown. It made you question your very identity.
Hattori Heiji suddenly felt a deep, almost sacred gratitude that he lived in Osaka. Hundreds of kilometers between him and Jiangxia. Blessed, blessed distance.
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 30 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 39/50(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:1/10*