(Guys, this is the end of Vol 1. The story is only going to pick up from here. Hope you have fun reading. Please Vote and Review to support!!)
Hattori Heiji sighed, then shivered slightly, sensing a chill down his spine. He turned cautiously—Jiangxia Tongzhi was staring at him.
A beat passed, and Jiangxia stepped closer, leaning in thoughtfully. "You're not scared, are you?"
"?!!" Hattori felt like his guilty conscience had been exposed. But his mouth remained stubborn. "Of course not!"
"That's good." Jiangxia's face lit up with his usual friendly smile. "I was worried you'd start avoiding me after this… When you come to Tokyo next time, make sure to look me up more often. I think we'd make a great team."
This new case collector really isn't very honest, Jiangxia thought. Might need some… radical adjustment.
Hattori watched Jiangxia's familiar expression and suddenly remembered what he'd said on the way here: "Have you considered transferring to Tokyo?"
...He hadn't understood the meaning behind it then. But now it clicked.
Clearly, after Jiangxia started moonlighting as a detective, he found solving cases alone too boring and wanted someone to spar with.
Hattori wiped a bit of sweat from his temple.
He's in Osaka and Jiangxia still dared to ask him to move?! Kudo Shinichi is Jiangxia's classmate… that means he's probably been roped into this madness too... Terrifying. What has Kudo been through?!
Then again, now wasn't the time to feel sorry for Kudo Shinichi. Clearly, Jiangxia wasn't content with just wrecking the "famous detective of the East." Now he had his eyes on the "famous detective of the West" too...
Hattori stared at Jiangxia's back as he walked off looking satisfied, and realized just how poor his own people-judging skills were.
On the way here, he'd actually thought Jiangxia seemed like a good-natured, easygoing guy. But now… this guy's a devil who gets his kicks from crushing other detectives' self-esteem!
Still, after all he'd just said, it'd look super lame if he started dodging Jiangxia now.
Hattori leaned tiredly against a wall, silently cheering himself up—win or lose, that didn't matter. As long as he practiced enough, someday he'd reach Jiangxia's level...
At the very least, he wasn't going to run away like Kudo. In that sense, he'd already beaten Kudo in terms of momentum—and avoided falling straight to the bottom of the food chain.
...Speaking of Kudo Shinichi...
Hattori suddenly paused, staring at Conan—specifically, the earmuffs hanging around his neck. He also remembered that odd look of sympathy Conan had thrown his way earlier.
Finally, he understood why Conan wore earmuffs all the time.
But... wait a second. If it were Kudo Shinichi, that behavior would make perfect sense. But Conan was just a first-year kid. Why would he...
Hold on.
What if Conan actually IS Kudo Shinichi?
The thought hit him like a truck.
...Then he immediately shook it off.
Ridiculous. How could an adult just shrink out of nowhere? Clearly, he'd just been rattled by Jiangxia's antics today and was overthinking things...
…
Meanwhile, Gin was still waiting for Jiangxia's mission report. In the meantime, he'd even drawn up a few assassination plans himself.
But right as he sent out two snipers to scout the location, he got a message from Chianti: Isao Tsujimura was dead.
Murdered.
It was a case solved by Jiangxia.
Taken separately, these two facts weren't a big deal.
But together? Right after he'd handed the task to Jiangxia?
…
Gin summoned Jiangxia again—this time at a sushi restaurant.
Inside a private booth, he got straight to the point. "You killed him?"
Jiangxia glanced at the sushi wistfully, then replied, "Strictly speaking, no."
(Not strictly speaking… also no.)
Gin and Vodka didn't catch that second half. What they heard was: "I didn't do it myself, but the murderer was working under me."
That was...acceptable.
Gin was satisfied with the outcome, but not the execution.
He knocked his knuckles twice on the table. "You didn't report it."
Jiangxia sipped his tea calmly. "I left a small hint for Kimie Tsujimura in advance. I wanted to observe how she reacted, and then form a more detailed plan. But I didn't expect her to move so fast." He sighed quietly. "Looks like I underestimated her feelings for her ex-husband."
Vodka blinked. "Her feelings for her ex-husband?"
In the files they'd given Jiangxia, there was a note that Kimie Tsujimura had remarried. But the organization's target was Isao Tsujimura. Kimie's details were just background noise—they hadn't even mentioned her marital history.
How did Jiangxia pull useful info out of that mess?
Jiangxia nodded. "Kimie Tsujimura's friends sometimes ask me to help find their missing cats. A few of them are chatty rich ladies—tight-lipped about their own business, but they'll spill anything about others. They don't even realize how valuable that info can be to someone like me.
"Following some of their casual gossip, it wasn't hard to figure out Kimie Tsujimura's ex-husband was Kenji Yamashiro. He was arrested for criminal charges twenty years ago and died in prison fifteen years ago.
"There's no solid proof, but Isao Tsujimura gained the most from Yamashiro's downfall. Plus, Isao has a sketchy reputation—there are rumors that his methods were far from clean. So it's possible he helped orchestrate Yamashiro's arrest.
"Back then, Kimie went through a rough patch alone before she remarried Isao. I figured she might've been tricked. So I slipped her this info—if she hadn't been an accomplice in Yamashiro's downfall, then for her, Isao was the man who destroyed her family.
"Hearing that, she'd definitely argue with Isao. If things escalated and he ended up dead, she'd become a natural suspect.
"And on the slim chance that she snapped completely, she might even do the deed herself.
"So, when her friends came by my office, I rearranged the clippings on the desk—some of them featured creative murder methods. Those bored housewives love browsing while they wait, and those cases usually become their next hot topic… Looks like Kimie Tsujimura got very inspired."
Vodka frowned. "So... you showed her friends a murder method, and she just happened to use that exact one? Isn't that kind of a coincidence?"
*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*