Gin really hadn't considered things from that angle—and certainly didn't think Jiangxia Tongzhi was that well-known. But he had to admit, what Jiangxia said could very well be true.
If Hirota Masami really had recognized Jiangxia's voice, it would look suspicious as hell for a stranger detective to show up at someone's house late at night.
So even though Gin thought Jiangxia was overthinking it, he didn't really care who made the call. He'd just told Jiangxia to do it earlier because, of the three of them, Jiangxia was the most likely to be able to talk his way in.
Now that Jiangxia didn't want to make the call, Gin didn't push it. He turned to Vodka instead. "You do it."
Vodka was obedient as always. He dialed, pretending to be an insurance salesman. The call connected right away.
Jiangxia side-eyed him.
Everything happening tonight with Professor Hirota had actually been predicted by Jiangxia. In the spoilers, Vodka had also made this same phone call—but it didn't go through. By then, Masami Hirota had already been beaten to death by Akira Shirakura
But this time was different. When Jiangxia got into Gin's car, Akira Shirakura had still been walking towards the parking lot. Since both cars were heading to the same place, Akira was probably still behind them, so he hadn't reached Hirota's house yet. No wonder the call was answered.
Vodka had done this sort of thing before, so he had a whole spiel memorized. His insurance pitch sounded pretty legit, even appealing. Professor Hirota listened for a bit, got intrigued, and agreed to let them visit.
Vodka hung up and was about to report back to Gin—but then he saw Gin's face looking... not great.
Jiangxia had already noticed.
Seeing Vodka glance over, Jiangxia did too, and gave a subtle nod to the three murderous aura-hungry ghosts lingering around Gin.
Gin was watching the rearview mirror with a sharp glare. "That Toyota behind us has been following for three blocks."
Vodka instantly perked up. This—this was his moment!
The Porsche suddenly veered off into a side street.
Jiangxia, who'd been busy watching ghosts, was almost flung out of his seat. He grabbed the belt to steady himself and watched Vodka pull some next-level snakeskin driving.
After a few loops, the Porsche whipped down a narrow road and came to a stop.
According to Vodka's master plan, they'd just reversed the chase and boxed in their tail in this quiet alley—perfect for silencing them or asking questions. Very efficient.
Except... when Vodka jumped out with his gun ready, the alley was empty.
No car. No stalker. Not even a ghost (well, not a new one).
Vodka looked left. Looked right. "…Big bro?"
Maybe the stalkers chickened out and bailed…
Gin didn't say anything. He scanned the area from under his hat brim, eyes sharp.
After a moment, still no one showed up. He calmly exhaled a puff of smoke. "Let's go."
The Porsche pulled away again.
Neither Gin nor Vodka looked fazed. Clearly, this wasn't the first time they'd pulled ninja stunts on thin air.
Jiangxia understood. This kind of thing was normal in the Detective Conan universe. If you don't get suspicious at every turn, you'll be in handcuffs in five minutes. He played along, pretending it was just routine.
Still, he thought back to earlier—he'd picked up a Toyota car key for Akira Shirakura. The car Gin had seen tailing them… probably Akira's.
Both of them were heading to Hirota Masami's place. No wonder they crossed paths.
From what Jiangxia recalled, Akira Shirakura had recently been invited to appear on a show called The Surprising Side of Models. Guests had to submit a photo that matched the theme.
Akira thought hard and remembered a photo from his college days—he'd dressed up in heavy makeup for an event once. With his history of plastic surgery, he didn't want to use any normal pics that might expose his "before face."
He didn't usually save photos, but he remembered that Professor Hirota had a copy, so he wrote him a letter asking for it.
But in Hirota's reply, he didn't send the photo Bai asked for. Instead, he sent a plain shot of Akira Shirakura's old face, with a note: This is your true face.
Akira was furious. He tore the photo up, feeling mocked. But he'd already committed to the show and had no better photo, so he decided to visit Hirota personally to try again. Face-to-face felt more sincere—and maybe more persuasive.
…
After Vodka's failed Fast & Furious chase, he was driving more carefully on their way to Hirota's house. But they didn't encounter any more "tails."
Eventually, the trio arrived near Hirota Masami's place.
Just as they reached the corner, they spotted someone leaving Hirota's house, carrying a bag and walking briskly down the street.
It was Akira Shirakura. As he walked, he wiped his forearm with a wet towel and kept checking his pant legs and shoes, like he was scared of tracking something.
Under the streetlamp, you could faintly see blood on the towel—but there was no wound on Akira himself. The blood wasn't his.
Yeah… this really looked like someone fleeing the scene of a murder.
Jiangxia's gaze zeroed in on Akira Shirakura's leg—and spotted a fresh shikigami clinging to it.
He was about to get out of the car to pick up the ghost (and the suspicious-looking documents in Akira's hand) for both professional and personal reasons.
But then—click—Gin cocked his gun and aimed it at Jiangxia.
Apparently, Gin had recognized Akira Shirakura as the guy Jiangxia had chatted with at the station earlier.
And now Akira shows up here, where their assassination target lives, right after that talk? In Shizuoka, of all places—not even Tokyo? Yeah, Gin wasn't buying the coincidence.
He glared at Jiangxia coldly. "You knew about today's plan?"
"I didn't," Jiangxia said smoothly. He was already used to Gin's habit of aiming guns like they were polite greetings. Honestly, the guy probably kept one pointed at you when saying good morning.
He kept calm and explained, "I just thought his mental state was unstable. Like, the kind of guy teetering on the edge of doing something stupid. So I nudged him a little."
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 30 - 90 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 16/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:1/10*
Glossary:
Snakeskin operation: Slangy term (often from Chinese internet) meaning erratic or insane behavior—here, Vodka's wild driving.