"I'm not sure either," Conan whispered, "but there probably is. Some kind of… psychological trigger."
"Brother Jiangxia usually checks out the crime scene to catch the murderer. But this time, he didn't even go near the cliff and went back to the house early. That means this case must be special to him. Uncle Kanaya died sitting in the car—it crashed into the ravine and exploded. Technically, it wasn't your standard traffic accident, but the effect is basically the same…"
Ran Mouri: "!"
…Right. She remembered now—Uncle Jiangxia and Aunt Jiangxia had also died in a car accident. She hadn't been there, but she'd heard the aftermath was utterly **** and tragic. Jiangxia had even witnessed the whole thing. Not long after that, they found him curled up in the bathroom, doing a full system reboot.
If that's the case… forget solving the case, the fact that Jiangxia can just sit here with a straight face is already a superhuman feat.
Conan had just been speculating at first, but now he was convincing himself with past examples. "Actually, this isn't the first time Brother Jiangxia's acted like this—
Remember when we were in Izu? On the way from the B&B to the pottery class, there was a little grocery store. A newspaper there had two stories: one about a serial killer targeting women with dyed hair, and another about a major car accident—lots of casualties, happened on one of those narrow, twisty seaside roads… Maybe Brother Jiangxia saw it then. The article had black-and-white photos of the crash site."
Back then, Jiangxia only gave those photos a glance… then drifted around the pottery studio for a couple hours. But now, it's the real deal—color, sound effects, front-row seats…
Ran could feel the tears welling up on Jiangxia's behalf.
Just then, a voice chimed in behind them: "Would a car accident really mess with him that much? Has he been in one before?"
Conan and Ran froze. Ran instinctively elbowed backward, hard. There was a thud and a baseball cap hit the floor.
Hattori Heiji stumbled back a few steps, narrowly dodging the full force of her elbow. Once it was clear she wasn't about to launch another combo, he sheepishly stepped forward, picked up his cap, and brushed the dirt off. "Sorry. Didn't mean to eavesdrop."
Technically, he had meant to eavesdrop—but only because he thought it was case-relevant. He hadn't expected to stumble into Jiangxia's personal trauma files…
Heiji glanced sideways at Conan with a complex expression. The kid's memory was nuts—he could remember random newspaper clippings from who-knows-how-long ago. And from Conan's tone, this wasn't even a recent thing.
Ran was still annoyed at the eavesdropping, but Heiji had already apologized and looked genuinely sorry. Plus, she had bigger things to worry about right now. She turned and walked over to the sofa, poked Jiangxia lightly like a phone screen that wouldn't wake up, and whispered, "I'll take you upstairs to rest."
Jiangxia didn't move.
Ran stared at him. Her worry bar quietly ticked up: +1, +1, +1…
Eventually, she rolled up her sleeves and prepared to just carry him like a sack of rice. But Heiji spoke up again.
"Let him stay here. Even though Miss Oki says she's found the killer, she might be bluffing. If the real murderer's still out there, they might strike again. And honestly, acting alone is a great way to get yourself murdered.
"At least Miss Oki had the good sense to drag her boyfriend with her to the bathroom. But Jiangxia—like this? Are you really okay letting him go upstairs alone?"
Ran was about to say she'd go with him, but… she knew herself. She spooked easily. One creak in the hallway and she'd probably throw a pot at the wrong person.
After thinking it over, yeah—a room full of people seemed safer.
"Alright," Ran said, standing. "You guys keep an eye on him. I'll go grab a blanket." And with that, she ran upstairs.
Heiji: "…"
Didn't I just say it's dangerous to go alone?
…Then again, judging by the force of Ran's elbow earlier, any murderer trying to sneak up on her would probably regret it instantly. And she was just grabbing a quilt. Shouldn't take long.
Heiji turned back toward Jiangxia's unresponsive form, feeling a little conflicted.
With the way things were going, he was definitely going to solve the case before Jiangxia.
But winning like this—when the other guy's brain had blue-screened—felt totally hollow.
…No, wait. He almost forgot—there was also that woman who claimed she'd already figured it out. Even if Jiangxia got back in the game, he wouldn't be the first to ID the murderer.
Heiji's mood took another hit.
…
Meanwhile, at Dr. Agasa's uncle's villa—
Jiangxia knocked the last trace of murderous aura out of Okuda, casually tossed aside the wooden stick, and carefully collected the aura like a rare trading card.
Then he picked Okuda up and gave him a little shake. Seeing the man's eyes roll back like he was about to die, Jiangxia calmly dragged him back into the room from earlier.
In the living room, the others were still obediently waiting.
Jiangxia glanced at the watch on Haibara Ai's wrist and did a quick time check. "The police still aren't here?"
"Police?" Ai blinked. "We're… allowed to call them? Won't it get you in trouble?"
She glanced at Okuda's collapsed form on the floor, looking like a human pancake.
Jiangxia: "…"
It's good that they're obedient, but this might be too obedient…
He sighed. "Call them now."
Then he found a rope and tightly tied up Okuda like a dumpling.
After several firm knots, Jiangxia stood up and looked at the trio of innocent kids watching nearby.
"Stay away from him," he warned.
He drew a big circle on the floor around Okuda. "If you step into this circle, or accidentally untie his rope…"
The kids looked into his eerie, soul-draining eyes… then at Okuda's nearly-dead body… then remembered the screaming.
Their reactions were synchronized—they retreated in perfect formation to the farthest end of the living room.
Jiangxia was satisfied.
With the death magnetism of the Detective Boys, if he didn't lay down clear rules, he could totally see Okuda suddenly waking up, snatching one of them as a hostage, and using blood to break the ropes or some nonsense like that.
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 30 - 90 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 36/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:2/10*