BONUS CHAPTER #5
"I see." Jiangxia Tongzhi hadn't planned to get down from his bike anyway — he had just politely shifted a little when he noticed Conan glancing over.
Now that Conan had spoken, Jiangxia sat back down naturally. "Why are you in such a rush? Did he give you another hint?"
Conan, already running, called back, "Yeah! There's more than one bomb. He planted another one in the small square outside Beika Station. The clue is 'under the tree, but not buried under the tree.'"
"Oh, that's it..." Jiangxia adjusted his helmet, then casually dropped a spoiler:
"Bombs set in public places can't be too obvious. Under the tree... maybe it's about cats? I remember there are benches in the square outside Beika Station, where people often sit around waiting. Dropping a cat carrier there would be pretty inconspicuous."
"Cat?" Conan blinked, repeated the word a few times, and then gasped.
"Under the tree" — neko (cat) and nekko (tree root) — only a tiny sound difference! A homophone!
Even without seeing the square yet, Conan was sure Jiangxia had nailed it. The bomber was probably hinting at something cat-related.
...Honestly, the mysterious man really had bad luck. Not only had he run into Jiangxia when setting his little puzzle, but he also used a word Jiangxia could connect to in two seconds. Conan thought about the pile of cats Jiangxia sometimes kept at Dr. Agasa's house and felt a deep, deep relief.
When he wasn't up against Jiangxia, but working with him to solve puzzles... life was so much easier.
With a strong teammate by his side, Conan was unstoppable.
He didn't want to keep getting jerked around by the bomber. It was time to fight back.
——Based on the pattern so far, the bomber was probably following him, lurking nearby to observe his bomb disposal attempts.
Conan figured: better to let himself stay in the open, and have Jiangxia hide in the dark, secretly watching the crowd for suspicious people.
If they couldn't catch the bomber, they'd be stuck forever in this exhausting, nerve-wracking cycle.
Conan was about to bring this up when he saw — to his horror — Jiangxia twist the accelerator and roar off.
And he wasn't heading toward the next bomb.
Startled, Conan grabbed his phone and dialed. "Where are you going?!"
Jiangxia's voice came through, cool and laced with a frightening edge: "First it was a park. Then a station. Next will probably be a tram, or even a shopping mall packed with people."
"Even if we're too late just once, a lot of people will die... Staying passive isn't an option. You take care of the bomb. I'll handle the other thing."
Hearing that vague, ominous "other thing," Conan broke into a cold sweat. This was bad. Jiangxia had officially stopped treating the bomber as a "human." Conan tried to stop him: "...Calm down!"
But Jiangxia had already hung up and sped away, disappearing into the distance.
Conan stood frozen in the dust Jiangxia left behind, stunned.
Usually, even when Jiangxia fought people, he didn't feel truly murderous — it was more like... he was having fun.
But this time...
Conan could almost see a giant red kanji for "Danger" flashing over the bomber's head.
...Had the sheer number of civilians at risk actually made Jiangxia angry?
Conan sighed — and, secretly, felt a little relieved.
Thank goodness he hadn't told Jiangxia about the Black Organization yet. Otherwise, with the way those guys constantly gunned people down in the street and blew stuff up for fun... Jiangxia definitely wouldn't have let them walk away. It would be absolute chaos.
Thinking about it, Conan decided to keep blaming the "accidental creation" of APTX4869 on Dr. Agasa's pot for now.
Then he hopped onto his skateboard and sped toward the next bomb.
Honestly, even though Jiangxia's emotions swung easily, he wasn't the type to lose all sense and turn into a bear child when angry — that much was clear from how sharply he'd solved the riddle just now.
Since Jiangxia had charged off with a clear goal, he probably had already found where the bomber was hiding.
...Of course, with so many people moving in and out of the area, it would normally be impossible to pick out a suspicious figure at a glance and block their escape perfectly.
But somehow, when it came to Jiangxia, it felt... weirdly feasible.
The only real worry was whether Jiangxia might accidentally murder someone on the spot...
Thinking of this, Conan anxiously kicked his skateboard into overdrive. He had to finish defusing the bomb ASAP, then find Jiangxia before something terrible happened.
…
Meanwhile, contrary to Conan's frantic mental scenarios, Jiangxia wasn't calculating Moriya Teiji's escape routes or anything complicated.
There was no need.
Just now, the place where Moriya had been hiding was a rooftop on a distant tall building.
It was pretty far, sure. But Moriya was radiating pure murderous intent toward Kudo Shinichi, and in Jiangxia's eyes, he might as well have been flashing neon lights: "Murderer Here!"
Wearing dark clothes, standing in the blazing sun — he stuck out like a sore thumb.
Besides, Jiangxia had his...reality control skills—cough—predictive abilities, and a vague memory of where Moriya would hide. Locking onto him hadn't been hard.
After that, Jiangxia sent his shikigami, Tengu, to fly over.
Even though the distance was large, Tengu's speed could easily keep up with Vodka's getaway car.
While Moriya Teiji was still chatting away on his voice changer with Conan, Tengu had already zipped over and given him a solid slap.
With his ghost leading the way, finding Moriya after that was easy.
…
At that moment, Moriya had just finished his call with Conan and was leaving the rooftop, planning to head to Beika Station to monitor the next bomb defusal.
He reached his car, opened the door, and was just about to get in — when suddenly, a shadow fell over him.
Moriya stiffened, turning his head sharply.
Too late.
He barely registered the figure before his collar was yanked tight, and he was flipped through the air like a pancake before slamming down hard onto the ground.
His back hit first, then his head cracked against the pavement. Stars exploded behind his eyes.
It took him a while to blink the buzzing out of his skull. When he finally focused, he saw a young man standing over him, calmly unfolding a baton in his hand.
Moriya shivered.
He recognized him — wasn't this that famous detective?!
Why the hell was there a detective here?!!
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 31 - 90 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 3/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:2/10*