Everyone in the First Division of the Investigation Section was a criminal police officer who often worked the field. So of course, they'd run into Jiangxia Tongzhi at crime scenes pretty regularly.
When Inspector Megure heard Shiratori yell just now, he was thrilled—finally, a lead had fallen right into their laps!
But when he looked up and saw it was Jiangxia, Megure let out a long sigh.
No way was Jiangxia the one who kidnapped Officer Sato. More likely, they just happened to own the same wallet.
Megure was about to wave off his subordinates and tell them to stop surrounding an innocent civilian…
But then Jiangxia subtly moved the bag behind his back. His gaze darted sideways. Though his expression was calm, his whole aura screamed: "Something happened, but I can't tell you."
Megure: "…"
Other officers: "…"
Shiratori, meanwhile, was still trapped in his mental fanfic of "Hero Saves Beauty." He rushed forward, grabbed Jiangxia by the shoulders, and demanded, grief-stricken:
"Where is Sato?!"
"…Don't be reckless." Megure peeled off his overexcited colleague and turned back to Jiangxia.
He didn't really believe Jiangxia was the culprit—just that he was hiding something.
"Did you find this wallet? Or… is the kidnapper using Sato to threaten you?"
Jiangxia glanced at him, then quickly looked down. Silent. Embarrassed.
Megure could tell Jiangxia was hiding something, but he wasn't panicking, so things probably weren't too bad. That meant the kidnapper had likely made contact with Jiangxia—but wasn't nearby.
With that in mind, Megure made a call:
"Let's get in the car first."
They needed to move somewhere that wasn't under potential surveillance.
…
Meanwhile, Sato Miwako and the suspect were still hiding in the alley, waiting for Jiangxia to bring them some disguises.
But instead of Jiangxia, what they heard first was... a commotion.
Sato hesitated, then cautiously poked her head out to peek.
And immediately saw a group of cops swarming the clothing store down the street.
Right before her eyes, the police parted to form a small opening—through which Jiangxia emerged, entirely surrounded. Inspector Megure was just about to escort him into a squad car.
Officer Sato: "!!!"
She stared, stunned. Then suddenly remembered—the wallet she'd shoved into Jiangxia's hands!
Oh no.
She usually left her wallet on her desk, super easy to recognize. Most of her coworkers had seen it. And her coworkers were police officers. Observant, suspicious police officers.
They must've seen Jiangxia holding her wallet and assumed he was the kidnapper!
Sato had a vivid flashback to the cold, oppressive interrogation room at the station, and the terrifying glares of her colleagues when grilling suspects. Then thought about how Jiangxia had literally just saved her, was helping her buy clothes, and was now—
Being arrested for holding her purse.
The police car was about to drive away.
Sato grit her teeth and bolted out of the alley.
"Wait! I gave him the wallet voluntarily! It wasn't stolen!"
The car screeched to a halt.
All the officers turned to look at the totally unharmed Officer Sato.
Then at the handcuffed suspect she was dragging behind her like a tote bag.
Then at Shiratori, who had just sworn up and down that "Sato must've been kidnapped."
…
Elsewhere, Conan and the Detective Boys had kicked off an investigation after getting a request from Officer Sato.
But with three kids on the team, they couldn't stay out too long. Conan checked the time and called Dr. Agasa to help distract the other parents.
Dr. Agasa said, "Ah, that works out! There's an event tomorrow I planned to take you to. I'll just use that as an excuse."
Conan blinked.
"Event? Tomorrow?"
"Yep! My 'Tropical Rainbow' is finally going to shine on the city!" Dr. Agasa said proudly. "The burst of color after the explosion will be a beautiful memory for the townspeople. You really should come see it. Starts tomorrow morning!"
Conan wasn't particularly interested in the Doctor's artistic explosions.
But the words "explosion" and "colorful light" rang a bell.
—Wasn't that the bomb sample that nearly took out Jiangxia?
If he remembered right, after that little incident, Haibara Ai had swapped all the Doctor's snacks with unseasoned vegetable salads. No meat, no sauce.
Even Conan had suffered. Not a snack in sight unless he dropped by Jiangxia's place, where Haibara sometimes whipped something up.
Thinking about that bomb made Conan uneasy.
The Doctor had mentioned the Tropical Rainbow was meant to demolish a famous building.
Just to be safe, Conan asked,
"Uh, where's this building you're demolishing?"
"In Haido!" Dr. Agasa replied cheerfully. "The Haido Art Museum! I remember you went there as a kid."
Conan froze.
Wait a minute. Wasn't that where Officer Sato and the suspect were hiding?!
If they didn't get out before tomorrow…
He hung up in a panic and ran toward the building. On the way, he called Officer Sato.
She picked up quickly.
Conan shouted, "The building you're in is going to be demolished tomorrow! You can't hide there—you need to get out, now!"
But Sato cut him off, her voice weak.
"Yeah, I know. Don't worry. Jiangxia already got us out."
She coughed, then added in a whisper that somehow managed to sound both exhausted and embarrassed:
"…Come to the Metropolitan Police Department instead. Our plan got found out."
Conan stopped in his tracks.
"…?"
That one sentence carried way too much information.
Also… was it just him, or was Jiangxia literally everywhere?
Could this old classmate of his really sense the legendary "breath of death"?
Conan slapped himself. Hard.
No! No more unscientific thoughts!
He folded his hands and mentally offered a prayer to the shrine of Materialism back home.
…
Half an hour later, everyone had gathered at the Metropolitan Police Department.
Officer Sato silently wrote her review report. When Takagi arrived, he was handed a fat stack of blank ones to fill out with her.
Jiangxia sat on the guest couch nearby, sipping a nice hot cup of tea like he was at a spa.
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 31 - 90 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 9/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:2/10*
Glossary:
Breath of death – A trope referring to someone who constantly stumbles into death or disaster, like a walking omen.
Materialism – Running gag about Conan rejecting supernatural logic with strict scientific thinking.