After hearing the full story, Inspector Megure didn't reject his subordinates' suggestion to "re-investigate" the case.
The suspect was flying out tomorrow morning, so they had no choice but to pull an all-nighter.
Still, trying to recheck a whole case in such a short time made Megure feel… very unsecure. Not confident.
He snuck a glance at Jiangxia Tongzhi.
"Ahem, it's late and we're short-staffed… anyone want to come with me?"
Jiangxia was about to nod, but before he could, the Detective Boys suddenly shot their hands up like rockets:
"Me! We wanna go too!"
But just as the three kids were about to rush forward, they were hit by a powerful, silent wave of menace.
—Jiangxia had turned his head and was looking at them.
The moment their eyes met, the trio froze like they'd been slapped with the pause button.
One beat later, they quietly huddled together, shuffled into a corner, and performed the time-honored survival technique known as "pretending to be background NPCs."
Back when Jiangxia interrogated a suspect in front of the Detective Boys, Haibara Ai hadn't joined them yet. She hadn't seen what happened.
Now she watched the three shivering bear children and tilted her head thoughtfully.
Huh. Seems like kids do have good instincts—they can sense how dangerous Jiangxia is...
But then she frowned.
Technically speaking, Jiangxia wasn't really dangerous. Yes, he was in that organization, but he was just a low-tier cadre who'd been roped in. He hadn't actually done that many bad things.
...Okay, kids. That was too much.
As Haibara brooded on this injustice, Jiangxia walked over to the kids.
…
As he got closer, the three children began trembling like laundry in a spin cycle.
To be fair, Jiangxia didn't hate them. He actually found them kind of useful—they helped trigger new cases.
Also, they were cute. Mostly.
But cute kids could still cause trouble.
Jiangxia wanted a case. He didn't want chaos.
And in his eyes, this was one of those multiple-choice questions where you pick everything.
He turned his back to the others and faced the children, flashing the same cold smile he used when punching people.
The kids turned white as paper. It was like someone had erased all their color with a Photoshop tool.
Jiangxia bent down slightly and said in a friendly voice,
"If the police department says you can come, I'd be happy to have a few more helpers. But remember, this is an active crime scene. So if I say 'Don't run around'...?"
Yoshida Ayumi gulped, then whispered, "Then… we'll be wooden people."
"Good." Jiangxia patted their heads. "Very good."
He retracted his hand and turned back to Megure.
Behind him, the three kids exhaled with watery eyes.
Mitsuhiko and Genta unconsciously touched their necks.
Amazing… their heads were still attached.
Inspector Megure had long since developed a tolerance for weird people butting into his cases, so he didn't object when the kids asked to tag along.
Before they left, due to the short-staffed night shift, Megure also picked up Takagi and Sato along the way. They could turn in their reports later.
…
Children did have their uses. Earlier, they'd collected witness statements with their go-to tactic: Weaponized Cuteness™.
Jiangxia borrowed their notebook to skim through and get caught up.
Now, he just needed to walk through the crime scene in person, and he could basically skip to the good part—picking up ghosts and speed-running the case.
According to the notes, the victim was a woman named Masami Muranishi, who'd apparently forced the real killer to agree to marry her.
The killer strangled her, then dragged Higashida—the poor guy who'd ended up handcuffed to Officer Sato—to the scene while drunk, tricked him into locking the door, and tried to frame him.
In order to confuse Higashida into thinking this was his own home, the killer had rearranged some things, leaving behind a lot of physical evidence in the process.
One key piece was a cactus.
While moving it, the killer had pricked himself on the spines, and left blood on it.
Jiangxia paced the room and was about to head out to the balcony, finish stepping through the scene, summon a ghost or two, and call it a night.
When suddenly—
A panicked scream came from the balcony. It sounded like Ayumi.
Then Haibara's urgent voice followed:
"Jiangxia!"
Jiangxia opened the door and saw Ayumi hanging off the balcony railing, with Haibara clinging to her arm and trying to pull her up.
Jiangxia walked over, reached out, and pulled Ayumi back to safety.
He'd half-expected Genta or Mitsuhiko to be the ones to cause trouble, but this time, it was Ayumi who jumped first.
He set her down in front of him, squinting slightly—ready to scold her for being so untrustworthy.
But before he could say a word, Ayumi threw her arms around his and babbled,
"D-Dead people! There's a dead body over there! And lots of blood!!"
*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*