When Jiangxia Tongzhi followed Ran Mouri and the others downstairs, he had already bounced back from his earlier mood dip.
Generally speaking, no matter how weirdly shaped a ghost fetus might be, it can always offer useful perks to a psychic.
For example, although the newest ghost fetus failed to produce the puppet Jiangxia had been hoping for, it did unlock a handy skill:
Fireproofing.
It could generate a high-temperature isolation zone around his body.
Not only did it protect his body—if Jiangxia cranked up his murderous aura, it could also protect his clothes, hair... even people standing really close by.
After testing it out for a bit, Jiangxia felt very satisfied. Ghosts really were treasures of the world—even the oddly shaped ones.
Ran didn't notice the shift in Jiangxia's mood.
Still stuck in her earlier concern, she didn't want him, with his lingering gloomy aura, to head back alone. After a moment's hesitation, she invited him:
"Do you want to come to the festival with us? There's a bonfire festival tomorrow night nearby, with fireworks. The hotel's hot spring is also super relaxing."
Jiangxia paused.
He'd still been trying to figure out how to naturally involve himself in Kogoro Mouri's next case—but then Ran just handed him a perfect excuse.
How could he say no?
Hattori Heiji didn't join them. He left early and headed back to Osaka.
…
After wrapping up the Nagato family case, Jiangxia checked into the hot spring hotel with Ran and Conan.
The incident of the son-in-law assassinating the chairman had happened at night, and it was already early morning by the time everything was handled.
Jiangxia booked himself a room and planned to catch up on sleep.
But just as he reached the second floor, he froze.
...There was murderous aura nearby. More than one source.
As expected of a mystical hotel hosting bothMouri Kogoro and Conan…
Jiangxia sent his ghosts to scout the rooms radiating murderous intent.
After confirming what was going on in those rooms, he recalled the ghosts and finally felt comfortable enough to nap.
…
Since they'd basically stayed up all night, none of the trio came downstairs until the afternoon.
Kogoro Mouri woke up to find his daughter had brought a male classmate back to the hotel. He stared at Jiangxia lounging on the sofa, eyeing him up and down, lost in thought.
After listening to Ran's casual explanation, Mouri eventually averted his gaze—grudgingly.
This was a hot spring hotel.
But Jiangxia, staring at the steam wafting from the backyard, decided not to soak after all.
It was a mixed-gender bath, and Ran seemed very eager to go in. Judging from the occasional glances Kogoro Mouri was sneaking his way, if Jiangxia also joined in, Mouri's future opinion of him when investigating any case would probably tank… Between hot springs and ghosts, obviously ghosts were the better pick.
Also, there was the issue of the Z-shaped mark over his heart.
A psychic is not the same as a ghost.
When a ghost signs a contract, the accompanying sigil appears permanently and doesn't vanish, as long as the contract is active.
Psychics, on the other hand, don't usually show their tattoos—unless they're actively using ghosts.
Which meant that if Jiangxia didn't want someone noticing he had a tattoo that perfectly matched someone else's (a big red flag), he'd have to stuff all his ghosts into the tattoo space while bathing... But for a psychic, walking around without a few ghosts on standby was basically asking for trouble.
So in the end, only Ran went to soak.
Before heading off, she invited Conan too.
If he'd been alone, he'd definitely have jumped at the chance. But now Jiangxia—who knew Conan's actual age—was also here.
Conan didn't want his classmate to see him as some shameless old man, so he struggled symbolically a little... before Ran cheerfully scooped him up and carried him away.
…
There were plenty of seats in the hotel lobby. Kogoro Mouri and his old classmates had gathered at one table, deep in nostalgic chatter.
Among them sat a bald uncle... radiating serious murderous aura.
After Ran and Conan left, Jiangxia originally planned to sit near Mouri to get closer to that aura.
But just as he got up, a familiar dark-skinned, blond-haired man entered the hall, holding a book.
—Toru Amuro.
Jiangxia blinked.
Ah. So that's why there was more than one source of murderous aura in the hotel. It wasn't just the usual Conan and Mouri combo—there was now a third human beacon of disaster in the building.
Jiangxia's movement had been a bit abrupt, and Amuro immediately noticed.
He glanced over calmly and recognized Jiangxia, surprise flashing in his eyes.
Then Amuro walked over and sat down beside him.
They were far enough from Kogoro Mouri's group—and away from other guests.
Jiangxia touched one of the ghosts beside him, suddenly remembering that he hadn't told Amuro that he'd been promoted to a full member.
...Not sure if Amuro had figured it out on his own yet.
After watching Amuro for a bit, Jiangxia decided—probably not. Amuro's attitude hadn't changed at all from before.
Then again, Amuro wasn't in the Personnel Department. He couldn't access member files casually. The times he'd "called people over" before were just surface-level coordination.
Now that Jiangxia was a full member, his identity was even more classified. No one would've gone out of their way to notify Amuro. Even if Amuro had tried digging, without the right clearance or task, the best he could find would be Jiangxia's outdated status as a peripheral member.
Jiangxia peeked at Amuro again, thought for a moment, and in the end… said nothing.
Amuro Toru loved his country deeply, and took his public security work very seriously.
From what Jiangxia knew, the public security had compiled tons of data on undercover agents from other countries—and uploaded it into their central system.
If he told Amuro that he'd been promoted to a full member and his code name was now "Ouzo"... there was a real risk Amuro would toss him straight into the list of undercover agents as his protegee. Then, if those files got hacked by the Organization…
No thanks.
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 31 - 90 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 21/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:2/10*