...Forget it.
Why make life harder for your leisurely paddling days?
This kind of thing—let the Japanese Public Security Bureau handle it.
Toru Amuro honestly didn't know Jiangxia's code name.
He was doing well inside the Organization, sure, and had gathered quite a bit of intelligence, but most of that was thanks to his own digging—hardly anything had been handed to him. Bourbon's undercover stint was technically a success, but as long as Rum still viewed him with suspicion, Amuro would never be totally free to act.
If he really put in the effort, he might uncover a few clues. But it had never occurred to Amuro that Jiangxia would suddenly be promoted to full member status just after hanging around his café.
So in Amuro's eyes, Jiangxia hadn't changed at all—except for maybe getting more famous.
Once Jiangxia realized this, he simply pretended like nothing had happened.
He glanced at the book in Amuro's hand and asked in a low voice, like a good little tool person, "Got a mission?"
"Yeah," Amuro replied, handing the book over. "Page 156."
It was a newly released mystery novel.
Jiangxia flipped to the specified page and found a passage describing something the protagonist encountered mid-case—an explosion caused by a suspicious character:
"Dressed in black, grey-white hair, an aged and sagging face buried in a thick scarf, with a black mole under one eye."
Jiangxia stared blankly for a moment. Then he had a vague guess: "The author got inspiration from witnessing one of our people blowing something up?"
Amuro nodded. "The time, location, and description all line up. If it were just a low-level member, it'd be simple—just silence them. But the person involved this time has some status, so we need to confirm more details. The author has a photography habit… if he took pictures—"
Jiangxia: "..."
So it's not just Gin's bad luck. The whole Organization is cursed. One of their old-timer cadres casually blows something up and gets candidly photographed by a novelist on a walk.
Thankfully, Jiangxia himself was just a cheerful soul-picker. He hadn't absorbed too much of the Organization's misfortune. Yet.
Though, to be fair, this novelist might be the unluckiest one of all…
Jiangxia closed the book and gave the author's name a sympathetic glance: Imatake Satoru.
According to Amuro, Imatake Satoru was going to be visiting the area soon. The plan was for Amuro to pretend to be a fan, "accidentally" run into him, strike up a conversation, and sneak into the writer's room to look for incriminating photos.
But now that he'd run into Jiangxia, Amuro promptly shoved the book and the entire mission onto him—along with a thick folder of Imatake Satoru's information. Jiangxia would now be the fake fan.
Amuro felt Jiangxia had better natural charisma than he did.
Even when Amuro forced a smile so wide his cheeks twitched, he never got results as good as Jiangxia just standing next to a person, blank-faced and saying nothing.
Jiangxia accepted the sudden side quest without protest. He had souls to collect, so anything that bought time was fine by him.
He skimmed through the file. Imatake Satoru, a recent literary award winner currently riding the wave of popularity, was staying in Room 202 of this very hotel. He was here at the invitation of an old friend.
Amuro had also looked into this "old friend," Sasai Norikazu—another writer, once a collaborator of Imatake Satoru. But while Imatake was now famous, Sasai was still drifting in obscurity.
The familiar names triggered a memory in Jiangxia's mind… Oh, right. This was the case where Imatake Satoru gets murdered without any help from the Organization.
So really, this was just a freebie task.
Jiangxia finished reviewing the information and returned it to Amuro. Then the two of them settled in to wait for the writer to come downstairs.
But maybe writers are just built nerdier. They waited forever, and Imatake Satoru remained holed up in his room, showing no intention of coming out.
Which meant Jiangxia had no one to fangirl, and Amuro couldn't sneak into the room to hunt for photo evidence.
Instead, Ran Mouri and Conan came back from the hot springs first.
They were both a little surprised to see someone standing next to Jiangxia—someone they recognized.
Normally, Conan would have gone over to chat.
But, moments ago, he had shamelessly joined Ran for a mixed bath. Now, facing Jiangxia—who knew full well he wasn't a real kid—Conan felt a wave of guilt. He was terrified Jiangxia would casually drop a comment and blow his Kudo Shinichi cover sky-high, ending in Ran beating him to death with a towel.
So… silence.
Jiangxia flicked him a glance from the corner of his eye and graciously pretended to see nothing. Honestly, he wasn't in the mood to stir the pot right now.
The book Amuro had given him was decent. Jiangxia settled in and read to kill time while waiting for the writer to emerge.
Amuro, meanwhile, wasn't in a rush. He was sure the opportunity would come tonight.
—Tonight, there was a big local festival.
A giant bonfire shaped like a character would be lit on the mountaintop. Fireworks galore. A real spectacle. Pretty much everyone who'd come to town recently was here for that.
The two writers were staying in the area. Odds were good they'd show up too.
…
Kogoro Mouri and his old college classmates had also come for the festival.
The event wouldn't start for another hour or two.
To pass the time, one of Mouri's classmates—a bald, murdery-looking uncle named Nakamichi Kazushi—suggested, "Wanna play some table tennis? I saw a table downstairs."
Beside him, the elegant and angry middle-aged lady, Horikoshi Yumi, gave him a sharp glare. Her expression instantly darkened.
Jiangxia watched the whole scene unfold from a distance.
Back in their college days, Mouri and his classmates had all been in the judo club.
Nakamichi and Horikoshi had been entangled since then, but things had never progressed.
Now, Nakamichi was about to get married—only to be blackmailed by Horikoshi with a compromising photo. He planned to use this reunion as a chance to eliminate her.
So this little table tennis suggestion? Just step one of his plan to build a fake alibi.
He'd arranged to "have a talk" with Horikoshi Yumi, then, at the last moment, suggested playing ping-pong instead and stood her up.
With her fiery temper, Horikoshi would likely storm back to her room alone, too angry to join the festival.
Which would leave her... conveniently isolated.
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 31 - 90 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 26/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:2/10*
Glossary :
Paddling: Slacking off or coasting through something while pretending to be busy.
Pick up a soul: Jiangxia's signature ability—he collects the souls of the recently dead. (Comedic and literal in this fanfic.)
Release pigeons: Chinese slang meaning to stand someone up.