Jiang Xia handed the keychain to Masayo Aoshima.
Miyano Akemi, perched on Jiang Xia's wrist like an inconvenient ghost roommate, sighed in disapproval at the woman. Jiang Xia remembered—it was a trendy expression Akemi had picked up recently from the client. Naturally.
Aoshima flinched slightly at the sight of Jiang Xia.
Then she realized she was being weird and forced a dry smile while taking the keychain from him. "I didn't expect Miss Yoko's acquaintance to be here with me. It's… it's like Miss Yoko herself has been demoted to my level. It's a little overwhelming, actually. Scary, even. Hahaha…"
Then she leaned back in her seat and fell quiet.
The real reason Masayo Aoshima insisted on someone coming with her to pick up her sister was because… she killed her last night and staged it as a locked-room suicide.
And to really sell her guilt act, she needed someone to "discover" the body at the same time as her.
Originally, the unlucky chosen one was her "almost brother-in-law" and ex-boyfriend. But he suddenly came down with a cold and ghosted her. Just when she was panicking, Kogoro Mouri happened to come over and chat with her.
At that moment, Aoshima just felt like her luck was so bad it wrapped back around to being good. She roped in the whole group to serve as crime-scene witness tools.
Kogoro Mouri seemed like the type to misplace a train ticket and not notice—definitely not someone sharp enough to see through her. As for the others… two high schoolers and a literal child? Not even worth worrying about. Students are naive. Exposure risk: negligible.
When they first got on the bus, she glanced at Jiang Xia, sitting toward the back. He looked… weirdly familiar.
But the bus lighting was dim, and she brushed it off. Maybe he just looked like a male idol?
Now, hearing Kogoro mention something about a "Perspective Detective Agency," things started clicking. She hadn't seen his face in a magazine—she'd seen him. That guy was that famous young detective who solved cases very fast.
Also, Mouri mentioned he nearly bought a Yoko Okino album, but got sidetracked by a client…
The "client"…
Masayo Aoshima broke into a sweat.
So the uncle next to her was probably also a professional detective.
She had blindly invited "witnesses," and among them were two detectives. Two! Masayo Aoshima's vision went black for a second. She genuinely wanted to faint and get carted off to a hospital—anything to escape this nightmare.
But no. The corpse couldn't wait around forever. Miss today, and the decomposition starts making things... tricky.
Besides, who says a detective will definitely see through her plan? Her method was totally different from those dumb criminals who get caught right away. As long as she stayed cool and didn't panic, she could still pull it off!
She clenched her fists in secret, giving herself a silent pep talk.
…
The car pulled up in front of Masayo Aoshima's house, and everyone got out under a thick, awkward silence.
It was a standalone home. Masayo Aoshima slowed her pace, invited the four guests inside, and had them sit in the living room. Then she used the classic "I'll go get my sister" excuse and jogged off.
Jiang Xia wandered into the living room and started casually checking things out. Posters were everywhere—even on the ceiling. The cabinet was stuffed with neatly paired album photos. Some beat-up cardboard boxes lay off to the side. Very lived-in vibes.
Jiang Xia meandered around like a clueless tourist, but anyone with a brain could tell: he was collecting clues.
He paused by the coffee table just in time for a scream to ring out from the hallway, followed by a loud bang-dong sound—someone pounding on a bathroom door.
Masayo Aoshima's voice rang out, shrill and panicked: "Mina! Open the door! I know you're in there! Open up!"
Then came the tears.
That emotional outburst? Totally part of her script. But the stress of dealing with two detectives in real time got to her. She accidentally cried for real a little.
The other three reacted fast. By the time Jiang Xia looked up from the coffee table, Kogoro, Ran, and Conan were already running toward the source of the noise.
Jiang Xia followed.
At the bathroom door, they saw Masayo Aoshima twisting the handle and pounding on it.
The frosted glass door rattled but didn't open—it had been sealed with layers of tape from the inside. Through the cloudy glass, they could see strips of pale yellow tape covering every edge, sealing the door tightly shut. In the middle, a few large letters spelled out: "Farewell."
Mouri's jaw dropped. "What the hell?!"
Masayo Aoshima sobbed, "I looked everywhere for Mina and couldn't find her! Then I saw the bathroom door looked weird, and when I checked it, I found this… She must've taped it shut from the inside. I can't break it down!"
Kogoro gave a classic Uncle Mouri pep-talk and suggested they bust it open together.
Masayo Aoshima nodded tearfully and leaned near the handle. Her mouth twitched into a smile—victory was in sight.
Then a hand suddenly darted in from the side. Jiang Xia gently moved her aside, revealing the doorknob. He gripped it, twisted, and pushed.
With a gentle creak, the "sealed" door opened a crack.
Jiang Xia kept pushing it open and glanced at the frame as he did. "It's not really sealed. Looks like someone just stuck tape around the edges, then closed the door afterward… It's a fake locked room."
Masayo Aoshima's triumphant smile froze on her face.
Luckily, no one noticed my expression.
—As the bathroom door swung open, the scene inside was laid bare. A pool of blood filled the bathtub. A long-haired woman knelt beside it, one hand dangling lifelessly in the water. Her other hand clutched a bloodied knife. She looked very, very dead.
Ran and Conan flinched and suddenly had déjà vu. They turned to look at Jiang Xia.
Jiang Xia didn't notice. He saw Ran Mouri dash into the bathroom and pulled out her phone, planning to call the cops right when Uncle Mouri delivered his trademark "She's dead" line. Time-saving move.
But before he could move, Ran suddenly spun into action. She grabbed Jiang Xia, spun him out of the way like a whirlwind, and slammed him against the wall—in a spot with zero view of the bathroom.
"…"
Jiang Xia lowered the hand that had almost reflexively blocked a karate chop and blinked at Ran. She was in full Overbearing President Mode… Did Sonoko brainwash her with shoujo manga again?
"What's the problem?"
Ran looked dead serious and whispered, "Don't… don't look."
Conan joined in, expression grim: "Leave this to us."
Ran, still on autopilot, nodded in agreement.
Then paused, frowned, and looked down at Conan. "…Wait, why—"
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 30 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 17/50(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:1/10*