After listening to Conan's tale of his impromptu cliff dive, Ran Mouri turned pale. "That was way too dangerous," she said, fear surging through her.
Still, she quietly remembered the person Conan had mentioned. If she ever met them, she'd have to thank them—if not for them, she might've found nothing but a frozen child popsicle stuck to a tree on the way back.
As for Conan's claim that he was "knocked out by the kind person"… Ran had her doubts. Maybe he had a fever. Or smacked his head mid-flight. In chaotic moments like that, a kid's memory can't be trusted. Who saves someone just to knock them unconscious again? That's just nonsense.
Sonoko Suzuki, however, was pondering something else entirely.
A mysterious hero, moving through the dusky forest… rescuing the helpless… vanishing into the mist like a ghost…
While everyone else stayed silent, lost in thought, Sonoko yanked Conan aside and whispered the one question that truly mattered to her:
"Was he handsome?"
"…"
Conan gave her a deadpan stare. So typical.
Still, he thought about it. "Like someone off TV," he admitted reluctantly. Come to think of it, that might actually help identify the guy.
Sonoko's eyes lit up like stadium lights. Her imagination instantly filled with glitter, flowers, and K-dramatic soundtrack. She straightened, ready to gush to Ran—until she caught a glimpse of Jiangxia Tongzhi out of the corner of her eye.
Embarrassed, she reined herself in and abruptly changed topics. "Ahem! If there's someone nearby, maybe there are other residents around. Let's check and borrow a phone to call the police!"
Kaito Kid saw through her like glass. Girl, don't offer yourself up like dinner. The Tengu loves eating tender young maidens, and rumor says it's getting peckish. Who knows how long that tiny porcelain bottle will keep it fed?
Yoshinori Ara, the villa owner, had no idea what was going on in Sonoko's head, but he rejected the idea all the same: "We'd have to cross the mountain to reach any other houses. The permanent residents might know the paths, but I'm just a guest and don't know the terrain. Too dangerous at night."
Jiangxia nodded. "Uncle Mouri probably already called the police. Let's wait until morning. If help doesn't come, then we cross the mountain and borrow a phone."
Everyone agreed.
After all, they'd already caught the murderer. Staying overnight with Kikue Tanaka might be awkward, but the pitch-black forest full of bears, ghosts, and tengu was way worse.
…
The next morning, police helicopters rumbled overhead—and Kaito Kid took that as his cue to dramatically hang-glide into the sky like a fleeing superhero.
He had no interest in sharing a ride with Jiangxia. What if the detective ratted him out mid-flight? Even if the police couldn't arrest him, he'd be on their radar next time he made a move.
…
The police were a step too late to catch the phantom thief, much to their disappointment. But they did get a very calm and cooperative murderer, hand-delivered by Jiangxia Tongzhi.
On the way back to the station, the members of the magic hobby group found out that Jiangxia was a famous high school detective. That, plus the fact that he had two girlfriends, gave them enough gossip ammo to last until next year.
Thankfully, the next part of the investigation involved username logs and forum IDs. Jiangxia successfully peeled off the embarrassing label of "talks like a cute girl" and sneakily stuck it onto Sonoko instead.
…
And so, the magician fans' meet-up came to an end.
A few days later, Jiangxia found a newspaper article reporting on the case. As usual, he carefully snipped it out and pasted it into his ever-growing casebook.
While clearing the leftover newspapers, his eye caught an ad in an empty corner of the page. It had a few cute chibi dolphins and a quirky quiz:
[Do you know what precious item almost all Japanese people owned during the Showa era?
Bring it to Tsumizu Port on October 9th for a chance to win a free Ogasawara Dolphin Tour (3 days, 2 nights).]
Signed: "Da Furukawa."
Jiangxia stared at the ad, unblinking.
This wasn't just some trivia prize draw. It was a murder notice in disguise.
I need to get on that boat.
There was still time before departure. Jiangxia checked his watch and got ready to track down the real "ticket" to board the ship.
The riddle in the ad seemed simple, but it was actually full of restrictions: "Showa era," "almost everyone," "precious item."
The answer, he was certain, was the first-edition 10,000 yen banknote issued in Showa 33 (1958).
"Showa era"—this bill was discontinued in Showa 61 (1986).
"Precious"—highest denomination at the time. Duh.
"Almost everyone"—it started off rare, but thanks to Japan's booming economy, it soon spread like wildfire. A lot of people had one stashed away.
Sure, it was uncommon these days, but Jiangxia had enough shady contacts and knowledge of the Organization's stash points to find one easily.
…
Meanwhile, in Osaka—
Heiji Hattori received a mysterious letter.
Inside: ten old 10,000 yen bills.
Normally, Heiji didn't take paid jobs—he solved cases for the thrill. And this client hadn't even left a name or bank account. Just money. How rude.
But Hattori was raised right. He couldn't just keep the cash. He decided to deliver it back personally.
And since he was already going there… might as well solve the case too.
The letter asked him to go to Ogasawara and mentioned nothing else. Just said to flash the bills to a crew member, and they'd let him board. It was signed, of course, "Da Furukawa."
He checked the port address—it was in Tokyo.
As luck would have it, his mom, Shizuka Hattori, was heading to Tokyo anyway. She had a classmate's wedding to attend. So Heiji hitched a ride.
She'd go to the wedding, and he'd go solve a mystery. Maybe even challenge Shinichi Kudo to a case-off.
He'd even thought about roping in Kogoro Mouri—use him as an excuse to get Conan onboard. Kidnap him gently, for competitive purposes.
But when he called, Mouri-san regretfully informed him that he'd be busy attending a concert that day.
No Conan-napping, then. Pity.
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 31 - 90 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 20/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:2/10*