(TL NOTE: Sharking is often used as a replacement word for killing throughout this fic.)
After turning over the evidence, Mrs. Shibata, as expected, confessed everything—including the gambling racket run by her neighbor, Takezo Yoshikawa. Turns out, Takezo regularly hosted large-scale gambling sessions in his home, and her husband, Shiro Shibata, was a devoted customer. Shiro had gambled away all their savings and even started selling off household possessions. Mrs. Shibata, pushed to the edge, finally snapped and decided to kill him.
She succeeded. But naturally, her crime didn't stay hidden for long.
Now, as she stood in the hallway, staring at the door to the room where it all happened, Kyoko Shibata clenched her fists in silence. She turned to the police officer waiting to escort her to the station and said, "I'm going to change clothes first."
With that, she opened the door.
Her eyes landed on the knife leaning against the wall—the very weapon she'd used. She stepped forward, ready to shut the door behind her and end things with one last swing.
And then…
"I think there's a knife in that room," came a voice from behind her. "I saw it earlier when I passed by."
Jiangxia Tongzhi's tone was casual, almost like he was commenting on the weather.
"…"
The air froze.
Half a second later, Mrs. Shibata shrieked, stomped her foot, and lunged toward the knife—just as the police officers sprang into action behind her.
A scuffle followed. Everyone shoved into the small room at once, and in the end, the officers wrestled her to the ground before she could get a grip on the blade. Suicide: a burst of drama, then collapse into exhaustion.
Jiangxia stood nearby, listening to Mrs. Shibata sob brokenly as Heiji Hattori's mother, Shizuka Hattori, tried to comfort her. Unbothered, Jiangxia pulled out his phone and messaged Ran Mouri:
"You done shopping yet?"
If not, he'd go join them. The statement could wait.
Conveniently, today's leg-hugging shikigami was very cooperative—when Mrs. Shibata got tangled up with the cops, the shikigami slipped off her leg and got scooped up by the mermaid ghost who'd been watching the whole human pile-up from a corner.
Ran Mouri lived up to her title as the most reliable ghost-picking assistant. Not long after he sent the message, she replied:
[We met Hattori's friend at Meiji Jingu Shrine. We're at his place now.]
She even sent a full address.
—
The friend Heiji Hattori and company had bumped into at Meiji Jingu Shrine was Kaede Morizono, the Morizono family fiancée, and her butler Akio Shigematsu.
Heiji knew the real reason his mother had dragged him to Tokyo was to attend the Morizono family wedding the next day. The couple getting married? The same Kaede Katagiri they'd just seen and Kikuhito Morizono, a well-known playboy.
Since they'd met anyway, Butler Shigematsu invited them over to the Morizono estate.
Heiji was reluctant—he had a commission tomorrow—but something about Kaede's expression made him uneasy. She seemed… off. Against his better judgment, he went. Kazuha Toyama, Ran Mouri, and Conan tagged along.
As Shizuka Hattori's son, they got the VIP treatment and were soon introduced to the rest of the family: the gray-haired patriarch Mikio Morizono, his daughter Yurie, the butler's adopted son Yuji Sakuraba, and the family heir—the flashy, fast-talking Kikuhito Morizono.
Heiji had entered cautiously, but the family seemed… normal. Surprisingly harmonious. It helped him relax a bit.
After dinner, as the group prepared to leave, Heiji walked through the courtyard, hands in his pockets, looking up at the sliver of moon in the sky. He let out a slow sigh.
Kazuha looked over. "What's with you?"
Heiji lowered his voice, nodding at the two Tokyo high schoolers walking ahead. "Notice something? With Jiangxia not around, everything feels… safer."
Kazuha gave him a look. "Are you serious? You keep running into murder scenes too. Maybe you're the unlucky one."
Heiji scoffed. "Sure, I catch a lot of cases, but most of them are simple—like theft or fraud. But when I come to Tokyo…"
A low, rising rumble cut through the quiet night.
It sounded like a motorcycle approaching—fast.
Heiji frowned and turned toward the noise. The Morizono house was way out in the suburbs. Who on earth would be speeding around at this hour?
Conan's expression shifted. As an innocent neighbor who lived just one building away from Jiangxia, he had become all too familiar with this sound.
Before the thought could fully form, a motorcycle roared to a stop at the mansion's front gate, kicking up a neat little cloud of suburban dust.
Under the glow of the streetlamps, the rider removed his helmet.
Heiji's expression soured immediately.
Jiangxia sat on the bike, looking straight at the two Osaka visitors. "Didn't get a chance to hang out earlier," he said coolly. "But I've got a few nighttime activities in mind. Interested?"
"Nighttime activities?" Kazuha lit up, trotting over. "Where are we going?"
Conan tensed up. He remembered Jiangxia's group of punk-looking minions, the ones who occasionally delivered cats to Professor Agasa's lab. He also remembered drag racing… and shady arcades.
He wouldn't seriously consider those as guest entertainment… right?
Heiji opened his mouth to decline and drag Kazuha back when—
CRACK.
A loud, sharp sound echoed through the night.
Glass shattering.
It came from above and off to the side, but it rang out clearly in the still air.
Everyone turned toward the source.
A third-floor window of the Morizono mansion had shattered from the inside. Shards sparkled in the moonlight as they fell.
Heiji stared at it, thinking back to his uneasiness earlier. Then he looked at Jiangxia standing in the courtyard.
For some reason, it felt like the invisible sword that had been hanging over their heads all evening had finally dropped.
He snapped out of it, jaw clenched, and turned to the others. "You two keep your eyes on that window. Kazuha, find Shigematsu!"
He bolted toward the building.
Conan ran after him.
Ran Mouri stayed behind—one person was enough to watch the window.
Jiangxia dropped his helmet and followed without hesitation.
When he'd seen the Morizono address earlier, he'd calculated the distance and thought he might miss the action.
But now, arriving right on time?
That was pure European Emperor luck.
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 31 - 90 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 36/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:2/10*