Double Chapter
Boss Ryuji panicked and instinctively reached for the phone cord — but Jiangxia just pressed a hand on his shoulder, pushing him firmly back down.
Then he calmly picked up the tangled phone cord, walked over, plugged it in, and dialed the emergency number.
Haibara Ai, who'd been watching curiously to see what genius trick Jiangxia would pull, fell silent.
…It's truly you.
She fingered the tranquilizer needle still hidden in her pocket, then glanced at Boss Ryuji and the others. They didn't look like they'd resist violently now. Satisfied, she slipped off toward the guest room to handle the side task Jiangxia had whispered to her earlier.
…
It all went so smoothly and naturally — like it was always meant to unfold this way.
By the time everyone snapped out of it, Jiangxia had already read out the address on the front desk's business card to the dispatcher, explained the bones at the foot of the mountain, and hung up. The phone line clicked into place with a soft clack.
A low buzz filled the lobby as the people around stirred back to life.
They all turned toward Boss Ryuji in unison: "Did you kill him? Did you forge that suicide note too?!"
"I, I…" Ryuji clutched his empty pocket — it had been emptied before he even knew it — and stammered, "No…"
"He sent the invitations. He cut us off from the outside world."
Jiangxia's eyes dropped to his phone as he flicked on the recording function — no way he was repeating this whole pot twice.
When the little red icon began blinking, he put his phone down and calmly fast-forwarded:
"Boss Ryuji did this because he stumbled on Mr. Kono's remains and the dying message. But he couldn't decode the killer's identity, so he had no choice but to invite all the guests who were here the day Kono vanished."
Ryuji's shoulders slumped, a heavy sigh of relief leaving him. He sank back into his chair, eyes brimming with gratitude at this detective who didn't just pin the murder on him to boost his 'solved case' stats.
"Yes… I thought the real killer would panic after seeing the bones and the dying message, or slip up. I never expected to wait half the night only for Futagawa to show up dead too — with a suicide note!
"With someone dead, I didn't dare admit I sent those invitations… If I'd known it'd come to this, I should have called the police the moment I found those bones…"
So it was all a misunderstanding — Futagawa Hajime was still a suicide. The group that had gone up the cliff relaxed a bit.
But Toyama Kazuha didn't drop her guard.
She'd been with Jiangxia when they found Futagawa's body — she'd seen the weird 'dying message' herself. She knew it wasn't a suicide. And if Tsuchimikado wasn't the killer…
Her eyes flicked to Etsuko Nonoyamiya and Mikami Heihachi.
In any normal case, the detective would now do a tedious process of elimination. But Jiangxia didn't have that habit — if he brought up Tsuchimikado just now, it was only because everyone else kept fixating on him.
Sure enough, seconds later, Kazuha got her answer.
"The one who ambushed Futagawa Hajime and pushed him off the cliff should be his boss — the editor-in-chief of Space Sunday magazine, Mr. Mikami."
No roundabout deduction. Jiangxia just turned to Mikami Heihachi, whose face went stiff at being named so directly.
"A year ago, the guest register listed your name right after Kawano's. Kawano probably heard someone call you 'Mikami,' but didn't know how to write it. So the dying message he left was four long cigarettes and two short ones — 'Mikami' is a common surname. It pointed right at you.
"But with Futagawa, the dying message changed — five long, two short. Why?
"If the killer used the same code again, people might just think Futagawa found Kawano's old message and was messing with the cigarettes. So the killer added one more long cigarette, spelling out 'Heihachi' instead. Same culprit, but a new clue."
Mikami Heihachi's lips pressed into a thin line as the lobby fell silent around him.
…Good. From experience, Jiangxia knew that with a setup like this, an editor-in-chief was usually half a step away from a desperate confession.
To nudge him over the edge, Jiangxia tossed in a final spark:
"Futagawa fell right in front of us, dying on the spot — so the secret dying message had to be slipped in while he was up there. There's a fresh blunt force wound on the back of his head. So he wasn't pushed directly — you struck him first, then added that extra cigarette while you wrote his 'suicide' note."
Jiangxia slowly raised his hand and pointed at a large luggage bag in the corner.
"Oh, and that wound? The murder weapon was something slender. If you think about its size…"
His eyes glittered. "It'd fit perfectly inside your telescope barrel."
Mikami's shoulders jerked. His eyes snapped to the bag — the bag that was supposed to be locked in his room, now sitting in plain sight.
Next to it stood a panting, mixed-race little girl — Haibara Ai — who'd clearly dragged it here herself.
She'd only heard Jiangxia tell her, "Bring the bag," not what was inside. But the second she saw Jiangxia pointing, she realized there was more to this tool mission than she'd signed up for.
Her grip on the bag's handle tightened like a suspicious cadre's. She half-turned, ready to drag it away and stash it again.
But just then, Jiangxia gave her a tiny shake of his head — so slight that no one but her noticed.
Haibara Ai: "…"
She released the bag, gave Jiangxia a long look, then mentally scribbled a new note in her Jiangxia's Observation Notes.
—Suspected of liking to set traps.
…
As Haibara backed away, Jiangxia stepped forward, eyes flicking from the bag to Mikami Heihachi, whose faint killing aura was leaking like a cracked pot.
Jiangxia's tone turned calmly sharp:
"Your expression's pretty unpleasant. Am I spot on? — If you're innocent, open your telescope barrel and show us what's inside.
"And by the way, even if you wiped away the blood, the police can still find Mr. Futagawa's bloodstains when they test it. So. Shall we?"
"Heh, wipe away the blood?" Mikami Heihachi's temples pulsed. He repeated Jiangxia's words, his tone turning nasty and mocking.
"I didn't wipe it — that ungrateful bastard Futagawa's blood is still all over it. I generously offered him the post of editorial team leader, but once he cracked Kono's death message, he actually turned around and blackmailed me for fifty million yen — or else he'd expose my so-called murder. Tch. A year ago, I just gave that ungrateful Kono a lesson. Since when is teaching someone a lesson considered murder?"
Nonomiya's eyes flared as she glared at the man who'd killed her husband. She didn't understand why he was spouting this nonsense. "…Ungrateful? What do you mean?!"
Heihachi Mikami threw her a side glance. "A year ago, Kono found out I was editor-in-chief of an astronomy magazine. He begged me to help him verify if he'd found a new comet — you know, comets can be named after three people. After I confirmed it, I just asked him to add my name as one of the three. But he flat-out refused…"
"A new comet?" Etsuko's eyes widened as a memory hit her, draining the blood from her face.
…A year ago, Kono had suddenly told her, all flustered, that he wanted to introduce her and Mr. Ryuji to the "treasure" he'd found. His tone had been so strange — his eyes gleamed, cheeks flushed, practically giggling like he'd found a goddess. Etsuko had misunderstood, thinking he'd fallen for another woman. That misunderstanding led to their fight — the last time she ever saw him.
Now she covered her face, slid down the wall, and collapsed, sobbing.
Heihachi Mikami didn't even glance back at her. Hearing the stifled weeping behind him, he seized the moment while everyone was distracted by Etsuko's meltdown. He squatted down and unzipped his bag.
Kazuha Toyama heard the zipper and whipped her head around. Most of the bag was hidden by Mikami's back, but she could just see him pulling out a black metal rod. "…Is that the iron rod you used to kill him?"
"Yes, but Uncle's iron rod…" Heihachi Mikami reached deeper into the bag — with a series of clicks, the parts snapped together, transforming the "iron rod" into a rifle.
He hefted the gun, head lifting with a wicked grin, his voice a sinister growl: "It's not an ordinary iron r—"
Whoosh—
A baton swung up and smacked his wrist. The rifle spun through the air, smacked the ceiling, hit the ground, and skittered to stop at Ai Haibara's feet.
Haibara Ai looked down, thought for a second, then calmly nudged the gun under the sofa with her foot. If Jiangxia didn't have a gun, no one else should either — made controlling the situation a lot easier.
Everything happened so fast that Mikami froze, hand still clutching at thin air.
Jiangxia, holding his phone in his left hand, calmly stopped the recording and saved it. Then he pocketed the phone just as Mikami snapped out of his daze, clutching his stinging wrist with a pathetic howl.
Jiangxia didn't bother with more words. He swung the baton again — the hit landed with a dull thud, sending Mikami sprawling. The man tried to scramble back, but his foot caught on the bag. He fell backward like a ragdoll, practically teeing himself up for a final swing.
It had a satisfying feeling, like a buddhist detective playing golf.
Mikami's vision burst into golden stars as he took the baton to the head. He crumpled to the floor, still trying to crawl away, only to see a shadow loom over him.
Jiangxia looked down at him, baton resting on his shoulder.
…The police station was a long way off. Might as well have a bit of entertainment to pass the time.
He hadn't seen decent "killing intent" worth hitting in a week. Even when he ran into Kaetsu on the sleeper train this morning, Gin was beside him and the conductor arrived too quickly. Beating people senseless in front of the organization duo was a bad move — and the organization liked its cadres to appear as proper, positive detectives. But here? No such problem.
Rob stood off to the side, watching Mikami roll and yelp. At first, he felt relief — good, the armed guy was neutralized. But after a minute, that relief shifted to worry.
…Was this still "neutralizing"?
Rob swallowed, staring at the floor. Mikami was curled up, whimpering for mercy. Jiangxia's baton hadn't stopped once. Wasn't he tired? Were all Detective Conan universe high school detectives this violent?
Rob, being a fellow killer, couldn't help worrying.
What if Jiangxia figured out he'd done the other murder?
Rob's hand slipped into his pocket, fingers curling around the stun gun. He squeezed it for comfort — but when he looked at the extended baton, he realized the stun gun probably wouldn't even reach Jiangxia before he got whacked himself.
Unless he got close first… but after the truck fiasco, Jiangxia was never letting him sneak up again.
Rob's eyes drifted to the open hotel door and the dark forest beyond. A glimmer of regret flickered across his mind.
If he hadn't agreed when Kazuha Toyama asked to "stargaze together," he could have driven straight to the airport by now and been long gone.
…Foreign friends always learn their lesson too late.
Still, Rob clung to one last pot of hope — his plan was tight. Unlike Mikami, he'd left no sloppy traces or bloodstained weapons.
…Probably.
…
An hour later.
The Tottori Prefecture police finally rolled in.
Several police cars parked out front. The first to jump out wasn't an officer but a dark-skinned high school detective.
The Spider Mansion case squad had been redirected here, and when Heiji Hattori heard that Jiangxia was the one who'd called it in, he didn't hesitate to hitch a ride.
He hadn't expected that not only would the shady Rob be here with Jiangxia, but that there'd be another killer too.
Heiji trusted Jiangxia's combat skills — mostly. But he still charged in, shouting, "Are you all alright?!"
Before anyone could answer, an unknown force slammed into him.
A human-shaped creature crawled across the ground, mistook Heiji for an officer, and clamped onto his leg like a drowning man grabbing a life raft.
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 31 - 90 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 37/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:4/10*