As soon as Jiangxia stepped into the classroom, the usual noisy chatter abruptly died down.
Not out of fear—this wasn't the kind of school where bullies ruled the room. The silence came mostly from the female students, who were now collectively staring.
Most of them were gawking at Jiangxia's face.
A few, more observant ones, were eyeing the back of his hand.
The hush only lasted a beat before the whispering began again, louder than before.
Jiangxia found his seat, sat down, and quietly started taking the exam.
Between classes, he popped out to buy a can of Coke.
When he got back, he discovered that someone had crammed his desk drawer full of wound medicine.
Some of the bottles had sticky notes stuck to them—notes that smelled vaguely of perfume and had heartfelt concerns or outright confessions scrawled on them.
Others didn't have notes, but bore suspicious tape marks.
Jiangxia stared at them for a while in silence, then concluded that some overzealous latecomers had probably peeled off the original notes to repackage the gifts as their own… Tsk tsk tsk. This vain, face-obsessed world.
Good thing he'd been handsome in both this life and his previous one.
Please let that continue.
…
Jiangxia didn't touch any of the medicine or notes.
He couldn't exactly take them home, but chucking them in the trash felt like asking for trouble.
After thinking it over, he decided to just leave them there. He didn't use the drawer anyway.
That way, the next wave of gift-givers might not find a place to leave anything, and give up.
But if he handled this the wrong way… well, given the nature of this universe, Jiangxia worried someone might poison his water bottle next.
Then Kudo Shinichi, sitting behind him, could dramatically narrow it down to "three possible suspects who poisoned their secret crush," put on a mournful expression, and use the case to buff his reputation...
…
Kudo Shinichi was late today—he showed up after two exams.
But he had a solid excuse. On the way to school, he'd walked into a murder case at a breakfast shop and only showed up after solving it.
The proctor nodded as usual and let him in.
Kudo's seat was directly behind Jiangxia.
As he walked past, his eyes flicked to Jiangxia's hand holding the pen. Then he did a double take and stared more intently.
Just as exams were being collected, Jiangxia felt a sharp poke in the shoulder—Kudo Shinichi had stabbed him with his pen.
Jiangxia turned around to see Kudo scrutinizing the back of his hand. The detective frowned and asked:
"What caused that injury? The bruising is too uniform and widespread. If it wasn't from a blunt impact, it could be internal organ damage. You should really—"
"It was the football you kicked yesterday afternoon," Jiangxia cut in, completely expressionless.
Ran Mouri and Sonoko Suzuki just happened to be walking past and froze when they heard that.
Both girls turned to Kudo Shinichi in unison, scandalized.
"You don't even aim when you shoot?!"
"???" Kudo Shinichi was stunned. "Football is a team sport about cooperation! Why would I only shoot at the goal—wait."
Hold on.
That's not the point here.
The point is: he didn't play football at all yesterday. He'd been at the police station, filing case reports all day!
But trying to explain now was clearly too late.
Ran and Sonoko were already looking at him like he was a total scumbag—"the kind of guy who kicks someone, doesn't apologize, and then has the nerve to come ask about the injury the next day."
Kudo Shinichi stared, dumbfounded, and tried to fight back:
"You can't just believe one side of the story—this kind of bruise? It's too even. Not swollen. No way it was from a football. You—" He turned to Jiangxia, ready to get the real story—
But Jiangxia had already collapsed face-first onto his desk, fast asleep.
He'd finally encountered a ghost the night before, and he'd been so excited he couldn't sleep. Spent the whole night tossing ghost mint and only dozed off in the early morning. He was now in a sleep coma.
"…Hey!" Kudo Shinichi couldn't take it. The guy blamed him for an injury he didn't cause and then just… fell asleep?
He leaned over, about to shake Jiangxia awake.
But before he could touch him, Ran slammed her palm on his desk and hissed,
"Let him rest."
Kudo Shinichi: "…"
He opened his mouth to defend himself, but suddenly—
He felt a wave of intense killing intent.
Kudo's detective instincts went on high alert. He looked around for the source…
Only to find that most of the girls in class were silently glaring at him.
Even a few girls from other classes were crowded by the window, eyes cold and judgmental.
…Something's wrong.
Something's very wrong.
Kudo Shinichi was supposed to be the most popular guy at Teitan High! Just a few days ago, he was swimming in love letters from beautiful girls. What the hell changed the moment Jiangxia transferred in?!
He wasn't exactly angry about it. But the number of people giving him death stares was overwhelming…
Kudo wisely gauged the situation and chose silence.
Forget it. Fragile classmates aren't worth the headache.
Maybe Jiangxia really believed what he said. Maybe he'd hallucinated…
…
Kudo Shinichi dropped the interrogation.
And Jiangxia had a peaceful, uneventful day.
After school, back home, Jiangxia began preparing the gear for helping Yoko Kinoshita find someone.
Jiangxia's house was pretty big—several floors, plus a basement.
The layout was oddly similar to Dr. Agasa's place next door.
Dr. Agasa, true to his name, was a wonderfully eccentric inventor. He was also the supplier of all Conan's golden-finger gadgets—voice-changing bowties, tranquilizer watches, power shoes, football belts... all his handiwork.
On the other side of the house was the Kudo family.
Every time Jiangxia walked past their house and saw the name "Kudo" on the gate, he had to admit his parents had surprisingly good luck in real estate.
Kudo Shinichi and his father, Kudo Yusaku, were basically the IQ ceiling of this world.
And Jiangxia's parents had lived next door for years without blowing their cover…
Jiangxia thought about it, and figured it was probably because his parents were always out of the country.
As for Kudo Yusaku, he stayed home writing mystery novels all day. Not much social overlap between a reclusive author and two overworked professionals.
Now, with Jiangxia's parents "ascended to heaven" and the Kudos relocated to the U.S., that whole problem had taken care of itself.
Still, there was Kudo Shinichi next door—a little expert at sniffing out suspicious behavior.
Thankfully, Kudo hadn't yet noticed Jiangxia's activities involving certain strange organizations.
Probably because they didn't interact much.
Jiangxia Tongzhi was a year older than Kudo, but due to… "complicated" circumstances, he'd repeated a year and ended up in the same class.
Also, Jiangxia (and Jiangxia Tongzhi) were elite truants. Truly masters of skipping class.
Thinking of this, Jiangxia vowed to uphold that fine tradition.
…
He headed into his home lab, dug out a few useful props, and changed into lightweight clothes.
Then he put on a mask, covered his face, and snuck between his house and Yoko Kinoshita's company, quietly siphoning off a bit of power from the streetlights to set up some hidden surveillance cameras.
Soon, those streets were being livestreamed to his home, 24/7.
…
Three days later, in the evening, Jiangxia was trimming his potted plants when he heard a series of beeping sounds from the monitor.
"Beep—beep."
It had detected a specific image.
Jiangxia put down his scissors, pulled up the footage, and saw a uniquely colored car cruising past one of the cameras.
He zoomed in on the license plate and confirmed—it was his target.
He packed up his tools and got ready for action.
Glossary:
Pot: Slang for blame or responsibility, as in "carrying the pot" = taking the blame.