When Jiangxia left the police station, the ghost baby dragged a piece of shikigami about its own size and scampered over to his side.
The curator had been arrested, and with that, the shikigami's grievances were largely dispelled. It could finally pull itself together—literally.
Jiangxia turned down a narrow alley. There was no one around. He bent down, picked up the ghost baby and the shikigami.
Now that the curator was behind bars, the shikigami's obsession had dissipated. At this point, it was just a plain ol' paper shikigami—emotionless and docile.
Collecting a shikigami wasn't nearly as much hassle as collecting a ghost.
Jiangxia pricked his fingertip and pressed the bead of blood onto the shikigami.
A smear of blood bloomed on its surface, quickly turning black, before twisting and solidifying into a stylized Z-shaped logo.
Jiangxia stared at the new ghost for a moment, then tucked it into the tattoo space in his heart.
Now he had a ghost, a bit of murderous energy, and a shikigami.
Still a modest collection, but compared to nothing, it was a huge step forward. A real breakthrough.
Jiangxia exhaled, his breath fogging in the cold air. He raised the collar of his windbreaker and walked down the street with a blank expression.
I want to applaud myself.
——After being stuck in this world for so long, I finally look like a proper psychic.
…
Originally, Jiangxia thought the other shikigami that had been dragging its leg around—due to lack of evidence—would take a while to resolve.
He didn't expect that the very next morning, just as he was debating whether to go to school or head into the office, the police station called: the murder case had been solved, and they'd found evidence.
Jiangxia hung up, relieved.
Amuro Tooru is really useful.
With that handled, he no longer had to worry about his plans for the day.
He headed straight for the police station.
…
At the Metropolitan Police Department, Jiangxia sent the ghost baby to fetch the shikigami. He himself found a seat and sat down, glancing to the side.
——The "neighbor detective" who had provided some clues had also shown up.
After finishing his statement, as the officer was organizing the signed paperwork, the detective next door flicked the newspaper in Jiangxia's hand and muttered, "Looks like I'll soon have a neighbor who's a famous detective."
"Detective?"
Jiangxia turned his head—and was greeted by a huge photo of himself.
The background was yesterday's medieval-style pavilion.
Last night, when reporters had blocked the entrance, Jiangxia hadn't said much—still a rookie at this whole publicity thing. But the curator next to him? Extremely chatty. The police didn't stop the old guy either; in this world, cases weren't exactly confidential.
Facing the cameras, the curator had paused, thought for a moment, then praised Jiangxia.
Probably had a sudden epiphany: the stronger your opponent, the less embarrassing your defeat.
Plus, that little girl from the kidnapping case just happened to be playing nearby with her dad last night. After witnessing the incident, they gleefully joined in the fun and shared the touching tale of Jiangxia rescuing the hostages. Reporters swarmed in, begging for more juicy details.
Then some well-connected media outlets dug up the fact that Jiangxia was a classmate of Kudo Shinichi.
And as luck would have it, Kudo Shinichi—who used to be all over the papers—had recently disappeared from public view. Rumors were swirling that he'd kicked the bucket.
So yeah, the media had found their goldmine.
——Two high school detectives, both in the same class, appearing one after another.
That alone was enough for the press to write a whole serialized novel.
Jiangxia: "…"
He was speechless after reading it. The media in this world had brain holes the size of the moon.
Still, if he wanted to boost his reputation and interact with more people (i.e., potential future ghosts), being in the spotlight wasn't a bad thing.
Jiangxia was different from your average high school detective.
He didn't have a backlog of hundreds of cases to build up seniority.
But an eye-catching title like 'Kudo Shinichi's ghost possessed' worked just as well. Like that other detective who "suddenly falls asleep at crime scenes and starts solving them," Jiangxia's uniqueness made him instantly memorable.
...It was complicated. His mood was complicated.
Jiangxia silently returned the newspaper, pretended to fix his pants, and leaned down to pick up the ghost baby and the shikigami it had hauled back.
Before he left, a police officer handed him two envelopes—a special bonus.
Apparently, because the victim had been burned publicly in a ritual with lots of witnesses, the case had major impact. Cracking it successfully was considered commendable.
Jiangxia, as always, took the money without complaint.
When he touched the rough kraft paper envelope, he couldn't help but feel that this reward money had the scent of a salary thief.
…
A week later, as expected, the burning corpse case made it into the newspapers.
Jiangxia looked at his photo, thought for a moment, then bought a few more papers and a notebook.
Back home, he cut out all the clippings with his name and pasted them in, one by one.
He'd heard that in this world, a lot of celebrities liked to pull famous detectives aside to hear their stories.
So Jiangxia decided to prepare a collection in advance.
If anyone asked in the future, he could just hand it over and say, "Here. Read this."
…
The next morning, Jiangxia woke up and checked the school schedule.
No exams today.
So he shamelessly skipped class.
He grabbed a kettle and a pair of garden shears and tended to the potted plants in his house and the ones in the yard—all of which were raw materials for making ghost mint.
While pruning, he picked the ripe fruits and leaves, chopped them into appropriately sized pieces, and laid them out in the basement to air dry.
The previously dried ones he gathered up, took into the living room, rolled into homemade cigarettes, and packed into airtight boxes. The whole process—expert-level.
Once he finished, Jiangxia checked the time and realized it wasn't even noon yet.
So he picked up a cage full of cats and headed to the detective office to hang out and wait for guests.
Glossary:
Shikigami: A spirit or ghost servant in paper form, drawn from Japanese folklore.