Jiangxia Tongzhi spotted two familiar names on the hit list Gin handed him.
Now, one had been marked with an "X".
The other… might be next to get rubbed out.
As he walked up to his door, Jiangxia pulled the morning newspaper from the mailbox and flipped to the front page. As expected, it covered the Crystal Restaurant serial bombing case.
He skimmed it quickly, then let out a small sigh of relief. Although he'd been dragged into the mess again, the media had finally stopped obsessing over his case-solving speed. Instead, they'd chosen to focus on a "weakness" of his—namely, that his brain slowed down when confronted with car accidents.
That should do nicely.
For example, a murderer who desperately wanted a detective present to witness their "innocence," but feared being seen through, might invite him over, stage a little car accident, and then commit the murder in peace…
Jiangxia folded up the newspaper and headed back out, looking forward to his trip to the detective office.
But he couldn't find it.
It was rare for Toru Amuro to be around at the Amuro Detective Agency, but today he was.
Amuro chatted with him casually, and handed him a box of gold-colored calming oral tonic. He said it was a bonus from his part-time workplace, so he passed it along.
After Amuro left, Jiangxia took the tonic and left in mild disappointment.
No rush. It was just the first day.
You had to give potential murderers time to read the news and mull it over. Maybe some bold and decisive killer had already sent out an invitation—mail takes time, after all.
Being a psychic required patience. If you were willing to wait long enough, the murder case would always arrive.
So Jiangxia waited another day. Still nothing.
That afternoon, as he went to check the mailbox again, his phone vibrated.
It was the Organization's dedicated phone.
He took it out and saw a message from Gin: meet at the Hagson Bar, B2 floor of the Haido Building, 6 PM.
Jiangxia had barely registered the address when the screen flashed—
The message was auto-deleted, courtesy of Vodka's black-tech encryption.
This was par for the course with Gin.
But still…
Jiangxia couldn't help but grumble inwardly. Too fast. What if I hadn't seen it yet?
As if on cue, his phone buzzed again.
Another message from Gin.
Same content. Different location—this time it was a sushi restaurant on the 3rd floor instead of the bar.
Jiangxia: "…"
No consistency, no flair.
Frankly, he preferred the bar.
...
Then again, for a pragmatic psychic like Jiangxia, location didn't matter—so long as there were ghosts and murder auras to harvest.
Still, it was surprising to get another assignment from Gin so soon, especially since he'd only just finished dealing with that group of five.
Apparently, aside from Conan, the Organization also served as a reliable ghost-detection delivery system.
But when Jiangxia arrived at the sushi restaurant, things weren't quite what he expected.
—In the past, Gin would hand him a list of targets and a few brief instructions. Jiangxia would read it, then head straight off to work.
Compared to that usual efficiency, today's meeting was strange.
Gin said nothing. Just stared at the documents in his hand. The silence stretched on until the sushi arrived.
...This wasn't just weird. This was capital-W Weird. With this much dead air, they could've executed a dozen traitors already.
Jiangxia glanced at Vodka. This guy must know what Gin's thinking.
But Vodka just stared straight ahead, like a shikigami. No eye contact, no hints.
Jiangxia turned back and wondered to himself—Did something go seriously wrong with the Asahi hit?
But if that were the case, Gin would've already filled him with bullet holes, not invited him out for sushi.
And crucially, Gin's murderous aura hadn't spiked. It was the same steady, ever-present death vibe as usual—not the kind you'd expect if there'd been a major mission failure.
Awkward silence hung in the air. Finally, Jiangxia hesitated, then reached out toward the sushi.
No one stopped him. No one said a word.
So he picked a piece that looked pretty, took a bite.
The fish was fresh, sweet, and juicy. The rice was distinct and springy. The taste lived up to the upscale decor of the place.
As expected of a sushi joint riding on top of that mysterious Hagson bar...
...
Jiangxia stopped paying attention to the two silent men and focused on dinner. Across the table, Gin was quietly reviewing the psychological assessment data that Vermouth had sent.
To be honest, Gin thought the evaluation criteria were a bit crude and vague. He strongly suspected Vermouth had pulled them out of some second-rate pop psych blog.
Still, a few of the metrics seemed plausible. And when it came to serious matters, Vermouth was usually reliable. So Gin had decided to give her methods a shot.
From the moment Ouzo walked in, Gin had been mentally checking off the signs, watching for any red flags. If he saw anything suspicious, he'd deal with it on the spot.
First category: Emotional instability… didn't seem to apply.
From the moment Ouzo arrived and began eating—right after a stretch of deliberate silent treatment from Gin and Vodka—he hadn't fidgeted or acted anxious. No nervous tics, no signs of confusion.
Instead, he quietly and intelligently observed them both the entire time.
Honestly, he was calmer and more composed than most of the other so-called elite cadres Gin worked with. Many of them would be either sweating bullets or flipping tables by now.
Satisfied, Gin mentally checked off the first item and moved to the next.
Loss of appetite. Possible anorexia.
...Nope.
The sushi was served banquet-style—no individual portions, just platters for three laid out across the table.
Gin had watched as Ouzo ate not only his own share but also picked from Gin's and Vodka's plates. Clearly, he wasn't just eating to maintain function—he was eating with normal enthusiasm. Maybe too much.
He even cherry-picked based on color, ignoring all the yellow and green ones.
A real gourmet, Gin thought grimly.
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 31 - 90 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 16/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:2/10*