Lately, Jiangxia Tongzhi hadn't been getting many cases.
The newspaper he subscribed to still showed up every morning, but no matter how long he flipped through it, there wasn't a single mention of him. His once-growing clipping collection was starting to gather dust.
Eventually, Jiangxia stopped on a somewhat familiar page—a grainy photo of a figure bathed in moonlight. Judging by the headline, this was yet another one of Kaitou Kid's "great escapes" after a successful theft.
In the Detective Conan universe, Kaitou Kid was basically a cheat code. By day, he was just a regular high schooler from some island nation, but by night, he transformed into a moonlight phantom thief with top-tier skills in magic, disguise, and making the police look silly.
Even though Kid's face and age remained a mystery to the general public, his dramatic flair and mastery of pretending to be gentleman had won him a cult following.
Plus, Kid had this habit of sending riddles filled calling cards to his victims ahead of time. His crimes had just enough "artistic temperament" to keep reporters happily chasing after him.
Jiangxia had seen Kaitou Kid in the papers before, but since the guy rarely left corpses in his wake—in fact, Kid's appearances seemed to prevent murders—Jiangxia never paid much attention. If he saw a Kid story, he usually just skipped it.
But this time...
Something about the report made Jiangxia pause. Apparently, Kid had issued another notice—this time to the head of the Suzuki conglomerate. That would be Sonoko Suzuki's dad.
Kid's target was "The Dark Star," a black pearl regarded by the Suzuki family as their guardian treasure.
As Jiangxia was pondering this, his phone buzzed. He picked up, and sure enough, it was Sonoko Suzuki, sounding way too thrilled.
"Did you see the news?!" she squealed. "Kid's going to steal something from our house!"
Jiangxia : "…"
She sounded like it was a national holiday. Anyone listening in might think she was working with Kid instead of being one of his intended victims.
Sonoko had called to ask Jiangxia for help catching Kid.
The official reason? To help reduce her overworked father's stress.
The real reason? She wanted to see what the legendary phantom thief looked like. And she figured Jiangxia —who was infuriatingly good at solving cases—might be able to crack Kid's plan and catch him in the act.
Also, as someone who was still stuck in the late stages of her chuuni phase, Sonoko had another fantasy: two handsome guys dueling dramatically for her sake (well, technically for her family's treasure, but same difference in her eyes).
Besides, Sonoko had done her homework. She knew Kid never killed anyone—in fact, he'd been known to prevent murders when he had spare time. The media even liked to paint him as a side-job hero.
She also remembered Jiangxia saying he enjoyed "solving tricks."
So this? This was perfect. An elaborate heist, no messy corpses. Puzzles galore, no traumatizing bloodstains. Surely Jiangxia would love it.
So she called him up without hesitation.
But truth be told, Jiangxia wasn't interested in phantom thieves. From what he remembered, early Kid appearances were so peaceful they were practically slice-of-life episodes.
It wasn't until later, when Conan's murder-magnet aura got too strong to ignore, that even Kid-centric episodes started stacking bodies.
This "Dark Star" thing didn't have any ghosts tied to it, as far as Jiangxia could tell.
Still, after thinking it over, Jiangxia didn't turn Sonoko down. He maintained his cultivated persona of "Jiangxia accepts all invitations," hoping this would make people more comfortable asking him to tag along—even if they later quietly removed the murder-y bits on his behalf.
…
The day before the heist, Jiangxia made his way to the Beika Museum, using the address Sonoko had sent him.
The main characters weren't in the exhibit hall—they'd apparently gone off to "check the surroundings."
Jiangxia greeted Chairman Suzuki briefly, then made a beeline for the display case showcasing the infamous black pearl: the Dark Star.
In psychic theory, objects infused with intense human emotion or obsession could develop something called an "energy core." These cores, according to the now-defunct fringe scholars, could be used to feed ghosts and help them level up.
Textbooks listed common energy-core items as antique artifacts or striking gemstones.
A year ago, when Jiangxia had just arrived in this world, he'd immediately hit up cemeteries and museums, searching for ghosts and energy-laden treasures.
But just like the ghosts had been MIA, the treasures also refused to show themselves.
Recently, as Kudo Shinichi turned into Conan, the ghost population had finally come out to play. Jiangxia had renewed his museum trips, hoping for energy cores this time. No luck.
Eventually, he gave up. After all, this universe had a pretty decent ghost and shikigami spawn rate. And the murderers were bizarrely cooperative—once caught, they calmly surrendered their murderous aura and went to prison without fuss. Unlike in his previous world, where suspects would deny everything, go on the run, or go full scorched-earth mode.
So with a very buddhist "gain some, lose some" mindset, Jiangxia made peace with his lot.
Still, yesterday, when Sonoko called, he had a random thought: maybe the treasure that Kid was targeting was one of those elusive energy cores.
It made sense, in a way. If Conan was the main protagonist of this world, then Kid had to be the secondary one. So if Conan was in charge of ghosts and murder aura, then maybe Kid got the magical loot. Very logical!
…Except, standing in front of the Dark Star now, Jiangxia felt nothing.
No energy. No ghost tingle. Just a regular shiny orb.
...Fake. Probably a decoy. And the whole museum was dry—no energy cores here.
His little glimmer of excitement snuffed out. His motivation, already hovering around 60%, plummeted to 1%.
He sighed and started wandering off to find a place to sit quietly.
He'd only taken a few steps when three people entered the museum. Jiangxia looked up—and sure enough, in came Ran Mouri, Sonoko, and Conan.
Ran and Sonoko's friendship was thicker than blood. And Conan? That kid stuck to danger and Ran like super glue.
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 30 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 4/50(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:0/10*
Glossary:
energy core – A mystical object said to hold condensed emotional/spiritual energy; useful for feeding ghosts.
phantom thief – A romanticized thief who announces their crimes in advance, often seen as stylish and artistic.
chuuni/second disease – A phase (typically in early teens) where one believes they have special powers or are the chosen one.