Jiangxia Tongzhi pushed open the door and walked up to the counter like any regular customer. He ordered a drink.
On his way to find a seat, he passed by a table with Kogoro Mouri and was unexpectedly waved down.
Ran Mouri smiled brightly and waved. "What a coincidence! You came to see Yoko's concert too?" She remembered Jiangxia often lent her dad those hard-to-find Yoko albums.
Jiangxia nodded. This was a great chance to infiltrate the professional ghost-spotting squad. Others handled baiting and ghost production; his job was corpse collection. He walked over, pulled out a chair, and sat down.
Across the table, Kogoro Mouri looked a bit of a mess, clearly wrestling with something.
See, Mouri was a hardcore Yoko Kinoshita fan. Of course he had concert tickets—but when he reached into his pocket earlier, he discovered a hole. The ticket had vanished into the void.
Panicking, but then struck by luck, he ran into Jiangxia—who had a good relationship with Yoko. Mouri wanted to hitch a ride on Jiangxia's connections, quietly.
But asking a junior to sneak him into his idol's concert? Shameful. He hoped Jiangxia would just read his desperate, sparkly eyes and offer to help. Like before.
Unfortunately, for some reason, Jiangxia—usually so tuned in to subtle cues—was acting like a completely different person today. No psychic signals received. Didn't even glance his way. Just sat there silently sipping juice, head down, all serious.
…
Of course Jiangxia had noticed Mouri's sizzling stare. He just deliberately ignored it.
Normally, he would've ushered Mouri in, no questions asked. Heck, even if the door was locked, he would've had the shikigami phase them through the wall so they could all enjoy the concert. Maybe even collect a few lost ghosts along the way…
But not today.
Today, Kogoro Mouri needed to walk a different path.
Jiangxia's eyes drifted toward a short-haired woman standing near the public phone.
She wore a wide black headband, the kind that came with the special-edition Yoko Kinoshita commemorative album that had dropped just yesterday.
The short-haired woman—Masayo Aoshima—was on the phone. After a few tries, she finally got through.
Her face lit up… only to darken almost immediately. She'd been stood up.
"What do you mean you've got a cold?! It's barely a sniffle! You know how hard these concert tickets were to get?! I don't care—get over here and pick up me and my sister right now!"
Click. Beep—beep—
The call ended. Masayo Aoshima slammed the receiver down with a thud.
This shop was small, not many customers around. And since Jiangxia had been staring that way, his whole table had been passively following along with the drama.
Mouri's ears perked up at the words "concert ticket" and "can't come." Bingo.
He jumped up and hurried to Masayo Aoshima, hoping to snag the extra ticket.
Aoshima considered it for a moment, then smiled slyly. "No need to buy it—you can have it. But you'll owe me a favor…"
…
The "favor" was that Kogoro would take her to her sister's place and bring both sisters back for the concert.
Kogoro happily agreed. A free ticket? Score.
Later, after starting the car, he glanced at the rearview mirror and noticed an extra person in the back seat.
He turned, squinting suspiciously at Jiangxia. "Why are you here? You lost your ticket too?"
Jiangxia kept sipping his drink and casually tried to come up with an excuse. Mouri was usually pretty easy to fool.
But before he could speak, Ran suddenly reached over and pushed her dad's face back to the front. "Isn't this better? More people will make it more lively!"
...Clearly, Jiangxia had been overwhelmed by the warmth of friendship and couldn't bear to go alone. He'd summoned his courage to follow them. Yet Dad's first reaction was to kick him out?! Unforgivable.
Ran crossed her arms. "There's enough space in the back. Conan doesn't take up room. When Miss Aoshima gets in, if it's really tight, I can hold him."
Jiangxia noticed Conan freeze.
Then the indiscreet little primary schooler blushed quietly and turned away, sneaking Jiangxia a look of deep admiration that said: You're a genius, mixed with: I'm learning so much from you.
Jiangxia: "…" You've got lsp eyes, so now everyone has lsp eyes?
(TL note: lsp: "Lustful Staring Pervert")
Conan failed to get the sarcasm. He leaned back in the seat, still red, and started daydreaming about a brighter, cuddlier future.
…
Masayo Aoshima sat up front, chatting easily.
She smoothly turned the topic to her sister—apparently the sister was getting married soon, but had been in a terrible mood. So Aoshima bought the concert tickets to cheer her and her fiancé up. But tonight, at the agreed time, her sister hadn't shown up. Couldn't be reached. So she decided to swing by home and check in.
Kogoro had zero interest in people's family matters. He eyed Aoshima's headband instead: "Hey, I meant to ask—is that thing on your head…"
"It's a gift that came with yesterday's album drop. Also came with a matching keychain," said Aoshima, pointing to the "yoko-" text printed across the band.
Then she paused, puzzled. "You didn't get one? But if you got concert tickets, wouldn't you have also grabbed the album?"
Kogoro sighed. "I almost bought it. But some chatty client delayed me. That kid didn't bother either—"
He nodded toward Jiangxia in the back. "He helped Miss Yoko out once. They even went to the 'Perspective Detective Agency' show together. They're close, so she just mails him the albums. No gifts included."
There was a faint pride in his voice, a not-so-subtle brag: See? I know someone who knows Yoko Kinoshita.
He expected Aoshima, a Yoko superfan, to squeal in envy.
She went above and beyond.
She froze. Her hand slipped. The matching keychain in her hand dropped with a clatter, bounced off the armrest, and landed in the back seat.
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 30 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 17/50(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:1/10*
Glossary:
lsp eyes – "Lustful Staring Pervert" eyes. Internet slang mocking someone whose gaze is suspiciously suggestive.