Chapter 225: This Detective Turns His Back. So What.

After checking the situation on the fourth floor, Jiangxia Tongzhi headed to Naoki Uemura's apartment, supposedly to pick up a cat.

Of course, he also planned to get a little murderous aura while he was at it.

—

Meanwhile, three high schoolers were sprinting down the street, each preoccupied with their own thoughts. Their destination? The same apartment.

The three were Ran Mouri, Ryoko Akagi (dragged along by Ran as a guide), and a very complicated-looking Conan.

Ryoko Akagi was a student at Beika High School. She was close with Akagi Hideo and often helped take care of his little brother. Today, she was also the first one to discover that Akagi's little brother had been "kidnapped."

Because the kidnapper had threatened them, Ryoko Akagi didn't dare call the police or get a real detective.

But she also didn't want to sit back and watch Akagi Hideo throw the game, so she had a plan: secretly find a teenage detective to help out—one she could pass off as "just a friend"—to avoid attracting the kidnapper's attention.

When it came to high school detectives, Jiangxia Tongzhi naturally came to mind. Lately, he'd been popping up in newspapers and on TV. Very aggressively.

But she quickly crossed him off the list—Jiangxia's face was way too exposed. If the kidnapper recognized him as a detective and didn't buy the "just a friend" act, Akagi's little brother might get torn up like a free tissue packet. Game over.

Then another idea came to her: since people used to joke that Jiangxia got famous by being "possessed by Kudo Shinichi," why not go straight to the source?

Thus, Ryoko Akagi made her move. Under the very normal alias she visited the Mouri Detective Agency, claimed to be "Kudo Shinichi's girlfriend," and tried to magically summon the elusive detective to Akagi's house to investigate.

...Thankfully, the kidnapper didn't catch wind of this little trip.

...Unfortunately, neither did Kudo Shinichi. The only ones she managed to summon were a frost-faced Ran Mouri and Conan, who was dragged out of the house along with her.

Conan, burning with the quiet fury of Ran's killer disappointment, rose to the occasion and cracked the case.

Through a game console in the room, he deduced that the kidnapper was most likely Naoki Uemura, and the three of them rushed to the apartment.

—

By the time the trio arrived, Jiangxia was already on the fourth floor.

He found apartment 402, rang the doorbell, and casually scoped out the door lock.

Ding-dong. No answer.

Jiangxia pressed it again, still calm, while quietly estimating how hard it would be to break down the door.

Before he had to resort to alternative knocking methods, the door clicked. Someone was unlocking it.

Naoki Uemura opened the door just a crack, leaving the chain in place. The doorbell had rung too much, and if he didn't respond soon, Akagi's kidnapped little brother might come toddling over and open it himself.

Uemura peered through the gap cautiously. When he saw Jiangxia, his brows furrowed.

He didn't follow anything outside of sports. Though he'd maybe glimpsed Jiangxia's photo once or twice in those ridiculous detective gossip rags at the newsstand, he couldn't quite place the face. The guy just looked vaguely familiar.

…Maybe a fan come to offer condolences?

With a sigh, Uemura prepared to shoo the man away politely.

But before he could say a word, the "fan" suddenly grabbed the doorknob—and slammed the door shut.

Uemura blinked at the door in shock. For a second he thought he had been the one to knock and just got the door closed in his face. Was this guy messing with him? Who knocks on the wrong door and then slams it themselves?

At the corner of the door chain, something white and clay-like slid up from under the chain lock. It squished through the gap, snaked forward, and—click—unhooked the chain from the inside.

This door didn't have an automatic lock. You had to twist it manually.

The white clay vanished. The chain clinked softly against the doorframe. Naoki Uemura, still confused and blinking downwards, didn't even register what was happening before the handle turned again.

The door opened.

Jiangxia strolled in like he owned the place, breezing past Uemura and heading straight for the balcony.

"Sorry," he said, "my cat seems to have ended up on your balcony. I'll just grab it and go."

...Cat?

That word made Uemura freeze.

Suddenly, he remembered something—a time when he'd been lounging with a newspaper, only for his teammate to swap it with one of those third-rate detective tabloids.

The front page had this report: "A detective who claims to just be looking for cats, but always ends up in murder scenes. The soul of Kudo Shinichi has yet to rest."

And the photo on that page…

Uemura's head snapped up, cold sweat soaking his back. He stared at Jiangxia, who was casually walking toward the balcony.

No wonder this guy looked familiar! This was that detective—the one in the newspaper!

And now, at such a sensitive time, he just waltzes in saying he's here for a cat?

Yeah right. No one would believe that.

He's clearly here to check on Akagi's brother!

The TV behind Uemura still played commentary from the game. He reflexively hooked the chain back into the door and gripped his cane tightly.

No. He couldn't let Akagi's brother get away.

Even though the match was already halfway over, Akagi Hideo had shown worrying signs of rallying—he'd even accidentally scored once! The score was still close.

If the hostage disappeared now, Akagi might find his fighting spirit and lead the team to victory.

Uemura clenched his teeth. Akagi needs to know what failure tastes like.

That thought took root deep in his soul.

He looked at Jiangxia's back—totally relaxed, completely unguarded. His breathing quickened as he raised the cane slowly.

...He wasn't going to kill anyone. Just knock him out. The detective would wake up after the game ended. Simple!

...No one would stop this match from being Akagi Hideo's greatest loss!

Just as Uemura lifted his cane—

Click.

The door handle behind him turned, and the door creaked open a little.

The door chain jiggled faintly, but the noise was drowned out by the game sounds. Uemura didn't notice.

The ones pushing the door were the three high schoolers who'd just arrived.

When they'd reached the floor, Conan had heard the faint sound of a door closing and voices inside. So when Ryoko reached out to ring the doorbell, he stopped her and tried his luck with the handle.

Surprisingly, it was unlocked. The door opened a crack.

But that was it—the chain was still on.

Conan peeked through the gap.

Ran and Ryoko, both confused, leaned in too.

And what they saw was—

Naoki Uemura, cane raised, about to clock the person in front of him.

And that person...

Conan: "!"

Ran: "!!!"

*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 31 - 90 days by POWER STONES.

Progress: 53/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS

Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.

Progress:2/10*