Chapter 235: Jiangxia Eats My Arrow!

Nishina heard Jiangxia's answer, stood up in disbelief, and dashed to the table to check the wine bottle.

But it turned out Nana Osanai wasn't lying—the wine was really just cheap Pangzhuo windmill wine. "How, how is this possible?!"

Sawagi Kohei, who'd been watching all along, chuckled lightly and explained, "If it's brewed with long-ripening grapes, it can actually smell like premium wine."

Jiangxia turned to glance at Sawagi Kohei's flickering murderous aura.

If memory serves, both Nana Osanai and Minoru Nishina had been targets of his wrath.

Needless to say —

Nana Osanai—three months ago, the unlucky motorcycle driver who got hurt in an accident caused by her was none other than Sawagi Kohei himself.

Relatively speaking, Nishina Minoru was a bit more innocent—the reason Sawagi couldn't stand those two was because Nishina, posing as a gourmet, had written wine tasting books full of mistakes that misled readers about alcohol knowledge.

…

Peter Ford greedily watched Nana Osanai pour glass after glass and expressed hope she'd give him some more.

Hearing this, everyone else got thirsty and headed to the kitchen to grab drinks.

Although Katsuyoshi Asahi hadn't shown up yet, after listening to Inspector Megure talk about the earlier incidents, the celebrities learned that all the victims were only slightly injured, not dead. They also knew none of them hated Murakami, and none knew Kogoro Mouri. So they didn't think the attacks were connected.

Jiangxia grabbed a bottle of mineral water.

After returning to the table and sitting down, it wasn't long before Conan walked over with a bottle of orange juice.

Conan leaned close and whispered, "I just saw Sawagi Kohei secretly licking paprika in the kitchen."

Jiangxia: "…"

…Although he didn't quite get why Sawagi Kohei suddenly did that, Jiangxia was crystal clear on how to respond now.

He frowned: "A sommelier actually eating that kind of spicy nonsense? Are you sure you saw that right?"

Conan nodded. The attacker hadn't killed anyone yet, but Conan felt a strong sense of disobedience and a bad premonition.

So, even though he didn't understand Sawagi's logic, it was definitely odd. He shared the info with Jiangxia, hoping to crack the case sooner.

But maybe because too many people were involved, or because clues were too few, Jiangxia only thought for a bit and didn't answer right away.

…

The group gathered around the table, sipping drinks in a peaceful atmosphere.

The topic shifted to "Why did Katsuyoshi Asahi invite them?"

The celebrities talked and found Katsuyoshi Asahi hadn't directly said what he wanted, only that he was a fan and wanted to invite them over.

Such polite wording, of course, was unbelievable. The celebrities guessed Katsuyoshi Asahi just wanted free promotion for his restaurant.

After hearing this, Nana Osanai felt a bit better. She smiled proudly, "I'm different from you all. Even though the words were similar, I got an extra gift."

With that, she pulled out a bottle of very high-end nail polish from her bag, shook it at a few people, and showed off her beautiful nails: "Look! French style. Mr. Asahi really knows how to pick gifts—I just happen to have an outfit that matches this color."

Jiangxia glanced at the nail polish thoughtfully.

—That bottle, of course, was a gift from Sawagi Kohei, under Asahi Katsuyoshi's name. The polish was doped with fluorescent paint, glowing dimly in the dark, so others could spot her easily at certain times.

Except for Mouri-san, who politely praised Nana Osanai, everyone else was clueless.

Peter Ford looked at her purple nails, couldn't appreciate them, and went back to concentrating on his drink.

Halfway through, he suddenly felt something kick under his feet.

Peter bent down suspiciously and found a folded A4 paper on the ground by his feet.

He picked it up and unfolded it. It was a typed letter titled "Sawagi Kohei."

Peter Ford didn't look down and handed the letter over: "For you."

Sawagi Kohei was a little surprised and took the letter, dazed.

Jiangxia sat next to him, silently watching, pretending not to notice that Sawagi Kohei had just secretly tossed the paper under the table.

Sawagi Kohei was oblivious to Jiangxia's complicated stare. Because Jiangxia always looked at him like that when he was up to something, he'd gotten a bit numb to it.

Sawagi Kohei opened the letter and read it aloud in a formal tone:

"Sawagi Kohei:

I might be late. So on the M18 rack in the wine library, there is a bottle of wine you like. Please help me take it out and share it with everyone as an apology for my tardiness. I left the key to the wine library on the counter."

Signed "Katsuyoshi Asahi."

Sawagi finished reading, put the letter down, and stood up. "As expected of Mr. Asahi—so generous. I'll go first…"

"Let me come too." Jiangxia pushed back his chair and stood. "You're the next target of the attacker. It's dangerous to walk alone."

Inspector Megure and the others clearly thought the same, and they all followed suit.

Seeing this, the others quickly trailed behind—the rich guy's wine cellar? Who wouldn't want to see it?

Sawagi Kohei wasn't surprised by this.

He nodded, silently agreeing to a few followers, and led the way.

To avoid suspicion, Sawagi Kohei had also set up his "eight."

—He hid a crossbow at the end of the M18 wine cabinet. The crossbow could be triggered by accidentally kicking a knee-high wire near the wine cooler.

Of course, Sawagi Kohei didn't actually plan to get hit but wanted to make a dramatic escape. This way, he'd join the ranks of "attacked," so his later actions wouldn't look suspicious.

…

They opened the door to the wine cellar, and a blast of cool air blew out.

Sawagi Kohei heard the others muttering about the "cold" and glanced at the thermometer inside. His murderous aura surged again.

—The ideal temperature for storing wine is 10°C to 14°C, but Katsuyoshi Asahi's wine cellar was casually set at 17°C.

Sawagi clenched his fists: Katsuyoshi Asahi, this bastard, splurged on expensive imported wine but won't even take care of it properly… An insult to all wine lovers! He deserves to die.

As soon as they entered, Inspector Shiratori, who also loved wine, squinted and rushed to the cabinet, clicking bottles.

The others felt like they'd found a free tour guide and instinctively leaned in to listen.

Sawagi Kohei took the chance to walk toward the M18 wine cabinet to grab the wine—and by accident, triggered the trap.

But just two steps in, he noticed someone following him—one was the kid with glasses, the other Jiangxia.

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

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

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

Progress:2/10*