Chapter 234: Forget That High School Student!

Food writer Nishina got caught in the crossfire for no reason.

Under pressure, he slapped the table and declared, "Are you underestimating my professionalism?!"

"Professionalism? Do you really have something like that?" Nana Osanai dragged her voice out in mockery. While stirring the pot, she side-eyed the others and noticed that Jiangxia and Inspector Megure seemed distracted by the sudden squabble, totally forgetting to ask her when Murakami was released from prison.

Nana quietly exhaled in relief and quickly switched topics to avoid further suspicion.

She turned and took out a gift box, raising her chin toward Nishina. "Since you're so confident, why not prove it? This was meant to be a gift for Mr. Asahi, but now… you try it. Tell me what kind of wine this is."

"Wine tasting?" Nishina hesitated. This wasn't really his thing.

But being called out so directly, how could he back down now?

With forced bravado, he snorted. "Fine, let's do it!"

…

Five minutes later.

While Nishina was swirling the glass with deep concentration, trying to act like he knew what he was doing, Nana Osanai helped herself to a full glass and downed it irritably, trying to wash away bad memories with booze.

—Three months ago, late at night, she was speeding home in a sports car. Wearing high heels, running a red light, and talking on the phone at the same time, she hit a motorcyclist.

Panicking when she realized she'd caused an accident, she slammed the gas and fled, never even looking at who she'd hit.

So just now, when Inspector Megure mentioned Murakami and the word "revenge," Nana's first thought was that Murakami had been the victim of her hit-and-run.

But the dates didn't line up—Murakami was still in prison at the time of the accident.

So then… who had she hit? Why did she still have such a bad feeling about it?

Clutching at her hair, Nana groaned irritably.

Just then, Nishina twirled his wine glass and said in a daze, "Elegant violet aroma… velvety and warm… this wine is Chambord, Napoleon's favorite!"

Nana blinked, then immediately burst out laughing and dumped the pot on Nishina. "Don't know food, and now you're proving you don't even have basic common sense? Like I could afford something that expensive!"

Nishina continued to sip slowly, dragging out the tasting as if he were auditioning for MasterChef. Meanwhile, Nana had already knocked back two or three more glasses.

She didn't have the strongest tolerance, but she could handle a couple of glasses just fine.

After roasting Nishina, she filled a new glass, planning to take it to the sommelier, Sawagi Kohei.

But halfway there, she glanced at Sawagi, who was calm as always… yet somehow gave off a chilling aura.

Nana hesitated mid-step, suddenly unsure if she wanted to approach.

Then she noticed Jiangxia quietly sitting on the couch nearby, deep in thought.

On impulse, she veered off course and handed him the wine glass instead.

Jiangxia was currently communing with the local ghost population about murder vibes when he suddenly noticed a hand in front of him.

Startled, he instinctively accepted the offered glass.

But as soon as he took it, Nana didn't let go.

Jiangxia tugged at the cup, puzzled.

Not only did Nana refuse to release it, she suddenly leaned in and knelt on one knee on the sofa. Her other hand, reeking of wine, rose naturally to stroke Jiangxia's face, gliding from his cheek to his neck.

The moment their skin touched, Nana felt a surge of release. This was way more therapeutic than she'd expected. Ten more minutes of this and she could finally forget that stupid driver who wouldn't die and kept haunting her conscience. Ugh. He didn't even die—so why did she keep remembering that crap?

Shaking off the alcohol fog, she tried to focus on the present.

She swirled her glass lazily and looked at the young detective in front of her. "That fake gourmet guessed wrong just now. Want to try your luck, detective? Famous detectives are good at puzzles, right?"

From the side, Ran Mouri raised a brow. "Miss Nana, wine tasting really doesn't have anything to do with detective work. And we're still minors… we can't drink yet."

Nana glanced back at Jiangxia. "Oh, right, you're still in high school. But come on—what high schooler these days hasn't snuck a sip or two? I don't buy it~"

She raised the glass to her lips, took a teasing sip, and leaned closer to Jiangxia, wrapping an arm around his neck like she was trying to initiate a wine-sharing ritual.

"…" Jiangxia gently fended off the overly affectionate model, then looked over at Inspector Megure and Officer Shiratori. Calmly, he pushed the glass away and said, "It's Pang Zhuo's Windmill Bar red."

Nana blinked. He was actually… right.

Well, now there was no point in trying to flirt-drink with the detective. She shrugged and knocked back the rest of the wine herself, wiped her mouth, and stood up with a bored sigh. "Guess you're sharper than you look. Being able to tell those apart by aroma… you've probably had your share of drinks too, huh?"

Jiangxia shook his head slightly and moved away from the wine—especially in front of the police. "When you were pouring, you were focused on dodging Nishina's eyes, not ours. I saw the label."

"…Oh."

…Yep. Teasing kids just isn't fun. No sense of rhythm, totally off frequency.

And weirdly, Nana realized that sitting next to Jiangxia earlier, she'd felt even colder than when Sawagi was staring at her.

…Could it be that the chill she felt near Sawagi wasn't because Sawagi had it out for her, but just because this undersea restaurant's air conditioning was set to Antarctic?

Shivering slightly, she tugged at her not-warm-enough outfit.

She checked her watch again. Still uneasy.

Fine, she'd wait another thirty minutes.

If Asahi Katsuyoshi didn't show up by then, she was calling it quits. Job or no job, she was going home

*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*