Chapter 317: Fortunately, I Met My Mother

Soon enough, someone called the police.

A while later, officers arrived at the Morizono family home.

Jiangxia Tongzhi glanced around and recognized a few familiar faces—they'd been involved in the Shibata family case earlier. Judging by the timing, that case probably wasn't over yet, and they must've been yanked from it to help out here.

Jiangxia pretended not to notice the complicated looks some of them were giving him. He quietly stood in a corner, sipping the tea a servant had poured, and watched everyone bustle around the room.

Kikuhito Morizono, like many culprits before him, was already kneeling on the floor sobbing, spilling his motives like a leaking faucet. But even he seemed confused—why had Butler Shigematsu tricked him with a fake marriage contract?

Conan and Heiji Hattori were currently hard at work gathering information, trying to get to the bottom of it all. Sure, the mystery hadn't been fully solved, but they looked like they were enjoying themselves regardless.

Jiangxia, meanwhile, stood off to the side like a supervisor, watching them work but not lifting a finger himself.

Honestly, he felt his current fame level was perfectly adequate. Sure, he wasn't a household name yet, but if someone wanted a detective, they could probably look him up and send over a case... or rather, a case-solving invitation.

So actually, slacking off worked in his favor—it kept overly cautious criminals from getting spooked and avoiding him altogether.

The only downside was that he felt a little bad for that diligent cadre over at the Organization.

Gin had told him to gain more fame and infiltrate the upper crust of society ASAP.

...Hmm. Jiangxia gave it a thought. How about a modest goal: fulfill Gin's wish within two years.

For an eighteen-year-old minor, two years to rise to high-society fame seemed quite reasonable. Maybe even a little too reasonable. Talented, even.

One year, though? Too fast. Too suspicious. If he broke in that quickly, he'd probably attract unwanted attention from the FBI or Public Security. Best to go slow and steady.

Having settled on a solid plan—and a decent excuse—Jiangxia's conscience returned to hibernation. He leaned back against the wall, sipping his tea like a relaxed Buddhist.

Heiji and Conan noticed Jiangxia's total detachment from the investigation, but figured it made sense. The killer had been caught, the murder weapon had been found in a tree outside, and the method was pretty clear. All that was missing now was the why.

Maybe Jiangxia wasn't into domestic drama. Or maybe he just didn't want to poke too hard at someone else's sad soap opera.

...Either way, the hands-off attitude meant Heiji and Conan got to enjoy the thrill of deduction for once without Jiangxia solving everything in three seconds flat.

Possibly thanks to that joy, they found some clues faster than expected and were getting ready to question Kikuhito Morizono again—see if they could squeeze out any more truth.

Meanwhile, chaos erupted outside. A pack of reporters had caught wind of the incident and was now creating a full-on media circus at the gate. The police hadn't yet taken Kikuhito away, so he was still around.

Heiji and Conan walked over to the suspect, who was currently in a state of sulky self-isolation.

When Heiji spoke, his face and tone were oddly serious. "I think I get why Butler Shigematsu wanted you to cancel the engagement. He probably realized Miss Katagiri wasn't interested in you, but in Mr. Sakuraba. Tomorrow's wedding was just a big misunderstanding. He wanted to stop it so the next generation didn't repeat the same mistakes."

As his classmates attempted to explain everything to Kikuhito Morizono, Jiangxia quietly wandered over with his teacup in hand, curious if any murder-y vibes would float his way.

But apparently, since Kikuhito had come to terms with the fact that murder wasn't a viable option anymore, no collectible murderous aura appeared.

Kikuhito listened with his head lowered, then chuckled coldly. "If what you're saying is true, then why didn't the butler just talk to my father? He played matchmaker before—he could've gone straight to him again. Why threaten me? You're not a worm in his stomach—how do you know his true intentions? Maybe he just wanted to test how easily I could be pushed. The marriage might've been irrelevant. Even if I backed out of it, he could still blackmail me forever."

"…" Heiji and Conan were briefly stunned. They'd run into a contrarian and had no clear answer. Honestly, the butler's behavior was kind of weird.

Jiangxia, listening from the sidelines, raised an eyebrow. He looked at Kikuhito Morizono.

"What exactly did you do at your company? You'd rather risk murder charges or lifelong blackmail than let Butler Morizono tell your father? As the eldest son, unless you did something truly outrageous, your dad's not gonna cut you out of the will."

Kikuhito's face twisted. He glared at Jiangxia, eyes cold, then shut down and refused to speak.

Jiangxia spotted a brief flare of murderous aura from him—

But just as quickly, it vanished. Apparently, Kikuhito's subconscious remembered he was too weak to kill anyone right now.

The fastest-swimming mermaid once again missed her chance.

She glared at Kikuhito bitterly, swished her tail, slapped him once for good measure, then floated back to Jiangxia's side like a sulky maiden.

Jiangxia made a mental note—Kikuhito's reaction was a little too odd.

But since the guy was about to go to jail anyway, there wouldn't be many chances to squeeze ghosts or murderous energy out of him, so Jiangxia decided not to bother.

He could tell Amuro Tooru to check it out later. Or ask Gin. Maybe harvest some aura from him while he was at it…

Then again, Gin had mentioned that he wanted to be notified before any important people got killed.

Though, to be fair, Kikuhito Morizono hadn't been killed.

And even more to be fair, Jiangxia hadn't orchestrated any of this. He'd just been in the neighborhood.

So... no big deal.

…

The night before the wedding, the groom got arrested for murder. Naturally, the highly anticipated event was canceled.

The next day, Shizuka Hattori—who had planned to attend—also canceled her plans and prepared to return to Osaka that afternoon.

Meanwhile, Kazuha Toyama and Ran Mouri had spent the previous day shopping and, somehow, became actual friends instead of just polite acquaintances.

Apparently, they hadn't shopped enough. The next morning, they met again at Kazuha's hotel to continue the spree.

Heiji Hattori, claiming he needed to give a statement, stayed behind at the hotel. In truth, he planned to trick Conan onto a boat to Ogasawara for that mysterious anonymous commission.

He packed up, one hand gripping his luggage and the other grabbing Conan, and peeked sneakily out the hotel entrance—

Just in time to see the door across the street swing open and a very familiar person step out.

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

Progress: 36/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS

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

Progress:2/10*