Conan's Corpse Picker

Double Chapter

Kogoro Mouri, like anyone else, felt that a guy who'd yell, "Everyone who lives here is a pig!" deserved a good scolding—or even a punch to the nose.

He shot an irritated glare at Izumo, the loudmouthed owner at the next table.

But the longer Kogoro stared, the more puzzled he looked.

There was something weirdly familiar about this irritable boss.

He scratched his head, then blurted out during a lull in Izumo's rant: "Hey, have we met somewhere before?"

"Hm?"

Izumo turned, narrowed his eyes at Kogoro Mouri, but found no memory there.

His gaze drifted to Jiangxia beside him—he frowned, instantly disgusted. A well-known detective on the same train? As a drug dealer, Izumo naturally loathed anything that smelled like justice.

He snorted coldly, said nothing, and looked away.

The awkward silence that followed could've frozen soup.

Toshinori Kaetsu, ever the model manager, jumped in to smooth things over before his boss exploded again.

He gave Kogoro Mouri an apologetic smile:

"You might've seen our boss on TV or in the paper. A few days ago, our jewelry store got robbed by a wanted criminal. While the employees were shaking in fear, Boss Izumo stepped up and scared the villain away. Lots of reporters covered it."

"Oh!" Kogoro smacked his fist into his palm. "That's right, I remember now—I saw that on the news!"

As soon as he said it, he also recalled the gossip columns.

Apparently, when that wanted criminal fled, he left behind a weird line—"This isn't what we agreed on."

It was fishy, too. An experienced crook, running scared from an unarmed boss? Didn't add up.

Rumor was, Izumo staged the whole thing to boost his rep for the upcoming mayoral election.

Jiangxia, though, didn't buy that theory at all.

Unlike Kogoro, Jiangxia knew the spoilers by heart. He remembered that the whole "robbery" was just a piece of Toshinori's—or rather, Yusaku Kudo's—twisted pot. He'd read the unfinished manuscript.

That so-called robber was Yasuji Asama, Toshinori's old partner-in-crime.

Toshinori had tricked Asama into thinking Izumo was in on the scheme to swipe the jewels and cash out the insurance.

Asama went along with it—until he actually got to the store. The clueless Izumo didn't follow the "script" at all. He scolded Asama, slammed the alarm, and left the poor robber frozen like a deer in headlights. Asama bolted, humiliated.

Later,Toshinori "apologized," gave him disguise clothes and a train ticket, claiming the boss had backed out and that he'd better skip town quick. Meanwhile, he used Izumo's drug business as blackmail to drag him onto this train. One big moving pot for tonight's show.

Now, everything was lining up nicely… with one small exception.

Toshinori's eyes slid sideways at Jiangxia, who sat there calm as ever.

…Was it just his imagination, or had this up-and-coming high school detective looked at him several times tonight?

Every glance made Toshinori's heartbeat stutter like a dying disco ball. He almost felt like giving up—until he remembered the manuscript.

If this were all his own plan, he'd have chickened out by now.

But this wasn't just him. This was the story of his idol—Yusaku Kudo. He wasn't alone.

Next to him, Jiangxia saw the swirl of murderous aura around Toshinori flicker wildly, then settle into a nice, thick cloud.

Good.

He discreetly sighed with relief and shifted his gaze away. No need to spook the poor man's fragile resolve any more.

Hmm. Note to self: Don't lock eyes with future criminals so often. Their little hearts can't take it.

When he looked down again, Jiangxia found Conan staring into space, deep in thought.

Right now, Conan was so wrapped up in a sense of déjà vu that he'd forgotten all about Gin lurking near the door.

Feeling Jiangxia's gaze, Conan hesitated, then leaned over and asked in a low voice, "Did something like this weird robbery happen before? Must've been years ago, when we were little."

Jiangxia looked at him—he knew Shinichi Kudo had flipped through that lost manuscript as a kid. Now Conan was remembering bits of it, but not the whole thing.

As for Jiangxia? He'd rarely visited the Kudo house when he was younger. And when he did, he usually ended up trapped in Yukiko Kudo's arms before sneaking away at the first chance.

No way he'd had time to snoop through old unpublished drafts.

He pretended to ponder, then shook his head. "No impression."

"…I see."

Conan trusted Jiangxia's memory, but he also trusted his own.

He was certain he'd seen this plot somewhere—a "famous robber flees empty-handed"—but where?

Faced with this mental clash, Conan decided Jiangxia must've just not cared about mysteries or news back then, so he never noticed.

Still… Why did Jiangxia suddenly want to play detective now?

The thought drifted through Conan's mind but led nowhere. He quickly snapped back to the strange robbery puzzle.

Even after he polished off dessert, picked through the last snack crumbs, and returned to the private compartment with Kogoro and Ran, the feeling wouldn't leave him alone.

The train rumbled on into the night.

Once back in their compartment, Conan cornered Kogoro with the same question he'd asked Jiangxia—after all, the old man used to be a cop. He had to have seen similar cases.

But Kogoro just waved him off with a loud snore and a confident "Never heard of it!"

Conan could only sigh and shelve that itch in the back of his mind.

The second he stopped thinking about the déjà vu, something else slammed back into his brain—

Right. Gin is on this train!

Conan sprang up from the bunk, muttered a quick, "I'm going to the restroom," and slipped out the door before Kogoro could drool another word.

It was rare to run into Gin on a train. On such a fast-moving line, even Gin wouldn't dare jump off at full speed—so this was probably Conan's best shot to make contact.

If he could figure out which compartment Gin was in, then sneak in and swipe the APTX4869 while that cadre was fast asleep…

Conan's mind quickly spiraled into a familiar fantasy of reaching the peak of his Detective Conan life.

His first plan: pretend to be a lost, innocent bear child. Knock on each suspicious compartment door, one by one. If it was locked, he'd knock harder. Maybe he'd catch Gin off guard.

But halfway down the corridor, Conan stopped in his tracks.

…No, that won't do.

Gin wasn't your average wanted crook. There were no police here to keep him in check.

If Conan pushed open a door and caught Gin cleaning his gun or fiddling with a bomb—no matter how small and harmless the witness was—Gin would absolutely drag him inside and silence him on the spot.

Besides, even if he didn't catch Gin mid-bomb polishing, the second they met face to face, Conan would end up on Gin's radar.

And based on everything Conan had pieced together—plus Haibara's constant warnings—Gin was suspicious of everything.

Conan remembered how he'd fumbled in front of Gin in the dining car. The more he thought about it, the heavier his gut felt.

After that little eye contact back there, Gin had surely formed some impression of him.

If he popped up in front of Gin again now, Gin might not suspect him—an innocent elementary schooler—but he'd definitely suspect the adults around him. The Mouri father and daughter… and especially Jiangxia.

When they'd been eating, Gin had already observed Jiangxia for a good while. Maybe it was a cadre's instinctive wariness of any famous detective.

If a familiar child suddenly showed up at Gin's door now—

Conan could already see that cold sneer, that silencer, that terrifying flash of an explosion in the dark.

His face paled. He gradually realized that this "fast-moving train" was a good way to corner Gin—but it also meant they themselves couldn't escape.

One wrong move, and there'd be four more bodies rattling along in this compartment: him, Ran, Kogoro Mouri, and poor Jiangxia, all arranged like a pot of shikigami for the Detective Conan universe to collect.

So now Conan understood: not only could he not go looking for Gin, he had to try his best to avoid him, acting like an innocent bear child with no sense of danger whatsoever.

He also needed to make sure Jiangxia didn't catch on and decide to poke the hornet's nest himself… Thankfully, Jiangxia was used to being watched by weird people. Compared to those intense stalker-like fans, Gin's glances were pretty subtle. Shouldn't be a big deal.

Having ruled out any dumb hero moves, Conan's thoughts returned to the Black Organization.

They definitely had to be investigated—but not recklessly. Rushing it would only get them all wiped out.

Still… he couldn't help but feel there was some strange, twisted fate between him and Gin.

It hadn't been long since he'd shrunk, but he'd already run into Gin three or four times—and run into other Black Organization members countless times, too. Heck, one was practically living in Agasa's basement!

Surely, there'd be better opportunities than this cramped train.

Conan clenched his fist, suppressing the urge to "knock on every door until he knocked out Gin."

But he couldn't just do nothing, either.

After thinking it through, he dug in his pocket for a piece of gum and a tiny bug. Maybe he could sneak the bug onto Gin or Vodka's luggage when they weren't looking.

His hand froze halfway out.

—If Gin found the bug, knowing he'd already noticed Jiangxia, wouldn't he immediately assume Jiangxia planted it? The Black Organization didn't care about proof.

If that happened, the result would still be the same: four more ghosts on this train.

Conan finally sighed, deflating like a popped balloon. No high-risk heroics tonight. He tucked the bug away and settled for a last-ditch measure: he hid a listening device in the restroom.

—Some people had the habit of making calls in there. If Vodka or Gin did the same, maybe he'd catch something.

At least it was better than nothing.

Having done what he could, Conan felt a tiny bit of relief as Ran came looking for him. He slipped his hand into hers and trudged back to their compartment.

After they left, in an empty compartment a few doors down—

Jiangxia, operating his little white puppet, watched through a crack in the door as Conan and Ran's silhouettes faded. Then he quietly closed the gap and put away the tranquilizer dart he'd been twirling in his hand.

Gin seemed especially sharp tonight. If Conan pulled any dumb stunts now, he'd be down a future shikigami.

Knowing Kudo's unstoppable sense of adventure, Jiangxia had actually planned to help out with a bit -Anonymous style—an "accidental" scare to stop Conan from knocking on Gin's door.

Anonymous showing up in an Organization scene wasn't weird at all. Conan would believe it in a heartbeat.

And since Gin and Vodka weren't the type to wander around, a quick appearance wouldn't attract suspicion.

The plan was solid: knock Conan out before he could get himself killed.

But to Jiangxia's mild surprise, Conan had learned to read the room tonight.

…If this kept up, maybe he could pack fewer tranquilizer darts on future trips.

He waited a few more minutes, just in case. Once he was sure Conan wouldn't pull another heroic stunt, Jiangxia finally pocketed the dart and dispersed the puppet.

He opened his eyes back in his compartment, checked his watch, and flicked out a few ghosts.

One drifted to the dining car, one to keep an eye on Asama —the poor robber leader tricked onto the train—and the rest floated over to Gin's compartment, ready to harvest that precious killing intent.

…

Around four in the morning.

Boss Izumo left the dining car for the lounge car, ready to meet the "anonymous" figure holding his leverage.

To keep things under wraps, he sent his whole entourage back.

Kaetsu slipped into his compartment ahead of him.

Timing it just right, he hid a fishing line under the bunk just as the train started rumbling through a tunnel.

Then, calm and quiet, Kaetsu stepped out of his second-floor compartment and knocked gently on the compartment door below.

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

Progress: 25/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS

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

Progress:4/10*