Jiangxia nodded. "The Section Chief of Investigation Division One."
That would be Inspector Megure's direct superior.
The name "Kiyonaga Matsumoto" sounded extremely familiar.
—As a regular visitor to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department (usually to deliver trouble), Jiangxia had crossed paths with Kiyonaga Matsumoto before. They hadn't interacted much.
But from the perspective of a prophet with access to spoilers (read: a fan of the Detective Conan universe), Jiangxia remembered Matsumoto as a pretty unlucky guy. Cases just happened around him.
One memorable incident involved his daughter's wedding, where the would-be groom poisoned her drink with sodium hydroxide. On the wedding day.
...Wait. Daughter's wedding?
Jiangxia froze for a second, connecting the dots.
Today's part-time job... was helping out at a wedding company.
Jiangxia suddenly realized why Amuro Toru had dragged him along.
It wasn't just to slack off together (though that was likely part of it). It was probably a mission from the Organization.
Their goal might be to collect information on Kiyonaga Matsumoto.
Compared to the heavily guarded Metropolitan Police HQ, this wedding setting was much more relaxed. Great for eavesdropping.
Seeing that Jiangxia recognized the name, Amuro didn't explain further. "Kiyonaga Matsumoto has a daughter, Sayuri Matsumoto. She's one of the key figures in today's wedding. Also our client."
He gave Jiangxia a pointed look. "You should be more familiar with her than with Matsumoto himself."
Jiangxia paused, then silently agreed.
Sayuri Matsumoto had been Jiangxia Tongzhi's music teacher in middle school. Though they weren't close — they'd only had a few lessons together. Jiangxia was a serial truant who barely showed up to core classes, let alone music.
But he didn't bother explaining that to his suddenly proactive boss. Amuro Toru wouldn't care.
For most missions, Amuro had to do actual homework to avoid the Organization catching on to his laziness. But when it came to gathering intel on the police? Amuro could happily slack off. He had his subordinates in Public Security do the grunt work, then showed up halfway through the operation with a few cherry-picked files and pretended he'd toiled through it all himself.
The secret to being a successful double agent in the Detective Conan universe: act busy, be lazy.
From Amuro's perspective, the case involved Sayuri Matsumoto—who had ties to Jiangxia—and thus, by extension, Kiyonaga Matsumoto. So bringing Jiangxia along was a win-win. He'd look productive and could boost Jiangxia's performance score at the same time.
Jiangxia wasn't going to argue.
Even if he didn't get any souls out of this one, he'd probably sniff out some killing intent.
The wedding company's car was ancient. It rattled like a maraca and creaked like an old door.
Amuro hadn't been driving long before he started regretting his life choices. He should've brought his own car.
But they were already en route, and time was tight. No chance to swap.
So he gritted his teeth and endured the ride, bouncing between potholes and vendor stalls as they stopped at several locations to pick up wedding props.
Finally, there was only one item left.
Amuro pulled over and got out with Jiangxia to collect a special set of foldable flower garlands.
They crossed the street and headed into the building.
Meanwhile, at Beika Park—right next to the car—Ayumi Yoshida peeked out from the bushes near the park gate.
She was in the middle of an intense game of hide-and-seek with the Detective Boys and had just narrowly avoided being tagged by Genta.
She scanned the area.
That's when she spotted the suspiciously gaudy wedding car. The trunk was ajar.
A lightbulb went off in her head. Perfect hiding spot.
Ayumi tiptoed over, climbed in, and carefully closed the trunk behind her.
Inside, the trunk was filled with random props and decorations. Cramped, but manageable for a tiny first-grader.
She wriggled into a gap and pulled a nearby cloth over herself. No way they'd find her now.
Ayumi had woken up early that morning and had been running around nonstop. Exhaustion hit her like a shikigami.
She only meant to lie low for a bit... but within minutes, she'd dozed off inside the trunk.
Shortly after, Amuro and Jiangxia returned with the bulky flower display.
Amuro didn't bother with the trunk—it was already full of other junk. He opened the back seat and shoved the garlands in.
Mission complete. Almost.
Soon he could ditch this wheezing tool of a car. Amuro sighed with relief, slammed the door shut, and got in.
They headed to the wedding venue.
Back at Beika Park...
Genta, who was still "it," had successfully flushed out Conan (hiding behind a passerby's legs), Mitsuhiko (crouched in a bush), and Haibara Ai (lazily "hiding" behind a tree while reading).
But Ayumi was still missing.
Conan stood by the meeting spot and checked his watch. "Let's call it. I've got plans this afternoon."
Earlier that day, he'd seen Ran Mouri packing up to go out. Turns out Sayuri Matsumoto—his former music teacher—was getting married.
Even though he couldn't show up as Shinichi Kudo, he still wanted to attend. It was a happy occasion, after all.
When Conan bailed on the game, Haibara Ai immediately jumped on the excuse to leave too.
With two players down, the game wasn't much fun anymore. The remaining kids decided to find Ayumi and wrap up.
But despite searching the entire park... no one could find her.
Conan scanned the now-empty park, his brows slowly furrowing.
Something tickled the back of his memory—when he was hiding earlier, he'd noticed a newspaper in someone's hand. It mentioned an unsolved string of kidnappings and murders. Four victims so far. All young girls. All around Ayumi's age.
A chill ran down his spine.
His expression darkened.
He turned and bolted out of the park.
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 31 - 90 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 33/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:2/10*