Conan quickly realized that anyone who could remember people like that must have been one of the most popular teachers back in school. Besides her looks, Sayuri Matsumoto's serious attitude toward her students must've also played a big part in earning her that reputation.
So when Conan mentioned that Jiangxia was also in the church, Matsumoto-sensei immediately wanted to invite this mysterious student—who appeared and vanished like a breeze of wind—to wait in the bride's room.
Ran Mouri and Sonoko Suzuki had been thinking the same thing, but were too shy to say it out loud. With the teacher giving the green light, they pounced on the opportunity and went off to find Jiangxia. Miraculously, they succeeded.
They found Jiangxia standing at the end of a corridor, quietly staring at someone.
—Just now, while helping out with some trivial tasks, he had seen the groom walk by.
The moment their eyes met, both their mood values tanked—like the stock market after a scandal. The groom clearly recognized him as a detective-type figure among the staff, and with a guilty conscience, he instinctively kept his distance.
Jiangxia, for his part, sighed. The groom's murderous aura was faint and diluted—barely above room temperature.
If he picked Conan, there'd be no ghosts to gather. If he chose Amuro Toru, there'd be no profit to be made.
And now this guy—murderous aura as thin as instant soup. Sure, he had killing intent, but it was half-baked at best.
Still, Jiangxia hadn't come all this way to go home empty-handed. Weak murderous aura was still murderous aura. He just had to figure out how to squeeze it out...
By this time, the groom had already walked past him and reached the end of the aisle. But just then, he suddenly shivered—he felt like he was being watched by a hawk in the wilderness.
He cautiously turned his head... and immediately locked eyes with Jiangxia. Even though he had mentally prepped himself, the actual sight of that deadpan gaze still gave him a jolt.
What are you staring at?! he thought bitterly. I haven't even done anything yet!
The groom's face paled. He quickly looked away, sped up, and disappeared around the corner like he was running from debt collectors.
As he fled, one thought came to him: Better be more careful with the poisoning plan later.
———
Sonoko had followed Jiangxia's gaze and caught a glimpse of the groom just as he fled the scene at 3x speed.
She immediately made a face like she'd just eaten a mouthful of raw cilantro, then leaned in to whisper to Ran, "That's the heir of the Takasugi Group. I can't believe Matsumoto-sensei is marrying that guy—it's like a fresh flower stuck in a pile of du-... cough cough."
They walked up to Jiangxia while Sonoko awkwardly swallowed the end of her insult. A refined lady shouldn't say vulgar things. At least, not where Jiangxia can hear them...
Jiangxia turned at the sound of footsteps.
Ran was still thinking about the gossip and quietly asked Sonoko, "Was that really the groom? Is he that bad?"
"It's not about being 'bad' or not," Sonoko replied, lowering her voice. "It's just that their personalities don't match at all. He's supposed to be the heir of a huge company, but he's indecisive and spineless. Everyone says the Takasugi Group's going to collapse under him."
Jiangxia recalled the lukewarm murderous aura clinging to Toshihiko Takasugi and nodded. Hard to disagree—he reeked of that specific kind of "I want to kill you but I'm emotionally constipated" energy.
As far as Jiangxia could remember, Toshihiko didn't actually hold a grudge against Sayuri Matsumoto herself. The real hate was aimed at her father, Kiyonaga Matsumoto.
Two decades ago, Kiyonaga had been chasing a serial kidnapper and murderer. During the getaway, the criminal hit a woman and her child—the woman being Toshihiko's mother.
The killer's car was totaled in the crash, and he abandoned it to flee on foot. Kiyonaga, arriving moments later, jumped out of his own car and continued the chase. In the chaos, he didn't notice the injured woman lying under the wrecked vehicle.
At that time, Toshihiko's mother was still alive. Toshihiko, just eight years old, ran to Kiyonaga and begged him to help. But Kiyonaga mistook him for a nosy bear child interfering with police work, scolded him harshly, and dashed off after the suspect.
And so, little Toshihiko waited beside his mother for half an hour, watching her slip from barely alive to completely still.
Later, the Takasugi family adopted him. He lived a hollow, zombie-like existence until college, where he just so happened to meet Sayuri Matsumoto.
After learning she was the daughter of his "enemy," Toshihiko's resentment festered into something theatrical. He decided to win her heart, then murder her, so that Kiyonaga could finally taste the pain of loss.
And every time Jiangxia thought about that plan, he could only sigh. In an era where everyone had a bottle of potassium cyanide just lying around, this guy picked sodium hydroxide? Really?
Once sodium hydroxide hits a drink, it dissolves and gives off heat. Anyone with taste buds would notice something was wrong immediately.
Even if you didn't feel it heating up, the moment you sipped it, the taste would be off. A normal person would gag, panic, and spit it out instantly.
At most, you'd give someone chemical burns, maybe ruin their day, but killing them on the spot? Unlikely.
Sure, in the original timeline Sayuri Matsumoto still drank it—even after noticing something weird—but there's no way Toshihiko could've planned for that.
Jiangxia wasn't sure if Toshihiko was trying to drag things out and maximize Kiyonaga's suffering, or if he just flunked chemistry class... or maybe he still hadn't made up his mind about killing.
Either way, the end result was clear: Toshihiko's murderous aura was bargain bin tier.
Jiangxia fell into silent thought. Should he wait for an empty hallway and sack the guy, the usual way? Or maybe—
———
Jiangxia followed Ran and Sonoko to the bride's waiting room.
After exchanging a few polite words with Matsumoto-sensei, he settled in a corner, quietly observing the other guests.
Then, when no one was paying attention, Jiangxia suddenly clapped his hands—smack!
He caught kid(Xiaobai) mid-air, just as the ghost was arrogantly floating past like it owned the place.
Xiaobai's parent ghosts, who'd been proudly watching from nearby, gasped and covered their eyes. They couldn't bear to look.
Jiangxia held up Xiaobai, now dizzy and dazed with little @-@ eyes, and gave it a shake.
Ever since they arrived, Xiaobai had been doing laps around him—from left to right, then right back to left. Always hovering just at the edge of his vision, clearly trying to draw attention.
There was no need to ask what it wanted. Any ghost with a strong obsession and a skill like "forced confession" clearly had drama on the brain.
It was itching to stage a full-blown emotional soap opera starring Sayuri Matsumoto and Toshihiko Takasugi.
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 31 - 90 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 46/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:2/10*