There were plenty of empty seats on the boat.
Jiangxia Tongzhi picked a window seat. Naturally, the others sat down beside him.
They ended up next to two young women—one with long, sleek black hair, the other with short brown hair and glasses. The two were chatting quietly.
Hattori Heiji listened in, frowning slightly. Something about the short-haired woman's voice was strangely familiar.
He glanced down at the request letter he was holding, remembering the phone call he'd had with the client. A suspicion crept into his mind.
Tentatively, he asked, "Kadowaki Saori?"
The short-haired woman jumped. She looked up, clearly startled—and cautious.
Hattori Heiji blinked.
...It really was her. What a coincidence.
Come to think of it, Jiangxia had picked this seat, hadn't he?
The thought flickered briefly through Hattori Heiji's brain before he ruthlessly shut it down. Sure, Jiangxia was clever and fast at solving cases, but there was no way he could plan everything. Heiji was definitely overthinking this...
Heiji and Saori locked eyes for a beat. He suppressed all further thoughts and decided to get down to business.
He pulled out the request letter and cash and handed them back to Saori.
After hearing Heiji say her name, Saori finally recognized him—this was the Osaka detective she'd contacted for help.
She also remembered how Heiji had told her to "go see a doctor." Her eye twitched. She didn't really feel like talking to this guy.
But she was terrified of being cursed by the mermaid. Plus, she'd noticed another famous detective was with Hattori Heiji today.
She'd seen Jiangxia on detective programs, and had even read some articles about him.
That was exactly why she had this strange feeling—"Jiangxia must be super expensive."
Back when she was scrambling to find help, Saori had tallied up her savings and picked the detective she thought she could afford.
She had no clue when the mermaid disaster might strike, and she worried that if she tried to hire someone else, it would already be too late. So she dumped all her funds into hiring Hattori Heiji.
She never imagined that this move would actually attract Jiangxia.
Saori immediately felt like the European Emperor of Luck had smiled down on her.
So when Heiji started asking her for details, she begrudgingly pushed aside her annoyance at being told to "get her brain checked," and began explaining the case. The two tables of passengers naturally merged into one.
——On Mermaid Island, there's a 130-year-old "immortal." Rumor has it she ate mermaid flesh and gained divine powers.
Every year at the Mermaid Festival, she gives out three "Dugong Arrows," tied with strands of her hair. Supposedly, anyone who gets one will gain eternal life.
But if the arrow is damaged or lost, the mermaids will bring disaster to its owner.
Last year, Saori received one of these Dugong Arrows—but a few days ago, she lost it. Convinced she was now doomed, she frantically started searching for help.
Just talking about the mermaids made Saori tremble. It wasn't just fear—it was reverence, almost religious awe.
A group of high schoolers sitting around her gave her doubtful looks—she was young, how could she be this superstitious?
The long-haired woman next to Saori was Shimabukuro Kimie.
Jiangxia's gaze kept drifting toward her—the sweet-and-sour fish scent of murderous intent was coming from her.
Shimabukuro Kimie was a shrine maiden at the Mermaid Island Shrine. She was also the great-granddaughter of the "immortal." At the festival, she helped distribute the Dugong Arrows.
She knew Saori was overreacting. Embarrassed, she cleared her throat and quietly explained to the others:
"Well… this is kind of my fault. There's no curse. The Dugong Arrows don't actually have divine powers. I was just worried that if something happened to one, people would come back and complain, so I made up a little story—'if you doubt the arrow's power or lose it, the mermaid will curse you.' You know, to keep expectations low…"
Saori cut her off, agitated: "What do you mean it's fake?! Haven't you seen the mermaid bones that burned up in the warehouse three years ago?! That's proof mermaids exist!"
Kimie's face froze.
After a pause, she sighed and shook her head. "You actually believe that media hype…"
Jiangxia glanced at her, intrigued.
—The moment Saori mentioned the fire from three years ago, Kimie's sweet-and-sour fish scent intensified. Her murderous aura suddenly expanded, nearly wrapping Jiangxia in it.
Being smothered in that much murder energy made Jiangxia hungry. Unfortunately, he couldn't chow down just yet…
The ghosts floating around him began sneakily wiping the corners of their mouths.
Jiangxia silently reached out to hug one of them. The hungry Xiaobai and other hungry ghosts tried to comfort each other, but honestly, it wasn't working.
So Jiangxia fished a high-grade murderous aura ghost mint from his cigarette case, popped one, and tried to suppress the overwhelming sweet-and-sour craving.
He also tried—tried really hard—not to jump on Kimie right then and there to suck the murderous aura out of her like a vampire.
...Mistake. Big mistake. He shouldn't have sat this close.
He hadn't expected her murder aura to be this fluffy. She really was a magical witch…
Ran Mouri, Sonoko Suzuki, and Kazuha Toyama all turned their heads at the same time when they saw Jiangxia holding a cigarette. Even Conan gave him a side-eye. A full "Smoking Hazards for Teens: Points 123456" PSA popped into their collective minds.
But when they noticed he was only biting the cigarette and not lighting it, they hesitated… then decided to let it slide.
Maybe it was just some weird coping mechanism...
Jiangxia, eyes full of murderous energy, didn't notice his classmates were staring at his ghost mint.
While fighting off the urge to bite someone, he mentally began sorting out all the strange goings-on on Mermaid Island.
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 31 - 90 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 9/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:2/10*