Chapter 4: One Hundred Ways to Get Close to an Artist

Before being dragged into overtime by Gin.

Jiang Xia was on his way to the "Yoko Okino filming set."

—He needed to create an opportunity to get close to Yoko Okino.

Because he had to touch the ghost fetus.

Judging from the show over the past few days, the ghost fetus had been quietly coiled around Yoko Okino's wrist the entire time.

If the ghost fetus was relatively weak or had a gentle temperament, Jiang Xia could adopt the "grab and run" method to kidnap it and take it home.

But if the ghost fetus was stronger than he imagined... he would have to investigate the specific situation first, then formulate a plan and proceed slowly.

...

Jiang Xia had checked Yoko Okino's publicly announced schedule. Recently, she had no fan meetings.

If he were to just storm into her company to corner her... their company's security was quite tight. If he made a scene and caused a commotion, Jiang Xia risked ending up in a police station drinking tea.

And as a member of the Black Organization, "about to go to prison" was equivalent to "about to be silenced by Gin."

That model employee was truly too proficient at killing his own people. He must never give Gin a chance to pull the trigger...

In short, it was best to "resolve it privately" with Yoko Okino.

...

Yamahira-cho, next to the abandoned building.

Yoko Okino and her manager were sitting in the car, planning to head to their next appointment once the assistant returned with their things.

This was the set for Yoko Okino's new drama, a show about delinquent high schoolers. The director had realistically chosen a place where delinquents gathered.

In the past, the delinquents and the crew had kept to themselves and were very well-behaved.

But today, the situation was a bit different.

—Through the car window, the manager saw a group of unfamiliar thugs carrying baseball bats and riding motorcycles, circling around aggressively as if they were cornering someone.

While the thugs were splitting up to search.

The manager saw a suspicious-looking young man who highly resembled the thugs' target avoiding the crowd and running quickly toward their car.

This person was Jiang Xia.

The manager didn't recognize him. She frowned, guessing that this person was probably cornered with nowhere to run and wanted to hitch a ride in their car to escape. She didn't want to get involved and intended to refuse.

Who would have thought that after Jiang Xia approached and opened his mouth, he didn't say "help," nor did he plead.

Instead, he said: "I'm the paparazzi who has been tailing you recently."

Manager, Yoko Okino: "...?"

Under their shocked and puzzled gazes, Jiang Xia looked at Yoko Okino and whispered, "Miss, you've had an abortion, haven't you?"

As he spoke, he shook a disc in his hand, giving the impression that "this is the evidence."

The manager was stunned and looked hesitantly at Yoko Okino.

Just then, ten meters away, the blonde thug leading the search swept his eyes over and saw Jiang Xia by the car.

He let out an arrogant whistle and twisted the throttle. The motorcycle roared closer, and the blonde let out an excited shout, swinging a club at Jiang Xia.

Jiang Xia dodged to the side. The blonde's motorcycle couldn't brake in time and shot far ahead.

Jiang Xia glanced over there, then looked back into the car, his speaking speed increasing

"Those are people hired by a rival agency. If my material falls into their hands, the asking price will only be higher—help me escape now, and I'll give you a 40% discount on this information."

The manager frowned, not really believing him.

But at this moment, Yoko Okino looked at Jiang Xia through the car window, then at the thugs, and suddenly said, "Let him in."

The manager was stunned. A moment later, she whipped her head around: "Yoko, you can't be serious...!"

Yoko Okino's tone was soft, but she repeated firmly

"Let him in."

————

Five minutes later.

Jiang Xia sat in the back seat, holding the fake information and looking well-behaved.

Yoko Okino's car was currently driving on the road toward the city center.

The manager gripped the steering wheel, irritably biting on a cigarette and sneering: "Kid, you've got guts. I let you in, and you actually dared to get in—don't you want to ask where I'm taking you?"

Jiang Xia also knew he was being a bit shameless today, so he very considerately followed her lead and asked: "Where?"

"Tokyo Bay." The manager took a drag of her cigarette with deep eyes, then exhaled the smoke gloomily, saying with great gravity, "Tonight, there will be one more block of concrete in Tokyo Bay."

Jiang Xia: "..."

He continued to maintain that "good student" tone and said sincerely: "You are all good people, you wouldn't do that."

The manager let out two short sounds: "Heh heh."

After shaking off the tail and getting onto the main road.

The manager glanced at Jiang Xia in the rearview mirror and asked about the price of the information in his hand.

...With such big news, whether it was true or false, keeping him steady first was definitely the right move.

"Fifty thousand, I guess." Jiang Xia actually gave a cabbage-patch price, and then added a request as if he were very embarrassed

"Can I talk to Miss Yoko alone? After tailing her for so long, I've discovered she has many charming highlights. I actually admire her now, otherwise, I wouldn't have kept the news to myself and refused to sell it."

The manager pondered the meaning of Jiang Xia's words and was shocked.

...A paparazzi turned fan?

And judging by this, he wanted to trade his idol's dirt for some quality time alone with her?

The manager peeked at Jiang Xia through the rearview mirror and spat at him in her heart.

The little paparazzi has a nice dream, wanting to talk alone—to give you a chance to bewitch the idol with your looks?

She refused decisively.

But her teammate—Yoko Okino thought for a moment and said, "Okay."

Manager: "..."

She almost ran a red light, slamming on the brakes just before the line, staring at her artist through the rearview mirror with a look of "I'm disappointed in you."

Yoko Okino looked back firmly.

After a dozen seconds of silence, the manager sighed and looked away.

...

A moment later, the manager parked the car in a relatively secluded spot and got out herself: "You have five minutes."

Then she turned to Yoko Okino: "Explain this clearly to me later."

After saying that, she slammed the car door shut.

This car had decent soundproofing.

Jiang Xia looked through the window at the manager standing on the side of the street, irritably lighting a cigarette, then turned to Yoko Okino beside him and confessed: "Sorry, actually, I don't have any dirt on you."

Yoko Okino wasn't angry. She leaned back against the seat and smiled very calmly: "I know."

She had indeed had a miscarriage. But it was a natural miscarriage, and at that time, she had held a decadent attitude of "life and death are fated" and hadn't gone to the hospital at all.

So just now, when Jiang Xia took out the "disc containing evidence," Yoko Okino knew that this young man was making things up out of thin air.

But she still let Jiang Xia into the car.

On one hand, seeing that he wasn't very old, it would be a pity if he were beaten to a pulp by the thugs, so she wanted to save him while she was at it.

On the other hand, she had other things she wanted to ask.

She looked at Jiang Xia and spoke hesitantly: "Have you... really been tailing me during this time?"

—Recently, Yoko Okino had encountered an unidentified stalker and suffered a series of insane harassments: not just threatening letters and phone calls, but that person had even entered her home and moved her furniture without permission.

Yoko Okino had originally planned to hire a detective to investigate.

But just now, when she met Jiang Xia, she suddenly thought: If that "stalker" was Jiang Xia, then having an open and honest talk with him might solve the problem.

...

At this moment, the "stalking suspect" was sitting right next to her, and Yoko Okino had already prepared her words.

However, when the words reached her lips, she turned to meet Jiang Xia's eyes, which looked very clear at first glance, and she couldn't bring herself to ask, "Are you that perverted stalker who is harassing me?"

Yoko Okino: "..." She heard that minors these days had hearts more fragile than eggshells.

What if Jiang Xia didn't actually do it? If she asked that, and Jiang Xia developed the chuunibyou thought of "Since you all think I'm bad, I might as well be a bad guy!"...

She would be harming others and herself, committing a grave sin.

...

Jiang Xia sat beside her, watching Yoko Okino hesitate to speak... after a minute, she still hadn't said anything.

Jiang Xia couldn't help but feel a little puzzled.

However, from Yoko Okino's question just now, he had guessed some of the situation.

Many details of this world were actually different from the "Detective Conan" Jiang Xia had watched.

—For example, this Yoko Okino, and her very attractive female manager.

But there were more things that were the same.

For example, Jiang Xia had a detective classmate named Shinichi Kudo.

And for example, Shinichi Kudo had a beautiful, cute childhood friend who could punch through steel plates. This was also Jiang Xia's classmate, named Ran Mouri.

According to Jiang Xia's "prophecy," one day in the future, Shinichi Kudo would be knocked unconscious by Gin, force-fed a drug, and miserably turn into Conan.

Then Conan would move into the Mouri Detective Agency, live with Ran Mouri, and solve cases along the way.

Among those cases, one of them was "Miss Yoko's" request regarding a stalker.

Although there were differences in timing and the details weren't exactly the same.

But Jiang Xia still intuitively felt that the Yoko Okino in front of him was that "Miss Yoko" who had been harassed by a stalker.

...

The time the manager left them for their conversation was not generous.

After figuring it out, Jiang Xia didn't let Yoko Okino continue to struggle. He took the initiative: "You want to ask about the stalker?"

Yoko Okino was startled.

"..." She hadn't said anything yet, and Jiang Xia already knew. Could it be... the stalker really was him?!

Jiang Xia saw her frightened expression and waved his hand: "It's not me."

Yoko Okino: "..." Hmm?

Jiang Xia started spouting nonsense: "But when I was tailing you, I did see some suspicious people." He suggested, "Why don't I help you solve this matter—consider it a thank-you gift for letting me hitch a ride just now."

Yoko Okino looked at him, thinking: Is this wayward youth planning to switch careers from paparazzi to detective?

After all, Yoko Okino was a resident of the detective world, and in her eyes, being a detective was indeed a proper path.

Although Jiang Xia sounded like a novice, Yoko Okino hesitated for a moment and nodded: "Okay."

On one hand, it was because she didn't want to dampen Jiang Xia's enthusiasm for changing careers.

On the other hand... originally, she had planned to find a detective to solve it. And now, with Jiang Xia, who had seen the "stalker" with his own eyes, helping, maybe it could be handled faster.

...

After they agreed, Yoko Okino left Jiang Xia her private mobile number and address.

Jiang Xia carefully noted them down, then naturally reached out his hand to her, signaling for a handshake.

—This was his original purpose. He glanced out of the corner of his eye at the "jelly bracelet" on Yoko Okino's wrist, that ghost fetus invisible to ordinary people.

Yoko Okino didn't think much of it and raised her hand to shake his.

Originally, according to the position where the little ghost infant was lying, with a handshake like this, Jiang Xia would have been able to touch it.

Who would have thought that the ghost infant seemed to dislike Jiang Xia very much. As Yoko Okino raised her hand, it silently moved back a little.

...Suddenly, it became impossible to touch.

(End of chapter)