Chapter 39: Don't Throw the Blame on Me

Jiang Xia returned to his original body, took out his phone, and tentatively sent a message to Yoko Kinoshita: [Thank you].

The other party might have been busy; several hours later, she replied: [I'm glad you like it ^^]

Jiang Xia: "..." So she really was the one who sent it. Based on the number of albums, he probably wouldn't have to queue up to buy them in the future.

Sending ghosts along with little toys—Miss Yoko is truly a good person...

...

Jiang Xia rested at home for a day.

The next day, Ginmaru and the others brought over some newly caught cats and dogs. They were all pets lost by clients.

Jiang Xia distributed the clients' commission fees to them, then carried the cats and dogs to the detective agency.

He then brewed himself a cup of tea, waiting for clients to come pick up their pets while secretly petting other people's cats.

As it stood, commissions regarding murder cases were still very difficult to come by. The most popular projects were, as expected, tailing mistresses and catching cats and dogs.

...

After waiting for nearly a week like this.

Jiang Xia finally received a commission of a different type.

The client was a woman in a kimono with elegant bearing. At first glance, she appeared to be a wealthy lady, but based on the content of the commission, she didn't seem to be.

"I hope you can keep an eye on an antique piece of pottery—it is something I pledged to a creditor as collateral when I took out a private loan six months ago."

The kimono-clad lady sighed sorrowfully. "There is still one month left until the repayment deadline, and I will be able to save enough for the debt in about a week.

"But I am worried that before then, the pottery I pledged will be sold by the creditor as 'interest'—the creditor, Mr. Maru, is a wealthy man, but he is always too... sigh, anyway, there have been many such precedents."

As she spoke, the lady quietly observed Jiang Xia.

Considering that even though this child had gained some fame, he was still just a high school detective and it wouldn't be easy to fight local thugs, she did not make any overly difficult demands

"It is unrealistic to stop him from selling the pottery... I only hope you can keep a close watch on it, and let me know in advance when Mr. Maru intends to sell it—if it's too late, at least find out where the pottery was sold to."

Jiang Xia nodded thoughtfully.

It sounded like a somewhat boring commission.

However, after seeing the photo of the pottery the client produced, the creditor's address, and especially the name and portrait printed on the business card of the creditor "Mr. Maru"...

"Please rest assured," Jiang Xia revealed a reliable smile. "I will do my utmost to complete your commission."

The client left feeling relieved.

Jiang Xia also felt relieved as he patted the creditor's business card she had left behind.

Looking at the photo of the balding middle-aged man named "Denjiro Maru" on the card, he thought to himself: The commission involving a ghost has finally arrived.

...

By this time, it was evening, and the detective agency was about to close.

After receiving the commission, Jiang Xia waited in the shop for a while longer to return the last cat of the day to the client who had come to pick it up.

Then, he hung the appointment book on the door, locked up, and left.

He planned to check out the situation at Denjiro Maru's house before going home.

...

A few minutes later.

A busy intersection in Beika Town.

Vodka gripped the steering wheel, feeling somewhat troubled while working overtime.

In recent years, things had not been peaceful within the Organization.

Five years ago, the FBI's ace agent "Shuichi Akai" had infiltrated their organization as an undercover agent. His infiltration was so successful that he almost caught Gin.

Fortunately, the Organization had a reliable second-in-command, and Shuichi Akai had a teammate who acted like a fool. Through the combined efforts of both sides, not only did Akai's plan fail, but his undercover identity was also exposed, forcing him to make a hasty escape.

...

The catalyst for Shuichi Akai's infiltration was that he had a girlfriend within the Organization—namely, Sherry's older sister, Akemi Miyano.

Therefore, two years ago, after Shuichi Akai's identity was exposed and he left the Organization, the situation for the Miyano sisters became difficult.

The Organization had always wanted to punish Akemi Miyano, a peripheral member who had brought the FBI into their midst, but they were wary of her genius younger sister, Sherry.

Finally, they had a sudden idea—they demanded Akemi Miyano rob 1 billion yen in cash, telling her that if she succeeded, they would let her and her sister leave the Organization, but if she failed, they would kill her.

...Of course, that was just what they said. In reality, whether she succeeded or not, in the eyes of the Organization, Akemi Miyano had to die.

...

When Akemi Miyano heard the Organization's proposal of "if you successfully rob the bank, we will let you go," she could not refuse such a temptation—she had long wanted to leave the Organization, shed her identity as a "member of the Black Organization," and find Shuichi Akai to be with him again.

Previously, because she couldn't bear to leave her sister behind and didn't know where Shuichi Akai was, Akemi Miyano had not made any moves.

Now, she decided to firmly grasp this "opportunity" provided by the Organization.

...

The Organization originally thought that for Akemi Miyano, this was an impossible mission. If the mission failed, they could kill this woman as a matter of course.

Who would have thought they had underestimated Akemi Miyano's abilities—over the past few days, after a series of plans by Akemi Miyano, she actually succeeded in robbing one billion yen.

...

Vodka was currently driving toward the location arranged with Akemi Miyano for the "exchange of money for Sherry."

Vodka stopped at the intersection, looked at the red light ahead, and sighed. "I didn't expect her to actually be able to get the money. If she does, won't we lose our excuse to execute her?"

Gin gave a dark laugh. "If there's no excuse, just kill her directly. A mere piece of trash..."

Halfway through his sentence, he suddenly stared at a certain spot outside the window, his gaze narrowing as he vaguely caught sight of a familiar figure. "Who is that?"

"What?" Vodka was startled and looked toward where Gin was gesturing.

However, this area was near the city center and happened to be the evening rush hour, with bustling crowds. Vodka stared for a long time but couldn't figure out which person Gin was pointing at.

So, after thinking for a moment, he pulled out a pair of binoculars and held them to his eyes: This way, although it might still be difficult to find, at least it would prove he had tried...

Beside him, Gin watched intently for a moment and reminded him, "Diagonally across the intersection, the second row on the far left of the motor lane, the black motorcycle with silver patterns."

"Oh, oh." Vodka tried hard to look in that direction and finally found the target.

He watched for a while, feeling that the motorcyclist wearing the helmet did indeed look somewhat familiar... was it Jiang Xia?

Before he could look more closely, the space over his nose went empty; Gin had taken the binoculars away.

...

Holding the binoculars, Gin watched for a few seconds, a contemplative expression appearing on his face.

A moment later, the red light ended.

As the car began to move again, Gin suddenly let out a cold laugh and said in a low, thoughtful voice

"No wonder Akemi Miyano's operation went so smoothly. Not only did she get the money, but in just a few short days, she found her accomplice who fled with the money in a city of tens of millions and recovered the stolen funds..."

"..." It took Vodka a while to react, and he gradually understood his boss's meaning. He said in shock, "Are you saying Jiang Xia was helping her in secret!?"

Jiang Xia was indeed very good at finding people; this had been proven countless times before, but...

Vodka thought of Sherry and her pile of health supplements that could never be delivered: "Doesn't he rarely come into contact with the Miyano sisters?"

Gin snorted coldly. "Emotions can be faked."

One-sided kindness can also maintain contact. Especially for someone of Jiang Xia's age... it felt like it would be hard for him to sincerely dislike two beautiful women who were always kind to him.

Previously, Gin hadn't thought this much.

But now, suddenly encountering Jiang Xia... Gin, who had encountered countless undercover agents and countless betrayals, was suddenly struck by suspicion. He began to doubt.

—This intersection was very close to the Enjyu City Hotel where Akemi Miyano was staying.

And looking at Jiang Xia's direction of travel, he was heading exactly that way.

Gin: "..." Appearing at this location at this time, and being someone related to the Miyano sisters...

Furthermore, Akemi Miyano's "extraordinary performance" over the past few days was perfectly aligned with Jiang Xia's expertise.

If this was because Jiang Xia was helping her... then everything made sense.

...

With a starting point, when Gin looked at Jiang Xia again, he suddenly felt...

Suspicious. In short, extremely suspicious.

Gin thought for a moment and took out his phone.

(End of Chapter)