Chapter 37: You should take him out to play more often. Requesting monthly tickets ( )

Chapter 37: You Should Take Him Out More Often. Please Vote for the Monthly Ticket (〃 )

After finishing the statement and thoroughly shaking down Kyosuke Kazeto, Jiang Xia planned to head home.

On the way back, as they passed through the commercial street, Xiao Bai stared blankly at a television in a storefront window.

It tugged at Jiang Xia's ear.

Jiang Xia froze, thinking there might be another harvest in store.

To his surprise, when he stopped and turned around expectantly, he realized that what had caught Xiao Bai's attention this time wasn't a murderous aura.

It was a variety show on the television.

—On the screen, Yoko Kinoshita was promoting her new album.

Xiao Bai gazed longingly at the screen, his eyes filled with desire as he stared at the album.

Jiang Xia: "..."

Since picking up the ghost infant, he had already bought quite a few magazines and albums related to Yoko Kinoshita; it was much like preparing small toys when raising a cat.

However, these latest albums usually required queuing up to purchase...

Jiang Xia glanced at the rerun time displayed on the TV and made a prior agreement with the ghost: "You can go take a look, but there might not be any in stock."

...

The rain stopped for a while, then started falling again.

Holding an umbrella, Jiang Xia searched for a place where he could buy the album.

When he saw the ground in front of the music store entrance was trampled into a mess, he felt something was amiss.

Upon entering, sure enough, the new album had already been sold out.

"..." It was only in moments like this that Jiang Xia could tangibly feel that "Yoko Kinoshita is indeed quite popular."

Looking at the empty shelves, Xiao Bai pressed the corners of his eyes and let out a soft whimper.

Jiang Xia: "..." Raising a ghost is such a hassle.

He went to several other stores to check, making an effort to look around.

As expected, the other stores were also out of stock.

After checking the last shop, Jiang Xia gave the ghost a perfunctory response, breathed a sigh of relief, and prepared to leave.

But just then, someone behind him called out hesitantly, "Jiang Xia?"

Jiang Xia turned around toward the sound.

There was no one behind him, only a row of bookshelves.

Looking closer, a pair of eyes peeked through the gaps in the bookshelf, staring straight at him.

Jiang Xia froze, and the keyword "Bookshelf Corpse Case" immediately flashed through his mind.

...Search failed.

"..." It seemed there wasn't a case like that...

While he was wondering, he saw the eyes between the bookshelves blink gently.

*Bling bling*, they didn't just look alive; they seemed to have an excess of vitality.

"..." In an instant, Jiang Xia recognized them.

—Sonoko Suzuki?

...

On the other side of the bookshelf.

Seeing Jiang Xia turn around, Sonoko Suzuki said to the person beside her in pleasant surprise, "See, I told you it looked like him!", and then she vanished with a *whoosh*.

A second later, Jiang Xia watched as Sonoko Suzuki, moving with a speed akin to teleportation, slid in front of him. He took half a step back imperceptibly, startled by her speed.

"I didn't expect you to be a fan too." Sonoko Suzuki didn't notice Jiang Xia's subtle terror; she was simply happy to have discovered a "common interest."

After saying that, she remembered something, lowered her voice, and made a mysterious invitation: "By the way, the day after tomorrow, Ran and I are going to Tatsuya's band celebration party. Do you want to come along and check it out?"

The Suzuki Conglomerate invested everywhere and held significant influence in the entertainment industry. Sonoko Suzuki had access to many celebrities, making it very convenient for her to follow stars.

Jiang Xia: "...Tatsuya?" The name sounded somewhat unfamiliar.

However, his gaze soon drifted to a poster in the shop.

—On the poster was a man holding a microphone, singing passionately. The man's hair was very sharp, standing straight up, making him look like he was wearing a hedgehog on his head.

In the corner of the poster, the singer's signature was written: "Tatsuya Kimura."

The unique hair, combined with that name...

Jiang Xia quickly remembered something, and his interest was instantly piqued.

He engaged in a friendly conversation with his classmate Sonoko regarding the topic of "Tatsuya Kimura."

During the conversation, although Sonoko Suzuki had a vague feeling that Jiang Xia was a fake fan, she didn't care at all.

Whether he was a fake fan or not wasn't important.

What mattered was having a meal and karaoke with Jiang Xia, plus Tatsuya Kimura—double the happiness!

...

A minute later, Sonoko Suzuki was surrounded by illusory little flowers, waving with a beaming smile as she watched Jiang Xia walk out of the store.

It took a while for her to snap out of it.

"...Wait, I actually managed to invite him just like that?" Sonoko Suzuki rubbed her chin suspiciously, then turned and grabbed Ran Mouri. "I didn't hear wrong, did I? He actually agreed, right?"

Ran Mouri nodded blankly.

Jiang Xia never bullied his classmates and didn't seem cold, but there was always a strong sense of distance between him and his peers.

...Of course, a large part of the reason was that Jiang Xia skipped too many classes, leaving no time for everyone to get close to him.

But it also had to do with his usual way of doing things—he never participated in private gatherings and didn't like hanging out with classmates.

...

Just now, when Sonoko Suzuki invited him, she hadn't actually expected him to accept. She just wanted to use the conversation as an opportunity to get a close-up look at a handsome guy to "relish" later, to make up for the regret of not being able to buy the album...

However, she hadn't expected that after a few words, she would actually successfully lure him out.

"..." Sonoko Suzuki held her face in a daze for a moment, then suddenly had a suspicion. "Did something happy happen to him?"

...If she could figure out what that thing was, wouldn't she be able to invite him out for "relishing" anytime, anywhere, just by making that happy event repeat itself and making Jiang Xia happy?

Sonoko Suzuki's eyes sparkled; she felt she had firmly grasped the code to the handsome guy.

...

Conan stood gloomily by their legs, also feeling that Jiang Xia was acting a bit unusual.

—Earlier, Conan had been playing with the children in the park. But as they were playing, it suddenly started raining again, so the four of them had to head to their respective homes.

On the way home, Conan spotted Ran Mouri in the bustling crowd at a glance.

Thus, taking advantage of being a child, he nonchalantly blended into the girls' shopping group.

At this moment, looking at Sonoko Suzuki's eyes, which were gradually curving into heart shapes, Conan felt her thoughts were heading in the wrong direction.

So, he quickly nipped his classmate's strange idea in the bud: "Actually, this morning when we went to the police station together, we happened to see Jiang Xia-niichan's attending physician committing a murder on the street. The doctor was caught on the spot afterward, so..."

Sonoko Suzuki: "..."

This... this level of replication seems a bit difficult?

"..." Seeing her strange expression, Conan felt that his thought process and his fangirl classmate's were still not aligned—Jiang Xia's agreement to the invitation definitely wasn't because "the doctor was caught and he was in a good mood."

Because Conan felt that the doctor-patient relationship between Jiang Xia and Dr. Kazeto seemed to be quite good.

After all, when Jiang Xia usually started fighting people, no one could stop him. But today, when the doctor who was being hit let out a cry, Jiang Xia stopped immediately upon recognizing him.

Additionally, although Jiang Xia rarely went to the hospital, thinking about it the other way, someone who hated hospitals so much actually took the initiative to go for a check-up... even though he didn't finish and left halfway through, it was already quite telling.

...In short, regarding why Sonoko Suzuki was able to successfully invite him away, Conan had already formed a more scientific explanation in his mind.

...

Conan looked up and saw that both Ran Mouri and Sonoko Suzuki were looking at him, both very concerned about the case he had just mentioned, demanding more details.

Conan simply explained the situation.

Then, facing his two listeners, he couldn't help but enter "deduction mode," applying the half-baked amateur psychology he had learned in Hawaii

"Before the doctor was taken away, he had very clearly expressed his dislike for Jiang Xia."

Conan was referring to the desperate shout Dr. Kazeto had let out when he was kicked so hard he couldn't get up

"If Jiang Xia had established a relatively stable connection with the doctor during previous treatments, he might be shaken by this.

"Everyone has an instinct for self-protection. Now that the connection between Jiang Xia and the doctor has been forcibly severed, his subconscious might attempt to establish new connections with others to pull himself up—and just then, you issued an invitation, and since you've invited him many times before, perhaps he felt the kindness in you..."

Halfway through his words, Conan suddenly felt there were many flaws in his reasoning.

Not only had he forgotten to add "niichan" when mentioning Jiang Xia, but he had also accidentally mentioned some of Sonoko Suzuki's past behaviors... This, this won't expose his identity as "Shinichi Kudo," will it!

At this thought, cold sweat ran down Conan's back, and he felt some regret.

To his surprise, when he cautiously looked up, he was not met with Ran Mouri's scrutinizing gaze.

Instead, he saw that Ran Mouri and Sonoko Suzuki were somewhat teary-eyed, and both had pulled out handkerchiefs to wipe their tears.

Conan: "...?"

(End of Chapter)