Qian Xiaoyi walked out of the warehouse building with a jade pendant in his hand and a cigarette between his lips. He looked up at the sun sinking in the west and thought, There aren't even any cameras inside? I went to all that trouble to change clothes for nothing today. But then again, if there were cameras, Matsui wouldn't have left those things there. Still, I feel a little bad for the guy inside. I hope he's tough enough not to lose his job over what just happened.
As he thought this, he retraced his steps to the station, took the train back to his office, and saw Inuyama Heita waiting by the entrance when he arrived.
"Mr. Qian." Inuyama Heita greeted him when he saw him.
"Have you been waiting long?" Qian Xiaoyi took out his keys, glanced to the side, and asked casually.
Inuyama Heita shook his head. "Not really." His eyes darted about; it was clear he had a lot to say.
Once they were inside the office, before Qian Xiaoyi could even sit down and pour himself a glass of water, Inuyama Heita blurted out, "Mr. Qian! I..."
"Hang on." Qian Xiaoyi cut him off, carried his shoulder bag into the utility room, and fussed around with something inside. A moment later, he came back out with the now-empty bag and closed the door behind him. Then he asked Inuyama Heita, "I just got back, and I'm a little thirsty. Soda or juice?"
"Uh... Juice, please." Inuyama Heita stared at him blankly.
As usual, Qian Xiaoyi took a can of beer and a drink from the fridge. He handed the drink to Inuyama Heita, then flopped onto the sofa, took off his baseball cap, popped the tab, and gulped down a mouthful of ice-cold beer. He let out a satisfied sigh. "Ah, that's better... All right, Heitaro, tell me what you found out. Did you get any useful information?"
"That's what I was about to tell you. Matsui told me..." Inuyama Heita began with the part where Matsui had taken him to a private room in the "Blue Note" bar.
"You can skip that part. I'm not interested." Qian Xiaoyi cut him off, glanced toward the door, and continued, "It's all just the usual nonsense they use to con people. No need to go into it; it's not important. Just tell me who the people who showed up actually are. That's the information we need if we're going to bring down the Lucky Mutual Aid Society."
"Got it." Inuyama Heita pulled out his phone and began playing the recordings of his conversations with the others.
"You're Miss Maria, right? I wanted to thank everyone for stepping in earlier. Otherwise, I don't know what those two would've done to me."
"Heh heh heh! Picking on such a young man is unforgivable. Of course Big Sis was going to help! And don't call me Miss Maria—just call me Little Maria. Let me tell you..."
The recording played on. Inuyama Heita wasn't a trained professional, so there was no way he could memorize all the information about a dozen or so senior members at once. He could only use this clumsy method: record everything first, then sort out the useful information afterward.
A few minutes into the recording, Qian Xiaoyi quietly stood up from the sofa. He raised an index finger to his lips, motioned for Inuyama Heita to be quiet, and tiptoed over to the office door. Gently grasping the handle, he suddenly flung the door open.
"Ah!" A startled yelp rang out as a petite figure tumbled in from outside.
Suzuki got awkwardly to her feet, adjusted her crooked glasses, and stared silently at the two people in the room.
"Inuyama-kun?!" Inuyama Heita froze for a moment, then hurriedly stood up and tapped the pause button on his phone. "What are you doing here?"
Qian Xiaoyi gave Inuyama Heita a teasing look. "Heitaro, looks like you've had a little shadow following you."
Then he turned to Suzuki and asked, "Miss, why were you eavesdropping outside my office?"
Suzuki said nothing, apparently torn between running away and saying something.
"All right, let me put it another way," Qian Xiaoyi said. "Miss, have you been acting like a stalker toward my client, Inuyama Heitaro? Like a pervert?"
"I have not!" Suzuki immediately protested. "I'm not a pervert, and I'm not a man, so I should be a perverted woman, shouldn't I? Wait... client?" She had noticed a word in Qian Xiaoyi's sentence.
Qian Xiaoyi stepped aside and gestured invitingly. "Looks like you can talk after all. Come on in, then. Let's have an open and honest conversation and clear up any unnecessary misunderstandings."
Suzuki hesitated for a long time, then gritted her teeth and held up her phone, its screen lit. "We're just going to talk, right? Don't try anything suspicious. I've already drafted a text message. All I have to do is press send, and the police will be here right away. Understand?"
"Sure, sure. Be my guest, Detective Conan." Qian Xiaoyi replied helplessly.
She entered the office nervously, suspiciously looking around before finally sitting restlessly in the armchair beside the coffee table.
"Here you go." Qian Xiaoyi took a can of juice from the fridge and set it in front of her. Then he sat on the sofa across from her, crossed his legs and folded his arms. "So, let's hear it. You're Miss Suzuki, right? What's your purpose? Why were you following my client?"
Inuyama Heita watched Suzuki curiously, too.
Suzuki glanced at the juice on the coffee table but didn't pick it up. Choosing her words carefully, she said, "I warned Inuyama-kun before not to trust those Lucky Mutual Aid Society people. I didn't expect to see him at the gathering just now. From listening to their conversation, I realized he'd been shaken down by thugs and then happened to be rescued by these people. It was obviously a trap. So when the gathering ended, I was going to go out and warn him, but I saw him on the phone as soon as he left. Then he headed somewhere other than the station, so I got curious and followed him here. All right, I've said my piece. Now it's your turn. It looks like they didn't fool you after all, Inuyama-kun. You and this mysterious man—what are you plotting?"
Listening to Suzuki talk on and on, Inuyama Heita tried to come up with an excuse. He couldn't exactly tell her that, as a spirit medium, he'd caught someone's attention, could he?
While Inuyama Heita racked his brains, Qian Xiaoyi sighed and said solemnly, "You're a clever girl. You were eavesdropping outside from the very beginning, weren't you? In that case, I have no choice but to tell you the whole truth. Actually... we're spirit mediums fighting for justice, and we're going to thwart their plot to use dark arts to harm others..."
Before you continue