Money! Money! Money!

Three days later, at ten on Sunday morning, inside the Keqin Exorcist Agency.

Shu Yunwen had been woken by a phone call from Matsushita Heisaburo that morning, and hurried over to the Keqin Exorcist Agency.

Inside the president's office, Shu Yunwen stared at the financial report Matsushita Heisaburo had handed him, rubbing his forehead in dismay. "Matsushita-kun, this is our agency's financial situation? How do we have only 500,000 yen left in the books? And payday's in three days! Our total payroll is actually 13.5 million yen? Has the agency always been in this kind of financial shape?"

Matsushita Heisaburo stood respectfully in front of Shu Yunwen's desk and bowed. "Hai! Lord Yunwen, as I mentioned before, two months ago one of the agency's exorcists mishandled a job and failed to complete an exorcism request properly, resulting in the death of an innocent person. The client was very powerful, so our agency had to take responsibility for the deceased and pay nearly 25 million yen in compensation. And because the job wasn't handled properly, our agency's reputation suffered badly. We've received far fewer exorcism requests over the past two months."

"...Of course, we're working on this from every angle. Once we get through this difficult period, everything will return to normal..."

Shu Yunwen frowned as he recalled what had happened.

Matsushita Heisaburo seemed to have mentioned it on Tuesday.

Two months earlier, a veteran exorcist from the agency had taken a job at a construction site in Beika Town. Strange noises could often be heard there at night, and accidents had been happening ever since construction began. So the site's main investor had contacted the Keqin Exorcist Agency and asked them to deal with it.

Under normal circumstances, noises at a construction site at night and frequent accidents weren't as mysterious as they might seem. The noises might have come from construction materials left in a messy pile, sliding down and crashing into one another in the middle of the night. Or they might have been caused by wild animals wandering in, or even someone causing trouble at the site. As for the frequent accidents, they could easily have been caused by careless workers or faulty equipment.

But Japanese people were generally superstitious, and those working in such dangerous jobs were especially so. They insisted on bringing in a master to "drive away" whatever was causing trouble at the site, or they wouldn't work. So the investors had turned to the Keqin Exorcist Agency.

After accepting the job, the exorcist prepared some "tools" and headed to the site. Then, as usual, he wandered around, picked a random corner, and shouted a few things, mostly along the lines of "Take this, fiend!", "Die, little ghost!", and "Behold my magic treasure!" Of course, as he shouted, he also made a show of fiddling with his "tools," even though he had no idea what the hell they were for...

Anyway, after making a fuss for a while, he clapped his hands and told the site manager that everything was taken care of, and that he had eliminated the "evil thing" at the site. He then told him to make sure everyone stayed safe and avoided dangerous work, followed by a whole string of blah blah blah. He looked every bit like a "workplace safety spokesperson."

Once he was done, the site manager immediately told the workers to get back to work. The workers saw that the exorcist had declared the site safe and happily got to it. But as soon as the freight elevator started up, one unlucky guy was struck by a stone that fell from above and died on the spot.

That was the daily routine of a certain con-artist exorcist.

When it came time to determine liability, the construction company insisted that the casualties had happened because the master had failed to exorcise the site properly. They made the agency pay compensation.

That was where the 25 million yen expense had come from.

"Who was the investor in that construction site?" Shu Yunwen asked with a frown.

Matsushita Heisaburo answered respectfully, "The investor was Daito Construction Company. The person who actually controls Daito Construction Company is Sadao Teito, the fifth-generation head of the Sumiyoshi-kai. He's also the organization's operations committee chairman..."

"Uh..." Shu Yunwen rolled his eyes.

How had the Sumiyoshi-kai gotten involved in this, too?

But as soon as he heard the name Sumiyoshi-kai, Shu Yunwen understood why the agency had meekly accepted the compensation bill.

They'd run into someone they couldn't afford to offend.

Of course, Shu Yunwen had no intention of picking a fight with the Sumiyoshi-kai right now. He was only a novice sorcerer; there was no way he could take them on! Well, once he got stronger, he could consider settling the score.

"How's the construction site doing now?" Shu Yunwen thought for a moment, then asked.

Matsushita Heisaburo answered at once. "Accidents are still happening there all the time. Over the past two months, they've brought in several exorcists and Onmyoji to look at it. They've tried to resume work eight times, and there's been an accident each time. Now the site's completely shut down."

That bad, huh?

Shu Yunwen was starting to believe that there really was something unclean at the site.

He shook his head. "Forget it. Let's get to the point. You gave me this financial report to tell me that the agency's out of money, right?"

"Yes, Lord Yunwen." Matsushita Heisaburo nodded. "Since the agency was founded, we've never once delayed paying salaries. So we need to raise 15 million yen before payday..."

The corners of Shu Yunwen's mouth twitched. "Matsushita-kun, why don't we talk about you taking over as president instead? How does that sound?"

Damn it! You made it sound so simple! This was 15 million yen, not 15,000!

Come to think of it, Shu Keqin, his cheap old man, had left him a decent inheritance—200 million yen, to be exact. But the will stipulated that until he graduated from university, Shu Yunwen could only take 100,000 yen a month for living expenses. Anything more was out of the question...

Man, how depressing was that?

After all, this was the world of Conan! Shu Yunwen was fully prepared to spend twenty years as a second-year high school student.

He'd have to wait for his next life to go to university, wouldn't he?

He'd thought that once he became the agency's president, he'd be able to spend "company money." But all he'd managed to do was buy a cell phone, and now he had to worry about raising 15 million yen. No matter how he looked at it, he'd gotten the short end of the stick!

Matsushita Heisaburo immediately replied, "Lord Yunwen, you're the president of the agency."

Shu Yunwen rolled his eyes and waved Matsushita Heisaburo away. "Never mind. Go on out for now, and see if you can think of something..."

"Hai!" Matsushita Heisaburo replied.

After Matsushita Heisaburo left the president's office, Adachi Roppei came in, poured Shu Yunwen a cup of coffee, and left again.

Shu Yunwen thought it over. Apart from robbing a bank, nothing else seemed like a reliable option.

He shook his head, then spotted the remote control beside him. He picked it up and turned on the television in the office.

The morning news was on. The sweet voice of the female presenter came through the TV:

"...Tino Cabana, the leader of the Italian Bandit Group, who was arrested last night in a building near Tokyo Tower, still hasn't said a word. The police are continuing to search for Cabana's accomplices, who remain at large, but so far they haven't found any leads. In addition, the 15,000 Maple Leaf Gold Coins they stole are still missing..."

"...The Maple Leaf Gold Coins are commemorative coins specially made by the Italian government. Each one weighs 12.41 grams. The front bears a maple leaf design created by a renowned artist, while the back depicts the Italian government's main office building. They have some collector's value, and each coin is now worth 40,000 yen. That means the stolen coins are worth a total of 600 million yen..." (All right, I made that up.)

"Holy crap? Six hundred million yen? If that were mine, I wouldn't have to worry about money anymore..." Shu Yunwen glanced at the screen and thought to himself.

But then Shu Yunwen suddenly sprang to his feet, eyes wide. The office chair he'd been sitting in lurched back from the force of his movement, hit the wall, and bounced forward again.

He remembered!

The 15,000 Maple Leaf Gold Coins had appeared in the anime, too. Conan and the other kids had found a piece of paper somewhere, and it showed where the Maple Leaf Gold Coins were hidden. Shu Yunwen remembered the clues to finding them quite clearly because they were so interesting. He was pretty sure it involved looking for neon signs at night.

In other words, if he found the coins before anyone else, he really could claim them!

Shu Yunwen narrowed his eyes, then sat back down in his chair and picked up the office phone. He called Matsushita Heisaburo back in. "Matsushita-kun, did you watch the morning news today?"

"I did," Matsushita replied.

Shu Yunwen continued, "Then... did the morning news mention the Italian Bandit Group and the Maple Leaf Gold Coins they stole?"

"It did," Matsushita nodded. "They said there were 15,000 Maple Leaf Gold Coins, worth 600 million yen in total..."

Shu Yunwen asked, "Matsushita-kun, if I could get my hands on those coins, would you be able to sell them off without any trouble?"

"You can find those coins?" Matsushita Heisaburo asked in surprise. Then he immediately added, "If you really can find them, selling them won't be a problem at all. Our agency has connections with several groups in Tokyo, and they're very good at handling things like this. We might have to pay a commission, though. Out of 600 million yen, we might only get 400 million."

A third as commission? That seemed reasonable enough.

After all, these Maple Leaf Gold Coins weren't exactly legal. A hard-nosed buyer might take half, or even two-thirds.

Shu Yunwen nodded and casually instructed him, "Matsushita-kun, get ready. You're coming out with me."

"Hai!" Matsushita Heisaburo replied promptly and went to get ready.

After Matsushita Heisaburo left, Shu Yunwen tried to remember where Conan had found the treasure map. But after thinking it over for a while, he slapped his forehead and cursed himself for being an idiot. He picked up the phone and called the Kojima family back.

The phone rang a few times before someone answered. Shu Yunwen said at once, "Hello, this is Shu Yunwen..."

"Yunwen!" It was Kojima Genji's voice on the phone. "What's up?"

"Uncle, is Genta at home?" Shu Yunwen got straight to the point.

The treasure hunt seemed to involve all four kids. So all he had to do was find out where Genta was, and he'd find the other three, too.

Kojima Genji said, "Genta? He went out this morning. He said he was meeting some friends and going to the Beika Art Museum."

"I see... Thanks, Uncle." Shu Yunwen thanked him.

"Yunwen, why are you asking about Genta? By the way, we're having ramen for lunch. Are you coming home?" Kojima Genji asked.

Shu Yunwen smiled. "I was just asking. Also, I have something to do at lunch, so I won't be coming back."

After hanging up, Shu Yunwen found that Matsushita Heisaburo was ready, too. He knocked on the president's office door.

Leaving the office, Shu Yunwen took only Matsushita Heisaburo with him. Once they got in the car, he gave the driver instructions, and they headed toward the Beika Art Museum.

At around 11:30, the car pulled up in front of the Beika Art Museum. Shu Yunwen and Matsushita Heisaburo got out and looked around, but didn't see Conan and the others. They were about to go inside and look when someone called out, "Yunwen! What are you doing here? Are you here to see the art exhibition, too?"

"Uh..." Shu Yunwen turned and saw Tsukamoto Kazumi with several girls he vaguely recognized. "Kazumi, what a coincidence!"

Hmm... Why had he run into Tsukamoto Kazumi here?

Why did it feel like he'd been following her?

Tsukamoto Kazumi smiled and greeted him. "Hello, Yunwen. And... hello, Mr. Matsushita."

Shu Yunwen waved a hand and asked, "Kazumi, were you at the museum this morning? Did you see Genta, Conan, and the others?"

"You mean Genta, Ayumi, and those other children?" Tsukamoto Kazumi said. "I did run into them... I saw them outside the museum just a little while ago. Oh, and when they were in front of the museum, they seemed to be carrying something. They were talking very loudly, and it sounded like they were going to Tokyo Tower..."

"Really?" Shu Yunwen's eyes lit up. It looked like they'd already found the paper with the treasure's location on it. "Kazumi, how long ago did they leave?"

"About ten minutes ago," Tsukamoto Kazumi replied.

"Thanks, Kazumi." After a pause, Shu Yunwen continued, "I'm sorry, but I have something else to take care of, so I'll be going now. If you're free another day, I'll treat you to a meal to make it up to you."

Tsukamoto Kazumi nodded. "If you have something to do, go ahead. Don't worry about me."

Shu Yunwen and Matsushita Heisaburo hurried into the car and drove away. One of the girls standing beside Tsukamoto Kazumi said, "Kazumi, is that Shu Yunwen? We were in the same class as him in our first year of high school, but he doesn't seem to remember us."

"That's right! And he seemed really rude," another girl added.

Tsukamoto Kazumi said, "Yunwen really is busy. He's the president of an agency now, so he probably had something important to take care of."

"A high school student and the president of an agency? That's amazing!"

"It seems to be a family business. Yunwen is an exorcist now," Tsukamoto Kazumi explained.

"I remember you were dating Shu in your first year of high school, Kazumi. Are you still together?" another girl asked.

Tsukamoto Kazumi's expression darkened. "Ever since Yunwen woke up, he's lost some of his memories. It seems he's forgotten that we were dating..."

"Really?"

"Yeah. But I'll do my best to help him remember." Kazumi smiled and turned around. "Come on! It's almost lunchtime. Let's go have lunch together. There's a family restaurant nearby that seems to be pretty good."

"A family restaurant? The one near Tokyo Tower?"

"I went there once. Their pickles were delicious."

Then the girls chatted on and on...