Let Kaitou Kid Take the Blame~

Let Kaitou Kid Take the Blame~

It was Monday.

That morning, inside the abandoned building where the gold coins had been hidden.

"This should be the place mentioned on the paper, right?" Officer Takagi yawned. Holding the "treasure map," he looked down at the layer of dust on the floor, then turned and gave the others a sheepish smile. "Looks like no one's been here..."

The place was indeed very remote. No wonder the officers from Investigation Division One had felt safe letting a rookie like him lead the team here.

After taking a few photos, the officers quickly found several packages hanging from the ceiling.

Two officers slowly lowered the packages. Wearing gloves, Takagi untied the strings and saw a pile of stones inside. His face fell.

"These are... stones? Huh? Where are the gold coins? Where are the gold coins? Weren't these supposed to be the Maple Leaf Gold Coins?"

Officer Takagi emptied the stones onto the floor, then adorably turned the package upside down to check. He opened the other two packages as well, only to find more pebbles inside. Among them lay a white piece of stiff paper that stood out at once.

Takagi picked it up and saw a line of crooked handwriting:

"I took the gold coins. —Kaitou Kid, who's occasionally short on cash and wanted to make a quick buck."

Kaitou Kid?

Takagi stared blankly, thinking:

So Kaitou Kid has started stealing gold coins too?

Class 2-B, second year, Ekoda High School.

It was break time.

Kuroba Kaito was talking with Nakamori Aoko when his nose suddenly began to itch. "Achoo!" He sneezed.

Nakamori Aoko immediately raised her arm in front of her. "Ugh! Kaito, do you have a cold? Don't you dare give it to me!"

"Idiot! Why would I have a cold?" Kuroba Kaito shot back.

"You definitely have a cold! Did you sleep with your belly exposed last night?"

"Idiot! As if!"

Koizumi Akako sat calmly in her seat, listening to Kuroba Kaito and Nakamori Aoko bicker. The tarot cards on her desk flipped over one by one. When the last card turned over, she looked at their arrangement with amusement, and a smile suddenly appeared at the corner of her mouth.

"How interesting. It seems someone's framed that Kuroba fellow..."

Three days later, in the afternoon, after school.

Outside Teitan High School.

Shu Yunwen hurried out of the school gates, bag in hand.

At the entrance, the passenger door of a car opened. A man stood beside it and greeted him respectfully. "Hello, Lord Yunwen."

"Hello, Secretary Adachi." Shu Yunwen nodded and got into the car.

Adachi Roppei closed the door for Shu Yunwen, returned to the driver's seat, and explained, "Hello, Lord Yunwen. The agency has been a little busy today. Vice President Matsushita is there entertaining a client, so he asked me to pick you up..."

"Sure, no problem. The agency's business is more important." Shu Yunwen raised his hand and glanced at his digital watch. "Please drive a little faster. I need to get home early tonight."

"Is something going on at home, Lord Yunwen?" The car started, and Adachi Roppei asked casually.

Shu Yunwen rummaged through his bag. "Nothing's going on at home. But my teachers assigned a ton of homework in several subjects today, so I need to get it done!"

"..." Adachi Roppei was speechless.

Only then did he remember that Shu Yunwen was still in high school.

The car pulled up at the Keqin Exorcist Agency. Shu Yunwen first went to the president's office to change clothes, then headed to the reception room.

Adachi Roppei followed him in and poured him a cup of coffee. After spending enough time with Shu Yunwen, he had learned his preferences. Shu Yunwen liked coffee more than orange juice, cola, or tea. A latte or cappuccino would always earn a pleased "Good."

The people seated across from him in the reception room were familiar faces, more or less.

Ono Yoko, her manager Yamagishi Eiichi, and the president of the agency—Akechi Kunihito, who had never appeared in the original story—were the guests this time.

As soon as they saw Shu Yunwen, the three of them stood up together and greeted him. "Hello, Lord Yunwen. We're sorry to trouble you by coming here in person."

"Hello to you, too. The agency's facilities are a little modest, so please excuse us if anything falls short." Shu Yunwen nodded casually, then turned to Matsushita Heisaburo. "Matsushita-kun, President Akechi and the others are here to sign the contract, right? How are the negotiations going?"

Matsushita Heisaburo answered at once. "Lord Yunwen, the draft contract is ready. We can sign it right now, if you approve."

"Didn't I already leave all of this to you?" Shu Yunwen frowned. He didn't like dealing with this kind of tedious business.

Two days ago, he had told Matsushita Heisaburo to handle the matter.

"Yes! It was my mistake." Matsushita Heisaburo immediately bowed and apologized.

Ono Yoko, seated across from him, hurried to speak up. "Lord Yunwen, please don't blame Vice President Matsushita. There was something I wanted to ask you about in person, so I... I'm sorry. I was being selfish."

Shu Yunwen pursed his lips and looked at Ono Yoko.

Well! When a beautiful woman asked him for a favor, even if he could tell she was putting on a bit of an act, he couldn't be bothered to press the issue.

"Miss Ono, is there something you wanted to ask me?" Shu Yunwen picked up the contract from the table and skimmed through it as he spoke.

The contract stated that Ono Yoko's agency would pay the Keqin Exorcist Agency fourteen million yen a year to handle paranormal incidents involving all its entertainers and the agency itself. Of course, that was only the consultation fee. If an exorcist had to step in, it would cost 250,000 yen per job for an ordinary exorcist, while Shu Yunwen's personal fee started at one million yen, with practically no upper limit...

It was an extremely generous contract.

Ono Yoko began, "Lord Yunwen, I still wanted to ask... how is Fujie Akiyoshi's vengeful spirit doing now? I asked Vice President Matsushita, too, but he didn't seem to know..."

Matsushita Heisaburo's nostrils flared beside them. It wasn't that he didn't know. He simply didn't dare say...

Shu Yunwen frowned, then replied, "Miss Ono, I've already told you twice. Fujie Akiyoshi killed himself, then tried to frame you and ruin your life. He doesn't deserve this much concern from you."

"...Lord Yunwen, please." Ono Yoko stood up and bowed at a ninety-degree angle.

Deep down, Ono Yoko was a kind woman.

After killing himself, Fujie Akiyoshi had tried to frame her. Even after his death, he had continued to harass her. But he had once been someone she dated, and they had shared happy memories. She wanted to know what had become of him.

"..." Shu Yunwen fell silent for a moment before answering. "...All right. Since you want to know, I'll tell you. I sent his vengeful spirit away. He's completely disappeared from this world."

Beside him, Matsushita Heisaburo rolled his eyes dramatically.

Sent him away? You ate him in one bite!

Well... even that wasn't quite right. After Shu Yunwen ate Fujie Akiyoshi, he'd found him unpalatable and spat him back out...

Of course, Matsushita Heisaburo wouldn't dare tell anyone about that, even if they beat him to death.

Ono Yoko asked again, "Is that true?"

"Of course! I'm a professional exorcist. We have a way to make spirits like that disappear. If you want more details, I'm sorry, but I can't tell you. Those are secrets of our trade." Shu Yunwen was making it clear that he wouldn't answer if she kept asking.

He couldn't tell her!

"Thank you, Lord Yunwen." Ono Yoko was disappointed, but at last she stopped asking.

With two quick strokes, Shu Yunwen signed his name on the contract and handed it to Akechi Kunihito. "President Akechi, I look forward to working with you."

Akechi Kunihito nodded quickly. "We'll be in your care from now on, Lord Yunwen. By the way, my friend, Mr. Manaka, has been troubled by something lately. He's waiting outside now and hopes you can help him."

"Mm, I understand," Shu Yunwen replied.

After the contract was signed, Ono Yoko and Yamagishi Eiichi left first, while Akechi Kunihito stayed behind.

The guest outside was Akechi Kunihito's friend, Mr. Manaka. Manaka came in with two people behind him. One was an elderly, balding man with long, thick eyebrows and a face covered in gray whiskers. He was the director of an art museum called Chusei, Director Ochiai. The other was much younger, perhaps in his early thirties. He worked at the same museum and was named Kubota.

Manaka came across as arrogant and rude, Director Ochiai as modest but taciturn, and Kubota as a shameless flatterer.

After a few polite exchanges, Shu Yunwen glanced at his watch. Unwilling to waste any more time, he got straight to the point. "Boss Manaka, what brings you to see me?"

Boss Manaka's expression stiffened. He glanced at Akechi Kunihito beside him, and only continued after Akechi gave him a look. "Well, Lord Yunwen, I bought Chusei Museum a while ago and planned to turn it into a restaurant. But for the past few days, strange noises have been heard inside the museum late at night. We checked the security footage and found that a medieval suit of armor walks around the museum every night..."

"Uh..." Shu Yunwen looked at the men in front of him again, feeling at a loss for words.

A museum called Chusei, a suit of armor that walked around, Boss Manaka, Director Ochiai, and a guy named Kubota...

Damn!

Weren't these people from some murder case? One victim, one culprit, and one person who was framed for the murder. But he remembered that Boss Manaka in that case had been a thoroughly detestable guy—the kind of person who deserved to die. The Boss Manaka standing in front of him now was arrogant, sure, but he didn't seem that bad...

As Shu Yunwen's thoughts wandered, Boss Manaka continued speaking. "...To be honest, I don't care what happens inside that damn museum, and I'm not interested in the junk on display there. In fact, the rumors might even drive some customers away, which would make it easier for me to shut the place down..."

"But the rumors could still hurt my restaurant business later. So if possible, I'd like you to go to the museum and take a look. If there really is something unpleasant there, please get rid of it!"

"If you can make all these negative rumors go away, I'll pay you a large sum. Please!"

As he spoke, Boss Manaka sounded like he was begging, saying "please" over and over, but his attitude made it seem as if Shu Yunwen had to solve the problem for him—as if Shu Yunwen owed him a favor from a past life.

Shu Yunwen rolled his eyes.

Well, he had to admit that the Boss Manaka in front of him had suddenly become quite detestable in his eyes.

Who did this guy think he was, ordering him around?

No wonder someone would kill this kind of guy!