Tsukamoto Kazumi, Asking for a Relationship~

Tsukamoto Kazumi, Asking for a Relationship~

The bell rang. The teachers left the classrooms, and the students cheered. School was finally out.

At the shoe lockers, Shu Yunwen slipped on his shoes, then spotted Aizawa Eisuke standing in front of him, looking utterly miserable. Aizawa bowed at a sixty-five-degree angle and said, "Shu Yunwen, I'm truly sorry. I apologize..."

"Oh, Aizawa," Shu Yunwen said with a nod, slinging his schoolbag over his shoulder. "Is this about what happened this morning? I told you, I've already forgiven you..."

Aizawa scratched his head awkwardly. "But, but I'm still... all this keeps happening..."

The look Aizawa gave Shu Yunwen was tinged with fear.

As far as Aizawa was concerned, his whole morning had been like having the god of misfortune riding his back.

Things kept going wrong in class. His chair and desk broke, and just when he thought he was in the clear, he lazily twirled his pen—and it flew into his face, splattering ink everywhere and turning his whole face "black." Then he slipped in the bathroom during break. When he washed his hands, a dead cockroach somehow came out of the faucet. Aizawa was terrified of cockroaches and things like that. Could you imagine a grown man running out of the bathroom with his pants half up, yelling, "There's a cockroach!"?

At lunch, he found a fly in his bento. Then, during gym class, a dog chased him for hundreds of meters...

Anyway, he'd had the worst luck imaginable all day.

A little while ago, his best friend and partner in mischief, Nakado, had asked around about Shu Yunwen. He'd actually managed to find out a few things from the third-year students.

Shu Yunwen used to be classmates with Tsukamoto Kazumi, who was now a third-year. He was mild-mannered and an excellent student, the sort who excelled both academically and morally. Later, his whole family got into a car accident on the way back from a trip. His parents died at the scene, while Shu Yunwen survived by sheer luck—but he remained in a coma for two whole years and had only recently woken up.

Of course, that wasn't the important part. The important part was...

Shu Yunwen's family used to run an exorcism agency! His father, Shu Keqin, had been a famous exorcist with a great reputation in the Kanto region, and close ties to many prominent figures in politics and business.

Shu Yunwen's father had been an incredible exorcist!

Exorcists, onmyoji, fortune-tellers, and the like were all very mysterious professions in Japan.

A lot of Japanese people were deeply superstitious about that sort of thing.

Aizawa had always scoffed at such things, but after what he'd been through today, he was starting to believe.

He figured Shu Yunwen must have cursed him.

Shu Yunwen's father had been an exorcist, so Shu Yunwen must be one too. That had to be why he'd had such terrible luck—Shu Yunwen had cursed him.

Shu Yunwen smiled at Aizawa's miserable expression. "If you mean the curse, I'm afraid there's nothing I can do. But you don't need to worry too much, Aizawa. This kind of curse doesn't last long. By tomorrow morning, it'll all be over."

Of course, Shu Yunwen could undo the sorcery that had cursed Aizawa.

But why would he? He already had very little Sorcerous Power, and he could only cast a spell like "Misfortune at Your Side" three more times at most. He wasn't about to waste his power on Aizawa.

"Right... Okay." Aizawa gave a helpless bow, then left with his two friends.

Nearby, Kudo Shinichi curled his lip in disdain. "A curse? It's all just a coincidence! Just a coincidence!"

As they were talking, Aizawa stumbled and fell again. Nakado got caught up in it too. As he was about to go down, he grabbed hold of something nearby to steady himself. Only then did he realize that he'd grabbed a girl—and one of his hands was on her chest...

"...Ah! Pervert!"

With a thud, Nakado was knocked to the ground.

Kudo Shinichi: "..."

Ran: "..."

Sonoko: "..."

After a long moment, Ran gave a nervous laugh. "Aizawa really does seem to have terrible luck."

Shu Yunwen smiled at Kudo Shinichi. "If you don't believe me, Kudo, you can try cursing me..."

As he spoke, Shu Yunwen thought to himself, If Washing Machine really dares to curse me, I'll gladly waste one use of my Sorcerous Power so he can taste what it's like to have Misfortune at Your Side.

Before Kudo Shinichi could answer, a voice called from behind Shu Yunwen. "Yunwen-san..."

Shu Yunwen turned at the sound and paused when he saw who it was. "Tsukamoto-senpai..."

It was Tsukamoto Kazumi.

Tsukamoto Kazumi gave Shu Yunwen a complicated look. "Yunwen-san, you used to call me Kazumi."

"Did I?" Shu Yunwen tried to remember, then said, "I'm sorry. You know, I lost some of my memories after I woke up..."

"That's all right. I'll help you get your memories back," Tsukamoto Kazumi said. "And, Yunwen-san, could you call me 'Kazumi' from now on?"

"Of course, Kazumi-san." Shu Yunwen looked at the woman in front of him and became even more convinced that his predecessor and Tsukamoto Kazumi must have had a close relationship.

Tsukamoto Kazumi smiled sweetly, then asked, "Yunwen-san, are you free later? If you are, I'd like to invite you for coffee..."

Shu Yunwen paused, then said, "I'm sorry, Kazumi-san. I have some other things to take care of today. You know, I only just woke up recently, and there's a lot I need to deal with, so..."

"That's all right. If you're busy today, we can go another time. Goodbye, Yunwen-san." Tsukamoto Kazumi turned and walked away.

Shu Yunwen rubbed his nose. The pager at his waist suddenly beeped. He glanced at it, then immediately waved goodbye to Kudo Shinichi, Ran, and Sonoko, who were still staring blankly, and headed for the school gate.

Only then did Kudo Shinichi, Ran, and Sonoko snap out of it.

"Huh? Was that really Tsukamoto-senpai? I've never seen her talk to anyone like that!" Kudo Shinichi exclaimed.

In his mind, Tsukamoto Kazumi had always been a tough, no-nonsense girl.

That just now... Had she been possessed?

"Tsukamoto-senpai seemed like she wanted to go on a date with Shu-san, but he actually turned her down!" Ran was surprised too.

Sonoko was practically glowing with gossip-fueled excitement. "There's definitely something going on between them!" She paused, then added, "Oh, right. I remember that guy Hidaka once said Tsukamoto-senpai dated someone when she was a first-year. Could that older-looking guy be the one she went out with?"

Ran hurriedly said, "Sonoko, you shouldn't talk about your senpai behind her back. And Shu is strange too. Aren't you afraid he'll curse you?"

Sonoko acted as if she hadn't heard Ran. She swung her fists, looking like a Saint Seiya with a power level through the roof. "...Now it's up to the great Sonoko to uncover the truth!"

"Heh..." Ran laughed helplessly.

Kudo Shinichi rolled his eyes and hurried outside. "Come on, Ran!"

Outside the school.

The door of a black car parked outside opened, and a short, plump middle-aged man got out. When he saw Shu Yunwen wave, he immediately said, "Hello, Shu-san. My name is Yamazaki Akiji, general manager of Hachiryu Bank. I was a friend of your father, Keqin-sama... Uh... You, you're still alive? That's wonderful! Keqin-sama... My friend, Iwata Daijiro, has run into some strange 'trouble.' With your help, everything should be all right..."

Yamazaki Akiji had been speaking, but when he saw Shu Yunwen, he rubbed his eyes hard. His manner immediately became much more respectful.

Shu Yunwen gave a wry smile. "Mr. Yamazaki, you've mistaken me for someone else. I'm Shu Yunwen, not my father. My father really did die in the car accident. And the reason I look so old is that I've been practicing our family's exorcism techniques..."

"Is that so?" Yamazaki Akiji paused and took another careful look. This time, he recognized Shu Yunwen.

Shu Yunwen had a mole on the left side of his neck, while Shu Keqin didn't.

He really had mistaken the two of them.

"I'm terribly sorry. That was very rude of me," Yamazaki Akiji said. Then he continued, "By the way, Shu-san, the talisman I asked you to bring—the one your father drew..."

"Just a moment." As he spoke, Shu Yunwen took out his wallet and pulled out a yellowish-brown piece of paper, the so-called talisman, handing it to Yamazaki Akiji. "Here you are, Mr. Yamazaki. This is the talisman you asked for."

Yamazaki Akiji took it, glanced at it, and carefully put it away. Then he offered Shu Yunwen a check with both hands. "Sorry to trouble you, Shu-san. This is payment for the talisman. Please accept it."

Yamazaki Akiji had no doubts about whether the talisman was genuine.

Japan was a country where people valued trust, and the more influential they were, the more they cared about their reputation. That was especially true for exorcists. One mistake was all it took for word to spread through their circles and ruin their reputation.

So Yamazaki Akiji trusted Shu Yunwen not to fake something like this.

Shu Yunwen took the check and glanced at it.

Fifty thousand?

Had his cheap old man really charged so little for his talismans? Just fifty thousand yen?

He took a closer look—

All right, the currency was actually US dollars! That came to about five million yen, which was much more reasonable.

Shu Yunwen put the check away, then said, "Mr. Yamazaki, even though you have the talisman, talismans can't solve everything. Would it be convenient for your friend if I visited him in person to see what's going on? As for my abilities... I do have some. Maybe I can help."

Shu Yunwen wasn't asking just to be nosy.

He had to make a living in the Conan world, after all.

He didn't know what kind of "trouble" Yamazaki Akiji's friend had run into. If it really was an evil spirit or something, that "completely useless" talisman wouldn't do a thing! And if something went wrong and his reputation took a hit, it'd take a lot of work to restore it.

So he might as well go have a look now.

Better safe than sorry!

"In that case... sorry for the trouble, Shu-san." Yamazaki Akiji hesitated, but agreed in the end. "My friend, Iwata Daijiro, is holding a party at his home today. He'll be delighted to have you come."

"Thank you, Mr. Yamazaki," Shu Yunwen said again.

P.S. Ahem... Guess who Yamazaki Akiji is?