Jiang Xia shook his head. "A friend said he'd drive us there."
The other three froze. "A friend?"
Just then, a car came down the road and slowly pulled to a stop beside them at a bafflingly sluggish pace.
A few more seconds passed before someone dawdled out of the car.
Conan's pupils contracted. "..." Vodka?! That guy really hadn't given up—he'd come back so soon!
Vodka must be dying to get close to Jiang Xia and win this famous detective's trust, yet he's actually restraining himself and deliberately putting on this unhurried act... Tch, he looks clumsy, but he's actually surprisingly shrewd.
As Conan warily observed the dangerous man's condition, he thought, His acting is still too deliberate. Moving this abnormally slowly only exposes the cracks in his disguise... But from another angle, he's pretending to be Jiang Xia's fan. He can barely explain it away by saying he's too excited to approach after meeting his idol.
The other three high schoolers were not nearly as suspicious as the Fake Elementary School Student.
"Mr. Yamada? So it's you."
Mouri Ran and Suzuki Sonoko had met this burly star chaser, who "dreamed of becoming a detective as famous as Jiang Xia," during the idol group case involving Kinoshita Yoko. They had heard that this fan held some standing in the fan community and was both skilled and dexterous, capable of making all sorts of exquisite fan merchandise.
Vodka turned toward the two warm and friendly high school girls, doing his best to smile naturally as he greeted them. Then, following the lines Jiang Xia wanted, he said, "Yes. Mr. Jiang Xia saw my sincerity and finally agreed to let me solve cases with him."
Conan: "..." Shameless!
Mouri Ran: "..." That was really touching.
Suzuki Sonoko leaned closer and whispered,