All it took was picking up the phone and making a call for Jiang Xia to learn what was happening here. Then that helpful classmate would make time to come over and solve everything.
It sounded incredibly tempting, but before dialing, Suzuki Sonoko seemed to remember something, and her hand hesitated.
"Teacher Jodie doesn't seem to want Jiang Xia to come. She'd rather solve the case herself. She'll be returning to the United States soon, and she might never get another chance to run into a case in her daily life..."
Though she really wanted to call Jiang Xia over to hang out, when she thought of the unlucky foreign teacher who had been a suspect ever since coming to Tokyo and had never gotten to experience a detective's life, Suzuki Sonoko ultimately softened.
"Let's try something else first. If we can't solve it, then we'll bring out Jiang Xia." After thinking it over, Suzuki Sonoko suddenly had an idea. "Right, don't I know another detective too?"
—If Jiang Xia heard there was something going on here, that helpful detective would probably rush right over to take a look.
"But the other one won't!"
After plotting for a while, Suzuki Sonoko gave a sinister grin, feeling like an absolute genius.
"Didn't Kudo say he was investigating a case out of town and couldn't come back? In that case, let Ran tell him what's going on here and have him analyze it and give us an answer.
"Then Ran and I can quietly give Teacher Jodie some hints, so she can find the real culprit, fulfill her dream of being a detective, and return to the United States happily. Then her trip to Tokyo won't have been for nothing.
"Kudo will definitely be interested in a mystery like this too. But