Kudo Shinichi's Vengeful Spirit — Please Vote (v)

Jiang Xia did not actually have any strange hobby like "beating people up."

He simply liked the feeling of gradually knocking killing intent loose and fluffy, like fluffing cotton.

And this time, there was also a Leg-Clinging Shikigami attached to the librarian's leg. Buy one, get one free—Jiang Xia had only gotten a little carried away and hit him somewhat too hard.

Just now, while he had been knocking all the killing intent out in the dark, several frozen children had appeared beside Jiang Xia.

—At first, the Detective Boys had stayed upstairs and dared not move because Jiang Xia told them to "stay where you are."

But the librarian's howls were simply too miserable. Conan listened for a minute with his conscience weighing on him, then genuinely worried someone might die and ran down the stairs.

The other three children instinctively followed.

When they reached the first floor, Conan shone his Flashlight around, and the four of them saw Tsugawa, the Librarian's wretched state.

...They should have stopped him.

But the Library was so dark, the screams were so terrifying, and Jiang Xia was so...

In the end, no one except Conan dared to move.

And when it came to "stopping someone from being beaten," Conan could only function as a leg accessory.

...So the librarian ended up like this.

Still, while beating people was bad, it had indeed improved efficiency.

—When the police arrived, the librarian pounced on them as though he had seen family. Sobbing and sniffling, he answered whatever they asked.

And so, Inspector Megure not only found the body without difficulty, but also seized a pile of hidden drugs from the Children's Library Room.

Inspector Megure looked at the smoothly solved drug trafficking, murder, and corpse-hiding case. Then he looked at Jiang Xia beside him. Along with his relief, he suddenly felt a strong sense of Déjà vu.

So he laughed heartily. "Brother Jiang Xia, have you really been possessed by Kudo or something?"

It had only been a joke.

Who knew Jiang Xia would glance at him, hum thoughtfully, and nod. "That's true. Lately, I've occasionally felt dazed. There's always a voice telling me to hurry to a certain place and take a look. When I go there, a Murder Case appears..."

Conan, who had been innocently dragged into this, abruptly turned his head and stared at him in shock.

As Kudo Shinichi himself, Conan was certain he had never whispered any demonic suggestions into Jiang Xia's ear.

Hearing that, he could not help suspecting that not only had Jiang Xia's depression not improved, but that he had developed some strange complications.

Conan: "..." Come to think of it, Jiang Xia was rather frightening when he beat criminals, too. Just now, while beating the librarian, Jiang Xia had actually let out a soft laugh. Conan had broken out in a cold sweat at the time, and immediately forgave the three classmates who had refused to come help him stop it—honestly, even he, a high school student, had wanted to run from Jiang Xia when he was "Acting Righteously," let alone three Elementary School Students...

While Conan recalled the scene with lingering fear,

Inspector Megure beside him was also pale with fright.

—His comment about a "Vengeful Spirit possessing someone" had merely been a joke. He had never expected Jiang Xia to actually have a similar experience.

Just then, the air conditioner turned in their direction, and a gust of cold air blew past.

In Inspector Megure's mind, an image abruptly surfaced: Kudo Shinichi, his face blue-white, clinging to his shoulder and eerily blowing cold air onto his neck.

He instantly broke out in a cold sweat and looked at Jiang Xia. "...W-what?!"

"Nothing. I was just joking. You didn't actually believe that, did you, Inspector?"

Jiang Xia put away his serious expression and smiled at him. "This world is materialistic. Ghosts and monsters don't exist. Besides, didn't I say before—I came here to return books, not because I heard Kudo calling me."

Inspector Megure: "..."

As though nothing had happened, he adjusted his Hat and gave a dry laugh. "I know. I was only playing along with you, hahahaha."

Ordinarily, as a police officer, he would not believe in such things.

But Jiang Xia's tone had been far too serious. Combined with the gloomy, strange environment here...

Inspector Megure covered his pounding heart and sighed.

This Shin-chan was more low-key than Kudo, humbler than Kudo, and better at fighting than Kudo, but somehow, he always felt there was something a little off about him...

It was already getting late, and the witnesses were all children.

Inspector Megure therefore had someone take the frightened children home first so they could rest properly, then come to the Police Station later to give their Statements.

After seeing off three children with Face Full Of blankness, along with one child who looked like he wanted to say something but held it back,

Inspector Megure turned to Jiang Xia again.

He remembered that Jiang Xia enjoyed giving Statements, and intended to let him work overtime. "You..."

"I'll go with them." Jiang Xia had already walked out the door. He went to his Motorcycle and picked up his Helmet. "One of the children lives fairly close to me, so we can go together."

In Jiang Xia's view, every member of the Detective Boys possessed an extremely powerful Case Magnet Constitution.

Perhaps he could harvest something else if he traveled with them...

Besides, the employee killed by the librarian this time might have been oppressed by his superior for too long, leaving behind rather humble obsessions. After Jiang Xia beat the librarian for a while, it had become satisfied and dropped down.

So there were currently no souls waiting for Jiang Xia to collect at the Police Station. Naturally, he had no particular attachment to giving a Statement.

The children still had school, so their schedules were somewhat uncertain.

When the day they had arranged with the Police Station arrived,

Jiang Xia changed clothes and headed out. Taking a slight detour, he came to the Mouri Detective Agency.

The three children were waiting downstairs from Conan.

When they saw Jiang Xia approaching, the children, who had been drowsy just moments earlier, snapped to attention. Holding Umbrellas, they stood ramrod straight in the rain.

Jiang Xia's gaze swept over them, and he somehow felt that the next second, he would hear a familiar greeting: "Good morning, Boss!"

By the roadside, the Detective Boys stood at attention while secretly peeking at Jiang Xia.

They might be little brats, but they were only in first grade. When they fought classmates, they at most threw a few punches or kicked once, and a teacher would quickly pull them apart.

In other words...this was their first time seeing Jiang Xia beat someone as though he meant to kill them.

Moreover, when they left the Library that night, Conan felt his classmates had become overly nervous, so he had uncertainly comforted them by saying Jiang Xia only hit bad guys.

The brats went over those words in their heads and swiftly reached a conclusion.

—They absolutely could not let Jiang Xia see them as bad guys.

They had to be obedient, polite, harmless good children, like flowers.

Thus, facing Jiang Xia as he stopped beside them, the three greeted him loudly in unison. "Good morning!"

Jiang Xia nodded. "Good morning."

He thought with satisfaction that when little brats were not acting like little brats, they really did not look quite so punchable.

The children were speaking too loudly, and their voices drifted upward. Two heads soon poked out from the second floor of the Mouri Detective Agency.