A Hundred Ways to Get Close to a Celebrity

Before Gin dragged him off to work overtime.

Jiang Xia was on his way to "the film set where Kinoshita Yoko was shooting."

—He needed to create an opportunity to get close to Kinoshita Yoko.

Because he needed to touch the Ghost Fetus.

Judging from the shows over the past few days, the Ghost Fetus had remained quietly coiled around Kinoshita Yoko's wrist.

If the Ghost Fetus was weak or mild-tempered, Jiang Xia could simply grab it and run, taking it straight home.

But if the Ghost Fetus was stronger than he expected... he would have to investigate the situation first, make a plan, and proceed gradually.

Jiang Xia had checked Kinoshita Yoko's public schedule. She had no fan meet-and-greets planned anytime soon.

If he went straight to her company to wait for her... their security was quite tight. If he caused too much of a scene and drew attention, Jiang Xia risked being invited to the Police Station for some drinking tea.

And as a member of the Black Organization, "about to go to prison" was practically equivalent to "about to be silenced by Gin."

The Model Worker was far too skilled at killing his own people. He absolutely could not give Gin a chance to pull the trigger...

In short, it would be best to settle things with Kinoshita Yoko in private.

Yamahira Town, beside an abandoned building.

Kinoshita Yoko and her manager sat in the car, planning to head to their next appointment once the assistant returned with their things.

This was the set for Kinoshita Yoko's new drama, a TV series based on Crows Zero. In the interest of realism, the Director had chosen a place where delinquents gathered.

In the past, the delinquents and the Crew Members had kept to their own sides and behaved themselves.

But today, things were different.

—Through the car window, the manager saw a group of unfamiliar punks carrying baseball bats and straddling Motorcycles as they prowled around menacingly, as though they were waiting to ambush someone.

While the punks split up to search.

The manager spotted a handsome young man who looked suspiciously like their target. Avoiding the crowd, he hurried toward their car.

That person was Jiang Xia.

The manager did not recognize him. She frowned, guessing that he had been cornered with nowhere to run and was hoping to hitch a ride in their car. She had no desire to get involved and intended to refuse him.

Yet when Jiang Xia approached, he did not cry, "Help!" nor did he beg.

Instead, he said, "I'm the paparazzo who's been following you recently."

The manager and Kinoshita Yoko: "...?"

Under their shocked and puzzled gazes, Jiang Xia looked at Kinoshita Yoko and said quietly, "Miss, you've had an abortion before, haven't you?"

As he spoke, he waved a CD in his hand, creating the illusion that it contained evidence.

The manager froze and hesitantly looked at Kinoshita Yoko.

Just then, over ten meters away, the blond punk leading the ambush swept his eyes around and spotted Jiang Xia beside the car.

He let out an arrogant whistle and twisted the throttle. The Motorcycle roared closer, and the blond shouted excitedly as he swung a stick at Jiang Xia.

Jiang Xia sidestepped. The blond's Motorcycle could not brake in time and shot far past him.

Jiang Xia glanced in that direction before turning back to the car, his speech quickening.

"Those are people hired by a rival Newspaper Agency. If my material falls into their hands, they'll charge even more—help me get away now, and I'll give you a forty percent discount on this information."

The manager frowned. She did not really believe him.

But then Kinoshita Yoko looked at Jiang Xia through the window, then at the punks blocking the road, and suddenly said, "Let him in."

The manager stared blankly. A moment later, she whipped her head around. "Yoko, don't tell me you really...?!"

Kinoshita Yoko's voice was gentle, but she repeated herself firmly.

"Let him in."

Five minutes later.

Jiang Xia sat obediently in the backseat, holding his fake documents.

Kinoshita Yoko's car was heading toward the city.

The manager gripped the Steering Wheel, a cigarette hanging from her lips as she sneered irritably. "You've got some nerve, kid. We let you in, and you actually got in—aren't you going to ask where I'm taking you?"

Jiang Xia knew he had been somewhat unscrupulous today, so he thoughtfully followed her lead and asked, "Where?"

"Tokyo Bay." The manager took a profound drag from her cigarette, slowly exhaled Smoke, and said in an incomparably grave tone, "Tonight, there'll be another block of cement in Tokyo Bay."

Jiang Xia: "..."

He continued in that good-student tone, saying sincerely, "You're both good people. You wouldn't do that."

The manager squeezed out two curt syllables. "Heh heh."

After shaking off their tail and getting onto the main road.

The manager glanced at Jiang Xia through the Rearview Mirror and asked how much he wanted for the information in his hands.

...Whether it was real or not, with news this huge, keeping him placated was definitely the right move.

"Fifty thousand." Jiang Xia named an absurdly low price, then added a request as though embarrassed. "Can I talk to Miss Yoko alone? I've followed her for a long time and noticed that she has many charming qualities. I actually admire her now. Otherwise, I wouldn't have kept this information to myself instead of selling it."

The manager considered the meaning behind Jiang Xia's words and was stunned.

...A paparazzo had become a fan?

And from the sound of it, he wanted to trade his idol's dirt for some precious alone time with her?

The manager secretly glanced at Jiang Xia through the Rearview Mirror and mentally spat at him.

The little paparazzo had quite the fantasy. Talk alone? As if she would give him the chance to seduce her idol with his looks.

She decisively refused.

But her teammate—Kinoshita Yoko—thought for a moment before saying, "All right."

The manager: "..."

She nearly ran a red light, slamming on the Brake just before the line. Through the Rearview Mirror, she glared at her artist in Hate Iron for Not Becoming Steel.

Kinoshita Yoko met her gaze firmly.

After more than ten seconds of silence, the manager sighed and looked away.

A moment later, the manager parked the car somewhere relatively secluded and got out. "You have five minutes."

Then she turned to Kinoshita Yoko. "Afterward, explain everything to me."

With that, she slammed the car door shut.

The car had decent soundproofing.

Through the window, Jiang Xia looked at the manager standing by the roadside, lighting a cigarette in frustration, then turned to Kinoshita Yoko beside him and admitted, "Sorry, I don't actually have any dirt on you."

Kinoshita Yoko did not get angry. Leaning back against the Chair Back, she smiled serenely. "I know."

She had indeed miscarried before. But it had been a natural miscarriage, and at the time, she had been so resigned to fate that she had never gone to the hospital.

So the moment Jiang Xia produced a "CD containing evidence," Kinoshita Yoko knew that this young man was making things up out of thin air.

Yet she had still let Jiang Xia into the car.

On one hand, he was still young, and it would have been a pity if the punks crippled him with their bats. She had wanted to save him while she could.

On the other hand, there was something else she wanted to ask.

She looked at Jiang Xia and hesitated before speaking. "Have you... really been following me lately?"

—Recently, Kinoshita Yoko had encountered an unidentified stalker and suffered a series of deranged harassments. There had not only been Threatening Letters and threatening phone calls; the person had even entered her home and moved her furniture without permission.

Kinoshita Yoko had originally planned to hire a Detective to investigate.

But when she met Jiang Xia just now, a thought had suddenly occurred to her: if Jiang Xia was the "stalker," then perhaps being frank and having a talk with him could resolve the matter once and for all.

At that moment, the "suspected stalker" was sitting right beside her, and Kinoshita Yoko had already prepared her words.

Yet when the words reached her lips and she turned to meet Jiang Xia's seemingly clear eyes, she found herself unable to ask something like, "Are you the perverted stalker harassing me?"

Kinoshita Yoko: "..." She had heard that minors these days were more fragile than eggshells.

What if Jiang Xia had not actually done it? If she asked him that, he might develop some edgy thought like, "Since you all think I'm bad, I might as well become a bad person for real!"...

She would be harming both him and herself. What a terrible sin.

Sitting beside her, Jiang Xia watched Kinoshita Yoko start to speak, stop, then start again... After a minute, she still had not said anything.

He could not help feeling a little confused.

However, from Kinoshita Yoko's earlier question, he had guessed part of what was going on.

Many details of this world were actually different from the Detective Conan he had seen.

—For instance, this Kinoshita Yoko, and her very striking female manager.

But even more things were the same.

For instance, Jiang Xia had a Detective classmate named Kudo Shinichi.

And Kudo Shinichi had a beautiful, adorable Childhood Sweetheart who could punch straight through a Steel Plate. She was also Jiang Xia's classmate, named Mouri Ran.

According to Jiang Xia's "prophecy," one day in the future, Kudo Shinichi would be knocked out by Gin, force-fed a drug, and tragically turned into Conan.

Then Conan would move into the Detective Agency at Mouri Ran's home, live with Mouri Ran, and solve cases along the way.

One of those cases would be Miss Yoko's request regarding a stalker.

Although the timing was different and the details did not entirely match.

Jiang Xia still intuitively felt that the Kinoshita Yoko before him was the same Miss Yoko who had been harassed by a stalker.

The manager had not given them much time to talk.

Having figured it out, Jiang Xia did not let Kinoshita Yoko continue agonizing over it. He took the initiative and asked, "You want to ask about the stalker?"

Kinoshita Yoko froze.

"..." She had not said anything, yet Jiang Xia already knew. Could it be... the stalker really was him?!

Seeing her startled expression, Jiang Xia waved his hand. "It wasn't me."

Kinoshita Yoko: "..." Hm?

Jiang Xia began making things up. "But I did see someone suspicious while I was following you." He suggested, "How about I help you solve this matter—as thanks for letting me ride in your car earlier."

Kinoshita Yoko looked at him, thinking, Is this wayward youth planning to switch careers from paparazzo to Detective?

After all, Kinoshita Yoko lived in a world of detectives. In her eyes, being a Detective was indeed a respectable path.

Although Jiang Xia sounded like a novice, Kinoshita Yoko hesitated briefly before nodding. "All right."

On one hand, she did not want to discourage Jiang Xia's enthusiasm for changing careers.

On the other hand... she had already planned to hire a Detective. Now that Jiang Xia, someone who had personally seen the "stalker," was helping, perhaps the matter could be handled faster.

After they reached an agreement, Kinoshita Yoko gave Jiang Xia her private phone number and address.

Jiang Xia carefully memorized them, then naturally Reached Out his hand to indicate a handshake.

—This had been his goal all along. From the corner of his eye, he looked at the Jelly Bracelet on Kinoshita Yoko's wrist, the Ghost Fetus that ordinary people could not see.

Kinoshita Yoko did not think much of it and raised her hand to shake his.

Originally, based on where the little Ghost Infant was lying, this handshake would have allowed Jiang Xia to touch it perfectly.

But unexpectedly, the Ghost Infant seemed to find Jiang Xia very unpleasant. As Kinoshita Yoko raised her hand, it silently shifted back a little.

...And suddenly, he could no longer reach it.