So Jealous—No, This Is So Unfair

So Jealous... No, This Is So Unfair

Jiang Xia: "..."

He froze for a second, then gritted his teeth and reached across the boundary, poking the Ghost Fetus.

...A stabbing pain struck instantly, as though his fingertip had rolled through a pile of needles.

Jiang Xia's eye twitched, and he quickly pulled his hand back.

...It was worse than he had expected.

Plan A: forcibly snatch it away first, then take it home and slowly reform it—could now be marked with an "X."

"..." Choosing to keep Kinoshita Yoko's contact information earlier had indeed been the right decision...

Kinoshita Yoko was also stunned.

She couldn't see the Ghost Fetus, so from her perspective, Jiang Xia's action... seemed somewhat inappropriate.

What normal person shook hands by grabbing someone else's wrist?

However, as an actress skilled at reading expressions, she had also noticed the look of resistance on Jiang Xia's face when he withdrew his hand—he seemed to dislike this as well.

"..." Kinoshita Yoko had been reading too many artsy scripts lately. After spacing out for a moment, she immediately imagined a whole string of strange emotional journeys.

For example: in order to properly play the role of a "Delinquent," he had deliberately flirted with an innocent idol, yet inwardly despised such behavior, so he had withdrawn his hand in disgust...

In short, he was a wayward youth constantly teetering on the edge of corruption.

When she saw Jiang Xia about to leave, Kinoshita Yoko didn't have time to think. She reached out and yanked him back.

To make sure she caught him, Kinoshita Yoko had reached pretty far out.

Jiang Xia spun around from her pull, and the Ghost Infant, which had not yet crawled far away, happened to spread over the back of his hand.

...It felt as though someone had poured a Teapot of boiling water over him. Jiang Xia's ears buzzed from the pain, but he forced himself not to let his expression collapse.

Fortunately, the Ghost Infant didn't like the contact either. It soon crawled away while grumbling and cursing.

The pain immediately lessened.

Kinoshita Yoko knew nothing about what had just happened.

She rummaged through the Armrest Box, grabbed a handful of colorful crystal candies, and placed them in Jiang Xia's palm.

Then, like she was coaxing a younger brother, she patted his arm and casually fed him a bowl of chicken soup. In a gentle voice, she said, "Go on. Stop forcing yourself to be a Delinquent—being a Detective is a good job. I'm sure you'll succeed."

Jiang Xia: "...?"

He stood there in a daze, unable to figure out why Miss Yoko would say that.

In the end, he could only pretend none of it had happened. He withdrew his hand while holding the candy, left behind the "evidence" CD, and took his leave.

After Jiang Xia left.

The manager returned to the car, locked the doors again, and turned to look at Kinoshita Yoko in the back seat.

Kinoshita Yoko smiled at her with a relaxed expression and handed over the CD. "He was just panicking and found an excuse to hitch a ride—this CD contains study materials he burned."

The manager's temple twitched. Her blood pressure shot up, and she nearly crushed the CD in one hand.

But... he had found an excuse.

That meant Yoko really hadn't had an abortion, right?

The manager let out a heavy sigh of relief.

As long as there was no scandalous material, it was fine.

She inserted the car key, started the engine, and drove away. At the same time, she tiredly complained to Kinoshita Yoko about Jiang Xia. "That kid really loves causing trouble for other people. He provoked those Hooligans himself, yet he had to drag us into it."

"People have strong Survival Instincts." Kinoshita Yoko's calm voice came from the back seat. "It's like how some people say, 'If you're kidnapped, smash a passerby's belongings. That way, the passerby who suffers a financial loss won't stand by and do nothing.' It harms innocent people's interests, but it's only to survive. It's hard to condemn them."

"...You've only known him for a few minutes, and you're already making excuses for him." The manager's temples throbbed again as she muttered under her breath.

Kinoshita Yoko listened carefully for a while and vaguely heard the manager angrily cursing, "Fox Spirit."

She couldn't help laughing, but said nothing more. She picked up the novel beside her, which she had only read halfway through.

The novel had been given to her by that old Director: Youth That Never Returns, an artsy, passionate, chicken-soup-for-the-soul story.

At first, it felt embarrassingly melodramatic and silly.

But after reading more, she had been assimilated by it and began to feel that it was a masterpiece for the ages.

At that moment, Kinoshita Yoko was sentimentally thinking: Seventeen or eighteen was exactly the age when one dared to do anything, when it was never too late to do anything. You only got that chance once in a lifetime.

If Jiang Xia truly returned to the right path someday, then she could count herself as a witness to this miraculous transformation.

Elsewhere.

After getting out of the car, Jiang Xia walked into an alley.

Not long afterward, a string of footsteps appeared behind him—someone had followed him.

Jiang Xia walked to a secluded spot and turned around.

The person who had followed him was the blond thug who had "chased him down" earlier.

The blond carried a Baseball Bat and strode over menacingly.

Then he enthusiastically slung an arm around Jiang Xia's shoulders. "So, Boss, did you get the autograph?"

—As a top idol, Kinoshita Yoko appealed to men and women, young and old alike. Her popularity was especially high among the predominantly male Delinquent crowd.

Therefore, when Jiang Xia had suggested a few days ago, "Let's make up an excuse to ask Miss Yoko for an autograph," it had immediately received an enthusiastic response.

Following Jiang Xia's instructions, the group had disguised themselves as little thugs chasing him down.

Although they didn't really understand what "chasing down the boss" had to do with "asking Miss Yoko for an autograph"... the boss was definitely right! They just had to follow the plan.

Sure enough, not long afterward, they saw Jiang Xia get into Kinoshita Yoko's car.

...As expected of the boss!

After asking about the autograph, the blond didn't wait for Jiang Xia to answer. He furtively looked around, then couldn't help sharing his happy moment with his boss in a low voice.

"When I passed by you just now, I peeked through the window crack. Haha, Miss Yoko looks even more... huh?"

Mid-sentence, he happened to glance down and saw a hideous bluish patch on the back of Jiang Xia's Right Hand. He was instantly shocked.

A moment later, a strange light of envy appeared In the Eyes of the blond. "...Miss Yoko hit you? Did she do it herself?"

Jiang Xia: "..."

Two seconds later, the blond came back to his senses under Jiang Xia's gloomy stare. He cleared his throat guiltily. "I mean... that's way too unfair! Forget not giving you an autograph—she actually hit you!"

The other "People Who Came hired by rival Paparazzi" had been trailing far behind Kinoshita Yoko's car. Now that Jiang Xia had gotten out, they gradually came over to meet up with him as well.

At that moment, hearing the blond howl from afar, they all excitedly gathered around, looking eager to make a move.

—The boss had been cornered in a car and beaten by two beautiful women?

Could they tolerate that?

No!

They had to let them...

Ahem, no.

They had to seek justice for the boss!

Under their burning gazes, Jiang Xia felt that something was very wrong with this group of underlings.

He sighed tiredly. "No one hit me. I bumped it a few days ago." He raised his hand and shook it, revealing the mark where the Ghost Fetus had touched him. "If it had just happened, how could it be this color?"

Jiang Xia really didn't want to see some bizarre report the next day like: "Shocking! Delinquents Storm Entertainment Agency Tower in a Group."

His underlings were rather disappointed by his explanation. "Oh, right."

Their memories were generally poor, and they didn't usually make a habit of staring at other people's hands. For the moment, they couldn't remember what Jiang Xia's hand had looked like a few days ago, so they were fooled.

...Crisis averted.

The underlings happily returned to the earlier topic. "Miss Yoko is so cute!... Oh, right, Boss, what fake information did you use to get into her car?" ...They wanted to learn it too.

Jiang Xia casually brushed them off. "I photoshopped a report card showing she got zeroes in everything and threatened to expose her for low intelligence if she didn't give me an autograph. Then she called me into the car and lectured me all the way about being honest."

As he spoke, Jiang Xia reached into his pocket and took out the candy Kinoshita Yoko had given him. "She was too cute in person. I was so busy looking at her that I forgot to ask for an autograph. Before I got out, she gave me some candy. Make do and split it among yourselves."

"Oh!" The Delinquents were overjoyed. To them, between a formulaic autograph and sweet candy, candy was naturally the more memorable keepsake.

The large handful of candy disappeared in an instant.

Only one piece remained in Jiang Xia's pocket.

But he didn't intend to eat it. The candy carried Kinoshita Yoko's scent, so he could keep it as a souvenir and use it to coax the Ghost Fetus later. The principle was probably similar to preparing Cat toys before adopting a Cat.

Jiang Xia had originally gone after the Ghost Fetus today.

But judging from their contact just now, the little Ghost Infant's obsession ran deep. It couldn't be easily picked up and taken away.

Still, it hadn't been a complete loss.

—At the moment of contact, Jiang Xia had discovered that the little Ghost Infant's obsession was rather innocent: it wanted to see its biological father and mother living together harmoniously.

...Maybe it had been following Kinoshita Yoko all this time and watched too many foolishly sweet scripts.

Jiang Xia didn't know Kinoshita Yoko's ex-boyfriend, but he had no intention of playing matchmaker for anyone.

To take away this kind of Ghost Fetus, its obsession had to become less profound.

Besides helping them fulfill their wishes, there was another way to accomplish that—let the Ghost Fetus get brutally beaten by reality and realize that what it expected could never happen.

At that thought, Jiang Xia activated his fake "precognitive ability," recalled the plot, and quickly formed a rough plan.

...But he couldn't go immediately. He needed to make some preparations first.

The next day, while washing up in front of the mirror, Jiang Xia discovered that the entire back of his hand had turned blue. Fortunately, it wasn't swollen.

This kind of little Ghost Fetus couldn't harm his spirit, but it could torment his body... mainly because this body had never encountered a real Ghost Fetus before, so it was a little allergic upon first contact.

However, this was about the limit of the damage a Ghost Fetus could inflict on Jiang Xia.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have dared poke it right from the start.

Jiang Xia shook his wrist twice. Finding that it didn't hurt or interfere with movement, he stopped worrying about it, tidied himself up, and prepared to go to school.

Jiang Xia usually only attended school when there was a quiz. The rest of the time, he took sick leave.

However, thanks to his excellent memory and comprehension, his grades were very good.

Although Kudo Shinichi was in his class, many details differed from the anime. Jiang Xia couldn't be sure whether Kudo Shinichi would become Conan, nor did he know whether time in the future would stretch so that one year became longer than twenty... so getting into university was also part of his life plan.

In any case, studying came easily to him. He could remember something after just one glance.

If time didn't get stretched out, then getting into a good university in the future and working his way into the organization's research lab would certainly be more comfortable than being a Peripheral Member who fought and killed.