Before Gin dragged him to work overtime.
Jiang Ye was on his way to Kinoshita Yoko’s film set.
He needed to create an opportunity to get close to Kinoshita Yoko.
Because he had to touch the Ghost Fetus.
And judging from the shows of the past few days, the Ghost Fetus had always quietly coiled around Kinoshita Yoko’s wrist.
If the Ghost Fetus was relatively weak or docile, Jiang Ye could use the method of “grab and run” to directly abduct it home.
But if the Ghost Fetus was stronger than he thought… he would have to first investigate the specific situation, then formulate a plan, and proceed slowly.
...
Jiang Ye had checked Kinoshita Yoko’s publicly announced schedule. Recently, she had no fan meet-and-greets.
If he directly went to the company to ambush her… their company’s security was quite strong. If he caused a big scene and a commotion, Jiang Ye risked going to the police station for tea.
And as a member of the Black Organization, “imminent imprisonment” was roughly equivalent to “imminent execution by Gin.”
That workaholic was truly skilled at killing his own people. He absolutely could not give Gin a chance to shoot...
In short, it was best to “resolve it privately” with Kinoshita Yoko.
...
Yamahira Town, next to the abandoned building.
Kinoshita Yoko and her Manager were sitting in the car, planning to leave for their next announcement once the assistant returned with their things.
This was the set for Kinoshita Yoko’s new drama, a hot-blooded high school themed TV series. The director had very realistically chosen a place where delinquents often gathered.
In the past, the delinquents and the crew members kept to themselves and were very well-behaved.
But today, the situation had become a bit different.
The Manager looked through the car window and saw a group of unfamiliar hooligans carrying baseball bats, straddling motorcycles, and aggressively roaming around, as if they were ambushing someone.
When the hooligans dispersed to search.
The Manager saw a suspicious-looking young handsome man, highly likely the target of the hooligans, avoid the crowd and quickly run towards their car.
This person was Jiang Ye.
The Manager didn’t recognize him. She frowned, guessing that this person was probably cornered and wanted to hitch a ride in their car to escape. She didn’t want to interfere and intended to refuse.
Unexpectedly, when Jiang Ye approached and spoke, he didn’t say “help” nor did he plead.
Instead, he said: “I’m the paparazzi who’s been following you recently.”
Manager, Kinoshita Yoko: “...?”
Under their shocked and puzzled gazes, Jiang Ye looked at Kinoshita Yoko and whispered, “Sister, you’ve had an abortion, haven’t you?”
As he spoke, he shook a disc in his hand, giving them the false impression that it was evidence.
The Manager was startled and looked at Kinoshita Yoko hesitantly.
Just then, a golden-haired hooligan, who was leading the ambush, glanced over from ten meters away and saw Jiang Ye by the car.
He let out an arrogant whistle, twisted the throttle. The motorcycle roared closer, and the golden-haired man let out an excited shout, swinging a bat at Jiang Ye.
Jiang Ye dodged sideways. The golden-haired man’s motorcycle couldn’t brake and sped far away.
Jiang Ye glanced over there, then looked back into the car, his speed of speech quickening:
“Those are people hired by a rival newspaper. If my stuff falls into their hands, the price will only be higher—help me escape now, and these materials will be 40% off for you.”
The Manager frowned, not entirely convinced.
But then, Kinoshita Yoko looked at Jiang Ye through the car window, then at the hooligans ambushing him, and suddenly said, “Let him in.”
The Manager was stunned. A moment later, she sharply turned her head: “Yoko, you wouldn’t really…?! ”
Kinoshita Yoko’s tone was gentle but firm as she repeated:
“Let him in.”
— — — —
Five minutes later.
Jiang Ye sat in the back row, holding his fake documents, looking well-behaved.
Kinoshita Yoko’s car was driving on the road towards the city center.
The Manager gripped the steering wheel, irritably holding a cigarette and sneering: “Kid, you’ve got some guts. I let you in, and you actually dared to get in—didn’t you ask where I’m taking you?”
Jiang Ye also knew he was being a bit underhanded today, so he considerately followed her lead and asked, “Where?”
“Tokyo Bay.” The Manager took a deep drag from her cigarette with a profound look, then slowly exhaled the smoke, saying with immense gravitas, “Tonight, there’s going to be another block of cement in Tokyo Bay.”
Jiang Ye: “...”
He continued in that good-student tone, earnestly saying, “You’re all good people, you wouldn’t do that.”
The Manager let out two short sounds: “Heh heh.”
After shaking off the tail and getting onto the main road.
The Manager glanced at Jiang Ye in the rearview mirror and asked about the price of the materials in his hand.
Such big news, whether true or false, it’s always right to stabilize the person first.
“Fifty thousand, I guess.” Jiang Ye actually gave a dirt-cheap price, then added a request as if embarrassed:
“Can I talk to Miss Yoko alone? After following her for so long, I’ve discovered so many charming qualities about her. Now I actually admire her a lot, otherwise I wouldn’t have held onto the information and refused to release it.”
The Manager pondered the meaning of Jiang Ye’s words and was shocked.
Paparazzi turning into a fan?
And from the sound of it, he wanted to use his idol’s dirt to exchange for some precious alone time with her?
The Manager secretly snickered at him through the rearview mirror.
The little paparazzi had a beautiful idea, talking alone, giving you a chance to use your charm to bewilder the idol?
She decisively refused.
But her teammate—Kinoshita Yoko thought for a moment and said, “Okay.”
Manager: “...”
She almost ran a red light, slamming on the brakes just before crossing the line, glaring at her own artist in the rearview mirror, as if saying, “You’re hopeless.”
Kinoshita Yoko met her gaze firmly.
After more than ten seconds of silence, the Manager sighed and averted her eyes.
...
A moment later, the Manager parked the car in a relatively secluded spot and got out herself: “I’ll give you five minutes.”
Then she turned to Kinoshita Yoko: “Explain it clearly to me afterwards.”
With that, she slammed the car door shut.
The car’s sound insulation was decent.
Jiang Ye looked through the car window at the Manager standing on the street, irritably lighting a cigarette, then turned to Kinoshita Yoko next to him and confessed, “Sorry, I actually don’t have any dirt on you.”
Kinoshita Yoko wasn’t angry. She leaned back against the seat and smiled serenely: “I know.”
She had indeed miscarried. But it was a natural miscarriage, and at that time, she had a fatalistic attitude and never went to a Hospital.
So just now, when Jiang Ye pulled out the “disc containing evidence,” Kinoshita Yoko knew that this young man was fabricating things.
But she still let Jiang Ye get in the car.
On one hand, she saw that he wasn’t very old, and it would be a pity if he were beaten disabled by the hooligans, so she wanted to help him out.
On the other hand, she had something else she wanted to ask.
She looked at Jiang Ye and hesitated before speaking: “Have you… really been following me recently?”
Recently, Kinoshita Yoko had encountered an unidentified stalker and suffered a series of deranged harassments: not only threatening letters and calls, but That Person even entered her home and moved her furniture without permission.
Kinoshita Yoko had originally planned to hire a Detective to investigate.
But just now, when she met Jiang Ye, she suddenly thought: if That Stalker was Jiang Ye, then having an open conversation with him might resolve the matter.
...
At this moment, the “stalking suspect” was sitting next to her, and Kinoshita Yoko had already prepared her words.
However, when the words reached her lips, she turned to meet Jiang Ye’s eyes, which at first glance seemed very clear, and found herself unable to ask, “Are you that perverted stalker who’s been harassing me?”
Kinoshita Yoko: “...” I heard that today’s minors are more fragile than eggshells.
What if Jiang Ye actually didn’t do it? If she asked like that, and Jiang Ye then developed a chuunibyou thought like, “Since you all think I’m bad, then I’ll really be a bad person!”...
She would simply be harming herself and others, committing a grave sin.
...
Jiang Ye sat next to her, watching Kinoshita Yoko hesitate to speak, then want to speak again... After a minute, she still said nothing.
Jiang Ye was inevitably a little puzzled.
However, from Kinoshita Yoko’s question just now, he did guess some things.
Many details in this world are actually different from the “Detective Conan” that Jiang Ye had seen.
For example, this Kinoshita Yoko, and her very appealing Manager.
But many more things were the same.
For example, Jiang Ye had a Detective classmate named Kudo Shinichi.
And for example, Kudo Shinichi had a beautiful, cute, and steel-plate-punching childhood friend. This was also Jiang Ye’s classmate, named Mouri Ran.
According to Jiang Ye’s “prophecy,” one day in the future, Kudo Shinichi would be ambushed by Gin, drugged, and tragically turn into Conan.
Then Conan would move into Mouri Ran’s Detective Agency, live with Mouri Ran, and solve cases along the way.
Among those cases, one was “Miss Yoko’s” request regarding a stalker.
Although there were differences in time and not all the details were the same.
Jiang Ye still instinctively felt that the Kinoshita Yoko in front of him was that “Miss Yoko” who was harassed by a stalker.
...
The time the Manager left them for conversation was not generous.
After understanding, Jiang Ye didn’t let Kinoshita Yoko continue to hesitate. He took the initiative to speak: “You want to ask about the stalker?”
Kinoshita Yoko was startled.
“...” She hadn’t said anything yet, and Jiang Ye already knew. Could it be… was the stalker really him?!
Jiang Ye looked at her startled expression and waved his hand, “It’s not me.”
Kinoshita Yoko: “...” Huh?
Jiang Ye started talking nonsense: “But when I was following you, I did see suspicious people.” He suggested, “How about I help you solve this matter—as a thank you for letting me hitch a ride just now.”
Kinoshita Yoko looked at him, thinking: Is this lost youth planning to switch from paparazzi to Detective?
Kinoshita Yoko was, after all, a resident of the Detective world. In her eyes, being a Detective was indeed a proper path.
Although Jiang Ye sounded like a novice, Kinoshita Yoko hesitated for a moment, then nodded: “Okay.”
On one hand, it was because she didn’t want to dampen Jiang Ye’s enthusiasm for changing careers.
On the other hand… she had originally planned to find a Detective to solve it. And now, with Jiang Ye, who had personally seen “the stalker,” helping, it might be resolved faster.
...
After they agreed, Kinoshita Yoko gave Jiang Ye her private phone number and address.
Jiang Ye carefully wrote them down, then naturally extended his hand to her, indicating a handshake.
This was his original purpose. He glanced out of the corner of his eye at the “jelly bracelet” on Kinoshita Yoko’s wrist, that Ghost Fetus invisible to ordinary people.
Kinoshita Yoko didn’t think much of it and raised her hand to shake his.
Originally, according to where the little Ghost Infant was lying, such a handshake would allow Jiang Ye to touch it perfectly.
Unexpectedly, the Ghost Infant seemed to dislike Jiang Ye very much. When Kinoshita Yoko raised her hand, it quietly moved back a little.
Immediately, it became out of reach.