Conan chased after him, watching closely. For a moment, he couldn't tell if Jangxia Tongzhi was sleepwalking or just hadn't fully woken up yet.
But it didn't matter. Either way, the whole "wake a sleepwalker and they'll go crazy" thing? Total rumor. In fact, letting a sleepwalker wander around on their own is often more dangerous.
Of course, there's a right way to wake someone.
You definitely want to avoid "shaking them hard" or other grabby methods—confused sleepwalkers can mistake physical contact as an attack and respond… accordingly.
Which might be fine if it's someone else.
But Jangxia…
Conan recalled those poor suspects who ended up with black eyes and puffed-up faces after "accidentally" crossing Jangxia. The way they clung to the police like long-lost family members said it all. He silently pulled his hand back, stepped away carefully, and decided to wake him the safe way—with loud, obnoxious noise.
A shrill, sudden sound was usually the least risky.
…
Jangxia wandered toward his room for a bit.
He sensed that Takahashi Ryoichi had almost bolted, so he flicked Conan lightly on the head, silencing the boy who had started shrieking like a malfunctioning kettle, then turned and headed back toward Ran Mouri's room.
All that noise in the middle of the night had, predictably, woken everyone else up too. They gathered in Ran's room, groggy and confused.
Takahashi Ryoichi, now wearing a fresh outfit, slipped out of the vacant room next door and blended into the group, pretending he'd just been awakened by all the commotion.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Jangxia heading over. Ryoichi nervously ran a hand through his thick hair, grateful that Jangxia's earlier hit had landed on the side of his head—at least the bruise wouldn't show.
…
Once everyone realized that a possible threat had entered the villa, sleep was officially canceled.
Some people went out to check the balcony for clues, hoping to find signs of the mysterious bandaged man. Others huddled together whispering wild theories, none of which went anywhere productive.
Conan leaned close to Jangxia and whispered, "It's raining outside. If the bandaged person had climbed up to the balcony and entered the room from there, they'd definitely leave muddy footprints. But the floor's clean—only a little rainwater got in…"
He didn't need to say the rest. He knew Jangxia would get it. The bandaged man who attacked Ran wasn't an outsider—they were someone inside the villa.
And an enemy inside is way more dangerous than one outside. You can't guard against that.
But Jangxia clearly wasn't the culprit.
If nothing else, the fact that Jangxia and the bandaged man had shown up at the same time proved it. He couldn't clone himself, after all.
Jangxia replied half-heartedly, "Hmm."
He glanced sideways at Conan. Ever since that KTV incident, Conan had been giving him this "I know you know I'm Kudo Shinichi" vibe.
But if Kudou-kun wanted to accidentally reveal himself, who was Jangxia to stop him?
Still, now wasn't the time. Takahashi was still radiating a murderous aura like he was trying to cook someone with his eyeballs.
So instead of theorizing, Jangxia pointed out the elephant in the room—or rather, the absence of one. "Hey. Where's Miss Ikeda?"
He said it loud enough for everyone to hear.
People blinked, glanced around at each other, and then rushed to check Tomokako Ikeda's room.
Empty. No sign of struggle. No blood. Just a set of rumpled pajamas on the bed and all her luggage still neatly in place, like she'd just walked out on her own.
The long-haired pretty boy tried to reason it out. Suddenly, his eyes widened. "Could the bandaged person be Chikako?! She's always been a bit odd. I heard a lot of novelists have eccentric quirks. Maybe she just snapped and decided to become a bandaged murderer…"
Conan cut in before the theory went completely off the rails. "The bandaged person was way bigger than Chikako."
He held out his arms to demonstrate. "When I grabbed him, I wrapped my arms around his waist—it was really thick."
Unfortunately, no one took the child seriously.
The whole "Chikako = bandaged person" theory was quietly discarded.
But what they did agree on was that a classmate vanishing into thin air was definitely a red flag.
So out came the flashlights, and the group split up to search the nearby woods.
Jangxia followed Ran and Sonoko.
Partly because he was more familiar with them. Partly to make sure Takahashi Ryoichi didn't get anywhere near Ran with his axe-chopping urges.
Takahashi, true to form, was indeed considering "silencing" someone.
But as soon as he saw Jangxia walking right next to Ran, he hesitated. The memory of Jangxia casually kicking down a reinforced door earlier was still fresh in his mind. It had taken him several tries to even open that door during his recon. Jangxia just booted it open like it was made of cardboard. Yeah, no thanks.
Besides, his head still throbbed from that pillow Jangxia had chucked at him. A pillow. The concussion probably wasn't great for his murder efficiency.
So instead, Takahashi made a detour back toward the old school building.
While pretending to be out of breath and slowly lagging behind the others, Takahashi slipped away under cover of darkness, heading straight to where he'd left Chikako Ikeda.
He retrieved the axe he'd flung away in panic earlier, found Chikako waiting in the distance, and without a word, took her head off in one swing. Then he chopped up the rest of the body.
The dismemberment wasn't just for stress relief. He needed her head for his alibi.
Takahashi tossed the body parts aside. Then he pulled out the padding from under his shirt—what had looked like a beer belly all along—and stuffed Chikako's head inside.
With that done, he re-wrapped the front of his shirt.
From the outside, he still looked like regular ol' Takahashi, beer belly and all.
No one would guess that underneath, he was smuggling a human head.
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 30 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 30/50(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS*