Among Jiangxia's growing ghost entourage, only two looked vaguely normal: the "pregnant woman" and Xiaobai. They didn't immediately scream strange creature.
But if either of them tried to board the ship, the crew would absolutely lose their minds.
Even if they reluctantly let the pregnant woman on due to "humanitarian policies," someone from the crew would definitely creep by her cabin every few hours, worried she might go into labor mid-ocean. As for Xiaobai... one look and he'd be flagged as a wandering bear child and handed straight to port police for "child rescue."
When will I finally get a normal adult male ghost? Jiangxia sighed inwardly. Preferably one with a hidden tattoo, somewhere besides his face...
He adjusted his sunglasses, then paused, sighing again. A beat later, he pulled them lower—just enough to cover the tattoo under his own eyes.
Driving Miyano Akemi's puppet to the boarding gate, Jiangxia handed over an old banknote and boarded the ship solo, cool as ever.
Once inside the room, he locked the door and dismissed the puppet. He'd patch it back together later if needed.
His consciousness returned to his main body.
Eyes open.
He picked up a novel at random and started flipping through the pages like he had nothing better to do. Now it was just a waiting game until the ship set sail.
…
Ten minutes later, Hattori Heiji arrived at the dock—with Conan in tow.
Most of the random folks drawn in by the quiz flyer had already come and gone. It was nearly time for departure. Heiji walked straight up to the boarding ramp, presented his own set of vintage banknotes, and got waved through by the staff.
He followed the hallway into the lobby. While checking in, Heiji held up the note and casually asked the front desk, "So I can just board with this? That's it?"
The receptionist blinked at him. Her expression twisted slightly.
That question made her suspect this Osaka high school detective hadn't actually cracked the puzzle. Maybe he just heard through the grapevine that "you can board the cruise if you have this old banknote."
That's cheating, isn't it?
Then again, the receptionist figured—who cares? The guest wasn't paying out of her wallet. She quickly smoothed her expression and replied politely, "That's because the gentleman who booked your fare requested it."
Heiji was stunned. The mystery client had chartered an entire ship—just to invite him here to solve a case?
That's... really committed.
What kind of case was this guy trying to solve?
Images of grand conspiracies and tragic heirs from rich families began dancing in Heiji's mind.
A second later, he regained composure and asked, "Where's that gentleman now? I'd like to thank him in person."
Conan perked up at that too, listening.
The receptionist shook her head apologetically. "I've never met him. He called to arrange everything and paid through a bank transfer. There wasn't any personal contact."
"Huh," Heiji muttered.
So even the organizer's identity was a mystery...
Wait. What if this is a test? Maybe the client's hiding among the passengers and wants to see how quickly I can sniff them out.
Detective instincts flaring, Heiji got fired up.
As they left the front desk, Heiji turned to slap his companion's shoulder in friendly rivalry—but had to settle for patting Conan's head due to the height difference.
"Haha! Finally, a showdown without Jiangxia swooping in to steal the answers. Let's do this, Kudo!"
"..." Conan gently peeled Heiji's hand off his head.
Maybe he'd been hanging around Jiangxia too long, but that dramatic speech felt... childish. Still, Conan glanced around subtly. If the client really was on board, they were probably watching.
They dropped off their luggage and did a quick loop around the ship. There were a few other passengers, but not many.
Heiji's previous fantasy of a chartered cruise evaporated instantly. It seemed the client had just pre-paid his fare—not the whole ship.
Heiji deflated slightly.
It wasn't about the money—it was that all the flashy deductions he'd cooked up in his mind had no place here. What was he supposed to do now, sit and enjoy the view?
…
Maybe it wasn't mealtime yet, but the ship was eerily empty. In the dining area, aside from the staff, there were only two guests.
One was Ebina Minoru, a middle-aged man with glasses and a stiff, serious face. The other was Kameda Teruyoshi—quiet, squinty-eyed, and vaguely taro-shaped.
They nodded politely to each other and then scuttled away like two introverts at a work mixer.
Heiji got nothing useful, so he returned to his room to wait for dinner.
That evening, he and Conan arrived at the restaurant again. There were more people than before, but the ship was still a ghost town compared to its size.
Conan frowned. Something felt off.
After they sat down, Conan tugged on the sleeve of a waiter passing by and stretched out his words in that innocent, childlike tone: "Uncle, why is such a big ship so empty? It's way too quiet."
The waiter opened his mouth to say "Only a few people answered the puzzle correctly," but thought better of it. That might sound like a roast directed at the people who didn't make it onboard. So instead, motivated by a strong will to survive, he put it another way:
"Including three guests currently resting in their rooms, we have a total of 11 participants on this Ogasawara cruise."
Conan and Heiji froze.
Only three people resting in cabins? That meant fewer passengers than they'd guessed. This was practically a haunted ship.
Right then, Kujirai, who was plump and dapper with a curly little mustache, piped up with sudden enthusiasm.
"Come to think of it, I ran into an older gentleman earlier—a scholar-looking type. We chatted a bit. He seemed like a marine biology expert?"
The waiter checked the manifest. "That must be Mr. Kanou Saizo. He mentioned he had extensive research on the ocean."
Heiji had just begun thinking the name sounded familiar when—boom—the atmosphere in the room changed.
Every passenger's face shifted. Some looked panicked. Others were oddly tense. One or two seemed to be barely suppressing hatred.
Detective alarms started blaring in both Conan and Heiji's heads.
"…Who's Kanou Saizo?" Heiji asked sharply.
A short-haired woman at a nearby table gave them a small, knowing smile.
"He's a criminal mastermind once called the 'Shadow Planner,'" she said. "He orchestrated a four-hundred-million-yen bank robbery twenty years ago… then vanished."
Meanwhile, floating just above the dining tables, the Tengu was watching the scene like a ghostly Netflix binge.
Jiangxia hadn't shown up for dinner. He didn't want to mess up the flow of events with his presence—but he was still curious about the progress. So he briefly connected his senses to the ghost's.
To Jiangxia, most of these passengers were strangers. But based on their vibes and behavior, he quickly started matching them to spoiler info in his head.
And the show begins.
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 31 - 90 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 46/60(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS
Goal #2: One BONUS CHAPTER per review for the first 10 REVIEWS.
Progress:2/10*