"......Huuuaaa......"
Fang Zheng opened his eyes and yawned.
He’d finally slept comfortably last night. After that, Ran and the others went off to find Uncle Maori for drinks, while Fang Zheng took Mira back to their room to rest. As long as he stayed away from Conan, Heiji Hattori, and Kogoro Mouri, nothing would fall on his head. Fang Zheng wasn’t a detective, and he had zero interest in cases that dropped from the sky. As the saying goes, "spring nights are short"; rather than wasting time on dead people, it’s better to waste it on women.
"Ring ring ring......"
Just then, his phone suddenly rang. Fang Zheng reached out, picked it up, and tapped it open.
"Hello, it’s me......Oh? Ran? What’s up?"
"Mr. Fang Zheng, I’m not bothering you, am I?"
"It’s fine, I just got up. What’s going on?"
"You don’t know? Hattori had an incident last night!"
"Oh? What happened?"
Ran sounded really anxious, but Fang Zheng was calm as ever. Anyway, Heiji Hattori was part of the main cast; his life was tough, he wasn’t going to die.
Ran quickly went over the whole thing for Fang Zheng.
Simply put, last night Fang Zheng took Mira back to the room to rest, and the others went to look for Kogoro Mouri. Sure enough, something happened again. Not long after they arrived, one of the people drinking with Kogoro Mouri was killed......Well, Fang Zheng could only call that standard procedure, and thank his own brains for not going.
Then of course Conan’s detective brain kicked in, and he and Heiji Hattori started running all over looking for clues. Only unlike the usual "the culprit is among us" setup, this time they didn’t solve it on the spot. Instead they discovered that the victim was also a member of the Genji Firefly thieves......
After that, Heiji Hattori took Kazuha home, and on the way they were ambushed by a Mysterious Person’s sniper fire. Heiji Hattori went one-on-one against the shooter, but ended up getting injured instead and was sent to the hospital......
"He okay?"
"The doctor said it’s nothing serious, but he has to rest quietly......Um, where’s Mira sis?"
Ever since Mira decided to take Ran Mouri as her little sister, the two had been calling each other "sisters."
"Mira, huh......?"
Fang Zheng lowered his head and glanced at the quilt that was squirming restlessly below him.
"She’s eating a lollipop."
"Eh? Eating sweets first thing in the morning? That’s bad for her teeth......?"
"It’s fine. It’s a nutritious milk lollipop; it only does the body good."
"Eh? There’s something that good? I wanna try one too......?"
"Heh heh......"
Hearing Ran talk, Fang Zheng chuckled.
"Do me a favor and put Hattori on the phone."
"Ah, okay."
Very soon, a lively Osaka accent came through the line.
"Yo, Mr. Fang Zheng."
"So you’re not dead. From the sound of it you’re still bouncing around just fine."
"Hahaha, I’m not that easy to kill......"
"Then I’m not coming to see you. I’m planning to take Mira to wander around the Kyoto Film Village today."
"So heartless, huh?"
"You brought it on yourself."
Listening to Heiji Hattori’s exaggerated squawk, Fang Zheng snorted.
"Ran already filled me in on the details. Tell me, are you brain-damaged? What did your dad have you for, giving birth to a brain-dead son like you? You get attacked in the middle of the street, and instead of calling the police right away, you actually go chase the perp for a one-on-one? Good thing there was only one of them. If it were me I’d have a few helpers lying in wait—once I lured you away, I’d just snatch Kazuha. Then if they tell you to strip, you strip; tell you to do a strip dance, you do a strip dance..."
"Uh......"
Hearing Fang Zheng lay into him, cold sweat broke out all over Heiji Hattori. For a moment he didn’t know what to say, but he still tried to argue.
"Um......I wasn’t exactly born by my dad, you know."
"You still talking back? Just stay put in the hospital and behave."
With that, Fang Zheng hung up with a sharp "click." Only then did a head poke out from under the quilt—Mira’s. Her throat bobbed as she swallowed down the hot milk, then she looked curiously at Fang Zheng.
"What’s wrong? Something happen?"
"Nothing major. The brat went asking for Death’s Embrace and got exactly that."
Fang Zheng spoke as he reached out and patted Mira on the head.
"Okay, up you get. Today the two of us are going to have some serious fun."
"OK!"
To put it bluntly, the Kyoto Film Village wasn’t much different from the film sets back home. It was mainly movie backdrops for shooting ancient Japanese dramas. Since the Capital City was Japan’s ancient capital, it was steeped in Ancient Japan flavor to begin with, so the place felt like a quaint, serene imitation of the past. And every visitor who entered the Film Village could dress up as a Ninja or other characters to enjoy a taste of old-school Japanese style.
Fang Zheng and Mira, naturally, also went with the local customs and got into some cosplay. It’s just......
"This outfit feels so uncomfortable......."
Mira, wrapped in a kimono, frowned and pressed a hand against her chest.
"Feels like it’s squeezing my chest way too tight......I am so not used to wearing this kind of thing. Did women in Ancient Japan all wear this? This is worse than any corset or chest binder!"
"Because Japanese women mostly have small chests."
Fang Zheng sounded completely matter-of-fact about it.
"Every country has its own traditional traits. You women over in Europe mostly have nicely curvy figures, so dresses that show off your figure are naturally a great choice. But Japanese women don’t have that kind of natural capital. If they dressed like you do, they’d be flat as a board. Nobody’s dumb enough to actively flaunt their weak points, so compared to figure-hugging dresses, a kimono that highlights their aura is the better choice."
At this point, Fang Zheng chuckled again and turned his gaze back to Mira.
"Wanna try Edo-style Geisha clothes? I’m telling you, a proper Geisha Oiran’s outfit weighs at least twenty kilos. There’s even a saying among the common folk: ’An Oiran walks slower than a cow.’"
"You can actually wear something like that?"
At the mention of twenty kilos, Mira’s face went pale.
What kind of Oiran is that—more like special forces!
"But your outfit’s pretty weird too, Fang Zheng, and everyone nearby looks kind of scared of you."
As she spoke, Mira curiously studied the clothes Fang Zheng was wearing. Fang Zheng just laughed.
"Of course. Since we’re here to experience Ancient Japan, I have to wear this. Let me tell you, there’s a story behind it......."
"Oh?"
While Fang Zheng was on his Kyoto date with Mira, Conan and Hattori were still racking their brains, thinking and deducing. Kogoro had received a request from a temple to solve a riddle, but he couldn’t do it. So now Conan and Hattori were butting heads with this riddle, along with the killers who murdered members of the Genji Firefly theft group, and the matter of Heiji Hattori being hunted. A whole string of mysteries urgently needed solving!
The doctor had told Heiji Hattori to rest, but of course he couldn’t sit still, so he and Conan slipped out together. Their efforts paid off and they actually found a clue. But just then, Heiji Hattori received a call from an unknown person, saying they had already kidnapped Toyama Kazuha and ordering Heiji Hattori to come alone to Jade Dragon Temple on Mount Kurama in one hour—or they’d kill the girl!
"Didn’t expect Mr. Fang Zheng to hit the nail right on the head......."
Staring at the phone in his hand, Heiji Hattori clenched his teeth. Fang Zheng had warned him before—if they lured him away and then grabbed Kazuha, he’d be forced to do a strip dance, and if they told him to strip, he’d have to strip... Of course, this time the other party clearly wasn’t going to be so benevolent as to settle for just a dance.
"What do we do now?"
"They said no calling the cops, or they’ll kill Kazuha... Damn it!"
"Then let’s call Mr. Fang Zheng."
Hearing Conan’s suggestion, Hattori hesitated for a moment.
"All right!"
Very soon, Hattori picked up the phone again.
"...See, what did I tell you?"
On the other end, having taken Hattori’s call, Fang Zheng was speechless.
"Okay, I get it. Leave it to me. You can go if you want, but don’t push yourselves. I’ll be there soon."
As he spoke, Fang Zheng snapped his phone shut and looked over at Mira beside him.
"Kazuha’s in trouble. All right, let’s go. Hm..."
At this, Fang Zheng glanced down at the clothes he was wearing and let a strange smile curl his lips.
"Perfect. I’ll show you what professional cosplay looks like."
When night fell, Heiji Hattori and Conan arrived at Jade Dragon Temple on Mount Kurama and confronted the mastermind. As expected, just as they had deduced, the culprit was the last remaining member of the Genji Firefly thieves. The reason he attacked Heiji Hattori was because of that glass bead in Heiji’s hand. In truth, it wasn’t a glass bead at all, but the jewel set in the forehead of the Buddha statue they had stolen years ago. When he later saw a magazine interview about Heiji Hattori’s first love, and the bead Heiji showed in the photos, he then devised the plan to attack Heiji Hattori so he could take the bead back.
With the plot exposed, what followed, naturally, was a fight. The enemy had come prepared and gathered all their men, while on this side there were only three: Heiji Hattori, Conan, and Kazuha. Kazuha was tied up, Heiji was still badly injured, and Conan’s fighting power really wasn’t enough—on normal days he could handle thugs with guns, but these guys were armed with real blades and bows, completely unfazed by Conan’s soccer attacks. The three could only flee, chased relentlessly by the gang, and duck into one of the temple rooms.
Inside that room, Kazuha told Heiji there was a spare knife kept in one of the drawers, but the cabinet before them had at least a hundred drawers; neither of them knew where to even start looking.
At the same time, Kazuha sang a song for Heiji Hattori and Conan—a children’s rhyme adapted from the streets of the Capital City...
"They’re in here!"
"Grab them, quick!!"
Shouts rang out from outside, and the three saw silhouettes appear on the other side of the paper door.
"Damn, we still didn’t make it in time..."
Seeing this, Conan crouched down and hurriedly adjusted the power setting on his shoes.
Seriously, what is Mr. Fang Zheng doing right now!
"Uwaa!!"
Just as Conan was grumbling inwardly, a shadow suddenly flickered into view. With a scream, the thugs at the door collapsed. All the three inside could see was the shadow on the paper door raising a blade once more; a few more screams followed in quick succession, and then everything outside went still.
What’s going on?
The three exchanged confused looks. In the end, it was Kazuha who stepped forward, gingerly slid the paper door open, and peeked outside—only to gasp in shock.
"Heiji, Conan, come look!"
"What? What’s wrong?"
At Kazuha’s call, the other two rushed over. When they saw the scene outside, they too were dumbstruck. Out in the corridor, two or three masked thugs who had been chasing them lay sprawled on the floor, utterly motionless. Heiji hurried over to one of them, tore off his mask, and put a hand under his nose.
"Good, he’s just unconscious... It must be Mr. Fang Zheng who came to save us."
"Seems like it. But why isn’t he saying anything?"
Just as they were puzzling over it, a furious roar from the gang’s leader echoed from outside.
"Who the hell are you?!"
Hearing the roar, the three crowded up to the window and looked out, then all three sucked in a breath of shock.
Under the light of the torches, a man in a blue-and-white Yamagata haori stood with his back to them. In the weave of Shadow and Radiance from the fire, they could faintly glimpse a white character for "sincerity" on his back.
Facing the man, the gang leader clutched his blade, staring at him in terror.
Under the gaze of the leader and Conan’s group, the man slowly spoke.
"To protect the Capital City’s peace... we cut down all Loyalist Heroes..."
As he spoke, the man raised the katana in his hand. But the way he held the blade was strange, unlike any standard stance. His left hand gripped the end of the hilt, the blade reversed as he slowly lifted it, pointing it straight ahead at his side. At the same time, his right hand came up, extended forward and braced against the front of the sword, his whole body drawn taut like a bow.
Seeing this, Heiji Hattori’s eyes flew wide.
"That is...!?"
"Quit the spooky act! Get him!"
With the leader’s snarl, a masked man immediately raised his sword and charged.
Just as he lifted his blade high, before he could even bring it down, the man moved.
In that instant he was like an arrow released from a tightly drawn bowstring, lunging forward in a single thrust. His sword drove straight into the Swordsman’s chest without mercy. The next second, the Swordsman screamed, his whole body flung back like he’d been hit by a truck, slamming into the temple’s wooden wall with a bang so hard the wall was dented inward!
"Tch..."
Everyone present sucked in a sharp breath, and the gang leader’s face flickered through several shades.
"Get him! Just avoid his straight thrust!"
At the leader’s shout, another Swordsman stepped out and charged the man again. This time, facing the attack, the man calmly drove his sword forward once more. Having been warned, the Swordsman shifted to the side the instant the thrust came, dodging the lethal strike.
However...
At that moment, the man’s blade suddenly twisted, instantly turning into a sweeping cut that hacked toward the Swordsman. The sword slammed into the Swordsman’s neck before he could evade, and with a scream he too was sent flying, smashing a hole in the wooden wall and disappearing from sight.
"Even if the thrust doesn’t land, it can instantly convert to a horizontal slash. The Thrust Swordsmanship devised by New Selection Group Deputy Chief Tuhou, that tactical genius, has no blind spots."
As he spoke, the man once again lifted his blade and aimed it at the gang leader.
"And my Kiba-totsu is the same."
"...Are you a man or a demon?!"
Staring at the man in the New Selection Group haori, sweat streamed down the gang leader’s face. He could feel that this wasn’t just some act. That stench of death, that killing intent—this was the terrifying aura possessed only by an executioner who had cut down countless people and survived battlefields soaked in blood.
Here in this remote mountain, in an abandoned temple under torchlight, it was enough to make one believe they were no longer in the present day, but had slipped back into the Bakumatsu era of blood and storms.
It wasn’t just the leader; his underlings were equally rattled. The man’s strength was simply far beyond anything they’d expected—it didn’t feel like human skill at all, more like some ghost... Could it be that this abandoned Jade Dragon Temple was where the New Selection Group’s spirits were enshrined, and because they had disturbed the Undead, the spirits had now come out to settle accounts?!
"No matter the era, the New Selection Group is the New Selection Group. Mibu Wolves are Mibu Wolves... and executioners are still executioners."
The man slowly raised his head, a chill glint flashing in his eyes.
"Evil must be slain."
"..."
At those words, the gang leader sucked in a breath, his hand gripping the sword starting to tremble.
"Now... prepare for Death’s Embrace!"
As the man’s words fell, the next instant, a flash of cold light bloomed right before the gang leader’s eyes!

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