Chapter 379: Kaeya's Friend
The next morning, right around eight o'clock, Sonoko stormed into the Mouri Detective Agency with her usual boundless energy.
"Uncle Mouri, why haven't you finished getting ready yet?" She planted her hands firmly on her hips, her brow furrowing in deep dissatisfaction as she glared at the older man. Kogoro was still standing in front of the mirror, agonizing over a pile of suits. "Didn't I tell you in advance yesterday that we had to head over to the Jade Chamber early today to help out?"
"You did say it, sure, but you completely left out the part about leaving at the crack of dawn!" Kogoro shot back, rolling his eyes as he held a garish blue tie against his collar. "Besides, I'm trying to look my absolute best. A refined woman like Miss Ningguang will surely appreciate a sharp-dressed detective when she sees one."
"Alright, Dad, that's enough picking. This one is perfectly fine!" Ran, unable to sit back and watch the agonizing process any longer, marched over and snatched the hangers right out of his grip. She pulled a standard grey suit from the pile and thrust it into his chest. When he hesitated, opening his mouth to protest, she shoved the fabric harder against him. "Hurry up, we're running out of time. Go change quickly, Fa-ther!"
The sharp, dangerous emphasis she placed on the word 'Father' carried a clear warning. Kogoro's shoulders instantly slumped. Swallowing his complaints, he grabbed the suit and obediently scurried off to change.
Heh heh... Conan watched the morning farce unfold from the sofa, his eyes half-closed in a dry, deadpan stare.
Spurred on by the combined nagging of Sonoko and Ran, Kogoro managed to speed up his morning routine. In no time at all, he emerged looking relatively presentable. The group grabbed their belongings and made their way down the stairs to the street level.
Glancing through the large glass windows of Café Poirot on the first floor, Conan spotted Azusa bustling about, wiping down tables and prepping the counter. A quiet sigh of relief escaped his lips. There was no sign of Amuro anywhere. Since he hadn't seen the blond man around, and Sherry hadn't appeared on the train either, Amuro must have reported back to the Black Organization. He probably wouldn't be showing his face around here again anytime soon.
Sonoko also peered into the cafe, her shoulders dropping in a dramatic sigh of regret. "I heard Mr. Amuro took a few days off. Ugh, I won't be able to see his handsome face for a whole week! Otherwise, I totally would have invited him to come to the Jade Chamber with us today. Mr. Amuro is so smart and has such a wonderfully charming personality. With him around, maybe he could have easily tracked down that awful culprit who injured the Jade Chamber's staff."
Overhearing her fawning praise, Kogoro indignantly straightened his lapels, his mustache twitching with dissatisfaction. "Hey now, Amuro is my disciple. With me, the great Sleeping Kogoro, personally taking the case, I'll definitely be able to solve Miss Ningguang's little troubles in no time flat. Whether my apprentice is here or not makes absolutely no difference!"
Conan rolled his eyes so hard they nearly stuck to the ceiling. Yeah, right. Although the shrunken detective remained highly vigilant regarding Amuro's true identity as a Black Organization operative, he couldn't deny the man's sharp intellect. When it came to actual investigative skills, Uncle Kogoro's muddled, leap-in-the-dark reasoning was no match for Amuro's terrifyingly precise deductions.
Naturally, to avoid receiving a painful fist to the top of his head from a resentful Kogoro, Conan wisely kept those thoughts securely locked behind his teeth.
Piling into a rented car, the group handled the morning traffic and soon pulled up to the towering, opulent headquarters of Miss Ningguang's enterprise—the Jade Chamber.
As they pushed through the gleaming glass doors of the main entrance, the spacious lobby opened up before them. Almost immediately, they spotted Ningguang and her diligent secretary, Ganyu, standing quietly near the reception area.
Sonoko's face lit up with pleasant surprise. She quickened her pace, waving her hand enthusiastically. "Miss Ningguang! Were you waiting out here specifically for us? How did you know we'd be arriving at the Jade Chamber right now? I was totally hoping to give you a surprise!"
Conan, ever observant, caught the brief, subtle flicker of surprise that crossed Ningguang's elegant features the moment she registered Sonoko's voice. He immediately deduced that the Tianquan's presence in the lobby had absolutely nothing to do with their arrival. A tiny smirk tugged at the corner of Conan's mouth, enjoying a brief moment of schadenfreude. Sonoko was definitely flattering herself this time.
Ningguang offered a graceful shake of her head, her crimson eyes calm. "A special guest is scheduled to visit shortly, and I am waiting to receive him here."
Watching Sonoko's bright expression instantly deflate into disappointment, Ningguang's lips curved into a warm, placating smile. "Though, of course, had I known earlier that you and your friends were arriving, Sonoko, I would have certainly focused on your visit and postponed the meeting with this rather unimportant guest."
Conan cast a sideways glance at the silver-haired woman. With just a few smoothly delivered words, she had effortlessly pivoted Sonoko's mood from dejected right back to beaming happiness. Ningguang's eloquence and social maneuvering were truly top-tier.
However, the phrasing caught his attention. A 'special'guest, yet simultaneously'unimportant'? Add to that the fact that someone of Ningguang's immense status was specifically waiting down in the lobby to intercept them... It strongly implied that she was highly wary of this visitor and harbored a rather poor impression of them.
Conan's curiosity flared. As a high-ranking figure within the mysterious Teyvat Organization, who in the world possessed the clout—or the audacity—to elicit such a guarded attitude from Ningguang?
"Teacher Mouri? And Ran, Sonoko... what are you all doing here?"
A smooth, terribly familiar voice echoed from the entrance behind them.
The group turned around in unison. While Kogoro, Ran, and Sonoko's faces lit up with pleasant surprise, Conan froze. His pupils contracted into tiny pinpricks of absolute disbelief, a cold chill sweeping over his skin.
Amuro stood near the revolving doors. His sharp, calculating gaze lingered for a fraction of a second on Conan's pale, rigid expression before smoothly sliding away, betraying nothing.
Sonoko gasped, her hands flying to her cheeks in delight. "Mr. Amuro! Didn't you just say you had urgent business to attend to and took a leave of absence from the cafe? Why are you here at the Jade Chamber?"
"I feel like I should be the one asking you that," Amuro replied, offering a charming, slightly helpless smile. He stepped fully into the lobby, adjusting the cuffs of his jacket. "When I mentioned I had business to take care of, I was actually referring to matters concerning the Jade Chamber. I have a friend—someone you all should know as well. Kaeya. He mentioned that an acquaintance of his had run into some rather thorny trouble recently, so I volunteered my services to help out."
"Yes, exactly like the rest of you. Showing up completely uninvited and making me go through the sheer hassle of escorting him inside," a sharp, annoyed voice cut in.
Keqing, who had apparently been the one to guide Amuro through the security gates, stepped out from behind him. Her amethyst eyes narrowed, her expression distinctly unfriendly as she crossed her arms.
"Now, Miss Keqing, I am Kaeya's friend after all," Amuro said, his tone placating as he flashed her a disarming look. "Could you perhaps be just a little nicer to me?"
"It is exactly because you claim to be that slacker Kaeya's friend that I am giving you this attitude," Keqing muttered under her breath, turning her head away with a dismissive huff.
Amuro's charming smile stiffened, invisible black lines dropping down his forehead at her blunt retort. He mentally reviewed his cover story. Was Kaeya's relationship with the Jade Chamber's executives really that strained?
If that was the case, perhaps using the identity of 'Kaeya's friend' to infiltrate the building hadn't been his brightest tactical decision from the start.
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