Inside a sushi restaurant, a solemn-looking young man was devouring a mountain of sushi. A variety of dishes were spread out before him, and as he ate, his expression was impossibly grave.
Bai Yexiu felt like there was something wrong with him. Shouldn't this be a happy, carefree mealtime? Yet he had let some trivial nonsense ruin his appetite entirely.
Yesterday, he had gone to ask The Boss about it. But after listening to his long-winded speech, The Boss hadn't given him a straight answer at all, instead giving him an impromptu science lesson on some kind of effect or another. Left with a face full of question marks, Bai Yexiu had simply hung up on him.
He put down his sushi. The problem that had been plaguing him for days had made eating feel like chewing on wax, even for a foodie like him.
No, forget it. He might as well go to the library and nourish his mind with some knowledge.
Bai Yexiu paid the bill and strode away, leaving behind a table of unfinished sushi.
***
After wandering around the library for half a day, Bai Yexiu finally picked up a Kamen Rider manga in the children's section.
For some reason, he seemed to prefer reading manga after all.
"Does Brother Ryuzawa like Kamen Rider too?" A little girl's voice, intentionally lowered, came from behind him.
"Oh, it's Ayumi." Bai Yexiu lowered his voice as well, turning around to pat Ayumi on the head. As he pulled his hand back, he magically produced a single rose from his palm.
Meeting Ayumi's delighted gaze, Bai Yexiu tucked the rose behind her ear. "For you." Then, his eyes locked with Conan's standing nearby.
What is this guy up to now...
Conan thought, but before he knew it, Bai Yexiu had conjured an orchid from his other hand and slipped it behind Conan's ear while he wasn't paying attention.
Conan: "……?"
Watching the Junior Detective League trying their best to hold back their laughter, Conan pulled a dark face and reached up to take it off. Just as his hand went up, Bai Yexiu pinned it down. "How pretty is that? Why take it off?"
You're probably the only person on earth who thinks this is "pretty."
Conan brushed Bai Yexiu's hand away, took the flower off with a dark expression, and was left utterly speechless.
This guy really has a bizarre sense of humor.
Watching Bai Yexiu put the manga down and go look for other books, Conan felt a deep sense of helplessness, and then began to ponder what to do with the orchid in his hand.
While intently browsing the children's section for books, Bai Yexiu caught sight of a row of foreign language books out of the corner of his eye. Unlike everyone else, he happened to find the most dry and boring foreign language books quite interesting, though at the same time he felt they looked a bit out of place in the children's section.
Could they have been shelved by mistake?
Just as he reached out to pull one of the foreign language books out to inspect it, someone rushed over to his side and blocked him. "Ah, I'm terribly sorry, but the books in this section haven't been unpacked yet."
He turned his head to see a man in a suit wearing a gentle smile.
"Hello, who might you be?" Bai Yexiu asked politely.
"I'm the director of this library..."
Before the man could finish his reply, Bai Yexiu was struck by a profound wave of familiarity. He knew the director's name even before the man could state it himself, and along with it, a series of other memories surfaced...
These foreign language books contained hidden drugs, and there was a corpse hidden above the elevator. The Junior Detective League sneaked into the library at night and was hunted down by the director...
The flood of complete plot details suddenly appearing in Bai Yexiu's mind caught him completely off guard.
"Huh? Are you listening, young man?" Seeing that Bai Yexiu was acting strange, the library director waved a hand in front of his eyes. Fortunately, Bai Yexiu snapped out of it. "Oh, no worries at all, Mr. Director. Since these books haven't been unpacked, I won't touch them. Could you show me where to find other foreign language books like these?"
At that moment, a chubby man in a yellow suit walked over toward them. One glance was all it took for Bai Yexiu to instantly recognize the man's identity: a police officer named Inspector Megure.
Hark, how did I know that again?
Bai Yexiu took a step back, realizing that his familiar special ability had acted up once more. He even knew what business Inspector Megure had with the director.
Still, if he had acquired the ability of precognition, wouldn't things get a whole lot more interesting?
A wicked little thought popped into Bai Yexiu's mind. He looked at the director and flashed a mischievous smile.
The director suddenly felt an intense chill run down his spine, as if someone was staring right at him. He spun around, but saw only the young man from moments ago reading a book—no one was looking at him at all.
***
Inspector Megure, who was just about to leave, was suddenly drawn in by a voice.
"Inspector Megure, I think I've found something interesting~"
Bai Yexiu walked unhurriedly up to Inspector Megure and held up an unopened foreign language book to show him.
The director's face drained of color instantly, leaving him speechless for a moment.
"Oh? What about this book?" Inspector Megure asked, looking quite patient.
"Well, you'll have to ask Mr. Director about that!" Bai Yexiu shot a provocative look at the trembling director standing beside them, and then pried the foreign language book wide open.
Just as Bai Yexiu had anticipated, there was no brand-new foreign language book inside the casing at all—only a packet of white powder.
Afterward, that helpful upstanding citizen Bai Yexiu, along with a bunch of kids, helped the police unearth a massive stash of drugs in the library. Following clues provided by the helpful citizen Bai Yexiu, they then located the missing person hidden above the elevator—though the missing person had already turned into a corpse.
Afterward, as Bai Yexiu walked down the street with the Junior Detective League, Conan still couldn't resist asking how Bai Yexiu had known the body was up above the elevator.
"Because of the elevator. Think back—when you guys arrived at the library, the number of people in the elevator clearly wasn't over the limit, yet the elevator indicated it was overloaded."
Bai Yexiu didn't try to hide it.
Conan was utterly amazed. "How did Brother Ryuzawa know about that?" He remembered clearly that they hadn't seen him anywhere around when they arrived.
"Secret."
Putting on a mysterious air, Bai Yexiu ruffled Conan's messy hair. He was just about to pull off a magic trick and conjure another flower to stick behind Conan's ear when he realized he had run out of flowers.
Feinting a move, Bai Yexiu gave Conan's fluffy head another rub to cover up the awkwardness of the failed magic trick.
Ignoring Conan's probing gaze, Bai Yexiu waved to the group of kids. "I'm heading home first, see you next time."
He was quite pleased that he seemed to have awakened some kind of precognitive superpower, but now he needed some time to figure out the exact conditions required to trigger this ability.