The Gods Are Fighting Over Me - Chapter 15
Monday.
The air in the early morning was tinged with a faint chill. Lin Jianyue yawned and walked downstairs with her bag.
She wasn’t in a good mood today.
There wasn’t much money left in her bank account, and her brother had just helped her pay a large sum for her rent. She couldn’t bring herself to ask him for more money.
Lin Jianyue wanted to take on some big commercial projects from China, but she wasn’t well-known enough, so few companies were willing to hire her. Besides, the pressure from her studies was too much, and it was difficult for her to spare any extra time.
As for being her mentor’s assistant…
The job of an “assistant” in Japan had no status whatsoever. Besides padding her resume and building up her skills, it didn’t pay much.
Lin Jianyue sighed, feeling inexplicably frustrated.
She couldn’t possibly ask Kenji Hagiwara for money. He would probably be more than happy to lend it to her, but that would make their relationship even more complicated.
She could almost imagine him smiling as he handed her his credit card, but if that happened, the already delicate distance between them would completely fall apart.
Lin Jianyue frustratingly swiped her card to open the apartment building door and walked straight toward the intersection.
At the intersection below her apartment building, a black-and-white police car was flashing a faint light. Lin Jianyue was about to walk around the police car to the subway station when she heard someone call out from behind her.
“Lin!”
She turned around. Yumi Miyamoto was leaning half her body out of the police car’s driver’s seat, smiling at her with an undisguised look of gossip in her eyes. “What a coincidence. I didn’t expect to run into you here.”
Lin Jianyue glanced at her phone screen. Since it was still early, she walked back to the police car and bent down to greet the woman inside. “Good morning, Officer Miyamoto.”
Yumi Miyamoto lightly nudged Lin Jianyue’s waist with her elbow, her tone teasing. “Don’t tell me you’re Officer Hagiwara’s mysterious girlfriend that everyone’s been talking about? You’re good at keeping a secret.”
She cupped her hands around her mouth as if to whisper, but her voice didn’t get any quieter. “Spill it. When did you two get together?”
“We’re not together,” Lin Jianyue replied flatly.
“Really?” Yumi Miyamoto’s face was full of disbelief. “Are you still in a cold war, or have you never been together at all?”
Lin Jianyue pursed her lips and avoided her gaze. “It’s hard to say.”
“Hard to say?” Yumi Miyamoto frowned in confusion. Just as she was about to press for more, a not-so-gentle male voice came from behind the car.
“Jianyue.”
They both turned at the same time.
Behind the police car, Jinpei Matsuda was leaning against a black private car. He was wearing a navy blue suit with a matching tie and his signature black sunglasses.
He lifted his chin at Lin Jianyue. “I’m here to take you to school.”
Yumi Miyamoto’s eyes widened. After a moment of shock, she suddenly perked up and gave Matsuda a suggestive look. “Oh, helping a buddy pick up his girlfriend? Afraid she’ll get harassed by people like Tanaka again?”
“What are you talking about?” Matsuda scoffed, a slightly mischievous grin on his face. “When did she become Hagi’s girlfriend?”
“Huh?” Yumi Miyamoto’s eyes darted back and forth between Lin Jianyue and Matsuda, who were walking toward the car. Her eyes were practically overflowing with confusion. “Then what are you two…?”
“Guess.” Matsuda dropped the two words, opened the back passenger door, and motioned for Lin Jianyue to get in.
As Lin Jianyue bent down, she saw someone hiding in the back seat. Kenji Hagiwara was wearing a creamy white hoodie and holding a bulky brown paper bag. When he saw her, his eyes curved into crescents, like a puppy who had a secret stash of candy. “Good morning, Jianyue-chan.”
Lin Jianyue paused, then returned his smile and got into the car.
Thump. Jinpei Matsuda slammed the back passenger door shut and said to a still gossiping Yumi Miyamoto, “Go do your job.”
He then got into the driver’s seat, turned on the navigation, and drove toward Tama Art University.
As the car started, Lin Jianyue turned and looked at Yumi Miyamoto through the back window.
The beautiful, long-haired policewoman with a middle part was typing furiously on her phone, her eyebrows twisted into a knot, but her eyes were lit with excitement.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out that the gossip about the two aces of the Explosives Unit would spread throughout the entire police force within a week, just like Sato’s rapidly spreading relationship rumors in the original story.
But Lin Jianyue didn’t care much.
Although the Tokyo police officers created by Gosho Aoyama became increasingly unreliable and sometimes even included a few villains, they still had a sense of decency at their core and wouldn’t stoop to spreading vulgar rumors about a woman’s reputation.
“Jianyue-chan,” Kenji Hagiwara said, his voice sticky-sweet, as he rummaged through the paper bag, pulling out all sorts of breakfasts. “I don’t know your breakfast preferences, so I bought you some oden, a sandwich, and a yakisoba pan…”
As if reading off a menu, he pulled out a pile of food of varying temperatures and placed it on the seat between them. Then, like he was showing off a medal, he spread his hands to Lin Jianyue with a big smile. “Which one do you want to eat, Jianyue-chan?”
Lin Jianyue stared at the variety of breakfasts and slowly looked up at Kenji Hagiwara. “Aren’t you afraid of wasting so much?”
“Nope. You pick first. Little Jinpei and I will finish the rest.”
“But there’s no way two of you can eat all of this.”
“We can save it for lunch.”
Through the rearview mirror, Lin Jianyue saw Jinpei Matsuda roll his eyes in exasperation, looking like he didn’t want to deal with this but had to because they were childhood friends. He had taken off his sunglasses since the weak morning light wasn’t suitable for driving with them.
“Zero must have told you about me,” Jinpei Matsuda said, cutting into the conversation. He turned the steering wheel, and the car smoothly merged into the morning traffic.
Lin Jianyue said “Mhm” and grabbed a yakisoba-pan, tearing open the wrapper.
This was her first time trying this very Japanese type of bread. It sounded like a weird concoction, but it was supposedly delicious. At least the few Chinese international students she knew had been enthusiastically recommending it to her.
The traffic light turned red. While stopped for a few seconds, Jinpei Matsuda reached into the overhead compartment and pulled out a business card, handing it to her. “This is my number.”
Lin Jianyue took the card, and the light turned green. Jinpei Matsuda started the car again. “I already got your phone number and address from Rei Furuya.”
He paused and explained, “Rei Furuya has been looking for you for a long time. It might be because of the world fusion, but a lot of the government’s digital files have errors. We couldn’t find your address for a while.”
Lin Jianyue chewed on her mouthful of yakisoba-pan. She couldn’t help but think that even if she hadn’t appeared, the Japanese government’s information security couldn’t be that good, given how easily Professor Agasa could arrange for someone to forge documents, allowing Conan and Haibara to become legal Japanese citizens and run around under the noses of a bunch of police officers.
Screech.
The car stopped smoothly in front of the university gate. Lin Jianyue was about to open the door and get out when someone handed her a carton of milk with a straw already in it.
She looked up, following the hand, and saw Kenji Hagiwara resting his chin on his hand, a sweet smile on his face, as if nothing was bothering him. “You’ve been working so hard today. Good luck with your studies!”
Lin Jianyue thanked him and was about to open the door for the second time, but Jinpei Matsuda called out to her.
He turned his head, his fringe falling over his eyes. His voice was serious, yet it had his usual hint of an attitude. “Thanks.”
Lin Jianyue paused, looking genuinely confused for the first time.
“Whether it’s Hagi almost getting blown up, or Hiromitsu, or Class Rep. If you ever need anything in the future, just say the word. Not just me, the others will help you, too, within our abilities.”
Lin Jianyue looked down at her feet, her voice very quiet. “I didn’t do anything. You all saved yourselves.”
Matsuda smiled and didn’t argue. He just waved his hand. “I get off work later than you, so I probably won’t be able to pick you up.”
Lin Jianyue nodded, opened the car door, and got out. After walking a few steps, she heard the engine start again and Kenji Hagiwara’s cheerful goodbye.
As the black car drove away, Lin Jianyue subconsciously licked a tiny crumb of bread off her upper lip.
The breakfast Kenji Hagiwara had chosen tasted good. It was exactly the type she liked.
Lin Jianyue was busy at her computer all morning. It wasn’t until her mentor knocked on the classroom door during lunch break and asked her if she wanted to eat lunch together that Lin Jianyue finally put down her stylus.
Unlike her classmates, who would get sweaty palms at the thought of eating alone with their mentor, Lin Jianyue immediately agreed.
The cafeteria at Tama Art University was different from those in China. The lighting was a soft, warm yellow, making the patterns on the tablecloth seem a bit more gentle.
Lin Jianyue stirred her rice in the broth, and as if a thought had just occurred to her, she said, “Mentor, I’d like to learn more from you and… see more of the world.”
Her mentor’s hand, holding the metal spoon, paused. She scooped up a spoonful of curry, chewed it slowly, and then spoke. Her tone was gentle, but she didn’t directly answer. “Your art needs more time to mature.”
Lin Jianyue understood. She lowered her eyes and didn’t bring it up again.
She admired her mentor, not just because her mentor was a famous artist in the industry, but also because she was a perfectionist illustrator known for her strictness. Every piece of her work was a pursuit of absolute perfection.
Everything has two sides.
Being a career woman meant having no time for family. Being easy to talk to meant being indecisive at times… Her mentor’s pursuit of perfection in her art meant she demanded the same from her students.
This mentor, who was at the top of the pyramid, was willing to pass on all her professional knowledge, but that was all.
She always stayed within the boundaries of a teacher and a boss. She never easily pulled people into her circle. In her eyes, only the students who met her standards 100% were worthy of being introduced.
But she was a genius, and her art demands were so strict they bordered on obsessive. Very few people were introduced by her. But simply graduating successfully under her tutelage was enough to make it in the industry.
Lin Jianyue wasn’t surprised by this outcome. She was just a bit sad that she would have to live frugally for the next two weeks.
With that thought, Lin Jianyue lowered her head and continued eating.
But halfway through her meal, a middle-aged man with a mustache walked in. As he passed their table, he gave her mentor a fierce glare. His cold eyes were like a bl00d-stained knife, making her feel uneasy.
“A while ago, an animation project approached me,” her mentor explained calmly, putting down her spoon. “I had too much on my plate at the time and turned them down. So they went to that man. I heard they were close to signing the contract, but then I suddenly had some free time, and the project team came back to me.”
Her voice became softer. “I only found out about all this later. I do feel a bit sorry for him.”
“It’s not your fault,” Lin Jianyue immediately defended her. “Your skills are what made them willing to wait.”
Just as she finished speaking, a woman in a red dress with a perfectly coiffed perm walked through the restaurant door.
The moment their eyes met, the expressions on their faces turned cold at the same time. The air seemed to crackle with tiny static.
Her mentor didn’t explain, but Lin Jianyue could tell there was a deep-seated conflict between them.
What was more unsettling was that a few minutes later, a man with black-framed glasses saw her mentor, rushed to their table, and pointed at her mentor’s nose, yelling, “Why are you targeting me?!”
“How am I targeting you?”
“You forced me to quit my company and blacklisted me in the industry! Don’t tell me you didn’t do it!”
“Don’t you know what you did?”
Her mentor put down her spoon, her eyes looking at the man so cold they could freeze. “I’ve said it before, my company does not tolerate plagiarism.”
“What proof do you have that I plagiarized?! You ruined my life! I can’t even find a decent job now!” The man lost control and waved his arms, his voice so loud that the customers at the surrounding tables looked over.
“You got what you deserved,” her mentor said, her tone unwavering.
Lin Jianyue stared at the scene, and the joy of eating with her idol suddenly sank to the bottom. A strong sense of unease crept up her spine.
She instinctively took the third volume of Detective Conan from her bag. She opened it, and her pupils contracted sharply.
In the manga, Kogoro Mori and his group had just solved a murder case that morning. It so happened that this case took up the entire remaining space of the third volume. On their way back, Conan Edogawa met the Detective Boys. They noisily grabbed Conan, saying they were going to Tama Art University to find Mitsuhiko’s distant cousin.
To read what happened next, she would need the fourth volume.
But Lin Jianyue hadn’t brought the fourth volume with her.
A manga volume usually has about 11 chapters, with a difference of 1-2 chapters, sometimes depending on the length. When she left in the morning, the third volume was only half-updated. She had thought it would take at least another day for the entire volume to be finished.
Did the cases start happening more frequently?
The thought had just occurred to her when Lin Jianyue stood up from her seat with a “whoosh.” She moved so quickly that the legs of her chair screeched against the floor, startling her mentor.
Lin Jianyue quickly scanned the room and, sure enough, saw the figures of the Detective Boys by the window.
Mitsuhiko was pointing his camera at the pigeons outside. Ayumi was talking to Conan about something, but now all three of their attention was drawn to the loud noise Lin Jianyue had made. Only Genta was still stuffing his face with eel rice.
The moment her eyes met Conan’s, goosebumps erupted on Lin Jianyue’s arms. A chill ran down her spine.
To put it bluntly, she didn’t care how many people died in Tokyo every day. As long as the death didn’t happen in front of her, it was just a string of words in the news.
But the person who died absolutely could not be her mentor.
This mentor was her idol, the motivation that made her want to learn how to draw, even when she had a broken arm. She was someone who could make her willingly pull three all-nighters to revise her drafts.
The man in the glasses was still yelling at her mentor, but the sound was making Lin Jianyue’s temples throb. She suddenly picked up the iced water on the table and splashed it all over the man’s face.
The entire restaurant fell silent. The man looked at Lin Jianyue with disbelief, only to be met with her fierce eyes.
Lin Jianyue stared at him, her voice as cold as ice. “If you don’t leave, I’m calling the police right now.”
The coldness in her eyes startled the man. He froze for a few seconds, then said, “You’ll regret this,” and stormed out of the restaurant.
For the rest of the meal, Lin Jianyue couldn’t sit still.
When her mentor asked the waiter for a side of fried shrimp, she had to watch every single person who came out of the kitchen. When her mentor said she wanted to go to the restroom to fix her makeup, Lin Jianyue immediately sprang from her seat. “I’ll go with you.”
After this happened a few times, her mentor finally realized Lin Jianyue was acting strange. She put down her napkin and looked at her. “Jianyue, are you too tired? If you don’t feel well, let’s just go home.”
“Mentor,” Lin Jianyue gritted her teeth, but decided to say it anyway, even though she knew it sounded absurd. “Someone might… be trying to kill you.”
But she didn’t know when or how the person was planning to do it.
Her mentor frowned, a flicker of displeasure in her eyes. She clearly thought Lin Jianyue was talking nonsense. “Jianyue, I know it’s not easy for you to come to Japan alone, but you can’t say such a cursed thing just because I rejected you.”
She didn’t get to finish her sentence. There was a loud crash from above. A hedgehog-shaped decorative sphere hanging from the ceiling fell.
The restaurant they were in had three floors and was structured like a street-side cafe. The second and third floors were like indoor balconies. On the third floor of the restaurant, a black shadow flashed by.
Lin Jianyue didn’t know why the cafeteria ceiling had so many decorations. Maybe it was because it was an art university, and they had to be artistic everywhere, or maybe it was just for plot purposes, just like how Tokyo always had a bunch of bombs appearing out of nowhere. She had no idea where they got their supply.
The almost one-meter-long yellow hedgehog-shaped sphere was reflected in Lin Jianyue’s light brown eyes, falling directly toward her mentor, who was only a few steps away.
She could even picture the decoration being stained red with her mentor’s bl00d.
Time seemed to slow down. Lin Jianyue’s mind went blank, and her body reacted before her consciousness did.
Without thinking, she lunged forward and used her back to block the decorative sphere, shielding her mentor with her body.
Thump. The decoration was kicked away by a soccer ball that flew out of the corner. It smashed a large hole in the glass wall and flew outside.
The shattered glass rained down, hitting Lin Jianyue’s back and then bouncing onto the floor.
“Conan!” Lin Jianyue yelled, enduring the pain, and looked up at the window seat.
Conan had one foot on the sofa and one foot on the table. The side of his red shoe was flashing with a strange light, like colorful static, which quickly disappeared.
He jumped off the table and, ignoring the calls of the Detective Boys behind him, ran toward the stairs.
Seeing this, Lin Jianyue breathed a sigh of relief and struggled to get up from on top of her mentor.
Her vision cleared, and her mentor got up from the floor, flustered. She looked at Lin Jianyue’s bleeding arm, and her eyes instantly welled up with tears. “Quick, let me take you to the hospital!”
“No need,” Lin Jianyue said, holding her hand down. “This isn’t bad enough for a hospital. I can handle it myself. You should call the police and wait for them here with the Detective Boys. They’re very reliable.”
The Detective Boys, who hadn’t been able to catch up with Conan, finally arrived just in time to hear Lin Jianyue’s praise. Their eyes lit up. They linked hands and surrounded Lin Jianyue’s mentor. “Don’t worry. We’ll protect you!”
Her mentor was still shaken from her close call with death. She hesitantly agreed, her eyes full of concern for Lin Jianyue. Lin Jianyue, on the other hand, called the police herself, pulled out a tissue to wipe the bl00d from her arm, and walked toward the school infirmary.
Luckily, it was just scrapes. Although there were multiple cuts, they could be treated easily.
Outside the infirmary, Lin Jianyue skipped the step of knocking and just pushed open the brown door.
In the sterile white room with three beds, a man in a white coat was sitting on a swivel chair with his back to her. When he heard the door open, he turned around, revealing a face Lin Jianyue had seen just a few hours ago.
Kenji Hagiwara was wearing a white coat and a pair of thin-rimmed black glasses on his nose. He was holding a medicine box in his arms.
He first stared at her in shock, then gave her a gentle smile and pushed up his non-prescription glasses. “Jianyue-chan, have a seat. I’ll treat your wounds.”