The Gods Are Fighting Over Me - Chapter 17

The sea breeze carried the scent of summer through his hair. Jinpei Matsuda sat in the passenger seat with one arm resting on the car window, his curly hair being tousled by the wind.

In the driver’s seat, Kenji Hagiwara, who was focused on driving, wore his sulking on his face for all to see.

As soon as the car came to a stop at the pier, Kenji Hagiwara opened the trunk and shoved two bulging duffel bags into Jinpei Matsuda’s arms.

“I’m counting on you to take care of Jianyue.”

The unexpected weight made Jinpei Matsuda’s back sink. He weighed his deep blue duffel bag on his left side, and his eyebrows knotted together. “Hagi, don’t tell me you secretly put dumbbells in my bag.”

Kenji Hagiwara froze, leaned against the car door, and looked at Jinpei Matsuda as if he were an idiot. “What are you talking about? Are you out of shape from not working out enough?”

Jinpei Matsuda scoffed. “Huh? Me? Out of shape?”

He was about to say more, but he saw Kenji Hagiwara walk past him and head straight for Lin Jianyue.

The man placed a hand on Lin Jianyue’s shoulder, bent down slightly, and placed a kiss on her temple, light as a feather. “Have fun.”

Jinpei Matsuda clicked his tongue and, carrying the luggage, was the first to board the small boat to the island. The wooden planks creaked under his weight, as if they were expressing the obvious disdain he couldn’t hide.

There were about seven or eight tourists on the boat, all on vacation. The salty sea breeze blew in, dispelling the morning heat.

Unlike the excited Lin Jianyue, Jinpei Matsuda found a random seat after putting down the luggage and leaned against the window, enjoying the sea breeze.

He was wearing a black hoodie today. The wind messed up the hair on his forehead, and without a suit, he looked less sharp and more relaxed.

Jinpei Matsuda propped his chin up and quietly shifted his gaze to the woman who was taking pictures of the scenery with her back to him.

It was definitely not his imagination. Lin Jianyue was consciously keeping her distance from Kenji Hagiwara.

But…

Jinpei Matsuda lazily looked back at the sparkling sea. If he could tell, how could Hagi, with his sensitivity, not notice?

Whatever. It’s none of my business.

But this relaxed feeling didn’t last long and was soon broken by a text message notification.

Jinpei Matsuda pulled out his phone and looked at it. A vein on his forehead throbbed, and then a particularly malicious grin appeared on his face. He started typing furiously on the screen, as if he were bickering with the person on the other end.

Meanwhile, Lin Jianyue was busy taking pictures of the sea from different angles when she heard a clear but spine-chilling child’s voice from behind her.

“Jianyue-san, you’re here too.”

Lin Jianyue’s hair instantly stood on end, and her fingertips went cold. She slowly turned around and faced Conan Edogawa’s smiling face with an expression of reluctance.

Behind Conan, Detective Mouri was slumped in a chair, looking half-dead. Ran Mouri stood with her hands on her hips, angrily scolding him for getting drunk last night.

Lin Jianyue lowered her eyes and looked at the smiling little detective in front of her. She couldn’t smile at all. “Conan, why are you here?”

“The restaurant we ate at yesterday had a raffle. Ran-neechan won the grand prize, so we came.”

Lin Jianyue was silent for a moment. She crouched down to be at eye level with Conan Edogawa and asked seriously, “Can you do me a favor and ask Ran-san something?”

“What?”

“Can she buy me a lottery ticket?”

Conan Edogawa’s face went blank for a second, then he looked at Lin Jianyue speechlessly. “Hey, hey, how can a person fantasize about getting something for nothing all day? Besides, Ran-neechan was just lucky. There’s no way she’d actually win the lottery.”

Lin Jianyue showed no sign of remorse. “Sorry. I’m just a terrible adult who fantasizes about money falling from the sky and getting something for nothing all day.”

Before Conan could say anything, Lin Jianyue ruffled his hair vigorously, her voice as gentle as melting buttercream. “Thanks for yesterday, great detective.”

Conan put his hands behind his head and smugly lifted his chin. “It’s nothing.”

Lin Jianyue stared into his eyes behind his glasses and suddenly said, “You seem to trust me now, huh?”

“How can someone willing to sacrifice herself to save someone be a bad person?”

Conan tilted his head, his tone a little proud. “But… Jianyue-san, you said you knew what I was thinking last time. You were just lying, weren’t you? It means to scare an elementary school student.”

He was referring to the case where Lin Jianyue’s upperclassman was murdered.

Lin Jianyue’s voice was calm with a hint of surprise. “Did I really scare you?”

Conan Edogawa was silent again. He looked at Lin Jianyue with a look that saw through everything.

If Lin Jianyue were to open the manga book at that moment, she would see a speech bubble behind Conan that read, “You really are a terrible adult.”

Lin Jianyue resisted the urge to whisper his real name into his ear and patted him on the head.

“I heard the private screening room on the island has a collection of all movies from 1950 to the present. Do you want to watch a movie together after we get on the island?”

Conan Edogawa looked uninterested. “I know. It has a bunch of old classic movies, but only SVIP members can borrow the movies made before 1990.”

“Are you interested?”

“Kind of, I guess.”

“I see…” Lin Jianyue pulled out a silver-white card from her bag, about the size of a bank card, and waved it in front of Conan.

“I was going to ask if there was any movie you were interested in since you’re kind of my mentor’s savior. But since you’re not interested, I guess I’ll just go alone.”

When Conan saw the card in Lin Jianyue’s hand, his eyes lit up like a lightbulb. He jumped up to grab the card from Lin Jianyue’s hand. “Let me see!”

He took the card and looked at it twice. “What kind of movie do you want to watch, Jianyue-san? I have a few good recommendations.”

“A mystery movie. I want to watch a mystery movie.”

Conan Edogawa handed the card back to Lin Jianyue, excitedly clenching his hands into fists against his chest. “I knew it! A brave and righteous person like you must love mystery movies!”

“I recommend the Jeremy Brett version of Sherlock Ho.”

“It has to be Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None. Queen Agatha is the best in the world,” Lin Jianyue said with a sweet smile, cutting Conan off.

“Huh?” Conan Edogawa was stunned, then he protested loudly. “No way! Conan Doyle is the best! Sherlock Holmes is the god of mysteries!”

Lin Jianyue frowned in a troubled way, pretending to think. “But I think the great detective Poirot from Agatha’s books is the best in the world.”

“Ugh.” Conan was so frustrated that he was stomping his feet, wanting to throw a tantrum on the floor, but he held himself back.

The current Conan couldn’t just casually throw a tantrum and say he had to pee. He could only stare at Lin Jianyue in a huff, like a kitten that had been teased and had nowhere to vent its anger.

“Lin,” a sudden male voice cut off their argument. Jinpei Matsuda had walked over at some point.

There was a smile on his face, but his eyes showed a gritted-teeth kind of tension.

Before Lin Jianyue could react, he suddenly wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulled her into his arms, and raised his phone with his other hand. Click. He took a picture.

Lin Jianyue was stunned for a second. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the contact name “Kenji Hagiwara” pop up on his phone screen. Then, the picture of them with her dazed expression was sent over.

The whole action was fluid, with no sign of overstepping, only the blatant intention to piss off his friend.

Jinpei Matsuda let go of her. He tapped on his phone screen, the smirk on his face growing more malicious.

“What’s wrong?” Lin Jianyue adjusted her crossbody bag that had slipped off her shoulder because of Jinpei Matsuda’s action.

“Nothing.” He didn’t even look up, his tone airy. In the open duffel bag at his feet, two black dumbbells labeled “10kg” lay clearly visible. “I was just annoyed by some childish idiot.”

He paused, then looked up at Lin Jianyue, his eyes filled with a hint of apology. “Sorry, I didn’t scare you, did I?”

“I’m fine,” Lin Jianyue said, shaking her head.

Just then, Ran Mouri walked over.

When she saw Lin Jianyue, her expression turned from delight to apology. “I’m so sorry, Jianyue-san. Shinichi still hasn’t come back. But don’t worry, my dad is also a detective. I can ask him for help.”

“No need, Ran-neechan,” Conan suddenly interjected, his hands in his pockets, looking like he knew everything. “The big brother next to Jianyue-san is a police officer, isn’t he?”

“And he’s a police officer assigned to protect Jianyue-san.”

“It seems like Jianyue-san finally chose to ask the police for help.”

“Huh?” Ran was surprised and covered her mouth with her hand. “I thought this gentleman was Jianyue-san’s boyfriend.”

Lin Jianyue didn’t answer and instead asked, “Conan, why don’t you think he’s my boyfriend?”

“Because you two look like you’re not close at all.”

Lin Jianyue was silent for a few seconds. She deliberately moved closer to Jinpei Matsuda and wrapped her arm around his.

The moment her fingertips touched his arm, the man’s body stiffened, like a startled goat playing dead.

“We just fought, right?” Although Lin Jianyue had her arm in his, her body was still a little bit away from him, as if she were holding a hot potato.

Jinpei Matsuda was silent for a full three seconds before squeezing out one word from between his teeth. “Yeah.”

The air immediately became awkward. Lin Jianyue and Jinpei Matsuda looked at each other, both seeing the same thought in the other’s eyes: This isn’t going to work.

Even if they didn’t look like a couple, they should at least look like friends.

Jinpei Matsuda irritably ran his fingers through his curly hair and pulled Lin Jianyue toward an empty corner of the boat. “Let’s find some common ground to talk about.”

Perhaps anticipating the topic he was about to bring up, he pulled out his sunglasses and put them on, suddenly feeling a little guilty. “Let’s talk about Hagi.”

Lin Jianyue propped her chin on her hand and asked, “Can you tell me about his childhood?”

“I can,” Jinpei Matsuda nodded.

“Does he… have a ‘white moonlight’?” Lin Jianyue pressed on, with a hint of seriousness she was trying to hide.

Jinpei Matsuda thought about it, then scoffed. “I don’t know if he has a ‘white moonlight,’ but ever since he was a kid, he was always the ‘white moonlight’ for the girls in his class.”

Hearing this, Lin Jianyue propped her chin on her hand and fell into deep thought. “The girls’ ‘white moonlight.”

She looked at the waves passing by outside the window, her eyelashes lowered, hiding the emotions in her eyes.

The only sound in the boat was the waves hitting the side. After a long moment of silence, Jinpei Matsuda suddenly said out of the blue, “Don’t worry. He’ll be a good boyfriend.”

His tone wasn’t gentle; it was his usual nonchalant one, but it had a strange certainty to it.

He curled his lips and smiled maliciously. “Do you believe me if I told you that if you sent him a text message asking for help right now, he’d jump into the sea and swim over here to find you?”

Lin Jianyue looked up, a hint of uncertainty in her eyes. “I don’t believe you.”