Seeing that Amuro Toru was about to head out with his ghost-picking experience coupon, only to immediately try to vanish again, Jangxia Tongzhi chased after him and grabbed his sleeve.
"Why don't I come along?" he offered.
Amuro squinted at him. "And what would you even do?"
Jangxia replied with all the serious energy of a loyal apprentice, "I'll cover you."
"Nope," Amuro shut that down immediately. "You stay and work."
Since the "official business" excuse flopped, Jangxia switched tactics. "But this is my coupon."
"..."
Amuro went quiet for a moment, then pulled out his wallet. "I'll buy it off you."
"No deal." Jangxia also realized how sketchy he looked right now, but after thinking of the ghost aura he'd sensed earlier, he stood his ground. "What customers give is from the heart. I can't just turn that into profit."
"..."
Amuro was suspicious—was this kid planted by Gin? Or maybe some shady guy told Jangxia to spy on him?
But then Amuro remembered: when Jangxia gave him the coupon before, it was done so casually. This sudden change of heart must have a simpler explanation…
Wait. Earlier, Jangxia had pulled out his phone and looked something up before getting all weird. That was probably when he realized this was a celebrity-owned shop, and the coupons were limited edition. Now he just wanted to join in for fun.
Jangxia, seeing Amuro go quiet, figured his pitch was working. He tried to sweeten the deal. "Going alone might draw suspicion. But if you bring a student? They'll let their guard down. I can watch your back."
"Hmm..." Amuro glanced over at him. This apprentice could be annoying, sure. But when he shut up and just stood there, he really did have that harmless, forgettable aura...
Amuro worked for the takedown of the Black Organization on the daily, but that didn't mean he slacked off on his missions. The higher-ups weren't fools—if his behavior got too suspicious, they'd sniff it out instantly. Besides, the org's targets usually held valuable intel. Completing missions earned merit and moved him up the ladder, all while helping Public Safety.
And one more thing: it was part of an undercover agent's job to recruit new agents.
Turning someone from inside was always easier than planting a whole new undercover. Riskier, sure—if the recruit backstabbed, everyone was screwed. Still...
Amuro looked at Jangxia again.
This kid did seem recruitable.
Sure, he was a minor, and undercover operations weren't exactly age-appropriate. But Jangxia clearly had history—he'd been dragged into the organization by his parents since childhood. Probably had a criminal record longer than a CVS receipt. Way too messy to fully clean up now.
Eventually, Amuro nodded.
"You've got 15 minutes to pack. If you're late, stay here and watch the shop."
Fifteen minutes—the time it'd take Amuro to walk to the parking lot, grab the car, and drive back.
Any longer and he'd risk a parking ticket. The spot was too close to the Metropolitan Police Department, and traffic enforcement was always buzzing around.
Jangxia didn't need long. He just popped into the nearby convenience store for a few essentials. When he returned, Amuro's car was already waiting outside the office.
On the drive, Amuro handed Jangxia a photo and gave him some backstory:
"Not long ago, during a meeting at one of our shared locations, someone knocked over a ceramic ornament from the cabinet. Turns out, the pottery had a weird structure—it was hollowed in a way that could conceal a long-standby recording device."
Amuro gestured to the photo of the shattered ornament. "We suspect someone was trying to bug us. It was signed as a work by Kikuemon, but the style inside doesn't match his usual pieces. At first I thought it was a fake, but after tracing it, it really did come from his workshop."
Kikuemon was a very old man. His production process had become erratic lately, and he'd refused to meet with anyone.
Amuro had been thinking about how to contact him naturally. Then he saw Jangxia waltz into the office earlier—holding an experience coupon for Kikuemon's shop.
...This apprentice. If nothing else, he had incredible luck.
Jangxia stared at the photo for a bit and started piecing it together—this suspicious pottery matched a case he'd heard of before.
So the Black Organization was once again playing 4D chess… over some regular murder case.
Oh well. If he got to pick up a new ghost along the way, it was still a win.
By the time they set off, it was already dusk. Amuro preferred to deal with things immediately—no point putting them off until the next day.
But halfway through the drive, his plans got derailed.
As the car passed through a wooded area, it hit something with a jolt—bam!—and a tire blew.
Jangxia had been nodding off in the passenger seat. The sudden jolt jerked him awake.
A flat tire. In a forest. At night.
This is exactly how murder scenes start in the manga!
Amuro assumed Jangxia was just startled by the blowout and didn't think too much of it. He pulled over, got out, and checked the damage.
Jangxia followed, pretending to care about the car while actually scanning the area with intense focus.
His gaze slipped past the trees... to a rickety old house clinging to a cliffside in the distance.
Right then, Xiaobai and Akemi Miyano—his two ghostly companions-slash-pillows—perked up and looked in the same direction.
Jangxia assumed they were reacting to a shikigami's aura, or maybe sensing some nearby murderous intent.
But instead, the two ghosts whispered to each other.
Turns out—they'd found a new ghost.
Jangxia blinked.
...Okay. That works too.
Just then, the car trunk clicked open.
Jangxia turned sharply, only to see Amuro hoisting out the spare tire.
Toru grabbed the tool bag and knelt down to change the tire.
Jangxia: "..."
NO!!
He wasn't leaving until that new ghost was his!
Jangxia calmly walked to the back of the car. The spare tire was still in the trunk. He crouched beside Amuro, acting like he was handing him tools—but secretly, he was releasing his shikigami into the trunk.
Using the small and sneaky Xiaobai as a base, he formed a puppet in the shape of a little boy. Then he channeled his consciousness into it and fixed his gaze on the pristine spare tire.
There were no proper tools in the puppet. No knife. Nothing sharp.
Amuro was already halfway done replacing the tire—he moved with the efficiency of someone who'd done this way too many times before.
Jangxia started sweating. He tried focusing energy into his fingernails like claws—but Xiaobai clearly wasn't built for this kind of violence.
Ugh, should've used Akemi after all…
But Akemi's adult form was too big—too easy to spot. And if Amuro sensed anything fishy, he'd go into full paranoia mode and scare the ghost away.
Time was ticking.
Jangxia, glaring at the tire, knew what he had to do.
...He gritted his shikigami teeth, channeled ghost energy into them, and bit the spare tire.
Teeth are the hardest part of the human body, after all.
Crunch.
Amuro Toru, who had just finished removing the blown tire, froze.
There was a weird, creaky, rubbery sound coming from the trunk.
He tilted his head. "Did you hear that?"
"Yeah." Jangxia's reply was slightly muffled. He looked skyward and said solemnly, "It's raining."
And indeed, rain had started falling. The sound of droplets hitting the leaves masked everything else.
Amuro frowned. That wasn't the sound he meant... but whatever. If Jangxia didn't hear anything strange, maybe it was just his imagination.
Then he opened the trunk to grab the spare—
—and stopped.
The spare tire, which had been completely fine just a minute ago, now had a jagged tear.
Not a puncture. A gash. Like something had gnawed into it.
Amuro stared, then slowly turned to glance at the dark forest, the flat tire, the strange noises...
A chill ran down his spine.
Now that he thought about it, wasn't this area known for some creepy legends?
His hand instinctively reached toward his concealed weapon.
Then he paused.
No. No. This world is materialistic. There are no such things as monsters.
There had to be a logical explanation.
—The blowout? Probably a sharp rock on the road. There were tons of them around here.
—The tire damage? Probably a small animal snuck into the trunk. He'd left it open while grabbing tools. That happens.
—As for why the animal ignored the snacks in the front seat and decided to munch on a tire instead…
...
Amuro chose not to finish that thought.
*Goal #1: Top 200 fanfics published within the last 30 days by POWER STONES.
Progress: 12/50(approx) for 10 BONUS CHAPTERS*